sue of the
Veda") is a purely pantheistic and monastic philosophical
system, and by far the most prevalent in Modern India. It is
ascribed to Badarayana, sometimes called Vyasa, though this
last is really a generic name denoting "a collector." The word
"sutra" denotes literally "threads," and is used by Brahmanic
writers for short, dry sentences, brief expositions. "Vedanta
Sutras" means literally "compendious expressions of the
Vedantic (not Vedic) doctrine." The second great division of
Hindu sacred literature is the "Puranas," the last and most
modern of the books of Hinduism. The word "Purana" means
"old," and in ancient Sanscrit writings it has the same
meaning as our "cosmology." The "Puranas," however, are
ill-arranged collections of theological and philosophical
reflections, myths and legends, ritual, and ascetic rules.
They depend very much on the two great epics, especially the
Mahabharata. The Sanscrit writings called "Tantras" are really
manuals of religion, of magic, and of counter-charms, with
songs in praise of Sakti, the female side of Siva.

_INTRODUCTORY_

The Vedanta is sometimes called the Mimamsa (= philosophical
reflections). The aphorisms of which the Vedanta Sutras consist are in
themselves almost as unintelligible as the Confucian "Book of Changes,"
the compiler having been only too successful in aiding the memory of the
Hindu student by a system of _multum in parvo_.

It is usual to accept the interpretation put on the Sutras by the
Sanscrit commentator Sankara, commonly called Sankara Karya, who
flourished about A.D. 700. There are, however, many other commentaries,
notably that of Ramanuga. George Thibaut, in the "Sacred Books of the
East" (vols. 34, 38, and 48), gives the interpretation of Sankara, and
also that of Ramanuga when it differs essentially. On the whole it may
be said that Sankara is a thorough-going Vedantist and pantheist.
Ramanuga, on the other hand, has leanings towards the dualism of the
Sankhya philosophy, and endeavours to make the Vedanta Sutras support
his opinions.

The Vedanta Sutras embrace five hundred and fifty-five aphorisms, or
Sutras, arranged in four books (_Adhyay_), each having four-chapters
(_Pada_), the chapters being severally divided into sections
(_Adhikarana_). These Sutras are of the utmost importance, as nearly all
Hindu sects base their belief and pract