els the necessity of some
recognizable form. In this manner the Trinitarian conception of Brahma,
Vishnu, and Siva, with fourteen other chief gods, has been introduced.
Vishnu and Siva are never mentioned in the Institutes, but they now
engross the public devotions; besides these there are angels, genii,
penates, and lares, like the Roman. Brahma has only one temple in all
India, and has never been much worshipped. Chrishna is the great
favourite of the women. The doctrine of incarnation has also become
prevalent; the incarnations of Vishnu are innumerable. The opinion has
also been spread that faith in a particular god is better than
contemplation, ceremonial, or good works. A new ritual, instead of the
Vedas, has come into use, these scriptures being the eighteen Puranas,
composed between the eighth and sixteenth centuries. They contain
theogonies, accounts of the creation, philosophical speculations,
fragmentary history, and may be brought to support any sectarian view,
having never been intended as one general body, but they are received as
incontrovertible authority. In former times great efficacy was attached
to sacrifice and religious austerities, but the objects once
accomplished in that way are now compassed by mere faith. In the
Baghavat Gita, the text-book of the modern school, the sole essential
for salvation is dependence on some particular teacher, which makes up
for everything else. The efficacy which is thus ascribed to faith, and
the facility with which sin may be expiated by penance, have led to
great mental debility and superstition. Force has been added to the
doctrine of a material paradise of trees, flowers, banquets, hymns; and
to a hell, a dismal place of flames, thirst, torment, and horrid
spectres.

[Sidenote: The philosophical schools.]

If such has been the gradual degradation of religion, through the
suppression or disappearance of the most highly cultivated minds, the
tendency of philosophy is not less strikingly marked. It is said that
even in ancient times not fewer than six distinct philosophical schools
may be recognized: 1, the prior Mimansa; 2, the later Mimansa, or
Vedanta, founded by Vyasa about 1400 B.C. having a Vedanta literature of
prodigious extent; 3, the Logical school, bearing a close resemblance to
that of Aristotle, even in its details; 4, the Atomic school of Canade;
5, the Atheistical school of Capila; 6, the Theistical school of
Patanjali.

[Sidenote: The rise of Bu