apter. These two Vedic Collections
naturally form the first period of Hindu religion.

The Vedic period is followed by what is usually termed Brahmanism, the
religion that is inculcated in the rituals called Br[=a]hmana and its
later development in the Upanishads. These two classes of works,
together with the Yajur Veda, will make the next divisions of the
whole subject. The formal religion of Brahmanism, as laid down for
popular use and instruction in the law-books, is a side of Brahmanic
religion that scarcely has been noticed, but it seems to deserve all
the space allotted to it in the chapter on 'The Popular Brahmanic
Faith.' We shall then review Jainism and Buddhism, the two chief
heresies. Brahmanism penetrates the great epic poem which, however, in
its present form is sectarian in tendency, and should be separated as
a growth of Hinduism from the literature of pure Brahmanism.
Nevertheless, so intricate and perplexing would be the task of
unraveling the theologic threads that together make the yarn of the
epic, and in many cases it would be so doubtful whether any one thread
led to Brahmanism or to the wider and more catholic religion called
Hinduism, that we should have preferred to give up the latter name
altogether, as one that was for the most part idle, and in some degree
misleading. Feeling, however, that a mere manual should not take the
initiative in coining titles, we have admitted this unsatisfactory
word 'Hinduism' as the title of a chapter which undertakes to give a
comprehensive view of the religions endorsed by the many-centuried
epic, and to explain their mutual relations. As in the case of the
'Popular Faith,' we have had here no models to go upon, and the mass
of matter which it was necessary to handle--the great epic is about
eight times as long as the Iliad and Odyssey put together--must be our
excuse for many imperfections of treatment in this part of the work.
The reader will gain at least a view of the religious development as
it is exhibited in the literature, and therefore, as, far as possible,
in chronological order. The modern sects and the religions of the hill
tribes of India form almost a necessary supplement to these nobler
religions of the classical literature; the former because they are the
logical as well as historical continuation of the great Hindu
sectarian schisms, the latter because they give the solution of some
problems connected with Civaism, and, on the other hand, offer