The Vedanta system thereafter made its appear ance, in three stages of development. The germs of this philosophy, and even its principal doctrines, are contained in the Brahmans books of the Vedas ; then it is seen in a more complete forrn in the Sutras of Vyasa ; and lastly, this philosophy is recorded in the great commentaries which eminent scholars have written upon the original authorities. Thevoice of Hindu antiquity ascribes the oiigin of the Vedanta system to the sage Badarayan, otherwise nanied Veda Vyasa. The manner of his birth is thus,deseribed in one of the works ascribed to him :—`\ ' Of birth and death, a multiplicity of souls is to be inferred.' The fact of transmigration none of the Hindu philosophical systems dispute ; it is allowed by all. As a man casts off his old garments, and puts on new oues, so tlutt soul having left its old mortal frame, enters into another, which is new. One soul, and not another.
The Yoga system, called Seswara or theistic, founded by Patanjali, whose Yoga-Sutra is its text-book, and followed by the author of the Bhagavat Oita.
The Puranie school, a compt mixture of the two.
These philosophies are subjects of study for the learned of the Hindu people. Brahmanism is, at present, synonymous with Hinduism, and the Brahmanical religionists are of three classes,—the worshippers of Vishnu, of Siva, and the Sakta, or those who worship the female energies of gods. But their views seem to have been gradually brought to the present condition, and, as with the Hindu, is in some places a nature-worship, in others an idolatry, in others a hero-worship, in others a physiology or a philosophy, perhaps, in all, a sphit-worship. Bunsen says (iii. p. 516) the forms of worship followed by the Aryan immigrants, and the institution of castes, seem to have commenced after they crossed the Sutlej river, and the miginal seat of this worship ex tended from the Indus to the Gauges and to Bengal (I3ehar). He adds that Brahmans, after crossing the Sutlej, introduced Siva and other deities, and threw those of the Vedic period into the shade. According to Bunsen, it was about the year 3000 B.C. that the schism took place amongst the East and West Aryans, when all India east of the Sutlej adopted Brahmanism, and the religious views, forms, and habits of Bactria were for ever abandoned. According to
Menu (the first book of which Bunsen thinks was composed but little antecedent to the Christian era), the world had passed through four yoga when Brahmanism WAS introduced ; and the Brah manism of the Sauskrit books is the mythic°. pantheistic form of Vedic naturalism. Brahman ism is usually understood to be tbe later develop ment and corruption of the ancient Vedic faith. Bunsen, however, expressed the opinion that the region of the Indus still retains the nature-worship of Vedism, -while Southern India and the banks of the Ganges have long fallen into Brahmanism. But such is not the case ; the worship of the bulk of the Aryan races is divided between the physio logical views entertained by those who believe in Siva and the hero-worshipping followers of Vishnu. Brahmanism is accommodating to any thing that partakes of idol-worship. Similarly as a Boman would worship Isis and Osiris, so a Hindu makes offerings to apotheosized Muham madans, such as Shaikh Sadu, Ghazi Mian, and Shiak liladar in Northern India, and Bawa Adam in the Peninsula, the last of these being the lingam. Brahmanism is at present divided into several branches, each of which has many subdivisions ; the three principal branches are —1st. Vedantism, so named after the Vedanta of Vyasa. It has few adherents, consisting of some philosophical Brahmans. Of the thousands of temples in India consecrated to various deities, only one is consecrated to this doctrine, in which Brahma is worshipped alone. 2d. Vishnuism. This doctrine raises Vishnu to the highest place, and adores his different avatars, together with A multitude of other deities, powers of nature, and mythical persons. Its professors are styled Vaish nava. 3d. Saivaism. This doctrine places Siva highest in tho rank of the gods. The profensors I of thia doctrine call themselves Salve, and their number amounta to many millions more than the professors of Vishnuisin. Although Siva is the god of destruction, lie is also the god of produc tion, considered with respect to the idea, which ever pervades the philosophical doctrine, namely, that death is but the recommencement of a new life. — Elph. Inst. of India ; Bunsen's Egypt's Place ; Tods Rajasthan, i. p. 26 ; Tennent's Christianity in Ceylon, p. 199 ; Hind. Th. ii. p. 13 ; Cal. Review ; Garrett ; Dowson.