From the Brahmanic religion with its theology, its sacrifice, its stilling ritual, and widespread priestcraft there was bound later to come a revolt. Premonitory symptoms of this are plainly to be seen in the Upanishads, which prepared the way for emancipation. The reform wave swept over India in the two great reactionary IlioNements of Buddhism and Jainism. The character and extent of these reformatory movements are spoken of under special articles. and need not is' dis here. 'The eastern part of was s4dIt've from whirl thcy sprang, hut dainisin gradually spread westward especially, and Bud dhism expanded itself over other parts of India to Ceylon :tad far beyond the borders of Hindu stan.
In spite of the reform movement:, the old Brahmanism was not destined to disap pear. But it was forced to undergo changes which were largely due to the influence of the protesting faiths of Buddhism and Jainism. During the very time while they were flourishing it quietly but firmly held its own, Was consciously or un consciously being remodeled and adjusted to altered conditions and environments. and was gradually hut surely changing into the newer Hinduism, with all that restoration meant. It is this changing Brahmanism and earlier Hin duism in its sectarian developments that, is pre seined to us in tle• great Hindu epics.
The Epic' period of Hinduism is marked by a similar development of the same two creeds. the general (Mures of which we have traced in the Vedie writings. The popular erect strives to find a cent re round which to group its imaginary gods, whereas the philosophical creed finds its expression in the ground-works of the NankItya, Syii.tar, and l'ilkinta systems of philosophy. In the former. we find two gods in particular who are rising to the highest rank, Vishnu and Siva; for /t•ahma (the masculine of Brahman), though he was looked upon, now and then. as superior to both. gradually disappears. and be comes merged into the Itretholi (the neuter form of the is a further evolution of the great soul of the Upanishads. Inc the ilconayaaff„ the superior ity of Vishnu is admitted without dispute; in the great epos. the Maltablifiratti, however, which, unlike the former epos, is the product of suc age.:, there is an apparent rivalry between the claims of Vishnu and Siva to occupy the highest rank in the pantheon. It is one of the diffieult of Sanskrit to un ravel lir,. chronological position of the various portions of this work. to lay bare its ground
work. and to show the gradual addition: it re ceived, which must be done before it will be pos sible to determine the sileressivp formation of the legends which :ire the basis of classical mythology. A great deal has Leen done, and this mirth seems to be clear even already. that there was a predilection Boring this epic period for the supremacy of Vishnu one of whose incarnations was the much-beloved Krishna (q.v.), and that the policy of incorporating rather than combating antagonistic creeds led more to a quiet admission than to a warm sup port of Siva's claims to the highest rank.
The philosophical erect] of this period add,: lit tle to the fundamental notions contained in the 'Upanishads: but it frees itself front the legend ary dross whirl still impart: to those works a deep tinge of mysticism. On the other hand, it conceives and develops the notion that the union of the iinlividual soul with the supreme. spirit may be aided by penances, such a. peculiar Mode. of breathing, particular postures, pro tracted fasting, and the like; in short, by those practices which are systematized by the Yoga doctrine. The most remarkable epic work which inculcates this doctrine is the celebrated poem Moryaradgifa, which has been wrongly consid ered by European writers as a pure Sankliya work, whereas Sanhara, the great Hindu theo logian who commented on it, and other native commentators after him, have proved that it is founded on the Yoga belief. The dm.tritie of the reunion of the individual soul with the supremo soul was necessarily founded on the assumption that the former must become free froth all guilt affecting its purity before it can be re• merged into the source whence it proceeded; and since one hunmn lire is apparently too short fur enabling the soul to attain its accomplishment, the Hindu mind concluded that the soul, after the death of its temporary owner, hod to be born again, in order to complete the mirk it had left midolie in its previous existence. and that it must submit to the same fate until its task is fulfilled. This is the doctrine of metempsychosis, which is a logical consequence of a system which holds the human soul to be of the same nature as that of an absolute llod. The beginning of this doctrine may he diseovered in some of the oldest Upanishads, but its development belongs to the epic time, where it pervades the legends, and affeets the social life of the nation. Sec .NIErr.tesrciiosts.