aroundworldortra00peebiala-1

216 AROUND THE WORLD.
the Hindoos. Strongly sea-guarded on three points of tlie
compass, the dangerous defiles and mountainous ranges
along the northern boundaries of India presented formidable
barriers to conquering hordes from Northern Asia. Accordingly,
while the nationalities of Central and Northern Africa,
in pre-Pyramidal times, as well as the populous countries of
Central and Eastern Asia, were engaged in wars
both civil
and aggressive, destroying, so far as possible, all the historic
monuments of antiquity, and exterminating every vestige of
literature within the enemy's reach, the Aryans of India
seem to have been left in comparative peace and isolation,
— left to work out the problem of civilization and mental
culture, unaffected by foreign influences or ravaging internal
revolutions.
The advancement for a time was all that could be desired.
The Aryan Hindoos stood upon the world's pinnacle of
progress. Tliis was the era of the Mahabharata, 1300 BIC,
of Manu the lawgiver, and Panini
the great grammarian, of
the Sanhitas and Brahmanas, of the Vedas and of the
Sastras, all something hke 1000 B.C. Brahmans educated
in English colleges, and learned in the Sanscrit, insist that
Homer modeled his verses after their ancient poets.
Putting it plainer, they boldly affirm that Homer's Iliad
was " prigged," — largely borrowed from the Mahabharata.
Though this was the golden age of Aryan learning, mental
friction was wanting. The national intellect, at this point,
became either stationary, or shaded off into the metaphysical
and the speculative. The inductive method of research was
abandoned. Mystical theorizing ran rampant. Though the
Vedas distinctly taught the existence of one Supreme Being,
a dreamy mythology slowly sprung into existence, and
fastened its fangs upon the national mind. Chieftains and
heroes were made gods.
Imagination painted, and tradition
ascribed to them valorous deeds and marvelous attributes as
unnatural as monstrous. The ignorant masses, carving their
images in stone as keepsakes, finally fell to worshiping