aroundworldortra00peebiala-1

238 AEOTJND THE WORLD.
philosophy, magic, astrology, and seership, they perfected an
organization which resulted in the priestly or Brahman caste^
the features of which were defined in the laws of Manu.
As the Brahman " priests believed in Brahm, molded the
rising thought, and officiated at religious ceremonies, the
religion of Hindostan was naturally denominated Brahmanism.
Aryanic in origin, 13.4 per cent of the world's religionists
are Brahmans, and 31.2 per cent are Buddhists. These
together make a decided majority over any religious sect on
the globe. Buddhism bears something the same relation to
Brahmanism that Christianity bears to Judaism. I class
them together because Aryan in their origin and growth.
BELIEF OP THE ANCIENT BRAHMANS.
" There is," says Max Miiller, " a remembrance of one
God, breaking through the mists of idolatrous phraseology, —
a monotheism which precedes the polytheism of the Veda." *
Mr. Miiller, who as authority is unrivaled, further says,
"A Hindoo of Benares, in a lecture delivered before an
English and native audience, defends his faith, and the faith
of his forefathers, against such sweeping accusations " as
polytheism and idolatry.
"'If by idolatry,' says this Hindoo scholar, 'is meant a system of
worship which confines our ideas of the Deity to a mere image of clay
or stone; which prevents our hearts from being expanded and elevated
with lofty notions of the attributes of God, — if this is what is meant by
idolatry, we disclaim idolatry, we abhor idolatry, and deplore the
ignorance
or uncharitableness of those that charge us with this groveling
system of worship. . . . We really lament the ignorance or uncharitableness
of those who confoimd our representative worship with the
Phoenician, Grecian, or Roman idolatry as represented by European
writers, and then charge us with polytheism in the teeth of thousands
of texts in the Purunas, declaring in clear and unmistakable terms that
there is but one God, who manifests himself as Brahma, Vishnu, and
Rudra (Siva), in his functions of creation, preservation, and destruction.'
" t
• Miiller's Sanscrit Literature, p. 659.
t Muller's German Workshop, p 17.