90 BULLETIN 148, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



The Vedic gods are not entirely detached from the natural phe- 

 nomena, as, for instance, the figures of Greek mythology. Their 

 individual functions are not clearly defined, and no ethical ideas are 

 connected with them. Sacrifice was in this period entirely an indi- 

 vidual affair. There was no tribal or public cult, no temples or 

 images of gods. The sacrificial place was a spot of ground chosen 

 for the occasion. 



2. In the epoch of Brahmanism proper the deities become anthro- 

 pomorphic. At their head stand Brahma, the creator; Vishnu, the 

 preserver; and Siva, the destroyer and reproducer, with their female 

 consorts. A special priestly class, with elaborate and fixed rites and 

 ceremonies, was instituted: Caste, dividing the people into Brahmans 

 or priests, Kshatryas or warriors, Vaisyas or merchants, and Sudras 

 or artisans, made its appearance. In this period were also developed 

 the doctrines of Karma, that is, the application of the law of cause 

 and effect to the moral sphere and of the transmigration of the soul 

 (metempsychosis) for punishment and purification, and with them a 

 pessimistic attitude to life and a negative ethical ideal. The sacred 

 books on which this form of religion is chiefly based are the Brah- 

 manas, the Upunishads, and the Manava-Dharma Sastra, or the 

 Laws of Manu. 



This period may be dated roughly between 1000 and 200 B. C, 

 though it lingered long after that. 



3. In Hinduism which, it is assumed, was evolved between the 

 fifth and the third centuries B. C, Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva were 

 combined into a triad or Trimarti ; of these Brahma is more the object 

 of meditation than of practical worship. There are believed to be 

 only two temples of Brahma in India, one at Pushkara (Pokhar), in 

 Ajmir, the other about 15 miles from Idar. Vishnu and Siva, in 

 their various aspects and shapes, are now the chief gods of the Hindu 

 population. 



Thus of the numerous denominaions and sects into which Hindu- 

 ism is divided, the principal ones are the Vishnuites and Sivaites, 

 who raise either Vishnu or Siva to the first place in the triad and 

 consider him as the supreme being, and the Saktas, who worship 

 either Vishnu or Siva in their female aspects. ^^ 



" Sakti designates the active energy of a deity which is personified as his wife, and those who worship 

 the female principle are called Saktas. The supreme god is usually thought to be quiescent and passive, 

 hence the divine drama of creation and evolution of the worlds is attributed to his wife who is one with 

 him in reality, but active, creative, and the driving energy of the phenomenal world. Thus Brahma, the 

 lord of creation, has the goddess Sarasvati (the goddess of learning and speech) dwelling in his mouth. 

 She presides over learning and is the vach (logos, word), which essentially is the first cause of creation. 

 Sri or Lakshmi, the consort of Vishnu, is the presiding goddess of wealth and happiness and hence the 

 energy that sustains or keeps the world going. Siva's spouse, Parvati or Uma, especially in her destruc- 

 tive manifestation as Kali, is the energy that destroys, that makes the world involve or draw itself into the 

 quiescent state from which it started or evolved. In fact, the Saktas aflSrm that Sakti, the feminine ele- 

 ment in the deity, is the preponderating, if not the sole, cause of all the visible phenomena. 



