58 
THE RELIGION OF THE ANCIENT 
ARYANS. 
By N. R. DHARMAVIR, F.R.C.S., of Padiham. 
October 23rd, 1906. 
The ancient Aryan’ race, a few of whose religious beliefs I 
will describe later on, inhabited India, then called Aryavarta, 
some thousands of years before Christ, when Egyptian, Greek, 
Roman and the modern Christian civilizations were yet hidden 
in the mysteries of the future. There is a great conflict of 
opinion existent in the minds of various Sanskrit scholars as 
to the exact religious views of these people. The causes of 
this diversity of opinions are: 
1. That though the most ancient works of these people 
were written in the same language as the works of the more 
recent period, yet it (the language) underwent so much modi- 
fication as to require separate grammars and philosophical 
works in order to fully comprehend the philosophical and 
religious beliefs prevalent at these periods. Some of our Sans- 
krit scholars fall into the fatal error of not differentiating these 
epochs, and become hopelessly muddled in their minds as to 
the exact nature of the beliefs of the Aryans. 
2. That without gaining mastery of the language they 
comment on the religious works in the way it suits their pre- 
conceived pet theories. 
3. That in the treatment of a question such as the esti- 
mation of the value of a system of philosophy or religion, 
extreme sobriety and impartiality of mind are required. It 
is only those scholars who are unprejudiced and impartial 
judges and seekers after truth that can lay claim to the 
rational interpretation of a philosophy or religion. 
The period under review is the period of Vedas, Upanishats 
and-other ancient works. 
The first and foremost article of faith is the one of Mono- 
theism pure and simple. The evidence is afforded by the 
following quotations: 1. From Rig-Veda, ‘‘ God existed in 
