The Religions of India - Handbooks on the History of Religions, Volume 1, Edited by Morris Jastrow

Edward Washburn Hopkins

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• Publié par: syom
• Publié le: 08 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 15
• Langue: English

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Project Gutenberg's The Religions of India, by
Edward Washburn Hopkins
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Title: The Religions of India Handbooks On The
History Of Religions, Volume 1, Edited By Morris
Jastrow
Author: Edward Washburn Hopkins
Release Date: December 28, 2004 [EBook #14499]
Language: English
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG
EBOOK THE RELIGIONS OF INDIA ***
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(BnF/Gallica) at http://gallica.bnf.frHANDBOOKS ON THE
HISTORY OF
RELIGIONS
EDITED BY MORRIS
JASTROW, JR., PH.D.
Professor of Semitic Languages in the University of
PennsylvaniaVOLUME I
HANDBOOKS ON THE
HISTORY OF
RELIGIONSTHE
RELIGIONS OF INDIA
BY
EDWARD WASHBURN HOPKINS
Ph.D. (LEIPSIC)
PROFESSOR OF SANSKRIT AND
COMPARATIVE PHILOLOGY IN BRYN MAWR
COLLEGE
"This holy mystery I declare unto you: There is
nothing nobler than humanity."
THE MAH[=A]BH[=A]RATA.LONDON
EDWARD ARNOLD
37 BEDFORD STREET, STRAND
PUBLISHER TO THE INDIA OFFICE
1896
(All rights reserved)
COPYRIGHT, 1895, BY
EDWARD WASHBURN HOPKINSTO THE MEMORY OF
WILLIAM DWIGHT WHITNEY
THIS VOLUME
IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED
BY THE AUTHORPREFATORY NOTE
BY THE EDITOR.
The growing interest both in this country and
abroad in the historical study of religions is one of
the noticeable features in the intellectual phases of
the past decades. The more general indications of
this interest may be seen in such foundations as
the Hibbert and Gifford Lectureships in England,
and the recent organization of an American
committee to arrange in various cities for lectures
on the history of religions, in the establishment of a
special department for the subject at the University
of Paris, in the organization of the Musée Guimet
at Paris, in the publication of a journal—the Revue
de l'Histoire des Religions—under the auspices of
this Museum, and in the creation of chairs at the
Collège de France, at the Universities of Holland,
and in this country at Cornell University and the
University of Chicago,[1] with the prospect of
others to follow in the near future. For the more
special indications we must turn to the splendid
labors of a large array of scholars toiling in the
various departments of ancient culture—India,
Babylonia, Assyria, Egypt, Palestine, Arabia,
Phoenicia, China, Greece, and Rome—with the
result of securing a firm basis for the study of the
religions flourishing in those countries—a result
due mainly to the discovery of fresh sources and to
the increase of the latter brought about by
exploration and incessant research. The detailedstudy of the facts of religion everywhere, both in
primitive society and in advancing civilization, and
the emphasis laid upon gathering and
understanding these facts prior to making one's
deductions, has succeeded in setting aside the
speculations and generalizations that until the
beginning of this century paraded under the name
of "Philosophy of Religion."
Such has been the scholarly activity displayed and
the fertility resulting, that it seems both desirable
and timely to focus, as it were, the array of facts
connected with the religions of the ancient world in
such a manner that the summary resulting may
serve as the point of departure for further
investigations.
This has been the leading thought which has
suggested the series of Handbooks on the History
of Religions. The treatment of the religions included
in the series differs from previous attempts in the
aim to bring together the ascertained results of
scholarship rather than to make an additional
contribution, though the character of the scholars
whose coöperation has beep secured justifies the
hope that their productions will also mark an
advance in the interpretation of the subject
assigned to each. In accord with this general aim,
mere discussion has been limited to a minimum,
while the chief stress has been laid upon the clear
and full presentation of the data connected with
each religion.
A uniform plan has been drawn up by the editor forthe order of treatment in the various volumes, by
following which it is hoped that the continuous
character of the series will be secured.
In this plan the needs of the general reader, as well
as those of the student, for whom, in the first
place, the series is designed, have been kept in
view. After the introduction, which in the case of
each volume is to be devoted to a setting forth of
the sources and the method of study, a chapter
follows on the land and the people, presenting
those ethnographical and geographical
considerations, together with a brief historical
sketch of the people in question, so essential to an
understanding of intellectual and religious life
everywhere.
In the third section, which may be denominated the
kernel of the book, the subdivisions and order of
presentation necessarily vary, the division into
periods being best adapted to one religion, the
geographical order for another, the grouping of
themes in a logical sequence for a third; but in
every case, the range covered will be the same,
namely, the beliefs, including the pantheon, the
relation to the gods, views of life and death, the
rites—both the official ones and the popular
customs—the religious literature and architecture.
A fourth section will furnish a general estimate of
the religion, its history, and the relation it bears to
others. Each volume will conclude with a full
bibliography, index, and necessary maps, with
illustrations introduced into the text as called for.
The Editor has been fortunate in securing the