Hinduism / by Monier Williams.

  • Monier Monier-Williams
Date:
1877
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Hinduism / by Monier Williams. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    in ceremonial observances find it all-sufficient; those who deny the efficacy of works, and make faith the one requisite, need not wander from its pale; those who are addicted to sensual objects may have their tastes gratified ; those who delight in meditating on the nature of God and man, the relation of matter and spirit, the mystery of separate existence, and the origin of evil, may here indulge their love of specula- tion. And this capacity for almost endless expansion causes almost endless sectarian divisions even among the followers of any particular line of doctrine. In unison with its variable character and almost universal receptivity, the religious belief of the Hindus has really no single succinct designation. Looking at it in its pantheistic aspect, we may call it Brahmanism ; in its polytheistic development, Hinduism; but these are not names recognized by the natives. If, then, such all-comprehensive breadth and di- versity are essential features of Hinduism, is it pos- sible to give a concise description of it which shall be intelligible and satisfactory ? Only one guide to its intricacies exists. India, though it has, as we have seen, about one hundred spoken dialects, has only one sacred lan- guage and only one sacred literature, accepted and revered by all adherents of Hinduism alike, however diverse in race, dialect, rank, and creed. That lan- guage is Sanskrit, and that literature is Sanskrit litera- ture—the only repository of the Veda or ‘knowledge’ in its widest sense; the only vehicle of Hindu theo- logy, philosophy, law, and mythology; the only mirror in which all the creeds opinions, customs, and usages c 2
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