BRAHMANISM 149 BBAHMS BRAHMANISM, or BRAHMINISM, the system of religious belief and prac- tice, introduced and propagated by the Brahmans. This greatly varied with the lapse of ages, but to every successive form of it the name Brahmanism may be applied. The earliest inhabitants of India seem to have been mainly Tura- nians. When, at a very remote period of antiquity, these entered the pen- insula, an Aryan nation or tribe existed in central Asia, N. W. of India, speak- ing a language as yet unrecognized, which was the parent of nearly all the present European tongues, our own not excepted. At an unknown date a great part of this Aryan nation migrated to the N. W., and settled in Europe, the remainder taking the contrary direc- tion, and entering India by the way of the Punjab. Their gods, personifica- tions of nature, are invoked in the 1,017 hymns of the "Rig-Veda," the oldest Aryan book in the world. Professor Max Muller dates the hymns between 1500 and 1200 B. C. While the Aryans were in the Punjab a religious schism took place among them, and a large number of them left India for Persia with feelings so bitter that what their former friends left be- hind called gods they transformed into demons. The venerable Deva = God, was changed into daeva = an evil spirit. Iran (Persia) was the place to which the seceders went, and there their faith developed into Zoroastrianism. The "Rig- Veda" was followed by three more, the "Yajur-veda," the "Sama-veda," and the "Atharoa-veda," each with a Sanhit, or collection written in poetry, and Brahmanas and Sutras, prose compositions; but these are not so valuable as the "Rig-Veda" for tracing the old beliefs. From about 1000 to 800 B. c. collections were being made of the old sacred literature. From about 800 to 600 B. c. the Brahmanas were com- posed. Then the Sutras (exegetical compositions), which follow, make Brahmanas as well as Mantras divine. The exact date of the two great epic poems — the "Ramayana," and the "Ma- habharat" — is unknown; but the former is believed to be the older. By the time that it appeared, the constellation of Vedic gods had set, and one of deified heroes was arising or had arisen. Rama, the deified King of Ayodhya (Oude), the hero of the former poem, is still ex- tensively worshipped, along with Hunoo- man, the monkey god and Krishna, the hero of the Mahabharat. During the period of the Brahmanas, the Brahmanic priesthood had arisen to great power; during that of the Sutras they were in quiet €njo3rment of their caste dignity. By the 6th century Buddha had arisen to preach the equal- ity of all castes, and his system was dominant in India from about 250 B. C. till 750 A. D., that is, for 1,000 years. When Brahmanism reasserted its sway the Hindu triad of gods — Brahma, Vishnu and Siva — had arisen (see these words). Nay, Brahma had become almost obsolete, and the respective ad- vocates of Vishnu and Siva were at variance. Between the 12th and the 16th centuries monastic reformers formed sects, some Vishnuvite, others Sivaite. New sacred books, called, however, Puranas (meaning old), are penned to advocate the tenets of conflicting sects, and, though contradicting each other, were accepted as divine. The Moham- medan invasion somewhat repressed their quarrels. At present, the worship of Vishnu under the forms of Krishna and of Rama, and of Siva under that of the Lingam with the veneration of Sukti, the power and energy of the divine nature in action; to which must be added the adoration of Hunooman, Rama's friend; and, in many places of aboriginal Turanian gods, are the most prevalent forms of popular Hinduism. Reformers are falling back on the Vedas, and Christianity obtains con- verts from it in every part of the land. BRAHMAPUTRA (bra'ma-po'tra), a large river of Asia, whose sources, not yet explored, are situated near Lake Manasarovara, in Tibet, near those of the Indus. In Tibet, where it is called the Sanpo, it flows eastward N. of the Himalayas, and, after taking a sharp bend and passing through these moun- tains, it emerges in the N. E. of Assam as the Dihong; is joined by the Dibong and the Lohit, when the united stream takes the name of Brahmaputra. After entering Bengal it joins the Ganges at Goalanda, and farther on the Meghna, and their united waters flow into the Bay of Bengal. Its total length is, per- haps, 1,800 miles. BRAHMS, JOHANNES (bramz), a German composer, born in Hamburg, May 7, 1833. In 1861 he went to Vienna, where he devoted himself to composition. His great "German Re- quiem" (1868) established his reputa- tion. He was the composer of many symphonies, "Rinaldo," "The Song of Destiny," songs, cantatas, etc. His un- rivaled settings of "Hungarian Dances" and his own "Liebeslieder" dances with choral accompaniment, rank with the finest compositions. He died in Vienna, April 3, 1897.
