Page:The Religion of the Veda.djvu/12

xii
Contents
of the Upanishads-The Upanishads in the West
-Critical estimate of the Upanishads... ........ 1-59
PAGES
LECTURE THE SECOND.
THE HIERATIC RELIGION. THE PANTHEON
OF THE VEDA.
Fundamental traits of carly Vedic religion-- Fale view
of the nature of Vedie poetry The Rig Veda as
sacrificial poetry-Dificulty of understanding the
ritual character of the Rig-Veda Poetry addressed
to the Goddess Dawn-A hymn to the sacrifice
post-The Goddess Dawn as the symbol of librality
at the sacrifice-Some erroneous estimates of God-
dess Dawn-Agni the son of "Baksheesh "--Prac-
tical purposes of Vedic poetry-The Rig-Veda con-
tains the religion of the upper classes --The ritual of
the Rig-Veda-The apri-hymns-Nature-worship
the keynote of the Rig-Veda-India's climate and
nature-worship. Vedic and Hellenic mythology
compared-- Arrested anthropomorphism Defini-
tion of the word Pantheon as applied to the Veda
-Faulty classifications of the Vedic gods-Chrono-
logy of the gods-Different degrees of certainty
about the origin of the gods-Classification of the
gods in these lectures...
.60-98
LECTURE THE THIRD.
THE PREHISTORIC GODS.
Two prehistoric periods bearing upon Ilindu religion-
Scepticism about Comparative Mythology-Diffi-
culties in the way of Comparative Mythology--Com-
parative Mythology and Ethnology-The myth of
Cerberus-The Indo-European period-Prehistoric
words for god-Father Sky and Mother Earth-
The Thunderer-The Vedic Açvins, or "Horsemen,"
the two Sons of Heaven-The Dioscuri in Greek