THE RENAISSANCE IN INDIA
life, yet that was not its original character whether in its early vedantic intuitional forms or in those later developments of it, such as the Gita, which belong to the period of its most vigorous intellec- tual originality and creation. Buddhism itself, the philosophy which first really threw doubt on the value of life, did so only in its intellectual tendency ; in its dynamic parts, by its ethical sys- tem and spiritual method, it gave a new set of values, a severe vigour, yet a gentler idealism to human living and was therefore powerfully creative both in the arts which interpret life and in society and politics. To realise intimately truth of spirit and to quicken and to remould life by it is the native tendency of the Indian mind, and to that it must always return in all its periods of health, great- ness and vigour. All great movements of life in India have begun with a new spiritual thought and usually a new religious
49
