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HINDUISM.
II. THE SECTS, THEIR HISTORY AND DOCTRINES.
Obscurity of the ancient and most interesting portion of this history. — Absence of a chronology, and want of accurate information, notwithstanding the array of documents.— The Mahabharata, the Ramayana,
the Puranas. — The positive history 'of the sects does not commence till the eleventh or twelfth century, by which time they are capable only of reassertion. — Ancient Vishnuism : idealism of the Bhagavad Gita, and its influence on the entire ulterior development. — Moderate idealism of the Pancaratras or Bhagavatas. — The schools and sects of Cankara, Ram^nuja, and Anandatirtha. — Ancient (^ivaism, its preference for the Sankhya metaphysics. — Pa^upatas and Mahegvaras. — The doctrine of grace among the Caivas. — The ^akti, or the female principle : the Caktas and their twofold rite of the right hand and the left hand : human sacrifices, magical and obscene rites. — Idealistic Civaism : Tridandins and Smartas. — The Kashmir school of the Pratyabhijna. — Great Çivaite religions of the Dekhan : Basava and the Lingayits. — The Sittars and the alchemists : Arab influences. — The Qivaite sects of the North : the different orders of Yogins. — Extravagance of asceticism and moral degeneracy. — Apparent decrease of ^ivaism. — Doctrine of salvation and the means of it : Jnana or gnosis : above it Bhakti or faith. — Is this Bhakti such as it at first appears in Vishnuism, something borrowed from Christianity ? — Jesus and Krishna, alleged reciprocal influence of the two religions small in reality. — Results of the doctrine of Bhakti ; splitting up of sects and idolatry. — Refinements of Quietism and Mysticism. — The doctrine of grace among the Vaish-iiavas. — In consequence of his very elation Bhakti leads back to formalism. — Bestowed on the Guru, who is deified, and at length the only authority of the sect, it becomes a new cause of schism. —Vishnuism becomes an erotic religion : sects of Caitanya, Vallabhacarya, and others. — Mystic and pietistic communities.
From what precedes it is easy to see that the different ways of connecting or combining the persons of the gods, which occupy so great a space in the literature, and one of which, at least, the Trinity, has had a certain celebrity
