Page:History of India Vol 1.djvu/243

Rh spirit, of creation and future existence, were considered by the Sankhya Philosophy, not as by the Upanishads in guesses and speculations, but with the strictest method and most relentless logic. Other schools of philosophy followed the lead of the Sankhya system, and boldly inquired into the mysteries of soul and mind, of creation and of the Creator.

Orthodox Hindus became alarmed at the spread of skeptical ideas, and a reaction set in. The result is the Vedanta system of philosophy, which re-asserts the great doctrines of the Upanishads, and which forms to this day the basis of Hindu beliefs and religious convictions. In the meantime, however, a far mightier movement than that caused by philosophical opinions had been set on foot, when, in the sixth century before Christ, Gautama Buddha was born and proclaimed to the poor and the lowly that Vedic rites were useless, that a holy and tranquil and benevolent life is the essence of religion, and that caste distinctions do not exist among those who strive after holiness and purity. Thousands responded to his appeal, and thus a catholic religion began to spread in India, which has since become the religion of Asia.

From this brief account of the age given by way of introduction, the reader will have some idea of the intellectual activity of this most brilliant period of Hindu civilization. Religious rights and duties were laid down lucidly and concisely for householders; civil and criminal laws were compiled; phonetics, metre, and grammar were dealt with with scientific accuracy; geometry