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The Beginnings of Hindu Theosophy 2.213

There is at this time no centre of learning, no stoa, no monastery, no university. With the beginning of the growth of the higher religion there are con— nected many names, but not 0725’ name... There is no great teacher of genius like Buddha who is of a later time. We have no reason to look to some confined space within which this business of world philosophy was carried on exclusively. Indeed, the sporadic, tentative nature of the earliest high thought, the way in which it was approached from many different sides and in many different moods, shows that it ﬂitted about from place to place, and was the play-ball of many minds. But, I believe, we can tell pretty deﬁ- nitcly the kind of environment from which theosophy received its ﬁrst impulse, and within which it pros- pered up to goodly size and strength. That, curi- ously enough, was the great Vedic sacriﬁce with its mock business and endless technicalities, calculated to deaden the soul, and apparently the very thing to put the lid tight on higher religious inspiration and aspiration.

The great Vedic sacriﬁces, the so-called {mam sac- riﬁces, such as the rci’jkzszZJ/a (coronation of a king), or the ogrwmadke (horse—sacriﬁce) were performances intended to strengthen the temporal power of kings. They were, of course, undertaken either by kings or at least rich Kshatriyas, rather than by the class of