Page:The religions of India.djvu/141



As we pass to the younger religions which have developed in the train of Brahmanism, the first of these which presents itself to us is Buddhism, not because it has been proved to be the most ancient, but because it attained a separate independent existence before any other, and is in a way a direct offshoot from the old stock, while its rivals have rather been engrafted into it like parasitic plants. Buddhism presents, in fact, a twofold aspect. On the one hand, it is a Hindu phenomenon, a natural product, so to speak, of the age and social circle that witnessed