In the third section, which may be denominated the kernel of the book, the subdivisions and order of presentation necessarily vary, the division into periods being best adapted to one religion, the geographical order for another, the grouping of themes in a logical sequence for a third; but in every case, the range covered will be the same, namely, the beliefs, including the pantheon, the relation to the gods, views of life and death, the rites—­both the official ones and the popular customs—­the religious literature and architecture.  A fourth section will furnish a general estimate of the religion, its history, and the relation it bears to others.  Each volume will conclude with a full bibliography, index, and necessary maps, with illustrations introduced into the text as called for.  The Editor has been fortunate in securing the services of distinguished specialists whose past labors and thorough understanding of the plan and purpose of the series furnish a guarantee for the successful execution of their task.

It is the hope of the Editor to produce in this way a series of manuals that may serve as text-books for the historical study of religions in our universities and seminaries.  In addition to supplying this want, the arrangement of the manuals will, it is expected, meet the requirements of reliable reference-books for ascertaining the present status of our knowledge of the religions of antiquity, while the popular manner of presentation, which it will be the aim of the writers to carry out, justifies the hope that the general reader will find the volumes no less attractive and interesting.

  University of Pennsylvania.

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FOOTNOTES: 

[Footnote 1:  In an article by the writer published in the Biblical World (University of Chicago Press) for January, 1893, there will be found an account of the present status of the Historical Study of Religions in this country.]

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CHAPTER I.—­INTRODUCTION.

SOURCES.—­DATES.—­METHODS OF INTERPRETATION.—­DIVISIONS OF SUBJECT.

SOURCES.

India always has been a land of religions.  In the earliest Vedic literature are found not only hymns in praise of the accepted gods, but also doubts in regard to the worth of these gods; the beginnings of a new religion incorporated into the earliest records of the old.  And later, when, about 300 B.C, Megasthenes was in India, the descendants of those first theosophists are still discussing, albeit in more modern fashion, the questions that lie at the root of all religion.  “Of the philosophers, those that are most estimable he terms Brahmans ([Greek:  brachmanas]).  These discuss with many words concerning death.