In the early Vedic hymns are to be found many sublime passages which seem to suggest traces of those common traditions concerning the creation—­the Fall of man and the Deluge, which we believe to have been the earliest religious heritage of mankind.  They contrast strongly with the later and degrading cosmogonies of degenerate heathen systems, and especially with the grotesque fancies of the subsequent Hindu mythology.  In the Xth Mandala of the Rig Veda we find the following account of primeval chaos, which reminds one of the Mosaic Genesis: 

   “In the beginning there was neither aught nor naught,
    There was neither sky nor atmosphere above. 
    What then enshrouded all the teeming universe? 
    In the receptacle of what was it contained? 
    Was it enveloped in the gulph profound of water? 
    There was then neither death nor immortality. 
    There was then neither day nor night, nor light nor darkness. 
    Only the Existing One breathed calmly self-contained,
    Naught else but him there was, naught else above, beyond;
    Then first came darkness hid in darkness, gloom in gloom,
    Next all was water, chaos indiscreet
    In which the One lay void, shrouded in nothingness,
    Then turning inward by self-developed force
    Of inner fervor and intense abstraction grew.”

In the early Vedic period many of the corruptions of later times were unknown.  There was no distinct doctrine of caste, no transmigration, no mist of pantheism, no idol-worship, no widow-burning, and no authorized infanticide.  The abominable tyranny which was subsequently imposed upon woman was unknown; the low superstitions of the aboriginal tribes had not been adopted; nor, on the other hand, had philosophy and speculation taken possession of the Hindu mind.  The doctrine of the Trimurti and the incarnations had not appeared.[35]

The faith of the Hindus in that early period may be called Aryanism, or Vedism.  It bore sway from the Aryan migration, somewhere about one thousand five hundred, or two thousand, years before Christ, to about eight hundred years before Christ.[36] By that time the priestly class had gained great power over all other ranks.  They had begun to work over the Vedas to suit their own purposes, selecting from them such portions as could be framed into an elaborate ritual—­known as the Brahmanas.  The period during which they continued this ritualistic development is known as the Brahmana period.  This extended from about eight hundred to five hundred B.C.[37] These, however, are only the approximate estimates of modern scholarship:  such a thing as ancient history is unknown to the Hindu race.  This Brahmana period was marked by the intense and overbearing sacerdotalism of the Brahmans, and by an extreme development of the doctrine of caste.  Never was priestly tyranny carried to greater length than by these lordly Brahmans of India.  One of the chief abuses of their system was their depravation of sacrifice.