The remedy chosen by the Brahmans was a bold and desperate one.  These heroes must be raised out of the soldier caste by making them divine.  As such they would hold a nearer relation to the divine Brahmans than to the soldiers.  The legends were therefore worked over—­Brahmanized—­so to speak.[58] Rama, who had overcome certain chieftains of Ceylon, and Krishna, who had won great battles in Rajputana, were raised to the rank of gods and demi-gods.  By an equal exaggeration the hostile chiefs of rival invaders were transformed to demons, and the black, repulsive hill tribes, who were involved as allies in these conflicts, were represented as apes.  As a part of this same Brahmanizing process, the doctrine of the Trimurti was developed, and also the doctrine of incarnation.  Most conspicuous were the incarnations of Vishnu; Rama and Krishna were finally placed among the ten incarnations of that deity.  This was a skilful stroke of policy, for it was now no longer the heroes of the soldier caste who had won victory for the Aryans; it was Vishnu, the preserver, the care-taker, and sympathizer with all the interests of mankind.  The development of the doctrines of the Trimurti and of incarnation undoubtedly followed both the rise of Buddhism and the promulgation of the Laws of Manu.

Meanwhile the Brahmans were shrewd enough to adapt themselves to certain other necessities.  The influence of Buddhism was still a force which was not to be disregarded.  It had demonstrated one thing which had never been recognized before, and that was the need of a more human and sympathetic element in the divine objects of worship.  Men were weary of worshipping gods who had no kindly interest in humanity.  They were weary of a religion which had no other element than that of fear or of bargaining with costly sacrifices.  They longed for something which had the quality of mercy.  Buddha had demonstrated the value of this element, and by an adroit stroke of policy the Brahmans adopted Gautama as the ninth avatar of Vishnu.  Meanwhile they adopted the heroic Krishna as the god of sympathy—­the favorite of the lower masses who were not too critical toward his vices.

We have now reached the fully developed form of Hinduism.[59] The Brahmans had embraced every element that could give strength to their broad, eclectic, and all-embracing system.[60] The doctrine of the Trimurti had become a strong factor, as it furnished a sort of framework, and gave stability.  As compared with the early Aryanism, it removed the idea of deity from merely natural forces to that of abstract thoughts, principles, and emotions, as active and potent in the world.  At the same time it retained the old Vedic deities under new names and with new functions, and it did not abate its professed regard for Vedic authority.  The Brahmans had rendered their system popular in a sense with the intellectual classes by adopting all the philosophies.  They had stopped the mouth