The connection with ancient Persian mythology is closer.  The Avestan religion was a reformation due to the genius of Zoroaster and therefore comparable with Buddhism rather than Hinduism, but the less systematic polytheism which preceded it contained much which reminds us of the Vedic hymns.  It can hardly be doubted that the ancestors of the Indians and Iranians once practised almost identical forms of religion and had even a common ritual.  The chief features of the fire cult and of the Soma or Haoma sacrifice appear in both.  The sacrifice is called Yajna in the Veda, Yasna in the Avesta:  the Hotri priest is Zaotar, Atharvan is Athravan, Mitra is Mithra.  Vayu and Apah (the divine waters) meet us in the Avesta in almost the same forms and Indra’s epithet of Vritrahan (the slayer of Vritra) appears as Verethragna.  Ahura Mazda seems to be a development of the deity who appears as Varuna in India though he has not the same name, and the main difference between Indian and Iranian religion lies in this, that the latter was systematized by a theistic reformer who exalted one deity above the others, whereas in India, where there was more religious vitality, polytheistic and pantheistic fancies flourished uncurbed and the greatest reformer, the Buddha, was not a theist.

One peculiarity of Indians in all ages is that they put more into religion than other races.  It received most of the energy and talent which, elsewhere, went into art, politics and philosophy.  Hence it became both intense and manifold, for deities and creeds were wanted for every stage of intelligence and variety of taste, and also very tolerant, for sects in India, though multitudinous, are not so sharply divided or mutually hostile as in Europe.  Connected with the general interest which religion inspired is its strongly marked speculative character.  The Rig Veda asks whether in the beginning there was being or not being, and the later Vedas and Brahmanas are filled with discussions as to the meaning of ceremonies, which show that the most dreary formalism could not extinguish the innate propensity to seek for a reason.  In the Upanishads we have the same spirit dealing with more promising material.  And throughout the long history of Hinduism religion and philosophy are seldom separated:  we rarely find detached metaphysicians:  philosophers found new sects or support old ones:  religion absorbs philosophy and translates it into theology or myths.

4

To the age of the Vedas succeeds that of the Brahmanas or sacrificial treatises.  The two periods are distinct and have each a well-marked tone, but they pass into one another, for the Yajur and Sama Vedas pre-suppose the ritual of the Brahmanas.  These treatises introduce us to one feature of Indian religion mentioned above, namely the extraordinary elaboration of its ritual.  To read them one would suppose that the one occupation of all India was the offering of sacrifices.  The accounts are no doubt exaggerated