=Agni.=—­Fire (Agni, the tireless) is regarded as another form of the sun.  The Hindoo, who produces it by rapidly rubbing two pieces of wood together, imagines that the fire comes from the wood and that the rain has placed it there.  He conceives it then as the fire of heaven descended to earth; in fact, when one places it on the hearth, it springs up as if it would ascend toward heaven.  Agni dissipates darkness, warms mankind, and cooks his food; it is the benefactor and the protector of the house.  It is also “the internal fire,” the soul of the world; even the ancestor of the human race is the “son of lightning.”  Thus, heat and light, sources of all life, are the deities of the Hindoo.

=Worship.=—­To adore his gods he strives to reproduce what he sees in heaven.  He ignites a terrestrial fire by rubbing sticks, he nourishes it by depositing on the hearth, butter, milk, and soma, a fermented drink.  To delight the gods he makes offerings to them of fruits and cakes; he even sacrifices to them cattle, rams and horses; he then invokes them, chanting hymns to their praise.  “When thou art bidden by us to quaff the soma, come with thy sombre steeds, thou deity whose darts are stones.  Our celebrant is seated according to prescription, the sacred green is spread, in the morning stones have been gathered together.  Take thy seat on the holy sward; taste, O hero, our offering to thee.  Delight thyself in our libations and our chants, vanquisher of Vritra, thou who art honored in these ceremonies of ours, O Indra.”

The Hindoo thinks that the gods, felicitated by his offerings and homage, will in their turn make him happy.  He says naively, “Give sacrifice to the gods for their profit, and they will requite you.  Just as men traffic by the discussion of prices, let us exchange force and vigor, O Indra.  Give to me and I will give to you; bring to me and I will bring to you.”

=Ancestor Worship.=—­At the same time the Hindoo adores his ancestors who have become gods, and perhaps this cult is the oldest of all.  It is the basis of the family.  The father who has transmitted the “fire of life” to his children makes offering every day at his hearth-fire, which must never be extinguished, the sacrifice to gods and ancestors, and utters the prayers.  Here it is seen that among Hindoos, as among other Aryans, the father is at once a priest and a sovereign.

THE BRAHMANIC SOCIETY

=The Hindoos on the Ganges.=—­The Hindoos passing beyond the region of the Indus, between the fourteenth and tenth century B.C. conquered all the immense plains of the Ganges.  Once settled in this fertile country, under a burning climate, in the midst of a people of slaves, they gradually changed customs and religion.  And so the Brahmanic society was established.  Many works in Sanscrit are preserved from this time, which, with the Vedas, form the sacred literature of the Hindoos.  The principal are the great epic poems, the Mahabarata, which has more than 200,000 verses; the Ramayana with 50,000, and the laws of Manou, the sacred code of India.