History of Religion: A Sketch of Primitive Religious Beliefs and Practices, and of the Origin and Character of the Great SystemsMenzies, Allan
Religion
History of Religion: A Sketch of Primitive Religious Beliefs and Practices, and of the Origin and Character of the Great Systems
Menzies, Allan
Religions
In this instance etymology admittedly points out one of the principal
features of the common Aryan religions. But if we hope that etymology
will reveal to us many further instances of the same kind, and
introduce us to the whole Pantheon of the Aryans, we shall be
disappointed. There are one or two more cases of etymological
agreement between the gods of India and those of Europe,[6] but the
agreement is in some of these cases no more than etymological. The
Tiw or Tyr of the Teutonic mythology does not correspond in office or
character with Zeus or Jupiter, though the names are etymologically
akin. The agreement does not extend to all the religions in question,
nor does it extend in any two religions to all their gods; most of
the gods of Europe have no parallels in India. The evidence of
etymology, therefore, tells us but little of that early religion of
which we are in search. But if we consider the views and habits of
the barbarous shepherd-huntsman, who is now seen to be the typical
figure of common Aryanism, we need not seek long before we find
something that was common to all the Aryan faiths. The patriarchal
household has a religion which belongs to itself, and which is the
working bond of union of its members. The hearth is its altar,
because the forefathers of the house lie buried under it, or for
another reason. These forefathers certainly are its gods. This
hearth-cult has for its priest the father of the family; he in his
turn will be gathered to his fathers if he has a legitimate son to do
the last rites for him. No one but members of the family can partake
in the domestic worship, all unconnected with the family by blood
must be kept at a distance from these rites. This is not a religion
in which the individual counts anything for his own sake, any more
than totemistic religion is; in both it is the community alone that
serves the deity, in the one case, those acknowledging the same
totem, in the second, those united by blood in the same family. In
totemism the individual sacrifices himself to the tribe; here he is
nothing apart from his family. Aryan piety is family religion pure
and simple. It fosters sentiments which have been the strength of
Aryan society in all lands. It makes family life a sacred thing,
lends to all domestic ties the highest sanction, and causes the mere
mention of "hearth and home" to be the strongest incentive to valour
and self-denial. Even in the wild-beast ferocity with which early
men defend their homes against the intrusion of strangers, the
germs of lofty domestic and patriotic virtues may be seen. Thus
ancestor-worship, which is a part of the very beginnings of human
religion, is a more effective force among the Aryans than anywhere
else. In Egypt and China that worship is a highly artificial thing,
and has lost much of its original force. In Egypt it is the fortunes
of the dead that are most thought of; in China the cult has been
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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