Buddhism. [Footnote 3: "From the standpoint of unity with Brahma, the gods are no-gods, the Vedas no-Vedas."] The further development of Indian religion, apart from Buddhism, is in two directions. There is a philosophical movement, in which the Brahmanic ideas on God, the world, the soul and its changes, are further worked out, and which leads to the six schools of Hindu philosophy. On the other hand, the gods have their history. Brahma remains the great god, but as his character is so undefined he is little worshipped. Indra, the old national god, yields to Vishnu, the old sun-god of the three steps (heaven, the air, the earth), who becomes the favourite deity. The stern and destructive S'iva is a new figure, and seems to be partly an adaptation of a god of the savage aborigines: his worship is the most fanatical. These three, the Creator, the Upholder, and the Destroyer, form the Trimurti, or divine trinity of India,--a trinity arrived at not by unfolding the riches of the one great god, but by compounding the claims of three gods who were rivals. The doctrine of incarnation is also found here. Vishnu has ten avatars or incarnations in human form; he comes down to the earth when there is a special reason for his interference. In these avatars, especially in Krishna, the dark god, whose exploits as a hero are told in the great epic the Mahabharata, the need is to some extent met, of which both Buddhism and Christianity lay hold, of a divine figure who is not too far away from man, and who can be regarded with personal affection. BOOKS RECOMMENDED Most of the books mentioned at the end of last chapter deal also with Brahmanism. Of the Brahmanic literature given in the Sacred Books of the East, the following may be mentioned:-- Vols. i. and xv. Upanishads. Vols. ii. and xiv. Sacred Laws of the Aryas. Vol. vii. The Institutes of Vishnu. Vols. xii., xxvi., and xli. The Satapatha-Brahmana (Sacrificial Rituals). Vol. xxv. Manu. Vols. xxix., and xxx. Grihya-Sutras (Domestic Ceremonies). Vol. xxxiv. Vedic Hymns. xlvi. Hymns to Agni. Vols. xlii.-xliv. Hymns of the Atharva-Veda. Vols. xxxiv., xxxviii., xlviii. Vedanta Sutras. Muir's _Sanscrit Texts_. Weber, _Indische Skizzen_. Haug, _Aitareya Brahmana_. CHAPTER XX INDIA III. _Buddhism_