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
worship of beings whom it regards with indifference, comes short of
the notion of religion, and is not properly entitled to that name.
BOOKS RECOMMENDED
Monier Williams, _Buddhism, in its connection with Brahmanism and
Hinduism, and in its contrast with Christianity_, 1889.
Rhys Davids, _Buddhism_ (S.P.C.K.).
Oldenberg's, _Buddha, his Life, his Doctrine and his Order_, 1882
(out of print). (Third German Edition, 1897.)
Spence Hardy, _Manual of Buddhism_, 1860.
E. Hardy, _Der Buddhismus_.
CHAPTER XXI
PERSIA
The Aryans who entered India to become its dominant race came from
Central Asia, and left behind them there other tribes of Aryan
culture. These tribes remained in what is called Iran, in the lands,
that is to say, between the Indus, the Caspian Sea, the Black Sea,
and the Persian Gulf. It is from this region, a part of which bore in
ancient times the name of Ariana, that the word "Aryan" is derived.
The languages of this territory are akin to Sanscrit; and there is
ample evidence that before the Indian invasion the progenitors of the
Indians and those of the Iranians dwelt together there, and enjoyed a
common civilisation. If the civilisation was the same the religion
also was the same. How the Indo-Iranian religion was developed in
India, we have seen. At first a worship of active and militant
deities, it became by degrees a religion of a passive type, in which
a suffering, acquiescent, and brooding humanity presented to heaven
its needs and problems, and received a corresponding answer. The
Aryans who remained in Iran retained their active and practical
disposition. While by no means wanting in sensitiveness and
flexibility of mind, they were less given to speculation and more to
a robust morality than their Indian kinsmen. It has to be noted that
while the religion of India has not influenced Europe in any manifest
degree until the present century, that of Persia has contributed in a
marked way to form the world of thought in which we dwell.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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