INDEPENDENTS: A name given to the Congregationalists in England. See Congregationalists.
INDEX LIBRORUM PROHIBITORUM, sometimes called INDEX EXPURGATORIUS. See Censorship and Prohibition of Books.
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INDIA.
I. History.- 1. To 550 B.C.: The history of India before 563 B.C., the probable date of Buddha's birth, is obscure, but its general outlines have
:.-Early been inferred from the Vedic writings. Peoples The mountains and forests were inand Their habited by wild tribes of dark color Religions. and rude habits, now represented by the Bhils, Kola, and other tribes, and classed under, the name Kolarian. These appear to have been the true aborigines. A more civilized race, classed under, the name Dravidian, and now represented by the Tamils, Telugus, Kanarese, and other peoples of Southern India inhabited the great plains, living in settled communities and under fixed laws. They probably represent a later wave of emigration. The inference from many sources is that these. Dravidians were tree and serpent worshipers, with a phallic cult. At the same early period, before the dawn of authentic Indian history, a hardy race with fair features lived on the steppes of Southern Russia. They appear to have been nomads, and wandered according to the exigencies of their pastoral life. As they increased in numbers, their tribes migrated in different directions. Some going westward occupied Europe. One tribe settled in Persia, becoming known as the Iranians. Another, now named Indo-Aryans, overcame the great mountain barriers, and, making its way through the high passes of the Himalayas, occupied what is now Eastern Afghanistan and the Punjab. This invasion met with resistance from the Dravidian aborigines, but the Aryans were a stronger race and overcame them. This invasion occurred perhaps about 1500 B.C. Judging from the earliest Vedic hymns, the Aryans were nature worshipers. The natural phenomena witnessed is tie nomadic life made an impression of power, and the nomads inferred deities as the cause; hence they worshiped tile sun, the moon, the sky, wind, fire, and other phenomena as gods and goddesses. A second Aryan invasion is believed to have cccurred, perhaps about 1000 B.C., resisted by the earlier invaders; but ending in the amalgamation of Aryans and Dravidians in a national life extending as far as the Vindhya Mountains and Narmada River. In this amalgamation the Aryan influence predominated. Their religious ideas, though more or less modified, by contact with the religious ideas of the aboriginal peoples, became the prevailing religious ideas of all Northern India. The religious as well as political center in this period of amalgamation of the two Indo-Aryan waves. and the aborigines, from say 1000 B.C. to 550 B.C., was the Madhya desha, now the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh.
The classes into which the Indo-Aryans naturally fell, as religion and war were emphasized and material civilization advanced, gradually
Literature, or priestly taste; the Kshatriya or and warrior; the Vaishys, a general name philosophy. for artizan castes; and the Sudm or aborigines, who were added as a fourth caste, with its subdivisions. That there were ever only four castes is not probable. The names of the four castes were artificial designations, given to groupings of similar occupations, gradually becoming fixed in religious and social nomenclature, both as to number and supposed divine origin. In this period, 1000 s.c. to 550 B.C., the influence of the priests, or Brahmans, gradually increased until they became supreme. Learning was confined to them, and every institution of State and every private enterprise became dependent upon them. It was in this period that tie Vedic literature arose. The Vedic hymns (see Brahmanism, I., §§ 2-4), in the language of early Sanskrit, had come down through tradition in connection with the religious ritual. They were unwritten, but had been gathered into a Samhita or collection, known as the Sigroeda. Other collections were made, having in view the special purpose of the hymns. Those containing sacrificial formuh formed the YajtAroeda; those with sacrificial chants, the Samaveda; and in a somewhat later period the Atharvaveda, a collection of incantations. These collections, or Samhitas, were already unintelligible except to the most learned, and hence an explanatory literature arose, called the Brahmanaa. Among the Brahmans there were those who were philosophically inclined, and answered speculative questions regarding God and the universe in the Aranyakas and Upanishads (see Brahmanism, II., § 1). This speculation led to a monistic explanation of the universe and its origin, though the existence of gods and goddesses, as subordinate beings, was still believed. Thus the Vedantic philosophy took its rise, which, in one form or another, has dominated Indian thought from that time to the present day. In substance this philosophy taught that there is but one real substance, Brahma. The universe and all intelligences are but modes of Brahma's existence. The mode is temporary, and hence lacks reality. The only real thing is Brahma. The only way of deliver-
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It was during the latter part of this period, about 600 B.C., that the art of writing was introduced into India: There had long existed
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