it goes into dissolution and remains in that condition for another Kalpa, to be followed by a fresh period of activity. Each Kalpa has fourteen well-marked subcycles called Manvantaras, each of which is again made up of four periods called Yugas. The name Manvantara means time between the Manus, and Manu means "with one mind," that is to say, humanity, the whole suggesting that a Manvantara is the period between one humanity and another on this globe. Whence it will also be clear why the present Manvantara is called Vaivasvata, "belonging to the sun," for, as is well established, on that luminary depends the life and being of man on this earth. This theory of cycles and subcycles is amply corroborated by modern geological and astronomical researches, and considerable light may be thrown on the evolution of man if with reason as our guide we study the aspect of the Puranas. The theory of Simian descent is confronted in the Puranas with a theory more in accord with reason and experience. But I have no time to go into the details of each and every Puranika myth. I can only assure you, gentlemen, that all that is taught in the Puranas is capable of being explained consistently in accord with the main body of ancient theosophy expounded in the Vedas, the Sutras, and the Darsanas. We must only free ourselves from what Herbert Spencer calls the religious bias and learn to look facts honestly in the face.
I must say a word here about idol worship, for it is exactly in or after the Pauranika period that idols came to be used in India. It may be said without the least fear of contradiction, that no Indian idolater, as such, believes the piece of stone, metal, or wood before his eyes to be his God in any sense of the word. He takes it only as a symbol of the all-pervading, and uses it as a convenient object for purposes of concentration, which, being accomplished, he does not hesitate to throw away. The religion of the Tantras, which plays an important part in this period, has considerable influence on this question, and the symbology they taught as typical of several important processes of evolution, has been made the basic idea in the formation of idols. Idols, too, have, therefore, a double purpose—that of perpetuating a teaching as old as the world, and that of serving as convenient aids to concentration.
These interpretations of Pauranika myths find ample corroboration in the myths that are met with in all ancient religions of the world; and these explanations of idol worship have an exact parallel application to the worship of the Tau in Egypt, of the cross in Christendom, and of the Kaba in Mohammedanism.
With these necessarily brief explanations we may try to see what influence the Puranas have had on Hinduism in general. It is true the Puranas have added no new connotation' to the name, but the one very important lesson they have taught the Hindu is the principal of universal toleration. The Puranas have distinctly taught the unity of the All, and satisfactorily demonstrated that every creed and worship is but one of the many ways to
