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The Religion of the Veda
tween the Veda and the later Hindu Epic, the
Mahabharata. This is, in my opinion, an exag-
geration, but it is significant that the statement
could be made at all. The early religions and the
religious institutions of the Hindus and Persians
show, to be sure, far greater independence from one
another than their languages, but the are, never
theless, at the root much the same. So it has come
to pass that a not at all mean part of the Vedic
Pantheon and Vedic religious ideas begin before the
Veda. Or, to put it even more paradoxically, Indian
religion begins before its arrival in India.
Yet further, beyond the common period of the
Hindus and the Persians, there is a still remoter
period which is not entirely closed to our view.
It is the common Indo-European time, the time
when the Hindus and Persians still shared their
language and home with the remaining mem-
bers of the same stock, the Hellenes, Italians,
Celts, Teutons, and Slavs. In this altogether pre-
historic time there also existed certain germs of
religion, and some of these germs grew into import-
ant features of the later religions of these peoples.
The religion of the Veda is indebted to this carly
time to an extent that is not negligible. We shall
see later on in what way the two layers of prehis-
toric religious matter have contributed to and affected
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