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A Series of Lessons on the Inner Teachings of the Philosophies and Religions of India1306
principles of the deity, and who resemble the ordinary worshipers of Shiva,
except that they manifest a preference for the destructive and terrible
aspects of their god; and (2) the Vamachari, who concentrate their worship
exclusively upon the feminine and maternal aspects of the deity, and who
have been accused of a tendency toward Phallic worship. The ancient Thugs,
and other terrible cults of India, were degenerated sects of Shakta worship.
But, so strange is the division of Hindu thought, among the Shaktas are to be
found many holding high ideals of the female deity as the Universal Mother,
or Nature, as such worshiping her with beautiful ceremonies and ritual, and
with the highest idealistic expressions, as we shall see presently.
The influence of Buddhism for a number of centuries after the death of
Gautama Buddha, its founder, was quite marked, and the new religion left
its impress upon many of the other forms of religion and philosophy in India.
Following directly after the influence of the Vishnu and Shiva cults upon the
orthodox priesthood, and which compelled them to revise and modify the
original conceptions and authorized teachings, the teachings and doctrine
of the Buddha did still more to shake the foundations of the priestly
authority, and to render more catholic and universal the Universal Hindu
Religion. Buddhism brought about an extreme adherence to the old respect
for animal life, and led to the abolition of animal sacrifice. The Buddhist
idea of Universal Brotherhood also had its effect in softening the hitherto
rigid lines of caste, and led to the extending of religious knowledge to the
lower castes who before that time were debarred from this instruction, and
had to content themselves with the crumbs that fell from the tables of the
higher castes. But, in the end the Brahmins reasserted their ascendancy, and
although their ideas had been modified by Buddhism, still they managed
to crowd out the Buddhistic religious teachers and cults, peaceably but
irresistibly, until now there is but a shadow of Buddhism left in India, in fact
in the central part of India proper it is not known at all among the people.
Akin to this influence was that of the Jains, whose cult was a part of the
general Buddhistic movement, although independent. The Jains affected the