The Positive Background of Hindu Sociology c9.s12.1

c9.s12.1

It is interesting to observe that according to Sylvain Lévi⁴² nothing is more "brutal and materialistic than the theology of the Brāhmaṇas." There is said to be "no morality" in it. The sacrifice which regulates the relations of man with the gods is alleged to be a "mechanical operation." Its efficacy is considered to be due to the "magical action of the priest." The initiation which regenerates is supposed to be a "faithful picture of conception, gestation and child-birth." A religion so crude and coarse, says he, implies a people of semi-savages (*une religion aussi grossière suppose un people de demi-sauvages*). The notions are alleged to be marked by "savage realism."