The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v1.c11.s4.13

v1.c11.s4.13

In the case of India we have further to face, as in that of Greece, but even more markedly, the absence of an early information as to the religion of the non-Aryan tribes. It is, of course, true that we may observe, and use observations earlier recorded of, the usages of the primitive tribes of India, but it would be absurd to claim that these represent the state attained by the non-Aryans¹ at the moment and the places where the Aryans came into contact with them. The material remains antedating the Hellenic invasions of Greece which shed a scanty light, pending the interpretation of the accompanying records, on pre-Hellenic religion are wanting in India, and the literary evidence of Dravidian religion comes far too late to enable us to state precisely what that religion was before the Aryans imprinted indelibly their influence on all higher religion in India. Whatever amount of Dravidian influence is to be traced on the religion of the Vedic texts,² it is certain that the epic already cannot be regarded as representing pure Aryan religion, and that indeed Dravidian influence may have been of great importance. By the epic period also we must make allowance, however, vaguely and uncertainly for the religious influences introduced by the hordes of invaders, Greek, Parthian, and Çaka from the north-west and still more perhaps for the contact of cultures, while in the Vedic period we are confronted with problems of Babylonian influence exercised either directly on India or on the Indo-Iranians, the possibilities of which have been largely increased by the discovery of Aryan deities in the records of the Mitanni.