The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v2.c41.13

v2.c41.13

Still less can we deduce Indian influence on Greece from the famous Orphic hymn,⁵ which celebrates the greatness of Zeus, and was in some form or other known to Plato,⁶ Aischylos,⁷ and Xenophanes.⁸ The parallelism which has been seen between the cosmic doctrine of this hymn and that of the Puruṣasūkta ⁹ is interesting, but it is not claimed ¹⁰ that it is due to borrowing from India. Rather it is suggested that the Orphic movement owed much to Iranian religious conceptions of the people, which play little part in the reformed religion of Zoroaster. Nor need we doubt Iranian influence on this comparatively late movement. But, so far as ascertained facts go, the evidence of any intellectual ¹¹ connexion of a serious character between Greece and India in the period before the extension of the empire of Persia to the north-west of India is still to seek.