The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v2.c41.s7.3

v2.c41.s7.3

The best case that can be made out for the Indo-European character of Vedic religion or philosophy depends on comparison with the achievements of other Indo-European peoples, and, of course, in this case we are met with the problem to what extent these religions and philosophies were Indo-European in character, or on the contrary represent elements borrowed by the invaders from the countries they occupied. Thus, for instance, we have Sir A. Evans' suggestion⁴ that the Homeric epic embodies largely traditions of the pre-Hellenic Minoans, though the language is Indo-European, and, even if we dismiss the suggestion as not very plausible, we are not in a position to disprove it definitely by the evidence available. More important is the close similarity of many Indian and Iranian ideas, as developed by Julius von Negelein in his *Weltanschauung des indogermanischen Asiens*, but it may be noted even here that, as that work shows, many of the important ideas of Aryan belief can be paralleled among other races.