Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free.This is an OCR edition with typos.Excerpt from book:Chapter VIII.—Brahmanism—Suttee, And Infant Marriage. When Buddhism first commenced to lose its hold upon the people of India cannot now be ascertained. It is rather startling that for most of the facts concerning the history of India we are indebted, not to Indian historians (of whom there does not appear to have been one), but to Chinese travellers. We learn from them that towards the close of the fourth century after Christ Buddhism was rapidly losing ground; indeed, many of its temples were even thus early in ruins. Its followers would appear to have been driven by degrees towards the north-west of the Peninsula, where the remains of cave temples give evidence of their having suffered persecution. Some of these ruins are very large, those for instance at Elephanta, about seven miles from Bombay. Before the twelfth century closed all traces of Buddhism, save the temple ruins, had disappeared from India proper, finding homes more congenial to the north of the Himalayas, in Siberia, China, Japan, Ceylon, and some of the islands in the Indian Archipelago. Its adherents now number about 450 millions! After the retreat of its opponent, Brahmanism urged its pretensions with i till greater force, and till a few years ago the whole of India was under the complete control of this priestly class. The doctrine of Nirvana, introduced by Buddha, greatly influenced the conception of the Future Life which theBrahmans promulgated after their return to power. Transmigration was still believed in, but it was by no means so prominent a feature as it had been. Absorption took its place. " That person who understands and believes the Almighty Being will be absorbed in Him." " He who in life was devoted to the Supreme Being shall, " after death, be absorbed in Him, and again be lia...