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Bible Encyclopedias
Brahmanism
1911 Encyclopedia Britannica
or a term commonly used to denote a system of religious institutions originated and elaborated by the Brahmans, the sacerdotal and, from an early period, the dominant caste of the Hindu community (see BRAHMAN). In like manner, as the language of the Aryan Hindus has undergone continual processes of modification and dialectic division, so their religious belief has passed through various stages of development broadly distinguished from one another by certain prominent features. The earliest phases of religious thought in India of which a clear idea can now be formed are exhibited in a body of writings, looked upon by later generations in the light of sacred writ, under the collective name of Veda (" knowledge") or Sruti (" revelation"). The Hindu scriptures consist of four separate collections, or Samhitas, of sacred texts, or mantras, including hymns, incantations and sacrificial forms of prayer, viz. the Rich (nom. sing. yik) or Rigveda, the Selman or Samaveda, the Yajus or Yajurveda, and the Atharvan or Atharvaveda. Each of these four text-books has attached to it a body of prose writings, called Brahmanas (see
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Chisholm, Hugh, General Editor. Entry for 'Brahmanism'. 1911 Encyclopedia Britanica. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/bri/b/brahmanism.html. 1910.
