The constitution of India is therefore like a house without a foundation and without a roof.

It is a principle of Hindoo religion not to kill a worm, not even to tread on a blade of grass, for fear of injuring life; but the torments, cruelties, and bloodshed inflicted by Indian tyrants would shock a Nero or a Borgia.

Half the best informed writers on India will tell you that the Brahmanical religion is pure monotheism; the other half as confidently assert that they worship a million gods.

Some teach us that the Hindoos are spiritualists and pantheists; others that their idolatry is more gross than that of any living people.
Is there any way of reconciling these inconsistencies?
If we cannot find such an explanation, there is at least one central point where we may place ourselves; one elevated position, from which this mighty maze will not seem wholly without a plan.

In India the whole tendency of thought is ideal, the whole religion a pure spiritualism.