Religions of Ancient India (Review)

Summary

This review assesses Louis Renou’s *Religions of Ancient India*. Renou, a distinguished Vedic scholar, treats the Vedas as a ritual anthology compiled from family traditions rather than a mythological text. He argues that Vedic imagery has ritual significance and that Vedism already contains yoga; Vedic esotericism foreshadows later Hindu esoteric practices. Renou disagrees with many scholars on Vedic chronology and geography and notes that the inability to date texts and locate their milieu hampers progress. He discounts links between the Indus civilisation and the Vedas. In interpreting Hinduism, he starts with contemporary religion and traces back to Vedic roots, concluding that modern Hinduism is a blend of Aryan and non‑Aryan elements and retains little of the Vedic religion apart from mythology. He sees Hinduism as a product of creative imagination deeply connected to philosophical speculation and literature. Renou divides sacred texts into three categories—Vaiṣṇava saṃhitās, Śaiva āgamas and Tantras—and uses sources from early Upaniṣads to 16th‑century Caitanya literature. The review praises Renou’s scholarship but criticises his sometimes carping tone and his tendency to judge cults without fully understanding their contexts.