Throiigli  their  eclectic  and  monotheistic  tendency,  these
books  contributed  to  the  formation  of  a  certain  orthodoxy
in  the  bosom  of  Brahmanism.  On  the  one  hand,  the  Veda
was  accepted  more  than  ever  as  an  absolute  authority,^
which  was  the  less  to  be  challenged  in  theory  that  it  was  so
slightly  troublesome  in  practice;  on  the  other  hand,  the
recognition  of  a  personal  god  and  a  divine  providence,
with  which  the  Brahmanas  and  the  Upanishads  at  times
dispense  so  easily,  became  by  degrees  a  settled  dogma.
