ABSTRACT
There are various methods of study and we begin with the evolutionary approach which developed in conjunction with anthropology. Societies evolved from the lower to the higher. ‘Primitive’ man saw his world in terms of magic and impersonal forces (animatism) and then came to think of spirits dwelling in trees, mountains and rocks (animism). Animals were worshipped as the symbol or emblem of a tribe (totemism) and the spirit of an eminent chief would be venerated with sacrifices. His grave became a shrine (ancestor worship). A sense of awe in the presence of nature led to the worship of nature gods and this polytheism became the religion of ancient Greece and the Romans, and is still a feature of Hinduism.
