It is not denied that the Hindus made gods of departed men.

They did this long after the Vedic period.

But there is no proof that all the Vedic gods, as claims Spencer, were the worshipped souls of the dead.

No _argumentum a fero_ can show in a Vedic dawn-hymn anything other than a hymn to personified Dawn, or make it probable that this dawn was ever a mortal's name.
In respect of that which precedes all tradition we, whose task is not to speculate in regard to primitive religious conceptions, but to give the history of one people's religious progress, may be pardoned for expressing no opinion.

But without abandoning history (i.e., tradition) we would revert for a moment to the pre-Indian period and point out that Zarathustra's rejection of the _daevas_ which must be the same _devas_ that are worshipped in India, proves that _deva_-worship is the immediate predecessor of the Hindu religion.