Abbe Dubois
Hindu Manner Custom and Ceremonies
Missionary
p. 548
The idolatry of India, which is of a much grosser kind, has for the object of its worship the material substance itself. It is to water, to fire, to the most common household implements; in a word, to everything which they understand to be useful or hurtful, that the Hindus pay direct worship.
✦ Commentary
Dubois performs a hierarchical comparison: Greek/Roman paganism was at least mediated through personified deities, but Hindu worship is 'of a much grosser kind' because it worships material substance directly. This establishes a civilisational ladder even within paganism — the Hindus occupy a lower rung than the Greeks. The characterisation of Hindu worship as directed at 'the most common household implements' reduces complex ritual practice to absurdity.
Themes
IdolatrySuperstition