sophisticated Upanishadic philosophy could be linked to the primitive henotheism of early Vedic Brahmanism from which it evolved. He had to travel to London to look at documents held in the collection of the British East India Company. While there he persuaded the company to allow him to undertake a critical edition of the Rigveda, a task he pursued over many years (1849-1874).

For Müller, the culture of the Vedic peoples represented a form of nature worship,