Chapter 9 suggests how Hinduism and Confucianism may be understood in relation to the construct of transcendentalism in order to set up a discussion of India and China in the final chapter. (Unearthly Powers had largely taken Christianity, Islam and Buddhism as the main examples of transcendentalist traditions.) This involves a consideration of distinct forms that the Axial Age took in both regions and the religious and philosophical traditions that emerged from them. The diverse traditions coming under the umbrellas of Hinduism and Confucianism represent very substantial continuity with the immanentist pre-Axial past, especially in a fundamental emphasis on the role of ritual action. However, they also incorporated Axial elements, particularly an emphasis on liberation/salvation in the case of Hinduism and ethical rectitude in the case of Confucianism. Confucianism remains the most awkward fit within the mould of transcendentalism because of the absence of a soteriological imperative.

The “galactic empires” were never dominated by a single polity, nor was this region united by any monotheistic religion. Nevertheless, collective beliefs created a shared political and social order throughout Southeast Asia. This regional international society was based on the view that the social and political world should be constructed so as to mirror the religious and cosmological realm. Political authority radiated from a sacred political and geographic center, with authority dissipating concentrically from the center outward.