26 HOPKINS— MAGIC OBSERVANCES IN HINDU EPIC. [April 21, 



cattle sacrificed by the various kings who are extolled by the poets 

 are the same as in earlier ages, only that the numbers (cf. e. g., the 

 jdruthyas, 3.291.70), like the gold employed, 7.61.6, etc., exceed 

 all probability. These need not be described. Indeed the epic 

 does not describe them. It merely mentions them, as it does the 

 " divine and woodland rule " of performing rajarsiyajhas, 3.240.16. 

 Only in the case of the horse of victory and its subsequent sacrifice 

 do we get a real picture of epic sacrifices of the old sort. It is 

 rather the new features that are instructive, such as the actual 

 presence, in sight of man, of the gods (at sacrifice), 7.67.19; the 

 later insistence on make-believe sacrifices, seeds representing ani- 

 mals, etc., as in 12.338.4 due to the doctrine of non-injury, and 

 the sacrifices not so orthodox as those just mentioned, which smack 

 of magic, though even the regular sacrifices are performed as mere 

 magical rites, by which, for example, India wins the lordship of 

 gods, 12. 20.1 1 (cf. 5. 140.14, the girls' pots and plants in sympathetic 

 magic). 



One of the most interesting of these is the human sacrifice de- 

 scribed in 3.i27.2f. ; 128.5. Jantu was the only son of Somaka and 

 his father feared that he would die and leave him childless. He 

 therefore exhorted his domestic chaplain to devise some means by 

 which he might secure more sons. The sinful means devised was 

 the sacrifice of Jantu. The various wives of the king stood about 

 the cauldron where the wretched child was being cooked and sniffed 

 the steam and smoke. This evil sacrifice had two results. The 

 child was reborn as the eldest of a hundred sons conceived by 

 the wives in this process of sniffing ; but on the other hand the 

 wicked priest had to go to hell.- 



That a domestic priest has occult power over the king is gen- 

 erally admitted. He is able " to sacrifice the strength of the king " 



*The artificial "sacrifice" of life (5.i4i.29f.) in battle is taken seri- 

 ously by the epic poets. Compare 5.58.12 (to Yama) : Siva "sacrificed 

 himself in the sarvayajna, and so became god of gods," 12.20.12. " In 

 battle a warrior makes a sacrifice (as if making an oblation into fire, hutva) 

 of his body," 3.300.36 ; so 12.24.27, etc., Sibi sacrificed himself, in a pretty tale, 

 by cutting off his limbs to save a fugitive ; but the demon Ravana cut off his 

 own heads and offered them in fire, which pleased Brahma so that he let 

 them grow again, 3.275.20. 



