Go</s and Saints of the Great Bralniiaua. 31 



Thus •' sins caused b}' the gods " is an early ^'edic interpretation 

 found in the Brahmana, where it is said that the rite removes " sins 

 made by the gods, by the Fathers, by (other) men, and by ourselves," 

 that is the later " sin," cnas, is here merely an " ill,"' papain, caused 

 by men or gods las demons), to punish neglect, aparddha, on the 

 part of the worshiper, as quite correctly explained by the commen- 

 tator, not "sins against gods," 1. 6. 10. Cf. VS. 8. 13; SB. 4. 4. 

 5. 22. 



Of what sort were the "gods that were before the gods," is not 

 known, only their blessed names, .Siidhyas. 25. 8. 2, and the fact 

 that they dike the demons!) had fewer ceremonies, being content 

 to leave out the evening libation, 8. 3. 6 and 4. 9 (in 8. 4. 1, they 

 go to heaven with all the sacrifice), but they had to perform sacri- 

 fices, as did the later gods and men.^ And by sacrifice, in pro- 

 portion to the gifts made to the priests, whereof the arithmetical 

 series given in the text is an exploitation (see note above), man's 

 morality is improved, "he becomes better," and his hope of heaven 

 is made more certain. Yet even here, though one may give gold 

 (" immortalit}"," 9. 9. 3 f.), and cows enough, 17. 14. 2, etc., it is in- 

 timated that a man must not give too much nor accept too much, 

 which is far and away a nobler standard than that of the later 

 priests,'- who never say, "111 does he who gives all" (to the priest), 

 16. 5. 6 ; 6. 1 : 9. 2. 



One of the indications of the date of this Brahmana was long 

 ago noticed b}- Weber, who called attention to the free intercourse 



^ Cf. TS. 6. 2. o. 3-4, trivrato Maiiiir fishi^ dvi-7'raid asiird^ ekavratd 

 dcvCill^ etc. 



- Tlie heaven man goes to is far away, but not too far. The Fathers 

 only live in the third world, heaven, 9. 8. b ; they are " soma-drops " (re- 

 ferring to a Vedic verse), 6. 9. 19. When the rite is good it glorifies a 

 man's son, when ver3^ good his son's son. 1.5. 10. 6 ; 12. 2. The distance 

 to heaven is probably calculated from the middle of the earth, that is a 

 span's distance north of the source of the Sarasvati river, to the middle 

 of the sky. which is the Seven Seers (Great Bear), JUB. 4. 26. 12, and 

 this distance corresponds exactly to the distance from the same source 

 of the Sarasvati to where it loses itself in the desert, which is a journey 

 on horse-back of fortj^-four days, 25. 10. 16 ; or, according to another 

 estimate, from earth to heaven is as much as one thousand co"ws standing 

 on top of each other (therefore a thousand cows make a good fee for the 

 priests), 16. 8. 6 ; but a third estimate says that the distance is equal to 

 a thousand days' journey by horse, or the sun's journey of a thousand 

 da3-s, or it is just a thousand leagues, 21. 1. 9 (AB. 2. 17. 8). 



