Prefatory Note. 



This paper offers an analysis of the (non-rituahstic) content of 

 the " Great Brahmana " or Brahmana of Twenty-five Books. Weber 

 has said very truly that this content is in general " very uninspir- 

 ing " ; but that is only because the work lacks the piquant situations 

 and later spirituality of its great rivals. To the student of religious 

 history it is rather important, since it represents a period earlier 

 than that of the more famous Satapatha and Aitareya Brahmanas. 

 Its gist also, the idea that the yell, cry, chaunt, is even more vital 

 than the words (if words there be) expressed by the yell, is primitive 

 and instructive. As the Brahmana has never been translated, it has 

 been practically inaccessible to the general student of religion, for 

 whose benefit this analysis has especially been made, though the 

 needs of the Sanskrit scholar have been met, as far as space per- 

 mitted, by the admission of illustrati\'e parallels, many of which 

 have not hitherto been noticed. 



