** VKDA. 



WliiclMTr view, therefore, one takes, it U clear that there are 

 period* in the arrangement of tbow thousand and twenty-eight hymn* 

 which form the present R'igveda-Sanhitt, and that the growth J tli,> 

 religious and social life of ancient India cannot be fully understood 

 until we hare a knowledge of the relative age at leant of thete hymni, 

 ainoe their real date may perhaps for ever remain u much beyond the 

 control of philological reaearch u it hat remained hitherto. In aome 

 cam the description of events or the alluaion to institution* of a 

 domestic or public kind, in others the character of the religious notion* 

 expressed and the detail of the rites explained, may lead to a surmise 

 as to the chronological relation of certain hymns ; but since the sound- 

 ness of a criterion of this kind will more or less depend on personal 

 feelings or views, a safer footing is obtained in those hymn* where the 

 R'ishi himself refers to a predecessor who is the poet of another hymn, 

 or to event* anterior to him, met with however in other portions of 

 K'igveda poetry. For there it i possible at once to establish a relative 

 order in time between such hymns. But as instances of this descrip- 

 tion are rare, the real burden of proof will probably always rest with 

 the linguistic fact* that may be gathered from the various hymn*. 

 They are the stubborn monument* which raise their heads above the 

 confusion created by the systematising arrangement of later times. 

 As yet, however, Sanskrit philology has done little or nothing to 

 enable us to see clearly in the mist of the gradual development of the 

 Vaiiiik age. It is struggling even at present to save the very meaning 

 of the Vaidik words, a* handed down to u* by native scholarship, 

 and the grammatical explanation of the Vaidik commentaries, from a 

 conceit which strive* to substitute it* own fanciful notions for the 

 traditional lore the only real means we possess for understanding 

 these ancient texts. 



If now we turn to the Sanhitas of the next two Vedas, our attention 

 will be particularly engaged by the purpose for which they were 

 collected, or, as observed before, for which they were either entirely, 

 or for the most part, extracted from the R'igveda-Sanhita. This pur- 

 pose, we stated, was a liturgic one. The verses of the Samavwla were 

 intoned at those sacrificial acts which were performed with the juice of 

 the Soina-plant. A short account of the manner in which the libations 

 of this juice were prepared and offered to the gods is given in the 

 introduction of Stevenson's translation of the Samaveda. " The first 

 thing to be done i* to collect the Sorna, or moon plant, and the aran'i- 

 wood for kindling the sacred fire ; and this must be done in a moonlight 

 night, and from the table-land on the top of a mountain. The inoon- 

 planta must be plucked up from the roots, not cut down ; and after 

 being stripped of their leaves, the bare atoms are to be laid on a cart 

 drawn by two rams or he-goats, and by them to be brought to the 

 house of the Yajamana, the institutor of the sacrifice, for whose espe- 

 cial benefit, and at whose expense, all the ceremonies are performed. 

 The stem* of the plant 1 ) are now deposited in the hall of oblation .... 

 bruised by the Brahmans with stones, and then put between two plankg 

 of wood, that they may be thoroughly squeezed and the juice ex- 

 pressed. The stalks, with their expressed juice, are then placed over a 

 strainer made of goat*' hair, sprinkled with water, and squeezed by the 

 fingers of the officiating Brahmans, one or two of which must be 

 adorned with fiat gold-rings. The juice, mixed with water, now makes 

 its way through the strainer and drops into the Dron'a Kalasa, the re- 

 ceiving vessel placed below, and situated at that part of the Yajnavedi 

 (or sacrificial ground), called the Yoni.or womb .... The juice, already 

 diluted with water, is in the Dron'a Kalasa further mixed with barley, 

 clarified butter, and the flour of a grain called by the Marathas won, 

 the Sanskrit names of which are ni'rdra and Ir'in'adlidnya. It is now 

 allowed to ferment till a spirit is formed, after which it is drawn off for 

 oblation* to the god* in a scoop called truth, and in the ladle called 

 ckamata, for consumption by the officiating Brahmans. The vessel, 

 scoop, and ladle, are all made of the wood of the catechu-tree (ifimota 

 catechu). Nine days are mentioned in the BhAshya a* required for the 

 purificatory rites .... There are three oblations offered daily ; one 

 early in the morning, one at noon, and one at night." 



The sacrifices at which such oblations were offered are very nume- 

 rous. The principal one seems to have been the JyotiMoma, a great 

 sacrifice, which, if complete, consisted of seven tantthdt or stages, each 

 occupying the space of several days. The Mtmausuts, however, pro- 

 bably yielding to the necessity of circumstances, consider the A'jni- 

 Moma only, the first stage of the Jyotisht'oma, as obligatory for the 

 performance of thi* rite ; while they look upon the six others the 

 Atyagnuhfoma, Ukthya, Shod'as'in, Atiratra, Aptoryama, and Vnja- 

 peya as voluntary and supererogatory. " The Soma offering," says i>r. 

 Witiduchmann, in hi* ' i>i*scrtation on the Soma worship of the 

 Arians,' " wa unquestionably the greatest and the holiest offering of 

 the ancient Indian worship. The sound of the trickling juice is 

 regarded a* a sacred hymn. The god* drink the offered beverage ; they 

 long for it (as it does for them) ; they are nourished by it, and thrown 

 into a joyous intoxication : this U the case with Indra (who perform* 

 his great deed* under it* influence), with the As'wins, the Haruts, 

 and Apii. The beverage is divine, it purilie*, it inspires greater joy 

 than alcohol, it intoxicates S'nkra, it U a water of life, protect* and 

 nourishes, give* health and immortality, prepare* the way to heaven, 

 dmtrojr* enemies, Ac. The Samaveda dutinguiahes two kind* nf 

 Soma, the green and the yellow ; but it i* the golden colour which i - 

 for the most part celebrated." (Muir, ' Orig. Sanak. Text*,' iii. p. 471.) 



VKPA. S8t 



And those exhilarating and inebriating properties of the pl.mt, 

 divested from their poetical association with the gods, sufli 

 explain the religious awe in which they were held by a people which 

 learnt to experience their influence, and ascribed them to some 

 my*teriou* cause. 



<ig explained before that the Samaveda verses are entirely taken 

 from the R'igveda-SanhitA, we may now show the artificial manner 

 in which these extracts were brought together for the purpose described , 

 and how little value they possess as a poetical anthology. The 

 Sanhita of the Samaveda consist* of two separate portion*. The first, 

 called Artkika, or CkhtmdtgnmHa, is composed of five hundred and 

 eighty-five verses; the second, called StauUiU-a, r t'ttartiynmtka, 

 contains twelve hundred and twenty-five verses. The verses of the 

 first are arranged into fifty-nine /Wad', or decades, subdivided again 

 into frapafhattu,or chapters, with another subdivision into .1 

 l>rai>dt'/ial-ai, or half-chapters. The second portion i* also d. 

 into I'rapal'hakai with AnlhapmiMfhak<a ; these however are for the 

 most part arranged according to triplets of verses, the first of which is 

 already contained in the Archika portion, and thus appears t\\ 

 the Samaveda Sanhita. This first verse is called the )'ui-verse, or the 

 womb-verse, that in which the two others the Uttardt are generated, 

 because all the modifications which take place during the intonat 

 the former the modulations, disruptions of letters, stoppages, Ac. 

 must be likewise observed at the chanting of the latter. These 

 modifications are taught in the Oonas, or song-books, the \'n, 

 and >1 rau'yaydnii, which contain the composition of the Archika, and 

 the I'/iaydna and i'kyaydna, which comprise that of the Staubhik 

 the Archika portion, the verses of the R'igveda are nearly always 

 disjoined from the connection in which they originally stood, while" a 

 somewhat greater continuity of extracts is observed in the Staubhika. 

 In a very valuable synopsis given by Professor Whitney (in the second 

 volume of Professor Weber's ' Indische Studien '), it is shown in what 

 proportion these extracts were made from the K'igveda ; it enables the 

 student moreover, by comparing both collections, to ascertain that 

 the compilers of the Samaveda completely lost sight of the original 

 nature of the R'igveda hymns, and of their poetical worth ; that no 

 respect was paid to the integrity of the poets' thoughts, or to the 

 motives which called forth their lays. Still, however inferior the 

 collection of the Samaveda is to that of the R'igveda, so powerful is 

 the poetical greatness of the principal Veda, that it could not be 

 entirely destroyed, even in the garbled assemblage of its verses in the 

 Samaveda. 



But even this mite of tcsthetical praise can scarcely be bestowed on 

 the Yajurreda-Saithitd. Like the Samaveda, it also is a liturgic book : 

 it also has largely drawn on the K'igveda hymns. But the first diffe- 

 rence we observe is that its contents are not entirely taken from the 

 principal Veda, and the second is marked by the circumstance that it 

 often combines with verses passages in prose, which are called yajut 

 (lit. " that by which the sacrifice is effected "), and have given to the 

 Yajurveda its name. Beside*, the ceremonial for which thi* Veda was 

 mode up is much more diversified and elaborate than that of the 

 Samaveda, and the mystical and philosophical allusions which now and 

 then appear in the R'igveda, probably in its latest portions, assume a 

 more prominent place in the Yajurveda. In one word, it is the sacri- 

 ficial Veda, as its name indicates. Hence we understand why 

 looked upon in that period of Hindu civilisation which was engrossed 

 by superstitions and rites, as the principal Veda, superior in fact to the 

 K'igveda, where there is no system of rites. To Sayan'a, for instance, the 

 great commentator of the Vedas, who lived only four centuries ago, 

 the poetry of the R'igveda, and even the collection of the Samaveda, 

 are of far less importance than the Yajurveda, "The R'igveda and 

 Samaveda," he says, in his introduction to the Taittin 

 " are like fresco-paintings, whereas the Yajurveda is the wall on hi.-h 

 they stand" (Miiller, ' Anc. Sansk. Lit.' p. 175); and it is on the 

 ritual works connected with the oldest recension of this Veda tl. 

 speculations of the Mlm&nsists, who refer their doctrine to the Sutra) 

 of Jaimini, are based. (Goldstucker, ' Pan'ini,' p. 9.) 



There is one remarkable fact to be noticed in the history of this 

 Veda, which has no parallel in that of the other Vedas, a schism to 

 which its collection gave rise, and which ended in the putting forth of 

 two Yajurveda texts, the one assuming the name of the Black, the 

 other that of the- White Yajurveda. The Vishn'u-Puran'a, iii. 6. 2 

 (and nearly in the same manner the VAyu-l'imina), contain the 

 following legend concerning the origin of this schism : " Y.i jri .\alkya, 

 son of Brahmarati, was Vais'ampAyana's disciple, eminently verged in 

 duty aud obedient to his teacher. An agreement had formerly been 

 made by the Munis, that any one of their number who should fail to 

 attend at an assembly on Mount Meru on a certain day should incur 

 the guilt of Brahmauicido within a period of seven nights. Vais'am- 

 payana was the only person who infringed this agreement, and he in 

 consequence occasioned the death of his sister's child, by touching it 

 with hii foot. He then desired all his disciples to pen 

 behalf an expiation which should take away his guilt, and forbad. 

 hesitation. YAjnavatkya then said to him, " Reverend sir, what is the 

 necessity for these faint and feeble Brahmans? / will perform the 

 expiation." The wise teacher, inoen.-ed. replied 

 " < 'ontomncr of Bratmians, give up all that thou hast learnt from 

 I have no need of a disobedient disciple, who, like thee, gtigm.. 



