378 ON THE VE'DAS, 



rious passages from one of them *. I have been 

 still more fortunate in collecting at Benares, the 

 text and commentary of a large portion of these 

 celebrated, books; and, without waiting to ex- 

 amine them more completely, than has been yet 

 practicable, I shall here attempt to give a brief 

 explanation of what they chiefly contain. 



It is well known, that the original Veda is be- 

 lieved, by Hindus, to have been revealed by 

 Brahma'; and to have been preserved by tradi- 

 tion, until it was arranged in its present order by 

 a sage, who thence obtained the surname of 

 Vya'sa, or Ve'davya'sa ; that is, compiler of the 

 Vedas. He distributed the Indian scripture into 

 four parts, which are severally entitled Rich, Ya- 

 jush, Saman, and 'Afharcana ; and each of wiiich 

 bears the common denomination of Veda. 



Mr. WiLKiNS and Sir William Jones were led, 

 by the consideration of several remarkable pas- 

 sages, to suspect, that the fourth is more modern 

 than the other three. It is certain, that Menu, like 

 others among the Indian lawgivers, always speaks 

 of three only, and has barely alluded to the 'Afhar- 

 van'a'\, v.'ithout however terming it a Fer/«. Pas- 

 sages of the Indian scripture itself seem to support 

 the inference : for the fourth Veda is not mentioned 

 in the passage, cited by me in a former essay J, 

 from the white Yajush || ; nor in the following text, 



* See Preface to Menu, page vi. and the Works of Sir Wil- 

 liam Jones, Vol. VI. 



t Menu, chap 11, v. 33. 



X Essay Second, on Rehgious Ceremonies. See Asiatic Re- 

 searches, Vol. VII. page 251. 



II From the 31st chapter; which, together with the preceding 

 chapter (30th), relates to the Purvsliamcd'ha, a type of the alle- 

 gorical jniniolation of Nara'yan A, or of Brahma in that cha- 

 racter. 



