598 ON- THE VE'dAS, 



The subjects ar.d uses of the prayers contained 

 in the Veda, differ more than the deities which are 

 invoked, or the titles by which they are addressed. 

 Every line is replete with alhisions to mythology*, 

 and to the Indian notions of the di\ ine nature and 

 of celestial spirits. For the innumerable ceremo- 

 nies to be performed by a householder, and, still 

 more, for those endless rites enjoined to hermits 

 and asceticks, a choice of prayers is offered in 

 every stage of the celebration. It may be here 

 sufficient to observe, that In^dra, or the firma- 

 ment, fire, the sun, the moon, water, air, the 

 spirits, the atmosphere and the earth, are the ob- 

 jects most frequently addressed : and the various 

 and repeated sacrifices with fire, and the drinking 

 of the milky juice of the moon-plant or, acid as- 

 clepiasf, furnish abundant occasion for numerous 

 prayers adapted to the many stages of those reli- 

 gious rites. I shall, therefore, select for remark 

 such prayers as seem most singular; rather than 

 such as might appear the fairest specimens of this 



In the fifteenth chapter of the first book, there are 

 two hymns ascribed to Cutsa, and also toTniTA, 

 son of water. Three asceticks, brothers it should 



* Not a m>lhology Avliich avowedly exalts deified heroes (as 

 in the Purhias) ; but one, which personifies the elements and 

 planets ; and which peoples heaven, and the world below, with 

 various orders of beings. 



I observe, however, in many places, the ground-work of le- 

 gends, which are familiar in mythological poems ; such, for .ex- 

 ample, as the demon Vritra, slain by Indra, who is thence 

 surnamed Vritrahan; but I do not remark anything that cor- 

 responds \vith the favourite legends of those sects, which worship 

 either tiie Linga, or Sacti, or else Pv.a'ma or Crishn'a. I ex- 

 cept some detached portions, the genuineness of which appears 

 doubtful ; as will be shown towards the close of this essay. 



t S&ma-latd, Asclepias acida, or Cynanchum viminale. 



