454 ON THE ve'das, 



knowledge ; may providence give me understand- 

 ing : be this oblation happily offered ! May the 

 priest and the soldier both share my prosperity; 

 may the gods grant me supreme happiness : to 

 thee, who art that [felicity], be this oblation ef- 

 fectually presented.' 



The next passage, which I shall cite, is a prayer 

 to fire *. 



* Thou art (samvat^ara) the [first] year [of the 

 Cycle]; thou art (parivatsara) the [second] year; 

 thou art (idavatsara) the [third] year ; thou art 

 (idvat-vatsara) the [fourth] year; thou art (vatsara) 

 the [fifth] year : may mornings appertain to thee; 

 may days and nights, and fortnights, and months, 

 and seasons, belong to thee; may (samvatsara) 

 the year be a portion of thee : to go, or to come, 

 contracting or expanding [thyself], thou art 

 winged thought. Together with that deity, re- 

 main thou firm like Angiras.* 



I have quoted this almost unmeaning passage, 

 because it notices the divisions of time, which be- 

 long to the calendar of the Vtdas ; and which arc 

 explained in treatises on that subject annexed to 

 the iacred volume, under the title oi Jydtish. To 

 this I shall again advert, in a subsequent part of 

 this essay. I shall here only observe, with the 

 view of accounting for the seeming absurdity of 

 the text now cited, that fire, as in another place f, 

 sacrifice, is identified with the year and with the 

 cycle, by reason of the near connexion between 



* Ch. 27, § 45th, and last. 



t In the S'atapat'ka Brdhman'a, b. 11, ch. 1. The reason^ 

 here assigned, is expressly stated by the commentator. 



