OR SACRED WRITINGS OF THE HINDUS. 471 



'Destroy, O sacred grass*, my foes ; exter- 

 minate my enemies ; annihilate all those, who hate 

 me, O precious gem !' 



The Atharvci'Veda, as is well known, contains 

 many forms of imprecation for the destruction of 

 enemies. But it must not be inferred, that such 

 is the chief subject of that Veda; since it also 

 contains a great number of prayers for safety and 

 for the averting of calamities : and, like the other 

 VedaSf numerous hymns to the gods, with prayers 

 to be used at solemn rites and religious exercises, 

 excepting such as are named Yqjnya. 



The Gopafha Brahmmia appears to belong to 

 the second part of this Vkla. Not having seen a 

 commentary^ nor an index, of this work, I can 

 only speak of it from a copy in my possession : 

 this contains five oSx-sc^ttx?, (praplitaca), with the 

 date of the transcript f and name of the transcriber, 

 at the end of the fifth, as is usual in the colophon 

 at the close of a volume. 



The first chapter of this Gopafha Brahman'a 

 traces the origin of the universe from Bi^ahmc ; 

 and it appears from the fourth section of this 

 chapter, that At'harvan is considered as 2i Pra- 

 jdpati appointed by Brahme to create and protect 

 subordinate beina's. 



•a" 



In the fifth chapter, several remarkable passages, 

 identifying the primeval person (pitrusha) with 

 the year (samvatsara), convey marked allusions to 

 the calendar. In one place (the fifth section), be- 

 sides stating the year to contain twelve or thirteen 



* Darbha, Poa Cynosuroides. 



t It is dated ^t Mat'hurd, in the year CSamvaf) 1732. 



Hh4 



