OR SACRED WRITINGS OF THE HINDUS. 489 



the compilation was made ; and probably, in 

 most instances, those passages were really com- 

 posed by the alleged authors. Concerning such 

 texts as are assigned to divine persons, according 

 to Hindu mythology, it may be fairly concluded, 

 that the true writers of them were not known 

 when the compilation was made; and, for this 

 reason, they were assigned to fabulous person- 

 ages. 



The different portions which constitute the 

 Vedas, must have been WTitten at various times. 

 The exact period when they were compiled, or 

 that in which the greatest part was composed, can- 

 not be dcteiTnined, with accuracy and confidence, 

 from any facts yet ascertained. But the country 

 may ; since many rivers of India are mentioned in 

 more than one text : and, in regard to the period, 

 I incline to think, that the ceremonies called 

 Yajnya, and the prayers to be recited at those ce- 

 remonies, are as old as the calendar, which pur- 

 ports to have been framed for such religious rites. 



To each Veda a treatise, under the title of Jyo^ 

 tis/i, is annexed, which explains the adjustment 

 of the calendar, for the purpose of fixing the pro- 

 per periods for the pertormance of religious duties. 

 It is adapted to the comparison of solar and lunar 

 time with the vulgar or civil year ; and was evi- 

 dently formed in the infancy of astronomical 

 knowledge. From the rules delivered in the 

 treatises which I have examined*, it appears, 



* I have several copies of one such treatise, besides a commen- 

 tary on the Jifotisk of tlie Rigveda, by an unknown autlior ; 

 which is* acccruingU- a?=?igned to a fabulous personage, Se'sha 



NAGA. 



