818 On the History and Literature of the Veda, [Aug. 



MSS. it is externally separated into Ashtakas. Hence it results that 

 it would be unnatural to make any other division than that into ten 

 Mandalas the basis of a future edition of this Sanhita,* For in what- 

 ever way criticism may decide in detail on the historical value of the 

 tradition touching the authors of the Vedic hymns, still this tradition 

 has been held authoritative by the collector and by the oldest interpre- 

 ters of the Veda, and it may moreover be proved from the affinity of 

 the representations and of the language that, in the present recension 

 of the Veda, those sets of hymns are mostly arranged together, which 

 must have had a common origin, and possibly may have been previously 

 united in particular collections. 



In the Mandala itself again there exists an arrangement. It may in 

 most cases he shown why the hymns are given in this determined 

 sequence. That a regard to their ritual import had its effect, is evi- 

 dent, but it was allied with the main principle of each division, viz. to 

 place together what was homogeneous. Hymns addressed to Agni 

 follow each other, and generally occupy the first place in the several 

 books, then the hymns to Indra, and so on. This however is not 

 carried so far, as that we can assume the collection to have been made 

 for liturgical ends. The Rig Veda even contains hymns and parts of 

 hymns, which the commentator, though very scrupulous in this matter, 

 cannot assign to any religious observance. I rather believe than one 

 can with full reason call the Rik the historical Veda. And its collection 

 is a wonderful work, which attests the scientific perception of this peo- 

 ple in an age which, — as I shall be able to show further on, reaches far 

 above the age of the collection of the Homeric songs. There are united 

 here more than a thousand of those sacred songs, with which the 

 forefathers dwelling on the banks of the five streams supplicated 

 prosperity for themselves and their flocks, greeted the rising dawn, 

 sang the fight of the lightning- wielding god with the gloomy power, 

 and celebrated the help of the celestials who had delivered them in 

 their battles. And these songs are collected, not, perhaps, because 

 the religious worship had occasion for them in this manner, but the 

 whole treasure of this ancient poetry was to be here preserved uncur- 



* Rosen has indeed, on external considerations, published the first Ashtaka ; the entire 

 first Mandala would have been too extensive for him, for it contains 190 hymns, and 

 reaches nearly to the end of the second Ashtaka. 



