#20 On the History and Literature of the Veda. [Aug. 



the accidental occurrence of the same or like-sounding words has fre- 

 quently had an influence on the sequence of single verses. That the 

 first principle of arrangement in both these Vedas is a liturgical one, 

 needs no confirmation, and the most important thing which can be 

 performed for either consists in the indication of this more or less loose 

 connexion of the text with the ceremonial. An explanation of this 

 principle, however, such as we demand, must necessarily go back to 

 the connexion of the passages, i. e. to the'Rik. Thus both (the Sama 

 and the Yajush) properly call for illustration in those points only where 

 they depart from the first Veda. 



For even were we to take up again the enquiry abovementioned 

 into the relation between these three collections in respect of their 

 origin, — for even were we to assume that the Sama and Yajush, or 

 one of them, had been compiled earlier than the Rik Sanhita, still we 

 shall not be able to deny that the hymns contained in the latter (the 

 Rik) are the same from which those pieces (i. e. those contained in 

 the Sama and Yajush) were taken ; we shall not be able to invert the 

 relation so far as to hold the hymns of the Rik for mere deckings-out, 

 amplifications of the ritual fragments. For the latter, as we find them 

 in both of those collections, have no independent significance, they are 

 taken away from a connexion, and in the former the shell would be of 

 more importance than the kernel. 



The assumption of a priority in the collection of the liturgical Vedas 

 would however have in it nothing at all improbable. It is rather the 

 natural course that the immediate want is first satisfied, before one 

 arrives at the derivative one. These fragments were collected, as they 

 were in use in religious worship, — remnants of complete songs, which 

 had acquired importance for religious services before other portions of 

 those hymns, — these, (I say) were collected because they were wanted 

 for the regulation of the ritual, which in the sequel was to grow up 

 into so huge a system. It was only in the second place that the 

 collection of the complete hymns on which the ritual was based, was 

 arrived at ; and since those parts of hymns which the Sama and 

 Yajush contain were already guarded from alterations by writing and 

 by their liturgical importance ; whilst the undivided song existing as 

 yet perhaps only in recollection, or scattered here and there, and as 

 not immediately pertaining to sacred offices, was also less scrupulously 



