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



Besides these general tokens of a later origin of this Veda, we find 

 yet further a number of particular marks among which I here adduce 

 one. The hymns of the Rik variously celebrate the deliverances, which 

 Indra, the Aswins, and other gods had vouchsafed to the forefathers. 

 All the names of the persons so delivered, however, lie beyond the 

 time of the author himself, and one seldom meets with the name of a 

 Vedic Rishi. But in the fourth book of the Atharva there is found 

 e. g. a hymn which invokes Mitra and Varuna to preserve the suppliant, 

 as they had preserved — not Dadhyach, Rebha, Pedu, and others, but 

 Jamadagni, Vasishtha, Medhatithi, Purumilha, &c, all names of men 

 whom tradition makes to be authors of the hymns of the Rig- 

 Veda. 



It thus appears, from all that has been said, to admit of no doubt 

 that the Atharva has not only been later collected than the Rik, but 

 has also a later origin, and in both together we have before us the 

 mass of the hymns of two periods. To understand these in their whole 

 compass, must clearly be the first thing which we can do in this pro- 

 vince ; and a recension of both these Vedas should therefore precede 

 the investigation of the liturgical system, from which only, again, the 

 Sama and Vajasaneye can receive light. It is impossible to master 

 perfectly the practical religious writings, the Brahmanas, and what is 

 connected with them without a knowledge of the text of the hymns, 

 round which the whole ritual ranges itself; while, on the other hand, 

 we cannot hope to be esssentially advanced in the historical understand- 

 ing of the ancient poems by means of a liturature which has for that 

 text only a stiffened sense, determined by the ritual. What we shall 

 take from this literature is the explanation of single liturgical repre- 

 sentations which are found already in the hymns. The whole system 

 of worship is however in itself a very important object of investigation, 

 and well worth the labour which its explanation will cost. The number 

 of writings pertaining to this subject is extraordinary. All the Brah- 

 manas, a great number of Upanishads, and the numerous Srauta and 

 Grihya Sutras lie within the circle of these investigations. 



In order now to give an account of how the Veda has come down to 

 us, and of what has been done for the Rig Veda in particular by indi- 

 genous grammar and interpretation, I must speak of a class of writings, 

 which to my knowledge have not yet formed the subject of discourse 



