181/.] On the History and Literature of the Veda. 845 



the great number of copies, to have been most extensively known. The 

 first section of the same, the Srautasutra, consists of two parts of 6 

 adhyaya each, the second part, the Grihyasiitra, is divided into four 

 adhyaya. We have a commentary to this by Narayana, of which the 

 East India House possesses at least the division for the first 6 sections 

 of the Srauta, and for the Grihyasiitras. Aswalayana's Sutras also refer 

 to more ancient works, for instance to the Aitareya Brahmana, from 

 which at several places pretty extensive extracts are given (even with- 

 out mentioning the source) further to the Kausitaka and to ancient 

 teachers, for instance Kautsa, Gautama, Ganagari, Taulvali, Sadyayana, 

 Saunaka, etc. 



6. In a similar way we shall be able on the other side to arrive at 

 a determination of the mutual relation of the Vedic and Epic writings 

 in respect of age and origin. 



I confess that I have not yet been able to convince myself that the 

 Mahabharata even in respect of its fundamental component parts reached 

 back into the Anti-Buddhist period. I have the same doubt in regard 

 to the Ramayana. Before the founding of Buddhism, and contempora- 

 neously with it, must be placed the era of Vedic authorship, in which 

 — so to express myself, — the practical consequences were drawn from 

 that treasure of the oldest theology, which is laid up in the hymns. 

 This is the liturgical period to which the books belong which under the 

 names of Brahmana and the like have come down to us. The priests 

 fashioned the worship (Cultus) and the worship fashioned the priests. 

 At that time the proper Veda, i. e. the hymns, were not indeed histori- 

 cally comprehended, but yet exactly known ; people tried to understand 

 them by the help of grammars and exegesis. One portion of the latter 

 is the construction of legends (itihasa, akhyana,) from the text of the 

 hymns, and it must be confessed of these relations, that with the 

 exception of those turns which have a liturgical aim, the most of them 

 are confined within the limits of historical possibility, so far as this 

 point can naturally come into question with the Indian. 



But in both the Epic poems quite another aspect of things begins. 

 The Veda is only imperfectly known ; the ritual no longer struggles 

 after development, it is complete ; the Vedic legends have entirely 

 detached themselves from their root ; and quite a different worship has 

 taken the place of the religion of Agni, Indra, Mitra and Varuna. The 



6' R 



