RECENT PROGRESS OF SANSKRIT STUDIES. 267 



is drawn between the Vedic hymns and the other and later parts of Indian litera- 

 ture as came afterwards to be the case. At a subsequent period a very high and 

 exclusive authority and sacredness were attributed to the Vedas, which were 

 declared to have been only seen, not composed, by their apparent authors, the 

 ancient rishis.* The divine character of these books is however placed upon 

 different grounds by writers belonging to different schools of philosophy. Some 

 say that the Vedas have no personal, not even a divine, author, but are uncreated, 

 and owe their authority to their eternal faultlessness ; while others maintain that 

 they were consciously uttered by a divine person, whose perfect intelligence is the 

 source of their infallibility.! 



The hymns included in the collection of the Rigveda are, as I have observed, 

 of very different dates, and indicate different stages in the development of the 

 Indian intellect and institutions. 



I shall now offer some short specimens of these hymns ; first, of those which, 

 from the simplicity of their nature- worship, must be considered the more ancient ; 

 and afterwards of those which, from the speculative character which they begin 

 to assume, may safely be pronounced to be among the most recent. 



The following is the first hymn of the Rigveda, and will serve as well as any 

 other to give an idea of the oldest of these odes. It is addressed to Agni, the god 

 of fire, to whom a variety of functions are assigned, and who, both from the im- 

 portance of the element which he represents, and from his close connection with 

 sacrifice, holds a prominent place among the deities of the Rigveda : — 



" 1. I laud Agni tlie priest, the divine minister of sacrifice, who invokes the gods, and is 

 most rich in gems. 2. Agni has been an object of worship to ancient as well as modern bards : 

 may he bring the gods hither ! 3. Through Agni the worshipper attains a prosperity which in- 

 creases day by day, and is accompanied by renown and by a vigorous progeny. 4. Agni, that 

 oblation, duly presented, which thou envelopest on every side, goes straight to the gods. 6. May 

 Agni, the invoker, the sage, the true, the most renowned, a god, come hither with the gods ! 6. 

 Whatever good thou, Agni, shalt do to thy worshipper, that, O Angiras, shall be truly thine own. 



7. Thee, O Agni, dispeller of gloom, we approach every day with our hymn, offering adoration. 



8. (Thee we approach), shining protector of ceremonies, the brilliant (guardian) of sacred rites, ever 

 waxincf in thine own abode. 9. Be thou ever accessible to us, Agni, as a father to his son : be present 

 with us for ovir good." 



The verses which I shall next quote are from a hymn to Indra, the god of the 

 firmament, who, as one of his chief functions, is conceived as smiting Ahi or 

 Vrittra, the cloud-demon, the withholder of rain, and as compelling him to dis- 

 charge his watery treasures on the thirsty earth : — 



" 1. I declare the heroic deeds of Indra, which the thunderer achieved of old. He smote Ahi, 

 he discharged the waters, he let loose the torrents of the aerial hills. 2. He smote Ahi, resting 

 upon the mountain. Tvashtri (the Indian Vulcan) forged for him his swift-darting thunderbolt. 

 Like lowing kine, the rushing waters hastened to the ocean. 3. Impetuous as a bull, he sought 



* See my " Original Sanskrit Texts," vol. iii. pp. 90 ; 110, ff. 

 t Ibid. pp. 52, ff ; 196, ff; 212, ff. 



