270 DR J. MUIR's account OF THE 



all the aid which they can afford, and which indeed is indispensable, have yet 

 been endeavouring to go farther, and to extract from the hymns themselves, 

 studied etymologically, and with reference to all the parallel passages, as well as 

 to the general ideas of the Vedic age, the true sense which the ancient authors 

 themselves intended to convey, uncoloured by any of the conceptions of more 

 modern Indian expositors. 



In the valuable Sanskrit and German Lexicon of Messrs Bohtlingk and Roth, 

 published at St Petersburg under the auspices of the Imperial Russian Academy 

 of Sciences (of which about half has now appeared), an attempt is made to 

 ascertain the true meaning of the ancient Vedic words, as well as to arrange 

 and interpret the other component parts of the Sanskrit language on scientific 

 principles.* 



Besides the collection of hymns entitled Rigveda-Sanhita, there are, as we 

 have seen, three others. Of these, the Sama-veda consists, with few exceptions, 

 of verses extracted from hymns in the Rigveda, generally detached from their 

 contexts, and arranged for liturgical purposes. This Veda is consequently of but 

 little importance, except for a few various readings which it offers. The Yajur- 

 veda consists partly of liturgical formulas and invocations in prose, and partly of 

 verses, some of which occur also in the Rigveda. Some of the contents of the 

 Yajurveda are valuable, as enabling us to trace the history of the Indian deities, 

 especially Rudra. In the fourth or Atharvaveda, a considerable portion is 

 extracted from the Rigveda, but by far the larger part is peculiar to itself, and 

 later in date than most of the Rigveda. Much of it consists of formulas for 

 averting evils, chiefly of a physical kind, and for securing prosperity and 

 happiness. 



I now come to the Brahmanas, which, as we have seen, constitute the second 

 division of each Veda, and which, of all the Indian writings, are those that, in 

 point of age, come nearest to the hym.ns. 



For some time after the Aryan Indians had immigrated into Hindustan, their 

 priests do not seem to have formed a distinct caste. Though in one of the latest 

 hymns of the Rigveda, the four castes are specified ; and though in another a 

 description is given of the benefits which accrue to a king from employing a priest, 

 yet in most of those which on other grounds appear to be the earliest, no distinct 

 reference is made to any caste-organization ; while the hymns of the entire third 

 book are, in the ancient indices, ascribed to Visvamitra, who was not of sacer- 

 dotal, but of kingly descent, and to his descendants, as the authors. At this 

 period, too, the ceremonial of sacrifice was no doubt much simpler, and less 

 fettered by formal regulations than in after times. But when, in the natural pro- 



* Another important work in the department of Sanskrit lexicography is the Dictionary which 

 Professor GoLDSTUCKER is compiling on the basis of Wilson's, but with great additions and improve- 

 ments. Of this work five parts have already appeared. 



