KECENT PROGRESS OF SANSKRIT STUDIES. 271 



gress of society, the community became more divided into distinct professions, 

 when the ceremonial of sacrifice became more complex and minute, and every 

 deviation from the prescribed forms came to be regarded as fatal to the efficacy of 

 an observance, — it was natural that the priests should then be organised into a 

 separate profession, and that that profession should finally grow into a caste. It 

 was at this stage that the Brahmanas would be composed, to perpetuate the regu- 

 lations which had been adopted by the different schools of priests, who, however, 

 it is to be observed, did not by any means always coincide in the details of their 

 ceremonial prescriptions. The object then of the Brahmanas is to regulate the 

 course of the various sacrificial rites. Thus, the Satapatha Brahmana of the White 

 Yajurveda prescribes how the sacred fire is to be kindled, — how atonement is to 

 be made for errors committed in the ceremonial,— how the asvamedha or horse- 

 sacrifice, the universal sacrifice, the offerings to the dead, &c., are to be performed. 

 In carrying out their main objects, the Brahmanas, besides supplying, as I have 

 said, many etymologies and mystical interpretations, introduce also a variety 

 of legends relating to the birth and history of the gods, the origin of all things, 

 dec, with the view of illustrating the efiBcacy of particular ceremonies. As 

 these books are intermediate in age between the hymns of the Veda and the later 

 mythological works called Itihasas and Puranas, so also the myths and legends 

 which they (the Brahmanas) relate, are found generally in a state intermediate 

 between that in which they are seen in the hymns and in the Puranas — i.e., more 

 developed than in the former, and less developed than in the latter. The 

 Brahmanas thus enable us to trace more accurately than we should otherwise 

 be able to do, the progress of Indian mythology. I will give here one very inter- 

 esting specimen of the legends narrated in these works. It contains the oldest 

 version of the story of the deluge which is found in any of the Indian books : — 



" They brought to Manu (the progenitoi- of the Aryan Indians) in the morning water for 

 washing, as men are in the habit of bringing water to wash with the hands. As he was thus wash- 

 ing, there came into his hands a fish, which said to him, ' Preserve me, and I will save thee.' ' From 

 what,' asked Manu, * wilt thou save me ■? ' * A flood,' replied the fish, ' shall sweep away all these 

 creatures ; I will rescue thee from that. ' How,' inquired Manu, ' can I preserve thee V The fish 

 answered, ' So long as we are small, we are in great peril, and even fish devours fish ; preserve me 

 first in a jar. V^hen I grow too large for the jar, dig a trench and preserve me in that. When I 

 become too large for the trench, carry me to the ocean: I shall then be beyond the reach of danger.' 

 Straightway it became a great fish, for it grew exceedingly. The fish then said, ' In so many years 

 the flood will come ; make a ship, therefore, and worship me ; when the flood rises, embark on the 

 ship, and I will deliver thee.' Manu accordingly preserved the fish, and brought it to the ocean. 

 In the same year which the fish had indicated as that of the flood, Manu built a ship, and worshipped 

 the fish. When the flood rose he entered into the ship. The fish swam near him, and he fastened 

 the cable of the ship to the fish's horn. By this means he passed over this Northern Mountain (the 

 Himalaya). Thfe fish then said, ' I have delivered thee ; fasten the ship to a tree. But lest the water 

 should abandon thee on the mountain, thou shalt descend after it as fast as it subsides. He descended 

 accordingly as the water subsided. Hence, also, this was 'Manu's descent' from the Northern Moun- 

 tain. Now the flood had swept away all these creatures. Manu alone was left here. Desirous of oflT- 



spring, he worshipped, and performed a laborious rite Thence (from the material of the sacrifice), 



in a year a female was born," who called herself Manu's daughter: " with her Manu worshipped, 

 desirous of oflfspring, and with her he begot this race, which is called the oflspring of Manu." 



