History of Sanskrit Literature -6 (BY ARTHUR A. MACDONELL

History of Sanskrit Literature

(BY

ARTHUR A. MACDONELL, M. A., Ph.D.

BODEN PROFESSOR OF SANSKRIT)

The Tritsus appear to have been settled somewhere

to the east of the ParushnI, on the left bank of which

Sudas may be supposed to have drawn up his forces

to resist the coalition of the ten kings attempting to

cross the stream from the west. Five tribes, whose

names do not occur later, are mentioned as allied with

Sudas in the great battle. The Srinjayas were probably

also confederates of the Tritsus, being, like the latter,

described as enemies of the Turvacas.

Of some tribes we learn nothing from the Rigveda

but the name, which, however, survives till later times.

Thus the Uclnaras, mentioned only once, were, at the

period when the Aitareya Brdhmana was composed,

located in the middle of Northern India ; and the Chedis,

also referred to only once, are found in the epic age

settled in Magadha (Southern Behar). Krivi, as a tribal

name connected with the Indus and Asiknl, points to

the north-west. In the Qatapatha Brdhmana it is stated

156 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

to be the old name of the Panchalas, who inhabited the

country to the north of the modern Delhi.

The Atharva-veda mentions as remote tribes not only

the Gandharis and Mujavats, but also the Magadhas

(Behar) and the Angas (Bengal). We may therefore

conclude that by the time that Veda was completed the

Aryans had already spread to the Delta of the Ganges.

The Panchalas are not mentioned in either Veda, and

the name of the Kurus is only found there indirectly

in two or three compounds or derivatives. They are

first referred to in the White Yajurveda ; yet they are the

two most prominent peoples of the Brahmana period.

On the other hand, the names of a number of the most

important of the Rigvedic tribes, such as the Purus,

Turvacas, Yadus, Tritsus, and others, have entirely or

practically disappeared from the Brahmanas. Even the

Bharatas, though held in high regard by the composers

of the Brahmanas, and set up by them as models of

correct conduct, appear to have ceased to represent a

political entity, for there are no longer any references

to them in that sense, as to other peoples of the day.

Their name, moreover, does not occur in the tribal

enumerations of the Aitareya Brahmana and of Manuy

while it is practically altogether ignored in the Buddhistic

literature.

Such being the case, it is natural to suppose that the

numerous Vedic tribes, under the altered conditions of

life in vast plains, coalesced into nations with new names.

Thus the Bharatas, to whom belonged the royal race of

the Kurus in the epic, and from whom the very name

of the Mahabharata} which describes the great war of the

Kurus, is derived, were doubtless absorbed in what came

to be called the Kuru nation. In the genealogical

ARYAN TRIBES 157

system of the Mahdbhdrata the Purus are brought into

close connection with the Kurus. This is probably an

indication that they too had amalgamated with the latter

people. It is not unlikely that the Tritsus, whose name

disappears after the Rigveda, also furnished one of the

elements of the Kuru nation.

As to the Panchalas, we have seen that they represent

the old Krivis. It is, however, likely that the latter combined

with several small tribes to make up the later

nation. A Brahmana passage contains an indication that

the Turvacas may have been one of these. Perhaps

the Yadus, generally associated with the Turvacas in

the Rigveda, were also one of them. The epic still preserves

the name, in the patronymic form of Yadava, as

that of the race in which Krishna was born. The name

of the Panchalas itself (derived from pancha, five) seems

to indicate that this people consisted of an aggregate of

five elements.

Some of the tribes mentioned in the Rigveda, however,

maintained their individual identity under their

old names down to the epic period. These were the

Uclnaras, Srinjayas, Matsyas, and Chedis.

It is interesting to note that the Rigveda refers to a

rich and powerful prince called Ikshvaku. In the epic

this name recurs as that of a mighty king who ruled to

the east of the Ganges in the city of Ayodhya (Oudh)

and was the founder of the Solar race.

It is clear from what has been said that the.Vedic

Aryans were split up into numerous tribes, which, though

conscious of their unity in race, language, and religion,

had no political cohesion. They occasionally formed

coalitions, it is true, but were just as often at war with

one another. The tribe, in fact, was the political unit,

158 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

organised much in the same way as the Afghans are at

the present day, or the Germans were in the time of

Tacitus. The tribe (jand) consisted of a number of

settlements (vig)y which again were formed of an aggregate

of villages (grama). The fighting organisation of

the tribe appears to have been based on these divisions.

The houses forming the village seem to have been built

entirely of wood, as they still were in the time of

Megasthenes. In the midst of each house the domestic

fire burnt. For protection against foes or inundations,

fortified enclosures (called pur) were made on eminences.

They consisted of earthworks strengthened

with a stockade, or occasionally with stone. There is

nothing to show that they were inhabited, much less

that pur ever meant a town or city, as it did in later

times.

The basis of Vedic society being the patriarchal

family, the government of the tribe was naturally

monarchical. The king (raja) was often hereditary.

Thus several successive members of the same family are

mentioned as rulers of the Tritsus and of the Purus.

Occasionally, however, the king was elected by the

districts (vig) of the tribe ; but whether the choice was

then limited to members of the royal race, or was

extended to certain noble families, does not appear. In

times of peace the main duty of the king was to ensure

the protection of his people. In return they rendered

him obedience, and supplied him with voluntary gifts

not fixed taxes for his maintenance. His power was by

no means absolute, being limited by the will of the

people expressed in the tribal assembly (samiti). As to

the constitution and functions of the latter, we have

unfortunately little or no information. In war, the king

RISE OF THE PRIESTHOOD 159

of course held the chief command. On important occasions,

such as the eve of a battle, it was also his duty to

offer sacrifice on behalf of his tribe, either performing

the rites himself, or employing a priest to do so.

Every tribe doubtless possessed a family of singers

who attended the king, praising his deeds as well as

composing hymns to accompany the sacrifice in honour

of the gods. Depending on the liberality of their

patrons, these poets naturally did not neglect to lay

stress on the efficacy of their invocations, and on the

importance of rewarding them well for their services.

The priest whom a king appointed to officiate for him

was called a purohita or domestic chaplain. Vasishtha

occupied that position in the employ of King Sudas ; and

in one of his hymns (vii. 33) he does not fail to point out

that the victory of the Tritsus was due to his prayers.

The panegyrics on liberal patrons contain manifest

exaggerations, partly, no doubt, intended to act as an incentive

to other princes. Nevertheless, the gifts in gold,

cows, horses, chariots, and garments bestowed by kings on

their chief priests must often have been considerable,

especially after important victories. Under the later

Brahmanic hierarchy liberality to the priestly caste became

a duty, while the amount of the sacrificial fee

was fixed for each particular rite.

The employment of Purohitas by kings as their substitutes

in the performance of sacrificial functions is to

be regarded as the beginning and the oldest form of the

priesthood in India. It became the starting-point of the

historically unique hierarchical order in which the sacerdotal

caste occupied the supreme position in society,

and the State was completely merged in the Church.

Such, indeed, was the ideal of the Catholic Church in the

160 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

West during the Middle Ages, but it never became an

accomplished fact in Europe, as it did in India. No

sooner had the priesthood become hereditary than the

development of a caste system began, which has had no

parallel in any other country. But during the period

represented by Sudas and Vasishtha, in which the older

portion of the Rigveda was composed, the priesthood

was not yet hereditary, still less had the warrior and

sacerdotal classes became transformed into castes among

the Aryan tribes settled in the Panjab. This is confirmed

by the fact that in the epic age the inhabitants of

Madhyadega or Mid-land, where the Brahmanic caste

system grew up, regarded the people of the north-west

as semi-barbarians.

In the simple social organisation of the Vedic tribes

of this region, where occupations were but little differentiated,

every man was a soldier as well a civilian,

much as among the Afghans of to-day. As they moved

farther to the east, society became more complex, and

vocations tended to become hereditary. The population

being now spread over wider tracts of territory, the

necessity arose for something in the nature of a standing

army to repel sudden attacks or quell risings of the

subject aborigines. The nucleus would have been supplied

by the families of the chiefs of lesser tribes which

had amalgamated under some military leader. The agricultural

3nd industrial part of the population were thus

left to follow their pursuits without interruption. Meanwhile

the religious ceremonial was increasing in complexity

; its success was growing more dependent on

correct performance, while the preservation of the

ancient hymns was becoming more urgent. The priests

had, therefore, to devote all their time and energies

ORIGIN OF THE CASTES 161

to the carrying out of their religious duties and the

handing down of the sacred tradition in their families.

Owing to these causes, the three main classes of

Aryan society became more and more separated. But

how were they transformed into castes or social strata

divided from one another by the impassable barriers

of heredity and the prohibition of intermarrying or

eating together ? This rigid mutual exclusiveness must

have started, in the first instance, from the treatment of

the conquered aborigines, who, on accepting the Aryan

belief, were suffered to form a part of the Aryan polity

in the capacity of a servile class. The gulf between the

two races need not have been wider than that which at

the present day, in the United States, divides the whites

from the negroes. When the latter are described as

men of "

colour," the identical term is used which, in

India, came to mean "caste." Having become hereditary,

the sacerdotal class succeeded in securing a position

of sanctity and inviolability which raised them above the

rest of the Aryans as the latter were raised above the

Dasas. When their supremacy was established, they

proceeded to organise the remaining classes in the state

on similar lines of exclusiveness. To the time when the

system of the three Aryan castes, with the (Judras added

as a fourth, already existed in its fundamental principles,

belong the greater part of the independent portions of

the Yajurveda, a considerable part of the Atharva-veda

(most of books viii. to xiii.), but of the Rigveda, besides

the one (x. 90) which distinctly refers to the four castes

by name, only a few of the latest hymns of the first,

eighth, and tenth books. The word brahmana, the

regular name for " man of the first caste," is still rare in

the Rigveda, occurring only eight times, while brahman.

1 62 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

which simply means sage or officiating priest, is found

forty-six times.

We may now pass on to sketch rapidly the social

conditions which prevailed in the period of the Rigveda.

The family, in which such relationships as a wife's brother

and a husband's brother or sister had special names, was

clearly the foundation of society. The father was at its

head as " lord of the house "

(grihapati). Permission to

marry a daughter was asked from him by the suitor

through the mediation of an intimate friend. The wedding

was celebrated in the house of the bride's parents,

whither the bridegroom, his relatives, and friends came

in procession. Here they were entertained with the

flesh of cows slain in honour of the occasion. Here,

too, the bridegroom took the bride's hand and led her

round the nuptial fire. The Atliarva-veda adds that he

set down a stone on the ground, asking the bride to step

upon it for the obtainment of offspring. On the conclusion

of the wedding festivities, the bride, anointed and

in festal array, mounted with her husband a car adorned

with red flowers and drawn by two white bulls. On this

she was conducted in procession to her new home. The

main features of this nuptial ceremony of 3000 years

ago> still survive in India.

j Though the wife, like the children, was subject to the

will of her husband, she occupied a position of greater

honour in the age of the Rigveda than in that of the

Brahmanas, for she participated with her husband in

the offering of sacrifice. She was mistress of the

house (grihapatnt) , sharing the control not only of

servants and slaves, but also of the unmarried brothers

and sisters of her husband. From the Yajurveda we

learn that it was customary for sons and daughters

MORALITY 163

to marry in the order of their age, but the Rigveda

more than once speaks of girls who remained unmarried

and grew old in their father's house. As the

family could only be continued in the male line, abundance

of sons is constantly prayed for, along with wealth

in cattle and land, and the newly wedded husband hopes

that his bride may become a mother of heroes. Lack of

sons was placed on the same level as poverty, and adoption

was regarded as a mere makeshift. No desire for

the birth of daughters is ever expressed in the Rigveda ;

their birth is deprecated in the Atharva-veda, and the

Yajurveda speaks of girls being exposed when born.

Fathers, even in the earliest Vedic times, would doubtless

have sympathised with the sentiment of the Aitareya

Brahmana, that "to have a daughter is a misery." This

prejudice survives in India to the present day with unabated

force.

That the standard of morality was comparatively

high may be inferred from the fact that adultery and

rape were counted among the most serious offences,

and illegitimate births were concealed.

One or two passages indicate that the practice of

exposing old men, found among many primitive peoples,

was not unknown to the Rigveda.

Among crimes, the commonest appears to have been

robbery, which generally took the form of cattle-lifting,

mostly practised at night. Thieves and robbers are often

mentioned, and the Rigveda contains many prayers for

protection at home, abroad, and on journeys. Such

criminals, when caught, were punished by being tied to

stakes with cords. Debts {rind) were often incurred,

chiefly, it would seem, at play, and the Rigveda even

speaks of paying them off by instalments.

1 64 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

From the references to dress which the Rigveda

contains we may gather that a lower garment and a

cloak were worn. Clothes were woven of sheep's wool,

were often variegated, and sometimes adorned with

gold. Necklets, bracelets, anklets, and ear-rings are

mentioned in the way of ornaments. The hair was

anointed and combed. The Atharva-veda even mentions

a comb with a hundred teeth, and also speaks

of remedies which strengthened or restored the growth

of the hair. Women plaited their hair, while men occasionally

wore it braided and wound like a shell. The

gods Rudra and Pushan are described as being thus

adorned ; and the Vasishthas, we learn, wore their hair

braided on the right side of the head. On festive

occasions wreaths were worn by men. Beards were

usual, but shaving was occasionally practised. The

Atharva-veda relates how, when the ceremony of shaving

off his beard was performed on King Soma, Vayu

brought the hot water and Savitri skilfully wielded the

razor.

The chief article of food was milk, which was either

drunk as it came from the cow or was used for cooking

grain as well as mixing with soma. Next in importance

came clarified butter (ghritay no\vghee)y which, as a favourite

food of men, was also offered to the gods. Grain was

eaten after being parched, or, ground to flour between

millstones, was made into cakes with milk or butter.

Various kinds of vegetables and fruit also formed part

of the daily fare of the Vedic Indian. Flesh was eaten

only on ceremonial occasions, when animals were sacrificed.

Bulls being the chief offerings to the gods, beef

was probably the kind of meat most frequently eaten.

Horse-flesh must have been less commonly used, owing

FOOD AND DRINK 165

to the comparative rarity of the horse-sacrifice. Meat

was either roasted on spits or cooked in pots. The

latter were made of metal or earthenware ; but drinkingvessels

were usually of wood.

The Indians of the Rigveda were acquainted with

at least two kinds of spirituous liquor. Soma was

the principal one. Its use was, however, restricted to

occasions of a religious character, such as sacrifices

and festivals. The genuine soma plant from which

it was made also became increasingly difficult to

obtain as the Aryans moved farther away from the

mountains. The spirit in ordinary use was called surd.

The knowledge of it goes back to a remote period, for

its name, like that of soma, is found in the Avesta in

the form of hura. It was doubtless prepared from some

kind of grain, like the liquor made from rice at the

present day in India. Indulgence in surd went hand

in hand with gambling. One poet mentions anger, dice,

and surd as the causes of various sins ; while another

speaks of men made arrogant with surd reviling the

gods. Its use must have been common, for by the

time of the Vdjasaneyi Samhitdy the occupation of a

" maker of sura

"

(surdkdra) or distiller had become a

profession.

One of the chief occupations of the Vedic Indians

was of course warfare. They fought either on foot or

on chariots. The latter had two occupants, the fighter

and the driver. This was still the case in the Mahdbhdrata

f where we find Krishna acting as charioteer to

Arjuna. Cavalry is nowhere mentioned, and probably

came into use at a considerably later period. By the

time of Alexander's invasion, however, it formed one

of the regular four divisions of the Indian army. There

1 66 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

are some indications that riding on horseback was at

least known to the Rigveda, and distinct references to

it occur in the Atharva- and the Yajur-vedas. The Vedic

warriors were protected with coats of mail and helmets

of metal. The principal weapons were the bow and

arrow, the latter being tipped with poisoned horn or

with a metal point. Spears and axes are also frequently

mentioned.

The principal means of livelihood to the Vedic

Indian was cattle-breeding. His great desire was to

possess large herds ; and in the numerous prayers for

protection, health, and prosperity, cattle are nearly

always mentioned first.

The Vedic Aryans were, however, not merely a

pastoral people. They had brought with them from

beyond the valleys of Afghanistan at least a primitive

knowledge of agriculture, as is shown by the Indians

and Iranians having such terms as " to plough

"

(krish)

in common. This had, indeed, by the time of the

Rigveda, become an industry second only to cattlebreeding

in importance. The plough, which we learn

from the Atharva-veda had a metal share, was used for

making furrows in the fields, and was drawn by bulls.

When the earth was thus prepared, seed was strewn

over the soil. Irrigation seems not to have been unknown,

as dug-out channels for water are mentioned.

When ripe, the corn (yava) was cut with a sickle. It

was then laid in bundles on the threshing-floor, where

it was threshed out and finally sifted by winnowing.

Though the Vedic Indians were already a pastoral

and agricultural people, they still practised hunting to

a considerable extent. The hunter pursued his game

with bow and arrow, or used traps and snares. Birds

OCCUPATIONS AND TRADES 167

were usually caught with toils or nets spread on the

ground. Lions were taken in snares, antelopes secured

in pits, and boars hunted with dogs.

Navigation in Rigvedic times was, as we have already

seen, limited to the crossing of rivers. The boats (called

nau-sy Greek nau:s) were propelled by what were doubtless

paddles (aritra), and must have been of the most

primitive type, probably dug-out tree-trunks. No mention

is made of rudder or anchor, masts, or sails.

Trade in those days consisted in barter, the cow

being the pecuniary standard by which the value of

everything was measured. The transition to coinage

was made by the use of gold ornaments and jewelry

as a form of reward or payment, as was the case among

the ancient Germans. Thus nishka, which in the Rig*

veda means a necklet, in later times became the name of

a coin.

Though the requirements of life in early Vedic times

were still primitive enough to enable every man more

or less to supply his own wants, the beginnings of various

trades and industries can be clearly traced in the Rigveda.

References are particularly frequent to the labour

of the worker in wood, who was still carpenter, joiner,

and wheelwright in one. As the construction of chariots

and carts required peculiar skill, we find that certain

men already devoted themselves to it as a special art,

and worked at it for pay. Hence felicity in the composition

of hymns is often compared with the dexterity

of the wheelwright. Mention is also sometimes made

of the smith who smelts the ore in a forge, using the

wing of a bird instead of a bellows to produce a draught.

He is described as making kettles as well as other

domestic utensils of metal. The Rigveda also refers to

1 68 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

tanners and the skins of animals prepared by them.

Women, it appears, were acquainted with sewing and

with the plaiting of mats from grass or reeds. An art

much more frequently alluded to in metaphors and

similes is that of weaving, but the references are so

brief that we obtain no insight into the process. The

Atharva-veda, however, gives some details in a passage

which describes how Night and Day, personified as two

sisters, weave the web of the year alternately with

threads that never break or come to an end. The

division of labour had been greatly developed by the

time of the White Yajurveda, in which a great many

trades and vocations are enumerated. Among these

we find the rope-maker, the jeweller, the elephantkeeper,

and the actor.

Among the active and warlike Vedic Aryans the

chariot-race was a favourite amusement, as is shown

by the very metaphors which are borrowed from this

form of sport. Though skilful driving was still a

highly esteemed art in the epic period, the use of the

chariot both for war and for racing gradually died out in

Hindustan, partly perhaps owing to the enervating influence

of the climate, and partly to the scarcity of

horses, which had to be brought from the region of

the Indus.

The chief social recreation of men when they met

together was gambling with dice. The irresistible fascination

exercised, and the ruin often entailed by this

amusement, we have already found described in the

Gambler's Lament. Some haunted the gaming-hall to

such an extent that we find them jocularly described

in the Yajurveda as "

pillars of the playhouse" {sabhdsthdnii).

No certain information can be gathered from

AMUSEMENTS 169

the Rigveda as to how the game was played. We

know, however, from one passage that four dice were

used. The Yajurveda mentions a game played with

five, each of which has a name. Cheating at play

appears in the Rigveda as one of the most frequent of

crimes ; and one poet speaks of dice as one of the

chief sources of sinning against the ordinances of

Varuna. Hence the word used in the Rigveda for

"

gamester" (kitavd) in classical Sanskrit came to mean

"cheat," and a later word for "rogue" (dhurta) is used

as a synonym of "

gamester."

Another amusement was dancing, which seems to have

been indulged in by men as well as women. But when

the sex of the dancers is distinctly referred to, they are

nearly always maidens. Thus the Goddess of Dawn is

compared to a dancer decked in gay attire. That

dancing took place in the open air may be gathered

from the line (x. 76, 6),

" thick dust arose as from men

who dance "

{nrityatani).

Various references in the Rigveda show that even

in that early age the Indians were acquainted with different

kinds of music. For we find the three main

types of percussion, wind, and stringed instruments

there represented by the drum (dundubhi), the flute

(vdna), and the lute (vznd). The latter has ever since

been the favourite musical instrument of the Indians

down to the present day. That the Vedic Indians were

fond of instrumental music may be inferred from the

statement of a Rishi that the sound of the flute is

heard in the abode of Yama, where the blessed

dwell. From one of the Sutras we learn that instrumental

music was performed at some religious rites,

the vmd being played at the sacrifice to the Manes.

I/O SANSKRIT LITERATURE

By the time of the Yajurveda several kinds of professional

musicians appear to have arisen, for lute-players,

drummers, flute-players, and conch-blowers are enumerated

in its list of callings. Singing is, of course, very

often mentioned in the Rigveda. That vocal music had

already got beyond the most primitive stage may be

concluded from the somewhat complicated method of

chanting the Sdmaveda, a method which was probably

very ancient, as the Soma ritual goes back to the Indo-

Iranian age.

CHAPTER VII

THE LATER VEDAS

(qF the three later Vedas, the Sdmaveda is much the

most closely connected with the Rigveda. Historically

it is of little importance, for it contains hardly any independent

matter, all its verses except seventy-five being

taken directly from the Rigveda. Its contents are derived

chiefly from the eighth and especially the ninth, the Soma

book. The Sdmaveda resembles the Yajurveda in having

been compiled exclusively for ritual application ; for the

verses of which it consists are all meant to be chanted

at the ceremonies of the soma sacrifice. Removed from

their context in the Rigveday they are strung together

without internal connection, their significance depending

solely on their relation to particular rites. In form

these stanzas appear in the text of the Sdmaveda as

if they were to be spoken or recited, differing from

those of the Rigveda only in the way of marking the

accent. (The Sdmaveda is, therefore, only the book

of words employed by the special class of Ugatri priests

at the soma sacrifice.)

Its stanzas assume their proper

character of musical Sdmans or chants only in the

various song-books called gdnas, which indicate the

prolongation, the repetition, and the interpolation of

syllables necessary in singing, just as is often done in

European publications when the words are given below

the musical notation. There are four of these song172

SANSKRIT LITERATURE

books in existence, two belonging to each division of

the Veda. The number of Sdmaiis here given of course

admitted of being indefinitely increased, as each verse

could be sung to many melodies.

The Sdmaveda consists of 1549 stanzas, distributed in

two books called drchikas or collections of rich verses.

The principle of arrangement in these two books is different.

The first is divided into six lessons (firapdthaka),

each of which contains ten decades (dagai) of stanzas, except

the sixth, which has only nine. The verses of the first

twelve decades are addressed to Agni, those of the last

eleven to Soma, while those of the intermediate thirtysix

are chiefly invocations of Indra, the great somadrinker.

The second book contains nine lessons, each of

which is divided into two, and sometimes three sections.

It consists throughout of small groups of stanzas, which,

generally three in number, are closely connected, the

first in the group being usually found in the first book

also. That the second book is both later in date and

secondary in character is indicated by its repeating

stanzas from the first book as well as by its deviating

much less from the text of the Rigveda. It is also a

significant fact in this connection that the verses of the

first book which recur in the second agree more closely

with the readings of the Rigveda than the other verses by

which they are surrounded. This can only be accounted

for by the supposition that they were consciously altered

in order to accord with the same verses in the second

book which were directly influenced by the Rigveda,

while the readings of the first book had diverged more

widely because that book had been handed down, since

the original borrowing, by an independent tradition.

We know from statements of the ^atapatha Brdhmana

THE SAMAVEDA 173

that the divisions of the first book of the Sdmaveda

existed at least as early as the period when the second

part of that Brahmana was composed. There is, moreover,

some reason to believe that the Sdmaveda as a

collection is older than at least the Taittirlya and the

Vdjasaneyi recensions of the Yajurveda. For the latter

contain verses, used also as Sdman chants, in a form which

shows the variations of the Sdmaveda in contrast with

the Rigveda. This is all the more striking as the Vajasaneyi

text has an undoubted tendency to adhere to the

readings of the Rigveda. On the other hand, the view

expressed by Professor Weber that numerous variants in

verses of the Sdmaveda contain archaic forms as compared

with the Rigveda, and were therefore borrowed at

a time before the existing redaction of the Rigveda took

place, has been shown to be untenable. The various

readings of the Sdmaveda are really due in part to

inferior tradition, and in part to arbitrary alterations

made in order to adapt verses detached from their

context to the ritual purpose to which they were applied.

Two schools of the Sdmaveda are known the

Kauthumas and the Ranayanlyas, the former of whom

are said still to exist in Gujarat, while the latter, at one

time settled mainly in the Mahratta country, are said to

survive in Eastern Hyderabad. Their recensions of the

text appear to have differed but little from each other.

That of the Ranayanlyas has been published more than

once. The earliest edition, brought out by a missionary

named Stevenson in 1842, was entirely superseded by the

valuable work of Benfey, which, containing a German

translation and glossary besides the text, came out in

1848. The Sdmaveda was thus the first of the Vedas to be

edited in its entirety. The text of this Veda, according to

174 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

the recension of the same school, together with the commentary

of Sayana, was subsequently edited in India.

Of the Kauthuma recension nothing has been preserved

excepting the seventh prapdthaka, which, in the Naigeya

subdivision of this school, forms an addition to the first

drchika, and was edited in 1868. Two indices of the

deities and composers of the Sdmaveda according to

the Naigeya school have also been preserved, and

indirectly supply information about the text of the

Kauthuma recension.

(The Yajurveda introduces us not only to a geographical

area different from that of the Rigveda, but also

to a new epoch of religious and social life in India>) The

centre of Vedic civilisation is now found to lie farther to

the east. We hear no more of the Indus and its tributaries

; for the geographical data of all the recensions of the

Yajurveda point to the territory in the middle of Northern

India occupied by the neighbouring peoples of the Kurus

and Panchalas. The country of the former, called Kurukshetra,

is specifically the holy land of the Yajui'vedas

and of the Brahmanas attached to them. It lay in the

plain between the Sutlej and the Jumna, beginning with

the tract bounded by the two small rivers DrishadvatI

and SarasvatI, and extending south-eastwards to the

Jumna. It corresponds to the modern district of

Sirhind. Closely connected with, and eastward of this

region, was situated the land of the Panchalas, which,

running south-east from the Meerut district to Allahabad,

embraces the territory between the Jumna and the

Ganges called the Doab ("Two Waters"). Kurukshetra

was the country in which the Brahmanic religious and

social system was developed, and from which it spread

over the rest of India. It claims a further historical

SCHOOLS OF THE YAJURVEDA 175

interest as being in later times the scene of the conflict,

described in the Mahdbhdrata, between the Panchalas

and Matsyas on the one hand, and the Kurus, including

the ancient Bharatas, on the other. In the famous lawbook

of Manu the land of the Kurus is still regarded

with veneration as the special home of Brahmanism, and

as such is designated Brahmavarta. Together with the

country of the Panchalas, and that of their neighbours

to the south of the Jumna, the Matsyas (with Mathura,

now Muttra, as their capital) and the (Jurasenas, it is

spoken of as the land of Brahman sages, where the

bravest warriors and the most pious priests live, and the

customs and usages of which are authoritative.

Here the adherents of the Yajurveda split up into

several schools, which gradually spread over other parts

of India, the Kathas, with their subdivision the Kapishthalas,

being in the time of the Greeks located in the

Panjab, and later in Kashmir also. The Kathas are now

to be found in Kashmir only, while the Kapishthalas have

entirely disappeared. The Maitrayanlyas, originally called

Kalapas, appear at one time to have occupied the region

around the lower course of the Narmada for a distance

of some two hundred miles from the sea, extending to the

south of its mouth more than a hundred miles, as far as

Nasik, and northwards beyond the modern city of Baroda.

There are now only a few remnants of this school to the

north of the Narmada in Gujarat, chiefly at Ahmedabad,

and farther west at Morvi. Before the beginning of our

era these two ancient schools must have been very

widely diffused in India. For the grammarian Patanjali

speaks of the Kathas and Kalapas as the universally

known' schools of the Yajurveda, whose doctrines were

proclaimed in every village. From the Rdmdyana, more176

SANSKRIT LITERATURE

over, we learn that these two schools were highly honoured

in Ayodhya (Oudh) also. They were, however,

gradually ousted by the two younger schools of the

Yajurveda. Of these, the Taittiriyas have been found

only to the south of the Narmada, where they can be

traced as far back as the fourth century A.D. Their most

important subdivision, that of the Apastambas, still survives

in the territory of the Godavarl, while another, the

Hiranyakeeins, are found still farther south. The school

of the Vajasaneyins spread towards the south-east, down

the Ganges Valley. At the present day they occupy a

wide area, embracing North-East and Central India.

Each of these four schools has preserved one or two

recensions of the Yajurveda. The text of the Maitrayanl

Samhita, which consists of four books (kdnda), subdivided

into fifty-four lessons (prapathaka), has been

edited by Professor L. v. Schroeder (1881-86). The

same scholar is preparing an edition of the Kathaka

Samhita, the recension of the Katha school. These two

recensions are nearly related in language, having many

forms in common which are not found elsewhere. Of

the Kapishthala-Katha Samhita only somewhat corrupt

fragments have hitherto come to light, and it is very

doubtful whether sufficient manuscript material will ever

be discovered to render an edition of this text possible.

The Taittirlya Samhita, which comprises seven books,

and is subdivided into forty-four lessons, is somewhat

later in origin than the above-mentioned recensions. It

was edited by Professor A. Weber in 1871-72. These

texts of the Yajurveda form a closely connected group,

for they are essentially the same in character. Their

agreement is often even verbal, especially in th verses

and formulas for recitation which they contain. They

WHITE YAJURVEDA 177

also agree in arranging their matter according to a

similar principle, which is different from that of the

Vdjasaneyi recension.

The Samhitd of the latter consists entirely of the verses

and formulas to be recited at the sacrifice, and is therefore

clear (cukla), that is to say, separated from the explanatory

matter which is collected in the Brahmana.

Hence it is called the White (cukla) Yajurveda, while the

others, under the general name of Black (krishnd) Yajurveda

y are contrasted with it, as containing both kinds of

matter mixed up in the Samhitd. The text of the Vajasaneyins

has been preserved in two recensions, that of

the Madhyamdinas and of the Kanvas. These are almost

identical in their subject-matter as well as its arrangement.

Their divergences hardly go beyond varieties of

reading, which, moreover, appear only in their prose

formulas, not in their verses. Agreeing thus closely, they

cannot be separated in their origin by any wide interval

of time. Their discrepancies probably arose rather from

geographical separation, since each has its own peculiarities

of spelling. The White Yajurveda in both these recensions

has been edited by Professor Weber (1849-52).

It is divided into forty chapters, called adhydyas.

That it originally consisted of the first eighteen alone

is indicated by external as well as internal evidence.

This is the only portion containing verses and prose

formulas (both having the common name of mantras)

which recur in the Taittirlya Samhitd} the sole exceptions

being a few passages relating to the horse-sacrifice in

chapters 22-25. Otherwise the contents of the last

twenty-two chapters are found again only in the Brahmana

and the Aranyaka belonging to the Taittirlya

Samhitd. Moreover, it is only the mantras of the first

178 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

eighteen chapters of the Vdjasaneyi Samhitd which are

quoted and explained word by word in the first nine

books of its own Brahmana, while merely a few mantras

from the following seventeen chapters are mentioned in

that work. According to the further testimony of an

ancient index of the White Yajurveda, attributed to

Katyayana, the ten chapters 26-35 form a supplement

(khila).

The internal evidence of the Vdjasaneyi Samhitd

leads to similar conclusions. The fact that chapters

26-29 contain mantras relating to ceremonies dealt

with in previous chapters and requiring to be applied

to those ceremonies, is a clear indication of their supplementary

character. The next ten chapters (30-39)

are concerned with altogether new ceremonies, such

as the human sacrifice, the universal sacrifice, and the

sacrifice to the Manes. Lastly, the 40th chapter must

be a late addition, for it stands in no direct relation to

the ritual and bears the character of an Upanishad. Different

parts of the Samhitd, moreover, furnish some data

pointing to different periods of religious and social

development. In the 16th chapter the god Rudra is

described by a large number of epithets which are

subsequently peculiar to (Jiva. Two, however, which

are particularly significant, Icdna,

"

Ruler," and Mahddeva,

' Great God," are absent here, but are added in

the 39th chapter. These, as indicating a special worship

of the god, represent a later development. Again,

the 30th chapter specifies most of the Indian mixed

castes, while the 16th mentions only a few of them.

Hence, it is likely that at least some which are known

to the former chapter did not as yet exist when the

latter was composed.

WHITE YAJURVEDA 179

On these grounds four chronological strata may be

distinguished in the White Yajurveda. To the fundamental

portion, comprising chapters 1-18, the next

seven must first have been added, for these two parts

deal with the general sacrificial ceremonial. The development

of the ritual led to the compilation of the next

fourteen chapters, which are concerned with ceremonies

already treated (26-29) or entirely new (30-39). The

last chapter apparently dates from a period when the

excessive growth of ritual practices led to a reaction.

It does not supply sacrificial mantras, but aims at establishing

a mean between exclusive devotion to and total

neglect of the sacrificial ceremonies.

(_Even the original portion of the White Yajurveda

must have assumed shape somewhat later than any of

the recensions of the BlacE>> For the systematic and

orderly distribution of matter by which the mantras are

collected in the Sainhitd, while their dogmatic explanation

is entirely relegated to a Brahmana, can hardly

be as old as the confused arrangement in which both

parts are largely mixed up.

The two most important portions of the Yajurvedas

deal with the new and full moon sacrifices, as well as

the soma sacrifice, on the one hand, and with the construction

of the fire-altar on the other. Chapters 1-1

of the White Yajurveda contain the mantras for the

former, chapters 11-18 those for the latter part of the

ceremonial. The corresponding ritual explanations are

to be found in books 1-5 and 6-9 respectively of the

Qatapatha Brahmana. In these fundamental portions

even the Black Yajurveda does not intermingle the

mantras with their explanations. The first book of the

Taittiriya Samhitd contains in its first four lessons

180 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

nothing but the verses and formulas to be recited at the

fortnightly and the soma sacrifices ; the fourth book, nothing

but those employed in the fire-altar ritual. These

books follow the same order as, and in fact furnish a

parallel recension of, the corresponding parts of the

Vdjasaneyi Samhitd. On the other hand, the Taittiriya

Samhitd contains within itself, but in a different part,

the two corresponding Brahmanas, which, on the whole,

are free from admixture with mantras. The fifth book

is the Brahmana of the fire ritual, and the sixth is that

of the soma sacrifice ; but the dogmatic explanation of

the new and full moon sacrifice is altogether omitted

here, being found in the third book of the Taittiriya

Brahmana. In the Maitrdyani Samhitd the distribution

of the corresponding material is similar. The first

three lessons of the first book contain the mantras only

for the fortnightly and the soma sacrifices ; the latter

half of the second book (lessons 7-13), the mantras only

for the fire ritual. The corresponding Brahmanas begin

with the sixth and the first lesson respectively of the

third book. It is only in the additions to these fundamental

parts of the Black Yajurveda that the separation

of Mantra and Brahmana is not carried out. The main

difference, then, between the Black and the White consists

in the former combining within the same collection

Brahmana as well as Mantra matter. As to its chief

and fundamental parts, there is no reason to suppose

that these two kinds of matter, which are kept separate

and unmixed, are either chronologically or essentially

more nearly related than are the Vdjasaneyi Samhitd and

the (^atapatha Brahmana.

The Yajurveda resembles the Sdmaveda in having

been compiled for application to sacrificial rites only.

YAJURVEDA 181

But while the Sdmaveda deals solely with one part of

the ritual, the soma sacrifice, the Yajurveda supplies

the formulas for the whole sacrificial ceremonial. Like

the Sdmaveda, it is also connec1%d with the Rigveda;

but while the former is practically altogether extracted

from the Rigveda, the Yajurveda, though borrowing

many of its verses from the same source, is largely an

original production. Thus somewhat more than onefourth

only of the Vajasaneyi Samhita is derived from the

Rigveda. One half of this collection consists of verses

(rich) most of which (upwards of 700) are found in the

Rigveda; the other half is made up of prose formulas

(yajus). The latter, as well as the verses not borrowed

from the Rigveda, are the independent creation of the

composers of the Yajurveda. This partial originality was

indeed a necessary result of the growth of entirely new

ceremonies and the extraordinary development of ritual

detail. It became impossible to obtain from the Rigveda

even approximately suitable verses for these novel requirements.

The language of the Mantra portion of the Yajurveda,

though distinctly representing a later stage, yet

on the whole agrees with that of the Rigveda, while

separated from that of classical Sanskrit by a considerable

interval.

(On its mythological side the religion of the Yajurveda

does not differ essentially from that of the older

Veda ; for the pantheon is still the same. Some important

modifications in detail are, however, apparent. The

figure of Prajapati, only foreshadowed in the latest hymns

of the Rigveda, comes more and more into the foreground

as the chief of the godsXThe Rudra of the

Rigveda has begun to appear on the>scene as Civa, being

1 82 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

several times mentioned by that name as well as by other

epithets later peculiar to (^iva, such as (Jankara and

Mahadeva. Vishnu now occupies a somewhat more

prominent position thh in the Rigveda. A new feature

is his constant identification with the sacrifice. The

demons, now regularly called Asuras, perpetually appear

as a group of evil beings opposed to the good gods.

Their conflicts with the latter play a considerable part in

the myths of the Yajurveda. The Apsarases, who, as a

class of celestial nymphs endowed with all the seductive

charms of female beauty, occupy so important a place

in post-Vedic mythology, but are very rarely mentioned

in the Rigveda, begin to be more prominent in the

Yajurveda, in which many of them are referred to by

individual names. ^

Certain religious conceptions have, moreover, been

modified and new rites introduced. Thus the word

brahma, which in the Rigveda meant simply

" devotion,"

has come to signify the essence of prayer and

holiness, an advance towards its ultimate sense in

the Upanishads. Again, snake-worship, which is unknown

to the Rigveda, now appears as an element

in Indian religion. That, however, which impresses

on the Yajurveda the stamp of a new epoch is the

character of the worship which it represents. The

relative importance of the gods and of the sacrifice in

the older religion has now become inverted. In the

Rigveda the object of devotion was the gods, for the

power of bestowing benefits on mankind was believed to

lie in their hands alone, while the sacrifice was only a

means of influencing their will in favour of the offerer.

In the Yajuweda the sacrifice itself has become the

centre of thought and desire, its correct performance in

YAJURVEDA 183

every detail being all-important, (its power is now so

great that it not merely influences, but compels the gods

to do the will of the officiating priest^) By means of it

the Brahmans may, in fact, be said to hold the gods in

their hands.

The religion of the Yajurveda may be described

as a kind of mechanical sacerdotalism. A crowd of

priests conducts a vast and complicated system of

external ceremonies, to which symbolical significance

is attributed, and to the smallest minutiae of which

the greatest weight is attached. In this stifling atmosphere

of perpetual sacrifice and ritual, the truly religious

spirit of the Rigveda could not possibly survive. Adoration

of the power and beneficence of the gods, as well

as the consciousness of guilt, is entirely lacking, every

prayer being coupled with some particular rite and

aiming solely at securing material advantages. As a

natural result, the formulas of the Yajurveda are full of

dreary repetitions or variations of the same idea, and

abound with half or wholly unintelligible interjections,

particularly the syllable om. The following quotation

from the Maitrdyani Samhitd is a good example :

Nidhdyo vd nidhdyo vd om vd om vd om vd e ai om

svarnajyotih. Here only the last word, which means

"golden light," is translatable.

Thus the ritual could not fail to become more

and more of a mystery to all who did not belong

to the Brahman caste. To its formulas, no less than

to the sacrifice itself, control over Nature as well as

the supernatural powers is attributed. Thus there are

certain formulas for the obtainment of victory ; by

means of these, it is said, Indra constantly vanquished

the demons. Again, we learn that, if the priest pro-

13

1 84 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

nounces a formula for rain while mixing a certain

offering, he causes the rain to stream down. Hence

the formulas are regarded as having a kind of magical

effect by exercising compulsion. Similar miraculous

powers later came to be attached to penance and asceticism

among the Brahmans, and to holiness among the

Buddhists. The formulas of the Yajurveda have not, as

a rule, the form of prayers addressed to the gods, but

on the whole and characteristically consist of statements

about the result of employing particular rites and

mantras. Together with the corresponding ritual they

furnish a complex mass of appliances ready to hand

for the obtainment of material welfare in general as

well as all sorts of special objects, such as cattle or a

village. The presence of a priest capable of using the

necessary forms correctly is of course always presupposed.

The desires which several rites are meant to

fulfil amount to nothing more than childish absurdity.

Thus some of them aim at the obtainment of the year.

Formulas to secure possession of the moon would have

had equal practical value.

Hand in hand with the elaboration of the sacrificial

ceremonial went the growth and consolidation of the

caste system, in which the Brahmans secured the social

as well as the religious supremacy, and which has held

India enchained for more than two thousand five hundred

years. Not only do we find the four castes firmly

established as the main divisions of Indian society in

the Yajurveday but, as one of the later books of the

Vajasaneyi Samhitd shows, most of the mixed castes

known in later times are already found to exist. The

social as well as the religious conditions of the Indian

people, therefore, now wear an aspect essentially difATHARVA-

VEDA 185

fering from those revealed to us in the hymns of the

Rigveda.

The Rig-, Sdma-1 and Yajur-vedas alone were originally

recognised as canonical collections. For they only

were concerned with the great sacrificial ceremonial.

(The Atharva-veda, with the exception of the last book,

which was obviously added in order to connect it with

that ceremonial, is essentially unconnected with iO

The ceremonial to which its hymns were practically

applied is, with few exceptions, that with which the

Grihya Sutras deal, being domestic rites such as those

of birth, marriage, and death, or the political rites relating

to the inauguration of kings. Taken as a whole,

it is a heterogeneous collection of spells. Its most

salient teaching is sorcery, for it is mainly directed

against hostile agencies, such as diseases, noxious

animals, demons, wizards, foes, oppressors of Brahmans.

But it also contains many spells of an auspicious

character, such as charms to secure harmony in

family and village life, reconciliation of enemies, long

life, health, and prosperity, besides prayers for protection

on journeys, and for luck in gambling. (Thus it has a

double aspect, being meant to appease cTnd bless as

,well as to curse^

In its main contents the Atharva-veda is more

superstitious than the Rigveda, (For it does not represent

the more advanced religious beliefs of the

priestly class, but is a collection of the most popular

spells current among the masseV who always preserve

more primitive notions with regard to demoniac powers.

The spirit which breathes in it is that of a prehistoric

age. A few of its actual charms probably date with

little modification from the Indo-European period;

1 86 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

for, as Adalbert Kuhn has shown, some of its spells

for curing bodily ailments agree in purpose and content,

as well as to some extent even in form, with

certain old German, Lettic, and Russian charms. But

with regard to the higher religious ideas relating to

the gods, it represents a more recent and advanced

stage than the Rigveda. It contains, indeed, more

theosophic matter than any of the other Samhitas. For

the history of civilisation it is on the whole more interesting

and important than the Rigveda itself.

The Atharva-veda is extant in the recensions of two

different schools. That of the Paippaladas is, however,

known in a single birch-bark manuscript, which is

ancient but inaccurate and mostly unaccented. It was

discovered by Professor Biihler in Kashmir, and has

been described by Professor Roth in his tract Der

Atharuaveda in Kaschmir (1875). It will probably soon

be accessible to scholars in the form of a photographic

reproduction published by Professor Bloomfield.

This recension is doubtless meant by the "

Paippalada

Mantras " mentioned in one of the Paricishtas or supplementary

writings of the Atharva-veda.

The printed text, edited by Roth and Whitney in

1856, gives the recension of the (^aunaka school. Nearly

the whole of Sayana's commentary to the Atharva-veda

has been edited in India. Its chief interest lies in the

large number of readings supplied by it which differ

from those of the printed edition of this Veda.

This Samhita is divided into twenty books, containing

730 hymns and about 6000 stanzas. Some 1200 of

the latter are derived from the Rigveda, chiefly from

the tenth, first, and eighth books, a few also from each

of the other books. Of the 143 hymns of Book XX.,

ATHARVA-VEDA 187

all but twelve are taken bodily from the established

text of the Rigveda without any change. The matter

borrowed from the Rigveda in the other books shows

considerable varieties of reading, but these, as in the

other Samhitas, are of inferior value compared with the

text of the Rigveda. As is the case in the Yajurveda,

a considerable part of the Atharva (about one-sixth) consists

of prose. Upwards of fifty hymns, comprising the

whole of the fifteenth and sixteenth, besides some thirty

hymns scattered in the other books, are entirely unmetrical.

Parts or single stanzas of over a hundred

other hymns are of a similar character.

That the Atharva-veda originally consisted of its first

thirteen books only is shown both by its arrangement

and by its subject-matter. The contents of Books IVII.

are distributed according to the number of stanzas

contained in the hymns. In Book I. they have on the

average four stanzas, in II. five, in III. six, in IV. seven,

in V. eight to eighteen, in VI. three ; and in VII. about

half the hymns have only one stanza each. Books

VIII. XIII. contain longer pieces. The contents of all

these thirteen books are indiscriminately intermingled.

The following five books, on the contrary, are arranged

according to uniformity of subject-matter. Book XIV.

contains the stanzas relating to the wedding rite, which

consist largely of mantras from the tenth book of the

Rigveda. Book XV. is a glorification of the Supreme

Being under the name of Vratya, while XVI. and XVII.

contain certain conjurations. The whole of XV. and

nearly the whole of XVI., moreover, are composed in

prose of the type found in the Brahmanas. Both XVI.

and XVII. are very short, the former containing nine

hymns occupying four printed pages, the latter consist1

88 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

ing of only a single hymn, which extends to little more

than two pages. Book XVIII. deals with burial and

the Manes. Like XIV., it derives most of its stanzas

from the tenth book of the Rigveda. Both these books

are, therefore, not specifically Atharvan in character.

The last two books are manifestly late additions.

Book XIX. consists of a mixture of supplementary

pieces, part of the text of which is rather corrupt.

Book XX., with a slight exception, contains only complete

hymns addressed to Indra, which are borrowed

directly and without any variation from the Rigveda.

The fact that its readings are identical with those of

the Rigveda would alone suffice to show that it is of

later date than the original books, the readings of

which show considerable divergences from those of the

older Veda. There is, however, more convincing proof

of the lateness of this book. Its matter relates to

the Soma ritual, and is entirely foreign to the spirit

of the Atharva-veda. It was undoubtedly added to

establish the claim of the Atharva to the position of a

fourth Veda, by bringing it into connection with the

recognised sacrificial ceremonial of the three old Vedas.

This book, again, as well . as the nineteenth, is not

noticed in the Praticakhya of the Atharva-veda. Both

of them must, therefore, have been added after that

work was composed. Excepting two prose pieces (48

and 49) the only original part of Book XX. is the

so-called kuntapa hymns (127-136). These are allied to

the ddnastutis of the Rigveda, those panegyrics of liberal

kings or sacrificers which were the forerunners of epic

narratives in praise of warlike princes and heroes.

The existence of the Atharvay as a collection of

some kind, when the last books of the Qatapatha BrahATHARVA-

VEDA 189

mana (xi., xiii., xiv.), the Taittirlya Brdhmana, and the

Chhdndogya Upanishad were composed, is proved by the

references to it in those works. In Patanjali's MahdbJidshya

the Atharva had already attained to such an

assured position that it is even cited at the head of the

Vedas, and occasionally as their only representative.

The oldest name of this Veda is Atharvdngirasah, a

designation occurring in the text of the Atharva-veda,

and found at the beginning of its MSS. themselves. This

word is a compound formed of the names of two ancient

families of priests, the Atharvans and Angirases. In the

opinion of Professor Bloomneld the former term is here

synonymous with "

holy charms/' as referring to auspicious

practices, while the latter is an equivalent of

" witchcraft charms." The term atharvan and its derivatives,

though representing only its benevolent side, would

thus have come to designate the fourth Veda as a whole.

In its plural form {atharvdnaJt) the word in this sense is

found several times in the Brahmanas, but in the singular

it seems first to occur in an Upanishad. The adjective

dtharvana, first found as a neuter plural with the sense

of "Atharvan hymns" in the Atharva-veda itself (Book

XIX.), is common from that time onwards. The name

atharva-veda first appears in Sutras about as early as

rigveda and similar designations of the other Samhitas.

There are besides two other names of the Atharva-veda,

the use of which is practically limited to the ritual texts

of this Veda. In one of these, Bhrigu-angirasah, the

name of another ancient family of fire-priests, the

Bhrigus, takes the place of that of the Angirases. The

other, brahma-veday has outside the Atharvan literature

only been found once, and that in a Grihya Sutra of the

Rigveda.

iqo SANSKRIT LITERATURE

A considerable time elapsed before the Atharva-veda,

owing to the general character of its contents, attained

to the rank of a canonical book. There is no evidence

that even at the latest period of the Rigveda the charms

constituting the Atharva-veda were formally recognised

as a separate literary category. For the Purusha hymn,

while mentioning the three sacrificial Vedas by the names

of Rik, Saman, and Yajus, makes no reference to the

spells of the Atharva-veda. Yet the Rigveda, though it

is mainly concerned with praises of the gods in connection

with the sacrifice, contains hymns showing

that sorcery was bound up with domestic practices from

the earliest times in India. The only reference to the

spells of the Atharva-veda as a class in the Yajurvedas

is found in the Taittirlya Samhita, where they are alluded

to under the name of angirasah by the side of Rik,

Saman, and Yajus, which it elsewhere mentions alone.

Yet the formulas of the Yajur-veda are often pervaded

by the spirit of the Atharva-veda, and are sometimes

Atharvan even in their wording. In fact, the difference

between the Rigveda and Yajurveda on the one hand,

and the Atharva on the other, as regards sorcery, lies

solely in the degree of its applicability and prominence.

The Atharva-veda itself only once mentions its own

literary type directly (as atharvangirasaJi) and once indirectly

(as bheshaja or "auspicious spells"), by the side

of the other three Vedas, while the latter in a considerable

number of passages are referred to alone. This'

shows that as yet there was no feeling of antagonism

between the adherents of this Veda and those of the

older ones.

Turning to the Brahmanas, we find that those of the

Rigveda do not mention the Atharva-veda at all, while

ATHARVA-VEDA 191

the Taittirlya Brdhmana (like the Taittiriya Aranyakd)

refers to it twice. In the ^atapatha Brdhmana it appears

more frequently, occupying a more defined position,

though not that of a Veda. This work very often

mentions the three old Vedas alone, either explicitly as

Riky Sdmany Yajus, or as trayl vidyd, "the threefold

knowledge." In several passages they are also mentioned

along with other literary types, such as itihdsa (story),

purdna (ancient legend) gdthd (song), siitra, and upanishad.

In these enumerations the Atharva-veda regularly

occupies the fourth place, coming immediately after the

three Vedas, while the rest follow in varying order. The

Upanishads in general treat the Atharva-veda in the same

way ; the Upanishads of the Atharva itself, however,

sometimes tacitly add its name after the three Vedas,

even without mentioning other literary types. With

regard to the (^rauta or sacrificial Sutras, we find no

reference to the Atharva in those of Katyayana {White

Yajurvedd) or Latyayana {Sdmaveda)} and only one each

in those of (Jankhayana and Acvalayana {Rigvedd).

In all this sacrificial literature there is no evidence of

repugnance to the Atharva, or of exclusiveness towards

it on the part of followers of the other Vedas. Such

an attitude could indeed hardly be expected. For though

the sphere of the Vedic sacrificial ritual was different

from that of regular magical rites, it is impossible to

draw a distinct line of demarcation between sacrifice and

sorcery in the Vedic religion, of which witchcraft is, in

fact, an essential element. The adherents of the three

sacrificial Vedas would thus naturally recognise a work

which was a repository of witchcraft. Thus the ^atapatha

Brdhmana, though characterising yatu or sorcery as

devilish doubtless because it may be dangerous to those

1 92 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

who practise it places yatuvidah or sorcerers by the side

of bahvrichas or men skilled in Rigvedic verses. Just as

the Rigveda contains very few hymns directly connected

with the practice of sorcery, so the Atharva originally

included only matters incidental and subsidiary to the

sacrificial ritual. Thus it contains a series of formulas

(vi. 47-48) which have no meaning except in connection

with the three daily pressings (savana) of soma. We also

find in it hymns {e.g. vi. 114) which evidently consist of

formulas of expiation for faults committed at the sacrifice.

We must therefore conclude that the followers of the

Atharva to some extent knew and practised the sacrificial

ceremonial before the conclusion of the present redaction

of their hymns. The relation of the Atharva to the

crauta rites was, however, originally so slight, that it

became necessary, in order to establish a direct connection

with it, to add the twentieth book, which was

compiled from the Rigveda for the purposes of the

sacrificial ceremonial.

The conspicuous way in which crauta works ignore

the Atharva is therefore due to its being almost entirely

unconnected with the subject-matter of the sacrifice,

not to any pronounced disapproval or refusal to recognise

its value in its own sphere. With the Grihya

or Domestic Sutras, which contain many elements of

sorcery practice (vz'dhdna), we should expect the

Atharva to betray a closer connection. This is, indeed,

to some extent the case ; for many verses quoted in

these Sutras are identical with or variants of those

contained in the Atharvaf even though the Domestic,

like the Sacrificial, Sutras endeavoured to borrow their

verses as far as possible from the particular Veda to

which they were attached. Otherwise, however, their

ATHARVA-VEDA 193

references to the Atharva betray no greater regard for

it than those in the Sacrificial Sutras do. Such references

to the fourth Veda are here, it is true, more

frequent and formulaic ; but this appears to mean

nothing more than that the Grihya Sutras belong to a

later date.

In the sphere, too, of law (dharmd), as dealing with

popular usage and custom, the practices of the Atharva

maintained a certain place ; for the indispensable

sciences of medicine and astrology were distinctively

Atharvan, and the king's domestic chaplain (purohita),

believed capable of rendering great services in the

injury and overthrow of enemies by sorcery, seems

usually to have been an Atharvan priest. At the same

time it is only natural that we should first meet with

censures of the practices of the Atharva in the legal

literature, because such practices were thought to

enable one man to harm another. The verdict of the

law treatises on the whole is, that as incantations of

various kinds are injurious, the Atharva-veda is inferior

and its practices impure. This inferiority is directly

expressed in the Dharma Sutra of Apastamba ; and

the later legal treatise (smriti) of Vishnu classes the

reciter of a deadly incantation from the Atharva among

the seven kinds of assassins. Physicians and astrologers

are pronounced impure ; practices with roots

are prohibited ; sorceries and imprecations are punished

with severe penances. In certain cases, however, the

Atharva-veda is stated to be useful. Thus the Lawbook

of Manu recommends it as the natural weapon of the

Brahman against his enemies.

In the Mahabharata we find the importance and the

canonical character of the Atharva fully recognised.

194 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

The four Vedas are often mentioned, the gods Brahma

and Vishnu being in several passages described as

having created them. The Atharva is here often also

referred to alone, and spoken of with approbation.

Its practices are well known and seldom criticised adversely,

magic and sorcery being, as a rule, regarded as

good.

Finally, the Puranas not only regularly speak of the

fourfold Veda, but assign to the Atharva the advanced

position claimed for it by its own ritual literature.

Thus the Vishnu Purana connects the Atharva with

the fourth priest (the brahman) of the sacrificial ritual.

Nevertheless a certain prejudice has prevailed against

the Atharva from the time of the Dharma Sutras. This

appears from the fact that, even at the present day,

according to Burnell, the most influential Brahmans of

Southern India still refuse to accept the authority of

the fourth Veda, and deny its genuineness. A similar

conclusion may be drawn from occasional statements

in classical texts, and especially from the efforts

of the later Atharvan writings themselves to vindicate

the character of their Veda. (These ritual texts not

only never enumerate the Vedas without including the

Atharva, but even sometimes place it at the head of

the four Vedas>v Under a sense of the exclusion of their

Veda from the sphere of the sacrificial ritual, they lay

claim to the fourth priest (the brahman), who in the

Vedic religion was not attached to any of the three

Vedas, but being required to have a knowledge of all

three and of their sacrificial application, acted as superintendent

or director of the sacrificial ceremonial. Ingeniously

availing themselves of the fact that he was

unconnected with any of the three Vedas, they put

ATHARVA-VEDA 195

forward the claim of the fourth Veda as the special

sphere of the fourth priest. That priest, moreover, was

the most important as possessing a universal knowledge

of religious lore {brahma\ the comprehensive esoteric

understanding of the nature of the gods and of the

mystery of the sacrifice. Hence the Gopatha Brahmana

exalts the Atharva as the highest religious lore (brahmd)^

and calls it the Brahmaveda. The claim to the latter

designation was doubtless helped by the word brahma

often occurring in the Atharva-veda itself with the sense

of "

charm," and by the fact that the Veda contains a

larger amount of theosophic matter {brahmavidya) than

any other Samhita. The texts belonging to the other

Vedas never suggest that the Atharva is the sphere of

the fourth priest, some Brahmana passages expressly declaring

that any one equipped with the requisite knowledge

maybe ^brahman. The ritual texts of the Atharva

further energetically urged that the Purohita, or domestic

chaplain, should be a follower of the Atharva-veda.

They appear to have finally succeeded in their claim

to this office, doubtless because kings attached great

value to a special knowledge of witchcraft.

The geographical data contained in the Atharva are

but few, and furnish no certain evidence as to the

region in which its hymns were composed. One hymn

of its older portion (v. 22) makes mention of the

Gandharis, Mujavats, Mahavrishas, and Balhikas (in

the north-west), and the Magadhas and Angas (in the

east) ; but they are referred to in such a way that no

safe conclusions can be drawn as to the country in

which the composer of the hymn in question lived.

The Atharva also contains a few astronomical data,

the lunar mansions being enumerated in the nineteenth

196 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

book. The names here given deviate considerably from

those mentioned in the Taittirlya Samhita, appearing

mostly in a later form. The passage in which this list

is found is, however, a late addition.

The language of the Atharva is, from a grammatical

point of view, decidedly later than that of the Rigveda,

but earlier than that of the Brahmanas. In vocabulary

it is chiefly remarkable for the large number of

popular words which it contains, and which from lack

of opportunity do not appear elsewhere.

It seems probable that the hymns of the Atharva,

though some of them must be very old, were not edited

till after the Brahmanas of the Rigveda were composed.

On examining the contents of the Atharva-veda more

in detail, we find that the hostile charms it contains

are directed largely against various diseases or the

demons which are supposed to cause them. There are

spells to cure fever (takman), leprosy, jaundice, dropsy,

scrofula, cough, ophthalmia, baldness, lack of vital

power ; fractures and wounds ; the bite of snakes or

injurious insects, and poison in general ; mania and

other ailments. These charms are accompanied by the

employment of appropriate herbs. Hence the Atharva

is the oldest literary monument of Indian medicine.

The following is a specimen of a charm against cough

(vi. 105) :

Just as the sold with soul-desires

Swift to a dista?ice flies away,

So even thou, O cough, flyforth

Along the souPs qidck-darting course.

Just as the arrow, sharpened well,

Swift to a dista?ice flies away,

So even thou, O cough, flyforth

Along the broad expanse of earth.

ATHARVA-VEDA 197

Just as the sun-god's shooting rays

Swift to a distancefly away,

So even thou, O cough, flyforth

Along the ocean\s surgingflood.

Here is a spell for the cure of leprosy by means of

a dark-coloured plant :

Born in the night art thou, herb,

Dark-coloured, sable, black of hue :

Rich-thited, tinge this leprosy,

And stain away its spots ofgrey ! (i. 23, 1).

A large number of imprecations are directed against

demons, sorcerers, and enemies. The following two

stanzas deal with the latter two classes respectively :

Bend round andpass us by, O curse,

Even as a burningfire a lake.

Here strike him down that curses us,

As heaverfs lightning smites the tree (vi. 37, 2).

As, rising in the east, the sun

The stars' bright lustre takes away,

So both of wo?nen and of men,

Myfoes, the strength I take away (vii. 13, 1).

A considerable group of spells consists of imprecations

directed against the oppressors of Brahmans and those

who withhold from them their rightful rewards. The

following is one of the threats held out against such evildoers

:

Water with which they bathe the dead,

And that with which they wet his beard,

The gods assigned thee as thy share,

Oppressor of the Brahman priest (v. 19, 14).

Another group of charms is concerned with women,

being intended to secure their love with the aid of

 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

various potent herbs. Some of them are of a hostile

character, being meant to injure rivals. The following

two stanzas belong to the former class :

As round this heaven and earth the sun

Goes day by day, encircling them,

So do Igo around thy mind,

That, woman, thou shalt love me well,

And shalt not turn awayfrom me (vi. 8, 3).

' Tis winged with longing, barbed with love,

Its shaft isforrfied offixed desire :

With this his arrow levelled well

Shall Kama pierce thee to the heart (iii. 25, 2).

Among the auspicious charms of the Atharva there

are many prayers for long life and health, for exemption

from disease and death :

If life in him declines or has departed,

If on the very brink of death he totters,

I snatch himfrom the lap of Dissolution,

Ifree him now to live a hundred autumns (iii. II, 2).

Rise upfront hence, O man, and straightway casting

Death'sfettersfrom thyfeet, depart not downward;

Frotn life upon this earth be not yet sundered,

Norfrom the sight of Ag?ii and the sunlight (viii. I, 4).

Another class of hymns includes prayers for protection

from dangers and calamities, or for prosperity

in the house or field, in cattle, trade, and even gambling.

Here are two spells meant to secure luck at play :

As at all times the lightning stroke

Smites irresistibly the tree :

So gamesters with the dice would I

Beat irresistibly to-day (vii. 5, 1).

Om Tat Sat

                                                        

(Continued...) 

(My humble salutations to  Brahmsree Sreeman  Arthur A. Macdonell  and also my humble greatulness to  great Devotees , Philosophic Scholars  for the collection)