Though Mantras and Braleman'as—Loth of which are also termed Sr9eti (q. v.)—were held at a later period of Hinduism to have existed simultaneously, that is, from eternity, it is certain that the Briihman'a portion of each Veda is posterior to at least some part of its Sanhit6, for it refers to it; and it scarcely requires a remark that to great a bulk of works as that represented by both portions must have been the gradual result of a con siderable period of time. There is, indeed, sufficient evidence to prove that ions conditions of society, various phases of religious belief, and even different periods of language are reflected by them. The difficulty, however, critically to discern these periods, is enhanced by the losses, probably considerable, which these writings suffered before they were preserved in the shape in which we now possess them. For in tradi tim, which records that Vydsn (q.v.), after having compiled and arranged the Vedas, handed each of them to four disciples, and that these disciples taught them to their dis ciples, and so forth, down to distant aces, there is so much indubitable. that Mantras and Brillunan'as had to pass through a large number of S'Cikhils, or schools, and that the dis crepancies which gradually arose between these. schools, both as regards the Vedic texts and the interpretation of these texts, cannot. have been slight; for, apart from the con clusion yielded by a comparison of the remaining texts of some of these schools, later writers afford us an insight into the animosity which existed between these schools, ;m must have arisen from very material grounds. Thus, in a commentary in Tcloolara Sutras, it is said: " Vasishtilm declares that it is wrong to foiloNv the rules of another S'alt116." lie says. "A wise person will certainly not perform the duties rre scribed by another he that does is called a traitor to his S'ilkhri. Whi•-oever leaves the law of his StilleliA, and adopts that of another, he sinks into blind Oarkness, having degraded a sacred Wishi." And in another law-book it is said: " If a man gives up his own customs, and performs others. whether out of ignorance or cow cestless, he will fall, and be destroyed." And again in the PerWislerta of the C7rhanderu.9: " A fool who ceases to follow his own wishing to adopt another one, his work will he in vain."—See Miiller's Ancient Sanserit Literature, p. 51. That each Saha claimer) the possession of the only true and genuine Vecla, may be already inferred from pas sages dike these. The difference between these S'ukhhs, however, did not consist— as has been believed—in their various readings of the S'ruti alone: it also consisted in consider able variation's of their arrangement of the Scriptures; in their additions or omissions of texts—as may be seen from still existing S'iikhits of the Yajurveda—and, as is stated by .11adlausddana, and results from it commentator on Pun'ini, in their dij'erent interpr•e tation of the Vedic texts. How great the number of these S'ilkhhs was, may be inferred from the statement of the Clraranavyuha, a treatise ascribed to an ancient writer. S'au naka; for it enumerates five Skhas of the R'igveda; says that there were 86, and names 4I (or in one recension 44) of the Yajurveda; mentions twelve of the Samaveda, out of a thousand, which, it says, were atone time in existence, and nine of the Atharvaveda. The Atharvan'arahasya, a modern treatise on the Atharvaveda, while ascribing the same number of Sakhfs to the Samdveda and Atharvaveda, speaks of twenty-one of the Ri'g veda, and a hundred of the Yajurveda. Of all these schools, however, the R'igveda is now extant only in one; the Yajurveda (both divisions to be named hereafter, taken col lectively) in three and partially in four; the Sltmaveda in perhaps two; and the Atharva veda in one.
The character of the Sanhita or Mantra portion of the four Vedas—on which their Brahman'a portion is based—as well as the relation in which these Sanhiths stand to each other, is intelligible only if it is borne in mind that the ancient Hindu believed to secure the favors of his gods chiefly by the performance of sacrificial rites; that gradually these rites became complicated and manifold, and care, therefore, had to be taken to provide for a correct celebration of the sacrifices which had sprung up, and also to guard against the evil consequences which might result from inadvertence, or other causes beyond the sacrificer's control. The original worship seems to have been simple
enough (see Ixnrn, sec. religion)—it probably neither occupied much time, nor required the assistance of a priest. But when sacrifices were instituted which lasted from one day to eleven, nay, to a hundred days—and some works speak of sacrifices which went on for the space of one and even several years—and when the Brahmanic caste found the performance of such sacrifices to be an excellent means of establishing its sway over the other castes, and a convenient source of an easy livelihood, it was laid dowh as a rule that no sacrifice could be performed without one Hitwij, or priest; and that a great sacrifice, such as the Jyotisht'oma, RiijasCrya, or other sacri fices which could only be celebrated by wealthy people or kings, required the assistance of not less than sixteen priests, besides a number of menials, who had to slay the sacrificial animals, to chant, or to perform other inferior work. These sixteen priests were then divided into four sections, each headed by one R'itwij, and containing besides him, his three purushas, or assistants. The first section consisted of the Adhwaryu, with his three purushas, the Pratiprasthatr'i, Nesht'r'i, and Unit'ri; the second, of the Brahman, with the three purushas, Brhhmanachchhansin, Agnidh (or Agnidhra), and Potr'i; the third, of the Udgdtr'i, with the Prastotr'i, Pratihartr'i, and Subrahman'ya; and the fourth of the IIot'ri, whose assistants were the Maitravarun'a, Achchhavtika, and Gravastut. (In other accounts the order of these sections varies, and in the section headed by the Brah man, the Potr'i precedes the Agnidh; see also Muller, Ancient San.ecrit Lit., pp. 468-69; where, however, by mistake, some of the assistant priests occur in the wrong sections.) The principal duties of these priests were further regulated in the following manner. The Hot'ri had to perform the rites relating to the R'igveda, the Adhwaryu those based on the Yajurveda; the Udgdtr i was concerned in the rites of the Sitmaveda; and the Brahman had to possess a knowledge of all these three Vedas, and to set right any mis take that might have occurred in the performance of the ritual acts, or remedy any defect which might vitiate the efficiency of the sacrifice. He was therefore the most learned of all the priests; and the R'igveda itself, though perhaps in one of its latest portions, recognizes the superiority of the priest Brahman. In the ritual works relating to the first three Vedas, no functions based on the use of the latest or the Atharvaveda are assigned to Trim, but in the S'aunaka-Brdhman'a of the Atlaarvaveda, where Praja pati is introduced as intending to perform a soma sacrifice, and asking the Vedas whom he should choose for his Hot'ri, Adhwaryu, Udg6,tr'i, and Brahman, She Vedas answer hint: "Choose for a Hot'ri (the priest) who knows the R'igveda; for an Adwaryn, (the priest) who knows the Yajurveda; for an Udgutr'i,(the priest) who knows the Suma veda; and for a Brahman (the priest) who knows the Atharvaveda;" and to explain the reason for such advice, they add that the R'igveda hymns having the earth for their abode, one who chooses a Hotr'i will obtain dominion over the earth; the Yajnrveda mantras resting on the intermediate space, one who engages an Adhwaryu will obtain the world of that space; the Samaveda hymns dwelling on heaven, one wuo employs an Udgdtr•'i will obtain that world; but one who chooses a Brahman will encompass thu world of (tire neuter) Brahman, or the supreme spirit, since the hymns of the Atharva veda have for their abode Brahman.