RIFLEMAN, or RIFLE BIRD, an Aus tralian forest-bird (Ptilorrhit poradiseea), close ly related to the birds of paradise and so called because its colors and ornaments re minded the colonists of the old uniform of the British Rifle Brigade. The male is regarded' as more splendid in plumage than any other Australian bird. The upper parts are velvety black, tinged with purple; the under parts vel vety black, diversified with olive-green. The crown of the head and the throat are covered with innumerable little specks of emerald green of most brilliant lustre. The tail is black, the two central feathers rich metallic green. The female, as is often the case, is much duller colored than her mate. They obtain their in sect food largely from beneath the loose bark of trees, about which they scramble like wood Consult Newton, 'Dictionary of ) (1893-96). RIG VEDA, rIg vaidi, the oldest of the four Vedas, and the oldest literary monument of the Indo-Enropean races. The term Veda is the ancient Hindu Sanskrit word for knowl edge, and the Vedas compose the great body of sacred scripture of the older Hindus, written in an ancient form of Sanskrit. The precise time of composition of the Vedas cannot be determined, but it is probable that the Rig Veda was in course of composition as early as 1200 a.c., • and some authorities contend that some of the verses must have been composed as early as 1500 s.c., the latest date of compo sition given for any of the verses being 600 B.C. It is known that the Rig Veda was composed by many different generations, and Max Muller believed that for a long period after its com position it was transmitted orally fromone to another, and was not set down in writing until a much later date, since it contains no allusion to writing or writing materials. Of the four Vedas the Rig Veda is by far the most important, not only on account of its greater antiquity but also because of the information which it contains. The most authoritative writ ers state that the sacred hymns of the Rig Veda are repeated in a modified form in the Sima Veda, or chants, and in another form in the Yajur Veda, or ritual, while the fourth and latest of the Vedas, the inferior Atharva Veda, shows great modifications from the hymns of the Rig Veda, due to the introduction of superstitions, magic chants and vulgar charms. The hymns of the Rig Veda, in com
mon with those of the three succeeding ones, are of four classes; the first and most import ant are the mantras, or sacred utterances, usually in metiical form; the next are the brahmanas, or explanatory inspired utterances, being the oldest 'Indo-European bodies of prose; last come the Sutras, divided into three classes, of which two are found in the Rig Veda; the Kalpa-Sutras, comprising largely rules of sacrifice, and the Grhya-Sutras, dealing with home life. The Rig Veda consists of 1,017 hymns or short lyric poems, with 10,580 verses. It is written in 10 books, of which six books ii-vii contain each the record of a single family or clan; book i, 15 collections, each attributed to a different poet-sage; book ix glorifies the sacred drink "Soma," and book x contains hymns 'supposed to have been composed by many different authors. The religion was nature worship, the chief objects of adoration being Agni, the god of fire, and Indra or Pluvius, the cloud-compeller. The Hindu Triad had not yet arisen. The Rig Veda does not recognize the institution of caste. Beef was eaten. Women held a high position, and some of the hymns were composed by them. The rite of suttee was unknown; the conquest of Indra had only begun, and the Ganges, inci dentally mentioned, had not become a sacred stream. °The home of the Rig Veda," says Professor Hopkins, of Yale University, ((has been located in almost as many places as Para dise. Now it is by the Caspian Sea, now it is in Kandahar, but the Punjab is the favorite place, and quite naturally; for the poets are familiar with the Punjab, sing of it, talk of crossing its rivers, and in many ways show that they occupied, in part at least, the country stretching from Peshawar to Delhi.* (See SANSKRIT LITERATURE i VEDA). Consult 'India Old and New: The Rig Veda,' by E. W. Hop kins (New York 1901) • (The Religions of India,' by the same author (Boston 1895), and the translation by Arrowsmith (Boston 1886) of A. Kaegi's (Rigveda.'