If in order to gain an insight into the peculiar character of each of these we consult the view entertained of it by the native writings, little aid will be afforded us by the mythological narrative of the S'atapatha-brfshman'a (xi. 5, 8, 1), and ' Law Book,' (i. 23), which tell us, iu the same words, that (Brahma), " for the duo performance of the sacrifice, drew out the threefold eternal Veda, the lt'igveda from fire, the Yajnrveda from air, and the S5maveda from the sun ;" nor will our knowledge be more advanced by a passage from the 13hagavata (iii. 12-37) and the Vishnu.Puran'a, which inform us (i. cap. 5) that " Brehm& created the Wigvetla .... from his eastern mouth, the Yajurveda .... from his southern, the Stimavecla .... from his western, and the Athareave(La .... from his northern mouth." Ihit of greater importance is evidently a statement of the Kanshltaki bnahman'a which, while omitting to mention the Atharvaveda, calls the Yajur- and SIma-veda " the attendants of the Irigveda " (Muller, Ane, Sanak. Lit.', p. 457). The real bearing of the latter words, how ever, becomes clear from what Sayan'a says in his introduction to the lt'igveda. After having inferred from the ninth verso of the Purusha sakta, mentioned before (comp. Muir's ' Original Sanskrit Texts,' i. p. 6), the precedence in rank of the lt'igveda before the other Vedas, he continues : " the Taittirlya.s, or followers of the Black Yajurveda, record that whatever sacrificial act is performed by means of the Same- and Yajur-veda is (comparatively) slender, whatever is done by :neaps of the ht'igveda is strong ;" and "among the hymns found in the Yajurveda there are many leigveda hymns, which are to be employed by the Adhwaryu priest; all the hymns of the SA:navel.' come from the Itigveda, and even those who make use of the Atharvamla read in their own SanhitA to a considerable extent, the very hymns of the lt'igveda" (Sayan'a, in ed. of the Itigveda: t. p. 2). it results from this statement, not only that the It'igveda was held to to prior in rank to the other Vedas, but that it was considered to be older than they, and that the hymns of the Samaveda were entirely, and those of the two other Vedas to a considerable degree, extracted from the Ingveda-Sanhiti. And this information of the celebrated commen tator is fully bonio out by a comparison of the hymns of the four Vedas. For, though Professor Henley has shown, in his edition of the &Wave& (p. xix), that seventy-one verses of the latter are not met with in the present text of the Wigs-eds., and that many readings of this Veda differ from those of the &Sanas-oda, it does not follow " that the recension of the Ingveda-Saphita took place at a later period than that of the Samaveda," nor " that the lt'igveda verses occurring iu the SAmareda are older than those of the present lt'igveda text" (Pro fessor Weber, in his Akadomische Vorlesungen, p. 9. 02) ; but, as Professor Muller justly observes (' Anc. Sanak. Lit.' p. 475), that this difference " may possibly be accounted for by the fact, that wo do not possess all tho S'ilkhils of the It'igvoda." Tho true nature, however, of this relation between the P'igveda and the other Veda'', appears from the purposes which they were made to servo, purposes, which, according to the concurrent statement of all native authors, are of a ritual or sacrificial character.
A vaidik sacrifice is a piece of machinery of a very complicated kind.
A knowledge of it is imparted by a class of writings, the Kalpa works, which will be treated of hereafter. Good care was taken by their authors, or the authorities whence their contents are derived, that no man who intended to perform a regular sacrifice (a yajamdna), could satisfy his religious want—which was always connected with some worldly desire, such as the birth of a son, increase of cattle, attainment of military renown, conquest, and the like—without the assistance of one or more priests, who as a matter of course always belonged to the Brahman'a easte. There were sacrifices which lasted one day, others
which went on from two to eleven days, others which took up as many as a hundred days. Accordingly, to perform some sacrifices one R'itwij, or priest, sufficed ; or, to complete others, four, five, or six priests were necessary ; their fullest complement, (however, is the number of sixteen, for a seventeenth R'itwij—the Sadasya, or super intendent—is not admitted by all authorities ; and the assistants of the priests—the slayer, the butcher, the ladle-holder, the choristers, &c.— are not counted amongst the R'itwijs or real priests.
This full contingent of priests is enumerated by As'avalayana (S'rauta SAtm, iv. 1) in the following way. First comes the Hoer% who has under him three men (purtisha), the MaitrAvarun'a, AchchhavAka, and Grftvastut ; secondly, the Adhwaryu, with the PratiprasthAt'ri, Neshtei, and Unnetri ; thirdly, the Brahman, with the Brdliman'Achchhansin, Agnldhra (or, Agntdh), and Potr'i ; lastly, the Udgde're, with the Pras totr'i, Pratihart'ri, and Subrahman'ya (comp. Miler, Anc. Sansk. Lit.; pp. 468, 469, where, by a mistake, some of the purushas of the Brah man and the Udgdtri have changed their places). The same class arrangement, though sometimes in a different order, occurs likewise in other authorities (for example, Kfttyftyana S'r. S. vii., 1, 6 ; MAdhava Jaimlnlyanyfty, iii. 7,17; see also the note top. 209, in Wilson's second volume of his translation of the R'igveda).
Now, of these R'itwijs, the Kelps works enjoin that the Adhwaryu has to perform his duties with the Yajurveda, the UdgAt'ri with the SAmaveda, the Hotel' with the R'igveda, and that the Brahman " has to set right any deficiency that may have occurred in the religious acts of the three former priests ; he must, therefore, be acquainted with all the three Vedas—the Rig-, Yajur-, and Sarno-redo." 31Adhava Jainat nlyanytty; iii. 7, 17; vi. 3, 14 ; ' Anc. Sansk. Lit.,' p. 469, fE) It msy.be added, moreover, that the Adhwaryu had to mutter, inaudibly, the verses of the Yajurveda, that the Udgtteri had to chant those of the Samaveda—probably in the same manner as the Pentateuch is intoned up to this day by the officiating Jews in their synagogues—and that the Hotrii had to recite in a loud voice the verses of the R'igveda.
It follows, therefore, that each of these Vedas had its distinct cere monial; but that no ceremonial was assigned to, and that no dis tinct priest or class of priests had to use, the hymns of the Atharva veda. " The Atharvaveda," says Madhusildana, " is not used for the sacrifice ; it only teaches how to appease, to bless, to curse, &c." " Its songs," as Professor Miiller observes (` Anc. Sansk. Lit.' p. 447), "formed, probably, an additional part of the sacrifice from a very early time. They were chiefly intended to counteract the influence of any untoward event that might happen during the sacrifice. They also contained imprecations and blessings, and various formulas, such as popular superstition would be sure to sanction at all times and in all countries." And the same scholar infers that it was probably part of the office of the Brahman priest, also, to know and to apply these songs, whenever their effect was supposed to be required for remedying any mistake committed by the other three classes of priests. At all events, it is certain that the Atharvaveda is not comprised among the sacri ficial Vedas, and that its later date may be safely concluded from its not being mentioned in those works which regulate the ancient rites, even if such posteriority were not recognisable from the language of those of its hymns which do not occur in the other Vedas.