By comparing, however, the contents of the three sacrificial Vedas with the ritual precepts of the Kelps works, we may ascertain another important fact. All the verses of the Yajurveda and all the verses of the SArnaveda are used in one sacrificial act or another. Such, how ever, is not the case with the verses of the R'igveda. Many of the latter, indeed, are likewise indispensable for sacrificial purposes, as we are taught by the ritual books connected with this Veda; yet a good number remain, which stand quite aloof from any ceremony. This class bears purely a poetical or mystical character ; and it may be fairly inferred that even the strong tendency of later ages to impress an entirely sacrificial stamp on each of these Vedas, broke down before the natural and poetical power that had evidently called forth these songs, as it could not incorporate them amongst the liturgic hymns. We may quote, for instance, a hymn from the tenth 'Vandals. of the R'igveda (from Colebrooke's ' Misc. p. 33), as an illustration of those which belong to the mystical poetry of this Veda. It runs thus "Then there was no entity nor nonentity ; no world, nor sky, nor aught above it; nothing anywhere in the happiness of any one, involving or involved ; nor water deep and dangerous. Death was not; nor then was immortality ; nor distinction of day or night. But THAT breathed without dilation, single with (Swadha) her who is within him. Other than him, nothing existed (which) since (has been). Darkness there was ; (for) this universe was enveloped with darkness, and was undistinguishable (like fluids mixed in) waters ; but that mass, which was covered by the husk, was (at length) produced by the power of contemplation. First. desire was formed iu his mind, and that became the original productive seed ; which the wise, recognising it by the intellect in their hearts, distinguish, 'in non-entity, as the bond of entity. Did the luminous ray of these (creative acts) expand in the middle ? or above ? or below ? That productive seed at once became providence (or sentient souls) and matter (or the elements) : she, who is sustained within himself, was inferior ; and he, who heeds, was superior. Who knows exactly, and who shall in this world declare, whence and why this creation took place ? The gods are subsequent to the production of this world ; then who can know whence it proceeded ? or whence this varied world arose ? or whether it uphold itself or not ? He who in the highest heaven is the ruler of this universe, does indeed know ; but not another can possess this knowledge." An instance of another kind of R'igveda hymns, which cannot have served any sacrificial purpose, is given by Professor Miller in his excel lent work on Ancient Sanskrit Literature' (p. 495). It bears a satirical character, inasmuch as it ridicules the elaborate ceremonial of the Brahmans, and is rendered by him thus : "After lying prostrate for a year, like Brahmans performing a vow, the frogs have emitted their voice, roused by the showers of heaven. When the heavenly waters fell upon them, as upon a dry fish lying in a pond, the music of the frogs comes together like the lowing of cows with their calves. 1Vhen at the approach of the rainy season, the rain has wetted them as they were longing and thirsting, one goes to the other while he talks, like a son to his father, saying, akkhala !' (flpeuenet nocl(rocit). One of them embraces the other, when they revel in the shower of water ; and the brown frog jumping after he has been ducked, joins his speech with the green one. As one of them repeats the speech of the other, like a pupil and his teacher, every limb of them is, as it were, in growth, when they converse eloquently on the surface of the water. One of them is Cow-noise, the other Goat-noise ; one is Brown, the other Green ; they are different though they bear the same name, and modu late their voices in many ways as they speak. Like Brahmans at the Soma sacrifice of Atirfttra, sitting round a full pond, and talking, you, 0 frogs, celebrate this day of the year when the rainy season begins. These Brahmans with their Soma have had their say, performing the annual rite. These Adhwaryus, sweating whilst they carry the hot pots, pop out like hermits. They have always observed the order of the gods as they are to be worshipped in the twelvemonth ; these men do not neglect their season ; the frogs who had been like hot pots themselves, are now released when the rainy season of the year sets in. Cow-noise gave, Goat-noise gave, the Brown gave, and the Green gave us treasures. The frogs, who give us hundreds of cows, lengthen our life in the rich autumn." In another hymn of the last Maudala a gambler laments over his evil passion, which beguiles him into sin. All these and similar hymns are evidently of quite a different charac ter than those which praise the power Of the elementary gods, and could find their place in sacrificial acts.
But there is further evidence to show that the collection of the R'igveda cannot have borne originally a ritual stamp. When songs are intended only for liturgic purposes, they are sure to be arranged in conformity with the ritual acts to which they apply; when, on the contrary, they flow from the poetical or pious longings of the soul, they may, in the course of time, be used at, and adapted for, religious rites, but they will never submit to that systematic arrangement which is inseparable from the class of liturgic songs. Now, such a systematic arrangement characterises the collection of the Yajurveda and Sawa veda hymns ; it is foreign to the R'igveda-Sanhitft.
With the exception of the last book, which is of a mystical nature, all the other books of the whole Yajurveda contain verses which are classified according to the special sacrifices at the performing of which they were muttered. The Sanhitft of the Sftmaveda consists of verses which had to be intoned especially at the moon-plant sacrifice. The arrangement of the ll'igveda hymns, however, is quite of a different kind. It resisted the order of a finished ceremonial. The R'igveda hymns are not distributed with reference to sacrificial acts ; they are partly arranged according to the divinities to whom they are addressed, and partly according to their authors, the Rishis, who made them known. They must therefore have preceded the completion of that ceremonial, which is the indispensable condition of the SAinaveda- and Yaju rveda-San hi t4s.
Having established the general character of the four Vedas, we shall now give a brief outline of their special features and of the principal works which owe them their origin.
The Rig-, or the first and principal, Veda, we possess only in tho recension of the Slkhala school. Its SanbitA, or collection of hymns, is arranged on two methods. The one has merely regard to the material bulk ; the other seems to be based on the authorship of the Mantras. Both, however, run parallel with one another, without differing in the order of the hymns which constitute the Sanhitft. According to the first method, the Sanhiti is divided into eight Asheakas or eighths, each of which is again subdivided into Adhydyas or lectures, an Adhyftya consisting of a number of Vargas or sections, and a Varga of a number of R'ich or verses, usually five. According to the second method, the Sanhita is divided into ten Mared'atas or circles, subdivided into eighty-five AnnvAkas or lessons, which consist of one thousand and seventeen (or,' with eleven additional hymns, of one thousand and twenty-eight)Saktas or hymns, these again containing ten thousand five hundred and eighty and a ball Niel+ or verses. The first eight of these Man'd'alaa begin with hymns addressed to Agni, which are followed by hymns addressed to Isdra. After the latter come generally hymns addressed to the ria'sve Derds, or the gods collectively, and then those which are devoted to other divinities. The ninth Mati'd'aLa is entirely addressed to the Soma-plant, and is especially connected, therefore, with the Samaverla-SanhitA ; while the tenth Ilan'd'ala has chiefly served for the collection of the Atharvaveda hymns. Again, as regards their author, the second Man'd'ala contains hymns which are attributed to the It'ishi Oritsamada • the third is said to belong to Via'wfitnitra, the fourth to VAmadeva, the fifth to the Atria, the sixth to BharadwAja, the seventh to Varrieht'ha, the eighth to Sanwa, tho ninth to Angiraa. The first and the tenth Man'd'ala are ascribed to the authorship of various Rlahis.
" The worship which the SAktas describe comprehends offering prayer and praise : the former are chiefly oblations and libations,— clarified butter poured on fire; and the expressed and fermented juice of the Soma-plant, presented in Ladles to the deities Invoked,—in what manner does not exactly appear, although it seams to have been sprinkled, sometimes on the fire, sometimes on the ground, or, rather, on the or sacred grass, strewed on the floor, and in all cases the residue was drunk by the assistants. The ceremony takes place in the dwelling of the worshipper, in a chamber appropriated to the purpose, and probably to the maintenance of a perpetual fire, although the frequent allusions to the occasional kindling of the sacred flame are rather at variance with this practice. There is no mention of any temple, nor any reference to a public place of worship, and it is clear that the worship was entirely domestic That animal victims were offered on particular occasions may be inferred from brief and obscure allusions in the hymns of the first book ; and it is inferrible from some passages that human sacrifices were not unknown, although infrequent and sometimes typical : but those are the exceptions, and the habitual offerings may be regarded as consisting of clarified butter and the juice of the Soma-plant.