VErne ra:LIGION. If the Eig-Veda—the oldest of the Vedas. and one of the oldest literary in existence—coincided with the be ginning of Hindu civilization, the popular creed of the Hindus, as depicted in some of its hymns, would reveal not only the original creed of this nation. but throw a strong light on the original religion of humanity it-elf. Unhappily, how ever, the imagination, indulging in such an hypothesis, would have little foundation to work on. There are. of enure. numeron: in the Pig-Veda of survivals of earlier animistic beliefs, of spiritism, fetishism, and ancestor-worship; but the Hindus, as depicted in these hymns, are far removed from the starting point of human society: they may. in fact, fairly claim to he ranked among those already rid ilizcd conmmnities experienced in arts. defend ing their homes and property in organized war fare, acquainted even with many vices which are found only in an advanced condition of artitiehl life. Vet in examining the ideas ex press•d in the greatest number of the Pig-Vedic hymns. it cannot be denied that they are neither i leas engendered by an imagination artificially influ•need. nor such as have made a compromise with philosophy. The Hindu of these hymns is essentially engrossed by the might of the ele ments. The which turn his awe into pious subjection and veneration are—.1nni (q.v.). the fire of the sun and lightning: Indra (q.v.), the god of the storm and the thunder; the Mantes. or winds (see:NW:17) ; Surya, the sun (see Sr RYA ; rxhas, the dawn, whose hymns are mono' the most bu•utiful (see UsitAs, ; kindred manifestations of the luminous bodies, and nature in general. Ile invokes them. not as representatives of a superior being. before whom the human soul professes its humility, nor as superior beings themselves, which may reveal to his searching mind the mysteries of creation or eternity, lint because he wants their as.si•tance against enemies—liceause he wishes to obtain from them rain. food, eattle, health, and other boons. Ile complains to them of his troubles, and reminds them of V? On e rf I deed; they performed of yore. to coax them. as it were, into a•quiescence and friendly help; in filet, he seeks them more for his material than for hi, spiritual welfare. \\ hat we should call the ethical side is less pronounced. Sin and evil, imleed, are often au verteil to, and the gods are praised they destroy ...inner- and evil doers; but one would err in asso•iating with these words our notions of sin or wrong. A sinner. in these hymns. is rather a man who does not address praises to those elementary deities, or who i tiOeS not gratify them with the oblations they receive at t he hands of the believer. lie is the foe, the roliber, the (11'111011—in short, the borderer infesting the territory of the •pious' The latter, in his turn, may injure. and kill, but, in ndoring Agni, infra, and their kin, he is satisfied that lie can commit no evil act. Vet some of the hymns, especially those addressed to the supersensuous. transcendental god Varinia ;Tv.), the guarlian of order and right, seem to imply the strongest sen-c of mural obligation and of sill as we understand the word. Cin the whole. it
may also be said that the internal of the 111111Iii community. the features of whieli may be gathered from the hymn-, seems to bespeak union and brotherhood among it members; and the in general. of hymns whieli appeal to the gods for the suppression of internal dissensions or public vices• bears testimony ap parently to the good moral condition of the people whose wants arc recorded in these .ran_-.
It may be imagined that the worship of •le m•ntary beings like those we have mentioned vas originally a simple and harmless one. it is true that the sacrifice of sheep and goats, bulls, and even horses, was known. but it was not gen eral. By far the greatest number of the llig•Veda hymn- know of but one sort of oiTering made to these god.; it consists of the juiee of the soma q.v.) or moon-plant. which. pressed out and fermented, teas an exhilarating and inebriating beverage. and for this reason, probably. was deemed to invigorate the gods. and to increase their beneficial potency. It was presented to them in ladles, or sprinkled on the sacred Kusa grass. Clarified butter, too. poured on the fire, is mentioned in several hymns as an oblation agreeable to the gods, and it may have belonged to the primit;ve stage of the Vedie worship. There were no temple- of the divinities. and in early times no images. The altar, if used. was very simple. The god- easily gathered from the atmospheric region roundabout.
There is a class of hymns. however, to be found in the Rig-Veda which already depart ma terially from the simplicity of the conceptions we are referring to. In these the instinctive ut terance of feeling makes room for the language of speculation; the allegories of poetry yield to the mysticism of the reflecting. mind: and the mysteries of nature becoming more keenly felt, the circle of heings which overawe the popular mind becomes enlarged. Thus. the objects by which Tndra. Agni. and the other deities are propitiated become gods themselves; soma, espe daily, the moon-plant, with its juice, is invoked as the bestower of all worldly boons. The ani mal sacrifice, the properties of which seem to be more mysterious than the offerings of soma, or of clarified butter—is added to the original rites. Mystical allusions and symbolic expressions be gin likewise to crop out in the later portions of the Veda, revealing the fact that the Hindu mind was no longer satisfied with the adoration of the elementary or natural powers, and giving evidence that the religion was beginning to deal with the problem of the mysteries of creation. In the tenth and last book of the ltig-Veda, spec ulations are found with regard to the origin of the universe, the Whence and the whither, the who and the what. As soon as the problem implied by hymns like these was raised in the minds of the Hindus, Hinduism must have ceased to be the worship of only elementary powers. Henceforward, therefore, we see it either struggling to reconcile the latter with the idea of one supreme being, or to emancipate the in quiry into the principle of creation from the elementary religion recorded in the oldest por tion of Vedic poetry.