On the whole the Rig-Veda is a collection of priestly hymns addressed to the gods of the Vedic pantheon during sacrifice. This sacrifice con sisted of oblations of intoxicating sOme pressed from the soma-plant and melted butter or ghee (q.v.) which was poured into the fire. The ritual of the Veda is advanced in character, by DO means so simple as was once supposed, though not as elaborate as that of the Yajur-Veda and the Brahmanas. (See below.) The chief interest of the Rig-Veda lies in the gods themselves and in the myths narrated in the course of their invocation. The mythology represents an earlier, clearer stage of thought than is to be found in airy other parallel literature. Abo•e all it is sufficiently primitive to show clearly the process of personification by which natural phenomena developed into gods. (See the sub-section Vedic Religion• under INDIA: NATURE-WORSHIP.) The original nature of the Vedic gods, however, is not always clear; sonic of them are so obscure in character as to make an analysis of them a difficult and important chapter in Vedic philology. But on the whole the key-note of Rig-Vedic thought is the nature myth.
The Yajur-Veda represents the growth of ritualism or saeerdotalism; its 'litur gical stanzas and formulas.' are in the main of a later time. and are partly metrical, partly prose. The materials eontaine4 in the Rig Veda are freely adapted. with secondary changes of expression, and without regard to the original order of their composition. The main object is no longer devotion to the gods themselves. The sacrifice has become the centre of thought; its mystic power is conceived to be a thing per se, and every detail has become all-important. A crowd of priests (seventeen is the largest num ber) conducts a vast, complicated, and painstak ing ceremonial, full of symbolic meaning even in its smallest minutiae. From the moment the priests seat themselves on the sacrificial ground and proceed to mark out the altars (redi) on which the sacred fire is built, every act has its stanza or formula, and every utensil is blessed with its own fitting blessing. These formulas are no longer conceived as prayers. but as magic. The words as well as the acts have inherent power. If the priest chants a formula for rain while pouring a certain sacrificial liquid, rain shall and must come. in fact, and in brief, the Yajur-Veda means the deification of the sacrifice in every detail of act and word.
The Sama-Veda is the least clear of all the Vedas. Its stanzas, or rather groups of stanzas, are known as samani, 'melodies.' The stanzas are preserved in three forms. First, in the Rig-Veda, as ordinary poetry, accented in the same way as other Vedic poetry. Second ly, in the arcikas, a kind of libretto forming a special collection of saman-verses, most of which. though not all, occur also in the Rig-Veda.
Here also there is a system of accents, peculiar in its notation, but purely with reference to the unsung samaras. In the third version. the ganas, or song-books, we find the real sung sdmans. Here not only the text, but the musical notes are marked. Still this is not a complete samara. In the middle of the sung stanzas appear exclamatory syllables, the so called stdbhas, such as am, lulu, or him; and at the end certain concluding words, such as atha, yam, and sat. The Sama-Veda is devoted chiefly to the worship of India (q.v.). It seems likely, therefore, that it is the civilized version of savage Shamanism an attempt to influence the natural order of things by shouts and exhortations, for the Brahmans as a rule blended their own hieratic practices and concep tions with what they found among the people. The saamn-melody and the exclamations inter spersed among the words may. therefore, be the substitute for the self-exciting shouts of the Shaman priests of an earlier time.
The oldest name of the Atharva-Veda is atharrakiirasali, a compound formed of the names of two semi-mythic families of priests, the Atharvans and Angirases. At a very early time the former term was regarded as synonymous with 'holy charms,' or 'blessings ;' the latter with 'witchcraft charms,' or 'curses.' In addition to the name Atharva-Veda there are two other names, practically restricted to the ritual texts of this Veda: bhrgrangirasah or '11hrigns and Angirases.' in which the Ithrigus, another ancient family of live priests, takes the place of the Angirases; and probably 'Veda of the Brahma, or holy religion in general.' (See BRAT! M A. ) The Atharva-Veda is a collection of 730 hymns. r•ontaising some 6000 stanzas, di vided into 20 books. About one-sixth of the mass, including two entire hooks (xv. and xvi.), is written in prose, similar in style to that of the Brahmanas (see below), the rest being poetry in the usual Vedic metres. These, however. are handled with great freedom, often betraying either ignorance or disregard of the metrical canons, as they appear in the Big-Veda. The Atharva-Veda did not attain to perfect Canon icity until the period of Classical Sanskrit. simply on account of the nature of its contents. which are somewhat apart from the hieratic worship of the gods and the saecrdotalism of the other throe Vedas. The contents of the Atharva Veda are popular rather than hieratic, and superstitious rather than religious. It is a picture of the lower life of ancient India, painted on a very broad canvas. It exhibits the ordinary Hindu not only in time aspect of a de vout and virtuous adherent of the gods, and per former of pious practices, but also as the natural, bemi -civil ized man : ra paei oils, demon-plagued and fear-ridden, hateful, lustful, and addicted to sorcery.