THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
though this phase was perhaps rather officially ignored than popularly absent. The eschatology of the Rig-Veda is comparatively simple, and resembles in its meagerness the poverty of early Semitism as represented by the Assyro-Babylonian religion. Allusions to the future state of the dead are practically confined to the late tenth book. Yama, the first of men to die, is the king of the dead; and apparent ly the blessed, i.e., the brave and generous, go when they die to the sun, where they engage in revelry like that of the Norse heroes of Asgard. The unblessed dead merely disappear, for hell is, in Indian thought, a late theological invention, devised to counterbalance the joys of heaven. In the latest portion of the Rig-Veda, moreover, appear the chief hymns later rubricized in the ritual, if indeed they were not, at least in part, designedly composed for an already existing liturgy.
Beside the Rig- Veda exist two other canonical
Vedas, and a fourth which is uncanonical. The
Sama or " Song " Veda is composed of verses
taken chiefly from the eighth and ninth books of
the Rig- Veda and arranged for the liturgy. Far
more important is the Yajur or " Sacrificial "
Veda, which exists in several recen-
3. The sions, the chief being the Vajasaneyi
Sama- and or " White " Yajur- Veda, so called
Yajur- from being composed only in verse,
Vedas. and the Taittirya and Maitrayani,
which are termed " black," since the
verse of the text is intermingled with a quasi-
commentary and amplification in prose.
The arena implied is no longer the Punjab but the " middle district," around the modern Delhi, which the Aryans had reached in their slow migration eastward. The change of locality, however, is dwarfed into insignificance by the alteration in religious tone. The frank delight in life which characterizes the Rig- Veda is changed to mysticism and an ever-increasing ritualism. Religion has given place to magic. The principle of henotheism which is so marked a feature of the Rig- Veda, through which poetic enthusiasm comes to attribute to one divinity the names and attributes of another, thus elevating him for the nonce into the supreme and only object of adoration, becomes in the Yajur-Veda symbolism carried to its limit. A thing is no longer like something else, it is something else. The Brahman is no longer merely a priest, he is a god with all the attributes of divinity, while prayer and sacrifice are now means of compelling the deity to perform the will of his worshipers, instead of being modes of propitiation or bargaining. The religion of India now centers in the sacrifice, and a ritual is developed which is perhaps the most elaborate that the world has ever seen. While the power of the Brahmans was thereby increased until they were apotheosized, the view is antiquated which regards the development of the liturgy as the ecclesiastical device of a cunning and self-interested priesthood, despite the enormous fees which were given for the performance of sacrifice.
The pantheon of this period suffers little diminution as compared with the epoch of the Rig- Veda,
but the gods have declined in power, although some have been greatly magnified, such as Kala (Time), who played no part in the earliest Veda. The epithets and the functions of the gods become separate divinities in many cases, and an All-God now gains the full recognition which is only suggested even in the latest portions of the Rig- Veda. The legends of the deities, on the other hand, are richly developed, though their quantity is more admirable than their quality. This, however, is a recrudescence of popular beliefs previously not officially recognized, rather than new speculations of the Brahmans, though this faith of the people finds its application in the explanation and proof of the sacrifice. The rules for the Brahmanic ritual are contained not only in the various recensions of the Yajur-Veda, but in the still more important Brahmanas, of which each school of each of the Vedas has at least one, while the Tandin recension of the Sama- Veda has three. Additional details are contained in the Srautasutras, and the ritual for daily life may be found in the various Grihyasutras.
Beside the three canonical Vedas and their ancillary literature, representing the official religion of the Vedic and Brahmanic periods, stood a Veda of magic — the uncanonical Atharva-Veda. The pantheon of the Rig- Veda is here a jumbled confusion of divinities, at their head a supreme 4. The god of all, while eschatology has so
Atharva- far developed as to recognize a place Veda. of torment for the malignant dead. The predominant note of the Atharva- Veda is magic. It is filled with all manner of charms and incantations for wealth and for children, for long life and good health, for love and for revenge, charms for plants, animals, and diseases, curses and maledictions for the destruction of enemies and for counteracting the enemy's black magic. Linguistically and chronologically far later than the Rig- Veda, the material of the Atharva- Veda is in all probability as old in some of its parts, as the most ancient portions of the Rig. It is an invaluable document for early Hindu religion as the oldest monument of its popular faith.
II. Brahmanism and the Pantheism of the Upanishads: The enormous structure of ritualism erected by the Yajur-Veda, the Brahmanas, and the Sutras gradually became a burden too heavy to be borne; liturgy was then undermined by philosophical speculation. Traces of this are already evident in the later portions of the Rig- Veda, as in the famous hymn (x, 121) whose refrain runs: " To whom (as) god shall we offer sacrifice? " thus affording a basis for the Brahmanas to create a god " Who." By this time, moreover, an All- God was definitely recognized in Prajapati, " the lord of creatures," but it was reserved for the close of the Brahmanic period to ignore the gods and arrive at God.
The Upanishads, the literary records of this phase of thought, represent a perfection of pantheism which has never been equaled, and their influence is a mighty factor in Hindu thought of the present day. Salvation is no longer to be attained by works, but by knowledge, and the entire teaching of the Upanishads may be com-