Vedic Metre in its Historical Development c17.s2.18

c17.s2.18

But as the speculative spirit grew, religion became more and more divorced from practical affairs, and in the variety of opinions the uniformity, and, as it seemed, the beauty of the ceremonial attracted the more attention. The ceremonies indeed, as we have seen reason to think, were originally celebrated for severely practical purposes: but when the fear of days without dawns and sons without spirit died out, they were continued for their inherent charm and as exercises of priestly skill: perhaps too because the priests, like highly educated people in all ages, were unwilling *quod iuvenes didicere, senes perdenda fateri*. The worship of the fire-god and of the Soma was already in existence in the archaic period, but the deities were conceived in human shape, and even associated with Indra in his warlike feats. In the later parts of the Rigveda proper they are increasingly prominent in their ceremonial meaning only. Every stage in the ritual is described with insistent minuteness in hymn upon hymn. New deities are introduced which are without meaning except for their part in the ritual, as Ghṛta, Gauḥ, Havis, Vāc and above all the deities of the successive verses of the Āpriya hymns.