A History of Sanskrit Literature c7.12

c7.12

Various religious practices can also be traced back to that early age, such as the worship of fire and the cult of the plant *Soma* (the Avestan *Haoma*). The veneration of the cow, too, dates from that time. A religious hymn poetry must have existed even then, for stanzas of four eleven-syllable (the Vedic *trishṭubh*) and of four or three eight-syllable lines (*anushṭubh* and *gāyatrī*) were already known, as is proved by the agreement of the *Avesta* with the *Rigveda*.