A History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature, so far as it illustrates the Primitive Religion of the Brahmans c10.151

c10.151

Another and most convincing proof that some of our hymns belong to a secondary period of Vedic poetry, is contained in a song, ascribed to Vasisṭha, in which the elaborate ceremonial of the Brahmans is actually turned into ridicule. The 103rd hymn in the 7th Maṇḍala, which is called a panegyric of the frogs, is clearly a satire on the priests; and it is curious to observe that the same animal should have been chosen by the Vedic satirist to represent the priests, which by the earliest satirist of Greece was selected as the representative of the Homeric heroes.