A History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature, so far as it illustrates the Primitive Religion of the Brahmans c10.51

c10.51

The original purpose of the Âprî hymns, and the motive for allowing the priest to choose among them according to the family to which his client belonged, are difficult to discover. An ancient author of the name of Gâṇagari¹, endeavoured to prove from the fact that one and the same Âprî hymn *may* be used by all, that all people belong really and truly to one family. It is possible, indeed, that the Âprî hymns may have been songs of reconciliation, and that they were called *âprî*, i.e. appeasing hymns, not from their appeasing the anger of the gods, but the enmities of members of the same or different families. However that may be, they certainly do prove that there had been an active intercourse between the ancient families of India long before the final collection of the ten books, and that these ten books were collected and arranged by men who took more than a merely poetical interest in the ancient sacred poetry of their country.