A History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature, so far as it illustrates the Primitive Religion of the Brahmans c11.9

c11.9

In a history of Sanskrit literature the Chhandas period, though the most interesting from a philosophical point of view, can occupy but a small place. It is represented by a very limited literature, by those few hymns which show none of the signs of a more modern origin which we discussed when treating on the Mantra period. Their number will necessarily vary according to the rules which critics follow in testing the age and character of earlier and later hymns. This critical separation can be carried out successfully only after a comprehensive examination of the leading ideas of the whole Vedic poetry, and it could not be attempted within the small compass of this work. All I can do in this place is to give a few hymns which in thought and language represent the general character of genuine Vedic poetry, and to contrast them with some other hymns which decidedly belong to a later period.