The History of Indian Literature c8.159

c8.159

ably altered by the prolongation and repetition of the syllables, by the insertion of additional syllables, serving as a rest for the chanting, and so forth; and only thus were they transformed into *sámans*. Two of these song-books, the *Grámageya-gána* (erroneously called *Veya-gána*), in seventeen *prapáṭhakas*, and the *Áraṇya-gána*, in six *prapáṭhakas*, follow the order of the *ṛichas* contained in the first part of the Saṃhitá; the former being intended for chanting in the *grámas*, or inhabited places, the latter for chanting in the forest. Their order is fixed in a comparatively very ancient Anukramaṇí, which even bears the name of Bráhmaṇa, viz., *Ṛishi-Bráhmaṇa*. The other two *gánas*, the *Úha-gána*, in twenty-three *prapáṭhakas*, and the *Úhya-gána*, in six *prapáṭhakas*, follow the order of the *ṛichas* contained in the second part of the Saṃhitá. Their mutual relation here still requires closer investigation. Each such *sáman* evolved out of a *ṛich* has a special technical name, which probably in most cases originated from the first inventor of the form in question, is often, however, borrowed from other considerations, and is usually placed in the manuscripts before the text itself. As each *ṛich* can be chanted in a great variety of ways, in each of which it bears a particular name, the number of *sámans*, strictly speaking, is quite unlimited, and is of course far greater than that of the *ṛichas* contained in the Saṃhitá. Of these latter there are 1549,∗ of which all but seventy-eight have been traced in the Ṛik-Saṃhitá. Most of them are taken from its eighth and ninth *maṇḍalas*.