The History of Indian Literature c8.76.1

c8.76.1

Thirdly, the songs of the Ṛik unfold to us particulars as to the time, place, and conditions of their origin and growth. In the more ancient of them the Indian people appear to us settled on the banks of the Indus, divided into a number of small tribes, in a state of mutual hostility, leading a patriarchal life as husbandmen and nomads; living separately or in small communities, and represented by their kings, in the eyes of each other by the wars they wage, and in presence of the gods by the common sacrifices they perform. Each father of a family acts as priest in his own house, himself kindling the sacred fire, performing the domestic ceremonies, and offering up praise and prayer to the gods. Only for the great common sacrifices—a sort of tribe-festivals, celebrated by the king—are special priests appointed, who distinguish themselves by their comprehensive knowledge of the requisite rites and by their learning, and amongst whom a sort of rivalry is gradually developed, according as one tribe or another is considered to have more or less prospered by its sacrifices. Especially prominent here is the enmity between the families of Vaśishṭha and Viśvámitra, which runs through all Vedic antiquity, continues to play an important part in the epic, and is kept up even to the latest times; so that, for example, a commentator of the Veda who claims to be descended from Vaśishṭha leaves passages unexpounded in which the latter is stated to have had a curse imprecated upon him.