A History of Indian Literature v1.c8.s2.131

v1.c8.s2.131

Beside these songs, which are worthy of being valued as works of poetic art, there is indeed a second class of hymns in the Ṛgveda, which are composed only as sacrificial songs and litanies, for quite definite ritual purposes. A strict line of demarcation is here, however, not possible. Whether we wish to accept a song as the spontaneous expression of pious faith, as the work of a divinely inspired poet, or as sacrificial prayer put together in a workmanlike fashion, is often only a matter of taste. The extraordinary monotony of these prayers and sacrificial chants is certainly one of their characteristics. It is always with the same turns of expression that one god, like another, is praised as great and mighty: always the same formulas, with which the sacrificial priest beseeches the gods for wealth of cattle and riches. Many of these sacrificial songs are already distinguishable through the fact that in one and the same hymn several gods, sometimes even all the gods of the Vedic pantheon, are invoked one after another. For, at the great Soma sacrifice every god must receive his share, and every sacrificial offering must be accompanied by a verse. Compare, for instance, with the above-quoted songs to Varuṇa, Indra and Agni, a sacrificial litany like the following (Ṛv. VII, 35) :