A History of Indian Literature v1.c8.s3.152

v1.c8.s3.152

Immeasurably higher than this verse-making, which is neither philosophy nor poetry, stands *one* hymn of the Atharvaveda, which, on account of a few verses which relate to the origin of the earth, is usually included among the cosmogonic hymns, but which is free from any and every kind of mysticism and really contains very little philosophy, but so much the more true poetry. It is the magnificent hymn to Earth, Ath. XII, 1. In sixty-three verses the Mother Earth is here extolled as the supporter and preserver of everything earthly, and entreated for happiness and blessing and protection from all evil. Just a few verses in R. T. H. Griffith's translation must suffice to give an idea of one of the most beautiful productions of the religious poetry of Ancient India: