A History of Indian Literature v1.c8.s7.32

v1.c8.s7.32

The religious and social conditions have changed very much since the time of the Ṛgveda. The old gods of the Ṛgveda still appear in the Yajurveda-Saṃhitās and in the Brāhmaṇas, just as in the Atharvaveda. But their significance has wholly faded, and they owe all the power they possess to the sacrifice alone. Furthermore, some gods who still play a subordinate part in the Ṛgveda, step into far greater prominence in the liturgical Saṃhitās and in the Brāhmaṇas, as *Viṣṇu*, and especially *Rudra* or *Śiva*. Paramount importance now also attaches to *Prajāpati*, "the lord of creatures," who is regarded as the father of the gods (devas) as well as of the demons (asuras). The word *Asura*,¹ which, corresponding to the Avestic Ahura, in the Ṛgveda still has the meaning of "endowed with miraculous powers" or "God," and appears especially often as an epithet of the god Varuṇa, henceforth has exclusively the meaning of "demon" which it always has in later Sanskrit, and again and again mention is made in the Brāhmaṇas of the battles between Devas and Asuras. Yet there is nothing titanic about these battles, as, for instance, the battle between Indra and Vṛtra in the Ṛgveda, but the gods and Asuras exert themselves to surpass each other by means of sacrifices. For in these Brāhmaṇas the gods actually have to make sacrifices if they wish to accomplish anything. Nothing is more significant for the Brāhmaṇas than the tremendous importance which is ascribed to the sacrifice. The sacrifice is here no longer the means to an end, but it is an aim in itself, indeed, the highest aim of existence. The sacrifice is also a power which overwhelms all, indeed, a creative force of Nature. Therefore the sacrifice is identical with Prajāpati, the creator. "Prajāpati is the sacrifice" is an oft-repeated sentence in the Brāhmaṇas. "The soul of all beings, of all gods is this, the sacrifice." "Truly, he who consecrates himself for the sacrifice, he consecrates himself for the All, for only after the sacrifice follows the All; in making the preparations for the sacrifice, for which he consecrates himself, he creates the All out of himself.¹) Equally endowed with magic power and equally significant is everything which is connected with the sacrifice, the sacrificial utensils no less than the prayers and formulae, the verses and their metres, the chants, and their melodies. Every single sacrificial act is treated with the greatest circumstantiality: enormous importance is attached to the most trivial circumstances, to the least details. Whether an action is to be performed to the left or to the right, whether a pot is to be put in this or in that spot on the place of sacrifice, whether a blade of grass is to be laid down with the point to the north or to the north-east, whether the priest steps in front of the fire or behind it, in which direction he must have his face turned, into how many parts the sacrificial cake is to be divided, whether the ghee is to be poured into the northern or the southern half or into the centre of the fire, at which instant the repetition of a certain spell, the singing of a certain song has to take place,¹—these are questions upon which generations of masters of the art of sacrifice have meditated, and which are treated in the most searching manner in the Brāhmaṇas. Upon the correct knowledge of all these details does the weal and woe of the sacrificer depend. “Such, indeed, are the wilds and ravines of sacrifice, and they (take) hundreds upon hundreds of days’ carriage-drives; and if any venture into them without knowledge, then hunger or thirst, evil-doers and fiends harass them, even as fiends would harass foolish men wandering in a wild forest; but if those who know this do so, they pass from one deity to another, as from one stream into another, and from one safe place to another, and obtain well-being, the world of heaven.”²