Caste in India: The Facts and the System c5.25

c5.25

It seems hardly possible, in view of the researches first initiated by Bergaigne, to regard the Vedic hymns in the same light as they were regarded by the preceding generation, namely, as the spontaneous and faithful reflection of the whole religious life at a given epoch. They are composed with a view to a complicated ceremonial, with singular refinements of thought and form; whatever success they have achieved, however ample the authority which has finally fallen to their share, they are essentially ritual songs of those who made the sacrifice of the Soma; they embrace no more than a sector of the religious horizon.