The Religion of the Veda: The Ancient Religion of India (from Rig-Veda to Upanishads) c6.s1.45

c6.s1.45

The Sāma-Veda is devoted a good deal to the worship of Indra, a blustering, braggart god, who has to befuddle himself with *soma*, in order to get the necessary courage to slay demons. He, and he alone, has in the Rig-Veda the epithet *ṛcīshama*, that is, "he for whom the *sāmans* are composed upon the the *ṛks*," or, as we should say, "out of the *ṛks*."¹ It seems likely that the Sāma-Veda is built up out of remnants of savage Shamanism—the resemblance between the words Sāman and Shamanism, however, is accidental. Shamanism, as is well known, attempts to influence the natural order of events by shouts, beating of tam-tams, and frantic exhortation of the gods. The Brahmans were in the habit of blending their own priestly practices and conceptions with a good deal of rough material which they found current among the people. The *sāman* melodies, too, betray their popular origin in that they seem to have been sung originally at certain popular festivals, especially the solstitial festivals.² The exclamations interspersed among the words of the text are likely to be substitutes for the excited shouts of the Shaman priests of an earlier time. It is perhaps worth while to note that in later Vedic times the Sāma-Veda is held in small regard. The Brahmanical law-books prescribe that the recitation of Rig-Veda and Yajur-Veda must stop whenever the shout of *sāmans* is heard. One of these law-books, for instance, counts the barking of dogs, the bray of asses, the howling of wolves, and the sound of the *sāman* as noises so obnoxious or defiling that, when heard, the study of the other Vedas must stop.¹