The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v1.c27.s7.4

v1.c27.s7.4

The position revealed by the ritual seems hardly to be natural: it would certainly be expected that there should be some recognition of the sacrifices of the tribe, and the scant traces of an Agni Sabhya and Āvasathya, which are adduced by Hillebrandt² as proving the existence of tribal sacrifices, are a poor substitute for the evidence which should be forthcoming. We cannot, however, doubt that the Vedic attitude to the clan is unnatural and is a sign of developed ritual, not of primitive relations. There is but one exception to the rule that the sacrifice is for an individual in the Sattras, 'sacrificial sessions', long sacrifices extending as much as and even over a year, in which the sacrificers are the whole body of Brahmans officiating, the performance of such sacrifices being only possible when all are Brahmans: in that case the rule is that the whole of the merit of the offering belongs to them all, while any evil done belongs to the one who does it. It is possible that we have the record here of an older period of family offerings,³ but it is far from certain that this is so, and it is not clear whether the Rigveda⁴ really knows of such rites: if not they must be priestly inventions, as in many respects they most certainly are, representing the imaginations of a priesthood, which desired nothing better than to spend its time in the technique of a curious and complicated ritual.