The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v2.c34.s1.1

v2.c34.s1.1

IT is not altogether easy to derive from the Rigveda a precise conception of the nature which was attributed to the spirits of the dead by the mind of the people or of the priest, and it is natural to assume that the ground for this difficulty is to be traced to the variation of both popular and ecclesiastical opinion. The modern view of the spirits and their abode is extremely varied and confused, and it would be ill-judged to assume that it was otherwise in the earlier Vedic religion.