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Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
1The fact that the last pda of the sixth verse occurs again as the closing formula of the hymns V, 55; VIII, 40; and X, 121 (though also in VIII, 48, 13, where it is followed by two more verses) seems to favour this view. INTRODUCTION. Xili rank in the body politic; when they sought to perpetuate their social ascendancy by strictly defining the privileges and duties of the several classes, and assigning to them their respective places in the gradated scale of the Brahmanical community. The period during which the main body of the Vedic hymns was composed, in the land of the seven rivers, seems to have been followed by a time of wars and conquests. from the literary products of the succeeding period we can see that the centre of the Aryan civilisation had in the meantime shifted from the region of the Sindhu (Indus) to that of the Yamuna (Jumna) and Ganga. As the conquered districts were no doubt mainly occupied by | aboriginal tribes, which had either to retire before their Aryan conquerors, or else to submit to them as Sédras, or serfs, it seems not unnatural to suppose that it was from a sense of the danger with which the purity of the Brahmanical faith was threatened from the idolatrous practices of the aboriginal subjects, that the necessity of raising an insurmountable barrier between the Aryan freeman and the man of the servile class first suggested itself to the Brahmans. As religious interests would be largely involved in this kind of class legislation, it would naturally call into play the ingenuity of the priestly order; and would create among them that tendency towards regulating the mutual relations of all classes of the community which ultimately found its legal expression, towards the close of this period, in the Dharma-sitras, the prototypes of the Hindu codes of law. The struggle for social ascendancy between the priesthood and the ruling military class must, in the nature of things, have been of long duration. In the chief literary documents of this period which have come down to us, viz. the Yagur-veda, the Brahmazas, and the hymns of the Atharva-veda some of which perhaps go back to the time of the later hymns of the R#k, we meet with numerous passages in which the ambitious claims of the Brahmans are put forward with singular frankness. The powerful personal influence exercised by the Purohitas, as has already been indicated, seems to have largely contributed to the final success of the Xiv SATAPATHA-BRAHMANA.
2The powerful personal influence exercised by the Purohitas, as has already been indicated, seems to have largely contributed to the final success of the Xiv SATAPATHA-BRAHMANA. sacerdotal order. Thus we read in the Aitareya-brahmaza VIII, 24-25, ‘ Verily, the gods do not eat the food offered by the king who is without a Purohita: wherefore let the king, who wishes to sacrifice, place a Brahman at the head (puro adhita)....’ ‘Now Agni Vaisvanara, who is possessed of five destructive weapons, is the same as the Purohita. With them he constantly surrounds (protects) the king, even as the ocean surrounds the earth: the kingdom of such a ruler is undisturbed. His vital breath deserts him not before the (full term of) life, but he lives to old age, and attains to the full measure of life: he dies not (and is not born) again, whosoever possesses such a wise Brahman for his Purohita, for the guardian of his realm.’ And again, in the Atharva-veda III, 19, ‘May this prayer of mine be accomplished ; may perfect vigour and strength, may perfect, unceasing, and victorious power accrue to those whose Purohita I am. I perfect their kingdom, their might, their vigour, their strength. With this oblation I cut off the arms of their’enemies .... Go forth, ye men, and conquer; may your arms be terrible! ye sharp-shafted, smite the weak-bowed ; ye of terrible weapons and terrible arms, (smite) the feeble! when discharged, fly forth, O arrow, sped by prayer; vanquish the enemies; rush forward and slay all the best of them; let not one of them escape!.’ The question as to how the Brahmans ultimately succeeded in overcoming the resistance of the ruling class receives but little light from the contemporaneous records. Later legendary accounts of sanguinary struggles between the two classes, and the final overthrow, and even annihilation, of the Kshatriyas can hardly deserve much credence. At best they seem to contain some small kernel of historical fact. Perseverance and tenacity of purpose were probably the chief means by which the Brahmans gained their ends. Not unfrequently, too, kings may have lent their countenance to the aspirations of the priesthood, as calculated to counteract the unruly spirit and ambitious designs of the military order. We certainly meet with not a few instances of kings 1 Cf, J. Muir, Original Sanskrit Texts, I, p. 283. . INTRODUCTION. XV figuring as the patrons of learned Brahmans. As the old hymns were gradually assuming the character of divinely inspired utterances, additional matter might occasionally find its way into them, almost unconsciously, which more adequately expressed the actual scope of the aspirations of their priestly depositaries. That many such additions must have been made to the old hymns, prior to the age of diaskeuasts and exegetes, cannot be doubted.
3That many such additions must have been made to the old hymns, prior to the age of diaskeuasts and exegetes, cannot be doubted. Another, even more important, source of strength to the sacerdotal order was the sacrifice. The more complicated the ceremonial, the greater the dependence of the lay worshipper on the professional skill of the priests; and the greater the number of priests required for the proper performance of these ceremonies, the larger the gains derived by the priesthood generally from this kind of occupation. What more natural, therefore, than that the highest importance should have been ascribed to these performances, and an ever-increasing attention bestowed on the elaboration of the ceremonial. From clear indications in not a few hymns of the Rig-veda it appears, as has already been remarked, that a distribution of the sacrificial functions among different classes of priests had taken place before the final redaction of that collection. As to the time when such a step may have become necessary for the due performance of sacrifices, this is a question which will probably never be decided. The sacrifice is an old Indo-Iranian, if not Indo- Germanic, institution. Some of the chief Indian sacrifices undoubtedly go back, in some form or other, to the common Indo-Iranian period, notably the Soma-sacrifice, and, if we may judge from the coincidence of name between the Apri-hymns! and the 4fri-g4n of the Parsi ritual, the animal sacrifice. As regards the third great division of Indian sacrifices, the haviryag#as (or offerings of milk, butter, grain-food, and similar materials), of which the present volume treats, we have hardly any evidence to fall back upon. It is, 1 See Haug’s Essays, p. 241; Max Miiller, History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature, p. 463 seq. XVI SATAPATHA-BRAHMANA,
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
1The fact that the last pda of the sixth verse occurs again as the closing formula of the hymns V, 55; VIII, 40; and X, 121 (though also in VIII, 48, 13, where it is followed by two more verses) seems to favour this view. INTRODUCTION. Xili rank in the body politic; when they sought to perpetuate their social ascendancy by strictly defining the privileges and duties of the several classes, and assigning to them their respective places in the gradated scale of the Brahmanical community. The period during which the main body of the Vedic hymns was composed, in the land of the seven rivers, seems to have been followed by a time of wars and conquests. from the literary products of the succeeding period we can see that the centre of the Aryan civilisation had in the meantime shifted from the region of the Sindhu (Indus) to that of the Yamuna (Jumna) and Ganga. As the conquered districts were no doubt mainly occupied by | aboriginal tribes, which had either to retire before their Aryan conquerors, or else to submit to them as Sédras, or serfs, it seems not unnatural to suppose that it was from a sense of the danger with which the purity of the Brahmanical faith was threatened from the idolatrous practices of the aboriginal subjects, that the necessity of raising an insurmountable barrier between the Aryan freeman and the man of the servile class first suggested itself to the Brahmans. As religious interests would be largely involved in this kind of class legislation, it would naturally call into play the ingenuity of the priestly order; and would create among them that tendency towards regulating the mutual relations of all classes of the community which ultimately found its legal expression, towards the close of this period, in the Dharma-sitras, the prototypes of the Hindu codes of law. The struggle for social ascendancy between the priesthood and the ruling military class must, in the nature of things, have been of long duration. In the chief literary documents of this period which have come down to us, viz. the Yagur-veda, the Brahmazas, and the hymns of the Atharva-veda some of which perhaps go back to the time of the later hymns of the R#k, we meet with numerous passages in which the ambitious claims of the Brahmans are put forward with singular frankness. The powerful personal influence exercised by the Purohitas, as has already been indicated, seems to have largely contributed to the final success of the Xiv SATAPATHA-BRAHMANA.
2The powerful personal influence exercised by the Purohitas, as has already been indicated, seems to have largely contributed to the final success of the Xiv SATAPATHA-BRAHMANA. sacerdotal order. Thus we read in the Aitareya-brahmaza VIII, 24-25, ‘ Verily, the gods do not eat the food offered by the king who is without a Purohita: wherefore let the king, who wishes to sacrifice, place a Brahman at the head (puro adhita)....’ ‘Now Agni Vaisvanara, who is possessed of five destructive weapons, is the same as the Purohita. With them he constantly surrounds (protects) the king, even as the ocean surrounds the earth: the kingdom of such a ruler is undisturbed. His vital breath deserts him not before the (full term of) life, but he lives to old age, and attains to the full measure of life: he dies not (and is not born) again, whosoever possesses such a wise Brahman for his Purohita, for the guardian of his realm.’ And again, in the Atharva-veda III, 19, ‘May this prayer of mine be accomplished ; may perfect vigour and strength, may perfect, unceasing, and victorious power accrue to those whose Purohita I am. I perfect their kingdom, their might, their vigour, their strength. With this oblation I cut off the arms of their’enemies .... Go forth, ye men, and conquer; may your arms be terrible! ye sharp-shafted, smite the weak-bowed ; ye of terrible weapons and terrible arms, (smite) the feeble! when discharged, fly forth, O arrow, sped by prayer; vanquish the enemies; rush forward and slay all the best of them; let not one of them escape!.’ The question as to how the Brahmans ultimately succeeded in overcoming the resistance of the ruling class receives but little light from the contemporaneous records. Later legendary accounts of sanguinary struggles between the two classes, and the final overthrow, and even annihilation, of the Kshatriyas can hardly deserve much credence. At best they seem to contain some small kernel of historical fact. Perseverance and tenacity of purpose were probably the chief means by which the Brahmans gained their ends. Not unfrequently, too, kings may have lent their countenance to the aspirations of the priesthood, as calculated to counteract the unruly spirit and ambitious designs of the military order. We certainly meet with not a few instances of kings 1 Cf, J. Muir, Original Sanskrit Texts, I, p. 283. . INTRODUCTION. XV figuring as the patrons of learned Brahmans. As the old hymns were gradually assuming the character of divinely inspired utterances, additional matter might occasionally find its way into them, almost unconsciously, which more adequately expressed the actual scope of the aspirations of their priestly depositaries. That many such additions must have been made to the old hymns, prior to the age of diaskeuasts and exegetes, cannot be doubted.
3That many such additions must have been made to the old hymns, prior to the age of diaskeuasts and exegetes, cannot be doubted. Another, even more important, source of strength to the sacerdotal order was the sacrifice. The more complicated the ceremonial, the greater the dependence of the lay worshipper on the professional skill of the priests; and the greater the number of priests required for the proper performance of these ceremonies, the larger the gains derived by the priesthood generally from this kind of occupation. What more natural, therefore, than that the highest importance should have been ascribed to these performances, and an ever-increasing attention bestowed on the elaboration of the ceremonial. From clear indications in not a few hymns of the Rig-veda it appears, as has already been remarked, that a distribution of the sacrificial functions among different classes of priests had taken place before the final redaction of that collection. As to the time when such a step may have become necessary for the due performance of sacrifices, this is a question which will probably never be decided. The sacrifice is an old Indo-Iranian, if not Indo- Germanic, institution. Some of the chief Indian sacrifices undoubtedly go back, in some form or other, to the common Indo-Iranian period, notably the Soma-sacrifice, and, if we may judge from the coincidence of name between the Apri-hymns! and the 4fri-g4n of the Parsi ritual, the animal sacrifice. As regards the third great division of Indian sacrifices, the haviryag#as (or offerings of milk, butter, grain-food, and similar materials), of which the present volume treats, we have hardly any evidence to fall back upon. It is, 1 See Haug’s Essays, p. 241; Max Miiller, History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature, p. 463 seq. XVI SATAPATHA-BRAHMANA,
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
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