The same triad of divinities, as representative of the mutual relations of the social grades of the Aryan com- munity, is repeatedly met with in the sacrificial ritual, and especially in its dogmatic exposition. This identification fiinds its most complete expression in the well-known passages of the Taittiriya-sawhita (VII, i, 1,4-5) '^"^ ^^^ Ta«^ya-brahma;/a (VI, i, 6-11)1. According to these authorities, Pra^apati, the lord of creatures, created from his mouth the Br ah ma //a, together with Agni, the tri- vr/t stoma, the gayatri metre (and the rathantara saman and he-goat, according to the first source ; or the spring, according to the other). From his breast and arms he created the Ra^anya, together with Indra, the pa.fi ka- dasa. stoma, the trish/ubh metre (and the hrihat saman, and the ram ; or the summer respectively). From the middle part of his body he created the V a ii-y a, together with theVii-ve Deva//, the saptadaj-a stoma, the^agati metre (and the vairupa saman, and the kine ; or the rainy season respectively). Finally, from his feet he created the vSudra, together with the ekav'wisa. stoma and the anush/ubh metre (and the vaira^a saman and the horse, according to the Taitt. S.), but no deity, and no season. In accordance with these speculations, single objects of those here enume- rated are frequently found elsewhere identified with their respective deities and castes. On the same principle, the three savanas, or morning, mid-day, and evening libations ^ at the Soma-sacrifice, as well as the first three days of the
' See Weber, Ind. Stud. X, p. 8.
^ In Ath.-veda IX, i, ii, the three savanas are assigned to the Asvins, Indra- Agni, and the /2/bhus (cf. Ait. Br. VI, 1 2) respectively; and in another passage of the same collection. VI, 47, i, to a. Agni ; b. the Visve Deva^, Maruts and Indra ; and c. the Bards (kavi). In Va^. S. XIX, 26, also, the morning libation is assigned to the Axvins (? as the two Adhvaryus of the gods, cf. Sa.t. Br. I, i, 2, 1 7 ; IV, I, 6, 15 ; Ait. Br. I, 18) ; but in Taitt. S. II, 2, 3, i ; Ait. Br. Ill, 13 ; ^at. Br. II, 4, 4, 12; IV, 2, 4, 4-5 they are referred to Agni, Indra, and the Visve DevaA respectively. See, also, Sat. Br. IV, 3, 5, i, where the Vasus (related to Agni III, 4, 2, 1 ; VI, i, 2, 10), Rudras, and Adityas (cf. VI, i, 2, 10, and Ait. Br. Ill, 13) are connected with the three libations.
INTRODUCTION. xix
Dvadai'aha^ are generally assigned to Agni, Indra, and the Vii-ve Devkh respectively. If in the ekadajini, or traditional order of eleven victims that have to be immolated at the Soma-sacrifice, the victim sacred to Agni is placed first, while those to the Vij-ve Deva/? and to Indra only come sixth and seventh respectively, we have probably to assume that this order was too firmly established (just as the so-called apri-hymns are) by long usage to have been easily altered ; the more so as the privileged position of the sacerdotal class was not thereby affected.
At the havirya^^Tas not less prominent a place is assigned to the divine representatives of the two leading classes. The first oblation at every ish/i belongs to Agni. The second oblation at the new-moon sacrifice is offered either to Indra, or to Indra^ and Agni ; at the full-moon sacrifice, to Agni and Soma, the latter of whom consti- tutes Indra's chief source of strength. Indra also plays an important part at the Seasonal offerings which indeed, according to the dogmatic, and by no means improbable, explanation of theBrahma//as. are performed with special re- ference to Indra's struggle with Vr/tra, the demon of drought. At the Agny-upasthana, or worship of the fires, which suc- ceeds the Agnihotra, the first prayer is addressed to Agni, the second to Indra and Agni'^. Indeed, while Agni appears everywhere as the Purohita, the 'ya^^^Tasya deva r/tvik,' or divine priest of the sacrifice, Indra is the god of sacrifice*, the Maghavan, or munificent patron of the priest.
From these indications it would appear far from impro- bable that the arrangement of the hymns in which the collections of the Rig-veda were finally handed down, was intended, as far as the leading deities are concerned, to
' See, for instance, Ait. Br. IV, 29; 31 ; V, i.
^ The special oblations of the offering of first-fruits consist of a rice-cake to Indra and Agni, and a pap of rice-grains to the Visve DevaA.
' See Va°-. S. Ill, 12-13; ■S'at. Br. II, 3, 4, 11-12. 'Indra-Agni are every- thing,— Brahman, Kshatra, and Vis,' 5'at. Br. IV, 2, 2, 14.
* See, for instance, ^at. Br. I, 4, 5, 4 ; II, 3> L 3^ ; 3. 4- 3^ ; ^^^ especially IV, I, 2, 15,' for Indra, indeed, is the Maghavan, the ruler (netn) of the sacrifice.' He is, as it were, the divine representative of the human sacrificer or patron, who is the yao-zJapati or lord of sacrifice.
XX 5ATAPATHA-BRAHMAiVA.
exhibit a social gradation of the Hindu community which was cither already firmly established or was steadily kept in view by the sacerdotal class as 'a consummation devoutly to be wished.' In either case the claims of the priests could not fail to be materially strengthened by the pre-eminent position assigned to their divine prototype in the inspired utterances of the Rhhls. The question, whether the present arrangement is entirely the result of the final redaction, or whether it was already a feature of the earlier redactions, will perhaps never receive a quite satisfactory answer. It cannot, however, be denied that there is some force in Professor Lud wig's ^ argument, — that, if the arrangement of the several collections had lain with the authors of the final redaction, the result would probably have been a far greater uniformity than they now present.
The idea of bringing together the different family collec- tions would seem first to have suggested itself to the priests at a time when the hitherto divided Aryan tribes had moved from the Panjab to the eastern plains and became consolidated into larger communities, and the want of a more uniform system of worship would naturally make itself felt. To the same period, then, we may refer the first attempts at a systematic arrangement of the entire ceremonial of worship, and the definitive distribution of the sacrificial duties among four classes of priests, — viz. the Adhvaryu, or performer of the material part of the sacrifice ; the Udgatri, or chanter of hymns ; the Hot;-/, or reciter of solemn sacrificial prayers ; and the Brahman, or super- intendent of the entire performance. Though some of these offices had no doubt existed for a long time, we possess no definite information as to the exact extent of the duties entrusted to them^. The institution of the office
' Der Rig-veda, vol. iii. p. 45.
* Compare the following remarks of M. Hang, who believed in the identity of the Vedic Adhvaryu and the Zota and Rathwi of the Zend-Avesta : — ' At the most ancient times it appears that all the sacrificial formulas were spoken by the Ilotar alone ; the Adhvaryu was only his assistant, who arranged the sacri- ficial compound, provided the implements, and performed all manual labour. It was only at the time when regular metrical verses and hymns were introduced into the ritual, that a part of the duties of the Hotar dc\olvcd on the Adhvaiyu.
Introduction. Xxi
of Brahman, doubtless the latest of all, marks a new era in the development of the sacrificial system. While the other priests were only required to possess an accurate know- ledge of their own special departments, the Brahman was to be the very embodiment of the sacrificial art and Vedic lore in general, so as to be able to advise the other priests on doubtful points and to rectify any mistakes that might be committed during the performance of sacrifices. Neither had the Hotrz priest any special manual of his formulas assigned to him. He was rather expected to have acquired a thorough knowledge of the whole of the i?zk-sa;//hita, from which the sacrificial prayers recited by him were ex- clusively selected. It was probably out of this class— or the BahvrzX-as, as the followers of the Rig-veda came to be called— more than from any other, that individual priests would fit themselves for the office of Brahman.
As regards the two remaining classes of priests — the Udgatr/s and Adhvaryus— we have no means of deter- mining in what form and to what extent the stock of chants and sacrificial formulas used by them may have existed from the time of the institution of their offices down to the formation of the collections that have been handed down, viz. the Sama-veda-sa7//hita and the Ya^ur-yeda. From the close connection that exists between the Saman and the eighth and ninth maw^alas of the Rik, as well as from the fact that most of the hymns of these two ma;/^alas are ascribed to authors whose family collections (including, in several instances, hymns of their own) are contained m earlier mawfl'alas,— we may perhaps assume that already at the time when the first nine ma;/^alas were collected the then existing hymns of the eighth and ninth ma«^alas were set apart for the purpose of being chanted at the Soma- sacrifice. In course of time— hand in hand with the fuller development of the Soma ritual and the gradual influx of new hymn material which was either incorporated with the old collections or formed into a new ma;/./ala— additional chants (or more suitable ones in the place of those hitherto
There are in the present ritual traces to be found, that the Hotar actually must have performed part of the duties of the Adhvaryu.' Ait. Br. I, p. 3i-
XXU ^ATAPATHA-BRAHMAiVA.
used) might be required and selected from the hymns of other ma;/c/alas. In its original connected form, the ma- terial of these chants would naturally remain all along an essential part of the -/?/k-sawhita, for the use of the Hotri and Brahman priests ; and thus each of these two collections would henceforth have a history of its own, and discrepancies in the texts common to both would gradually become more and more numerous.
The sacrificial texts used by the Adhvaryu priest are contained in the Ya^ur-veda, of which several recensions have come down to us. These texts consist, in about equal parts, of verses (rik) and prose formulas (ya^us). The majority of the former are likewise found in the Ri'k- sawhita, though not unfrequently with considerable varia- tions, which may be explained partly from a difference of recension, and partly as the result of the adaptation of these verses to their special sacrificial purpose ^ With the prose formulas, on the other hand, save a few isolated sacrificial calls alluded to in the Rzk^, we meet for the first time in this collection. In the older recensions of the Ya^ur-veda the texts are, as a rule, followed im- mediately by their dogmatic explanation. Now, these theological treatises, composed chiefly with the view of elucidating the sacrificial texts and explaining the origin and hidden meaning of the various rites, form one of the most important departments of the literature of the period which succeeded the systematic arrangement of the sacri- ficial ceremonial, and in which we must place the gradual consolidation of the Brahmanical hierarchy. Such as they lie before us, they contain the accumulated wisdom and speculations of generations of Indian divines. They are essentially digests of a floating mass of single discourses or dicta on various points of the ceremonial of worship, ascribed to individual teachers, and handed down orally in the theological schools. Single discourses of this kind were called brahmawa, — probably either because they were intended for the instruction and guidance of priests
' See A.Weber, History of Indian Literature, pp. 9, 115. ' See M. liaug, Ail. Br. I, p. 34.