The hymn to Night is my last example. It is taken from the tenth Mandala of the Rig-veda (127):

The goddess Night arrives in all her glory,
Looking about her with her countless eyes.
She, the immortal goddess, throws her veil
Over low valley, rising ground, and hill,
But soon with bright effulgence dissipates
The darkness she produces; soon advancing
She calls her sister Morning to return,
And then each darksome shadow melts away.
Kind goddess, be propitious to thy servants.
Who at thy coming straightway seek repose,
Like birds who nightly nestle in the trees.
Lo! men and cattle, flocks and winged creatures,
And e'en the ravenous hawks, have gone to rest.
Drive thou away from us, O Night, the wolf;
Drive thou away the thief, and bear us safely
Across thy borders. Then do thou, O Dawn,
Like one who clears away a debt, chase off
This black, yet palpable obscurity,

Which came to fold us in its close embrace.
Receive, O Night, dark daughter of the Day,
My hymn of praise, which I present to thee,
Like some rich offering to a conqueror.

LECTURE II.

The Brahmanas and Upanishads.

AVING thus endeavoured to gain an insight into

HAV

portions of the Vedic Mantras, turn we now to the second division of the Veda, called Brāhmaṇa, or ritualistic precept and illustration. This division stands to the Mantra portion in a relation somewhat resembling that of the Talmud to the Mosaic code and of the Hadis or Sunna to the Kuran. There is, however, a noteworthy difference; for the Mosaic code alone contains the true revelation of divine law for the Jew, and the Kuran is supposed to do the same for Muslims, whereas the Brāhmaṇas are as much Veda and Śruti-as much revelation, according to the Hindu idea of revelation-as the Mantras.

In fact, in their relation to caste and the dominance of the Brahmans, these Brāhmaṇas are even more important than the Hymns. When, however, we are asked to explain the contents of the Brahmaņas, we find it difficult to define their nature accurately. It is usual to consider them as a body of ritualistic precepts distributed under two heads of Vidhi and Artha-vada, that is, rules and explanatory remarks. They are really a series of rambling and unsystematic prose compositions (the oldest of which may have been written seven or eight centuries B. C.), intended to serve as ceremonial directories for the use of the priests in the exercise of their craft, prescribing rules for the employment of the Mantras at sacrifices, speculating as to the meaning and effect of certain verses and metres, and giving detailed explanations of the origin, import, and conduct of the sacrifices, with the occasional addition of

controversial remarks (nindā) and illustrations in the shape of legends and old stories. The great diffuseness of these compositions made them practically useless as directories to the ritual, until they themselves were furnished with guides in the form of Sutras or aphoristic rules, to be afterwards described.

Each of the Samhitas or collections of Mantras has its own Brāhmaṇas. Thus the Rig-veda has the Aitareyabrāhmaṇa and the Kaushitaki- (or Sankhāyana-) brāhmana. The two collections of the Yajur-veda have the Taittiriya-brāhmaṇa and the Satapatha-brāhmaṇa', which last, belonging to the Vājasaneyi-samhitā, is perhaps one of the most complete and interesting of these productions. The Sama-veda has eight Brāhmaṇas, of which the best known are the Praudha or Panća-vinśa, the Tandya, and the Shad-vinśa. The Atharva-veda has also a Brāhmaṇa, called Go-patha 2.

Though much of the matter contained in these treatises is little better than mere silly sacerdotalism, yet they furnish valuable materials to any one interested in tracing out the growth of Brahmanism and many curious and interesting legends.

3

One of the most remarkable of these legends, as introducing the idea of human sacrifice, is called 'the Story of Sunahsepha' in the Aitareya-brāhmaṇa (Haug's edition, VII. 13; cf. Rig-veda I. 24. 12, &c., V. 2. 7). It has been well translated by more than one scholar. I here give a metrical epitome of part of the story:

1 Edited, with the Vajasaneyi-samhita, by Professor A. Weber of Berlin. 2 This Brāhmaṇa must be less ancient than others, as, according to some, the Atharva-veda was not recognized as a part of Sruti, 'revelation,' at the time of the composition of the more ancient Brahmanas.

3 Professor H. H. Wilson conjectured that this Brāhmaṇa was written about six centuries B. C. It is sometimes called Aśvalayana-brāhmaṇa.

King Hariśćandra had no son; he asked

Great Narada, the sage, 'What benefit
Comes from a son?' then Narada replied―
'A father by his son clears off a debt1,
In him a self is born from self.

The pleasure
A father has in his own son exceeds

All other pleasures. Food is life, apparel
Is a protection, gold an ornament,

A loving wife the best of friends, a daughter
An object of compassion 2, but a son

Is like a light sent from the highest heaven.
Go then to Varuna, the god, and say-
"Let but a son be born, O king, to me,
And I will sacrifice that son to thee."
This Hariśćandra did, and thereupon
A son was born to him, called Rohita.
One day the father thus addressed his son-
'I have devoted thee, my son, to him
Who granted thee to me, prepare thyself
For sacrifice to him.' The son said, 'No,'

Then took his bow and left his father's home.

The story goes on to relate that Varuna, being disappointed of his promised victim, punished Hariśćandra by afflicting him with dropsy. Meanwhile

For six long years did Hariśćandra's son
Roam in the forest; there one day he met
A famished Brahman hermit, Ajīgarta,
Half dead with hunger in the wilderness.
The hermit was attended by his wife

And three young sons; then Rohita addressed him—

'O Brahman, I will give a hundred cows

For one of these thy sons.' The father answered

Folding his arms around his eldest boy

'I cannot part with him.' The mother then

1 A man is in debt to his forefathers till he has a son, because the happiness of the dead depends on certain ceremonies (called Srāddha) performed by sons.

2 Those who have lived in the East will perhaps understand why the birth of a daughter is here described as a calamity.

Clung to her youngest child and weeping said-
'I cannot part with him.' Then Sunaḥsepha,
Their second son, said, 'Father, I will go'.'
So he was purchased for a hundred cows
By Rohita, who forthwith left the forest,
And taking him to Hariśćandra said—
'Father, this boy shall be my substitute.'
Then Hariśćandra went to Varuna

And prayed, Accept this ransom for my son.'
The god replied, 'Let him be sacrificed,

A Brahman is more worthy than a Kshatriya.'

Upon that, the sacrifice with the intended victim was prepared. Four great Rishis officiated as priests, but they could not find any one willing to bind the boy to the sacrificial post. His father Ajigarta, who had followed his son to the place of sacrifice, then came forward and said

'Give me a hundred cows and I will bind him.'
They gave them to him, and he bound the boy.
But now no person would consent to kill him.
Then said the father, 'Give me yet again
Another hundred cows and I will slay him.'
Once more they gave a hundred, and the father
Whetted his knife to sacrifice his son.

Then said the child, 'Let me implore the gods,

1 The Brāhmaṇa merely states that they agreed together upon selling the middle son. This idea of the voluntary offer of himself on the part of Sunahsepha may however be borrowed from the Rāmāyaṇa, where the story is thus related (I. 61, 62):

Ambarisha, king of Ayodhya, performed a sacrifice, but the victim being stolen by Indra, he is told by the priest that either the victim itself must be recovered, or a human victim substituted in its place. Ambarisha wanders over the earth in search of the real victim, and meets at last with a Brahman named Rićīka, to whom he offers a hundred thousand cattle for one of his sons. Rićika refuses to let his eldest son go, and his wife will not part with the youngest. Upon this the middle son, Sunahsepha, volunteers to go, and is accepted. When about to be offered up as a sacrifice he is saved by Viśvāmitra, who teaches him a prayer to Agni, and two hymns to Indra and Vishnu.