Haply they will deliver me from death.'

So Sunahsepha prayed to all the gods

With verses from the Veda, and they heard him.

Thus was the boy released from sacrifice,

And Hariśćandra was restored to health.

As a sequel to the preceding legend I extract the following curious passages from the second book of the Aitareya-brāhmaṇa (Haug's edition, 1-8), not in order and not quite literally:

The gods killed a man for their victim. But from him thus killed the part which was fit for a sacrifice went out and entered a horse. Thence the horse became an animal fit for being sacrificed. The gods then killed the horse, but the part fit for being sacrificed went out of it and entered an ox. The gods then killed the ox, but the part fit for being sacrificed went out of it and entered a sheep. Thence it entered a goat. The sacrificial part remained for the longest time in the goat, thence it became pre-eminently fit for being sacrificed1.

The gods went up to heaven by means of sacrifice. They were afraid

1 This is curious as indicating that human sacrifice, if it prevailed to any extent, was superseded by the sacrifice of animals, here enumerated in the regular order of their fitness for sacrifice according to some supposed inherent efficacy in each class. Such sacrifices were held to be propitiatory, though one object of a Hindu's oblations was to afford actual nourishment to the gods, food being a supposed necessity of their being. The Asva-medha, or 'horse-sacrifice,' was a very ancient ceremony, hymns 162 and 163 in Mandala I. of the Rig-veda being used at this rite. It was regarded as the chief of all animal sacrifices, and in later times its efficacy was so exaggerated that a hundred horse-sacrifices entitled the sacrificer to displace Indra from the dominion of heaven. Some think that the horse was not actually immolated, but merely bound to the post. Mr. Hardwick, in his valuable work, 'Christ and other Masters,' gives some interesting remarks on the five heads of Hindu sacrifices (vol. i. p. 324). The five heads are-1. Agni-hotra, burnt-offerings and libations of butter on fire; 2. Darsa-pūrṇamāsa, half-monthly sacrifices at new and full moon; 3. Ćāturmāsya, sacrifices every four months; 4. Aśvamedha and pasu-yajna, sacrifices of animals; 5. Soma-yajna, offerings and libations of the juice of the Soma or moon-plant. Goats are still offered to Kāli, but Buddhism tended to abolish animal sacrifice in India.

that men and sages, after having seen their sacrifice, might inquire how they could obtain some knowledge of sacrificial rites and follow them. They therefore debarred them by means of the Yūpa (or post to which the victim was fastened), turning its point downwards. Thereupon the men and sages dug the post out and turned its point upwards. Thus they became aware of the sacrifice and reached the heavenly world.

The following lines may serve to give an outline of another curious legend in the Aitareya-brāhmaṇa (Haug's edition, I. 23), written perhaps seven or eight centuries B. C. : The gods and demons were engaged in warfare.

The evil demons, like to mighty kings,

Made these worlds castles; then they formed the earth
Into an iron citadel, the air

Into a silver fortress, and the sky

Into a fort of gold. Whereat the gods

Said to each other, 'Frame we other worlds
In opposition to these fortresses.'
Then they constructed sacrificial places,
Where they performed a triple burnt oblation.
By the first sacrifice they drove the demons
Out of their earthly fortress, by the second
Out of the air, and by the third oblation
Out of the sky. Thus were the evil spirits

Chased by the gods in triumph from the worlds.

I next give a metrical version of part of a well-known legend in the Satapatha-brāhmaṇa (Professor Weber's edition, I. 8. 1. 1), which represents the Indo-Aryan tradition of the flood as it existed in India many centuries before the Christian era, perhaps not much later than the time of David:

1

There lived in ancient time a holy man,

Called Manu1, who by penances and prayers

According to the later mythology this Manu was not the first Manu, held to be the author of the well-known Code, but the seventh or Manu (Vaivasvata) of the present period, regarded as a progenitor of the human race, and represented as conciliating the favour of the Supreme Being by his piety in an age of universal depravity.

Had won the favour of the lord of heaven.

One day they brought him water for ablution;
Then, as he washed his hands, a little fish
Appeared and spoke in human accents thus-
'Take care of me and I will be thy saviour.'
'From what wilt thou preserve me?' Manu asked.
The fish replied, 'A flood will sweep away
All creatures, I will rescue thee from that.'
'But how shall I preserve thee?' Manu said.
The fish rejoined, 'So long as we are small
We are in constant danger of destruction;
For fish eats fish; so keep me in a jar;
When I outgrow the jar, then dig a trench
And place me there; when I outgrow the trench,
Then take me to the ocean, I shall then

Be out of reach of danger.' Having thus
Instructed Manu, straightway rapidly

The fish grew larger; then he spake again-
'In such and such a year the flood will come;
Therefore construct a ship and pay me homage.
When the flood rises, enter thou the ship,
And I will rescue thee.' So Manu did
As he was ordered, and preserved the fish,
Then carried it in safety to the ocean;
And in the very year the fish enjoined
He built a ship and paid the fish respect,
And there took refuge when the flood arose.
Soon near him swam the fish, and to its horn
Manu made fast the cable of his vessel.
Thus drawn along the waters Manu passed
Beyond the northern mountain. Then the fish,
Addressing Manu, said, 'I have preserved thee;
Quickly attach the ship to yonder tree.
But, lest the waters sink from under thee;
As fast as they subside, so fast shalt thou
Descend the mountain gently after them.'
Thus he descended from the northern mountain.
The flood had swept away all living creatures;
Manu alone was left. Wishing for offspring,
He earnestly performed a sacrifice.

In a year's time a female was produced.

Ꭰ

She came to Manu, then he said to her,

'Who art thou?' She replied, 'I am thy daughter.'
He said, 'How, lovely lady, can that be?'

'I came forth,' she rejoined, 'from thine oblations
Cast on the waters; thou wilt find in me
A blessing, use me in the sacrifice.'

With her he worshipped and with toilsome zeal
Performed religious rites, hoping for offspring.
Thus were created men, called sons of Manu.
Whatever benediction he implored

With her, was thus vouchsafed in full abundance.

We shall see hereafter that the fish which figures in this story is declared, in the Mahābhārata, to be an incarnation of Brahma, the creator, who assumed this form to preserve the pious Manu from perishing in the waters.

The Brāhmaṇas express belief in a future life more positively than the Mantras. They also assert that a recompense awaits all beings in the next world according to their conduct in this. But the doctrine of transmigration, which became afterwards an essential element of the Hindu religion, is not developed1. There is a remarkable passage in the Satapatha-brāhmaṇa (X. 4. 3. 9), some idea of which may be gained from the following lines:

The gods lived constantly in dread of death—
The mighty Ender-so with toilsome rites
They worshipped and performed religious acts
Till they became immortal. Then the Ender
Said to the gods, 'As ye have made yourselves
Imperishable, so will men endeavour
To free themselves from me; what portion then
Shall I possess in man?' The gods replied,
'Henceforth no being shall become immortal
In his own body; this his mortal frame

Shalt thou still seize; this shall remain thy own.
He who through knowledge or religious works
Henceforth attains to immortality

Shall first present his body, Death, to thee.'

1 See the third of Professor Weber's Indische Streifen, and compare note 1, p. 68.

I add one other passage extracted from the Aitareyabrāhmaṇa. (Dr. Haug's edition, III. 44.)

The sun never sets nor rises. When people think to themselves the sun is setting, he only changes about (viparyasyate) after reaching the end of the day, and makes night below and day to what is on the other side. Then when people think he rises in the morning, he only shifts himself about after reaching the end of the night, and makes day below and night to what is on the other side. In fact, he never does set at all. Whoever knows this that the sun never sets, enjoys union and sameness of nature with him and abides in the same sphere. [Atha yad enam prātar udetīti manyante rātrer eva tad antam itvā atha ātmānam viparyasyate, ahar eva avastāt kurute rātrīm parastāt. Sa vai esha na kadāćana nimroćati. Na ha vai kadāćana nimroćaty etasya ha sāyujyam sarūpatām salokatām aśnute ya evam veda.]

We may close the subject of the Brāhmaṇas by paying a tribute of respect to the acuteness of the Hindu mind, which seems to have made some shrewd astronomical guesses more than 2000 years before the birth of Copernicus.

The Upanishads.

I come now to the third division of the Veda, called Upanishad, or mystical doctrine (rahasya). The title Upanishad (derived from the root sad with the prepositions upa and ni1) implies something mystical that underlies or is beneath the surface. And these Upanishads do in fact lie at the root of what may be called the philosophical side of Hinduism. Not only are they as much śruti, or revelation, as the Mantra and Brāhmaṇa, but they are practically the only Veda of all thoughtful Hindūs in the present day.

There appear, in real truth, to be two sides to almost every religious system. Perhaps the one religion of the world that offers the same doctrines both to the learned

1 According to native authorities upa-ni-shad means 'to set ignorance at rest by revealing the knowledge of the supreme spirit.'