also Egyptian, void of all talent, who has composed and reviewed much fiction, probably on the occasion of a new edition of the collection of the "Thousand and One Nights." This second author is probably a Jew who has been converted to Islam, possibly the pseudo-Maïmonide. We earnestly recommend the perusal of Chauvin's work to all those who are interested in popular Arabic literature. There is another étude by the same author on the legitimate use of water amongst the Arabs,* a work, like all the publications of Chauvin, very replete with notes. In the Bulletin de la société de géographie et d'archéologie de la province a'Oran (Vol. XIX., Part 80),+ E. Doutté has given a very good and methodical work on the Djebala of Morocco after the grand work of Mouliéras, which we referred to in our last July's report. Those who do not possess Mouliéras' book could consult with advantage the lengthy work of Doutté. The same author, under the title of "Mahomet Cardinal,"§ has published a good monograph on the story of Muhammad in the Middle Ages. We shall close this brief review of Islam by pointing out, according to the Zeitschrift für Missionskunde und Religionswissenschaft (XIV. 9, Berlin, 1899), the statistics of the Mussulman people which appeared in America, and which gives the total number of the followers of Muhammad at 196,500,000. This is very nearly the total we gave lately in a note on the statistics of the principal religions. (See Asiatic Quarterly Review, July, 1899, p. 140.)¶ *Liége, Vaillant-Carmanne, 1899. + Oran, Fouque, 1899. Compte du même auteur: "Le Far-West Africain" (Questions diplomatiques et coloniales, Paris, 15 août, 1899). § Chalons-sur-Marne, 1899. || Zwemer (missionary in Bahrein, Arabia): “The Mohammedan World of To-day" (New York, 1899, Board of Foreign Missions, Reformed Church in America). ¶ "Almanach protestant genevois " (Geneva, Drehmann, 1900). In this publication the number of Christians (Roman Catholics, Orthodox, Protestants) is given as 486 millions-of Jews, 8 millions; Muhammadans, 200 millions; Confucians, about 300 millions; and Buddhists and Hindus, 500 millions (100 millions of Buddhists, properly speaking). It is to be noted that Confucianism, being entirely foreign and official, does not exclude the simultaneous profession of another practical religion. Thus, it happens that many Confucians are either Buddhists or Mussulmans. There is therefore in our statistics a useless repetition, and if there is added to the stated amounts 300 millions of other polytheists, a total of 1,794,000,000 is reached, whereas the population of the world as generally assigned to it, probably under-estimated, is 1,500,000,000. TWENTY-FOURTH REVIEW ON THE "SACRED BOOKS OF THE EAST" SERIES. CLARENDON PRESS, OXFORD. VOL. XLIV. THE SATAPATHA-BRÂHMANA. TRANSLATED BY JULIUS EGGELING. PART V., BOOKS XI., XII., XIII., AND XIV. THE portion of the work contained in this volume forms practically a continuation of the first five kândas, the intervening five books being devoted to the consideration of the Agnikayana, or construction of the sacred brick-altar, which had come to be recognised as an important preliminary to the Soma-sacrifice. The circumstances which seem to have led to this somewhat peculiar distribution of the different sections of the work was explained in the introduction to the first volume of the translation. As was there shown, the inclusion of the Agnikayana in the sacrificial system of the Vâgasaneyins, or theologians of the White Yagus, appears to have resulted in a definite settlement of the sacrificial texts of the ordinary ritual, as contained in the first eighteen adhyâyas of the Vagasaneyisamhitâ, as well as of the dogmatic explanation of that ritual given in the first nine kândas of the Satapathabrâhmana. Considerable portions of the remaining sections of both works may have been, and very likely were, already in existence at the time of that settlement, but, being excluded from the regular ceremonial, they were naturally more liable to subsequent modifications and additions than those earlier sections which remained in constant use. Whilst the tenth kânda, included in the preceding volume of the translation, consisted of speculations on the sacred fire-altar, as representing Purusha-Pragâpati, and the divine body of the Sacrificer-whence that book is called the Agnirahasya, or mystery of the fire-altar-the present volume contains the supplementary sections connected with the sacrificial ceremonial proper. The eleventh and twelfth kândas are mainly taken up with additional remarks and directions on most of the sacrifices treated of in the first four kândas, especially with expiatory ceremonies and oblations in cases of mishaps or mistakes occurring during the performance, or with esoteric speculations regarding the significance and mystic effect of certain rites. In this way the eleventh book deals with the New and Full-moon sacrifices; the Seasonal Offerings (XI., 5, 2), the Agnihotra (XI., 5, 3; 6, 2), the Soma-sacrifice (XI., 5, 5; 9), and the Animal-sacrifice (XI., 7, 2-8, 4); whilst the twelfth kânda treats of the “ Gavâm ayanam -or most common sacrificial session lasting for a year, thus offering a convenient subject for dilating upon the nature of Pragâpati, as the Year, or Father Time-of additional expiatory rites for Somasacrifices (XII., 6), and of the Sautrâmani, consisting of oblations of milk, and spirituous liquor, supposed to obviate or remove the unpleasant effects of excesses in the consumption of Soma-juice (XII., 7-9). Though supplementary notes and speculations on such ceremonial topics cannot but be of a somewhat desultory and heterogeneous character, they nevertheless offer welcome opportunities for the introduction of much valuable and interesting matter. It is here that we find the famous myth of Purúravas and Urvasi (XI., 5, 1); and that of Bhrigu, the son of Varuna, vividly illustrating the notions prevalent at the time regarding retribution after death (XI., 6, 1); as also the important cosmogonic legend of the golden egg from which Pragâpati is born at the beginning of the evolution of the universe (XI., 1, 6). Of considerable interest also are the chapters treating of the way in which the dead body of the pious performer of the Agnihotra, or daily milk-offering, is to be dealt with (XII., 5, 1-2); of the initiation and the duties of the Brahmanical student (XI., 3, 3; 5, 4); and last, not least, of the study of the Vedas (XI., 5, 6-7) and their subsidiary texts, amongst which we meet, for the first time, with the Atharvângiras as a special collection of texts recommended for systematic study. With the commencement of the thirteenth kânda, we enter once more upon a regular exposition of a series of great sacrifices like those discussed in the early books, the first and most important of them being the Asvamedha, or Horse-sacrifice. Like the Râgasûya, or inauguration of a king, the Asvamedha is not a mere sacrifice or series of offerings, but it is rather a great State function in which the religious and sacrificial element is closely and deftly interwoven with a varied programme of secular ceremonies. But whilst the Râgasûya was a State ceremonial to which any petty ruler might fairly think himself entitled, the Asvamedha, on the contrary, involved an assertion of power and a display of political authority such as only a monarch of undisputed supremacy could have ventured upon without courting humiliation; and its celebration must therefore have been an event of comparatively rare occurrence. Perhaps, indeed, it is owing to this exceptional character of the Asvamedha rather than to the later origin of its ritual and dogmatic treatment that this ceremony was separated from the Râgasûya, which one would naturally have expected it to succeed. It is worthy of remark, in this respect, that, in Kâtyâyana's Anukramanî to the Vâgasaneyi-samhitâ, the term "khila," or supplement, is not applied to the Asvamedha section (Adhy. XXII.-XXV.), while the subsequent sections are distinctly characterized as such. As a matter of fact, however, the Asvamedha has received a very unequal treatment in the different rituals. Of the two recensions of the Brahmana of the Rig-veda priests, the Aitareya-brâhmana takes no account whatever of the Horse-sacrifice, whilst its last two books (VII., VIII.) generally regarded as a later supplement, though probably already attached to the work in Pânini's time-are mainly taken up with the discussion of the Râgasûya. The Kaushîtaki-brâhmana, on the other hand, passes over both ceremonies, their explanation being only supplied by the Sânkâyana-sûtra, along with that of some other sacrifices, in two of its chapters (15 and 16), composed in Brâhmana style, and said to be extracted from the Mahâ-Kaushîtaki-brâhmana. In the principal Brâh mana of the Sâman priests, the Pañkavimsa-brâhmana, the Asvamedha as a trirâtra, or triduum, is dealt with in its proper place (XXI., 4), among the Ahinas, or several days' performances. As regards the Black Yagus, both the Kathaka, and the Maitrâyanî-samhitâ give merely the mantras of the Asvameda, to which they assign pretty much the same place in the ritual as is done in the White Yagus. In the Taittiriya-samhitâ, on the other hand, the mantras are scattered piecemeal over the last four kândas; whilst, with the exception of a short introductory vidhi passage, likewise giverf in the Samhitâ (V., 3, 12), the whole of the exegetic matter connected with this ceremony is contained in a continuous form, in the Tattiriya-brâhmana (VIII. and IX). This vol. also contains index to Parts III., IV. and V. (Vols. XLI., XLIII. and XLIV.). : For facility of reference we publish with some of our quarterly reviews of one or more of "The Sacred Books of the East" Series, a complete list of them, brought up to date, which we hope our readers and Oriental scholars generally will consider to be a useful addition. The Series now stands as follows (1st January, 1900): BOOKS OF THE EAST.* (Translated by various Oriental Scholars, and edited by the Rt. Hon. F. MAX MÜLLER.) THE SACRED Vol. VII. The Institutes of Vishnu. by JULIUS JOLLY. 10s. 6d. Translated by Vol. VIII The Bhagavadgîtâ, with The Sanat- Vol. X. The Dhammapada, translated from Pâli Vol. XII. The Satapatha-Brahmana, according to the Text of the Mâdhyandina School. Translated by JULIUS EGGELING. Part I. Books I. and II. 12s. 6d. Vol. XIII. Vinaya Texts. Translated from the Pâli by T. W. RHYS DAVIDS and HERMANN OLPart I. 10s. 6d. DENBERG. Vol. XIV. The Sacred Laws of the Aryas, as taught in the Schools of Apastamba, Gautama, Vasishtha and Baudhâyana. Translated by GEORG BUhler. Part II. 10s. 6d. Vol. XV. The Upanishads. Translated by F. MAX MÜLLER. Part II. 10s. 6d. Vol. XVI. The Sacred Books of China. The Vol. XVII. Vinaya Texts. Translated from of Buddha by Asvaghosha Bodhisattva, translated from Vol. XXI. The Saddharma-pundarîka; or, the Lotus of the True Law. 12s. 6d. Vol. XXII. Translated by H. KERN. Gaina-Sutras. Translated from Prakrit by HERMANN JACOBI. Vol. XXVI. The Satapatha-Brahmana. Trans- Vols. XXVII. and XXVIII. The Sacred Books Parts I. and II. 12s. 6d. each. Vol. XXXI. The Zend-Avesta. Part III. Trans- Vol. XXXII. Vedic Hymns. Part I. Translated Vol. XXXIII. The Minor Law-Books. Trans. Vol. XXXIV. The Vedânta-Sûtras, with Sankara's 12s. 6d. Vol. XXXV. The Questions of King Milinda. Vol. XXXVI. The Questions of King Milinda. Vol. XXXVII. Pahlavi Texts. Part IV. Trans- With Translated by G. Vol. XXXVIII. The Vedanta-Sutras. 12s. 6d. Vols. XXXIX. and XL. The Sacred Books of Part III. Vol. XLI. Satapatha Brahmana. 21S. Vol. XLIII. The Satapatha-Brahmana. Part IV. Satapatha-Brahmana. Part V. Translated by Julius Eggeling, 18s. 6d. 145. lated by HERMANN OLDENBerg. Vol. XLVIII. Râmânuga's Srîbhâshya. Trans- 12s. 6d. * Published at the Clarendon Press, Oxford. |