Ancient India and the Ṛgveda.

...spread out above. Everywhere superlatives prevail, not the limited or the formed. Only faintly and indistinctly do outlines emerge in the general glow of light in which this world of gods swims, distinguishing one form from another. One main effect in this glorification of the gods, however, is the playing with mysteries. It would be an exaggeration to say that the preference for this game runs through the entire Ṛgveda. Many a song, indeed long series of songs, speak of Ushas, the dawn resplendent in lovely charm; of Indra, the overwhelmingly powerful smasher of enemies, demons, and monsters; of Agni, the kindly shining guest of human dwellings, in a language from which the breath of fresh, simple nature has not yet escaped.

Next to these, however, stand masses of poems in which a different spirit breathes. If the song is meant to be "beautiful" to please the god, this means it should be artful; but above all, artful is the poem devised by the "knower" The "knower" (German: der Wissende) refers to the initiated priest who possesses the secret knowledge of the ritual's inner workings. and understandable to the knower alone, knowing how to half-show and half-conceal the thought in veiled hints. A poetry of this kind could only arise within the closed circles of priestly sacrificial technicians sacrificial technicians: a term used by the author to describe priests who viewed ritual as a precise, almost mechanical science. Among these priests, the posing and guessing of spiritual riddles formed a favorite sport; even the god, imbued with this priestly nature, indulges in it—for the gods love the hidden and hate the manifest original: "die Götter lieben... das Verborgene und hassen das Offenbare." This translates a common Vedic sentiment, often expressed in Sanskrit as parokṣapriyā vai devāḥ (the gods love the cryptic).. Delighted by the mysterious depths and subtleties of his own nature and by the mortal so well-versed in them, the satisfied god allows himself to be coaxed into granting favors. Thus the poets repeatedly repeat the old understood or misunderstood allusions, paradoxes, and riddles, and hunt for new ideas to outdo what has come before.