The Religion of the Veda

Younger Parts of the Rigveda.

pleasing effect of the meter, the belief in its magical power developed. Thus, even when the poetic production of magic songs The author refers to Zauberlieder, rhythmic or melodic hymns used for ritual power. was at its highest bloom, the prose incantation Zauberspruch; a spoken magic formula without a fixed poetic rhythm always persisted alongside it; in many places, it seems clearly evident how a prose formula was subsequently versified, so that the original form clearly shines through. In particular, however, the old prose form of the magic spells has remained nearly intact in those spells of this kind which relate to the magical actions belonging to the great sacrifices¹); the conservatism of sacrificial practice granted a far-reaching, if not absolute, protection here against the introduction of poetic form. We shall have to return to the literature of magic spells and songs, which can only be briefly touched upon here, during our discussion of the Atharvaveda The Atharvaveda is the fourth of the Vedas, primarily containing spells for healing, protection, and daily life. and then during our presentation of the cult of magic. —

Let us now see what consequences arise from the peculiarities of Rigvedic poetry, as we have attempted to describe them, in terms of the estimation and use of this unique, direct source for the belief and cult of the oldest Vedic period.

It lies in the nature of this hymn-poetry that it touches upon the various areas of religious life and the store of myths very unevenly. All light falls almost exclusively on the great gods, who stand at the forefront of the Soma sacrifice The Soma offering was the central high-ritual of the Vedic religion. and in the refined cult of princes and the wealthy. The manner in which the singers of the Veda perceived the character of these gods and the relationship of humans to them emerges with almost perfect clarity. Where blurred outlines remain here, one can say that the lack of clarity does not lie in the deficiencies of our sources,

¹) These are the so-called Yajus formulas, see below p. 14. The Yajus are prose ritual formulas found in the Yajurveda, used primarily by the officiating priests during the physical labor of the sacrifice.