The Veda 25

Vcdic literature, in its first intention, is through- out religious, or it deals with institutions that have come nnder the control of religion. It includes hymns, prayers, and sacred formulas, offered by priests; to the gOClS in behalf of rich lay sacrificers; chnrme for witchcraft, medicine, and other homely practices, manipulated by magicians and medicine» From a later time come expositions of the sacrifice, illus~

men, in the main for the plniner people.

trated by legends, in the manner of the Jewish Talmud.

philosophic, cosmic, psycho-physical, and theosophic, ,

gradually growing up in connection with and out of the simpler beliefs. Finally there is a considerable body of set rules for‘condnct in every-day secular life, at home and abroad, that is, a. distinct literature of customs; and laws. This is the Veda as a whole. The Veda consists, as we have seen, of considen ably more than a. hundred books, written in a variety of slightly differentiated dialects and styles. Some of the Vedic books are not yet published, or even unearthed. At the base of this entire canon, if we may so call it, lie four varieties of metrical composin tion, or in some cases, prayers in sacred, solemn prose. These are known as the Four Vedas in the narrower sense: the Rig-Veda, the YajuruVeda, the Same-

Veda, and the Atharva-Veda. These four names

Then speculations of the higher sort, =