The Hieratic Religion 79

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partly mystic designations; of sacrificial articles, the sacred atraw upon which the priests are seated, the doors of the enclosure within which the offering takes place, and the sacrificial post to which the animal la tied have a stanza each in every one of the ten rz/lrallymnal These sets of invocations are purely liturgical; each set belongs to a different family of liiahia or “ score.” In general, each of the acacallccl “family books” of the Rig—Veda has its zfizrfillymn. A peculiar odor of sanctity, solemnity, and family pride 1111.131: have attached itself to these formulas... In later times, when the hymns of the Rig—Veda are taken in lamp, and employed at the great sacrifices with but very slight reference to the particular priest family from which they are sup~ posed to have been derived, the choice of the apri— hyn'ms is still made according to family. The ritual books at that time still order that the sacrificer must chooee that: efri‘mhymn which was composed in the family of the Riahi from whom he would fain derive his descent.‘ It eeems likely, therefore and for other reasons, that each family book of the Rig» Veda was intended for essentially the same class of practices, carried on according to different family traditions, and to the accompaniment of different

1 See (gfinkhfiyana Cmutasiitra 5‘ 1’6; Agvaléyana Croutasfitra 3. 2 ; Lityiiyana (grautasfitra 6.. 7.