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INDIA (RELIGIONS AXD RELIGIOUS LITERATURE) 225 personified god. The two names were origi- nally, it seems, epithets of Savitri, the god of the sun, and they reappear subsequently as epithets of the god Brahma. The Vedas ad- here to no one settled account of the crea- tion. Its existence is generally attributed to the power of sacrifice brought by the gods. It is Purusha, man as a representative of hu- manity, the ideal man or the spirit of the world, who takes the place of the sacrificial animal, and Indra and Agni arise from him. This is the account given in the Purusha- Sftkta of the Rig- Veda. Another hymn of the Rig- Veda gives a more philosophical reason for the existence of the world. Here it is religions meditation which produces it. First was form- ed the desire, or _kdma, love, which was the first seed. Fire is the creative element as well in the soul of the world as in the soul of man, and it is love, Mma, that calls it forth and causes it to create. Two names, Yama and Manu, appear as those of the first man. Yama is the first man who died, and he shows the dead the way into the other world, where he rules. Manu is the first ancestor of mankind ; he is Father Manu, and the Aryans are his people; it is he who introduced the rite of sacrifice. The gods nourish and protect him, and Vishnu has assigned to him the earth as his dwelling place. In later times his name is coupled with the legend of the flood, but there are no indications of such revolutions of the earth in the Veda-Sanhitas. Yama and Manu are sons of Vivasvat, one of the Adityas, and of Saranyu, the immortal daughter of Tvashtri. Yama takes the deceased into a world which is as sensual as the Mohammedan paradise, and where they feast with the gods and drink S6ma. It is Agni, the god of fire, who in con- suming the body recreates it into a celestial form, and it is Soma who gives it immortality. The people must worship their ancestors, for they are not dead, but live with the gods, who share their power with them. There is little in the Vedas to show that the dead were ever supposed to be punished, unless they were hos- tile races or personal enemies. The worship of the gods was at first entirely in the hands of each family. There were no temples. Sacri- fices were offered under the open sky or at the family hearth. Agni could call the gods wher- ever his fire was burning; this was fed with clarified butter, of which he was fond. S6ma was carefully prepared according to numerous prescriptions. Colebrooke denies that the ancient Aryans offered also human sacrifices ; but German scholars, as Weber and others, think that it admits of no doubt. Sacrifice was neither a thank offering nor a sin offer- ing; it was a contract between man and the gods, and the latter were obliged to fulfil the wishes of the former whenever a sacrifice was offered. If any fault had been committed in the ceremony of sacrificing, so that the gods would not accept it, it was simply repeat- ed. The light thrown by the Vedas on the re- ligious constitution of the ancient Aryans re- veals that the poets of the hymns were not all of a priestly caste ; but subsequently they were all Brahmans, and the king Vicvumitra, who had composed a number of hymns, including the celebrated Gayatri, was specially raised to the dignity of a Brahman by a later legend, in order to account for the fact of his having been able to write poems. The Rishi, the pious, Kavi, the wise, and Muni, hermits of old, were therefore not all priests. But the Brahmans very soon formed a special caste. Each sacrifice needed a fiotri, or caller, who recited portions of the Rig-Veda ; an adhvaryu, or sacrificer, who performed all the work con- nected with it; and a Brahman, who watched that all was done properly and in order, and who understood how to right every mistake com- mitted. The Brahman was therefore the high priest, who had the power and wisdom to com- pel the gods to fulfil all requests. The Brah- manas were his successors, who came to he re- garded as gods upon earth. The personal gods Indra, Rudra, Savitri, and others, were too poet- ical to be very real in the hearts of the ancient Hindoos. A need was felt for a more sub- stantial authority, and the priests usurped it, and formed the Brahmanical system of castes, which made them like gods themselves. This opens the second period in the history of the Indian religions. It is noteworthy that in spite of the complete penetration of Aryan culture over the whole of the Indian peninsula and even Ceylon, the Hindoos failed to estab- lish a vast and powerful empire. It seems that the conquests told in the Ramayana and the Mahabh&rata were rather religious than political. When the Aryans mingled with the native population of the peninsula, they held a superior position among them from mere dis- tinction of color. The Sanskrit for caste is var- na, which originally signified color. The Sudras (Cudras) therefore form only what Mas Muller has called an ethnological caste. They are the dark prior occupants of the land of the Ganges, whom the light-complexioned race considered inferior to themselves. The Vedic books di- vide the entire Indian population into four castes, but this number is really in comparison as much below the mark as the 33 gods have been found to be. Manu's book of laws states that there were 16 mixed castes, besides the four principal ones. These were, besides the Sudras already mentioned, the Brahmans, Kshatriyas, and Vaisyas (Vaicyas). The Brahmans were to read and teach the Veda, offer sacrifice, con- duct the ceremonies of the sacrifices made by the people, and to receive and make gifts. The Kshatriyas were to protect the people, do charity, offer sacrifice, read the holy scriptures, but without teaching them, and control their desires. The Vaisyas were to raise cattle, cultivate the land, carry on trade, give alms, sacrifice, and learn to say prayers. The Sudras had but one duty, that of doing service to the other castes. The majority of the minor or