the earliest Indo-European prose; for although this Collection is probably several centuries later than the Rig-Veda Collection,- as is shown by the new and complete ritualism, by the style, language, geographical allusions, and even by the theology,-yet it is still old enough to antedate all other Indo-European prose. It may be referred to about the eighth century, and perhaps even to an earlier date. The Yajur-Veda Collection is both a Collection, and in its prose portions a Brahmana, for it has all the characteristics of that later form of literature. There are several recensions of the text, but they differ mainly in arrangement. The chief recensions are known as the White and the Black Yajur-Veda, respectively.

The fourth Vedic Collection is referred to an ancient sage, Atharvan, and hence bears the name of the Atharva-Veda Collection. It is a late work, though some of its elements - demon-worship, etc. are old; and it consists in general of Rig-Veda verses interspersed with new verses of benedictive or more generally of maledictive character, as well as charms, formulæ for relief from illness and avoidance of expected harm, incantations, and all the hocus-pocus of a wizard's repertoire. And this in general is its character, though it contains a few hymns of loftier tone and of some philosophical value they are hymns which might belong to the end of the RigVeda, but their philosophy and theology show that they were composed even later than the latest hymns of that older Collection. This Vedic Collection is even now not recognized by some orthodox priests; and as has been said, it was long in obtaining any formal recognition from any one. It appears to have been a sort of manual for sorcerers, into whose collection of balderdash have slipped some really good hymns composed too late to be included in the Rig-Veda Collection. The style of these philosophical hymns is like that of the latest hymns of the Rig-Veda; but that of the sorcerers' incantations does not rise above the usual doggerel of degraded superstition as it is exhibited in religious formulæ.

The second sub-period (b) of Vedic literature embraces the elucidatory Brahmanas and the philosophical Upanishads. The latter in their earliest form are nothing more than appendices, usually inserted at the end of the Brahmanas, and are always regarded as subsidiary to them. The Brahmanas are the completed form of that kind of prose literature described above as appearing first in the Yajur-Veda; viz., they are prose works explanatory of the sacrifice in every detail. This is the real object for which they were composed; and for this reason all else, even the philosophy of the Upanishads, is regarded as of secondary importance, and if admitted into a Brahmana at all the Upanishad is relegated to a place at the end of the whole work. (included in the Aranyakas, supplements to the Brahmanas), so as

not to interfere with the explanation of the established rite, which is followed step by step by the Brahmana. As in the prose of the Yajur-Veda, so here, the elucidation of the text includes not only textual commentary but also very valuable illustrative legends, theological discussions, the refutation of false views in regard to some detail in the arrangement of the sacrifice or with reference to the building of the altar, etc.; and in short, whatever may be useful or interesting to a priest in the execution of his daily task. The style here is insufferably bad, the content is puerile, the works are without any literary value whatever save in the Upanishads. The latter, as befits their grander theme, are often elevated and are always dignified. They are of prime historical importance, for they preserve for us the first record of the true philosophizing spirit. Their aim is always the same, the search for true being and the explanation of the early problems - what is being, what is death, what is soul, and what is heaven, or does heaven exist? The answer forms the kernel of pantheistic philosophy. The very questions raised show how far apart from each other the Upanishads and the earliest Hymns stand; but on the other hand, the Upanishads stand very near to those speculative Hymns which close the various Collections. It is possible that a few of the oldest extant Upanishads are really older than the bulk of the Brahmanas to which they are attached; but as with other Hindu works of a popular character, the date to which any one Upanishad may be referred is extremely doubtful. The oldest composition of this sort cannot claim an antiquity much greater than the sixth century B. C. On the other hand, works bearing the same title, though only nominally connected, or not connected at all, with any Brahmana, were composed at a much later period than this; and some of them are no better than the Sectarian tracts of the postRenaissance period (800-1000 A. D.). The number of Brahmanas is comparatively small. Each Veda has one or more; the two that are most important belong to the Rig-Veda and the White Yajur-Veda, and are called respectively the Aitareya and the Catapatha Brāhmanas (see below). The Upanishads run up to some two hundred in number, of which the Aitareya and the Chandogya are perhaps the most famous and appear to be among the oldest. Some of the Upanishads are attributed to sages of the past; but like the Brahmanas, they are in general the continued product of Vedic schools. They represent the traditional wisdom that gradually accumulated in the Carana or group of students, who collected about a teacher and who themselves in time became teachers of new pupils, each carrying on and adding to the exegesis of the holy texts.

The Sutra sub-period (c) offers little of interest from a literary point of view, save in the spectacle of the gradual growth of this

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peculiar phenomenon in letters. The (prose) Sūtras are literally "threads" to assist the memory; strings of rules, which in compactest form inculcate ancient rites and regulations. They usually form. independent works connected with some Vedic school. The ritual Sūtras devoted to the interpretation of the sacrifice are devoid of general interest; but those that touch upon domestic rites, practices, and rules, dharma, are the forerunners of all legal literature in India. They are composed in prose with occasional verses; and although their epitomized form excludes them from a history of literature, as much as a school text-book would be excluded to-day, they nevertheless form an interesting historical background to the great law-books, Dharma-çastra, of later times, which were developed in metrical form out of these older prose aphorisms. An instance of such a metrical Dharma-çãstra is the law code of Manu. The Sutras are the last form of Vedic literature, and may be referred to about the sixth century B. C.; though some continued to be composed, notably in the case of domestic and legal Sutras, till nearly the time of our era. The language is only partly Vedic, and in great measure approaches the later norm of Sanskrit.

The following list contains the most important Brahmanas and Sūtras, according to their place within the various Vedas to which they respectively belong. Their mass is great, but their literary value is small:

1. The Rig-Veda: This comprises (1) The Collection of Hymns; (2) The Aitareya and Çānkāhyana (also called Kaushitaki) Brahmanas, each of which has a Supplement or Āranyaka of the same name, together with its Upanishad; (3) The two Sūtras of Açvalāyana, ritual and domestic respectively; and also the two similar Sūtras of Çankhāyana. These Sūtras belong each to the Brahmana of the same name. The Brahmanas of the Rig-Veda are generally simple in style, and have the appearance of being among the oldest works of this sort. The Sutras are not particularly old, and are as devoid of literary merit as are other works of this class, but they contain much interesting historical matter.

II. The Sama-Veda: This comprises - (1) The Collection representing the ninth book of the Rig-Veda Collection; (2) The Tandya (also called Pancavinça) Brahmana and the Shadvinça Brāhmana. The latter, meaning "twenty-sixth book," is only an appendix to the Pancavinça Brahmana, "of five-and-twenty books." This Brahmana is marked by its mystic and inflated style, and is probably much later than the Brahmanas of the Rig-Veda. The so-called Chandogya Brahmana is really only an Upanishad, perhaps a remnant of a Brahmana now lost except for this philosophical supplement. Another Upanishad belonging to this Veda is the Kena, not apparently

a very old one. The Jaiminiya or Talavakara Brahmana, belonging here, is as yet unpublished; it is one of the least valuable of Brāhmanas. This Veda comprises also―(3) The ritual Sutras of Maçaka and of Latyāyana, belonging to the Pancavinça Brahmana, and a number of domestic Sūtras, the most important being that of Gobbhila, also belonging to the Pancavinça Brahmana. There are others of less importance attributed to no (extant) Brahmana, but they all seem to be of late date.

III. The Yajur-Veda: This Veda is handed down in two chief recensions of Collections and Brahmanas. The older is the Black Yajur-Veda; and here the prose explanation is intermingled with the verses to be explained. The later is the White Yajur-Veda, Vājasaneyi Sanhitā, where verses and explanation stand apart; the first being in the Sanhita, or Collection, the second in the Brahmana, just as in the case of the Rig-Veda and Sama-Veda. Each of these has come down in several schools or sub-recensions, those of the Black Yajur being the Maitrayaniya, the Atreya, the Kathaka, etc., those of the White Yajur being the Kanva and Madhyamdina recensions. As is implied by the name, the Brahmana called the Taittirīya Brāhmana belongs to the Taittiriya or Black Yajur-Veda, and is one of the oldest Brahmanas, though not especially interesting. On the other hand, perhaps the most important of all the Brahmanas is the Çatapatha Brahmana of the White Yajur-Veda. This great work, apart from its professed purpose of explaining the verses of the Sanhitā as they are employed in the ritual of sacrifice, abounds in legends and in historical allusions; while its supplementary portion, Aranyaka, furnishes one of the most important Upanishads. The different strata of growth can still be traced in it, some parts being much older than others. In this regard it gives a good example of the overlapping of literary periods; since, while the original Brahmana may be referred to the seventh or eighth centuries B. C., the later additions run over into the Sūtra period and do not appear to antedate the third century. Ritual Sutras of this Veda are found in both recensions. Those of the Black Yajur-Veda are the Katha and Mānava Sūtras. The chief ritual Sūtra of the White Yajur-Veda is attributed to Katyāyana. The chief domestic Sutra is that of Pāraskara. These were probably the original teachers. From the Mānava domestic Sūtra has come the germ of the Manava law-book, or Code of Manu,' the principal metrical law-book of later times (see above). Late but important is the Sutra of Baudhāyana, belonging to the Black Yajur-Veda (Taittiriya) school.

IV.

The Atharva-Veda Collection, as already stated, is largely composed of Rig-Veda verses, and in its last (twentieth) book simply duplicates Rig-Veda verses; but besides its Collection, the Atharva

Veda includes also one Brahmana, called the Gopatha, a number of late Upanishads, and the Vaitāna Sūtra.

SECOND PERIOD: Sectarian Literature of Buddhism and other religious sects.

Buddha lived in the sixth century B. C., before the rise of Sanskrit literature in its proper sense, and at a time when Vedic literature was dragging to a lame conclusion in the weary composition of rituals and manuals. Apart from the poetic-philosophic oasis of the Upanishads, literature was become a dry desert. Everything refreshing had been brought from a home distant both in time and space. For with the close of the Brahmanic period, the Aryan tribes are found to have advanced far beyond the limits of the early Vedic period. A steady geographical descent accompanies the decline of Vedic literature, as this decline is shown in lack of vigor and originality. To the Aryan of the Rig-Veda the country south and east of the Punjâb was scarcely known. The Brahmanic period, on the other hand, shows that the seat of culture was gradually shifting down the Ganges; and an interesting legend of the time still reveals the fact that somewhere between the commencement and end of this period the district about the present Benares was becoming Brahmanized. At the end of the period it had indeed become a second home of culture, and a strong rival of the ancient "Brahman-land" in the northwest; but with this important difference,- that whereas

the older habitat of Brahmanism retained its reverence for the wisdom of antiquity, the eastern district, newly Brahmanized and governed by kings often inimical to the Brahman priests, showed no such respect for Vedic learning. The Brahman priests and their learning were here not of paramount importance; thought was freer, and tradition was not per se authoritative.

So much is necessary on the one hand to explain the appearance of Buddhism in the east rather than in the west, and on the other hand to explain the relative orthodox character of such sectarian literature as was the result of a partial revolt in the west. In the east, in an unsympathetic environment, arose the literature of Buddhism, totally opposed in its effect to the teaching of Brahmanism. In the west however arose Jainism and its literature, which was sectarian to a certain degree, but was never so antagonistic to Brahmanism as was by necessity the literature that marks the Buddhistic revolt. These two sects dominate the literature of the period that follows the Brahmanas, but they are contemporary with the development of the Sūtras. It is therefore just at the time when the gross ritualism of the Brahmans reaches its highest development that the more spiritual literature of the religious sects finds a fit soil; and it is while the Brahman priests continue to content themselves