f the family religions acts. The god [the sacred fire]
presided there. He had cooked the bread and prepared the food; a
prayer, therefore, was due at the beginning and end of the repast.
Before eating, they placed upon the altar the first fruits of the
food; before drinking, they poured out a libation of wine. This was
the god's portion. No one doubted that he was present, that he ate and
drank; for did they not see the flame increase as if it had been
nourished by the provisions offered? Thus the meal was divided between
the man and the god. It was a sacred ceremony, by which they held
communion with each other.... The religion of the sacred fire dates
from the distant and dim epoch when there were yet no Greeks, no
Italians, no Hindus, when there were only Aryas. When the tribes
separated they carried this worship with them, some to the banks of
the Ganges, others to the shores of the Mediterranean.... Each group
chose its own gods, but all preserved as an ancient legacy the first
religion which they had known and practiced in the common cradle of
their race."

The fire in the house denoted the ancestor, or pit_ri_, and in turn
the serpent was revered as a living fire, and so an appropriate symbol
of the First Father.--A. W.]

[Footnote 299: "Taittiriyara_n_yaka," Preface, p. 23.]

[Footnote 300: Masi masi vo 'sanam iti _s_rute_h_; Gobhiliya G_ri_hya
sutras, p. 1055.]

[Footnote 301: See "Pi_nd_apit_ri_ya_gn_a," von Dr. O. Donner, 1870.
The restriction to three ancestors, father, grandfather, and
great-grandfather, occurs in the Va_g_asaneyi-sa_m_hita, XIX. 36-37.]

[Footnote 302: There is, however, great variety in these matters,
according to different _s_akhas. Thus, according to the Gobhila-_s_akha,
the Pi_nd_a Pit_ri_ya_gn_a is to be considered as smarta, not as _s_rauta
(pi_nd_a-pit_ri_ya_gn_ah khalv asma_kkh_akhaya_m_ nasti); while others
maintain that an agnimat should perform the smarta, a _s_rautagnimat the
_s_rauta Pit_ri_ya_gn_a; see Gobhiliya G_ri_hya-sutras, p. 671. On page
667 we read: anagner amavasya_s_raddha, nanvaharyam ity adara_n_iyam.]

[Footnote 303: "Ueber Todtenbestattung und Opfergebraeuche im Veda," in
"Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenlaendischen Gesellschaft," vol. ix.
1856.]

[Footnote 304: A_s_valayana G_ri_hya-sutras IV. 4, 10.]

[Footnote 305: Manu V. 64-65.]

[Footnote 306: Buehler, Apastamba, "Sacred Books of the East," vol.
ii., p. 138; also "_S_raddhakalpa," p. 890. Though