,
rice or cakes; but animals were also killed, and the horse-sacrifice
was a specially important one. The hymn also is an essential part of
the rite; the sacrifice would have no virtue without it. It consists
of praise and prayer. The deity is extolled for the exploits he has
done, for his strength, for his beauty, for his wisdom or his
goodness, he is invoked again and again to partake of what has been
provided for him, and in return he is asked to send the worshipper
food or cows, guidance or protection, or whatever the latter is in
want of.

The Vedic Gods.--And who are the gods who receive this worship? They
are parts of nature or celestial phenomena, more or less personified.
Worship is directed now to one divine being, now to another; each has
a story which is dwelt on and a number of functions belonging to him,
for the sake of which he is extolled and sought after; each god, that
is to say, has his myth. In this set of gods the myths are so clear
that we can identify with perfect confidence each of the gods with
that part of Nature from which he arose.

M. Barth classifies the Vedic gods according to the degree in which
they have become detached from their natural basis. There are two
which are not so detached at all. Agni, who is one of the chief
deities of the Rigveda, is fire, and Soma, the deity to whom all the
hymns of the ninth book are addressed, is simply the juice of the
soma plant, the liquid part of every sacrifice. Agni is not any
particular fire, but fire as a cosmic principle, born in heaven, born
also daily at the sacrifice by the rubbing together of two pieces of
wood, his parents whom he consumes. He is a priest carrying the
offerings of men up to the gods, but he was a priest at the first
sacrifice, the primeval heavenly sacrifice, before he had come down
to men. He is also the guest and household friend of man, a kindly
and familiar being. But he pervades all nature, and all growth and
energy are due to him. Soma, also inseparably connected with all
sacrifice, who strengthens the gods and makes them immortal, is
likewise a universal principle; he too came at first from heaven, and
he too is at work all through the world. There are stories of his
first production among the gods, and of the first effects of his
appearance; he is the nourisher of plants, he gives inspiration to
the poet and fervour to prayer. Along with Agni he kindled the sun
and the stars.

In other gods there is a nearer a