only fit to be the
"food of the nobility." In the symbolical language of the time the
bricks of the altar, which are consecrated, are the warrior caste; the
fillings, in the space between the bricks, are not consecrated; and
these "fillers of space" are "the people" (_Cat. Br_. VI. 1. 2. 25).
Yet is religion in these books not dead, but sleeping; to wake again
in the Upanishads with a fuller spiritual life than is found in any
other pre-Christian system. Although the subject matter of the
Br[=a]hmanas is the cult, yet are there found in them numerous
legends, moral teachings, philosophical fancies, historical items,
etymologies and other adventitious matter, all of which are helpful in
giving a better understanding of the intelligence of the people to
whom is due all the extant literature of the period. Long citations
from these ritualistic productions would have a certain value, in
showing in native form the character of the works, but they would make
unendurable reading; and we have thought it better to arrange the
multifarious contents of the chief Br[=a]hmanas in a sort of order,
although it is difficult always to decide where theology ends and
moral teachings begin, the two are here so interwoven.

BRAHMANIC THEOLOGY AND THE SACRIFICE.

While in general the pantheon of the Rig Veda and Atharva Veda is that
of the Br[=a]hmanas, some of the older gods are now reduced in
importance, and, on the other hand, as in the Yajur Veda, some gods
are seen to be growing in importance. 'Time,' deified in the Atharvan,
is a great god, but beside him still stand the old rustic divinities;
and chrematheism, which antedates even the Rig Veda, is still
recognized. To the 'ploughshare' and the 'plough' the Rig Veda has an
hymn (IV. 57. 5-8), and so the ritual gives them a cake at the
sacrifice (_Cun[=a]c[=i]rya, Cat. Br._ II. 6. 3. 5). The number of the
gods, in the Rig Veda estimated as thirty-three, or, at the end of
this period, as thousands, remains as doubtful as ever; but, in
general, all groups of deities become greater in number. Thus, in TS.
I. 4. 11. 1, the Rudras alone are counted as thirty-three instead of
eleven; and, _ib._ V. 5. 2. 5, the eight Vasus become three hundred
and thirty-three; but it is elsewhere hinted that the number of the
gods stands in the same relation to that of men as that in which men
stand to the beasts; that is, there are not quite so many gods as men
(_Cat. Br._ II. 3. 2. 18).

Of more impo