and the murk of philosophy, the
under-stream of faith that still flows from the old fount, if somewhat
discolored, and waters the heart of the people.

At just what time was elaborated the stupendous system of rites, which
are already traditional in the Br[=a]hmanas, can never be known. Some
of these rites have to do with special ceremonies, such as the royal
inauguration, some are stated _soma_-sacrifices.[2] Opposed to these
_soma_-feasts is the simpler and older fire-cult, which persists in
the house-rituals. All of these together make up a sightly array of
sacrifices.[3] The _soma_-ritual is developed in the Br[=a]hmanas. But
with this class of works there must have been from ancient times
another which treated of the fire-ritual, and of which the more modern
representatives are the extant S[=u]tras. It is with S[=u]tras that
legal literature begins, but these differ from the ritualistic
S[=u]tras. Yet both are full of religious meat. In these collections,
even in the more special, there is no arrangement that corresponds to
western ideas of order. In a completed code, for example, there is a
rough distribution of subjects under different heads, but the attempt
is only tentative, and each work presents the appearance of a
heterogeneous mass of regulations and laws, from which one must pick
out the law for which he is seeking. The earlier legal works were in
prose; the later evolved codes, of which there is a large number, in
metre. It is in these two classes of house-ritual and law-ritual,
which together constitute what is called Smriti, tradition-ritual (in
distinction from the so-called Cruti, revelation-ritual), that one may
expect to find the religion of the time; not as inculcated by the
promoters of mystery, nor yet as disclosed by the philosopher, but as
taught (through the priest) to the people, and as accepted by them for
their daily guidance in matters of every-day observance. We glance
first at the religious observances, for here, as in the case of the
great sacrifices, a detailed examination would be of no more value
than a collective impression; unless, indeed, one were hunting for
folk-lore superstitions, of which we can treat now only in the mass.
It is sufficient to understand that, according to the house-ritual
(_g[r.]hya-s[=u]tra_) and the law-ritual (_dharma-s[=u]tra_, and
_dharma-c[=a]stra_),[4] for every change in life there was an
appropriate ceremony and a religious observance; for every day,