ifice and the titles of all the priests
employed in it, might speak of it in a more general manner than the
author of a manual, and it would be most dangerous to conclude that
whatever was passed over by him in silence did not exist at the time
when he wrote. Secondly, if there were more ancient titles of priests,
the poet would most likely use them in preference to others that had
been but lately introduced. Thirdly, even the ancient priestly titles
had originally a more general meaning before they were restricted to
their technical significance, just as in Europe bishop meant
originally an overseer, priest an elder, deacon a minister. In several
hymns, some of these titles--for instance, that of hotar, invoker--are
clearly used as appellatives, and not as titles. Lastly, one of the
priests mentioned in the hymn on the horse sacrifice, the Agnimindha,
is admitted by Dr. Haug himself to be the same as the Agnidhra; and if
we take this name, like all the others, in its technical sense, we
have to recognise in him one of the four Brahman priests.[41] We
should thus lose the ground on which Dr. Haug's argument is chiefly
based, and should have to admit the existence of Brahman priests as
early at least as the time in which the hymn on the horse sacrifice
was composed. But, even admitting that allusions to a more or less
complete ceremonial[42] could be pointed out in certain hymns, this
might help us no doubt in subdividing and arranging the poetry of the
second or Mantra period, but it would leave the question, whether
allusions to ceremonial technicalities are to be considered as
characteristics of later hymns, entirely unaffected. Dr. Haug, who
holds that, in the development of the human race, sacrifice comes
earlier than religious poetry, formulas earlier than prayers,
Leviticus earlier than the Psalms, applies this view to the
chronological arrangement of Vedic literature; and he is, therefore,
naturally inclined to look upon hymns composed for sacrificial
purposes, more particularly upon the invocations and formulas of the
Ya_g_ur-veda, and upon the Nivids preserved in the Brahma_n_as and
Sutras, as relics of greater antiquity than the free poetical
effusions of the Rishis, which defy ceremonial rules, ignore the
settled rank of priests and deities, and occasionally allude to
subjects more appropriate for profane than for sacred poetry:

'The first sacrifices [he writes] were no doubt simple
offerings perf