ormed without much ceremonial. A few
appropriate solemn words, indicating the giver, the nature
of the offering, the deity to which, as well as the purpose
for which it was offered, were sufficient. All this would be
embodied in the sacrificial formulas known in later times
principally by the name of Ya_g_ush, whilst the older one
appears to have been Ya_g_ya. The invocation of the deity by
different names, and its invitation to enjoy the meal
prepared, may be equally old. It was justly regarded as a
kind of Ya_g_ush, and called Nigada or Nivid.'

[Footnote 41: By an accident two lines containing the names of the
sixteen priests in my 'History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature' (p.
469) have been misplaced. Agnidhra and Pot_r_i ought to range with the
Brahmans, Pratihart_r_i and Subrahma_n_ya with the Udgat_r_is. See
A_s_val. Sutras IV. 1 (p. 286, 'Bibliotheca Indica'); and M. M.,
Todtenbestattung, p. xlvi. It might be said, however, that the
Agnimindha was meant as one of the Hotra_s_a_m_sins, or one of the
Seven Priests, the Sapta Hotars. See Haug, Aitareya-brahma_n_a, vol.
i. p. 58.]

[Footnote 42: Many such allusions were collected in my 'History of
Ancient Sanskrit Literature,' p. 486 seq.; some of them have lately
been independently discovered by others.]

In comparing these sacrificial formulas with the bulk of the Rig-veda
hymns, Dr. Haug comes to the conclusion that the former are more
ancient. He shows that certain of these formulas and Nivids were known
to the poets of the hymns, as they undoubtedly were; but this would
only prove that these poets were acquainted with these as well as with
other portions of the ceremonial. It would only confirm the view
advocated by others, that certain hymns were clearly written for
ceremonial purposes, though the ceremonial presupposed by these hymns
may in many cases prove more simple and primitive than the ceremonial
laid down in the Brahma_n_as and Sutras. But if Dr. Haug tells us that
the Rishis tried their poetical talent first in the composition of
Ya_g_yas, or verses to be recited while an offering was thrown into
the fire, and that the Ya_g_yas were afterwards extended into little
songs, we must ask, is this fact or theory? And if we are told that
'there can be hardly any doubt that the hymns which we possess are
purely sacrificial, and made only for sacrificial purposes, and that
those which express more general ideas,