ing a mystical potency superior even
to the gods, who it is sometimes stated attained to their divine rank
by means of sacrifice. Sacrifice was regarded as almost the only
kind of duty, and it was also called _karma_ or _kriya_ (action) and
the unalterable law was, that these mystical ceremonies for good
or for bad, moral or immoral (for there were many kinds of
sacrifices which were performed for injuring one's enemies or
gaining worldly prosperity or supremacy at the cost of others)
were destined to produce their effects. It is well to note here that
the first recognition of a cosmic order or law prevailing in nature
under the guardianship of the highest gods is to be found in the
use of the word @Rta (literally the course of things). This word
was also used, as Macdonell observes, to denote the "'order'
in the moral world as truth and 'right' and in the religious
world as sacrifice or 'rite'[Footnote ref 1]" and its unalterable law of
producing effects. It is interesting to note in this connection that it
is here that we find the first germs of the law of karma, which exercises
such a dominating control over Indian thought up to the present
day. Thus we find the simple faith and devotion of the Vedic
hymns on one hand being supplanted by the growth of a complex
system of sacrificial rites, and on the other bending their course
towards a monotheistic or philosophic knowledge of the ultimate
reality of the universe.

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[Footnote 1: Macdonell's _Vedic Mythology_, p. 11.]

23

Cosmogony--Mythological and philosophical.

The cosmogony of the @Rg-Veda may be looked at from two
aspects, the mythological and the philosophical. The mythological
aspect has in general two currents, as Professor Macdonell says,
"The one regards the universe as the result of mechanical production,
the work of carpenter's and joiner's skill; the other
represents it as the result of natural generation [Footnote ref. 1]."
Thus in the @Rg-Veda we find that the poet in one place says, "what was
the wood and what was the tree out of which they built heaven
and earth [Footnote ref. 2]?" The answer given to this question in
Taittiriya-Brahma@na is "Brahman the wood and Brahman the tree from
which the heaven and earth were made [Footnote ref 3]." Heaven and Earth
are sometimes described as having been supported with posts [Footnote
ref 4]. They are also sometimes spoken of as uni