is
magical. They desire temporal blessings, rain, sunshine, long life,
power, wealth in flocks and herds. The whole purpose of the sacrifices
which occupy so much of their time and thought is to obtain these good
things. The sacrifice and the sacrificer come between gods and men. On
the man's side is faith, munificence, a compelling force of prayer and
of intentness of will. The sacrifice invigorates the gods to do the will
of the sacrificer; it is supposed to be mystically celebrated in heaven
as well as on earth--the gods are always sacrificing. Often (as when
rain is wanted) the sacrifice imitates the end which it is desirable to
gain.(1) In all these matters a minute ritual is already observed. The
mystic word brahma, in the sense of hymn or prayer of a compelling and
magical efficacy, has already come into use. The brahma answers
almost to the Maori karakia or incantation and charm. "This brahma of
Visvamitra protects the tribe of Bharata." "Atri with the fourth prayer
discovered the sun concealed by unholy darkness."(2) The complicated
ritual, in which prayer and sacrifice were supposed to exert a
constraining influence on the supernatural powers, already existed, Haug
thinks, in the time of the chief Rishis or hymnists of the Rig-Veda.(3)

(1) Compare "The Prayers of Savages" in J. A. Farrer's Primitive
Manners, and Ludwig, iii. 262-296, and see Bergaigne, La Religion
Vedique, vol. i. p. 121.

(2) See texts in Muir, i. 242.

(3) Preface to translation of Aitareya Brahmana, p. 36.

In many respects the nature of the idea of the divine, as entertained
by the Rishis of the Rig-Veda, is still matter for discussion. In the
chapter on Vedic gods such particulars as can be ascertained will be
given. Roughly speaking, the religion is mainly, though not wholly,
a cult of departmental gods, originally, in certain cases, forces of
Nature, but endowed with moral earnestness. As to fetishism in the Vedas
the opinions of the learned are divided. M. Bergaigne(1) looks on
the whole ritual as, practically, an organised fetishism, employed
to influence gods of a far higher and purer character. Mr. Max Muller
remarks, "that stones, bones, shells, herbs and all the other so-called
fetishes, are simply absent in the old hymns, though they appear in more
modern hymns, particularly those of the Atharva-Veda. When artificial
objects are mentioned and celebrated in the Rig-Veda, they are only
such as might be praised even by Word