institution of an order of priests serving national
gods. As a collection, the Atharva-Veda is later than the Rig-Veda,
but we need not therefore conclude that the IDEAS of the Atharva are "a
later development of the more primitive ideas of the Rig-Veda". Magic is
quod semper, quod ubique, quod ab omnibus; the ideas of the Atharva-Veda
are everywhere; the peculiar notions of the Rig-Veda are the special
property of an advanced and highly differentiated people. Even in the
present collected shape, M. Barth thinks that many hymns of the Atharva
are not much later than those of the Rig-Veda. Mr. Whitney, admitting
the lateness of the Atharva as a collection, says, "This would not
necessarily imply that the main body of the Atharva hymns were
not already in existence when the compilation of the Rig-Veda took
place".(1) The Atharva refers to some poets of the Rig (as certain
hymnists in the Rig also do) as earlier men. If in the Rig (as Weber
says) "there breathes a lively natural feeling, a warm love of nature,
while in the Atharva, on the contrary, there predominates an anxious
apprehension of evil spirits and their magical powers," it by no means
follows that this apprehension is of later origin than the lively
feeling for Nature. Rather the reverse. There appears to be no doubt(2)
that the style and language of the Atharva are later than those of
the Rig. Roth, who recognises the change, in language and style, yet
considers the Atharva "part of the old literature".(3) He concludes that
the Atharva contains many pieces which, "both by their style and ideas,
are shown to be contemporary with the older hymns of the Rig-Veda".
In religion, according to Muir,(4) the Atharva shows progress in the
direction of monotheism in its celebration of Brahman, but it also
introduces serpent-worship.

(1) Journal of the American Oriental Society. iv. 253.

(2) Muir, ii. 446.

(3) Ibid., ii. 448.

(4) Ibid., ii. 451.

As to the Atharva, then, we are free to suppose, if we like, that the
dark magic, the evil spirits, the incantations, are old parts of Indian,
as of all other popular beliefs, though they come later into literature
than the poetry about Ushas and the morality of Varuna. The same remarks
apply to our third source of information, the Brahmanas. These are
indubitably comments on the sacred texts very much more modern in form
than the texts themselves. But it does not follow, and this is most
important for our purpose