Artic Home of the Aryans by Lokamanya Bal ... - Mandhata Global

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or the Brahmavâdins who preceded them, that had to perform the
difficult task of adapting the ancient sacrificial calendar to the
changed conditions of their new home, somewhat after the manner of
Numa’s reform of the ancient Roman calendar. The sacrifice was the
main ritual of the Vedic religion, and naturally enough the priests
must have tried to preserve as much of the old sacrificial system as
they possibly could in adapting it to the new conditions. The task was
by no means an easy one, and those that find fault with the
Brâhmanas as full of fanciful speculations must bear in mind the fact
that an ancient and sacred system of sacrifices had to be adapted to
new conditions, by assigning plausible reasons for the same, at a
time when the true origin of the system was almost forgotten. The
Brâhmanas could not have indulged in free speculations about the
origin of the rites and ceremonies mentioned by them, had the latter
originated in their own time, or in days so near to them that the real
traditions about the origin of these ceremonies could be preserved
intact. But so long as these traditions were fresh, no explanation was
probably needed; and when they became dim, their place had to be
supplied by plausible reasons based on such traditions as were
known at the time. This throws quite a new light on the nature and
composition of the Brâhmanas: but as the discussion is not pertinent
to the subject in hand, we cannot enter into it more fully in this place.
We have now reviewed the leading features of the system of
Soma sacrifices as described in the Vedic literature, so far as our
purpose is concerned, and seen that by the aid of the Arctic theory,
some hard facts therein, which have been hitherto incomprehensible,
can be easily and naturally explained. A history of the whole
sacrificial system from the point of view indicated above is a work
quite outside the pale of this book; but so far as we have examined
the subject and especially the question about the isolated group of a
hundred nightly Soma sacrifices, I think, we have sufficient evidence
therein to warrant us in holding that these sacrifices