Vedic mythology

4 III. RELIGION, WELTL. WISSENSCH. u. KUNST. i A. VEDIC MYTHOLOGY.
tendency to abstraction at the end of the Rigvedic period, exhibits in its latest
book the beginnings of a kind of monotheism and even signs of pantheism.
The hymns of this collection having been composed with a view to the sa
crificial ritual, especially that of the Soma offering, furnish a disproportionate
presentment of the mythological material of the age. The great gods who
occupy an important position at the Soma sacrifice and in the worship of
the wealthy, stand forth prominently; but the mythology connected with spirits,
with witchcraft, with life after death, is almost a blank, for these spheres of
belief have nothing to do with the poetry of the Soma rite. Moreover, while
the character of the gods is very completely illustrated in these hymns, which
are addressed to them and extol their attributes, their deeds, with the ex
ception of their leading exploits, are far less definitely described. It is only
natural that a collection of sacrificial poetry containing very little narrative
matter, should supply but a scattered and fragmentary account of this side
of mythology. The defective information given by the rest of the RV. re
garding spirits, lesser demons, and the future life, is only very partially sup
plied by its latest book. Thus hardly any reference is made even here to the
fate of the wicked after death. Beside and distinguished from the adoration
of the gods, the worship of dead ancestors, as well as to some extent
the deification of inanimate objects, finds a place in the religion of the
Rigveda.
The Samaveda, containing but seventy-five verses which do not occur in
the RV., is of no importance in the study of Vedic mythology.
The more popular material of the Atharvaveda deals mainly with dom
estic and magical rites. In the latter portion it is, along with the ritual text
of the Kausika sutra, a mine of information in regard to the spirit and demon
world. On this lower side of religion the Atharvaveda deals with notions of
greater antiquity than those of the Rigveda. But on the higher side of
exhibit a later
religion it represents a more advanced stage. Individual gods
phase of development and some new abstractions are deified, while the general
1
character of the religion is . pantheistic Hymns in praise of individual gods
are comparatively rare, while the simultaneous invocation of a number of
deities, in which their essential nature is hardly touched upon, is characteristic.
The deeds of the gods are extolled in the same stereotyped manner as in the
RV.; and the AV. can hardly be said to supply any important mythological
trait which is not to be found in the older collection.
The Yajurveda represents a still later stage. Its formulas being made
for the ritual,
beings having
are not directly addressed to the gods, who are but shadowy
only a very loose connexion with the sacrifice. The most salient
features of the mythology of the Yajurveda are the existence of one chief
god, Prajapati, the greater importance ofVisnu, and, the first old god of the Rigveda under the new name of Siva.
appearance of an
Owing, however, to
the subordinate position here occupied by the gods in comparison with the
ritual, this Veda yields but little mythological material.
Between it and, the Brahmanas, the most important of which are the
Aitareya and the Satapatha, there is no essential difference. The sacrifice
being the main object of interest, the individual traits of the gods have faded,
the general character of certain deities has been modified, and the importance
of others increased or reduced. Otherwise the pantheon of the Brahmanas
is much the same as that of the RV. and the AV., and the worship of in
animate objects is still recognized. The main difference between the mytho
logy of the RV. and the Brahmanas is the recognized position of Prajapati
or the Father-god as the chief deity in the latter. The pantheism of the