McMASTER UNIVERSITY LIBRARY THE AMERICAN LECTURES ON THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS. I. Buddhism.—The History and Literature of Bud dhism. By T. W. Rhys-Davids, LL.D., Ph.D. II. Primitive Religions.—The Religions of Primitive Peoples. By D. G. Brinton, A.M., M.D., LL.D., Sc.D. III. Israel.—Jewish Religions. Life after the Exile. By Rev. T. K. Cheyne, M.A., D.D. IV. Israel.—Religion of Israel to the Exile. By Karl Budde, D.D. V. Ancient Egyptians.—The Religion of the Ancient Egyptians. By G. Steindorff, Ph.D. VI. Religion in Japan.—The Development of Re ligion in Japan. By George W. Knox, D.D. VII. The Veda.—The Religion of the Veda. By Maurice Bloomfdjld, Ph.D., LL.D. In activepreparation : VIII. Islam.—The Religion of Islam. By Iguaz Goldziher, Ph.D., Litt.D. G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS NEW YORK AND LONDON AMERICAN LECTURES ON THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS SERIES— SEVENTH 1906-1907 THE RELIGION OFTHE VEDA THE ANCIENT RELIGION OF INDIA (From Rig-Veda to Upanishads) BY MAURICE BLOOMFIELD, Ph.D., LL.D. Professor of Sanskrit and Comparative Philology in Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS NEW YORK AND LONDON Zbe "ftntcfcerbocher press 1908 Copyright, 1008 BY G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS TEbe lttUcfterbocfter ©re»g, new Jtort PREFACE. THIS volume reproduces with some little ampli fication six lectures on the Religion of the Veda given before various learned institutions of America during the fall and winter of 1906-07. The period of time and the amount of literature embraced in the term Vedic are large ; moreover any discussion of this religion that deserves the name must also include a glance at the prehistoric periods which preceded the religion of the Veda. Con sequently my treatment must be selective. It was not difficult to make the selection. I have not thought it necessary to include a complete account of Vedic mythology and legend ; nor did the details of priestly ritual and religious folk-practices seem to me to call for elaborate exposition at this time and under the circumstances of a popular treatment of Vedic religion. On the other hand, it seemed both interesting and important to bring out as markedly as possible the development of the re ligious thought of the Veda in distinction from iv Preface pages myth and ceremony. The reader of these religion will, I hope, learn to his satisfaction how the of the Veda rests upon a prehistoric foundation which is largely nature myth ; how it continues in the Rig-Veda hymns as hieratic ritual worship of polytheistic gods ; how this religion grew more and more formal and mechanical in the Yajur-Vedas and Brahmanas, until it was practically abandoned ; how and when arose the germs of higher religious thought ; and, finally, how the motives and prin ciples that underlie this entire chain of mental events landed Hindu thought, at a comparatively early period, in the pantheistic and pessimistic re ligion of the Upanishads which it has never again abandoned. Maurice Bloomfield. Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, April, 1907. ANNOUNCEMENT. THE American Lectures on the History of Religions are delivered under the auspices of the American Committee for Lectures on the History of Religions. This Committee was organised in 1892, " for the purpose of instituting popular courses in the History of Religions, somewhat after the style of the Hibbert Lectures in England, to be delivered annually by the best scholars of Europe and this country, in various cities, such as Baltimore, Boston, Brooklyn, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, and others." The terms of association under which the Commit tee exist are as follows : 1. The object of this Association shall be to provide courses of lectures on the history of religions, to be delivered in various cities. 2. The Association shall be composed of delegates from Institutions agreeing to co-operate, or from Local Boards organised where such co-operation is not possible. 3. These delegates—one from each Institution or vi Announcement Local Board — shall constitute themselves a " Council under the name of the American Com Religions." mittee for Lectures on the History of 4. The Council shall elect out of its number a Chair man, a Secretary, and a Treasurer. 5. All matters of local detail shall be left to the In stitutions or Local Boards, under whose auspices the lectures are to be delivered. 6. A course of lectures on some religion, or phase of religion, from an historical point of view, or on a subject germane to the study of religions, shall be delivered annually, or at such intervals as may be found practicable, in the different cities repre sented by this Association. 7. The Council (a) shall be charged with the selec tion of the lecturers, (b) shall have charge of the funds, (c) shall assign the time for the lectures in each city, and perform such other functions as may be necessary. 8. Polemical subjects,as well as polemics in the treat ment of subjects, shall be positively excluded. 9. The lecturer shall be chosen by the Council at least ten months before the date fixed for the course of lectures. 10. The lectures shall be delivered in the various cities between the months of September and June. 1 1. The copyright of the lectures shall be the prop erty of the Association. Announcement vii 12. One-half of the lecturer's compensation shall be paid at the completion of the entire course and the second half upon the publication of the lectures. 13. The compensation to the lecturer shall be fixed in each case by the Council. 14. The lecturer is not to deliver elsewhere any of the lectures for which he is engaged by the Committee, except with the sanction of the Committee. The Committee as now constituted is as follows : Prof. Crawford H. Toy, Chairman, 7 Lowell St., Cambridge, Mass. ; Rev. Dr. John P. Peters, Treas urer, 225 West 99th St., New York; Prof. Morris Jastrow, Jr., Secretary, 248 South 23d St., Philadel phia, Pa. ; Prof. Francis Brown, Union Theological Seminary, New York ; Prof. Richard Gottheil, Col umbia University, New York ; Prof. R. F. Harper, University of Chicago, Chicago, 111. ; Prof. Paul Haupt, 25 1 1 Madison Avenue, Baltimore, Md. ; Prof. F. W. Hooper, Brooklyn Institute, Brooklyn, N. Y. ; Prof. E. W. Hopkins, New Haven, Conn. ; Prof. Edward Knox Mitchell, Hartford Theologi cal Seminary, Hartford, Conn. ; Prof. George F. Moore, Cambridge, Mass. ; Rev. F. K. Sanders, Boston, Mass. ; Pres. F. C. Southworth, Meadville Theological Seminary, Meadville, Pa. The lecturers in the course of American Lectures Announcement viii their Religions and the titles of on the History of volumes are as follows : Ph. D.— 1894-1895—Prof. T. W. Rhys-Davids, Buddhism. LL.D.— 897— 1 896-1 Prof. Daniel G. Brinton, M.D., Religion of Primitive Peoples. D.D.—Jewish 1897-1898—Rev. Prof. T. K. Cheyne, Religious Life after the Exile. 899— D.D.—Religion of 1 898-1 Prof. Karl Budde, Israel to the Exile. — 1904-1905— Prof. Georg Steindorff, Ph.D. The Religion of the Ancient Egyptians. 905-1906— Knox,D.D.,LL.D. 1 Prof. George William —The Development of Religion in Japan. The present course of lectures, the seventh in the Professor Maurice series,was delivered by Bloomfield, Ph.D., LL.D., Professor of Sanskrit and Comparative Philology at the Johns Hopkins University, and one of the leading authorities on Vedic Literature. His latest work, a Concordance of the Vedic hymns and prayer formulae, covering 1 100 pages,theembodiment of a life's study, published as Vol. 10 of the Harvard Oriental Series,will ensure Professor Bloomfield a per manent place in the history of Vedic studies. Besides this he has edited from the manuscripts the Vedic ritual book, known as the Kaucika-Sutra ; published a translation of the Hymns of the Atharva-Veda, in cluded in Professor Max Muller's Sacred Books of Announcement ix the East (Oxford, 1897); written a volume on the Lit erature and History of the Atharva-Veda, entitled : " "The Atharva-Veda and the Gopatha-Brahmana (Strassburg, 1889) ; and edited, in collaboration with Professor Richard Garbe of Tubingen,a chromophoto- graphic reproduction of the unique birch-bark manu script of the Kashmirian Atharva-Veda (3 vols., Baltimore, 1901). He has also contributed to the technical journals of this country and Europe num erous papers on linguistic, mythological, and ethno logical topics in general, in addition to a large num ber of contributions on the interpretation, textual restoration, and religion of the Veda in particular. The lectures in this course were delivered before the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore; Union Theological Seminary, New York; Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, Brooklyn ; Drexel Institute, Philadelphia; Meadville Theological Seminary, Mead ville ; University of Chicago, Chicago ; and Hartford Theological Seminary, Hartford. John P. Peters, j Committee C. H. Toy, I on Morris Jastrow, ) Publication. January, 1908. CONTENTS. LECTURE THE FIRST. INDIA THE LAND OP RELIGIONS.—THE VEDA. Multiplicity of Hindu religions—Brahmanism—Bud dhism—Profound hold of religion upon the Hindu mind—Hindu life dominated by religious institu tions—The four stages of life—The institution of caste—Caste then and now—Symptoms of revulsion against caste—Other pernicious religious institu tions—Continuity of India's religious history—Date order" of the conception of rta. or "cosmic —Close — relationship of the religions of India ,andPersia Slight connection between India and Persia in sec ular history—The Parsis in India—Close relation between Veda and Avesta—The Veda and the Indo- European period—The Veda as a whole—The date of the