perfect correctness and
with nothing left out, must produce its effect, the sacrifice itself
comes to appear as the agent of the desired blessing; the god grows
less but the sacrifice grows more. This process, which may be
observed wherever ritualism exists, was carried in the period of
Brahmanism to its utmost length. In this period the old gods lost the
strong hold they had before over the people's mind; men ceased to
look for their gods to the sky or to the tempest, and began to look
instead to the long ceremonies of the priest or to the hymn he
chanted at the altar, or to the austerities he practised. Gods of a
new type now make their appearance. As in the Vedic period we saw
that Brahmanaspati, lord of prayer, had a place beside Indra and
Varuna, so now we see that the supreme deity is named Brahma. The
prayer connected with the sacrifice has given its name to the ruler
of the universe. Other names for the supreme are also found to be
making their way to general use, as the old historical and
mythological gods fall into the background, and an abstract divine
unity is sought after. Prajapati, lord of creatures, who is little
heard of in the hymns, is frequently invoked as the head of all the
gods, and a triad of gods is heard of, consisting of Agni, Vayu,
Surya, fire, the air, the sun, and summing up the divine energies.
The attributes of the gods are personified, and a set of pale
abstractions is thus added to the Pantheon; and spirits and goblins
not heard of in the hymns, though not therefore necessarily unknown
in the former period, make their appearance. These are, perhaps, the
gods of the aborigines, who thus revenge themselves, as the religion
of the invaders which at first suppressed them loses its earlier
vigour. The strong gods retire and weak gods, many and shadowy, and
bad as well as good, are worshipped. The Asuras were formerly the
gods generally, now they are evil beings with whom the good gods have
to contend.

3. Practical Life.--We possess very complete pictures of Indian life
and manners in the period of Brahmanism. Of the codes of ancient
sages by which Hindu society was supposed to be governed many are
extant to us; and in Mr. Max Mueller's _Sacred Books of the East_ the
English reader may make himself acquainted with several of these. The
most famous and the longest, is the laws of Manu, a mythical
progenitor of mankind. In the form in which we have it this work
dates probably from the second