mits out the moon, and
the latter is then seen in the west, and increases again, to serve the
sun as food. In another passage it is said that when the moon is
invisible he is hiding in plants and waters (_Cat. Br._ i. 6. 3. 17;
4. 18-20).

BRAHMANIC RELIGION.

When the sacrifice is completed the priest returns, as it were, to
earth, and becomes human. He formally puts off his sacrificial vow,
and rehabilitates himself with humanity, saying, "I am even he that I
am."[40] As such a man, through service to the gods become a divine
offering, and no longer human, was doubtless considered the creature
that first served as the sacrificial animal. Despite protestant
legends such as that just recorded, despite formal disclaimers, human
sacrifice existed long after the period of the Rig Veda, where it is
alluded to; a period when even old men are exposed to die.[41] The
_anaddh[=a]purusha_ is not a fiction; for that, on certain occasions,
instead of this 'man of straw' a real victim was offered, is shown by
the ritual manuals and by Brahmanic texts.[42] Thus, in _Cat. Br_. vi.
2. 1. 18: "He kills a man first.... The cord that holds the man is the
longest." It is noteworthy that also among the American Indians the
death of a human victim by fire was regarded as a religious ceremony,
and that, just as in India the man to be sacrificed was allowed almost
all his desires for a year, so the victim of the Indian was first
greeted as brother and presented with gifts, even with a wife.[43]

But this, the terrible barbaric side of religious worship, is now
distinctly yielding to a more humane religion. The 'barley ewe'[44] is
taking the place of a bloodier offering. It has been urged that the
humanity[45] and the accompanying silliness of the Brahmanic period as
compared with the more robust character of the earlier age are due to
the weakening and softening effects of the climate. But we doubt
whether the climate of the Punj[=a]b differs as much from that of
Delhi and Patna as does the character of the Rig Veda from that of the
Br[=a]hmanas. We shall protest again when we come to the subject of
Buddhism against the too great influence which has been claimed for
climate. Politics and society, in our opinion, had more to do with
altering the religions of India than had a higher temperature and
miasma. As a result of ease and sloth--for the Brahmans are now the
divine pampered servants of established kings, not the energetic peers
of