aft, one may trust early tradition tentatively,
just as one does late commentators, but in respect of ideas tradition
is as apt to mislead as to lead well. The cleft between the theology
of the Rig Veda and that of the Br[=a]hmanas, even from the point of
view of the mass of hymns that comprise the former, is too great to
allow us with any content to explain the conceptions of the one by
those of the other. A tradition always is useful when nothing else
offers itself, but traditional beliefs are so apt to take the color of
new eras that they should be employed only in the last emergency, and
then with the understanding that they are of very hypothetical value.

In conclusion a practical question remains to be answered. In the few
cases where the physical basis of a Rig Vedic deity is matter of
doubt, it is advisable to present such a deity in the form in which he
stands in the text or to endeavor historically to elucidate the figure
by searching for his physical prototype? We have chosen the former
alternative, partly because we think the latter method unsuitable to a
handbook, since it involves many critical discussions of theories of
doubtful value. But this is not the chief reason. Granted that the
object of study is simply to know the Rig Veda, rightly to grasp the
views held by the poets, and so to place oneself upon their plane of
thought, it becomes obvious that the farther the student gets from
their point of view the less he understands them. Nay, more, every bit
of information, real as well as fancied, which in regard to the poets'
own divinities furnishes one with more than the poets themselves knew
or imagined, is prejudicial to a true knowledge of Vedic beliefs. Here
if anywhere is applicable that test of desirable knowledge formulated
as _das Erkennen des Erkannten_. To set oneself in the mental sphere
of the Vedic seers, as far as possible to think their thoughts, to
love, fear, and admire with them--this is the necessary beginning of
intimacy, which precedes the appreciation that gives understanding.

DIVISIONS OF THE SUBJECT.

After the next chapter, which deals with the people and land, we shall
begin the examination of Hindu religions with the study of the beliefs
and religious notions to be found in the Rig Veda. Next to the Rig
Veda in time stands the Atharva Veda, which represents a growing
demonology in contrast with _soma_-worship and theology; sufficiently
so at least to deserve a special ch