Br[=a]hmanas. In the
S[=u]tra period offerings are made to snakes of earth, air, and
heaven; the serpents are 'satiated' along with gods, plants, demons,
etc. (C[=a][.n]kh. 4. 9. 3; 15. 4; [=A]cv. 2. 1. 9; 3. 4. 1;
P[=a]rask. 2. 14. 9) and blood is poured out to them ([=A]cv. 4. 8.
27.).[14] But other later divinities than those of the earliest Veda,
such as Wealth (Kubera), and Dharma, have crept into the ritual. With
the Vedic gods appears as a divinity in Kh[=a]d. 1. 5. 31 the love-god
K[=a]ma, of the Atharvan; while on the other hand Rudra the beast-lord
(Pacupati, Lord of Cattle), the 'kindly' Civa, appears as 'great god,'
whose names are Cankara, Prish[=a]taka, Bhava, Carva, Ugra, Ic[=a]na
(Lord); who has all names and greatness, while he yet is described in
the words of the older text as 'the god that desires to kill' ([=A]cv.
2. 2. 2; 4. 8. 9, 19,[15] 29, 32; _[=A]it. Br_. 3. 34). On the other
hand Vishnu is also adored, and that in connection with the [Greek:
logos], or V[=a]c (_ib_. 3. 3. 4). Quite in Upanishad manner--for it
is necessary to show that these were then really known--is the formula
'thou art a student of _pr[=a][n.]a_ (Breath,) and art given over to
Ka' (_ib_. 1. 20. 8.), or _'whom?'_ In [=A]cval[=a]yana no Upanishads
are given in the list of literature, which includes the 'Eulogies of
men,' Itih[=a]sas, Pur[=a]nas, and even the Mah[=a]bh[=a]rata (3. 3.
1; 4. 4). But in 1. 13. 1, _Upanishad-rites_ (and that of a very
domestic nature) are recognized, which would corroborate the
explanation of Upanishad given above, as being at first a subsidiary
work, dealing with minor points.[16] Something of the sciolism of the
Upanishads seems to lie in the prayer that of the four paths on which
walk the gods the mortal may be led in that which bestows 'freedom
from death' (P[=a]r. 3. 1. 2); and many of the teachers famous in the
Upanishads are now revered by name like gods ([=A]cv. 3. 4. 4, etc.).

On turning from these domestic S[=u]tras to the legal S[=u]tras it
becomes evident that the pantheistic doctrine of the Upanishads, and
in part the Upanishads themselves, were already familiar to the
law-makers, and that they influenced, in some degree, the doctrines of
the law, despite the retention of the older forms. Not only is
_sams[=a]ra_ the accepted doctrine, but the _[=a]tm[=a]_, as if in a
veritable Upanishad, is the object of religious devotion. Here,
however, this quest is permitted only to the ascetic,