________________
prepared for it by the priest. Priest and king—these are the main factors in the making of the hymns of the Rig Veda, and the gods lauded are chiefly the gods patronized by these classes. The third estate had its favorite gods, but these were little regarded, and were in a state of decadence. The slaves, too, may have had their own gods, but of these nothing is known, and one can only surmise that here and there in certain traits, which seem to be un-Aryan, may lie an unacknowledged loan from the aborigines.
Between the Rig Veda and the formation or completion of the next Veda, called the Atharvan, the interval appears to have been considerable, and the inherent value of the religion inculcated in the latter can be estimated aright only when this is weighed together with the fact, that, as is learned from the Atharvan's own statements, the Aryans were now advanced further southwards and eastwards, had discovered a new land, made new gods, and were now more permanently established, the last a factor of some moment in the religious development. Indications of the difference in time may be seen in the geographical and physical limitations of the older period as compared with those of the later Atharvan. When first the Aryans are found in India, at the time of the Rig Veda, they are located, for the most part, near the Upper Indus (Sindhu). The Ganges, mentioned but twice, is barely known. On the west the Aryans lingered in East Kabulistan (possibly in Kashmeer in the north); and even Kandahar appears, at least, to be known as Aryan. That is to say, the 'Hindus' were still in Afghanistan, although the greater mass of the people had already crossed the Indus and were progressed some distance to the east of the Punj[=a]b. That the race was still migrating may be seen from the hymns of the Rig Veda itself.[7] Their journey was to the south-east, and both before and after they reached the Indus they left settlements, chiefly about the Indus and in the Punj[=a]b (a post-Vedic group), not in the southern but in the northern part of this district.[8]
The Vedic Aryans of this first period were acquainted with the Indus, Sutlej (Çutudri), Beas (Vip[=a]ç, [Greek: Yphtsis]), Ravi (Parushni or Ir[ra]vat[=i]); the pair of rivers that unite and flow into the Indus, viz.: Jhelum (Vitast[=a], Behat), and Chin[=a]b (Asikni, [9] Akesines); and knew the remoter Kubh[=a] ([Greek: Kôphhên), Kabul) and the northern
