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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[DECEMBER, 1894.
Shall I give an analysis of this work, the result of hasty studies, carried on from hand to month, but with a great air of confidence, which we are, nevertheless, tempted sometimes to look on as a prolonged mystification? As to matter or method, we do not learn anything which we did not know before; the fire and a liquid, their union or, rather, mutual transformation, in the flame of the altar, the liquid becoming fire and the fire becoming liquid : the whole horizon of the authors of the Veda is bounded by this; they see and seek for nothing beyond. They sit bept before the fire like alchymists, intent on their magnum opus, but a magnum opus which seems to have no purpose. At least M. Regnaud himself doos not appear to have rightly grasped this purpose, since, here again, he does not tell us what it is, and the explanation of this curious state of mind is put off till later, when no doubt he will have pulverized the gods of Greece, as thoroughly as those of India. For the time being, he is content with establishing the fact, that the foundation, the only real foundation of the Veda, is the act of pouring into the fire, to feed it, an inflammable liquid, oil, or spirituous liquor :facts which are proved by him "according to the meaning of the texts and common sense." Putting aside for a moment the texts, let us look at this common sense. What it tells us is, that if the soma helped to feed the fire, it must have been inflanmable, and must have been an oil or alcohol. But sound sense makes us also see clearly the unlikeness of this conclusion. The plant which yielded the soma (and provisionally, till wo are enlightened by a revelation from above, we must believe that it came from a plant) was probably ground ap in water, and the liquid so obtained was itself mingled, not only with milk and other sabstances, but also with water, all of which scarcely harmonizes with the notion of an inflnm. mable oil. It was drunk and produced excitement and intoxication, which agrees with this. notion still less. On the other hand, can we, without further consideration, attribute to the Hindas of that time the knowledge of distillation ? For every other spirituons liquor obtained by fermentation, wine included, even though very strong and in a perfectly pure state, even without any addition of water, would have extinguished the fire rather than have quickened it. Even the fermentation must have been feeble, for the soma is not described as a liquid which could be kept; it seems that it was prepared when wanted. The texts tell, or seem to tell, us all this, and we have no right to throw their testimony overboard, like M. Regnaud. Further, we cannot call to mind, in other later texts, a soma more or less different from that which, being certainly mixed with water and not fermented (it had not to be more than one night old), did not put the fire out; a fire, that, it must be remembered, consisted of a few small faggots. We may imagine that the Hindas had in time substituted other plants in place of their soma; but how could they have lost the art of distillation, if they ever had it? How could they have given up the use of an oil to feed their fire? Things and ideas may change, but usage is commonly permanent. This conclusion, thet, lands us in serions difficulties, and common sense bids ns, in such a case, re-examine the premises with care ; is the soma really the food of Agni? If, indubitably, the texts answer in the affirmative, then and then only, we must admit it to be true. On this point, there is on the first page of the book, a note which we cannot read without regret, where M. Regnand asserts that Prof. Hillebrandt in his work on the god Soma" has only seen one thing, namely, that the soma was also poured on the fire. Can be have read Prof. Hillebrandt's book, and not destroyed his own! The truth is that, if Prof. Hillebrandt has seen only this, it is because this is the only thing to see. Nowhere, in ro text, are we told clearly that soma is the food of Agni, that the soma is poured into the fire to nourish it, and make it blaze up. Agni is fed on butter and fat, he devours the wood and the raw flesh, if he drinks the soma, it is as a god and companion of other gods. The soma. pás are the devas, chiefly Indra, who drink it and have drunk it from the first in heaven, and in the solemn sacrifices, who get their share of it here on earth, part of which was cast into the fire to make them approach, we know not how or in what quantity. But we must think to what these symbolical acts are commonly rednced. The officiating priests drank the remainder. It is true that in M. Regnaud's eyes these devas are the flames, that Indra is another name for Agni, that the officiants are probably also the flames, that the beaven bas no
