Page:Myth, Ritual, and Religion (Volume 1).djvu/269

 different rankss in society, hit on the very myth of Plato, the legend of golden, silver, and copper races, from which the ranks of society have descended. The Indians, in our opinion, merely extended to the institution of caste a myth which had already explained the origin of the sun, the firmament, animals, and so forth, on the usual lines of savage thought. The Purusha Suktais the type of many other Indian myths of creation, of which the following one is extremely noteworthy. "Prajapati desired to propagate. He formed the Trivrit (stoma) from his mouth. After it were produced the deity Agni, the metre Gayatri, . . . of men the Brahman, of beasts the goat; . . . from his breast, from his arms he formed the Panchadasa (stoma). After it were created the god Indra, the Trishtubh metre, . . . of men the Rajanya, of beasts the sheep. Hence they are vigorous, because they were created from vigour. From his middle he formed the Saptadasa (stoma). After it were created the gods called the Visvadevas, the Jagati metre, . . . of men the Vaisya, of beasts kine. Hence they are to be eaten, because they were created from the receptacle of food." The form in which we receive this myth is obviously later than the institution of caste and the technical names for metres. Yet surely any statement that kine "are to be eaten" must be older than the universal prohibition to eat that sacred animal the cow. Possibly we might argue that when this theory of creation was