Page:The Religion of the Veda.djvu/12

 xii Contents of the Upanishads-The Upanishads in the West -Critical estimate of the Upanishads... ........ 1-59 PAGES LECTURE THE SECOND. THE HIERATIC RELIGION. THE PANTHEON OF THE VEDA. Fundamental traits of carly Vedic religion-- Fale view of the nature of Vedie poetry The Rig Veda as sacrificial poetry-Dificulty of understanding the ritual character of the Rig-Veda Poetry addressed to the Goddess Dawn-A hymn to the sacrifice post-The Goddess Dawn as the symbol of librality at the sacrifice-Some erroneous estimates of God- dess Dawn-Agni the son of "Baksheesh "--Prac- tical purposes of Vedic poetry-The Rig-Veda con- tains the religion of the upper classes --The ritual of the Rig-Veda-The apri-hymns-Nature-worship the keynote of the Rig-Veda-India's climate and nature-worship. Vedic and Hellenic mythology compared-- Arrested anthropomorphism Defini- tion of the word Pantheon as applied to the Veda -Faulty classifications of the Vedic gods-Chrono- logy of the gods-Different degrees of certainty about the origin of the gods-Classification of the gods in these lectures... .60-98 LECTURE THE THIRD. THE PREHISTORIC GODS. Two prehistoric periods bearing upon Ilindu religion- Scepticism about Comparative Mythology-Diffi- culties in the way of Comparative Mythology--Com- parative Mythology and Ethnology-The myth of Cerberus-The Indo-European period-Prehistoric words for god-Father Sky and Mother Earth- The Thunderer-The Vedic Açvins, or "Horsemen," the two Sons of Heaven-The Dioscuri in Greek