Page:The Religion of the Veda.djvu/57

 The Veda 41 for the cure of diseases; prayers for health and long life; charms for the prosperity of home and children, cattle and fields; expiatory formulas designed to free from sin and guilt; charms to produce harmony in the life of families and in the deliberations of the village assembly; charms concerned with love and marriage, and, indirectly, with the rivalries and jealousies of men and women in love; conjurations against demons, sorcerers, and enemies; charms for kings in peace and war; and charms calculated to promote the interests of the Brahmans, especially to secure for them the abundant baksheesh for which they clamor with the most refreshing directness. The Atharva-Veda is of unrivalled importance for the history of superstition, of folk-lore, and popular practices. Related in character are the so-called "House-books" (Grhya-Sūtras). These were com- posed as formal treatises at a comparatively late Vedic period, yet they report practices and prayers of great antiquity. The Hindus, then as now, took an in- tensely religious view of their lives. In its even daily course, as well as in its crucial moments, such as birth, investiture, disciplehood, marriage, and death, the life of the Hindu was both sanctified and enlivened by a continuous chain of religious formalities, acts, and festivals. These were codified in the "House-books" with nice minuteness. The Atharva-Veda and the