Page:The Religion of the Veda.djvu/220

is distinctly epigonal, or after-born. We are face to face with the finished product of this past age.

If we consider that the theme is the worship of unclarified polytheistic gods, but little advanced beyond the point where they originated somewhere in nature, or in a tolerably primitive consciousness, we may say, taking the fat with the lean, that the pride of these poets in their work is justified. Of course we must not apply the chaster standards of a later time, nor can we expect perfectly even results. Anyhow, in the poet's own eyes the Rig-Vedic hymn is a thing of blameless, finished beauty. He has fashioned it as a skilled artisan a war chariot. He has filed it until it is free from all blemish, "as grain is winnowed in the winnowing-basket," "as ghee is clarified for the sacrifice." The heart of the poets is in their work, they are unquestionably giving the best they have. The poems are their inspirations. In so far as they rise above their all too human interests, in so far as they are something higher than blarneying beggars, they lift themselves up through their own art rather than the intrinsic qualities of the gods upon whom they spend their efforts.

In the end the gods themselves take a hand in these valuable and delectable poetic performances. Although they cannot directly furnish the metres, alliterations, beautiful words, and bold figures of