relate and control macrocosmic forces by microcosmic manipulation (Henry
1904, Stutley 1980). Earlier, comparable texts are the official S ́rauta rituals, the
Ka ̄mya ̄ Is.t.i“wish offerings” of the YV (Caland 1908). The Kaus ́S provides many
usages for the AV Sam.hita ̄ spells; other sorcery practices are found in the (late)
Sa ̄mavidha ̄na Bra ̄hman.a. Many obscure magical terms have been preserved in
more recent sorcery (Türstig 1980). The only partially translated Kaus ́.S. is a
virtual handbook of customs and beliefs, of common white and black sorcery,
of healing procedures (Filliozat 1975, Zysk 1985), of omina and portenta
(Weber 1859). Many such details can be followed up later on in the AV Paris ́is.t.a
and in the medieval books on dreams (Stuhrmann 1982, v. Negelein 1912), or
in the Jyotis.a literature (Pingree 1981).
The Dharmasu ̄tras
These Su ̄ tras deal with dharma“proper behavior,” beginning with that of a Veda
student, and moving to that of a married man (gr.hastha), his daily and seasonal
ritual duties, family life, to the death rituals and ancestor worship and inheri-
tance; some also include the duties of a king and his jurisprudence, the four
stages in life, and long sections on atonements for wrong behavior. These rules
have provided the basis for medieval and modern Anglo-Indian Hindu law.
Many of these rules overlap with those of the Gr.hya Su ̄tras, and some may be
quite old, such as the incidental rule, found also in Pindar’s Erga, not to urinate
towards the sun. The Up.s, too, contain a Dharma Su ̄tra in nuce, the final
admonition about good behavior in adult life by a Veda teacher to his departing
student (TU 1, Kat.hS ́iU, Witzel 1980).
Finally, there are a number of appendixes to the Vedic texts, of various
periods, such as the R.gvedakhila, or the AV-Paris ́is.t.a, some of which are already
composed in the style of the Epic and Pura ̄n.as.
Personal and Popular Religion
Personal, popular and non-Brahmanical religion are much less visible in the
Vedic texts, which therefore must be compared with the slightly later Pali canon,
and the evidence of the (still little defined) older strata of the Maha ̄bha ̄rata.
Religious feelings and experiences are mentioned by very few poets in the RV,
such as Vasis.t.ha in RV 7.86–9 (Goto 2000), who speaks, not unlike Zoroaster,
of a very personal relationship with Varun.a, or Bharadva ̄ja Ba ̄rhaspatya who
describes (RV 6.9.6–7) not, as usual, a vision but also an acoustic experience of
God Agni. Other items include the old Indo-Iranian (and Eurasian) topic of flying
through the night time sky on a boat, (both in RV and in Avesta, Oettinger
1988). There also is a shaman-like experience of the “(long) haired one” (Kes ́in,
vedas and upanis.ads 89