nations through Cabul, to the North-west of the Indus, and the progress is thus remarked upon by Dr. Shrader: "It is beyond doubt that India was populated by Sanscrit people from the North-west, a movement which is depicted in the Hymns of the Rig Veda as being in the course of progress. The Indians of this age, whose principal abode is to be looked for on the banks of the Sindhu (Indus), have as yet no direct knowledge of the Ganga (Ganges), which is only once mentioned in the Rig Veda[1]. Nor do their settlements seem to have reached as far as the mouth of the Indus, or as far as the Arabian Sea, at that time. The grand advance of the Indian tribes, Southwards and Eastwards, is mirrored very vividly in the different divisions and names of the seasons of the year in the more recent periods of the life of the Sanscrit language."
So, also, Bryant, in his "Ancient Mythology" (Vol. IV., 285), thus describes the effects of the emigrations referred to:—
[2]Upon the banks of the great River Ind, the Southern
Scutha dwell; which river pays
Its watery tribute to that mighty sea,
Styled Erythrean. Far removed its source,
Amid the stormy cliffs of Caucasus,
Descending hence through many a winding vale,
It separates vast nations. To the West
The Oritæ live and Aribes; and then
The Aracotii famed for linen geer.
- ↑ The most ancient writings of the Hindus are the Vedas, which are supposed by their followers, to be of divine origin. They are divided into four parts, each of which is a separate work, consisting principally of Hymns and Prayers, and, according to Colbrooke, they exhibit no trace of what must be considered the modern sects of Siva and Krishna.
They are named in the following order of their supposed antiquity:
The Rich or Rig-Veda written in Sanscrit Verse.
The Yajni-Veda in prose.
The Sama Veda on Chaunting, and tho Atharva-Veda which consists of prayers and is believed to have had a later origin than the other three. - ↑ Tranasated from the Greek of the Poet Dionysius.
