III. The Sdmaveda concerns the names of ancestors, and re-

lates chiefly to a sacrifice termed Soma-Yâga, or moon-plant
a Colebroke's Essays, vol. i. p. 43.
EMPLOYED BY MAGICIANS. 195
taphorical picture of the divine splendour to the magical ceremony of initiation. But Sir W. Jones is inclined to
sacrifice ; to which the three highest classes of Brahmans only are admitted. The plant (Sarcostema viminalis) must be pulled up by the roots in a moonlight night, from the top of a moun- tain ; and, at the same time, the Arani wood (Premna Spinosa) must be collected for kindling the sacred fire. From the juice of the Sarcostema, an intoxicating liquor, called Sama, is prepared, for the oblation, and also for the consumption of the officiating Brahmans, after the fastings, during the sacrifice, have been finished. The fire with which the altar is lighted is produced by the friction of one piece of the Arani wood upon another ; and may, conse- quently, be regarded as being procured from the air. The fol- lowing verses from one of the hymns demonstrate that this sacrifice was originally a kind of purifying sacrament, although it is now degenerated into a festival disgraced by excesses of all kinds. " That saving moon plant, by its stream of pressed sacrificial viands, makes us pure. That saving moon plant makes us pure." — (Stevenson's translation of the Sdmaveda, part. i. Prapathaka, vr. Dasiata, n. v. 4. p. 94).