To remove, for instance, the eleven hymns 49-59 in the eighth Mandala from their proper place, or count them by Vâlakhilya Hymns.themselves as Vâlakhilya a hymns, seems to me, though no doubt perfectly harmless, little short of a critical sacrilege. Why Sâyana does not explain these hymns, I confess I do not know b; but whatever the reason was, it was not because they did not exist at his time, or because he thought them spurious. They are regularly counted in Kâtyâyana's Sarvânukrama, though here the same accident has happened. One commentator, Shadgurusishya, the one most commonly used, does not explain them; but another commentator, Gagannâtha, does explain them, exactly as they occur in the Sarvânukrama, only leaving out hymn 58. That these hymns had something peculiar in the eyes of native scholars, is clear enough. They may for a time have formed a separate collection, they

may have been considered of more modern origin a. I shall go even further than those who remove these hymns from the place which they have occupied for more than two thousand years. I admit they disturb the regularity both of the Mandala and the Ashtaka divisions, and I have pointed out myself that they are not counted in the ancient Anukramanîs ascribed to Saunaka; (History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature, p. 220.) But, on the other hand, verses taken from these hymns occur in all the other Vedas b; they are mentioned by name in the Brâhmanas (Ait. Br. V, 15; VI, 24), the Âranyakas (Ait. Âr. V, 10, p. 445), and the Sûtras (Âsv. Srauta Sûtras, VIII, 2, 3), while they are never included in the manuscripts of Parisishtas or Khilas or apocryphal hymns, nor mentioned by Kâtyâyana as mere Khilas in his Sarvânukrama. Eight c of them are mentioned in the Brihaddevatâ, without any allusion to their apocryphal character:

Parâny ashtau tu sûktâny rishînâm tigmategasâm,
Aindrâny atra tu shadvimsah pragâtho bahudaivatah.
Rig antyâgner akety agnih sûryam antyapado gagau.
Praskanvas ka prishadhras ka prâdâd yad vastu kimkana
Bhûrîd iti tu sûktâbhyâm akhilam parikîrtitam.
Aindrâny ubhayam ity atra shal âgneyât parâni tu.

‘The next eight hymns belong to Rishis of keen intellect d; they are addressed to Indra, but the 26th Pragâtha

[paragraph continues] (VIII, 54, 3-4, which verses form the 26th couplet, if counting from VIII, 49, 1) is addressed to many gods. The last verse (of these eight hymns), VIII, 56, 5, beginning with the words akety agnih, is addressed to Agni, and the last foot celebrates Sûrya. Whatsoever Praskanva and Prishadhra gave (or, if we read prishadhrâya, whatever Praskanva gave to Prishadhra), all that is celebrated in the two hymns beginning with bhûrît. After the hymn addressed to Agni (VIII, 60), there follow six hymns addressed to Indra, beginning with ubhayam.’