Long citations from these ritualistic productions would have a certain value, in showing in native form the character of the works, but they would make unendurable reading; and we have thought it better to arrange the multifarious contents of the chief Br[=a]hmanas in a sort of order, although it is difficult always to decide where theology ends and moral teachings begin, the two are here so interwoven.
BRAHMANIC THEOLOGY AND THE SACRIFICE.
While in general the pantheon of the Rig Veda and Atharva Veda is that of the Br[=a]hmanas, some of the older gods are now reduced in importance, and, on the other hand, as in the Yajur Veda, some gods are seen to be growing in importance.

'Time,' deified in the Atharvan, is a great god, but beside him still stand the old rustic divinities; and chrematheism, which antedates even the Rig Veda, is still recognized.

To the 'ploughshare' and the 'plough' the Rig Veda has an hymn (IV.57.

5-8), and so the ritual gives them a cake at the sacrifice (_Cun[=a]c[=i]rya, Cat.

Br._ II.6.3.