In that case, it may be asked, why not begin the history of Hindu religion with the Atharvan, rather than with the Rig Veda?  Because the Atharvan, as a whole, in its language, social conditions, geography, ‘remnant’ worship, etc., shows that this literary collection is posterior to the Rik collection.  As to individual hymns, especially those imbued with the tone of fetishism and witchcraft, any one of them, either in its present or original form, may outrank the whole Rik in antiquity, as do its superstitions the religion of the Rik—­if it is right to make a distinction between superstition and religion, meaning by the former a lower, and by the latter a more elevated form of belief in the supernatural.

The difference between the Rik-worshipper and Atharvan-worshipper is somewhat like that which existed at a later age between the philosophical Civaite and Durg[=a]ite.  The former revered Civa, but did not deny the power of a host of lesser mights, whom he was ashamed to worship too much; the latter granted the all-god-head of Civa, but paid attention almost exclusively to some demoniac divinity.  Superstition, perhaps, always precedes theology; but as surely does superstition outlive any one form of its protean rival.  And the simple reason is that a theology is the real belief of few, and varies with their changing intellectual point of view; while superstition is the belief unacknowledged of the few and acknowledged of the many, nor does it materially change from age to age.  The rites employed among the clam-diggers on the New York coast, the witch-charms they use, the incantations, cutting of flesh, fire-oblations, meaningless formulae, united with sacrosanct expressions of the church, are all on a par with the religion of the lower classes as depicted in Theocritus and the Atharvan.  If these mummeries and this hocus-pocus were collected into a volume, and set out with elegant extracts from the Bible, there would be a nineteenth century Atharva Veda.  What are the necessary equipment of a Long Island witch?  First, “a good hot fire,” and then formulae such as this:[10]

     “If a man is attacked by wicked people and how to banish
     them: 

“Bedgoblin and all ye evil spirits, I, N.N., forbid you my bedstead, my couch; I, N.N., forbid you in the name of God my house and home; I forbid you in the name of the Holy Trinity my blood and flesh, my body and soul; I forbid you all the nail-holes in my house and home, till you have travelled over every hill, waded through every water, have counted all the leaves of every tree, and counted all the stars in the sky, until the day arrives when the mother of God shall bare her second son.”

If this formula be repeated three times, with the baptismal name of the person, it will succeed!

     “To make one’s self invisible: 

     “Obtain the ear of a black cat, boil it in the milk of a
     black cow, wear it on the thumb, and no one will see you.”