the gods are now over-recognized by the priest, for they must be revered like the gods themselves (ib. 12; P[=a]r. Grih.  S. 3. 14. 8. etc.).  Among the developed objects of the cult serpents now occupy a prominent place.  They are mentioned as worshipful in the Br[=a]hmanas.  In the S[=u]tra period offerings are made to snakes of earth, air, and heaven; the serpents are ‘satiated’ along with gods, plants, demons, etc. (C[=a][.n]kh. 4. 9. 3; 15. 4; [=A]cv. 2. 1. 9; 3. 4. 1; P[=a]rask. 2. 14. 9) and blood is poured out to them ([=A]cv. 4. 8. 27.).[14] But other later divinities than those of the earliest Veda, such as Wealth (Kubera), and Dharma, have crept into the ritual.  With the Vedic gods appears as a divinity in Kh[=a]d. 1. 5. 31 the love-god K[=a]ma, of the Atharvan; while on the other hand Rudra the beast-lord (Pacupati, Lord of Cattle), the ‘kindly’ Civa, appears as ‘great god,’ whose names are Cankara, Prish[=a]taka, Bhava, Carva, Ugra, Ic[=a]na (Lord); who has all names and greatness, while he yet is described in the words of the older text as ‘the god that desires to kill’ ([=A]cv. 2. 2. 2; 4. 8. 9, 19,[15] 29, 32; [=A]it.  Br. 3. 34).  On the other hand Vishnu is also adored, and that in connection with the [Greek:  logos], or V[=a]c (ib. 3. 3. 4).  Quite in Upanishad manner—­for it is necessary to show that these were then really known—­is the formula ’thou art a student of pr[=a][n.]a (Breath,) and art given over to Ka’ (ib. 1. 20. 8.), or ’whom?’ In [=A]cval[=a]yana no Upanishads are given in the list of literature, which includes the ’Eulogies of men,’ Itih[=a]sas, Pur[=a]nas, and even the Mah[=a]bh[=a]rata (3. 3. 1; 4. 4).  But in 1. 13. 1, Upanishad-rites (and that of a very domestic nature) are recognized, which would corroborate the explanation of Upanishad given above, as being at first a subsidiary work, dealing with minor points.[16] Something of the sciolism of the Upanishads seems to lie in the prayer that of the four paths on which walk the gods the mortal may be led in that which bestows ’freedom from death’ (P[=a]r. 3. 1. 2); and many of the teachers famous in the Upanishads are now revered by name like gods ([=A]cv. 3. 4. 4, etc.).

On turning from these domestic S[=u]tras to the legal S[=u]tras it becomes evident that the pantheistic doctrine of the Upanishads, and in part the Upanishads themselves, were already familiar to the law-makers, and that they influenced, in some degree, the doctrines of the law, despite the retention of the older forms.  Not only is sams[=a]ra the accepted doctrine, but the [=a]tm[=a], as if in a veritable Upanishad, is the object of religious devotion.  Here, however, this quest is permitted only to the ascetic, who presumably has performed all ritualistic duties and passed through the stadia that legally precede his own.