The belief in the potency of words and formulae, though amplified and embellished by the Hindus, is not an Indian invention but a common aspect of early thought which was less emphasized in other countries.  It is found in Persia and among the tribes of Central and Northern Asia and of Northern Europe, and attained a high development in Finland where runot or magical songs are credited with very practical efficacy.  Thus the Kalevala relates how Waeinaemoeinen was building a boat by means of songs when the process came to a sudden stop because he had forgotten three words.  This is exactly the sort of thing that might happen in the legends of a Vedic sacrifice if the priest had forgotten the texts he ought to recite.

The external features of Vedic rites are remarkable and unlike what we know of those performed by other nations of antiquity.  The sacrifice is not as a rule a gift presented to a single god to win his favour.  Oblations are made to most members of the pantheon in the course of a prolonged ceremony, but the time, manner and recipients of these oblations are fixed rather by the mysteries of sacrificial science, than by the sacrificer’s need to propitiate a particular deity.  Also the sacrifice is not offered in a temple and it would appear that in pre-Buddhist times there were no religious edifices.  It is not even associated with sacred spots, such as groves or fountains haunted by a deity.  The scene of operations requires long and careful preparation, but it is merely an enclosure with certain sheds, fireplaces and mounds.  It has no architectural pretensions and is not a centre round which shrines can grow for it requires reconsecration for each ceremony, and in many cases must not be used twice.  There is little that is national, tribal or communal about these rites.  Some of them, such as the Asvamedha or horse sacrifice and the Rajasaya, or consecration of a king, may be attended by games and sports, but that is because they are connected with secular events.  In their essence sacrifices are not popular festivals or holidays but private services, performed for the benefit of the sacrificer, that is, the person who pays the fees of the priests.  Usually they have a definite object and, though ceremonies for the attainment of material blessings are not wanting, this object is most frequently supramundane, such as the fabrication of a body in the heavenly world.  It is in keeping with these characteristics that there should be no pomp or spectacular effect:  the rites resemble some complicated culinary operation or scientific experiment, and the sacrificial enclosure has the appearance of a laboratory rather than a place of worship.