In the fourth Veda, the _Atharva-veda_, the revival of belief in formulas is emphasized. This book, which did not receive recognition as an inspired work at first, is in the main a collection of metrical charms of great antiquity. Many resemble closely those which have been collected by folk-lorists during late years in the Scottish Highlands and elsewhere throughout Europe. The Rigveda hymns reveal the religious beliefs and aspirations of the advanced thinkers of their age; the _Atharva-veda_ contains the germs of folk religion—the magical formulas chanted to dispel or invoke the vague spirits who helped or thwarted mankind. It teaches that the Universe is upheld by sacrifice and the spiritual exaltation of Brahmans, and that Brahmanic power may be exercised by the use of appropriate charms. Human beings might also be influenced by the spirits invoked by means of formulas. Primitive man believed that all emotions were caused by spirits. When the poet sang, he was “inspired”—he drew in a spirit; ecstasy was “a standing outside of oneself”, the soul having escaped temporarily from the body. Wrath was caused by a demon, and “battle fury” by the spirit of war which possessed the warrior. When a human being was “seized” by a fit, his convulsions were believed to be caused by the demon who had entered his body. Love was inspiration in the literal sense, and an Indian lover might compel a heedless lady to regard him with favour by reciting an Atharva-vedic spell. Apparently the love spirit had a weakness for honey. The lover chanted: Honey be mine at the tip of my tongue, May sweetness of honey pervade my speech, So that my love may come under my spell— So that my lady may yield to my will. _Atharva-veda_, i, 34. As the grass is shorn from earth by the wind, So may thy soul be shorn to my will, And then, O lady, thou'lt give me thy love, Nor be averse to me as thou wert. _Atharva-veda_, ii, 30. A lover, we find, can invoke the lady to embrace him “as the creeper embraces a tree”; if she clings to his arm he can cause her to cling to his heart; his influence over her mind is like the influence of a wing-beating eagle over the wind. It may be, too, that a neglected girl finds it necessary to prepare a love potion with “salve, sweet wood, and spikenard”, and to cause the heart of an ungallant swain to suffer from “a parching heart”, which “languishes for love”, and experiences the “yearning of the Apsaras”. Warriors were charmed against spells, cattle and sheep were charmed against wild beasts, a house was charmed against evil spirits and demons.[133] Greedy demons of disease, who devoured the flesh of patients, were greatly feared: Brahmans performed ceremonies of riddance and “plagued them as the tiger plagues the cattle owners”. The following is a charm against cough: