Some of these hymns are probably earlier (1st and 2nd centuries).
To this day hymns are unwittingly sung to Bacchus in the dales and glens of Kafiristan.
It is also known as Sidra' d'neshmatha, " Book of Souls," and besides hymns and doctrinal discourses contains prayers to be offered by the priests at sacrifice and at meals, as well as other liturgical matter.
Powell wrote several treatises and also some hymns, but his chief gifts were those of a preacher.
His first Collection of Psalms and Hymns (Charlestown, 1737) contains five of his incomparable translations from the German, and on his return to England he published another Collection in 1738, with five more translations.
