The mother of Varuna and the luminous gods is the 'mother of kings,' Boundlessness (aditi)[90] a product of priestly theosophy. Aditi makes, perhaps, the first approach to formal pantheism in India, for all gods, men, and things are identified with her (i. 89. 10). Seven children of Aditi are mentioned, to whom is added an eighth (in one hymn).[91] The chief of these, who is, par excellence the [=A]ditya (son of Aditi), is Varuna. Most of the others are divinities of the sun (x. 72). With Varuna stands Mitra, and besides this pair are found 'the true friend' Aryaman, Savitar, Bhaga, and, later, Indra, as sun (?). Daksha and Ança are also reckoned as [=A]dityas, and S[=u]rya is enumerated among them as a divinity distinct from Savitar. But the word aditi, 'unbound,' is often a mere epithet, of Fire, Sky, etc. Moreover, in one passage, at least, aditi simply means 'freedom' (i. 24. 1), less boundlessness than 'un-bondage'; so, probably, in i. 185. 3, 'the gift of freedom.' Ança seems to have much the same meaning with Bhaga, viz., the sharer, giver. Daksha may, perhaps, be the 'clever,' 'strong' one ([Greek: dexios]), abstract Strength; as another name of the sun (?). Aditi herself (according to Müller, Infinity; according to Hillebrandt, Eternity) is an abstraction that is born later than her chief sons, Sun and Varuna.[92] Zarathustra (Zoroaster, not earlier than the close of the first Vedic period) took the seven [=A]dityas and reformed them into one monotheistic (dualistic) Spirit (Ahura), with a circle of six moral attendants, thereby dynamically destroying every physical conception of them.
DAWN.
We have devoted considerable space to Varuna because of the theological importance with which is invested his personality. If one admit that a monotheistic Varuna is the ur-Varuna, if one see in him a sign that the Hindus originally worshipped one universally great superior god, whose image effaced that of all the others,[93] then the attempt to trace any orderly development in Hindu theology may as well be renounced; and one must imagine that this peculiar people, starting with monotheism descended to polytheism, and then leapt again into the conception of that Father-god whose form, in the end of the Rig Vedic period, out-varunas Varuna as encompasser and lord of all. If, on the other hand, one see in Varuna a god who, from the 'covering,' heaven and cloud and rain, from earliest time has been associated with the sun as a pair, and recognize in Varuna's loftier form the product of that gradual elevation to which were liable all the gods at the hands of the Hindu priests; if one see in him at this stage the highest god which a theology, based on the worship of natural phenomena, was able to evolve; then, for the reception of those gods who overthrew him from his supremacy, because of their greater freedom from physical restraints, there is opened a logical and historical path—until that god comes who in turn follows these half-embodied ones, and stands as the first immaterial author of the universe—and so one may walk straight from the physical beginning of the Rig Vedic religion to its spiritual Brahmanic end.
We turn now to one or two phenomena-deities that were never much tampered with by priestly speculation; their forms being still as bright and clear as when the first Vedic worshipper, waiting to salute the rising sun, beheld in all her beauty, and thus praised
THE DAWN.[94]
As comes a bride hath she approached us, gleaming;
All things that live she rouses now to action.
A fire is born that shines for human beings;
Light hath she made, and driven away the darkness.
Wide-reaching hath she risen, to all approaching,
And shone forth clothed in garments white and glistening,
Of gold her color, fair to see her look is,
Mother of kine,[95] leader of days she gleameth.
Bearing the gods' eye, she, the gracious maiden,
—Leading along the white and sightly charger[96]
—Aurora, now is seen, revealed in glory,
With shining guerdons unto all appearing.
O near and dear one, light far off our foes, and
Make safe to us our kines' wide pasture-places.
Keep from us hatred; what is good, that bring us,
And send the singer wealth, O generous maiden.
With thy best beams for us do thou beam widely,
Aurora, goddess bright, our life extending;
And food bestow, O thou all goods possessing,
Wealth, too, bestowing, kine and steeds and war-cars
Thou whom Vasistha's[97] sons extol with praises,
Fair-born Aurora, daughter of Dyaus, the bright one,
On us bestow thou riches high and mighty,
—O all ye gods with weal forever guard us.
In the laudation of Varuna the fancy of the poet exhausts itself in lofty imagery, and reaches the topmost height of Vedic religious lyric. In the praise of Dawn it descends not lower than to interweave beauty with dignity of utterance. Nothing in religious poetry more graceful or delicate than the Vedic Dawn-hymns has ever been written. In the daily vision of Dawn following her sister Night the poet sees his fairest goddess, and in his worship of her there is love and admiration, such as is evoked by the sight of no other deity. "She comes like a fair young maiden, awakening all to labor, with an hundred chariots comes she, and brings the shining light; gleam forth, O Dawn, and give us thy blessing this day; for in thee is the life of every living creature. Even as thou hast rewarded the singers of old, so now reward our song" (I. 48).
The kine of Dawn are the bright clouds that, like red cattle, wander in droves upon the horizon. Sometimes the rays of light, which stretch across the heaven, are intended by this image, for the cattle-herding poets employed their flocks as figures for various ends.
The inevitable selfish pessimism of unripe reflection is also woven into the later Dawn-hymns: "How long will it be ere this Dawn, too, shall join the Dawns departed? Vanished are now the men that saw the Dawns of old; we here see her now; there will follow others who will see her hereafter; but, O Dawn, beam here thy fairest; rich in blessings, true art thou to friend and right. Bring hither (to the morning sacrifice) the gods" (I. 113).
Since the metre (here ignored) of the following hymn is not all of one model, it is probable that after the fourth verse a new hymn began, which was distinct from the first; but the argument from metre is unconvincing, and in any event both songs are worth citing, since they show how varied were the images and fancies of the poets: "The Dawns are like heroes with golden weapons; like red kine of the morning on the field of heaven; shining they weave their webs of light, like women active at work; food they bring to the pious worshipper. Like a dancing girl is the Dawn adorned, and opens freely her bosom; as a cow gives milk, as a cow comes forth from its stall, so opens she her breast, so comes she out of the darkness (verses 1-4) …She is the ever new, born again and again, adorned always with the same color. As a player conceals the dice, so keeps she concealed the days of a man; daughter of Heaven she wakes and drives away her sister (Night). Like kine, like the waves of a flood, with sunbeams she appears. O rich Dawn, bring us wealth; harness thy red horses, and bring to us success" (I. 92). The homage to Dawn is naturally divided at times with that to the sun: "Fair shines the light of morning; the sun awakens us to toil; along the path of order goes Dawn arrayed in light. She extendeth herself in the east, and gleameth till she fills the sky and earth"; and again: "Dawn is the great work of Varuna and Mitra; through the sun is she awakened" (I. 124; III. 61. 6-7). In the ritualistic period Dawn is still mechanically lauded, and her beams "rise in the east like pillars of sacrifice" (IV. 51. 2); but otherwise the imagery of the selections given above is that which is usually employed. The 'three dawns' occasionally referred to are, as we have shown elsewhere,[98] the three dawn-lights, white, red, and yellow, as they are seen by both the Vedic poet and the Florentine.
Dawn becomes common and trite after awhile, as do all the gods, and is invoked more to give than to please. 'Wake us,' cries a later poet, 'Wake us to wealth, O Dawn; give to us, give to us; wake up, lest the sun burn thee with his light'—a passage (V. 79) which has caused much learned nonsense to be written on the inimical relations of Sun and Dawn as portrayed here. The dull idea is that Dawn is lazy, and had better get up before S[=u]rya catches her asleep. The poet is not in the least worried because his image does not express a suitable relationship between the dawn and the sun, nor need others be disturbed at it. The hymn is late, and only important in showing the new carelessness as regards the old gods.[99] Some other traits appear in VII. 75. 1 ff., where Dawn is 'queen of the world,' and banishes the druhs, or evil spirit. She here is daughter of Heaven, and wife of the sun (4, 5); ib. 76. 1, she is the eye of the world; and ib 81. 4, she is invoked as 'mother.'
There is, at times, so close a resemblance between Dawn-hymns and Sun-hymns that the imagery employed in one is used in the other. Thus the hymn VI. 64 begins: "The beams of Dawn have arisen, shining as shine the waters' gleaming waves. She makes good paths, … she banishes darkness as a warrior drives away a foe (so of the sun, IV. 13. 2; X. 37. 4; 170. 2). Beautiful are thy paths upon the mountains, and across the waters thou shinest, self-gleaming" (also of the sun). With the last expression may be compared that in VI. 65. 5: "Dawn, whose seat is upon the hills."
Dawn is intimately connected not only with Agni but with the Twin Horsemen, the Açvins (equites)—if not so intimately connected as is Helen with the Dioskouroi, who, pace Pischel, are the Açvins of Hellas. This relationship is more emphasized in the hymns to the latter gods, but occasionally occurs in Dawn-hymns, of which another is here translated in full.
TO DAWN (IV. 52).
The Daughter of Heaven, this beauteous maid,
Resplendent leaves her sister (Night),
And now before (our sight) appears.
Red glows she like a shining mare,
Mother of kine, who timely comes—
The Horsemen's friend Aurora is.
Both friend art thou of the Horsemen twain,
And mother art thou of the kine,
And thou, Aurora, rulest wealth.
We wake thee with our praise as one
Who foes removes; such thought is ours,
O thou that art possesst of joy.
Thy radiant beams beneficent
Like herds of cattle now appear;
Aurora fills the wide expanse.
With light hast thou the dark removed,
Filling (the world), O brilliant one.
Aurora, help us as thou us'st.
With rays thou stretchest through the heaven
And through the fair wide space between,
O Dawn, with thy refulgent light.
It was seen that Savitar (P[=u]shan) is the rising and setting sun. So, antithetic to Dawn, stands the Abendroth with her sister, Night. This last, generally, as in the hymn just translated, is lauded only in connection with Dawn, and for herself alone gets but one hymn, and that is not in a family-book. She is to be regarded, therefore, less as a goddess of the pantheon than as a quasi-goddess, the result of a poet's meditative imagination, rather than one of the folk's primitive objects of adoration; somewhat as the English poets personify "Ye clouds, that far above me float and pause, ye ocean-waves … ye woods, that listen to the night-bird's singing, O ye loud waves, and O ye forests high, and O ye clouds that far above me soared; thou rising sun, thou blue rejoicing sky!"—and as in Greek poetry, that which before has been conceived of vaguely as divine suddenly is invested with a divine personality. The later poet exalts these aspects of nature, and endows those that were before only half recognized with a little special praise. So, whereas Night was divine at first merely as the sister of divine Dawn, in the tenth book one poet thus gives her praise:
HYMN TO NIGHT (X. 127).
Night, shining goddess, comes, who now
Looks out afar with many eyes,
And putteth all her beauties on.
Immortal shining goddess, she
The depths and heights alike hath filled,
And drives with light the dark away.
To me she comes, adorned well,
A darkness black now sightly made;
Pay then thy debt, O Dawn, and go.[100]
The bright one coming put aside
Her sister Dawn (the sunset light),
And lo! the darkness hastes away.
So (kind art thou) to us; at whose
Appearing we retire to rest,
As birds fly homeward to the tree.
To rest are come the throngs of men;
To rest, the beasts; to rest, the birds;
And e'en the greedy eagles rest.
Keep off the she-wolf and the wolf,
Keep off the thief, O billowy Night,
Be thou to us a saviour now.
To thee, O Night, as 'twere an herd,
To a conqueror (brought), bring I an hymn
Daughter of Heaven, accept (the gift).[101]
THE AÇVINS.
The Açvins who are, as was said above, the 'Horsemen,' parallel to the Greek Dioskouroi, are twins, sons of Dyaus, husbands, perhaps brothers of the Dawn. They have been variously 'interpreted,' yet in point of fact one knows no more now what was the original conception of the twain than was known before Occidental scholars began to study them.[102] Even the ancients made mere guesses: the Açvins came before the Dawn, and are so-called because they ride on horses (açva, equos) they represent either Heaven and Earth, or Day and Night, or Sun and Moon, or two earthly kings—such is the unsatisfactory information given by the Hindus themselves.[103]
Much the same language with that in the Dawn-hymns is naturally employed in praising the Twin Brothers. They, like the Dioskouroi, are said to have been incorporated gradually into the pantheon, on an equality with the other gods,[104] not because they were at first human beings, but because they, like Night, were adjuncts of Dawn, and got their divinity through her as leader.[105] In the last book of the Rig Veda they are the sons of Sarany[=u] and Vivasvant, but it is not certain whether Sarany[=u] means dawn or not; in the first book they are born of the flood (in the sky).[106] They are sons of Dyaus, but this, too, only in the last and first books, while in the latter they are separated once, so that only one is called the Son of the Sky.[107] They follow Dawn 'like men' (VIII. 5. 2) and are in Brahmanic literature the 'youngest of the gods.'[108]
The twin gods are the physicians of heaven, while to men they bring all medicines and help in times of danger. They were apparently at first only 'wonder-workers,' for the original legends seem to have been few. Yet the striking similarity in these aspects with the brothers of Helen must offset the fact that so much in connection with them seems to have been added in books one and ten. They restore the blind and decrepit, impart strength and speed, and give the power and seed of life; even causing waters to flow, fire to burn, and trees to grow. As such they assist lovers and aid in producing offspring.
The Açvins are brilliantly described, Their bird-drawn chariot and all its appurtenances are of gold; they are swift as thought, agile, young, and beautiful. Thrice they come to the sacrifice, morning, noon, and eve; at the yoking of their car, the dawn is born. When the 'banner before dawn' appears, the invocation to the Açvins begins; they 'accompany dawn.' Some variation of fancy is naturally to be looked for. Thus, though, as said above, Dawn is born at the Açvins yoking, yet Dawn is herself invoked to wake the Açvins; while again the sun starts their chariot before Dawn; and as sons of Zeus they are invoked "when darkness still stands among the shining clouds (cows)."[109]
Husbands or brothers or children of Dawn, the Horsemen are also S[=u]ry[=a]'s husbands, and she is the sun's daughter (Dawn?) or the sun as female. But this myth is not without contradictions, for S[=u]ry[=a] elsewhere weds Soma, and the Açvins are the bridegroom's friends; whom P[=u]shan chose on this occasion as his parents; he who (unless one with Soma) was the prior bridegroom of the same much-married damsel.[110]
The current explanation of the Açvins is that they represent two periods between darkness and dawn, the darker period being nearer night, the other nearer day. But they probably, as inseparable twins, are the twinlights or twilight, before dawn, half dark and half bright. In this light it may well be said of them that one alone is the son of bright Dyaus, that both wed Dawn, or are her brothers. They always come together. Their duality represents, then, not successive stages but one stage in day's approach, when light is dark and dark is light. In comparing the Açvins to other pairs[111] this dual nature is frequently referred to; but no less is there a triality in connection with them which often in describing them has been ignored. This is that threefold light which opens day; and, as in many cases they join with Dawn, so their color is inseparable. Strictly speaking, the break of red is the dawn and the white and yellow lights precede this[112]. Thus in V. 73. 5: "Red birds flew round you as S[=u]ry[=a] stepped upon your chariot"; so that it is quite impossible, in accordance with the poets themselves, to limit the Açvins to the twilight. They are a variegated growth from a black and white seed. The chief function of the Açvins, as originally conceived, was the finding and restoring of vanished light. Hence they are invoked as finders and aid-gods in general (the myths are given in Myriantheus).
Some very amusing and some silly legends have been collected and told by the Vedic poets in regard to the preservation and resuscitating power of the Açvins—how an old man was rejuvenated by them (this is also done by the three Ribhus, master-workmen of the gods); how brides are provided by them; how they rescued Bhujyu and others from the dangers of the deep (as in the classical legends); how they replaced a woman's leg with an iron one; restored a saint's eye-sight; drew a seer out of a well, etc, etc. Many scholars follow Bergaigne in imagining all these miracles to be anthropomorphized forms of solar phenomena, the healing of the blind representing the bringing out of the sun from darkness, etc. To us such interpretation often seems fatuous. No less unconvincing is the claim that one of the Açvins represents the fire of heaven and the other the fire of the altar. The Twins are called n[=a]saty[=a], the 'savers' (or 'not untrue ones[113]'); explained by some as meaning 'gods with good noses[114].'
HYMN TO THE HORSEMEN.
Whether ye rest on far-extended earth, or on the sea in house upon it made, 'come hither thence, O ye that ride the steeds. If ever for man ye mix the sacrifice, then notice now the Kanva [poet who sings]. I call upon the gods [Indra, Vishnu[115]] and the swift-going Horsemen[116]. These Horsemen I call now that they work wonders, to seize the works (of sacrifice), whose friendship is preëminently ours, and relationship among all the gods; in reference to whom arise sacrifices … If, to-day, O Horsemen, West or East ye stand, ye of good steeds, whether at Druhyu's, Anu's, Turvaça's, or Yadu's, I call ye; come to me. If ye fly in the air, O givers of great joy; or if through the two worlds; or if, according to your pleasure, ye mount the car,—thence come hither, O Horsemen.
From the hymn preceding this, the following verses[117]:
Whatever manliness is in the aether, in the sky, and among the five peoples, grant us that, O Horsemen … this hot soma-drink of yours with laudation is poured out; this soma sweet through which ye discovered Vritra … Ascend the swift-rolling chariot, O Horsemen; hither let these my praises bring ye, like a cloud … Come as guardians of homes; guardians of our bodies. Come to the house for (to give) children and offspring. Whether ye ride on the same car with Indra, or be in the same house with the Wind; whether united with the Sons of Boundlessness or the Ribhus, or stand on Vishnu's wide steps (come to us). This is the best help of the horsemen, if to-day I should entice them to get booty, or call them as my strength to conquer in battle…. Whatever medicine (ye have) far or near, with this now, O wise ones, grant protection…. Awake, O Dawn, the Horsemen, goddess, kind and great…. When, O Dawn, thou goest in light and shinest with the Sun, then hither comes the Horsemen's chariot, to the house men have to protect. When the swollen soma-stalks are milked like cows with udders, and when the choric songs are sung, then they that adore the Horsemen are preëminent….
Here the Açvins are associated with Indra, and even find the evil demon; but, probably, at this stage Indra is more than god of storms.
Some of the expanded myths and legends of the Açvins may be found in i. 118, 119, 158; x. 40. Here follows one with legends in moderate number (vii. 71):
Before the Dawn her sister, Night, withdraweth;
The black one leaves the ruddy one a pathway.
Ye that have kine and horses, you invoke we;
By day, at night, keep far from us your arrow.
Come hither, now, and meet the pious mortal,
And on your car, O Horsemen, bring him good things;
Keep off from us the dry destroying sickness,
By day, at night, O sweetest pair, protect us.
Your chariot may the joy-desiring chargers,
The virile stallions, bring at Dawn's first coming;
That car whose reins are rays, and wealth upon it;
Come with the steeds that keep the season's order.
Upon the car, three-seated, full of riches,
The helping car, that has a path all golden,
On this approach, O lords of heroes, true ones,
Let this food-bringing car of yours approach us.
Ye freed from his old age the man Cyav[=a]na;
Ye brought and gave the charger swift to Pedu;
Ye two from darkness' anguish rescued Atri;
Ye set J[a=]husha down, released from fetters.[118]
This prayer, O Horsemen, and this song is uttered;
Accept the skilful[sic] poem, manly heroes.
These prayers, to you belonging, have ascended,
O all ye gods protect us aye with blessings![119]
The sweets which the Açvins bring are either on their chariot, or, as is often related, in a bag; or they burst forth from the hoof of their steed. Pegasus' spring in Helicon has been compared with this. Their vehicles are variously pictured as birds, horses, ships, etc. It is to be noticed that in no one of their attributes are the Açvins unique. Other gods bring sweets, help, protect, give offspring, give healing medicines, and, in short, do all that the Açvins do. But, as Bergaigne points out, they do all this pacifically, while Indra, who performs some of their wonders, does so by storm. He protects by not injuring, and helps by destroying foes. Yet is this again true only in general, and the lines between warlike, peaceful, and 'sovereign' gods are often crossed.
* * * * *
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 1: Such for instance as the hymn to the Açvins, RV. ii. 39. Compare verses 3-4: 'Come (ye pair of Açvins) like two horns; like two hoofs; like two geese; like two wheels; like two ships; like two spans'; etc. This is the content of the whole hymn.]
[Footnote 2: Deva is 'shining' (deus), and S[=u]rya (sol, [Greek: áelios]) means the same.]
[Footnote 3: Let the reader note at the outset that there is scarcely an activity considered as divine which does not belong to several gods (see below).]
[Footnote 4: From su, sav, enliven, beget, etc. In RV. iv. 53.6 and vii, 63.2, pra-savitar.]
[Footnote 5: RV. VII. 66. 14-15; compare X. 178. 1. In the notes immediately following the numbers all refer to the Rig Veda.]
[Footnote 6: V. 47, 3; compare vs. 7, and X. 189. 1-2.]
[Footnote 7: Compare X. 177. 1.]
[Footnote 8: X. 37. 9.]
[Footnote 9: V. 63. 7. Varuna and Mitra set the sun's car in
heaven.]
[Footnote 10: 1 IV. 13. 2-5; X. 37, 4; 85, 1. But ib. 149.
1. Savitar holds the sky 'without support.']
[Footnote 11: VII 63.1; I. 115.11; X. 37. 1.]
[Footnote 12: III. 61.4; VII. 63. 3.]
[Footnote 13: VII 78.3.]
[Footnote 14: I. 56,4; IX. 84. 2; Compare I. 92. 11; 115, 2; 123. 10-12. V. 44. 7, and perhaps 47.6, are late. VII. 75. 5, is an exception (or late).]
[Footnote 15: La Religion Védique, I.6; II. 2.]
[Footnote 16: Ehni, Yama, p. 134.]
[Footnote 17: RV., IV. 54. 2. Here the sun gives life even
to the gods.]
[Footnote 18: Ten hundred and twenty-eight hymns are
contained in the 'Rig Veda Collection.']
[Footnote 19: IV. 14.]
[Footnote 20: X. 37; 158; 170; 177; 189. Each has its own mark of lateness. In 37, the dream; in 158, the triad; in 170, the sun as asurah[=a]; in 177, the mystic tone and the bird-sun (compare Garutman, I. 164; X. 149); in 189, the thirty stations.]
[Footnote 21: See Whitney in Colebrooke's Essays, revised edition, ii. p. 111.]
[Footnote 22: iv. 54]
[Footnote 23: Two 'laps' below, besides that above, the word meaning 'middle' but also 'under-place.' The explanation of this much-disputed passage will be found by comparing I. 154. 5 and VII. 99. 1. The sun's three places are where he appears on both horizons and in the zenith. The last is the abode of the dead where Yama reigns. Compare IV. 53. The bracketed verses are probably a late puzzle attached to the word 'lap' of the preceding verse.]
[Footnote 24: Doubtful.]
[Footnote 25: The Spirit, later of evil spirits, demons (as above, the asurah[=á]). Compare Ahura.]
[Footnote 26: A numerical conception not paralleled in the Rig Veda, though mountains are called protuberances ('elevations') in other places.]
[Footnote 27: The last stanza is in the metre of the first;
two more follow without significant additions.]
[Footnote 28: The texts are translated by Muir, OST, V. p.
171 ff.]
[Footnote 29: La Religion Védique, II. p. 428. Compare
Hillebrandt, Soma p. 456.]
[Footnote 30: I. 138. 4.]
[Footnote 31: VI. 56. 1.]
[Footnote 32: In I. 23. 13-15 P[=u]shan is said to bring king (soma), "whom he found like a lost herd of cattle." The fragment is late if, as is probable, the 'six' of vs. 15 are the six seasons. Compare VI. 54. 5, "may P[=u]shan go after our kine."]
[Footnote 33: Compare VI. 54.]
[Footnote 34: He is the 'son of freeing,' from darkness? VI. 55. 1.]
[Footnote 35: IV. 57. 7.]
[Footnote 36: VI. 17. 11; 48. 11 ff.; IV. 30. 24 ff. He is called like a war-god with the Maruts in VI. 48.]
[Footnote 37: So, too, Bhaga is Dawn's brother, I. 123. 5. P[=u]shan is Indra's brother in VI. 55. 5. Gubernatis interprets P[=u]shan as 'the setting sun.']
[Footnote 38: Contrast I. 42, and X. 26 (with 1. 138. 1). In the first hymn P[=u]shan leads the way and drives away danger, wolves, thieves, and helps to booty and pasturage. In the last he is a war-god, who helps in battle, a 'far-ruler,' embracing the thoughts of all (as in III. 62. 9).]
[Footnote 39: For the traits just cited compare IV. 57. 7; VI. 17. 11; 48. 15; 53; 55; 56. I-3; 57. 3-4; 58. 2-4; II. 40; X. 17. 3 ff.; 26. 3-8; I. 23. 14; all of I. 42, and 138; VIII. 4. 15-18; III. 57. 2. In X. 17. 4, Savitar, too, guides the souls of the dead.]
[Footnote 40: That is to say, one hymn is addressed to Bhaga with various other gods, VII. 41. Here he seems to be personified good-luck ("of whom even the king says,' I would have thee,'" vs. 2). In Ihe Br[=a]hmanas 'Bhaga is blind,' which applies better to Fortune than to the Sun.]
[Footnote 41: The hymn is sung before setting out on a forray for cattle. Let one observe how unsupported is the assumption of the ritualists as applied to this hymn, that it must have been "composed for rubrication."]
[Footnote 42: After Muir, V. p. 178. The clouds and cattle are both called gàs 'wanderers,' which helped in the poetic identification of the two.]
[Footnote 43: Compare IX. 97. 55, "Thou art Bhaga, giver of gifts."]
[Footnote 44: Bhágam bhakshi! Compare baksheesh. The word as 'god' is both Avestan, bagha, and Slavic, bogu (also meaning 'rich'). It may be an epithet of other gods also, and here it means only luck.]
[Footnote 45: Literally 'possessed of bhaga,' i.e., wealth.]
[Footnote 46: May Bhaga be bhágav[=a]n, i.e., a true bhaga-holder. Here and below a pun on the name (as above).]
[Footnote 47: Mythical being, possibly the sun-horse.
According to Pischel a real earthly racer.]
[Footnote 48: I.22.17, etc; 154 ff.; VII. too.]
[Footnote 49: VII. 100. 5-6. Vishnu (may be the epithet of
Indra in I.61.7) means winner (?),]
[Footnote 50: VI. 69; VII. 99. But Vishnu is ordered about
by Indra (IV. 18. 11; VIII. 89. 12).]
[Footnote 51: I.154. 5. In II. 1. 3, Vishnu is one with Fire
(Agni).]
[Footnote 52: Thus, for example, Vishnu in the Hindu trinity, the separate worship of the sun in modern sects, and in the cult of the hill-men.]
[Footnote 53: X. 149.]
[Footnote 54: II.41.20.]
[Footnote 55: vi.70.]
[Footnote 56: I.160.4; IV. 56.1-3; VII. 53. 2.]
[Footnote 57: I. 185. 8. (J[=a]spati). The expiatory power of the hymn occurs again in I. 159.]
[Footnote 58: I. 185. 1.]
[Footnote 59: IV. 56. 7.]
[Footnote 60: I. 22. 15.]
[Footnote 61: X. 18. 10 (or: "like a wool-soft maiden").]
[Footnote 62: The lightning. In I. 31. 4, 10 "(Father) Fire makes Dyaus bellow" like "a bull" (v. 36. 5). Dyaus "roars" in vi. 72. 3. Nowhere else is he a thunderer.]
[Footnote 63: 1. 24. 7-8. The change in metaphor is not
unusual.]
[Footnote 64: This word means either order or orders (law);
literally the 'way' or 'course.']
[Footnote 65: 1. 24 (epitomized).]
[Footnote 66: Perhaps better with Ludwig "of (thee) in
anger, of (thee) incensed."]
[Footnote 67: Or: "Being (himself) in the (heavenly) flood
he knows the ships." (Ludwig.)]
[Footnote 68: An intercalated month is meant (not the
primitive 'twelve days').]
[Footnote 69: Or 'very wise,' of mental strength.]
[Footnote 70: VIII. 41. 7; VII. 82. 6 (Bergaigne); X. 132.
4.]
[Footnote 71: Compare Bergaigne, La Religion Védique, iii.
pp. 116-118.]
[Footnote 72: The insistence on the holy seven, the 'secret
names' of dawn, the confusion of Varuna with Trita. Compare,
also, the refrain, viii. 39-42. For X. 124, see below.]
[Footnote 73: Compare Hillebrandt's Varuna and Mitra, p. 5; and see our essay on the Holy Numbers of the Rig Veda (in the Oriental Studies).]
[Footnote 74: Varuna's forgiving of sins may be explained as a washing out of sin, just as fire burns it out, and so loosens therewith the imagined bond, V. 2. 7. Thus, quite apart from Varuna in a hymn addressed to the 'Waters,' is found the prayer, "O waters, carry off whatever sin is in me … and untruth," I. 23. 22.]
[Footnote 75: But as in iv. 42, so in x. 124 he shares glory with Indra.]
[Footnote 76: Later, Varuna's water-office is his only physical side. Compare [=A]it. [=A]r. II. I. 7. 7, 'water and Varuna, children of mind.' Compare with v[=a]ri, oùrá = v[=a]ra, and var[=i], an old word for rivers, var[s.] (= var + s), 'rain.' The etymology is very doubtful on account of the number of var-roots. Perhaps dew (ersa) and rain first as 'coverer.' Even var = vas 'shine,' has been suggested (ZDMG. XXII. 603).]
[Footnote 77: The old comparison of Varena cathrugaosha turns out to be "the town of Varna with four gates"!]
[Footnote 78: In India: What Can it Teach us, pp. 197, 200, Müller tacitly recognizes in the physical Varuna only the 'starry' night-side.]
[Footnote 79: Loc. cit., III. 119. Bergaigne admits Varuna as god of waters, but sees in him identity with Vritra a 'restrainer of waters.' He thinks the 'luminous side' of Varuna to be antique also (III. 117-119). Varuna's cord, according to Bergaigne, comes from 'tying up' the waters; 'night's fetters,' according to Hillebrandt.]
[Footnote 80: Loc. cit., p. 13.]
[Footnote 81: One of the chief objections to Bergaigne's conception of Varuna as restrainer is that it does not explain the antique union with Mitra.]
[Footnote 82: II. 28. 4, 7; VII. 82. 1, 2; 87.2]
[Footnote 83: vii. 87. 6; 88. 2.]
[Footnote 84: viii. 41. 2, 7, 8. So Varuna gives soma, rain. As a rain-god he surpasses Dyaus, who, ultimately, is also a rain-god (above), as in Greece.]
[Footnote 85: Compare Çat. Br. V. 2.5.17, "whatever is dark
is Varuna's."]
[Footnote 86: In II. 38. 8 varuna means 'fish,' and 'water
in I.184. 3.]
[Footnote 87: V. 62. I, 8; 64.7; 61. 5; 65. 2; 67. 2; 69.1;
VI. 51.1; 67. 5. In VIII. 47.11 the [=A]dityas are
themselves spies.]
[Footnote 88: Introduction to Grassmann, II. 27; VI. 42.
Lex. s. v.]
[Footnote 89: Religions of India, p. 17.]
[Footnote 90: The Rik knows, also, a Diti, but merely as antithesls to Aditi—the 'confined and unconfined.' Aditi is prayed to (for protection and to remove sin) in sporadic verses of several hymns addressed to other gods, but she has no hymn.]
[Footnote 91: Müller (loc. cit., below) thinks that the
'sons of Aditi' were first eight and were then reduced to
seven, in which opinion as in his whole interpretation of
Aditi as a primitive dawn-infinity we regret that we cannot
agree with him.]
[Footnote 92: See Hillebrandt, Die Göttin Aditi; and
Müller, SBE, xxxii., p. 241, 252.]
[Footnote 93: That is to say, if one believe that the 'primitive Aryans' were inoculated with Zoroaster's teaching. This is the sort of Varuna that Koth believes to have existed among the aboriginal Aryan tribes (above, p. 13, note 2).]
[Footnote 94: VII. 77.]
[Footnote 95: Clouds.]
[Footnote 96: The sun.]
[Footnote 97: The priest to whom, and to whose family, is ascribed the seventh book.]
[Footnote 98: JAOS., XV. 270.]
[Footnote 99: Much theosophy, and even history (!), has been read into II. 15, and IV. 30, where poets speak of Indra slaying Dawn; but there is nothing remarkable in these passages. Poetry is not creed. The monsoon (here Indra) does away with dawns for a time, and that is what the poet says in his own way.]
[Footnote 100: Transferred by Roth from the penultimate position where it stands in the original. Dawn here pays Night for the latter's malutinal withdrawing by withdrawing herself. Strictly speaking, the Dawn is, of course, the sunset light conceived of as identical with that preceding the sunrise ([Greek: usas, hêôs], 'east' as 'glow').]
[Footnote 101: Late as seems this hymn to be, it is interesting in revealing the fact that wolves (not tigers or panthers) are the poet's most dreaded foes of night. It must, therefore have been composed in the northlands, where wolves are the herdsman's worst enemies.]
[Footnote 102: Myriantheus, Die Açvins; Muir, OST. v. p.234; Bergaigne, Religion Védique, II. p. 431; Müller, Lectures, 2d series, p. 508; Weber, Ind. St. v. p. 234. S[=a]yana on I. 180. 2, interprets the 'sister of the Açvins' as Dawn.]
[Footnote 103: Muir, loc. cit. Weber regards them as the (stars) Gemini.]
[Footnote 104: Weber, however, thinks that Dawn and Açvins are equally old divinities, the oldest Hindu divinities in his estimation.]
[Footnote 105: In the Epic (see below) they are called the lowest caste of gods (Ç[=u]dras).]
[Footnote 106: X. 17. 2; I. 46. 2.]
[Footnote 107: I. 181. 4 (Roth, ZDMG. IV. 425).]
[Footnote 108: T[=a]itt. S. VII. 2. 7. 2; Muir, loc. cit. p. 235.]
[Footnote 109: vii. 67. 2; viii. 5. 2; x. 39. 12; viii. 9. 17; i. 34. 10; x. 61. 4. Muir, loc. cit. 238-9. Compare ib. 234, 256.]
[Footnote 110: Muir, loc. cit. p. 237. RV. vi. 58. 4; x.
85. 9ff.]
[Footnote 111: They are compared to two ships, two birds,
etc.]
[Footnote 112: In Çat. Br. V. 5. 4. it to the Açvins a red-white goat is sacrificed, because 'Açvins are red-white.']
[Footnote 113: Perhaps best with Brannhofer, 'the savers' from nas as in nasjan (AG. p. 99).]
[Footnote 114: La Religion Védique, II. p. 434. That n[=a]snya means 'with good noses' is an epic notion, n[=a]satyadasr[=a]u sunas[=a]u, Mbh[=a]. I. 3. 58, and for this reason, if for no other (though idea is older), the etymology is probably false! The epithet is also Iranian. Twinned and especially paired gods are characteristic of the Rig Veda. Thus Yama and Yam[=i] are twins; and of pairs Indra-Agni, Indra-V[=a]yu, besides the older Mitra-Varuna, Heaven-Earth, are common.]
[Footnote 115: Perhaps to be omitted.]
[Footnote 116: Pischel, Ved. St. I. p. 48. As swift-going gods they are called 'Indra-like.']
[Footnote 117: VIII. 9 and 10.]
[Footnote 118: Doubtful]
[Footnote 119: The last verse is not peculiar to this hymn, but is the sign of the book (family) in which it was composed.]
* * * * *
CHAPTER IV.
THE RIG VEDA (CONTINUED).—THE MIDDLE GODS.
Only one of the great atmospheric deities, the gods that preëminently govern the middle sphere between sky and earth, can claim an Aryan lineage. One of the minor gods of the same sphere, the ancient rain-god, also has this antique dignity, but in his case the dignity already is impaired by the strength of a new and greater rival. In the case of the wind-god, on the other hand, there is preserved a deity who was one of the primitive pantheon, belonging, perhaps, not only to the Iranians, but to the Teutons, for V[=a]ta, Wind, may be the Scandinavian Woden. The later mythologists on Indian soil make a distinction between V[=a]ta, wind, and V[=a]yu (from the same root; as in German wehen) and in this distinction one discovers that the old V[=a]ta, who must have been once the wind-god, is now reduced to physical (though sentient) wind, while the newer name represents the higher side of wind as a power lying back of phenomena; and it is this latter conception alone that is utilized in the formation of the Vedic triad of wind, fire, and sun. In short, in the use and application of the two names, there is an exact parallel to the double terminology employed to designate the sun as S[=u]rya and Savitar. Just as S[=u]rya is the older [Greek: hêlios] and sol (acknowledged as a god, yet palpably the physical red body in the sky) contrasted with the interpretation which, by a newer name (Savitar), seeks to differentiate the (sentient) physical from the spiritual, so is V[=a]ta, Woden, replaced and lowered by the loftier conception of V[=a]yu. But, again, just as, when the conception of Savitar is formed, the spiritualizing tendency reverts to S[=u]rya, and makes of him, too, a figure reclothed in the more modern garb of speech, which is invented for Savitar alone; so the retroactive theosophic fancy, after creating V[=a]yu as a divine power underlying phenomenal V[=a]ta, reinvests V[=a]ta also with the garments of V[=a]yu. Thus, finally, the two, who are the result of intellectual differentiation, are again united from a new point of view, and S[=u]rya or Savitar, V[=a]yu or V[=a]ta, are indifferently used to express respectively the whole completed interpretation of the divinity, which is now visible and invisible, sun and sun-god, wind and wind-god. In these pairs there is, as it were, a perspective of Hindu theosophy, and one can trace the god, as a spiritual entity including the physical, back to the physical prototype that once was worshipped as such alone.
In the Rig Veda there are three complete hymns to Wind, none of these being in the family books. In x. 186, the poet calls on Wind to bring health to the worshipper, and to prolong his life. He addresses Wind as 'father and brother and friend,' asking the power that blows to bring him ambrosia, of which Wind has a store. These are rather pretty verses without special theological intent, addressed more to Wind as such than to a spiritual power. The other hymn from the same book is directed to V[=a]ta also, not to V[=a]yu, and though it is loftier in tone and even speaks of V[=a]ta as the soul of the gods, yet is it evident that no consistent mythology has worked upon the purely poetic phraseology, which is occupied merely with describing the rushing of a mighty wind (x. 168). Nevertheless, V[=a]ta is worshipped, as is V[=a]yu, with oblations.
HYMN TO WIND (V[=a]ta).
Now V[=a]ta's chariot's greatness! Breaking goes it,
And thundering is its noise; to heaven it touches,
Goes o'er the earth, cloud[1] making, dust up-rearing;
Then rush together all the forms of V[=a]ta;
To him they come as women to a meeting.
With them conjoint, on the same chariot going,
Is born the god, the king of all creation.
Ne'er sleepeth he when, on his pathway wandering,
He goes through air. The friend is he of waters;
First-born and holy,—where was he created,
And whence arose he? Spirit of gods is V[=a]ta,
Source of creation, goeth where he listeth;
Whose sound is heard, but not his form. This V[=a]ta
Let us with our oblations duly honor.
In times later than the Rig Veda, V[=a]yu interchanges with Indra as representative of the middle sphere; and in the Rig Veda all the hymns of the family books associate him with Indra (vii. 90-92; iv. 47-48). In the first book he is associated thus in the second hymn; while, ib. 134, he has the only remaining complete hymn, though fragments of songs occasionally are found. All of these hymns except the first two simply invite V[=a]yu to come with Indra to the sacrifice, It is V[=a]yu who with Indra obtains the first drink of soma (i. 134. 6). He is spoken of as the artificer's, Tvashtar's, son-in-law, but the allusion is unexplained (viii. 26. 22); he in turn begets the storm-gods (i. 134. 4).
With V[=a]yu is joined Indra, one of the popular gods. These divinities, which are partly of the middle and partly of the lower sphere, may be called the popular gods, yet were the title 'new gods' neither wholly amiss nor quite correct. For, though the popular deities in general, when compared with many for whom a greater antiquity may be claimed, such as the Sun, Varuna, Dyaus, etc., are of more recent growth in dignity, yet there remains a considerable number of divinities, the hymns in whose honor, dating from the latest period, seem to show that the power they celebrate had been but lately admitted into the category of those gods that deserved special worship. Consequently new gods would be a misleading term, as it should be applied to the plainer products of theological speculation and abstraction rather than to Indra and his peers, not to speak of those newest pantheistic gods, as yet unknown. The designation popular must be understood, then, to apply to the gods most frequently, most enthusiastically revered (for in a stricter sense the sun was also a popular god); and reference is had in using this word to the greater power and influence of these gods, which is indicated by the fact that the hymns to Agni and Indra precede all others in the family books, while the Soma-hymns are collected for the most part into one whole book by themselves.
But there is another factor that necessitates a division between the divinities of sun and heaven and the atmospheric and earthly gods which are honored so greatly; and this factor is explanatory of the popularity of these gods. In the case of the older divinities it is the spiritualization of a sole material appearance that is revered; in the case of the popular gods, the material phenomenon is reduced to a minimum, the spirituality behind the phenomenon is exalted, and that spirituality stands not in and for itself, but as a part of a union of spiritualities. Applying this test to the earlier gods the union will be found to be lacking. The sun's spiritual power is united with Indra's, but the sun is as much a physical phenomenon as a spirituality, and always remains so. On the other hand, the equation of Varunic power with Indraic never amalgamated the two; and these are the best instances that can be chosen of the older gods. For in the case of others it is self-evident. Dyaus and Dawn are but material phenomena, slightly spiritualized, but not joined with the spirit-power of others.
Many have been the vain attempts to go behind the returns of Vedic hymnology and reduce Indra, Agni, and Soma to terms of a purely naturalistic religion. It cannot be done. Indra is neither sun, lightning, nor storm; Agni is neither hearth-fire nor celestial fire; Soma is neither planet nor moon.
Each is the transient manifestation of a spirituality lying behind and extending beyond this manifestation. Here alone is the latch-key of the newer, more popular religion. Not merely because Indra was a 'warrior god,' but because Indra and Fire were one; because of the mystery, not because of the appearance, was he made great at the hands of the priests. It is true, as has been said above, that the idol of the warriors was magnified because he was such; but the true cause of the greatness ascribed to him in the hymns lay in the secret of his nature, as it was lauded by the priest, not in his form, as it was seen by the multitude. Neither came first, both worked together; but had it not been for the esoteric wisdom held by the priests in connection with his nature, Indra would have gone the way of other meteorological gods; whereas he became chiefest of the gods, and, as lord of strength, for a time came nearest to the supreme power.
INDRA.
Indra has been identified with 'storm,' with the 'sky,' with the 'year'; also with 'sun' and with 'fire' in general.[2] But if he be taken as he is found in the hymns, it will be noticed at once that he is too stormy to be the sun; too luminous to be the storm; too near to the phenomena of the monsoon to be the year or the sky; too rainy to be fire; too alien from every one thing to be any one thing. He is too celestial to be wholly atmospheric; too atmospheric to be celestial; too earthly to be either. A most tempting solution is that offered by Bergaigne, who sees in Indra sun or lightning. Yet does this explanation not explain all, and it is more satisfactory than others only because it is broader; while it is not yet broad enough. Indra, in Bergaigne's opinion, stands, however, nearer to fire than to sun.[3] But the savant does not rest content with his own explanation: "Indra est peut-être, de tous les dieux védiques, celui qui résiste le plus longtemps à un genre d'analyse qui, appliqué à la plupart des autres, les résout plus ou moins vite en des personnifications des éléments, soit des phénomènes naturels, soit du culte" (ibid. p. 167).
Dyaus' son, Indra, who rides upon the storm and hurls the lightnings with his hands; who 'crashes down from heaven' and 'destroys the strongholds' of heaven and earth; whose greatness 'fills heaven and earth'; whose 'steeds are of red and gold'; who 'speaks in thunder,' and 'is born of waters and cloud'; behind whom ride the storm-gods; with whom Agni (fire) is inseparably connected; who 'frees the waters of heaven from the demon,' and 'gives rain-blessings and wealth' to man—such a god, granted the necessity of a naturalistic interpretation, may well be thought to have been lightning itself originally, which the hymns now represent the god as carrying. But in identifying Indra with the sun there is more difficulty. In none of the early hymns is this suggested, and the texts on which Bergaigne relies besides being late are not always conclusive. "Indra clothes himself with the glory of the sun"; he "sees with the eye of the sun"—such texts prove little when one remembers that the sun is the eye of all the gods, and that to clothe ones' self with solar glory is far from being one with the sun. In one other, albeit a late verse, the expression 'Indra, a sun,' is used; and, relying on such texts, Bergaigne claims that Indra is the sun. But it is evident that this is but one of many passages where Indra by implication is compared to the sun; and comparisons do not indicate allotropy. So, in ii. II. 20, which Bergaigne gives as a parallel, the words say expressly "Indra [did so and so] like a sun."[4] To rest a building so important on a basis so frail is fortunately rare with Bergaigne. It happens here because he is arguing from the assumption that Indra primitively was a general luminary. Hence, instead of building up Indra from early texts, he claims a few late phrases as precious confirmation of his theory.[5] What was Indra may be seen by comparing a few citations such as might easily be amplified from every book in the Rig Veda.
According to the varying fancies of the poets, Indra is armed with stones, clubs, arrows, or the thunderbolt (made for him by the artificer, Tvashtar), of brass or of gold, with many edges and points. Upon a golden chariot he rides to battle, driving two or many red or yellow steeds; he is like the sun in brilliancy, and like the dawn in beauty; he is multiform, and cannot really be described; his divine name is secret; in appearance he is vigorous, huge; he is wise and true and kind; all treasures are his, and he is a wealth-holder, vast as four seas; neither his greatness nor his generosity can be comprehended; mightiest of gods is he, filling the universe; the heavens rest upon his head; earth cannot hold him; earth and heaven tremble at his breath; he is king of all; the mountains are to him as valleys; he goes forth a bull, raging, and rushes through the air, whirling up the dust; he breaks open the rain-containing clouds, and lets the rain pour down; as the Açvins restore the light, so he restores the rain; he is (like) fire born in three places; as the giver of rain which feeds, he creates the plants; he restores or begets Sun and Dawn (after the storm has passed);[6] he creates (in the same way) all things, even heaven and earth; he is associated with Vishnu and P[=u]shan (the sun-gods), with the Açvins, with the Maruts (storm-gods) as his especial followers, and with the artisan Ribhus. With Varuna he is an Adityá, but he is also associated with another group of gods, the Vasus (x. 66. 3), as Vasupati, or 'lord of the Vasus.' He goes with many forms (vi. 47. 18).[7]
The luminous character[8] of Indra, which has caused him to be identified with light-gods, can be understood only when one remembers that in India the rainy season is ushered in by such displays of lightning that the heavens are often illuminated in every direction at once; and not with a succession of flashes, but with contemporaneous ubiquitous sheets of light, so that it appears as if on all sides of the sky there was one lining of united dazzling flame. When it is said that Indra 'placed light in light,' one is not to understand, with Bergaigne, that Indra is identical with the sun, but that in day (light) Indra puts lightning (x. 54. 6; Bergaigne ii. p. 187).
Since Indra's lightning[9] is a form of fire, there is found in this union the first mystic dualism of two distinct gods as one. This comes out more in Agni-worship than in Indra-worship, and will be treated below. The snake or dragon killed by Indra is Vritra, the restrainer, who catches and keeps in the clouds the rain that is falling to earth. He often is called simply the snake, and as the Budhnya Snake, or snake of the cloud-depths, is possibly the Python (=Budh-nya).[10] There is here a touch of primitive belief in an old enemy of man—the serpent! But the Budhnya Snake has been developed in opposite ways, and has contradictory functions.[11]
Indra, however, is no more the lightning than he is the sun. One poet says that he is like the sun;[12] another, that he is like the lightning (viii. 93. 9), which he carries in his arms (viii. 12. 7); another, that he is like the light of dawn (x. 89. 12). So various are the activities, so many the phenomena, that with him first the seer is obliged to look back of all these phenomena and find in them one person; and thus he is the most anthropomorphized of the Vedic gods. He is born of heaven or born of clouds (iv. 18), but that his mother is Aditi is not certain. As the most powerful god Indra is again regarded as the All-god (viii. 98. 1-2). With this final supremacy, that distinction between battle-gods and gods sovereign, which Bergaigne insists upon—the sovereign gods belonging to une conception unitaire de l'ordre du monde (iii. p. 3; ii. p. 167)—fades away. As Varuna became gradually greatest, so did Indra in turn. But Varuna was a philosopher's god, not a warrior's; and Varuna was not double and mystical. So even the priest (Agni) leaves Varuna, and with the warrior takes more pleasure in his twin Indra; of him making an All-god, a greatest god. Varuna is passive; Indra is energetic; but Indra does not struggle for his lordship. Inspired by soma, he smites, triumphs, punishes. Victor already, he descends upon his enemies and with a blow destroys them. It is rarely that he feels the effect of battle; he never doubts its issue.
There is evidence that this supremacy was not gained without contradiction, and the novelty of the last extravagant Indra-worship may be deduced, perhaps, from such passages as viii. 96. 15; and 100. 3, where are expressed doubts in regard to the existence of a real Indra. How late is the worship of the popular Indra, and that it is not originality that causes his hymns to be placed early in each collection, may be judged from the fact that only of Indra (and Agni?) are there idols: viii. 1. 5; iv. 24. 10: "Who gives ten cows for my Indra? When he has slain his foe let (the purchaser) give him to me again."[13] Thus it happens that one rarely finds such poems to Indra as to Dawn and to other earlier deities, but almost always stereotyped descriptions of prowess, and mechanical invitations to come to the altar and reward the hymn-maker. There are few of Indra's many hymns that do not smack of soma and sacrifice. He is a warrior's god exploited by priests; as popularly conceived, a sensual giant, friend, brother, helper of man. One example of poetry, instead of ritualistic verse-making to Indra, has been translated in the introductory chapter. Another, which, if not very inspiring, is at least free from obvious soma-worship—which results in Indra being invoked chiefly to come and drink—is as follows (vi. 30):
Great hath he grown, Indra, for deeds heroic;
Ageless is he alone, alone gives riches;
Beyond the heaven and earth hath Indra stretched him,
The half of him against both worlds together!
So high and great I deem his godly nature;
What he hath stablished there is none impairs it.
Day after day a sun is he conspicuous,
And, wisely strong, divides the wide dominions.
To-day and now (thou makest) the work of rivers,
In that, O Indra, thou hast hewn them pathway.
The hills have bowed them down as were they comrades;
By thee, O wisely strong, are spaces fastened.
'Tis true, like thee, O Indra, is no other,
Nor god nor mortal is more venerable.
Thou slew'st the dragon that the flood encompassed,
Thou didst let out the waters to the ocean.
Thou didst the waters free, the doors wide opening,
Thou, Indra, brak'st the stronghold of the mountains,
Becamest king of all that goes and moveth,
Begetting sun and heaven and dawn together.
THE MARUTS.
These gods, the constant followers of Indra, from the present point of view are not of great importance, except as showing an unadulterated type of nature-gods, worshipped without much esoteric wisdom (although there is a certain amount of mystery in connection with their birth). There is something of the same pleasure in singing to them as is discernible in the hymns to Dawn. They are the real storm-gods, following Rudra, their father, and accompanying the great storm-bringer, Indra. Their mother is the variegated cow Priçni, the mother cloud. Their name means the shining, gleaming ones.
HYMN TO THE MARUTS (vii. 56. 1-10).
Who, sooth, are the gleaming related heroes,
the glory of Rudra, on beauteous chargers?
For of them the birthplace no man hath witnessed;
they only know it, their mutual birthplace.
With wings expanded they sweep each other,[14]
and strive together, the wind-loud falcons.
Wise he that knoweth this secret knowledge,
that Priçni the great one to them was mother.[15]
This folk the Maruts shall make heroic,
victorious ever, increased in manhood;
In speed the swiftest, in light the lightest,
with grace united and fierce in power—
Your power fierce is; your strength, enduring;
and hence with the Maruts this folk is mighty.
Your fury fair is, your hearts are wrothful,
like maniacs wild is your band courageous.
From us keep wholly the gleaming lightning;
let not your anger come here to meet us.
Your names of strong ones endeared invoke I,
that these delighted may joy, O Maruts.
What little reflection or moral significance is in the Marut hymns is illustrated by i. 38. 1-9, thus translated by Müller:
What then now? When will ye take us as a dear father takes his son by both hands, O ye gods, for whom the sacred grass has been trimmed?
Where now? On what errand of yours are you going, in heaven, not on earth? Where are your cows sporting? Where are your newest favors, O Maruts? Where are blessings? Where all delights? If you, sons of Priçni, were mortals and your praiser an immortal, then never should your praiser be unwelcome, like a deer in pasture grass, nor should he go on the path of Yama.[16] Let not one sin after another, difficult to be conquered, overcome us; may it depart, together with greed. Truly they are terrible and powerful; even to the desert the Rudriyas bring rain that is never dried up. The lightning lows like a cow, it follows as a mother follows after her young, when the shower has been let loose. Even by day the Maruts create darkness with the water-bearing cloud, when they drench the earth, etc.
The number of the Maruts was originally seven, afterwards raised to thrice seven, and then given variously,[17] sometimes as high as thrice sixty. They are the servants, the bulls of Dyaus, the glory of Rudra (or perhaps the 'boys of Rudra'), divine, bright as suns, blameless and pure. They cover themselves with shining adornment, chains of gold, gems, and turbans. On their heads are helmets of gold, and in their hands gleam arrows and daggers. Like heroes rushing to battle, they stream onward. They are fair as deer; their roar is like that of lions. The mountains bow before them, thinking themselves to be valleys, and the hills bow down. Good warriors and good steeds are their gifts. They smite, they kill, they rend the rocks, they strip the trees like caterpillars; they rise together, and, like spokes in a wheel, are united in strength. Their female companion is Rodas[=i] (lightning, from the same root as rudra, the 'red'). They are like wild boars, and (like the sun) they have metallic jaws. On their chariots are speckled hides; like birds they spread their wings; they strive in flight with each other. Before them the earth sways like a ship. They dance upon their path. Upon their chests for beauty's sake they bind gold armor. From the heavenly udder they milk down rain. "Through whose wisdom, through whose design do they come?" cries the poet. They have no real adversary. The kings of the forest they tear asunder, and make tremble even the rocks. Their music is heard on every side.[18]
RUDRA.
The father of the Maruts, Rudra, is 'the ruddy one,' par excellence and so to him is ascribed paternity of the 'ruddy ones.' But while Indra has a plurality of hymns, Rudra has but few, and these it is not of special importance to cite. The features in each case are the same. The Maruts remain as gods whose function causes them to be invoked chiefly that they may spare from the fury of the tempest. This idea is in Rudra's case carried out further, and he is specially called on to avert (not only 'cow-slaying' and 'man-slaying' by lightning,[19] but also) disease, pestilence, etc. Hence is he preeminently, on the one hand, the kindly god who averts disease, and, on the other, of destruction in every form. From him Father Manu got wealth and health, and he is the fairest of beings, but, more, he is the strongest god (ii. 33. 3, 10). From such a prototype comes the later god of healing and woe—Rudra, who becomes Çiva.[20]
RAIN-GODS.
There is one rather mechanical hymn directed to the Waters themselves as goddesses, where Indra is the god who gives them passage. But in the unique hymn to the Rivers it is Varuna who, as general god of water, is represented as their patron. In the first hymn the rain-water is meant.[21] A description in somewhat jovial vein of the joy produced by the rain after long drought forms the subject matter of another lyric (less an hymn than a poem), which serves to illustrate the position of the priests at the end of this Vedic collection. The frogs are jocosely compared to priests that have fulfilled their vow of silence; and their quacking is likened to the noise of students learning the Veda. Parjanya is the god that, in distinction from Indra as the first cause, actually pours down the rain-drops.
THE FROGS.[22]
As priests that have their vows fulfilled,
Reposing for a year complete,
The frogs have now begun to talk,—
Parjanya has their voice aroused.
When down the heavenly waters come upon him,
Who like a dry bag lay within the river,
Then, like the cows' loud lowing (cows that calves have),
The vocal sound of frogs comes all together.
When on the longing, thirsty ones it raineth,
(The rainy season having come upon them),
Then akkala![23] they cry; and one the other
Greets with his speech, as sons address a father.
The one the other welcomes, and together
They both rejoice at falling of the waters;
The spotted frog hops when the rain has wet him,
And with his yellow comrade joins his utterance.
When one of these the other's voice repeateth,
Just as a student imitates his teacher,
Then like united members with fair voices,
They all together sing among the waters.
One like an ox doth bellow, goat-like one bleats;
Spotted is one, and one of them is yellow;
Alike in name, but in appearance different,
In many ways the voice they, speaking, vary.
As priests about th' intoxicating[24] soma
Talk as they stand before the well-filled vessel,
So stand ye round about this day once yearly,
On which, O frogs, the time of rain approaches.