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.
(Like) priests who _soma_ have, they raise their voices,
And pray the prayer that once a year is uttered;
(Like) heated priests who sweat at sacrifices,
They all come out, concealed of them is no one.
The sacred order of the (year) twelve-membered,
These heroes guard, and never do neglect it;
When every year, the rainy season coming,
The burning heat receiveth its dismission.[25]
In one hymn no less than four gods are especially invoked for
rain--Agni, Brihaspati, Indra, and Parjanya. The two first are
sacrificially potent; Brihaspati, especially, gives to the priest the
song that has power to bring rain; he comes either 'as Mitra-Varuna or
P[=u]shan,' and 'lets Parjanya rain'; while in the same breath Indra
is exhorted to send a flood of rain,--rains which are here kept back
by the gods,[26]--and Agni is immediately afterwards asked to perform
the same favor, apparently as an analogue to the streams of oblation
which the priest pours on the fire. Of these gods, the pluvius is
Parjanya:
Parjanya loud extol in song,
The fructifying son of heaven;
May he provide us pasturage!
He who the fruitful seed of plants,
Of cows and mares and women forms,
He is the god Parjanya.
For him the melted butter pour
In (Agni's) mouth,--a honeyed sweet,--
And may he constant food bestow![27]
This god is the rain-cloud personified,[28] but he is scarcely to be
distinguished, in other places, from Indra; although the latter, as
the greater, newer god, is represented rather as causing the rain to
flow, while Parjanya pours it down. Like Varuna, Parjanya also upsets
a water-barrel, and wets the earth. He is identical with the Slavic
Perkuna.
For natural expression, vividness, energy, and beauty, the following
hymn is unsurpassed. As a god unjustly driven out of the pantheon, it
is, perhaps, only just that he should be exhibited, in contrast to
the tone of the sacrificial hymnlet above, in his true light.
Occasionally he is paired with Wind; and in the curious tendency of
the poets to dualize their divinities, the two become a compound,
_Parjanyav[=a]t[=a]_ ("Parjanya and V[=a]ta"). There is, also, vii.
101, one mystic hymn to Parjanya. The following, v. 83, breathes quite
a different spirit:[29]
Greet him, the mighty one, with these laudations,
Parjanya praise, and call him humbly hither;
With roar and rattle pours the bull his waters,
And lays his seed in all the plants, a foetus.
He smites the trees, and smites the evil demons, too;
While every creature fears before his mighty blow,
E'en he that hath not sinned, from this strong god retreats,
When smites Parjanya, thundering, those that evil do.
As when a charioteer with whip his horses strikes,
So drives he to the fore his messengers of rain;
Afar a lion's roar is raised abroad, whene'er
Parjanya doth create the rain-containing cloud.
Now forward rush the winds, now gleaming lightnings fall;
Up spring the plants, and thick becomes the shining sky.
For every living thing refreshment is begot,
Whene'er Parjanya's seed makes quick the womb of earth.
Beneath whose course the earth hath bent and bowed her,
Beneath whose course the (kine) behoofed bestir them,
Beneath whose course the plants stand multifarious,
He--thou, Parjanya--grant us great protection!
Bestow Dyaus' rain upon us, O ye Maruts!
Make thick the stream that comes from that strong stallion!
With this thy thunder come thou onward, hither,
Thy waters pouring, a spirit and our father.[30]
Roar forth and thunder! Give the seed of increase!
Drive with thy chariot full of water round us;
The water-bag drag forward, loosed, turned downward;
Let hills and valleys equal be before thee!
Up with the mighty keg! then pour it under!
Let all the loosened streams flow swiftly forward;
Wet heaven and earth with this thy holy fluid;[31]
And fair drink may it be for all our cattle!
When thou with rattle and with roar,
Parjanya, thundering, sinners slayest,
Then all before thee do rejoice,
Whatever creatures live on earth.
Rain hast thou rained, and now do thou restrain it;
The desert, too, hast thou made fit for travel;
The plants hast thou begotten for enjoyment;
And wisdom hast thou found for thy descendants.
The different meters may point to a collection of small hymns. It is
to be observed that Parjanya is here the fathergod (of men); he is the
Asura, the Spirit; and rain comes from the Shining Sky (Dyaus). How
like Varuna!
The rain, to the poet, descends from the sky, and is liable to be
caught by the demon, Vritra, whose rain-swollen belly Indra opens with
a stroke, and lets fall the rain; or, in the older view just
presented, Parjanya makes the cloud that gives the rain--a view united
with the descent of rain from the sky (Dyaus). With Parjanya as an
Aryan rain-god may be mentioned Trita, who, apparently, was a
water-god, [=A]ptya, in general; and some of whose functions Indra has
taken. He appears to be the same with the Persian Thraetaona
[=A]thwya; but in the Rig Veda he is interesting mainly as a dim
survival of the past.[32] The washing out of sins, which appears to be
the original conception of Varuna's sin-forgiving,[33] finds an
analogue in the fact that sins are cast off upon the innocent waters
and upon Trita--also a water-god, and once identified with Varuna
(viii. 41. 6). But this notion is so unique and late (only in viii.
47) that Bloomfield is perhaps right in imputing it to the [later]
moralizing age of the Br[=a]hmanas, with which the third period of the
Rig Veda is quite in touch.
* * * * *
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 1: Compare I. 134. 3.]
[Footnote 2: For the different views, see Perry, JAOS. xi.
p. 119; Muir, OST. v. p. 77.]
[Footnote 3: _La Religion Védique_, ii. pp. 159, 161, 166,
187.]
[Footnote 4: The chief texts are ii. 30. 1; iv. 26. 1; vii.
98. 6; viii. 93. 1, 4; x. 89. 2; x. 112. 3.]
[Footnote 5: Other citations given by Bergaigne in
connection with this point are all of the simile class. Only
as All-god is Indra the sun.]
[Footnote 6: i. 51. 4: "After slaying Vritra, thou did'st
make the sun climb in the sky."]
[Footnote 7: [=A]dityá, only vii. 85. 4; V[=a]l. 4. 7. For
other references, see Perry (loc. cit.).]
[Footnote 8: Bergaigne, ii. 160. 187.]
[Footnote 9: Indra finds and begets Agni, iii. 31. 25.]
[Footnote 10: Unless the Python be, rather, the Demon of
Putrefaction, as in Iranian belief.]
[Footnote 11: Demons of every sort oppose Indra; Vala,
Vritra, the 'holding' snake (_áhi_=[Greek: echis]), Çushna
('drought'), etc.]
[Footnote 12: So he finds and directs the sun and causes it
to shine, as explained above (viii. 3. 6; iii. 44. 4; i. 56.
4; iii. 30. 12). He is praised with Vishnu (vi.69) in one
hymn, as distinct from him.]
[Footnote 13: Bollensen would see an allusion to idols in i.
145. 4-5 (to Agni), but this is very doubtful (ZDMG. xlvii.
p. 586). Agni, however, is on a par with Indra, so that the
exception would have no significance. See Kaegi, Rig Veda,
note 79a.]
[Footnote 14: Or 'pluck with beaks,' as Müller translates,
SBE. xxxii. p. 373.]
[Footnote 15: "Bore them" (gave an udder). In v. 52. 16
Rudra is father and Priçni, mother. Compare viii. 94. 1:
"The cow ... the mother of the Maruts, sends milk (rain)."
In x. 78. 6 the Maruts are sons of Sindhu (Indus).]
[Footnote 16: I.e., die.]
[Footnote 17: The number is not twenty-seven, as Muir
accidentally states, OST. v. p. 147.]
[Footnote 18: v. 58. 4, 5; I. 88. 1; 88. 5; v. 54. 11; viii.
7. 25; i. 166. 10; i. 39. 1; 64. 2-8; v. 54. 6; i. 85. 8;
viii. 7. 34; v. 59. 2.]
[Footnote 19: He carries lightnings and medicines together
in vii. 46. 3.]
[Footnote 20: Çiva is later identified with Rudra. For the
latter in RV. compare i. 43; 114, 1-5, 10; ii. 33. 2-13.]
[Footnote 21: vii. 47, and x. 75.]
[Footnote 22: vii. 103.]
[Footnote 23: _Akhkhala_ is like Latin _eccere_ shout of joy
and wonder(_Am.J. Phil._ XIV. p. 11).]
[Footnote 24: Literally, 'that has stood over-night,' i.e.,
fermented.]
[Footnote 25: To this hymn is added, in imitation of the
laudations of generous benefactors, which are sometimes
suffixed to an older hymn, words ascribing gifts to the
frogs. Bergaigne regards the frogs as meteorological
phenomena! It is from this hymn as a starting-point proceed
the latter-day arguments of Jacobi, who would prove the
'period of the Rig Veda' to have begun about 3500 B.C. One
might as well date Homer by an appeal to the
Batrachomyomachia.]
[Footnote 26: x. 98. 6.]
[Footnote 27: vii. 102.]
[Footnote 28: Compare Bühler, _Orient and Occident_, I. p.
222.]
[Footnote 29: This hymn is another of those that contradict
the first assumption of the ritualists. From internal
evidence it is not likely that it was made for baksheesh.]
[Footnote 30: _[A]suras, pit[=a] nas_.]
[Footnote 31: Literally, 'with _ghee_'; the rain is like the
_ghee_, or sacrificial oil (melted butter).]
[Footnote 32: Some suppose even Indra to be one with the
Avestan _A[.n]dra_, a demon, which is possible.]
[Footnote 33: Otherwise it is the 'bonds of sin' which are
broken or loosed, as in the last verse of the first Varuna
hymn, translated above. But the two views may be of equal
antiquity (above, p. 69, note). On Trita compare JRAS. 1893,
p. 419; PAOS. 1894 (Bloomfield).]
* * * * *