If Indra is called 'bull,' that at first only meant 'strong' (ii. 209).
Yet 'some very thoughtful scholars' see traces of totemism in Indra!
{111a} Mr. Max Muller thinks that this theory is 'obscuring the Veda by
this kind of light from the Dark Continent' (America, it seems). Indra
is said to have been born from a cow, like the African Heitsi Eibib.
{111b} There are unholy stories about Indra and rams. But I for one, as
I have said already, would never deny that these _may_ be part of the
pleasant unconscious poetry of the Vedic hymnists. Indra's legend is
rich in savage obscenities; they may, or may not, be survivals from
savagery. At all events one sees no reason why we should not freely
compare parallel savageries, and why this should 'obscure' the Veda.
Comparisons are illuminating.