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" "The word Siirya, in its simplest sense," answered Vidydch^Lrya, " means naturally the Sun, as also does Savitri, though perhaps the words may often designate emblematically something still more divine." "I thank you; and what is Aditi?" he continued asking. "Perhaps by Aditi," answered the other, "is meant mother earth, or the Universe, who may very prettily be repre- sented as the parent of the Adityas." " I see ; but who are the Adityas?" "If you remember, there are twelve Adityas, and these are the twelve manifestations of Savitri, or the months of the revolving year." "A certain light begins now to dawn upon me ; only I should like in the same manner to ask who is Vilyu?" "Clearly V^yu is the god of the wind." • " But what then are the Maruts ?" " The Maruts are the winds in general, and therefore they are with great propriety called the allies of Indra in his contest with Vritra." " Pray why so, or what is the meaning of the contest?" " The contest is between the divinely blue heaven, as you have yourself not amiss interpreted Indra, and the sullen mass of clouds which, like a hostile giant, with- holding the rain in their lap, threaten mankind with dearth. Indra then, the beneficent and the divine, makes war against the sullen giant; the genial winds, who are his friends, and indeed his offspring, as well as the sons of Prisni, or earth, come to his assistance against the withholder of rain; so Vritra, or Ahi, who may well be called the king of hostile Asuras, is slain; and hence it is divinely sung: RIG-VEDA. First Aahtaka, FifUi Adhyaya, Varga XXX, XXXI, *Thy thunderbolts were scattered widely over sixty and nine rivers ; great is thy prowess ; strength is in thy arms, manifesting thy rule. VEDIC DEITIES. 73 ' A thousand mortals worshipped him together ; twenty (priests) have hymned his praise : a hundred (sages) again and again laud him : so, Indra, is the offering lifted up, manifesting thy rule. * Indra by lus strength overcame the strength of Vritra : great is his manhood, wherewith, having slain Yritra, he made the waters flow, manifesting his rule. * This heaven and earth trembled, thunderer, at thy wrath, when attended by the Maruts, thou slewest Yritra by thy might, manifest- ing thy rule. ' Yritra stayed not Indra by his trembling or lus clamour : the thunderbolt of many-edged iron fell upon him ; Indra manifesting his rule. *When thou, Indra, didst encounter with thy bolt Yritra, and the thimderbolt which he hurled, then, Indra, thy strength determined to slay Ahi was shewn in the heavens, manifesting thy rule. *At thy voice, wielder of the thunderbolt, all things moveable or immoveable trembled ; even Twashtri, O Indra, shook with fear at thy wratL* So again in another place," continued the Achdrya, " it is sung, 'Indra upholds, and has spread out the earth; having struck the clouds, he has extricated the waters.' " " In fact, then," here remarked Blancombe, '^ some of the most striking hymns in the Rig- Veda describe merely the slay- ing of Vritra, in the sense of making it rain ; and if that is the language in which you metaphorically describe the operations of nature, it is not difficult to conjecture why the S^khya philo- sophers yield only a partial assent to the Veda, or perhaps inter- pret it in a peculiar manner." ^* But we have not finished the explanation which you are kind enough to give me," resumed Mountain, "and I have not yet asked you who is Ushasf^^ *^ Ushas," answered the Achdrya, ** is the goddess of the dawn." *' l^hen again, who are Mitra, and Varuna, who are called, as I observe, dispensers of waters?" "That," answered the A'chd- rya, " will not be obscure to you, if only you notice that one is called the ruler of day, and the other of night. Mitra also is called one of the Adityas, and hence it is clear that he is either the sun, or a manifestation of the sun ; and similarly Varunai 74 VEDIC DEITIES. though in modem times he is considered merely as the regent of the waters, must properly have been the moon \ You see, there- fore, how divine wisdom instructed us thus early in our scrip- tures of that which Europeans were many centuries before they fully discovered ; namely, how the heavenly bodies govern the movements of the vast ocean below/' ^* But I observe," re- marked Mountain, '^that the words Pushan and Aryanian are also applied apparently to the sun, and yet in a way contrasted with each other." *^That arises," answered the other, "from the difference of aspect under which the same thing may be considered. When we call the sun Pdshan, we consider him as the nourisher, or the great vivifier by heat and moisture ; but again as Aiyaman he is represented as the god of twilight, or the divider, there being a period at which the sun seems to separate day from night." " Very well; and now the Aswins?" *' That," said the Achdrya, " is not altogether an easy question to answer. But you may remember that the Aswins are called the sons of Sindhu, or the sea ; they are also termed physicians of the gods, since they bring healthful alternation ; and they are said to pervade all things, one with heat and the other with moisture. Hence, although some have explained them either as Heaven and Earth, or again as Sun and Moon, I should myself more gladly consider them as Day and Night, who with pleasant alternation heal all living things. Thus they are very fitly termed Dasraa, or destroyers of diseases ; and Ndsatyas^ having no untruth, since their promise of return is never broken, like that of imfaithftil friends, but they come day by day." " Once more, then, what do you mean by the Aprts, or who is Twash" trif'^ " Why, the Apris have been understood to mean deified objects in general, but especially Agni, of whom I have much to say : and again, Twashtri is called the workman or artisan of the gods ; and since he is also represented as an Aditya, perhaps * This inference \n the speaker's own. But Weber's comparison of oi^/>cu^s seems to have etymology in its favour, and may remind us of the oiipaifhs, ddpol^unf SIVA AND THE VEDAS. 75 it would be not improper to consider him as another phase of the sun: if, for example, the smi were contemplated as performing the behests, or executing day by day the vivifying functions of the gods, then probably he might in that aspect be termed Twashtri." " I am exceedingly obliged to you," here resumed Mountain, *'for giving me a clearer notion than I had before of those among the names in the Rig- Veda which just now I felt a curiosity to inquire about. Only all this time there has been no mention of Siva ; and indeed, since my friend Blancombe here happens to have a copy of the Veda, if you do not object to take it from him, perhaps you would be good enough to turn to some passage in which the Mahdswara, or great lord, is pointed out as the Deity to be especially worshipped." "Just at present," replied the Ach^rya, " perhaps you will be good enough to excuse me ; though many wise men conceive that Siva is in the Veda called Kudra ; but indeed the question is not of any such importance as you appear to imagine: for the Purdnas, which are also a portion of our sacred scriptures, clearly set forth Siva in the sense which I humbly adopt. If you wish an instance of this, perhaps it may be allowed me to quote to you the Linga Purina, in which we read how Brahmd and Vishnu contended together for the superiority, but were put to shame by the appearance of the fiery column. In vain they both attempted to traverse the extent of that mysterious emblem of lifegiving power ; and after observing it to have neither beginning nor end, but that upon its extent was written the triple monosyllable aum, and that from it proceeded the Veda of inspiration, they learnt that the destroyer is also the restorer, and that neither the creator, who indeed only seems to create what has really been before, nor the preserver whose thousands of years, during which he upholds the perishable, are but a moment compared to the larger circle of death and life, are worthy of veneration when compared to Siva, who was before Brahmd, and who swallows up Vishnu, the puller down and also the rebuilder, who drinks up the worlds and breathes them forth again. Such are the conceptions of the 76 MULTIFORM UNITY.