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1 The thirteenth or intercalary month ; see page 212. * Rv. vii. 87. 2., the wind is called the breath of Varuna. The gods. * These spies or watchers are most likelj the other Aditjas, of whom it is said (ii. 27. 3.) that " thej see into what is evil and what is good, and that everything, eyen at the greatest distance, is HYMN TO VABUNA. 637 14. The god, whom the scoffers do not provoke, nor the tormentors of men, nor the plotters of mis- chief, — 15. He, who gives to men glory, and not half glory, who gives it even to our own bodies, — 16. Yearning for him, the far-seeing, my thoughts move onwards, as kine move to their pastures. 17. Let us speak together again, because my honey has been brought : thou eatest what thou likest, like a friend.^ 18. Now I saw the god who is to be seen by all, I saw the chariot above the earth : he must have accepted my prayers. 19. 0 hear this my calling, Varuna, be gracious now ; longing for help, I have called upon thee. 20. Thou, 0 wise god, art lord of all, of heaven and earth : listen on thy way. 21. That I may live, take from me the upper rope, loose the middle, and remove the lowest ! This one hymn to Varuna would be sufficient to show the mistake of those who deny the presence of moral truths in the ancient religions of the world and, more particularly, in the so-called nature-wor- ship of the Aryans. On the contrary, whatever we find of moral sentiments in those ancient hymns is generally as true to-day as it was thousands of years ago ; while what is false and perishable in them near to them." ^* With them the right is not distinguiBhed from the left, nor the east, nor the west." (Rv. ii. 27. 11.) See Roth, Zeit- schrift der Deutschen Morgenlandischen Gesellschaft, vi. 72. ^ Hotri does not mean friend, but the priest who is chosen to invite the gods. Perhaps it means poet and priest in a more ge- neral sense than in the later hymns. 538 HYMN TO VARUNA. has reference to the external aspects of the deity, and to his supposed working in nature. The key-note of all religion, natural as well as revealed, is present in the hymns of the Veda, and nevex* completely drowned by the strange music which generally deafens our ears when we first listen to the i?vild echoes of the heathen worship. There is the belier in God, the perception of the difference between good nd evil, the conviction that God hates sin, and loves the righteous. We can hardly speak with sufficiexxt reverence of the dis- covery of these truths, Ixowever trite they may appear to ourselves ; and, if the name of revelation seems too sacred a nain^e t^o be applied to them, that of discovery is too profane, for it would throw the vital truths ojp ^\ religion, both an- cient and modem, into tlx^ same category as the discoveries of a Galileo ox* . Newton. Theologians niay agree in denying that ^riy man in possession of his reason can, without a. oxime, remain ignorant of God for any length of tirxxe^ Missionaries, however, who held and defended t^Ki^ c)pinion, have been led to very different convictions ^t^^e, some intercourse with savage tnbes. DobrizKo^v^w ^ho was for eighteen years a Missionary m I^ax^^g^ly, states that the Ian- guage of the Abipones ^o^^ xiot contain a single word Who, lu^ ..ea "t^^- lL7i^re course of their hvea -§.^1 ^xner, uunig replied, no, never, X^^^^^ ^ver thought of God, with fourteen Abipone^V='^off'^ ^y\ I'^'^Jf open air, as usual oif' J^ *tdown by the fire mth ^ ^ ^Ix^ high shore of the nver > Dobrizho£fer, Accoun-t; ^*' -lie Abipones, toI. ii- P- 58- HYMN TO VARUNA. 539 Plata. Tlie sky, which was perfectly serene, de- lighted our eyes with its twinkling stars. I began a conversation with the Cacique Ychoalay, the most intelligent of all the Abipones I have been acquainted with, as well as the most famous in war. * Do you behold,' said I, * the splendour of Heaven, with its magnificent arrangement of stars ? Who can sup- pose that all this is produced by chance ? Whom do you suppose to be their creator and governor ? What were the opinions of your ancestors on the sub- ject ?' * My father,' replied Ychoalay, readily, and frankly, *our grandfathers and great-grandfathers, were wont to contemplate the earth alone, solicitous only to see whether the plain afibrded grass and water for their horses. They never troubled them- selves about what went on in the Heavens, and who was the creator and governor of the stars.'" The Guaranies, who had an expression for the supreme Deity whom they call tupa^ a word composed of two particles — ft^,a word of admiration, and pa, of interro- gation, nevertheless worshipped only an evil spirit. Let us turn our eyes from the Indians of America to the Indians of India, and we shall perceive the immense distance by which these noble races are separated from the savage tribes to whom our Missionaries are still trying, and trying in vain, to impart the first principles of religion. The language of their simple prayers is more intelligible to us, their whole world of thought and feeling is nearer to us, than anything we find in the literature of Greece and Rome, and there are, here and there, short expressions of faith and devotion in which even a Christian can join without irreverence. If the following were not addressed to Varuna, one of the many names of the deity, it 640 HYMN TO VABUNA. would seem to contain nothing strange or offensive to our ears : 1. Let me not yet, 0 Varuna, enter into the house of clay ; have mercy, almighty, have mercy ! 2. If I go along trembling, like a cloud driven by the wind ; have mercy, almighty, have mercy ! 3. Through want of strength, thou strong and bright god, have I gone to the wrong shore ; have mercy, almighty, have mercy ! 4. Thirst came upon the worshipper, though he stood in the midst of the waters ; have mercy, almighty, have mercy ! 5. Whenever we men, 0 Varuna, commit an offence before the heavenly host ; whenever we break thy law through thoughtlessness; have mercy, al- mighty, have mercy ! Here we have the two ideas, so contradictory to the human understanding, and yet so easily reconciled in every human heart : God has established the eternal laws of the moral world, and yet he is willing to forgive those who offend against them ; just, yet merciful ; a judge, and yet a father. " He is merciful even to him who has committed sin." ^ The next hymn allows us a still deeper insight into the strange ideas which the Rishis had formed to themselves as to the nature of sin. (Rv. vii. 86.) 1. Wise and mighty are the works of him who stemmed asunder the wide firmaments. He lifted on high the bright and glorious heaven; he stretched out apart the starry sky and the earth. * Rv. yii. 87. 7. jah mrilay&ti chakrushe chit agah. HYMN TO VABUNA. 541 2. Do I say this to my own soul? How can I get unto Varuna? Will he accept my offering without displeasure ? When shall I, with a quiet mind, see him propitiated ? 3. I ask, 0 Varuna, wishing to know this my sin. I go to ask the wise. The sages all tell me the same : Varuna it is who is angry with thee. 4. Was it an old sin, 0 Varuna, that thou wishest to destroy thy friend, who always praises thee? . Tell me, thou unconquerable lord, and I will quickly turn to thee with praise, freed from sin. 5. Absolve us from the sins of our fathers, and from those which we committed with our own bodies. Release Vasishtha^, 0 king, like a thief who has feasted on stolen cattle ; release him like a calf from the rope. 6. It was not our own doing, 0 Varuna, it was necessity, an intoxicating draught, passion, dice, thoughtlessness. The old is near to mislead the young ; even sleep brings unrighteousness. 7. Let me without sin give satisfaction, like a slave to the bounteous lord, the god, our support. The lord god enHghtened the foolish ; he, the wisest, leads his worshipper to wealth. 8. 0 lord, Varuna, may this song go well to thy heart ! May we prosper in keeping and acquiring ! Protect us, 0 gods, always with your blessings ! These ideas preponderate in h3rmns addressed to Varuna, but they likewise occur in the prayers to the other gods. Varuna is one of the Adityas, the sons of time, the Kroniones, the heavenly gods. The hymns addressed to these Adityas in general are full ^ Name of the poet. 542 HYMN TO INDRA.