PART I. HISTORY OF for thy horses have been yoked by prayer; may INDIA. the sound of the stone that bruises the soma attract thy mind towards us." "1 "Showerer of benefits, destroyer of cities, propitiated by our new songs, reward us with gratifying blessings." 12 In one hymn the worshippers are naïvely represented as saying: "Quaff the soma juices, satiate thy appetite, and then fix thy mind on the wealth that is to be given to us." 13 In another Indra is told that the minds of his worshippers adhere to him, as affectionate wives to a loving husband.14 Thus there are verses which describe him as a mere human chief, a strong man rejoicing in his strength, a warrior delighting in war, as well as in eating and drinking; and there are others in which his deeds and attributes are lauded with an Oriental exaggeration which renders his deification complete: Invocations to "He who as soon as born is the first of the deities, who preme Being. has done honour to the gods by his exploits; he at whose might heaven and earth are alarmed, and who is known by the greatness of his strength; he, men, is Indra. "He who fixed firm the moving earth; who tranquillized the incensed mountains; who spread the spacious firmament; who consolidated the heavens; he, men, is Indra. "He who, having destroyed Ahi,15 set free the seven rivers; who recovered the cows detained by Bala; who generated fire in the clouds; who is invincible in battle; he, men, is Indra. "He under whose control are horses and cattle, and villages, and all chariots; who gave birth to the sun and to 11 Rig-Veda, Mand. I. Hymn 87, v. 3. 14 Rig-Veda, Mand. I. Hymn 62, v. 11. 15 Ahi is another name for Vritra, or the rain-cloud. Sometimes Vritra, or Ahi, is represented as a heavy cloud charged with water, and sometimes as a chief among the aboriginal tribes with whom the Aryas are at war. the dawn; and who is the leader of the waters; he, men, is HISTORY OF Indra. "He to whom heaven and earth bow down; he at whose might the mountains are appalled; he who is the drinker of the soma juice, the firm of frame, the adamant armed, the wielder of the thunderbolt; he, men, is Indra.16 "May we envelope thee with acceptable praises, as youthful husbands are embraced by their wives."17 INDIA. PART I. of Agni or Fire. tributes of fire. tions connected climates. Another famous Vedic deity, and one perhaps Characteristics who is superior to Indra, although he never acquired the sovereignty of the gods, is Agni, or Fire. Even Mysterious atto the eye of the man of science there is something spiritual in the varied manifestations of fire, and something divine in its powers of destruction and purification. To this must be added the fact that Family associain colder climates, like that from which the Vedic with fire in cold Aryans appear to have emigrated, the presence of fire is associated with home pleasures and family ties, and the domestic hearth becomes a vivid conception embodying pleasant memories and warm affections. But to man in a primitive state of existence, the Reverence expresence of fire excites feelings of reverence. powers raise it to the rank of a deity whose operations are felt and seen. It burns and it consumes. It dispels the darkness, and with it drives away, not only the imaginary horrors which the mind associates with darkness, but also the real horrors, such as beasts of prey. In its lower manifestations as mere General utility heat, it cooks the food and warms the dwelling, and it enables the artisan to forge weapons for the warrior, or to fashion jewelled ornaments to enliven the Its cited amongst of fire. INDIA. PART I. festations of fire. HISTORY OF charms of female beauty. In its higher manifestations it becomes identified with the light of the sun Higher mani- and moon; with the lightning which shoots from the sky and shatters the loftiest trees and strikes down the strong man; with the deity who covers the field with grain and ripens the harvest; with the divine messenger who licks up the sacrifice and carries it Presence of fire to the gods. Thus fire was regarded by the Vedic marriage cere- Aryans as in every way a sacred thing; and, as if to associate this deity with all that is nearest and dearest to the human heart, a fire was considered to be indispensable to the due performance of the marriage ceremony; and the presence of fire as a divine witness was deemed in some instances sufficient to sanctify the union of an impatient and impassioned pair. necessary at the mony. Agni, or Fire, represented in various forms. mortal being. Thus Agni, or Fire, is depicted in the Vedas in a variety of forms: as a priest, a divine messenger, a devouring element, and a deity who is the source and diffuser of light throughout the universe. In Agni as an im- some hymns he is personified as an immortal being enjoying perpetual youth, and travelling in a car drawn by red horses.18 He is frequently invoked as Agni as a priest a priest, and like an officiating priest he is said to have brought prosperity to the worshipper. As a divine messenger he was implored to bring the gods to the sacrifice, 19 and the loving wives of the gods to Agni as the de- partake of the soma juice.20 As a devouring element he is invoked as the bright and purifying deity who Character of the was charged with all the invocations of the gods; dressed to Agni. whilst the mere operations of Agni as a consuming and divine messenger. vouring ele ment. Vedic hymns ad 18 Rig-Veda, Mand. I. Hymn 36, v. 15; Mand. IV. v. 8. 19 Rig-Veda, Mand. I. Hymn 31, v. 17. 20 Rig-Veda, Mand. I. Hymn 22, v. 9. INDIA. Agni as a de Agni in his do fire are frequently described in language eminently HISTORY OF poetical. "When generated from the rubbing of PART I. sticks, the radiant Agni bursts forth from the wood Invocations to like a fleet courser." 21 "When excited by the wind, stroyer. he rushes amongst the trees like a bull, and consumes the forest as a Raja destroys his enemies." "His path is blackened, and the birds are terrified at his roaring."" In his more domestic capacity, Agni is Invocations to described as an ornament in the sacrificial chamber, mestic capacity. like a woman in a dwelling.23 He is young and golden-haired, the domestic guardian, the protector against evil spirits, malevolent men, and noxious animals.24 Like the divine Sun he is the supporter Invocations to of the universe, but he abides on earth like a princé surrounded by faithful friends, and men sit down in his presence like sons in the dwelling of a father. "Such as thou art, Agni, men preserve thee constantly kindled in their dwellings, and offer upon thee abundant food: Do thou, in whom is all existence, be the bearer of riches." 25 But still there are Invocations to passages referring to Agni, as indeed there are verses preme Being. referring to almost every other Vedic deity, in which that individual god is represented as supreme and absolute.25 Thus in two particular hymns, Agni is 21 Rig-Veda, Mand. V. Hymn 29, v. 6. 22 Rig-Veda, Mand. I. Hymn 58, v. 4; Hymn 65, v. 4; Hymn 94, v. 10 and 11. 23 Rig-Veda, Mand. I. Hymn 66, v. 3. 24 Rig-Veda, Mand. I. Hymn 36, v. 5, 15. 25 Rig-Veda, Mand. I. Hymn 73. The whole of this hymn is singularly illustrative of the worship of Agni. 26 This coexistence of Monotheism and Polytheism is very clearly explained by Prof. Max Müller in the following very eloquent passage :—“ When these individual gods are invoked, they are not conceived as limited by the power of others, as superior or inferior in rank. Each god is to the mind of the supplicant as good as all the gods. He is felt, at the time, as a real divinity-as supreme and absolute, in spite of the necessary limitations which, to our mind, a plurality of gods must entail on every single god. All the rest disappear for a moment from the vision Agni as a deity. Agni as the Su INDIA. Language of praise to be dis the expression of thought. HISTORY OF called the ruler of the universe, the lord of men, the wise king, the father, the brother, the son, the friend of men; whilst the whilst the powers and even the names of the other deities are distinctly applied to this god.27 Care must however be taken not to confound the tinguished from language of praise with the expression of thought. The extravagance of Oriental adulation will permit an Asiatic courtier to address some petty chief or Raja as the king of kings, but this by no means implies an idea of universal empire. At the same time, the language of praise, eager to propitiate and boundless in expression, may have to some extent originated that later conception of the one Supreme Being, the God above all gods, which is undoubtedly to be found in the Vedas. Indra and Agni, the chief gods of These two deities-Indra and Agni, Rain and the Rig-Veda. Fire-are the chief gods which were worshipped by the Vedic Aryans. In the hymns they are sometimes identified with each other, and sometimes they are associated in the same hymn; but even as individuals more hymns were apparently addressed to each than to any other divine being in the Vedic pantheon. The remaining gods, however, though less prominent and perhaps less popular, are still well worthy of attention. They comprise the personifications of water, and the sun and moon, air and the winds, all of which were associated with the ideas of deity. Characteristics of Varuna, or Water. The god of waters was named Varuna.28 Next of the poet, and he only who is to fulfil their desires stands in full light before the eyes of the worshippers." Hist. of Ancient Sanskrit Literature, p. 532. 27 Rig-Veda, Mand. I. Hymns 1 and 2. Comp. Max Müller, Hist. of Sanskrit Lit. p. 533. 28 Upon this point there is some obscurity. Varuna was undoubtedly regarded as the deity of water, but the name is in some verses applied to the sun and even |