William Joseph Wilkins

“ The will of these gods is sovereign; no mortal can thwart their designs. They exercise authority over all creatures. In their hands is the life of mortals. They know the thoughts and intentions of men, and whilst they reward the worshipper, they punish those who neglect them.
When the Purānic deities are described, it will be noticed that the representations of the deities of that age are far more clearly defined than those of earlier times. Though the Vedic gods are spoken of as possessing human forms and acting as human beings, there is considerable vagueness in the outline. ”

“ Nothing in the Vedas is superior to the Gayatri. No invocation is equal to the Gayatri, as no city is equal to Kasi (Benares) . The Gayatri is the mother of the Vedas, and of Brāhmans. By repeating it a man is saved. By the power of the Gayatri the Kshetriya
SURYA.
(Warrior caste) Vishvamitra became a Brāhmarsi (Brāhman Saint) , and even obtained such power as to be able to create a new world. What is there indèed that cannot be effected by the Gayatri ? For the Gayatri is Vishnu, Brahmā, and Siva, and the three Vedas. ”

“ The eternal and inviolable element in which the Adityas dwell, and which forms their essence, is the celestial light. The Aditvas, the gods of this light, do not therefore by any means coincide with any of the forms in which light is manifested in the universe. They are neither the sun, nor moon, nor stars, nor dawn, but the eternal sustainer of this luminous life, which exists, as it were, behind these phenomena. ”

“ He is felt at the time as a real divinity, as supreme and absolute, in spite of the 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 of the poet, and he only who is to fulfil their desires, stands in full light before the eyes of the worshippers . ”

“ They possess all-potent spells that have remained hidden from men and are as ancient as the first rites, and it was by these the world was formed at first, and by which it is preserved up to the present. It is this omnipresent power of prayer which Brahmanaspati personifies, and it is not without reason that he is sometimes confounded with Agni, and especially with Indra. In reality each separate god and the priest himself become Brahmanaspati at the moment when they pronounce the mantras which gave them power over the things of heaven and of earth. ”

“ When the Sanskrit people left the common country, where for them, as well as for other kindred tribes, the brilliant radiance of heaven appeared to them, in consequence of the climate there prevailing, as the holiest thing, and settled in sultry India, where the glow of the heavens is destructive, and only its rain operates beneficially, this aspect of the Deity must have appeared the most adorable, so that the epithet Pluvius, in a certain sense, absorbed all the other characteristics of Dyauspitar. ”

“ As the Earth would not yield her fruits, great distress prevailed. Prithu said. “I will slay the Earth, and make her yield her fruits." Terrified at this threat, the Earth assumed the form of a cow, and was pursued by Prithu, even to the heaven of Brahmā. ”

“ When thus suffering, Indra, in the form of an old Brahman, passed by, and offered to take hold of the stone. No sooner did Ravana entrust it to him, than he let it fall to the ground. It is said that it sank into the earth, the top of it being visible at Vaidyanath in Birbhum to this day. The river Khursu is said to have taken its rise from Varuna when he left Ravana at this place; and, as a result, the Hindus will not drink of its waters.
Although Varuna is described in the Vedas as a holy being, according to the teaching of the Puranas, his heaven is a place of sensual delights. ”

“ Pushan is the name of a sun-god to whom some hymns are exclusively addressed, and whose praise at other times is sung in connection with that of Indra and other gods. In these hymns his character is not very clearly defined. He is said* to behold the entire universe; is addressed as the guide of travellers, and the protector of cattle. He is called upon to protect his servants in battle, and to defend them as of old. ”

“ Tower like an iron wall our homes to guard,
And all the boons bestow our hearts can crave.
"And when away our brief existence wanes,
When we at length our earthly homes must quit.
And our freed souls to worlds unknown shall flit. ”

“ O god, who bringest all blessings, and art distinguished by the golden spear, make wealth easy of acquisition! Convey us past our opponents; make our paths easy to travel; gain strength for us here. Lead us over a country of rich pastures; let no new trouble (beset our) path. Bestow, satiate, grant, stimulate us; fill our belly. We do not reproach Pushan, we praise him with hymns; and we seek riches from the wonder-working god." [7] "May we, O Pushan! meet with a wise man who will straightway direct us and say, 'It is this.' May Pushan follow our kine ”

“ Brihaspati and Brahmanaspati are generally regarded as being identical with Agni. Nearly the same epithets are applied to them, with this additional one—of presiding over prayer. In some few hymns they are addressed as separate deities. In “The Religions of India,” M. Barth, regarding these as names of one and the same deity, thus describes him :—
"Like Agni and Soma, he is born on the altar, and thence rises upwards to the gods; like them, he was begotten in space by Heaven and Earth ; like Indra, he wages war with enemies on the earth and demons in the air ”

“ Manu, as will be seen in the account of the Creation, being regarded by some of the Purānas as the first parent of mankind. This legend, with considerable variation, is found in most of the Purānas; Soma, Indra, Yama, and others taking the place of Manu as the calf whilst Prithu's place as the milker is taken by the Rishis, Mitra, etc. In the same note Professor Wilson says, “These are all probably subsequent modifications of the original simple allegory, which typified the earth as a cow, who yielded to every class of beings the milk that they desired, or the object of their wishes.” ”

“ Agni is an immortal who has taken up his abode with mortals as their guest. He is the domestic priest who rises before the dawn, and who concentrates in his own person and exercises in a higher sense all the various sacrificial offices which the Indian ritual assigns to a number of different human functionaries. ”

“ He makes the oblations fragrant; without him the gods experience no satisfaction.
Agni is the lord, protector, king of men. He is the lord of the house, dwelling in every abode. He is a guest in every home; he despises no man, he lives in every family. He is therefore considered as a mediator between gods and men, and as a witness of their actions ; hence to the present day he is worshipped, and his blessing sought on all solemn occasions, as at marriage, death, etc. In these old hymns Agni is spoken of as dwelling in the two pieces of wood which being rubbed together produce fire ”

“ We must, however, if we would discover their earliest character, abandon the conceptions which in a later age, and even in that of the heroic poems, were entertained regarding these deities, According to this conception they were twelve Sun-gods, there being evident reference to the twelve months. But for the most ancient period we must hold fast to the primary significance of their names. They are inviolable, imperishable, eternal things. Aditi, Eternity, or The Eternal, is the element which sustains them, or is sustained by them. ”

“ Between the time of the composition of the Rig Veda and that of the Atharva, considerable changes in the religious faith of the people had come about. The child-like trust of the earlier hymns has disappeared, and the deities now seem more cruel, and there is greater need of propitiatory offerings. Probably the old religion of the people whom they had conquered had begun to tell on that of the Aryans.
The Sanhitas of three of the Vedas are said to have some peculiarity. "If a mantra is metrical, and intended for loud recitation, it is called Rich (from rich, praise) whence the name Rig-Veda ”

“ Not only are they the creators, but also the preservers of all creatures, and are beneficent and kind to all. In other passages Heaven and Earth are said to have been formed by Indra, who is declared to transcend them in greatness, whom they follow "as a chariot follows the horse." ”

“ But the gods, fearing he would grow too powerful through his devotion to Siva, wished to frustrate his purpose. Siva, in giving the stone, made Ravana promise that wherever it first touched the ground, after leaving Siva's abode, it should remain. Aware of this fact, the gods tried to induce him to let it rest on the earth before he reached Ceylon. At last it was agreed that Varuna should enter Ravana 's bod}*, so that, in attempting to free himself, he might be compelled to loose his hold of the linga. ”

“ In other hymns we learn that the affairs of men are under his control; he is asked to prolong life, to punish transgressors; and a hope is held out that the righteous shall see him reigning in the spirit world in conjunction with Yama, the ruler of that region. Varuna, in fact, has attributes and functions ascribed to him in the Vedas, of a higher moral character than any other of the gods, and therefore men call upon him for pardon and purity. ”

“ The opinion that Indra has taken the place of Dyaus is now pretty generally believed, and the above explanation appears natural.
Of Prithivi we hear again: The "Vishnu Purāna" [3] gives the following account of her birth. There was a king named Venā, notorious for his wickedness and general neglect of religious duties. When the Rishis of that age could bear with his impiety no longer, they slew him. But now a worse evil happened ; anarchy prevailed, and they felt that a bad king was better than none at all. ”

“ As there is a power in the flame and the libation, so there is in the formula ; and this formula the priest is not the only person to pronounce, any more than he is the only one to kindle Agni or shed Soma. There is a prayer in the thunder, and the gods, who know all things, are not ignorant of the power in the sacramental expressions. ”

“ In the Vedic literature, though Varuna is not regarded chiefly as the god of the ocean, as he is in the later writings, but rather, as the above hymns show, as one of the gods of light, yet there are passages which describe him as being connected with the waters of the atmosphere and on the earth, which afford some foundation for the later conceptions of his kingdom. Thus, for instance, we read: "May the waters which are celestial, and those which flow ; those for which channels are dug, and those which are self-produced; Page:Hindu Mythology, Vedic and Purānic.djvu/65 him with dropsy. ”

“ The objects of worship are no longer indistinct and shadowy, but are so minutely described that their portraits could be easily painted. And as their physical features are no longer left to the imagination, so their mental and moral characters are fully delineated. ”

“ As noticed above, the text of the Rig-Veda says : [7] “Of the cight sons who were born from the body of Aditi, she approached the gods with seven, but cast away the eighth.” In the commentary, the following explanation of this circumstance is given :-“The eighth son was deformed. His brothers, seeing his deformity, improved his appearance. He was afterwards known as Vivasvat (the Sun) . From the superfluous flesh cut off his body an elephant was formed, hence the proverb, ‘Let no man catch an elephant, for the elephant partakes of the nature of man.” ”

“ In many parts of India not a man could be found able to read and interpret them. Of the Sanhitas, the "Rig-Veda Sanhita—containing one thousand and seventeen hymns—is by far the most important; whilst the Atharva Veda-Sanhita, though generally held to be the most recent, is perhaps the most interesting. ”

“ From the common appellation of the gods as divo naras, ‘men of the sky,' or simply naras, men,' and from the epithet nripesas, 'having the form of men,' who may conclude that the Indians did not merely in imagination assign human forms to their gods, but also represented them in a sensible manner. ”

“ A number of legends are found illustrating the power of the Asvins in healing the sick and assisting those in trouble, from which we learn that they could restore youth and vigour to the aged and decrepit ”

“ SUN OR LIGHT DEITIES— THE ASVINS. 45
others that they are day and night ; others, again, that they are the sun and moon. Professor Roth says, They hold a perfectly distinct position in the entire body of the Vedic deities of light. They are the earliest bringers of light in the morning sky, who hasten on in the clouds before the Dawn and prepare the way for her. ' '* In some hymns they are said to be sons of the sun {vide Surya ”

“ Pushan appears as one of the Adityas. {{c|3. Mitra and Varuna
These deities are most frequently named together in the hymns ; Varuna is often addressed alone, but Mitra very seldom. The idea of the older commentators was that Mitra represented and ruled over the day, whilst Varuna was ruler of the night. “Varuna is sometimes visible to the gaze of his worshippers ;
{{c|VARUNA.
hę dwells in a house having a thousand doors, so that he is ever accessible to men. He is said to have good eyesight, for he knows what goes on in the hearts of men. He is king of gods and men ”