Anitra

“ Ransom was slowly shaking her head under her husband's prolonged look and saying softly:
"No, not Georgian, Anitra. Henceforth Anitra, always Anitra. Can you endure the ordeal for the sake of the safety and peace of mind it will bring?"
"I endure it! Can you? Remember the deafness that marks Anitra."
"That can be cured." Her smile turned almost arch. "We will travel; there are great physicians abroad."
"A sister—not a wife?"
"Your wife in time—Ah, it will mean a new courtship and—Anitra is a different woman from Georgian—she has suffered—you will love her better." ”

“ Anitra is a lithe-limbed daughter of the East who entrances Peer with her dancing, and, when he promises to endow her with a soul, promptly informs him that she would rather have the opal from his turban ”

“ But in India winter is distinctly the dry season. Midsummer is the all-important season of the rains. Indra’s conquest over Vritra, or the arrival of solstitial rains, marked by the disappearance of the constellation Hydra from the sky, was mythologically in the Vedas described as Indra’s conquest over the demon of drought, but still traditionally—for the power of tradition is great—even in India Indra retained the attributes of the conqueror over the demon of darkness. ”

“ Indra’s distinctive Vedic epithet vrtrahan [Vritra-slayer] also occurs in the Avesta in the form of verethraghna, which is, however, unconnected with Indra or the thunderstorm myth, designating merely the God of Victory. Thus it is probable that the Indo-Iranian period possessed a god approaching to the Vedic form of the Vrtra-slaying Indra. It is even possible that beside the thundering god of heaven, the Indo-European period may have known as a distinct conception a thunder-god, gigantic in size, a mighty eater and drinker, who slays the dragon with his lightning bolt. ”

“ To have watched Orion’s flaming signal through that crystal atmosphere, to have loved the placid jewels of the Pleiades, is to have received the Desert’s blessing, which is contentment—if not peace. One must spend whole days crossing its sun-baked emptiness, carry-on through the chill of twilight, feel the menace of its dark, and see its wondrous moon burst from black cedars on a mesa edge. ”

“ Indra is this, and much more in the Veda. He is supreme in the hymns of many poets, and may have been so in the prayers addressed to him by many of the ancient septs or village communities in India. Compared with him the other gods are said to be decrepit old men. Heaven, the old Heaven or Dyaus, formerly the father of all the gods, nay the father of Indra himself, bows before him, and the Earth trembles at his approach. Yet Indra never [199] commanded the permanent allegiance of all the other gods, like Zeus and Jupiter ”

“ Indra, or the Aqueous Vapor, that brings the precious rain on which plenty or famine still depends each autumn, received the largest number of hymns. By degrees, as the settlers realized more and more keenly the importance of the periodical rains to their new life as husbandmen, he became the chief of the Vedic gods. "The gods do not reach unto thee, O Indra, nor men; thou overcomest all creatures in strength." ”

“ As an example of the philological method with a Vedic god, take Indra. I do not think that science is ever likely to find out the whole origins of any god. Even if his name mean ‘sky,’ Dyaus, Zeus, we must ask what mode of conceiving ‘sky’ is original. Was ‘sky’ thought of as a person, and, if so, as a savage or as a civilised person; as a god, sans phrase; as the inanimate visible vault of heaven; as a totem, or how? Indra, like other gods, is apt to evade our observation, in his origins. Mr. Max Müller asks, ‘what should we gain if we called Indra . ”

“ With might hath Indra spread out heaven and earth, with power hath Indra lighted up the Sun. In Indra are all creatures closely held; in him meet the distilling Soma-drops. 7. Men with their lauds are urging thee, Indra, to drink the Soma first. The Rbhus in accord have lifted up their voice, and Rudras sung thee as the first. 8. Indra increased his manly strength at sacrifice, in the wild rapture of this juice. And living men to-day, even as of old, sing forth their praises to his majesty. ”

“ If the god of the heavens, greater in time and space, always present and everywhere present, easily rose to the supreme rank, carried there by his double infinity, yet others, with a less continuous, but more dramatic action, revealing themselves by sudden, unexpected events, maintained their ancient independence, and religious development might lead to their usurping the power of the king of the heavens. Already during the middle of the Vedic period, Indra, the noisy god of the storm, ascends the summit of the pantheon, and eclipses his majestic rival by the din of his resounding splendor. ”

“ As the myth grows more and more into a religion, and the conception of a mighty god who excels all others becomes fixed, the production of thunder and rain, &c., is gradually transferred to this originally solar god (see also Max Müller, Chips, &c., I. 357 et seq.) . The sharp division made above is therefore absolutely true only of the purely mythological stage. Conversely Indra and Varuṇa, originally figures belonging to the gloomy cloudy and rainy sky, which take the highest places in the Indian religion, are in the Vedic Hymns endowed with solar traits. ”

“ Indra.—The sun, Indra, the mighty one, "king of the world and master of creatures," bright and warm, traverses the heavens on a car drawn by azure steeds; he it is who hurls the thunderbolt, sends the rain, and banishes the clouds. India is a country of violent tempests; the Hindoo struck with this phenomenon explained it in his own fashion. ”

“ According to the old commentator Sayana, Indra got at the soma which inspired him with his drinking-song by assuming the shape of a quail.
The great feats of Indra, which are constantly referred to, are his slaughter of the serpent Vritra, who had taken possession of all the waters, and his recovery of the sun, which had also been stolen. [53] These myths are usually regarded as allegorical ways of stating that the lightning opens the dark thundercloud, and makes it disgorge the rain and reveal the sun. ”

“ Surya was also Savitri, the quickener, who in the early morn rouses the sleepers, and in the evening twilight buries them again in sleep; he is also Vishnu, the companion of Indra, who traverses the celestial space in three long strides; he is Pushan, the nourisher and faithful guide of men and animals; and he is Yama, who traverses the steep road to death and the shades. Thus the gods multiplied—the original supreme deity, Varuna, who was one with Indra, though different from him, giving place to a multitude of solar deities, children of Dyaus, the great dawn-god or day-father. ”

“ On the left of Andromeda is Aries, the Ram, the small constellation the Triangles lying between them.
Toward the southwest, the Whale (Cetus) is beginning to set. The River (Eridanus) occupies the lower part of the southwesterly sky, and extends also to the mid-heavens in that direction. The Dove (Columba) is nearly due south, and at its best—which is not saying much. Above is the Hare (Lepus) , on which Orion treads. The Giant now presents his noblest aspect—prince of all the constellations as he is. He faces the Bull (Taurus) , known by the Pleiades and the bright Aldebaran. ”

“ What is the Aryan conception of the Thunder-god, but a poetic elaboration of thoughts inherited from the savage state through which the primitive Aryans had passed? The Hindu Thunder-god is the Heaven-god Indra, Indra’s bow is the rainbow, Indra hurls the thunderbolts, he smites his enemies, he smites the dragon-clouds, and the rain pours down on earth, and the sun shines forth again. ”

“ Indra, who was represented as a crucified god, is also the Sun. No sooner is he born than he speaks to his mother. Like Apollo and all other Sun-gods he has golden locks, and like them he is possessed of an inscrutable wisdom. He is also born of a virgin—the Dawn. Crishna and Indra are one. ”

“ Is the demon of the solstitial Indra personified as only a snake-like cloud? It is impossible to think so. The astronomic interpretation of the myth I would propose is that—a snake-like constellation, not a snake-like cloud, is the representation of the demon Vritra.
On the celestial sphere many serpents and dragons are represented, but the far-reaching constellation Hydra exceeds all the others in its enormous length from head to tail. No very brilliant stars mark the asterism, nor in the grouping of its stars is there anything especially snake-like. ”

“ In some of the hymns addressed to Indra his original connection with the sky and the thunderstorm seems quite forgotten. He has become a spiritual god, the only king of all worlds and all people, [229] who sees and hears everything, [230] nay, who inspires men with their best thoughts. No one is equal to him, no one excels him.
The name of Indra is peculiar to India, and must have been formed after the separation of the great Aryan family had taken place, for we find it neither in Greek, nor in Latin, nor in German. ”

“ Heaven, earth, Indra, "the cow," are all thought of as personal entities, however gigantic and vague. In the second or anthropomorphic myths we have [46] the dialogue already referred to, in which Indra, like Set in Egypt and Malsumis or Chokanipok in America, insists on breaking his way through his mother's side. [47] In verse 5 his mother exposes Indra, as Maui and the youngest son of Aditi were exposed. Indra soon after, as precocious as Heitsi Eibib, immediately on his birth kills his father. [48] He also kills Vritra, as Apollo when new-born slew the Python. ”

“ A solar eclipse can only take place at the time of new moon. It is a little puzzling to find Atri, if Atri personifies the new moon, saving the sun from eclipse instead of being the cause of the disaster; but as in the Rig Veda Atri always appears as a friend, not an enemy, of the gods of light—Agni, Indra, and the Aswins—we may suppose that the Vedic bard chose to represent him as being present at, rather than causing the sun’s eclipse. ”

“ Although in the Vedic hymns the features of the primitive nature-myth reappear again and again, Indra himself boasting, “I slew Vritra, O Maruts, with might, having grown strong with my own vigour; I who hold the thunderbolt in my arms, I have made [Pg 54] these all-brilliant waters to flow freely for man,” we find an approach in them to some conception of that spiritual conflict of which the physical conflict was so complete a symbol. Indra as victor, is an object of adoration and invested with purity and goodness ”

“ Indra, the storm-king of the Veda, was the god of war, for whom the Ṛishis made and drank the intoxicating Soma, while in the Vendīdad [288] he is expressly mentioned in the list of evil spirits, and is second only to Ahriman, the arch-fiend of the Avesta. But another name for Indra in the Vedic songs is Vṛitrahā, and this name is recognized as that of the angel Verethragna; hence it follows that under one name the god is cursed and feared as a fiend, while under another he is worshipped as an angel. ”

“ Yet speculation is free and changes easily: Dawn is the mother of the sun and is born of Night, by reason of temporal sequence; while for local causes Sky and Earth are the all-parents. Or the greatest of a class is parent of the rest, as the storm-god Rudra ("Roarer") of the Rudras, the wind of the storm-gods, Sarasvatī of rivers, and Soma of plants. A certain mysticism and love of paradox result in a declaration that Indra produced his parents, Sky and Earth, or that Dakṣa (a creator-god) is at once father and son of Aditi. Similar vagueness prevails regarding men. ”

“ Thou hast spread out wide earth, a mighty marvel, and, high thyself, propped lofty heaven, O Indra. Both worlds, whose Sons are Gods, thou hast supported, young, Mothers from old time ofholy Order. 8. Yea, Indra, all the Deities installed thee their one strong Champion in the van for battle. What time the godless was the Gods' assailant, Indra they chose to win the light of heaven. 9. Yea, e'en that heaven itself of old bent backward before thy bolt, in terror of its anger, When Indra, life of every living creature, smote down within his lair the assailing Dragon. ”

“ Indra with might shook earth and her foundation as the wind stirs the water with its fury. Striving, with strength he burst the firm asunder, and tore away the summits of the mountains. 5. They ran to thee as mothers to their offspring: the clouds, like chariots, hastened forth together. Thou didst refresh the streams and force the billows: thou, Indra, settest free obstructed rivers. ”

“ To Indra Dyaus the Asura hath bowed him down, to Indra mighty Earth with wide-extending tracts, to win the light, with wide-spread tracts. All Gods of one accord have set Indra in front preeminent. For Indra all libations must be set apart, all man's libations set apart. 2. In all libations men with hero spirit urge the Universal One, each seeking several light, each fain to win the light apart. Thee, furthering like a ship, will we set to the chariot-pole of strength, As men who win with sacrifices Indra's thought, men who win Indra with their lauds. ”

“ Celestial hosts by Indra led
Flee from my face disquieted,
And where my dreaded feet appear
The wind is hushed or breathless is fear.
Where'er I stand, where'er I go
The troubled waters cease to flow,
Each spell-bound wave is mute and still
And the fierce sun himself is chill.
Beyond the sea my Lanká stands
Filled with fierce forms and giant bands,
A glorious city fair to see
As Indra's Amarávatí. ”