Gods and Saints of the Great BraJunaua. 65 



nights are twent3'-one for the Adityas and twelve for the Augirasas, 

 24. 2. 2: cf. 23. 15. 3-6 (and 24. 12. 7), where their prosperity in 

 this and yonder worlds is emphasized, and it is said that there are 

 seven Adityas (which Sayana takes to mean the seven suns, Aroga, 

 Bhraja, and others). In 25. 1. 3, and 2. 2, these two groups of 

 beings get to heaven b}- a similar rite arranged differently, the 

 Aditvas by having the prsthas " in the middle," the Augirasas " at 

 the Ijeginning " (hence food, identified with the prsthdni is beneficial 

 " in the middle " and no where else than " from the mouth," mnkhat 

 with pnrastat, 25. 1. 4; 2. 3; 3. 3, etc.). Some of the Adityas, how- 

 ever, succeed b}- a separate rite, as " the path, the way of the gods " 

 is the so-called "path of Aryaman," described in 25. 12. 2—3, by 

 which inya//ani) he got to heaven and now shines in the sky as 

 " the reddest," aruuataina (S. " he appears in the sky in the morn- 

 ing as the reddest"). Preceding this rite are the rites of Mitra- 

 Varuna. and Indra-Agni, whereb}^ they got to heaven, making three 

 Sarasvati sattras as opposed to one DrsadvatI sattra (session). 



It may be as well to devote at this point a few words to the 

 Adityas alone, since the mythology of this group is from the 

 beginning very unclear. They have to do with healing ; also with 

 cattle, because cattle are grouped in sevens. If cattle are taken 

 by force, an offering is made to the (forceful) god Indra ; if they 

 go blind, an offering is made to the sun as chief Aditya and god 

 of light. 21. 14. 15 and 18. The sun cures leprosy, since he is the 

 "pure'' one, 15. 5. 9: 23. 16. 8-10 (cf. 2. 17. 3). In 16. 13. 3, the 

 sun is ■• vital breath " ; he who is sick is sick in breath and they cure 

 him with the threefold stoma, which is breath (homoeopathy). The 

 village animals and the Adit3'as are each seven, and so the Adityas 

 are cattle, 23. 15. 2-6. But they are also all creatures, or rather 

 all creatures born of Prajapati are Adityas, 13. 9. 5 = 18. 8. 13; TB. 

 1. 8. 8. 1. The night-rites often have to do with the Adityas. "By 

 means of the rite of the thirty-six nights the gods established the 

 Adityas, and this rite is especially for those who wish for cattle, 

 while those who practise it win the Adit3'a-world,"' 24. 5. 2, since 

 " he who gets a multitude of cattle gets therewith independent 

 sovereignty" fcharacteristic of Adityas. especially of Indra), ib. 3. 

 The x\dit}as, as already implied, are represented as " thriving b}- 

 pairs,'' as in one of the fort3f-nine - night rites it is said dvauidvain 

 ardhnuvan ("the3' throve b3^ pairs"), and so "the bliss of those 

 practising such a rite is, as it were, doubled," ra;;?(? ^vai ''saiii srJh, 

 24. 12. 3—4. The pairs are Mitra-Varuna, Dhatar and Aryaman, 

 Ansa and Bhaga, Indra and Vivasvat, and those who worship them 



Trans. Conn. Acad., Vol. XV. 5 July. 1909. 



