Gods Olid Saints of the Great Bniluuaua. 43 



are numerous, for it was their wish to be greater in number than 

 other j2,"ods, so that they are reckoned b}- groups (cf. TS. 2. 2. 5. 7 ; 

 11. 1\ They are the common people among" the gods. ^ 



hi 21. 1. 1 f., it is said, " Indra phmdered the Maruts, his own 

 people, of a thousand cows, delivering" them over to Soma, the king. 

 Hence (nowadays) people plunder the husbandmen, delivering over 

 to the king (the booty)." The following" tale, of Yama's overhear- 

 ing the two robber-gods (representing the nobles and the king) and 

 insisting on getting his share, is too long to cite in full, though it 

 has one interesting feature which ma}' be explained in brief After 

 letting" the two gods kno\\" that he wanted his share in the plunder, 

 Yama proposes a sort of wager to see which shall get the most 

 de.'^iral^le cov\", and the three agree to let the matter be decided 

 according to whichever of the gods the cow shall approach first. 

 A similar wager is made between Indra and Rusama, when they 

 make a bet as to which will run round the earth first ; and the 

 great saint Visvamitra makes a \\ager that his team will drag a 

 heavy wagon up a river-bank, failing to do which the Saudanti 

 people, his opponents, are to get the wagon, while if he wins the}' 

 are to till it with good things for him. 2 



Indra is the only live god of the day. The Father-god, Prajapati, 

 is an abstraction and the other gods are merely gods of the machine, 

 but Indra, though trammeled by the ritual in which he is enmeshed, 

 still " struggles to be free, his hinder parts," and remains a very 

 amusing" and real god, although, again, his greatest activit}' is ex- 

 hibited in the combat with the demon Vrtra. Vrtra, however, is 

 not a mere thievish demon. He has, in fact, a godlike personality. 

 Just as " when Varuna was initiated, his glory departed, Bhrgu his 

 son getting a third of it, the Srayantiya Saman a third, and a third 

 entered Axater," ^ so, when Indra killed Vrtra, the demon's variegated 

 form iDecame the earth, the .stars, and the " lotus " between (i. e. 

 the atmosphere), and when the sacrificer puts on the lotus-wreath, 

 he symbolically assumes the power of Vrtra, 18. 9. 6. As the wreath 



1 PB. ly. 1. 14; 19. 14. 1; 21. 14. 3 witli 14. 12.9, "rays of Indra." 

 The Maruts are represented as jealous of Indi-a. Agastya consecrated 

 Ijulls to them, but slew (bound) them for Indra. Taking- the thunderbolt 

 the ]\Iaruts llew at Agastya. He saw the KayasubliTya Saman (RV. 1. 

 165) and calmed them with it. 21. 14. 5 (cf. 9. 4. 17. Agastya's Sukta ; 

 TS. 7. 5. 5. 2). 



2 14. 3. 12; 25. 13. 3. 



3 18. 9. 1. f. ; cf. SB. 5. 4. 5. 1 ; TS. 1. 8. 18. 1. (EV. 8.99. 3 srayan/a 

 iva xiirvaiii). 



