40 E. W. Hopkins, 



the " austerity-practising gods " tapascito devdh, 25. 5. 2—3, scarcely 

 deserve to be reckoned as a special " class of gods " (PW.).^ 



The battle of the forces of light and darkness is never ended ; for 

 when the gods conquer they still find the demons in possession 

 and have to begin again, but this is partly because, when the gods 

 have driven the demons out of earth, air, and sk}-, successively, 

 the gods themselves " yearn again for earth," 9.2.9—11. They find 

 Bliss only after four days, almost an insulted [pratyitpoditd) goddess, 

 19. 7. 2. Cviriously enough, though the act of slaying the demons 

 is virtuous, evil always follows the slater. This comes out most 

 clearly in the stories of Indra fbelow), but once it may affect all 

 the gods : " The Raksasas (demons or ogres, like the usual Asuras) 

 desired to destroy the sacrifice of the gods. Indra overthrew them 

 so that they rolled together [smiivartaiv updvapat, which gives the 

 name to the Saman called Saihvarta). Evil pursued them (or him, 

 pdpmd vava sa tan asacata, or v. 1., tam agrhiult, both are stereo- 

 typed forms ; see below). By means of the Saihvarta (Saman) they 

 removed that evil. One who praises with the Saihvarta Saman 

 removes evil (sin),'' 14. 12. 7. It is perhaps chance historical insight 

 as well as fanc}- which says " verily all the sacrifice was f^originally) 

 among the demons," nor is it wholly unhistorical when the chaunt 

 is regarded as the " womb from which Prajapati created sacrifice," 

 8. 6. 3-5 (compare yoner yajilam pratanavaniaha iti, ib. 4.). 



The success of the gods depends on their use of metres to a 

 great extent, but the metres are not all of the same potency. Not 

 by the eight, eleven, or twelve syllable metres (Gayatrl, Tristubh, and 

 Jagati) did the gods get to heaven, and " not quite " by the Anustubh. 

 But they took the essence of the four directions and added this 

 (as four syllables) to the 4X8 syllables of the Anustubh, and with 

 this Mighty (Brhati) metre at last they got to heaven, 7. 4. 2. The 

 gods conquered for themselves the Fire-laud, but they could not 

 win the Ukthas (recited utterances) till Agni, the fire-god, led them, 

 8. 8. 1. Characteristic is his refu.sal to do so till he knows what 

 he is to get for his services. "What am I to get out of this?" he 



> On the other hand the Visvasrjas are really treated as a division of 

 the gods, found here, 25. 18. 2 f.. as in TB. 3. 12. 0. 7 (^ sloka." v/s-rasr/ali 

 prathame sat ram dsata . . . hiraiunaya]), sakinio bra/iniaiidina) : cf. 2.0. 4. O. 

 Apropos of the bird-form of brahnia (the syena is •• swiftest of birds,"' 

 13. 10. 14; JB. 3. 1.58), the sacrificer himself "flies to heaven like a 

 great bird," s'akuna iva vayo blmtva, 5. 3. 5 (a common ghost-form) ; cf. 

 -a bird of light," 19. 10. 3; 11. 8; rite as bird, 14. 3. 10: 5. 1. 12. panyah 

 patati-^ 22. .5. 2; 23. 3. 7; 24. .3. 3: SB. 6. 7. 2. G. 



