4 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 94 



cast their inveterated ' * skins {hitvd j'lrnan tacain) and to glide 

 forward (ati-srp), changing their forms, and thus " the Serpents are 

 the Adityas " (sarpya va aditydh) ; of. Satapatha Brahmana, VII, 3, 

 2, 14, where Agni is found upon the lotus leaf, having " crept up 

 out of the Waters" (adbhya upddsrptani). The evidence for the 

 identification of Agni ab extra W\\h. Ahi Budhnya ah intra need not 

 be presented in detail, but it may be noted that in IV, i, 11,^ Agni, 

 " footless and headless, hiding both his ends " {apad asirso guhamano 

 anta) is clearly thought of as a coiled snake, perhaps with its tail 

 in its mouth ; and that in the same way the Sun is originally " footless ", 

 but is given feet by Varuna that he may proceed (apadc padd prati 

 dhdtave, I, 24, 8) ; in other passages. Indra, Agni, Soma, and Varuna 

 are similarly described as " footed " (padav'ih, m.) ; cf. padavl (f.) 

 as footprint, vestigium pedi^ in I, 72. 2 and X, 71, 3, and similarly 

 pada, passim. Apdd, on the other hand, is a natural kenning for 

 " snake " ; in III, 30, 8, the demons Kunaru and Vrtra are handless 

 and footless {ahastam, apadam), and Vrtra similarly in I, 2,2, 7. The 

 Satapatha Brahmana, I, 6, 3, 9, in connection with the transformation 

 of Soma, is explicit " In that he was rolling, he became Vrtra ; in that 

 he was footless, he became Ahi " (yad apdt samahhavat tasmad ahis). 

 In the following shorter discussion, complete in itself, there is as- 

 sembled a part of the corresponding evidence on the side of the femi- 

 nine principles. 



We now proceed to consider the case of Dawn {iisas), whose lauds 

 are so familiar to every student of the Rg Veda. It is well known 

 that Night and Day or Dawn {naktosasd du. f.) are sisters, of like 

 mind, who move successively upon a common path, Night " when 

 she hath conceived for Savitr's quickening yielding the womb to 

 Dawn" (I, 113, 1-3). " Sister to mightier sister yields the womb" 

 (I, 124, 8; it is the younger sister that is victorious, the Devi re- 

 placing the Asurl, cf. MahdbMrata XII, 35, 25, " The Asuras are 

 the elder brothers, the Devas indeed the younger"). "Successively 

 they nurse the Yearling Calf " (T, 95, i), i. e. Agni, who has thus two 

 mothers {ubhe sa mat r or abhavat putra, III, 2, 2, and dinindtd, pas- 

 sim) ; " One mother holds the Calf, the other rests (kseti) Ye, 



variant pair, have made yourselves twin beauties (vapiimsi), one that 

 is black (krsnajii) and one that shines " (III, 55, 4 and 11, cf. V, 2, 

 2). In the same way the Bambino, whether Sun or Fire, has two 

 aspects corresponding to those of the sister Dawns (usasd virupe, V, i, 

 4), " with one of whom is he glaucous (Jiari). with the other bright 



* For Notes, see p. 12 f. 



