PHILOSOPHY AND MEDICAL KNOWLEDGE IN ANCIENT INDIA. 243 
Agni (fgnis), the personification of fire, named also Pavaca, 
or the purifier; represented as having been uncreate, was 
one of the Vedic deities, the other two being respectively 
Indra, called also Vayu and Surya. Agni appears to have 
affinity to the Vulcan of Egypt, who was a deity of high rank, 
whereas the Vulcan of Greece, otherwise Haphaistos, was 
merely a forger of arms. According to other authors, 
Viswacarma, the fabricator of arms used in the wars by the 
Dewatas against the Assours, otherwise by the good spirits 
against the evil, more closely coincides with the charac- 
teristics assigned to the Egyptian Vulcan. The Persians held 
fire sacred prior to the date B.c. 2066, namely that of 
Zoroaster. ‘The pyrtanoi of the Greeks were of the nature 
of perpetual fire. 
Swaha, the sacti, spirit, or wife of Agni, seems to corre- 
spond to the younger Vesta of the Romans, or Vestia, as the 
Kolians pronounced the Greek word for hearth. 
Indra, or Iswara, god of the visible heavens, also the sky 
and rain, represented as having had a father and a mother ; 
of endless forms; of a golden or ruddy colour; armed with 
a thunderbolt and a net; his golden car drawn by two 
tawny horses; attended by his dog, Sarama (cr the dawn ?), 
himself drinking the intoxicating soma, the amrita, or water 
of immortality; his terrestrial residence, the Himalayahs, or 
Mountains of Snow. In these characteristics, Indra is believed 
to have been represented by Jupiter and Olympus. 
Vayu, personification of the wind, and is generally asso- 
ciated with Indra. Also called Pavana, the purifier, Gandha 
Vaha, the bearer of perfumes, Satatu-Ga, the everlasting, and 
Vata, the wind. 
The Hindoo Ayodhyia, or the conqueror Dionysius, is 
believed to correspond to Bucchus. The story of Rama and 
Sita, representing the expedition of this hero against 
Ravanu, King of Lunka or Ceylon, is believed by some 
modern writers to have supplied the type of the abduction 
of Helen by Paris, and subsequent Trojan War. Surya. 
or the Sun, was believed to be represented by Phwbus and 
Apollo of the Greeks. Surya is represented as sitting in a 
car drawn by a horse with twelve heads, and preceded by 
Arun, or the dawn. Each of the two sons, Aswinan, of 
Surya are considered to have had the character of Hsculapius, 
or of Apollo, in his healing quality; and, moreover, from 
Surya is considered to have descended the higher Hindoo, 
or, aS they are proudly called, the great Solar race of men. 
The wite of Surya was Sangya, the mother of the river Jumna. 
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