February, 1921.] Annual Address. xxi 
‘He isthe reality. Heisthe truth. He is Supreme Brahman. 
He is Purusa. He is black and brown. He belongs to the 
Upper region. He has abnormal eyes and pervades the Uni- 
verse. But the later conception 
wifes Hea traffic meaR aay 
TARAS VESTA fase TARA | 
waa aRATITIAATMa Tard TA 
frag feats fafamraet ugaa Aaa | 
*‘Siva is like a silver-mountain, moon-crested, with limbs 
brilliant with the radiance of a variety of precious stones, with 
four hands holding axe, mrga, boon-pose, no-fear pose, with 
a smiling benevolent look, seated on a lotus throne, propitiated 
with hymns by deities on all sides, with five heads and three 
eyes, clothed in a tiger-skin, and the beginning and the seed of 
the Universe.”” The conceptions materially differ. Who is 
then Siva? or Mahadeva with forty-eight different names ? 
He has eight different Mirtis, the Earth, Water, Fire, Aiz, 
Ether, the Sun, the Moon and the Sacrificer under eight 
different names, Sarvva, Bhava, Rudra, Ugra, Bhima, sana, 
Mahadeva and the Pasupati. He sits in all his splendour in 
the midst of these eight dignitaries and he is daily worshipped 
by Brahmanas and Brahmanic Hindus. Where is this splendid 
assemblage to be found ? ‘ 
There is a chapter in the Atharva-Veda, the 15th, which is 
regarded by all scholars, Indian and European, as mysterious. 
Its meaning is very little understood. In the midst of a 
mass of poetry, it is a chapter in prose. In the midst of the 
archaic Vaidika language, it has the ring of classical fancy. 
; e midst of incantation, charms and necromancies, it is 
full of beautiful imagery. In the midst of archaic old-world 
conceptions, it looks like modern poetry. In the midst of 
him Savitripatitah, a fallen Aryan, but he is an Aryan out- 
side the Vedic circle, an Aryan outside the Antardesa, the 
tract inhabited by the Vedic Aryans. He is on all sides of 
the Vedic settlement. He has no Brahmanic culture, no 
trade, no commerce. He is a warrior and a keeper of flocks. 
He has no permanent settlement and lives in a temporary one 
called vratyas. They roam about in hordes. They fight the 
Vedic Aryans. The Vedic Aryans have their bows and 
