136 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. [April, 1909. 
from a paper by Professor Bloomfield entitled ‘‘ Tita the Scape- 
goat of the gods’”’ : : 
he gods did not find a person upon whom they might be 
able to wipe off from themselves the bloody part of the sacrifice. 
Then Agni spake: ‘I will create for you him upon whom ye 
shall wipe off from yourselves the bloody part of the 
sacrifice.’ He threw a coal upon the waters; from that Ekata 
was born. (He threw) a second one; from that Dvita (was 
s 
fundamental difference. The riks speak of the evils and sins 
of the human beings only. The idea of the gods meeting with 
evils and committing sins and feeling the necessity of getting 
rid of them, by transferring them to somebody else, is foreign 
to the belief of the Rigvedic Risis. How the change in the 
belief was brought about is, however, easily seen. it was the 
result of the deification of the men of the preceding age. But 
we will not proceed further with this question now. We are 
marvellous one. They also believed that Agni is concealed in 
the celestial waters and the herbs sfaanq qudiewty | Probabiy 
. . . . : Se 
it was in connection with this latter fact that the question was 
put why did Agni hide himself within the waters and the herbs ? 
Hymn X, 51 is an attempt to answer this question. Varuna’s 
answer @1 wal Sfaaq to Agni’s question: 
wl AT fea RAM: BZA at FH aval Tey UIT | 
is not historically true. It was Vivasvan and not his son 
Yama who first gathered Agni from heaven—from afar. The 
Yama was considered the most important personage of the 
royal family of Vivasvan. In the words of the Atharva Veda— 
XVIII, 2-32. 
aa: ( warq ) ut atfansarfa fara | 
(6) Having identified Vivasvan with the sun the highest form of 
Agni, the Risis no doubt found it odd to say that it was Vivas- 
van who gathered Agni from lightning. 
