Vol. V, No. 4.] The Hero-Gods of the Rigveda. 139 
[WV.S.] 
I think this is not true. The ee between the religions 
of the Rigveda and the Avesta is due not to more of anthropo- 
morphisation in the Avesta but to teas of deification in it. 
That in which the Avesta exceeds the Rigveda is the crea- 
tion of abstract gods. Though the Iranian Risis renounced 
polytheism and believed in one supreme god—the Ahura Mazda 
ahat Asur—Great Spirit)—they did not altogether tte up 
the old gods. They retained their belief—though in an 
form—in Mitra, Atar, Soma, Apam Napat and many shee old 
gods. They also created the abstract SS s, Righte- 
ousness, Asha and others in the same way as the Vedic Risis 
created Craddha, Manyu, etc. But they differed “eg the Vedic 
Rigsis in their parent fhe of certain characters like Vivasvan, 
ama, Trita, etc. The Vedic Risis represented them in the 
double character of men and gods, ‘and in some cases they car- 
ried the deification so far as to all but obliterate their human 
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