268 DR J. MUIR S ACCOUNT OF THE 



the soma*-draught, he quaffed that which had been poured forth into three cups. He seized the 

 thunderbolt for his shaft; he smote him, the first-born of the Ahis. 4. "When tbou, Indra, smotest 

 the first-born of the Abis, thou didst vanquish the magic of the magicians. Producing then the 

 sun, the sky, the dawn, thou foundest no longer any enemy remaining. 5. With his mighty shaft, 

 the thunderbolt, Indra smote in pieces the gloomy Vrittra. Like the trunk of a tree felled with 

 the axe, so lies Ahi prostrate upon the earth. 6. Like a weak but foolhardy warrior, he challenged 

 the impetuous hero, the destroyer of many ; but he did not escape the stroke of his bolts. Encountered 

 by Indra, he crushed the rivers (by his fall)," &c. &c. 



I shall now give a few verses as a specimen of a hymn to Ushas or Aurora, 

 some of which (as Professor Muller remarks f) might naturally be uttered by a 

 poet still, after the lapse of 3000 years : — 



" 7. She, the daughter of the sky, has been beheld, breaking forth, youthful, clad in shining 

 garments, mistress of all earthly treasures. Auspicious Ushas, shine on us here to-day ! 8. Ushas 

 follows the track of the dawns that are past, and is the first of the unnumbered dawns that are to 

 come, breaking forth, arousing life, and awaking every one that was dead. 9. Inasmuch as thou 

 hast made the fire to be kindled, hast unveiled all things by the light of the sun, and hast awakened 

 the men who are to offer sacrifice, thou hast done a good service to the gods. 11. Those mortals 

 are gone who saw the earliest Ushas dawning : we are to behold her now ; and the men are coming 

 who shall gaze upon her on future morns. 12. Perpetually, in former days, did the divine Ushas 

 dawn : to-day, too, this opulent goddess has revealed the world. Still shall she appear on future 

 days : undecaying, immortal, she marches on by her own will. 14. She hatli shone forth with her 

 splendours in the regions of the sky ; the bright goddess has manifested the dark form of night : 

 awakening the world, Ushas advances in her car, drawn by ruddy steeds. 16. Arise: our life, our 

 breath has come : darkness has departed, light arrives : Ushas hath opened up a path for the sun to 

 travel. We have arrived there where men prolong their days. 19. Mother of the gods, manifesta- 

 tion of Aditi, revealer of the sacrifice, mighty Ushas, shine forth ! Arise, conferring renown upon 

 our hymn," &c. 



The next verses are from one of the later hymns in the Tenth Book : — 



" 1. Hiranyagarbha J arose in the beginning : he was the one born lord of things existing. 

 He established the earth and this sky. To what god shall we present our offering ? 2. He gives 

 soul, he gives strength. His command all, even the gods, obey. His shadow is immortality, his 

 shadow is death. To what god shall we pi-esent our offering 1 3. He by his might became the one 

 king of the breathing and winking world : he is lord of this two-footed and four-footed creation. To 

 what god shall we present our offering 1 4. By his might, they say, these snowy mountains arose, 

 and the ocean, with the river, was produced : these aerial regions are his arms. To what god shall 

 we present our offering ? 5. He made the sky fiery, and the earth fixed ; he established the firma- 

 ment and the heavens ; he in the atmosphere measures the aerial spaces. To what god shall we 

 present our offering ?"§ 



The last specimen of the Rigveda which I shall offer is also from the Tenth 

 Book, where we see the mind of the poet striving to form for itself a theory of 

 creation : — 



" 1. There was then neither nonentity nor entity. There was no atmosphere, nor sky beyond. 

 What covered all 1 What was the receptacle of each thing ] Was it water, the profound abyss ? 

 2. Death was not then, nor immortality : there was no distinction of day or night. That One 

 breathed tranquil, by its own power. There was nothing diflferent from or beyond it. 3. There 

 was darkness, originally enveloped in darkness : this universe was undistinguishable water. That 



* Soma is the moon-plant, the juice of which was ofiered to the gods, whom it ^vas supposed 

 to exhilarate. 



f Anc. Sansk. Lit. p. 551. 



J One of the names of Brahma, the creator. 



§ Translated in Muller's Anc. Sansk. Lit. p. 569. 



