MR J. MUIR ON THE PRINCIPAL DEITIES OF THE RIGVEDA. 555 



gods the existent sprang from the non-existent. Afterwards the regions sprang 

 from Uttanapad. 4, The earth sprang from Uttanapad ; from the earth sprang 

 the regions. Daksha sprang from Aditi ; Aditi sprang from Daksha. 5. Aditi 

 was verily produced, she who is thy daughter, oh Daksha. After her the gods 

 were born, blessed, partakers of immortality. 6. When, oh gods, ye moved, in 

 agitation, upon those waters, then a violent dust issued from you, as from 

 dancers. 7. When, oh gods, ye, like heroes, replenished the worlds, ye drew 

 forth the sun, which was hidden in the (sethereal ?) ocean. 8. Of the eight sons 

 of Aditi, who were born of her body, she approached the gods with seven, and 

 cast out Marttanda, the eighth. 9. With seven sons Aditi approached the former 

 generation. She again produced Marttanda for birth as well as for death." 



It will have been observed, that in the fourth verse of this hymn, Daksha is 

 said to have sprung from Aditi, and reciprocally, Aditi from Daksha. The old 

 Indian expositor Yaska (Nirukta, x. 23), thus attempts to explain this circum- 

 stance, which had struck him as very strange : — " Daksha is, they say, a son of 

 Aditi, and is celebrated among the sons of Aditi. And yet Aditi, on the other 

 hand, is the daughter of Daksha, according to the text, ' Daksha sprang from 

 Aditi, and Aditi sprang from Daksha." How can this be possible ? In this way, 

 viz., that they may have had the same origin; or, in conformity with the nature 

 of the gods, they may have been born from each other, and have derived their 

 substance from each other." 



Varuna and Mitra, 



The most famous of the sons of Aditi are Varuna and Mitra, who are very 

 frequently associated with each other in the Rigveda. I have already stated 

 above, that Varuna corresponds in name to the 'Ou^amg of the Greeks. " Uranos," 

 as Professor Max Muller remarks,* " in the language of Hesiod, is used as a 

 name for the sky ; he is made or born that ' he should be a firm place for the 

 blessed gods.'f It is said twice that Uranos covers every thing (v. 127), and that 

 when he brings the night he is stretched out everywhere, embracing the earth, t 

 This sounds almost as if the Greek mythe had still preserved a recollection of the 

 etymological poAver of Uranos. For Uranos is the Sanskrit Varuna, and is derived 

 from a root var to cover, &c." I repeat, however, what I have said above, that 

 the parallel between the Greek Uranos and the India Varuna does not hold in all 



* Oxford Essays for 1856, p. 41. 



■{■ Hesiod. Theog. 126, — Tata, hi roi 'tt^utov /jih lyihan leo« iavrri 



' Ovouvov aGriooivff , ha, (jav 'ire^i rravTu zaXvTrroi, 

 " 0(po Bir} iJjaKu^icai ho/g 'ibog aa^paXki aii. 

 I Il)id. V. 176. — 'fiXk hi Nuxr i'^rdyuv p.iyag 'Ou^amg. dfj,(pi di Tair\ 

 ifiiUcav (piXoryirog i'/toyiro xni 'g sruviicdrj 



VOL. XXIII. PART III. 7 L 



