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



Professor Max Muller : — " Let me not, king Varuna, go to the house of earth. 

 Be gracious, mighty god, be gracious. 2. I go along, thunderer, quivering 

 like an inflated skin; be gracious, &c. 3. bright and mighty god, I have trans- 

 gressed through want of power, be gracious, &c. 4. Thirst has overwhelmed thy 

 worshipper when standing even in the midst of the waters ; be gracious, &c. 5. 

 Whatever offence this be, Varuna, that we mortals commit against the people 

 of the sky (the gods) ; in whatever way we have broken thy laws by thought- 

 lessness, be gracious, mighty god, be gracious." 



Indra. 



Professor Roth* is of opinion that Varuna belongs to an older dynasty of the 

 gods than Indra, and that during the Vedic period the high consideration which 

 originally attached to the former god, was in course of being transferred to his 

 rival. However this may be, there is no doubt that Indra is, as Roth remarks,! 

 the favourite deity of the Aryan Indians. More hymns of the Rigveda are dedi- 

 cated to his honour than to the praise of any other divinity. Although, however, 

 his greatness is celebrated in the most magnificent terms, he is not, as I have 

 already noticed, regarded as an uncreated being, but is described in numerous 

 passages as having a father and a mother. Thus it is said of him (Rigveda iv. 

 17, 4) " Thy father was the parent of a most heroic son: the maker of Indra, he 

 who produced the celestial and invincible thunderer, was a most skilful ^vorkman." 

 And again (x. 134, 1): "A divine mother bore thee; a blessed mother bore 

 thee." In one place only is his mother's name mentioned, and she is there called 

 Nishtigri. This word is treated by the commentator as a synonyme of Aditi; 

 but though Indra is regarded as an Aditya in the later mythology, and appears to 

 be addressed as such, along with Varuna, in one passage of the Rigveda (vii. 85, 4), 

 he is not, as far as I am aware, described as such in the other parts of that 

 collection. 



Indra is the regent of the atmosphere or intermediate rgion, the Jupiter 

 Tonans and Jupiter Pluvius:}: of the Vedic Pantheon. He is the most martial of 

 all the deities. Even as an infant he is said to have manifested his warlike dis- 

 position. " As soon as he was born," says one text (viii. 45, 4, 5) the slayer of 

 Vrittra seized his weapon and asked his mother, ' Who are they that are re- 

 nowned as fierce warriors 1'" He leads the armies of the gods in their assaults 

 on the Asuras or Titans, destroys all the superhuman enemies of his worshippers, 

 and grants them victory over their mortal foes. 



A great variety of laudatory epithets are lavished upon Indra. He is styled 



* " Jour. Germ. Orient. Society," vi. 73 ; " Sanskrit and German Lexicon," s.v, Indra. 

 ■f" " Sanskrit Lexicon," s.v. 



+ See Strabo, xv. 1, 69, p. 718; quoted by Lassen, Indisclie Altertliumsk. ii. 698; Aeyerai 

 6i y.ai raDra ■jraga rajv G\jyy^a<piuv, on celSovrai /ih rov 'o/j,l3^iov A/a ii hdoi, xai rov Tayy/jv <7roTaf/.h. koli 



