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Lastly, there is Asura, and here at length, amid this world 
of shadows, we “ touch earth.” The Asura is God. 
23. The Sun. 
So far all has been simple ; we have examined twelve names 
and found one divinity. But it is far from my intention to 
attempt to free the Vedic Indians from the charge of poly- 
theism ; as a body they certainly were or became polytheistic, 
and we can easily see how and why. The time to which our 
attention is turned is the commencement of the Vedic age , and 
we observe how numbers of the gods resolve themselves into 
simile. But others are of a different character. We next come 
to natural objects connected with spiritual power ; and here is 
the stronghold of Vedic polytheism. And yet even here the 
evidence of previous monotheism is almost, if not quite, as 
strong. To take first the sun and the sun-god : Savitri, 
Surya, Vishnu, Vivasvat, and Yama are each the sun. For 
mankind, however, there is but a single sun; they are, there- 
fore, really identical : it is possible that there maij have been a 
time when they were regarded as five distinct, objective, 
sentient personages or solar gods. But there must have been 
a time when the one had not yet become five, for thus to 
divide and classify requires an elaborate mental effort, and a 
corresponding period for its development. This division of 
the sun and of the sun-god is familiar. Thus in Egypt we find 
the diurnal and nocturnal sun ; Ra, the mid-day sun ; Kheper, 
the prolific sun; Haremakhu, the horizon sun ; Turn, the setting 
sun ; Mentu, the rising sun; Fenti, the climbing sun; Atumu, 
the chthonian sun; Harpakrut, the new-born wintry sun; 
Aten, the power of the solar disk; Uasar (Osiris), the suffering 
sun, and the like. The Vedic sun proper is Surya, whose 
name reappears in the Greek helios and the Latin sol ; and 
as these are simply names of the solar photosphere and not of 
the solar divinity, we may fairly conclude that Surya in origin 
similarly signified the physical sun, just as Ushas means the 
dawn. Surya, in the Hymns, is the son of Aditi, the son of 
Dyaus, the husband of Ushas, and the eye of Mitra, Varuna 
and Agni, expressions which require no comment. In Savitri 
the solar power rises higher. Savitri is an Asura ; he is 
especially praised by Varuna, Mitra, and Aryaman, with whom 
he works in harmonious concert ; he is the lord of all creatures 
and the bestower of immortality ; he is the sender of bless- 
ings, is prayed to deliver his votary from sin,* and to convey 
* Iiig-Veda, IV. liv. 3. 
