291 
and the Personified Fire, a corresponding group though not 
perhaps quite so severely monotheistic. Mithra, excluded by 
an intensity of monotheism from the Iranian Seven, appears 
amongst the Vedic Seven,* but alike in both regions the gods, 
when traced to their origius, resolve themselves into Ahura 
and Mithra, Asura and Mitra. 
28. Martanda, the eighth Aditya. 
In Rig- Veda, X. 72, we read: — 
“ Let us celebrate with exultation the births of the gods. 
In the earliest age of the gods, the existent sprang from 
the non-existent.” 
And after mentioning Aditi as the daughter of Daksha, the 
poet continues: — • 
“ When ye, 0 gods, like devotees, replenished the worlds, 
Then ye disclosed the sun which had been hidden in the 
ocean. 
Of the other sons who were born from the body of 
Aditi, 
She approached the gods with seven, but cast away 
Martanda. 
For birth as well as for death she disclosed Martanda.” 
The important Sata/patha-Bmlimanaf thus comments on 
the foregoing passage: — “Aditi had eight sons. But thei’e 
are only seven whom men call the Aditya deities. For she 
produced the eighth, destitute of any modifications of shape 
(without hands and feet, etc.). He was a smooth lump.”J 
Roth and Darmesteter render Martanda “Bird,” in which case 
Ave should have the familiar myth of the Phoenix, the solar 
bird ; but the preferable derivation is from mrityu, “ death,” 
and anda, “ egg,” the name thus signifying “ the Egg of 
Death.” Prof. Muller renders Martanda “Addled Egg,” but 
I do not think that such imperfection is intended. Martanda 
* For instances of the recurrence of the number seven, \ T ide The Great 
Dionysiak Myth, ii. 225, et seq. 
t Brahmana signifies, “ That Avhich relates to prayer, brahman.” The 
Brahmanas form the second portion of Yedic literature, each of the four 
Vedas being divided into Sanhita, Brahmana, and Svtra or “ Band.” The 
Brahmanas are founded upon the Sanhita, and the Sutras mainly upon the 
Brahmanas. The chief object of the latter “ is to connect the sacrificial 
songs and formulas with the sacrificial rite. We find in them the oldest 
rituals, the oldest linguistic explanations, the oldest traditional narratives, 
and the oldest philosophical speculations.” (Weber, History of Indian 
Literature, 2nd edit. 1878, p. 12.) 
X Apud Muir, Sanskrit Texts, iv. 15. 
VOL. XIII. 
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