Page:An Introduction to the Popular Religion and Folklore of Northern India.djvu/16

2 by Bráhmans. "Of course the line cannot always be drawn with precision, and Bráhmans will often consent to be fed in the name of a deity, while they will not take offerings made at his shrine, or will allow their girls, but not their boys, to accept the offering, as, if the girls die in consequence, it does not much matter. " The deities of this class are usually benevolent, and most of them are, in a somewhat modified form, survivals of the primitive nature gods of the earlier Aryan faith. But, as we shall see, their worship has been to some extent degraded by the influence of association with godlings of the impure description, who will be separately considered.

Súraj Devata, the Sun-god.

The first and greatest of the pure godlings is Súrya or Súraj Devata, the sun-godling. He was one of the great deities of the Vedic pantheon: he is called Prajapati or "lord of creatures;" he was the son of Dyaus, or the bright sky. Ushas, the Dawn, was his wife; and he moves through the heavens drawn by seven ruddy mares. His worship was perhaps originally connected with that of fire, but it is easy to understand how, under a tropical sky, the Indian peasant came to look on him as the lord of life and death; the bringer of plenty or of famine. He is now, however, like Helios in the Homeric mythology, looked on as only a godling, not a god, or even as a hero who had once lived and reigned on earth. As far as the village worship goes, the assertion that no shrine is erected in his honour is correct enough: and there is no doubt that images of Súrya and Aditya are comparatively rare in recent epochs, But there are many noted temples in his name at Taxila, Gwalior, Gaya, Multán and Jaypur, and his shrine at Kanárak in Orissa near that of Jaggannáth is described as one of the most exquisite memorials of sun-worship in existence. Mr. Bendall recently