Page:Hindu Mythology, Vedic and Purānic.djvu/38

 the praises of the newer god were sung, the older one was forgotten, and in the present day, whilst Dyaus is almost unknown, Indra is still worshipped, though in the Vedas both are called the god of heaven. The following statement of Professor Benfey gives a natural explanation of this : “It may be distinctly shown that Indra took the place of the god of heaven, who, in the Vedas, is invoked in the vocative as Dyauspitar (Heaven-father). This is proved by the fact that this phrase is exactly reflected in the Latin Jupiter, and the Greek Zeū-pateras a religious formula, fixed, like many others, before the separation of the languages. When the Sanskrit people left the common country, where for them, as well as for other kindred tribes, the brilliant radiance of heaven appeared to them, in consequence of the climate there prevailing, as the holiest thing, and settled in sultry India, where the glow of the heavens is destructive, and only its rain operates beneficially, this aspect of the Deity must have appeared the most adorable, so that the epithet Pluvius, in a certain sense, absorbed all the other characteristics of Dyauspitar. This found its expression in the name Indra, in which we unhesitatingly recognize a word (which arose in some local dialect, and was then diffused with the spread of the worship) standing for Sind-ra, which again was derived from Syand, 'to drop.' The conceptions which had been attached to Dyaus were then transferred to Indra.” The opinion that Indra has taken the place of Dyaus is now pretty generally believed, and the above explanation appears natural.

Of Prithivi we hear again: The "Vishnu Purāna" gives the following account of her birth. There was