Page:History of India Vol 1.djvu/114

80 was all born? Whence were all these created? The gods have been made after the creation. Who knows whence they were made?

"Whence all these were created, from whom they came, whether any one created them or did not create, is known only to Him who lives as Lord in the highest place. If He knows not (no one else knows)."

We will quote here one more hymn, which shows how the later Rishis soared beyond the conception of the nature-gods to the sublime idea of One Deity:—

"In the beginning the Golden Child existed. He was the Lord of all from his birth. He placed this earth and sky in their respective places. Whom shall we worship with offerings?

"Him who has given life and strength, whose will is obeyed by all the gods, whose shadow is immortality and whose slave is death. Whom shall we worship with offerings?

"Him who by his power is the sole king of all the living beings that see and move; him who is the Lord of all bipeds and quadrupeds. Whom shall we worship with offerings?

"Him by whose power these snowy mountains have been made, and whose creations are this earth and its oceans. Him whose arms are these quarters of space. Whom shall we worship with offerings?

"Him who has fixed in their places this sky and this earth; him who has established the heavens and the highest heaven; him who has measured the firmament. Whom shall we worship with offerings?