Page:Monier Monier-Williams - Indian Wisdom.djvu/64

 present in all nature is somewhat nebulous and undefined l. Perhaps the most ancient and beautiful deification was that of Dyaus2, 'the sky,' as Dyaush-pitar, 'Heavenly Father' (the Zeus or Ju-piter of the Greeks and Romans). Then, closely connected with Dyaus, was a goddess A-diti, ' the Infinite Expanse,' conceived of subsequently as the mother of all the gods. Next came a development of the same conception called Varuna, ' the Investing Sky,' said to answer to Ahura Mazda, the Ormazd of the ancient Persian (Zand) mythology, and to the Greek —but a more spiritual conception, leading to a worship which rose to the nature of a belief in the great