Page:Myth, Ritual, and Religion (Volume 2).djvu/142

128 me my sin like a fetter, and we shall increase, O Varuna, the spring of thy law. Let not the thread be cut while I weave my song! Let not the form of the workman break before the time. . . . Like as a rope from a calf, remove from me my sin, for away from thee I am not master even of the twinkling of an eye. . . . Move far away from me all self-committed guilt, and may I not, king, suffer for what others have committed. Many dawns have not yet dawned; grant me to live in them, O Varuna." What follows is not on the same level of thought, and the next verse contains an appeal to Varuna to save his worshipper from the effect of magic spells. "Whether it be my companion or a friend who, while I was asleep and trembling, uttered fearful spells against me, whether it be a thief or a wolf who wishes to hurt me, protect us against them, O Varuna." Agni, again, the god of fire, seems to have no original connection with righteousness. Yet even Agni is prayed to forgive whatever sin the worshipper may have committed through folly, and to make him guiltless towards Aditi. The goddess Aditi once more, whether her name (rendered the "boundless") be or be not "one of the oldest names of the dawn," is repeatedly called on by her worshippers to "make them sinless." In the same way sun, dawn, heaven, soma, and earth are implored to pardon sin.