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 ’1‘?

THE CYCLOPEDIA OF INDIA.

in her loitiest aspects oi sky. dawn. sun and storm. yet towards the end ol the Rig Veda. “we otten come across hymns sung to the One Being. The landmarks hetween Nature-worshi and lionothcism had been missed. and the great 'shis oi the Rig Veda have passed irom Nature up to Saturn's God This is the characteristic benuty oi the Rig Veda as corn. mired with other reli ions works at other nations. e do not ﬁnd in the eda any wellodel'tned system oi religion or “16 one particular stage of thought or civiiration. n the contrary we watch with inter. est how the human mind travels irom an almost childlike hut sincere invocation oi the rising sun or the heoeiicent slry to the suhiirner idea that neither the sun nor the sky is the Deity-that the Deity is greater and higher than these, and has created these objects. We know oi no other work in any language which possesses such interest tor the philosophic en. Stair" into the progress oi the human mind. or which owe, as the Rig Veda does show. how human intelli- gence travels step b step. higher and higher. until mm the created oh ects tt grasps the so into idea oi titlei Creatorfi” \ 0st prom ncnt amongst the aspects oi .‘aturc n God a, h which receivrd the and a" V‘m‘ worship oi the early limdus was the sky. But the sky has several aspects. it was ﬁrst adored as Dyh. or Dyausu hr. the ‘Shinlng One.’ earliest god oi the great ryan race. lens in Greece. Jupiteror Diespiter in Rome. Verona, the sky which covers. the encornpassi sky. the Duranos oi Greece. the Uranus oi ome. was another as t at the heavens, addressed as a deity in e Vedic hymns. \‘aruna was pro- “as” God. hath the dark sky at night. and ' in contradistinction to him there was Mitrn. the bright sky oi day. 0i these three Varuna is the recipient at most adoration in the hymns : indeed. his sanctity in the Rig Veda is lire-eminent over that oi way other god. Yet a iurther aspect of the alt remains to he noticed—Indra. the Rain. god, liter ly. the slty,re asaqueous.rain.heari vapour. T ouin he yieds to Varnna in sanctity. the gods oi the Vedas must give place to him in point “a memo" oiprorninence. No odis addressed gum so frequently or so orcibly. lie is peculiarly Indian. and his popularity can only he understood by those who know the lite- giving pchr of the Indian raintlonds alter a time at heat and draught. Indra is not merely the-giver oi lei ' rain. but thecharnpion oi the Aryan people against t edark skinned aborigines, theGodot Battles. the Arcs oi the Vcdic people. Next in popularity. ML perhaps. to Indra. is Agni. the God . at Fire, the youngest oi the gals. the Lord and Giver oi Wealth. Firewas essential to so henCe Agni is called the Invoher oi the gods: The worship ol tire is one of the many 'nts of kinship between the Aryans of the Persia and those oi iron. the framers oi the land Avatar. Other gods less prominently brought hetore us in Veda are it) Those which bear a solar character. Sin-e

' DnlL-“ Civilisation in Aldut lath," vol. I. Ch. \'I.

i=lielios and Soil and Suvilri. Pasha». and lastly Vishnu. at ta'esctit purely a Sun-god and a deityoi m" “on. quite interior note. (2) l'Jva. the air: (3) the Murals. or Storm-

ods, insptrcrs oi terror. beneath whose thunder and ightning the earth tremble: and the latest is tor: in pieces“ ) Ruin. lather oi the Mnruts, n third-rate deity but e vated in Puranik times to a tuition oi the ﬁrst rank under the name oi Siva. (5) Yarna. aitcrwards the dread King oi Hell. but as yet the beneﬁcent ruleroi the blessed world where the departed live in endless ielicity. (6) The twin Airing. ' Lords oi Lustre.‘ tlcct horsemen oi the dawn, physicians and healers. soccourers oi men in their distress. (7) Usher. the Greek Ens and Latin Aurora. the smili dawn.

m ” who like a busy housewi e wakes

men from slumber and sends them to their work." Ushas. be it noticed. is a

(less. Only two temale divinities are known to the Veda. the other bet (8) Saraswati. goddess oi the river at that name. It all trace oi the river and its course has long since disappeared. Saraswnti surviv as the Goddess oi Speech. She is the oldest

cm oi the Hindus: others such as Parvati and

mi are creations at a later day.

Other deities there were. bringing the total up c g; thirty-three " “Snare elleelen in MI W aven. e even on e, an e even Wmm°"&mi"" in glory in mid air." And yet

it is wartime: difficult to decide whether the composers of the hymns were polytheists or monotheists. One god was worshipped at a time and [or the tnontent was regarded as supreme. There are verses declnri each oi the greater deities to he supreme. [articular y Indra and Agni. For the time being the worshipper is practically a monotheist. More than this. some verses actually declare the existence at but One Divine Being. and recent scholarship is in iavonr oi their antiquity. Such hymns most have heen coth by the more spiritual oi the singers, in whom there dwelt an instinctive hiottotheisrn. The tzrst hymn oi the tenth hook is the most notable instance in point. " in the beginning there arose the source of golden light. He was the only born Lord at all that is. He established the earth and this sky; Whats the God to whom we shall oﬁersacriﬁce .3 . . . Hewhothroughhispowcr istheonlykingoithe breathing and awakening world. He who governs all. manand beast; Who isthe Godtowhotn weshall otter our sacriﬁce? . . He the creator oi the earth: He the righteous. who created the heavens . .. . Hewhoisgodaboveallgods:" Themono- thctsm oi this hymn is as plainly asserted as in the Hebrew prophets oi the Jewish dispensation. This as llielici was cstahltshed’ in the Vedic. w oun ater expresion in the ‘cstiy attitude at Brahmans, a monotheistic attitui'r.l not however shared by the nation as a whole, which became more frankly polyuheistic as time went on.

But whether the Aryan settlers be addressing one mm“ of their naturegods. orhehym ‘ on,“. _ sorneecstatic praise to t ‘I.or

W“ at all thatis.'thetoncoi the songs is elevated and iorceinl, and their character