Page:The Mythology of All Races Vol 6 (Indian and Iranian).djvu/101

Rh draught. But he also performed a great feat himself, for he rescued the sun when it was hidden by the Asura, Svarbhānu, and placed it in the sky. The same deed is also ascribed to the Atris as a family, and they are the traditional authors of the fifth book of the Ṛgveda, which often refers to them. Their name denotes "the eater" and may itself once have belonged to Agni, who is perhaps hidden in the guise of the blind seer Kaṇva, a protégé of the Aśvins, from whom he received back his lost sight.

Indra also has mythical connexions with the seers called Daśagvas and Navagvas who aided him in the recovery of the kine and whose names perhaps denote that they won ten and nine cows respectively in that renowned exploit. Still more famous is his friendship with Kutsa, to whom he gave constant aid in his struggles with Śuṣṇa; it was for him that Indra performed the feat of stopping the sun by tearing off its wheel, giving the other to Kutsa to drive on with. The myth is a strange one and seems to be a confusion of the story of the winning of the sun for men by Indra with his friendship for a special hero whom he aided in battle. Yet in other passages Kutsa appears in hostility to Indra. In the fight with Śuṣṇa, as the drought-demon, Indra also had the aid of Kāvya Uśanâs, who likewise made for him the bolt for the slaying of Vṛtra.

An independent position is occupied by Manu, who stands out as the first of men who lived, in contrast with Yama (like himself the son of Vivasvant), who was the first of men to die. He is par excellence the first sacrificer, the originator of the cult of Agni and of Soma, and to him indeed Soma was brought by the bird. Men are his offspring, and their sacrifices are based on his as prototype. Just as he embodies the concept of the first sacrificer, so the group of seven priests who play the chief part in the ritual are personified as the seven seers who are called divine and are associated with the gods.

Against the gods and other spirits invoked as beneficent are set the host of the demons, or more often individual spirits who