Page:The Mythology of All Races Vol 6 (Indian and Iranian).djvu/60

32 between the unity of the Aśvins and the diversity of the two stars, which is only slenderly diminished by the curious traces of separate birth and worship in the Ṛgveda.

There is but one goddess of the celestial world, the maiden Uṣas, the most poetical figure in the whole pantheon. Decking herself in gay attire like a dancer, she displays her bosom, and like a maiden adorned by her mother she reveals her form. Clothed in light, she appears in the east and shows her charms; immortal and unaging, she awakes before the world. When she shines forth, the birds fly up, and men bestir themselves; she removes the black mantle of night and banishes evil dreams and the hated darkness. She follows ever the path of Order, though once she is asked not to delay lest the sun scorch her as a thief or an enemy. She is borne on a car with ruddy steeds or kine, and the distance which the dawns traverse in a day is thirty yojanas (leagues). She is the wife or the mistress of the Sun who follows her, but sometimes is also his mother; she is the sister of Bhaga, the kinswoman of Varuṇa, and the mightier sister of Night. She is likewise closely associated with Agni, as the fire of the sacrifice which is lit at dawn, and with the Aśvins, whom she is besought to arouse. Her name denotes "the Shining" and is in origin one with Aurora and Eos.

Of the gods of the atmosphere by far the greatest is Indra, whose name occurs among the list of Mitannian gods. He is more anthropomorphic than any other Vedic deity. His head, his arms, and his hands are mentioned, as is his great belly in which he puts the soma; he moves his jaws after drinking soma, and his lips are beautiful. His beard waves in the air, he has tawny hair and beard. His long, strong, well-shaped arms wield the thunderbolt, which was fashioned for him by Tvaṣṭṛ or Uśanas. This is his chief weapon, and it is described as a stone, as hundred-jointed and thousand-pointed, hundred-angled, sharp, and metallic; rarely it is said to be of gold. Occasionally he bears a bow and arrows, hundred-pointed and