Page:The Mythology of All Races Vol 6 (Indian and Iranian).djvu/72

40 from a root mṛ, "to shine," or "to crush," either of which meanings would well enough accord with their figure. In later days they sank from their estate, as we shall see, and became the celestial counterparts of the Vaiśyas, the common folk of earth as distinguished from the two higher castes of Brāhmans (priests) and Kṣatriyas (warriors). Finally they degenerated into mere wind-godlings, their very name becoming a synonym for "wind"; and at the present day memory of them has all but vanished.