Page:The Mythology of the Aryan Nations.djvu/235

THE VIVIFYING SOMA. "May the golden-eyed Savitri come hither.

"May the golden-handed, life-bestowing well-guarding, exhilarating and affluent Savitri be present at the sacrifice."

These phrases, which seem to have no reference to the later myth, carry us to the myth of the one-eyed Odin, who, like Savitar, is also Wegtam, or the wanderer, the broad heaven looking down on the earth with its one gleaming eye, the sun. Like Indra, Varuna, and Vishnu, he is Skambha, the supporter.

"Savitri has established the earth by supports; Savitri has fixed the sky in unsupported space; he has milked the atmosphere, restless (or noisy) as a horse; Savitri, the son of the waters, knows the place where the ocean, supported, issued forth."

The ninth book of the Rig Veda consists wholly of hymns written in praise of Soma, who is lauded as the source of life and vigour, of spiritual mental power and bodily strength both to gods and men, the generator or parent of Agni, Sûrya, Indra, and Vishnu. Of the phrases employed in describing the nature and functions of Soma, many relate exclusively to the juice of the Soma plant, and to the process by which that juice is converted into an intoxicating drink. These phrases are often curiously blended with expressions which speak of a god exalted higher even than Varuna or Indra, while others show clearly that, like almost all other names of Hindu mythology, Soma was a word which might be applied alike to the gladdening power of wine and to the life-giving force from which the sky and sun derive their strength and brilliancy. In the latter sense, Soma imparts to Indra the power which enables him to overcome Vritra, and, like