Page:The Mythology of the Aryan Nations.djvu/376

344 disparage, the worshipper could say that Varuna himself and the " — ^i ' Asvins do the bidding of Vishnu, and that Vishnu is more beneficent than his chosen companion Indra.

" King Varuna and the Asvins wait on the decree of this ruler, attended by the JMaruts : Vishnu possesses excellent wisdom, which knows the proper day, and with his friend opens up the cloud. "The divine Vishnu who has chosen companionship with the beneficent Indra, himself more beneficent, the wise god has gratified the Arya." ^ And again, " Thou, Agni, art Indra, bountiful to the good ; thou art Vishnu, the wide-stepping, the adorable." ^ Majesty of So when Indra is about to smite Vritra, he is at once represented Vishnu. ^g bidding his friend Vishnu to stride vastly. " Friend Vishnu, stride vastly : sky, give room for the thunderbolt to strike; let us slay Vritra and let loose the waters."* Yet although in some passages Vishnu is described as having established the heavens and the earth, and as sustaining the world by his own inherent force, still he is said in others to make his three strides through the power of Indra. " When, Indra, the gods placed thee in their front in the battle, then thy dear steeds grew. " When, thunderer, thou didst by thy might slay Vritra who stopped up the streams, then thy dear steeds grew. " When by thy force Vishnu strode three steps, then thy dear steeds grew."* Elsewhere we are told that mortal man cannot comprehend his majesty. " No one who is being born, or has been born, has attained, O divine Vishnu, to the furthest limit of thy greatness."^ The palace The personality of the mythical Vishnu is, in short, as transparent of Vishnu, ^^g ^ii^t of Helios or Selene. He dwells in the aerial mountains, in a gleaming palace where the many-horned and swiftly moving cows abide. " Here that supreme abode of the wide-stepping vigorous god shines intensely forth." These cows are in some places the clouds, in others, the rays which stream from the body of the sun. But on the whole it must be admitted that the place of Vishnu in the Rig Veda, as compared with the other great deities, is in the background ; and the institutional legends of later Brahmanic literature throw but little light ' R. V. i. 156 ; Muir, Sanskrit • /?. V. viii. 89, 12 ; Muir, il>. p. 68. Texts, pt. iv. p. 66. * R. V. viii. 12 ; Muir, il>. p. 77. « Muir, lb. * Muir, ib. p. 63.