Page:The Mythology of the Aryan Nations.djvu/476

444 BOOK II. Vayu and Favonius. Boreas and the Maruts. The god of the bright heaven, who is known as Dyu, Indra, and Agni, is also called Vayu, a name denoting, it would seem, simply the gentler movements of the air, which are expressed by the sweet pipings of the Greek Pan and the soft breathings of the Latin Favonius. As such, he comes early in the morning to chase away the demons, and the Dawns weave for him golden raiment.^ He is drawn by the Nirjuts, and has Indra for his charioteer.^ With some he was, along with Agni and Surya, supreme among the deities. "There are only three deities, according to the Nairuktas (etymolo- gists) : Agni whose place is on earth ; Vayu or Indra whose place is in the atmosphere ; and Surya whose place is in the sky."*

The blustering rage of the Greek Boreas and the more violent moods of Hermes are represented by the crowd of Maruts, or storm- winds, who attend on Indra and aid him in his struggle with his great enemy Vritra. Of these beings it is enough to say, that the language used in describing their functions is, if possible, more transparent than that of the poem known as the Homeric Hymn to Hermes. They overturn trees and destroy forests, they roar like lions and are as swift as thought, they shake the mountains and are clothed with rain. They are borne on tawTiy-coloured horses; they are brothers, "of whom no one is the elder, no one the younger." They are born self- luminous with the spotted deer, the spears, the daggers, the glitter- ing ornaments.'' These spears and daggers are the lightnings, and the spotted deer are seen in the spotted lynxes who play round Phoibos as he pipes to the flocks of Admetos.^ The worshipper hears the cracking of their whips in their hands as they go upon their way. After the mightiest exploits they assume again, " according to

• Muir, Sanskrit Texts, part iv. p. 337- » H. H. Wilson, R. V. S. iii. 209 ; Muir, Satiskr, Texts, iv. 3, 7. 59- ' Muir, Skr. Texts, part iv. p. 57. Eurip. Alk. 579.
 * Max Miiller, Rig Veda Sanhita, i,