Page:The Religion of the Veda.djvu/108

92 The Religion of the Veda end the later Vedic texts insist that Agni, "Fire" belongs to, or is typical of the earth; Väta or Väyu, "Wind," of the mid-air, and Sürya, "Sun," of the sky.' So far it is the philosophy of the obvious. They continue cleverly along that line in the following arrangement. I state only the more important members of each class: 92 Celestial gods: Dyaus or Dyaush Pitar ("Sky" 'Father Sky "), Varuna, Mitra. Sürya and the Adityas, Savitar, Pūshan, Vishnu, Ushas, and the Açvins.³ or 66 Atmospheric gods: Vata or Vayu ("Wind") Indra, Parjanya, Rudra, and the Maruts. Terrestrial gods: Prithivi ("Earth"), Agni, and Soma. This threefold division, in order to be consistent, would have to be carried on to the end, so as to in- clude all the gods. As a matter of fact it is uncertain in many places, even when carried no farther. We are not so certain as are the Hindus that Indra, for instance, is a god of the mid-air,' even though we must admire this, on the whole successful, apprecia- tion of the place in nature that belongs to a goodly proportion of the chief gods. 1 Cf. Brihaddevată 1. 5 ff. See the index at the end of this book for these and most of the following gods. 3 See below, p. 173.