Page:The Religion of the Veda.djvu/64

 The Religion of the Veda Urvaçi. Now the reason why this story is preserved is that the Brahmana text is engaged in describing this very fire-offering; the story proves the magic of this sacrifice which is, aye, powerful enough to turn a mortal into a demi-god. 48 Here are a couple of short legends, crisp and clear- cut as cameos. They show that, just as the early gods of India are nature-gods, so the early legends are en- grossed with problems of nature and the world. The first of these snatches' may be entitled A Legend of the First Pair. CC Yama and Yami ( the twins') are the first man and woman. Yama died. The gods sought to console Yami for the death of Yama. When they asked her she said, 'To-day he hath died.' They said: In this way she will never forget him. Let us create night!' Day only at that time existed, not night. The gods created night. Then morrow came into being. Then she forgot him. Hence, they say, 'Days and nights make men forget sorrow.' The second legend" may be entitled The Mountains as Winged Birds. "The mountains are the eldest children of Prajapati (the Creator). They were winged (birds). They kept flying forth and settling wherever they liked. At that ¹ Maitrāyanī Sanhita 1. 5. 12. 2 Maitrayani Sanhita 1. 10. 13. cf. Pischel, Vedische Studien, i., 174 ff. 1 L