Page:The religions of India.djvu/53

Rh seized with terror, and that was after the death of Vritra, " when, like a scared falcon, he fled to the depths of space across and beyond the ninety and nine rivers ; " ^ while even in this flight the later literature, which has preserved the memory of it, sees only an effect of remorse.^ The fact is, that in India the struggle between the god and the demon is, and will always remain, an unequal one ; it will give rise to an infinite number of myths ; but this will not, as in Persia, issue in dualism. Indra, then, is pre- eminently a warlike god. Standing erect in his war-chariot, drawn by two fawn-coloured horses, he is in some sort the ideal type of an Aryan chieftain. But that is only one of the sides of his nature. As a god of heaven he is also the dispenser of all good gifts, the author and preserver of all life ; ^ with the same hand he fills the udder of the cow with ready-made milk, and holds back the wheels of the sun on the downward slope of the firmament ; he traces for the rivers their courses, and establishes securely without rafters the vault of the sky.* He is of inordinate dimen- sions; there is room for the earth in the hollow of his hand ; ^ he is sovereign lord and demiurgos.^ Around him those divinities are grouped which seem to share in his empire, from the first, his faithful companions the Maruts, probably the bright ones, gods of storm and the lightnings.'^ When their host begins to move, the earth trembles under their deer-yoked chariots and the forests bow their heads on the mountains.^ As they pass, men see 1 Rig- Veda, i. 32, 14. ^ The remorse of the brahmanicide, for the antagonist of Indra has be- come a Brahman : Mahabhar., V. 228- 569. The basis of this story is, how- ever, of ancient date, Taitt. Samh., ii. 5, I ; ii. 5, 3 ; see vi. 5, 5, 2. Taitt. Samh., ii. 4, 12, Indra does '' Twelve hymns of the first book not kill Vritra, but concludes a com- addressed to the Maruts form the pact with him. first volume (all that has appeared) of

^ Rig-Veda, iv. 17, 17; vii. 37,3 : the translation by Max Miiller. He is the Maghavau, the munificent ^ Rig-Veda, v. 60, 2, 3 ; viii. 20, ^ar excellence. 5, 6 ; i. 37, 6, 8. 4 Rig- Veda, i. 61,9; iii. 30, 14; iv. 28, 2 ; ii. 15, 2, 3. ^ Rig-Veda, i. 100, 15 ; 173, 6; vi. 30, I ; iii. 30, 5. s Rig- Veda, ii. 12; i. loi, 5 ; 19, 2 ; iii. 46, 2 ; ii. 15, 2 ; 17, 5; vi. 30, 5 ; viii. 96, 6.
 * iv.