Page:The religions of India.djvu/55

Rh predicated of a god of storm, who has at his command both Agni and Soma under the forms of lightning and rain, he has a higher ro/c and plays a part in the generation of the cosmos.^

By one of those peculiarities characteristic of the Vedic religions, nearly all the features which have just been men- tioned as conspicuous in Agni, Soma, and Indra reappear in another divine personage of an origin apparently very dif- ferent, Brihaspati or Bralimanaspati, as he is called, the lord of prayer. Like Agni and Soma, he is born on the altar, and thence rises upwards to the gods ; like them, he was begotten in space by heaven and earth ; like Indra, he wages war with enemies on the earth and demons in the air ; ^ like all three, he resides in the highest heaven, he generates the gods, and ordains the order of the universe. Under his fiery breath the world was melted and assumed the form it has, like metal in the mould of the founder.^ At first sight it would seem that all this is a late product of abstract reflection ; and it is probable, in fact, from the very form of the name, that in so far as it is a distinct person, the type is comparatively modern ; in any case, it is peculiarly Indian ; but by its elements it is connected with the most ancient conceptions. As there is a power in the flame and the libation, so there is in the formula; and this formula the priest is not the only person to pronounce, any more than he is the only one to kindle Agni or shed Soma. There is a prayer in the thunder, and the gods, who know all things, are not ignorant of the power in the sacramental expressions. They possess all-potent spells that have remained hidden from men and are as ancient as the first rites, and it was by these the world was formed at first, and by which it is preserved up to the present.^ It is this omnipresent power of prayer which

^ Rig- Veda, v. 83 ; vii. loi ; ix. ^ Rig- Veda, iv. 50, 4 ; ii. 26, 3 ; 82,^ 3 ; 113, 3. 24, 5; iv. 50, i ; x. 72, 2. - Rig- Veda, ii. 24, II ; vii. 97, 8 ; ^ Rig- Veda, i. 164, 45; viii. lOO, 10, ii. 23, 3, iS; ii. 24, 2-4; x. 68. ii; x. 71, i; I77>2; 114, i; '-^^-2^, 17 ;