viii. 25, 3. Tā mātā viśvavedasā asuryāya pramahasā | mahi jajāna Aditir ritavari | "The mother, the great, the holy Aditi, brought forth these twain (Mitra and Varuna), the mighty lords of all wealth, that they might exercise divine power."

viii. 47, 9. Aditir naḥ urushyatu Aditir sarma yachhatu | mātā Mitrasya revato Aryamno Varunasya cha anehasaḥ | "May Aditi defend. us, may Aditi grant us protection, she who is the mother of the opulent Mitra, of Aryaman, and of the sinless Varuna. See also x. 36, 3, and x. 132, 6; and A.V. ་་ 1, 9.

In R.V. ii. 27, 7, she is styled rāja-putrā," "the mother of kings;" in iii. 4, 11, su-putrā, "the mother of excellent sons;" in viii. 56, 11, as ugra-putrā, "the mother of powerful sons ;" and in Atharva-veda, iii. 8, 2; xi. 1, 11, "the divine Aditi, mother of heroes" (śūra-putrā). All these epithets have obviously reference to Varuna and the other Adityas as her offspring. In A.V. viii. 9, 21, she is called Aditi, who had an eight-fold parturition, who had eight sons" (ashṭa-yonir Aditir ashtaputra). In viii. 90, 15, (referred to by Professor Müller in his Lectures ii. 501, and in his Trans. of the R.V. i. p. 237), Aditi appears to be described as the daughter of the Vasus, the sister of the Adityas, and the mother of Rudras (mātā rudrāṇāṁ duhitā vasūnām svasā "dityānām amṛitasya nābhiḥ | pra nu vocham chikitushe janāya mā gām anāgām Aditim vadhishța).

In the Sama-veda (=A.V. vi. 4, 1) the brothers as well as the sons of Aditi appear to be mentioned, i. 299: "May Tvashtri, Parjanya, and Brahmanaspati [preserve] our divine utterance. May Aditi with (her) sons and brothers preserve our invincible and protecting utter(Tvashṭā no daivyam vachaḥ Parjanyo Brahmanaspatiḥ | putrair bhrātṛibhir Aditir nu pātu no dushṭaram trāmanam vachaḥ). Who her brothers may be, does not appear.

ance

(4) Is Aditi ever identified with the sky?

In another passage of the R.V. x. 63, 2, Aditi is thus mentioned, along with the waters, and the earth, as one of the sources from which

70 In ii. 27, 1, the epithet rajabhyaḥ, "kings," is applied to all the six Adityas

there named.

71 Benfey, however, understands the sons and brothers to be those of the worshipper. For tramanam vachaḥ the A.V. reads trāyamānam sahaḥ, "delivering force."

the gods had been generated: "All your names, ye gods, are to be revered, adored, and worshipped; ye who were born from Aditi," from the waters, ye who are born from the earth, listen here to my invocation" (Viśvā hi vo namasyāni vandyā nāmāni devāḥ uta yajniyāni vaḥ | ye stha jātāḥ Aditer adbhyas pari ye prithivyās te me iha śruta havam |). In this passage we appear to find the same triple classification of gods as celestial, intermediate, and terrestrial (comp. A.V. x. 9, 12), which we have already met with in R. V. i. 139, 11,73 and in the Nirukta. The gods mentioned in the verse before us as sprung from Aditi, might thus correspond to the celestial gods, among whom the Adityas are specified by Yaska as the first class, or to the Adityas alone."

The hymn before us proceeds in the next verse (x. 63, 3): "Gladden, in order to promote our well-being, those Adityas, who are invigorated by hymns, the bringers of vigour, the energetic, to whom their mother the sky, Aditi, (or the infinite sky),75 towering to the empyrean,

72 Roth, in his Lexicon, understands the word Aditi in this passage to mean "infinity," the boundlessness of heaven as opposed to the limitation of earth.

73 The same threefold origin of the gods, together with the use of the word "waters," to denote the intermediate region, is found also in x. 49, 2, where it is said: mam dhur Indram nāma devatāḥ divas cha gmas' cha apām cha jantavaḥ | "The gods, both those who are the offspring of the sky, of the earth, and of the [aerial] waters, have assigned to me the name of Indra;” and in x. 65, 9, the poet says: Parjanya-Vātā vṛishabhā purishiņā Indra-Vayu Varuno Mitro Aryamā | devān Ādityān Aditim havāmahe ye pārthivāso divyāso apsu ye | "Parjanya, Vāta, vigorous and shedders of moisture, Indra, Vayu, Varuna, Mitra, Aryaman: We invoke the divine Adityas, Aditi, those (gods) who are terrestrial, celestial, who (exist) in the aerial waters." The word "waters" seems to be used in the sense of air, in ii. 38, 11, and x. 45, 1. Compare also vii. 35, 11, where the gods are classed as divya, pārthiva, and apya (celestial, earthly, and aerial, apsu antarikshe bhavaḥ: Sayana), v. 14 of the same hymn where they are divided into divya, parthiva, (celestial, earthly), and gojāta; and vi. 50, 11, where they are distinguished as divya, pārthiva, gojāta, and apya (celestial, earthly, gojāta, and aerial. Sayana on R.V. vii. 35, 14, explains gojāta as Pṛišner jātāḥ “born of Priśni." On vi. 50, 11, he characterizes Prisni as mādhyamikā vāk, “the Vach of the middle region." In the former of these two passages, if the threefold division of gods is maintained gojāta ought to be apya: but in the latter passage we have a fourfold division, and as the apya gods are one of the four classes, gojāta ought to designate a different class. Roth so explains the last word as meaning the gods of the starry heaven. 74 Nirukta xii. 35: Athāto dyusthānāḥ devagaṇāḥ | teshām Ādityāḥ prathamāgāmino bhavanti |

75 The word for "sky” here is Dyaus, which, if my rendering is correct, must in this passage be regarded as feminine, though, as we have seen, it is generally masculine, and designated as father. In v. 59, 8, the words dyaus and aditi are similarly

supplies the sweet ambrosial fluid" (Yebhyo mātā madhumat pincate payaḥ piyusham dyaur aditir adri-barhāḥ | uktha-śushmān vṛishabharān svapnasas tān Ādityān anu mada svastaye). This verse, in which it may seem that Aditi is either identified with, or regarded as an epithet of, the sky, appears rather to confirm the view I have taken of the one which precedes. The tenor of R.V. x. 65, 9, quoted in a preceding foot-note (73), seems, however, opposed to this identification of Aditi with the sky, as she and her sons the Adityas are there mentioned separately from the other gods who are the inhabitants of the three different spheres; though possibly the last named classification may be meant to sum up all the gods before enumerated, and so to comprehend the Adityas also.

(5) Aditi seems to be distinguished from the Earth.

But even if we suppose that in the preceding passages it is intended to identify Aditi with the sky, this identification is very far from being consistently maintained in the hymns. And it is equally difficult to take the word as a constant synonym of the Earth. For although, as we have seen, Aditi is given in the Nighantu as one of the names of the Earth, and in the dual as equivalent to Heaven and Earth, and though in the obscure verse R.V. i. 72, 9, and in Atharva-veda, xiii. 1, 38, she may appear to be identified with the Earth,76 we find her in many passages of the Rig-veda mentioned separately, and as if she were distinct from both the one and the other. Thus, in iii. 54, 19, 20, it is said: "Srinotu naḥ prithivī dyaur utāpaḥ sūryo nakshattrair uru antariksham | 20. Adityair no Aditiḥ śrinotu | "May the Earth and the Heaven hear us, the Water, the Sun with the stars, the wide Atmosphere. . . . 20 May Aditi with the Adityas hear us;"

united: mimātu dyaur aditiḥ, etc. Professor Müller takes aditi in x. 63, 3, as well as in v. 59, 8, for an adjective, and renders the first half of the former verse thus: "The gods to whom their mother yields the sweet milk, and the unbounded sky, as firm as a rock, their food" (pp. 243 and 249). But we should thus have to take Aditi in different senses in two adjoining verses. In v. 2 of this hymn Prof. Müller himself takes Aditi as signifying the goddess (p. 240). For adribarhas see Roth, 8.v.,

and under barhas.

76 R.V. i. 72, 9. Mahnā mahadbhiḥ Prithivi vi tasthe mātā putrair Aditir dhāyase veḥ "The earth, the mother, Aditi stood in power with her mighty sons for the support of the bird." The word prithivi may, however, as Professor Müller supposes, p. 243, be here an epithet. A.V. xiii. 1. 38: Yaśāḥ pṛithivyā Adityā upasthe, etc.

in v. 46, 3: Indrāgnī Mitrāvaruna Aditim svaḥ prithivīm dyām Marutaḥ parvatān apaḥ | huve | " I invoke Indra, Agni, Mitra, Varuna, Aditi, Heaven, Earth, Sky, etc.; in vi. 51, 5: Dyaush pitaḥ Prithivī mātar adhrug Agne bhrātar Vasavo mṛilata naḥ | viśve Adityaḥ Adite sajoshā asmabhyam sarma bahulam viyanta | "Father Heaven, benificent mother Earth, brother Agni, Vasus, be gracious to us; all ye Adityas, Aditi, united, grant us mighty protection ;" in ix. 97, 58: Tan no Mitro Varuno māmahantām Aditiḥ Sindhuḥ Prithivi uta Dyauḥ | "May Mitra, Varuna, Aditi, Ocean, Earth, and Heaven gladden us;" in x. 36, 2: Dyaus cha naḥ Prithivi cha prachetasă ṛitāvarī rakshatām amhaso rishah | . . . . 3. Viśvasmān no Aditiḥ pātu am̃haso mātā mitrasya Varunasya revataḥ 2. "Heaven and Earth, the wise and holy, protect us," etc.; . . 3: "May Aditi, the mother of Mitra and the opulent Varuna, preserve us from every calamity." See also x. 92, 11. Perhaps the most distinct text of all, however, is x. 63, 10: Sutrāmānam Prithivim Dyām anehasam suśarmānam Aditim supranītim | daivīm̃ nāvām̃ svaritrām anāgasam asravantīm ā ruhema svastaye | 10: “(We invoke) the excellent protectress the Earth, the faultless Heaven, the sheltering and guiding Aditi: let us ascend for our wellbeing the divine bark, well rowed, free from imperfection, which never leaks."" Vāj. S. xviii. 22: "May Earth, and Aditi, and Diti, and Heaven, etc., etc., satisfy me through my sacrifice," etc. (. . . . prithivi cha me Aditiś cha me Ditiś cha me Dyauś cha me ... yajnena kalpantām). In A.V. vi. 120, 2: the Earth seems to be distinguished from Aditi: Bhūmir mātā Aditir no janitram bhrātā 'ntariksham ityādi | "The Earth our Mother, Aditi the place of our production, the air our brother, etc.

...

In the Satapatha Brāhmaṇa, indeed, it is said (ii. 2, 1, 19): "Aditi is this earth; she is this supporter," (iyam vai Prithivi Aditiḥ sa iyam pratishtha), etc.; and in another passage (v. 3, 1, 4): "Aditi is this earth; she is the wife of the gods," (iyam vai Prithivī Aditiḥ să iyam devānām patnī). (See also viii. 2, 1, 10; xi. 1, 3, 3). But these identifications of the Brahmanas are very arbitrary and frequently fanciful.

I have already mentioned that Aditi is placed by Yaska at the head 77 This verse occurs also in the Vaj. S. xxi. 6; and Ath. V. vii. 6, 3. See Müller, p. 238.

of the goddesses of the intermediate region. If, however, the same ancient writer has done rightly in placing the Adityas among the deities of the celestial sphere (Nir. xii. 35), Aditi their mother ought surely to have found her place in the same class, as it is scarcely conceivable that the composers of the hymns should have thought of thus separating the parent from her offspring. But Yaska is here merely following the order of the list of words (for it can hardly be called a classification) which he found in the fifth chapter of the Nighanțu; and in following this list (to which he no doubt attached a certain authority) he has had to specify Varuna, who is twice named in it, not only among the celestial gods (xii. 21), among whom as an Aditya he was properly ranked, but also among the gods of the intermediate region 7 (x. 3).

78

(6) Aditi and Diti.

In the following verse Aditi is named along with another goddess or personification, Diti, who, from the formation of her name, appears to be intended as an antithesis, or as a complement, to Aditi (v. 62, 8. Hiranyarupam ushaso vyushṭāv ayaḥ-sthūnam uditā sūryasya | ārohatho Varuna Mitra garttam ataś chakshāthe Aditim Ditim cha | "Ye, Mitra and Varuna, ascend your car, of golden form at the break of dawn, (your car) with iron supports at the setting" of the sun, and thence ye behold Aditi and Diti." 80 Sayana here understands Aditi of the earth as an invisible whole, and Diti as representing the separate creatures on its surface (Aditim akhanḍanīyām bhūmim Ditim khanḍitām pra

78 Roth, in his remarks on Nir. x. 4, offers the following explanation of this circumstance: "Varuna who, of all the gods, ought to have been assigned to the highest sphere, appears here in the middle rank, because among his creative and regulative functions, the direction of the waters in the heavens is one.

79 I here follow Roth, who, in the Journ. Germ. Or. Society, vi. 71, and in his Lexicon, renders the word uditā sūryasya here by "setting of the sun." Sayana goes the length of explaining this phrase by aparāhna "afternoon," in his note on v. 76, 3, though not in the passage before us.

80 These two words, aditi and diti, occur also in a passage of the Vajasaneyi Sanhita (x. 16), which is partly the same as the present. The concluding clause (tatas chakshātām aditim ditim cha) is thus explained by the commentator there as signifying in the adhidaiva sense: "Thence behold [o Varuna and Mitra] the man who is not poor (aditi=adīna), i.e. who observes the prescribed ordinances (vihitānushṭhātāram), and him who is poor (diti=dīna), who follows the practices of the atheists (nāstika-vṛittam).”