being our friend, paridevayānchakre). The Maruts reply, i. 170, 2: kim naḥ Indra jighāmsasi bhrātaro marutas tava | tebhiḥ kalpasva sādhuyā mā naḥ samarane vadhiḥ | 3. Kim no bhrātar Agastya sakhā sann ati manyase | vidma hi te yathā mano asmabhyam in na ditsasi | "Why dost thou seek to kill us, Indra? The Maruts are thy brothers. Act amicably towards them. Do not kill us in the fray." 241 Indra then says to Agastya, v. 3. "Why dost thou, brother Agastya, disregard us? For we know how thy mind is. Thou wilt not give us anything."-See Roth's Elucidations of Nirukta, p. 6.) In i. 171, 4, also, the rishi, after imploring the favour of the Maruts, says to them apologetically: asmād aham tavishād īshamāṇaḥ Indrād bhiyā Maruto rejamānaḥ | yushmabhyam havyā niśitāni āsan tāni āre chakṛima mrilata naḥ "I fled, trembling through fear of the mighty Indra. Oblations were prepared for you; we put them away; be merciful to us." (Compare R. V. iv. 18, 11; viii. 7, 31, and viii. 85, 7, quoted above, pp. 92 ff., note.) See Professor Muller's translation of i. 165, and the full illustrations he gives of its signification in his notes, pp. 170 ff., 179, 184, 186, 187, 189. This hymn is referred to in the following short story from the Taitt. Brāhmaṇa, ii. 7, 11, 1: Agastyo marudbhyaḥ ukshnaḥ praukshat | tān Indraḥ ādatta | te enam vajram udyatya abhyāyanta tan Agastyaś chaiva Indraś cha kayāśubhiyena aśamayaṭām | tān śāntān upāhvayata yat kayāśubhiyam bhavati śāntyai | tasmād ete aindrāmārutāḥ ukshāṇaḥ savaniyāḥ bhavanti | trayaḥ prathame 'hann alabhyante | evam dvitiye | evam tṛitiye | pancha uttame 'hann ālabhyante | "Agastya was immolating bulls to the Maruts. These bulls Indra carried off. The Maruts ran at him brandishing a thunderbolt. Agastya and Indra pacified them with the kayāśubhīya" (referring to R.V. i. 165, 1, of which the first verse begins with the words kayā śubhā). "Indra invited them to the ceremony when pacified, for the kayāśubhiya is used for pacification. Hence these bulls are to be offered both to Indra and the Maruts. Three are sacrificed on the first day, as many on the second and third; on the last day five are immolated." In the following passages (some of which have been already quoted) the Maruts are said to worship Indra, viz., iii. 32, 3; v. 29, 1, 2, 6; viii. 3, 7; viii. 78, 1, 3. 211 See Roth on the sense of this text, s.v. kalp. SECTION X. SURYA. (1) The two sun-gods separately celebrated in the hymns. The great powers presiding over day and night are, as we have seen above, supposed by the Indian commentators to be personified in Mitra and Varuna. But these deities, and especially Varuna, as described in the Veda, are far more than the mere representatives of day and night. They are also recognized as moral governors, as well as superintendents of physical phenomena. There are two other gods (also, as has been already noticed, p. 54, reckoned in a few passages as belonging to the Adityas), who are exact personifications of the sun,242 viz., Sūrya and Savitri.243 It is under these two different appellations that the sun is chiefly celebrated in the Rig-veda; and although it may be difficult to perceive why the one word should be used in any particular case 242 In the Homeric hymn to Helios, verses 8 ff., the sun is thus described: ὡς φαίνει θνητοῖσι καὶ ἀθανάτοισι θεοῖσιν ἵπποις ἐμβεβαώς· σμερδνὸν δ ̓ ὅγε δέρκεται ὄσσοις ἔνθ ̓ ἄρ ὅγε στήσας χρυσόζυγον ἅρμα καὶ ἵππους 243 Regarding the Greek ideas of the divinity of the sun, moon, and stars, the reader may compare the passages of Plato cited or referred to by Mr. Grote, Plato, iii. pp. 384, 414, 418, 449, 452, 497. One of these passages, from the Laws vii. p. 821, is as follows:—Ὦ ἀγαθοί, καταψευδόμεθα νῦν ὡς ἔπος ἐιπεῖν Ἕλληνες πάντες μεγάλων θεων, Ηλίου τε ἅμα καὶ Σελήνης. Again in the Epinomis p. 984, mention is made of the visible deities, by which the stars are meant : θεοὺς δὲ δὴ τοὺς ὁρατούς, μεγίστους καὶ τιμιωτάτους καὶ ̓οξύτατον ̔ὁρῶντας παντῃ, τοὺς πρώτους τὴν τῶν ἄστρων φύσιν λεκτέον, κ.τ.λ. rather than the other, the application of the names may perhaps depend upon some difference in the aspect under which the sun is conceived, or on some diversity in the functions which he is regarded as fulfilling. Different sets of hymns are, at all events, devoted to his worship under each of these names, and the epithets which are applied to him in each of these characters are for the most part separate. In some few places, both these two names, and occasionally some others, appear to be applied to the solar deity indiscriminately, but in most cases the distinction between them is nominally, at least, preserved. The principal hymns, or portions of hymns, in praise of, or referring to, Surya are the following:-i. 50, 1–13; i. 115, 1–6; iv. 13, 1–3; v. 40, 5, 6, 8, 9; v. 45, 9, 10; v. 59, 5; vii. 60, 1-4; x. 37, 1 ff.; x. 170. He is treated of in Nirukta, xii. 14-16. (2) Surya's parentage, relations to the other gods, epithets, and functions. In x. 37, 1, Surya is styled the son of Dyaus (Divas puttrāya Sūryāya śam̃sata). In x. 88, 11, he is called the son of Aditi (Sūryām Aditeyam), and by the same title in viii, 90, 11 (Ban mahān asi Sūrya bal Aditya mahān asi); but in other places he appears to be distinguished from the Adityas, as in viii. 35, 13 ff. (sajoshasā Ushasā Sūryena cha Adityair yātam Aśvinā). Ushas (the Dawn) is in one place said to be his wife (Suryasya yoshā, vii. 75, 5), while in another passage, vii. 78, 3, the Dawns are, by a natural figure, said to produce him (ajījanan sūryam yajnam agnim) along with Sacrifice and Agni, and in a third text, to reveal all the three (prachikitat suryam yajnam agnim). Surya is described as moving on a car, which is sometimes said to be drawn by one and sometimes by several, or by seven, fleet and ruddy horses or mares 2 (i. 115, 3, 4; vii. 60, 3: ayukta sapta haritaḥ sadhastād yāḥ im vahanti sūryam ghṛitāchīḥ); vii. 63, 2 (yad etaśo vahanti dhūrshu yuktaḥ; compare ix. 63, 7: ayukta süraḥ etaśam pavamānaḥ); x. 37, 3; x. 49, 7. His path is prepared by the Adityas, Mitra, Aryaman, and Varuna, i. 24, 8 (urum hi rājā Varuṇaś chakāra sūryāya panthām anu etavai u); vii. 60, 4 (yasmai Ādityāḥ adhvano radanti Mitro Aryamā Varunaḥ sajoshāḥ); vii. 87, 1. Pushan goes 244 244 Indra is said to traverse the sky with the sun's horses (aham Suryasya pari yāmi āsubhiḥ pra etaśebhir vahamānaḥ ojasā, x. 49, 7). Compare Ovid's description of Phaethon's horses, Metam. ii. 153. as his messenger with his golden ships, which sail in the aerial ocean, vi. 58, 3 (yās te Pūshan nāvaḥ antaḥ samudre hiranyayir antarikshe charanti | tābhrir yāsi dūtyam sūryasya). He is the preserver and soul of all things stationary and moving, i. 115, 1 (suryaḥ ātmā jagatas tastushaścha); vii. 60, 2 (viśvasya sthātur jagatascha gopāḥ), the vivifier (prasavitā) 245 of men, and common to them all, vii. 63, 2, 3 (sādhāranaḥ sūryo mānushāṇām | ud u eti prasavitā janānām). Enlivened by him men pursue their ends and perform their work, vii. 63, 4 (nunam janāḥ sūryena prasūtāḥ ayann arthāni kṛinavann apām̃si). He is far-seeing, all-seeing, beholds all creatures, and the good and bad deeds of mortals," i. 50, 2, 7; vi. 51, 2; vii. 35, 8; vii. 60, 2; vii. 61, 1; vii. 63, 1, 4; x. 37, 1 (sürāya viśvachakshase | paśyan janmāni sūrya | sūryaḥ uruchakshāḥ | ṛiju marteshu vṛijinā cha paśyan | abhi yo viśvā bhuvanāni chashṭe | dūredṛise). He is represented as the eye of Mitra and Varuṇa, and sometimes of Agni also, i. 115, 1; vi. 51, 1; vii. 61, 1; vii. 63, 1; x. 37, 1 (chakshur Mitrasya Varunasya Agneḥ | chakshur Mitrasya Varunasya | namo Mitrasya Varunasya chakshase). In one passage, vii. 77, 3, Ushas (the Dawn) is said to bring the eye of the gods, and 246 245 This word and others derived from the same root su or su, are, as we shall shortly see, very frequently applied to Savitri. In x. 66, 2, the gods are said to be Indra-prasūtāḥ. 246 The same thing is naturally and frequently said of the sun in classical literature. Thus Homer says, Iliad, iii. 277: ἠέλιός ὃς πάντ' ἐφορᾷς καὶ πάντ ̓ ἐπακούεις· κ τ.λ. and again in the Iliad, xiv. 344 f. : οὐδ ̓ ἂν νῶι διαδράκοι ήέλιός περ, οὔτε καὶ ὀξύτατον πέλεται φάος εἰσοράασθαι· And in the Odyssey, viii. 270 f.: ἄφαρ δὲ οἱ ἄγγελος ἦλθεν Ηλιος, ὅ σφ ̓ ἐνόησε μιγαζομένους φιλότητι. So too Eschylus in the Prometheus Vinctus : καὶ τὸν πανόπτην κύκλον ἡλίου καλῶ. And Plutarch, Isis and Osiris, 12: Τῆς Ῥέας φασὶ κρύφα τῷ Κρόνῳ συγγενομένης αισθόμενον ἐπαράσασθαι τὸν Ἥλιον· So too Ovid, Metamorph. iv. 171 f.: Primus adulterium Veneris cum Marte putatur and verses 195 ff.: qui que omnia cernere debes, Leucotheen spectas: et virgine figis in una lead on the bright and beautiful horse, by which the sun seems to be intended (devānām chakshuḥ subhaga vahanti svetam nayanti sudrisi kam aśvam; compare vii. 76, 1: kratvā devānām ajanishṭa chakshuḥ).247 In x. 85, 1, it is said that while the earth is upheld by truth, the sky is upheld by the sun (satyenottabhitā bhūmiḥ sūryenottabhita dyauḥ). He rolls up darkness like a hide, vii. 63, 1 (charmeva yaḥ samvivyak tamāmsi). By his greatness he is the divine leader (or priest) of the gods, viii. 90, 12 (mahnā devānām asuryaḥ purohitaḥ). In viii. 82, 1, 4, he is identified with Indra, or vice versâ, Indra with him. In x. 170, 4, the epithets viśvakarman, the architect of the universe, and viśvadevyavat, possessed of all divine attributes, are applied to him (as in viii. 87, 2, Indra also is styled viśvakarman and viśvadeva). In vii. 60, 1, and vii. 62, 2, he is prayed at his rising to declare men sinless to Mitra, Varuna, etc. (yad adya Surya bravo anāgāḥ udyan Mitrāya Varunaya satyam). (3) Subordinate position sometimes assigned to him. In many passages, however, the dependent position of Surya is asserted. Thus he is said to have been produced, or caused to shine, or to rise, or to have his path prepared, etc., by Indra, ii. 12, 7 (yaḥ Suryam yaḥ Ushasam jajāna); iii. 31, 15 (Indro nṛibhir ajanad didyānaḥ sākam Suryam ushasam gātum Agnim); iii. 32, 8 (jajāna Suryam ushasam); iii. 44, 2 (sūryam haryann arochayaḥ); iii. 49, 4 (janita suryasya); vi. 17, 5; vi. 30, 5; viii. 78, 7 (ā sūryam rohayo divi); 248 viii. 87, 2; x. 171, 4 (tram tyam Indra suryam paśchā santam puras kridhi); by Indra and Soma, vi. 72, 2 (ut sūryam nayatho jyotisha saha); by Agni, x. 3, 2; x. 156, 4 (Agne nakshatram ajaram ā sūryam rohayo divi | dadhaj jyotir janebhyaḥ); by the Ushases (Dawns), 247 In v. 59, 3, 5, and x. 10, 9, the eye of the sun is spoken of; and in x. 16, 3, the affinity of the eye to the sun is indicated. In A.V. v. 24, 9, the sun is said to be the lord of eyes (sūryas chakshushām adhipatiḥ), and in A.V. xiii. 1, 45, he is said to see beyond the sky, the earth, and the waters, and to be the one eye of created things (suryo dyam suryaḥ pṛithivīm sūryaḥ āpo 'tipaśyati | suryo bhūtasya ekam chakshur āruroha divam mahīm). 248 In his note on this passage (viii. 78, 7) Sāyaṇa relates a legend, that formerly the Panis had carried off the cows of the Angirases, and placed them on a mountain enveloped in darkness, when Indra, after being lauded by the Angirases, and supplicated to restore the cows, caused the sun to rise that he might see them. |