vii. 78, 3 (ajījanan sūryam yajnam agnim); by Soma, vi. 44, 23 (ayam sūrye adadhāj jyotir antaḥ); ix. 63, 7; ix. 75, 1; ix. 86, 29 (tava jyotimshi pavamāna sūryaḥ); ix. 96, 5 (janitā sūryasya); ix. 97, 41; ix. 107, 7; ix. 110, 3); by Dhatṛi, x. 190, 3 (sūryā-chandramasau Dhātā yathāpūrvam akalpayat); by Varuna, i. 24, 8; vii. 87, 1 (quoted above); by Mitra and Varuna, iv. 13, 2 (anu vratam Varuno yanti Mitro yat sūryam divi ārohayanti); v. 63, 4, 7 (sūryam ā dhattho divi); Indra and Varuna, vii. 82, 3 (sūryam airayatam divi prabhum); by Indra and Vishnu, vii. 99, 4 (urum yajnāya chakrathur u lokam janayantā sūryam ushasam aynim), and by the Angirases through their rites, x. 62, 3 (ye ṛitena sūryam ārohayan divi aprathayan prithivīm mātaram vi). In passages of this description the divine personality of the sun is thrown into the background: the grand luminary becomes little more than a part of nature, created and controlled by those spiritual powers which exist above and beyond all material phenomena. The divine power of Mitra and Varuna is said to be shown in the sky, where Surya moves a luminary and a bright agent [or instrument] of theirs; whom again they conceal by clouds and rain, v. 63, 4 (māyā vām Mitrāvarunā divi śritā sūryo jyotiś charati chitram āyudham | tam abhrena vṛishṭyā gūhatho divi). He is declared to be god-born, x. 37, 1; to be the son of the sky, ibid. (devajātāya ketave Divas putrāya Sūryāya); to have been drawn by the gods from the ocean where he was hidden (x. 72, 7, see above, p. 48); to have been placed by the gods in heaven, x. 88, 11 (yadā id enam adadhur yajniyāso divi devāḥ sūryam āditeyam), where he is identified with Agni; and to have sprung from the eye of Purusha, x. 90, 13 (chakshoḥ suryo ajāyata).249 He is also said to have been overcome and despoiled by Indra, x. 43, 5 (samvargam yan maghavā suryam jayat),250 who, in some obscure verses is alluded to as having carried off one of the wheels of his chariot, i. 175, 4; iv. 28, 2; iv. 30, 4; v. 29, 10.

(4) Translation of a hymn to Surya.

I subjoin, with a translation, the greater part of the picturesque, if somewhat monotonous, hymn, i. 50: Ud u tyam jātavedasam devam

249 In the A.V. iv. 10, 5, the sun is said to have sprang from Vṛittra (Vṛittrāj jāto divākaraḥ).

250 See the 4th vol. of this work, pp. 92 f.

vahanti ketavaḥ | dṛiśe viśvāya sūryam 2. Apa tye tāyavo yathā nakshattra yanti aktubhiḥ | sūrāya viśvachakshase | 3. Adriśram asya ketavo vi raśmayo janān anu | bhrājanto agnayo yatha | 4. Taranir viśvadarśato jyotishkṛid asi surya | viśvam ā bhāsi rochanam | 5. Pratyān devānām viśaḥ pratyaññ ud eshi mānushān | pratyañ viśvam svar driśe | 6. Yena pāvaka chakshasā bhuranyantam janān anu | tvam Varuna paśyasi | 7. Vi dyām eshi rajas pṛithu ahā mimāno aktubhiḥ | paśyan janmāni sūrya | 8. Sapta tvā harito rathe vahanti deva sürya | śochishkeśam vichakshana | 9. ayukta sapta śundhyuvaḥ sūro rathasya naptyaḥ | tābhir yati svayuktibhiḥ | 10. Ud vayam tamasas pari jyotish paśyantaḥ uttaram | devam devatrā sūryam aganma jyotir uttamam |

1. "The heralds 251 lead aloft this god Surya, who knows all beings, (manifesting him) to the universal gaze. 2. (Eclipsed) by thy rays, the stars slink away, like thieves, before thee the all-beholding luminary. 3. His rays revealing (his presence) are visible to all mankind, flaming like fires. 4. Traversing (the heavens), all-conspicuous, thou createst light, o Surya, and illuminatest the whole firmament. 5. Thou risest in the presence of the race of gods, of men, and of the entire heaven, that thou mayest be beheld. 6. With that glance of thine wherewith, o illuminator, o Varuna, thou surveyest the busy race of men,252 7. thou, o Surya, penetratest the sky, the broad firmament, measuring out the days with thy rays, spying out all creatures. 8. Seven ruddy mares bear thee onward in thy chariot, o clear-sighted Surya, the god with flaming locks. 9. The sun has yoked the seven brilliant mares, the daughters of the car; with these, the self-yoked, he advances. 10. Gazing towards the upper light beyond the darkness, we have ascended to the highest luminary, Surya, a god among the gods." 253

251 In his translation of R.V. i. 166, 1, Professor Müller renders ketu by herald (see pp. 197, and 201), a sense which suits the verse before us very well.

252 See Professor Benfey's translation, and note (Orient und Occident, i. p 405), and the passage of Roth's Abhandlungen (Dissertations on the literature and history of the Veda) p. 81 f., to which he refers; and in which that writer regards the reading janan as standing for janām, the acc. sing., the last syllable being lengthened on account of the metre.

253 I subjoin a metrical translation of these verses:

1. By lustrous heralds led on high,

The omniscient Sun ascends the sky,
His glory drawing every eye.

The Atharva-veda contains a long hymn to Surya, xiii. 2, partly made up of extracts from the Rig-veda.

The Mahābhārata (iii. 166 ff.) also has a hymn to the same god, in which he is styled "the eye of the world, and the soul of all embodied creatures," v. 166 (tvam bhāno jagataś chakshus tvam ātmā sarva-dehinām); the source of all beings, the body of observances performed by those who practise ceremonies, the refuge of the Sankhyas, the highest object of Yogins, the unbolted door, the resort of those seeking emancipation, etc., etc.; v. 166 f. (tvam yoniḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ tvam āchāraḥ kriyāvatām | tvam gatiḥ sarva-sānkhyānāṁ yogināṁ tvam parāyaṇam | anāvṛitärgaladvāram tvam gatis tvam mumukshatām); and his celestial chariot (divyam ratham) is referred to (v. 170). He is also, we are told, said by those who understand the computation of time, to be the beginning and end of that period of a thousand yugas known as the day of Brahma (yad aho Brahmanaḥ proktam sahasra-yuga-sammitam | tasya tram adir antaś cha kālajnaiḥ samprakīrttitaḥ); the lord of the Manus, of their sons, of the world sprung from Manu, and of all the lords of the Manvantaras. When the time of the mundane dissolution has arrived, the Samvarttaka fire, which reduces all things to ashes, issues from his wrath (vv. 185 f.; compare the 1st vol. of this work, pp. 43 f. and 207).

2. All-seeing Sun, the stars so bright,

Which gleamed throughout the sombre night,
Now scared, like thieves, slink fast away,
Quenched by the splendour of thy ray.
3. Thy beams to men thy presence shew;
Like blazing fires they seem to glow.
4. Conspicuous, rapid, source of light,
Thou makest all the welkin bright.

5. In sight of gods, and mortal eyes,

In sight of heaven thou scal'st the skies.
6. Bright god, thou scann'st with searching ken
The doings all of busy men.

7. Thou stridest o'er the sky; thy rays

Create, and measure out, our days;
Thine eye all living things surveys.
8. 9. Seven lucid mares thy chariot bear,
Self-yoked, athwart the fields of air,
Bright Surya, god with flaming hair.
10. That glow above the darkness we
Beholding, upward soar to thee,
For there among the gods thy light
Supreme is seen, divinely bright.

11

162

SECTION XI.

SAVITRI.

(1) His epithets, characteristics, and functions.

The hymns which are entirely or principally devoted to the celebration of Savitri are the following: i. 35; ii. 38; iv. 53; iv. 54; v. 81; v. 82; vii. 37; vii, 45; x. 149; with many detached passages and verses, such as i. 22, 5-8; iii. 56, 6, 7; iii. 62, 10-12, etc., etc. The epithets, characteristics, and functions of this god, as described in the Rig-veda, are as follows:

255

He is pre-eminently the golden deity, being hiranyāksha, goldeneyed (i. 35, 8); hiranya-pāni,25 hiranya-hasta, golden-handed (i. 22, 5; i. 35, 9, 10; iii. 54, 11; vi. 50, 8; vi. 71, 4; vii. 38, 2; S.V. i. 464; Vaj. S. i. 16; iv. 25; A.V. iii. 21, 8; vii. 14, 2; vii. 115, 2; hiranya-jihva, golden-tongued (vi. 71, 3); sujihva, beautiful-tongued (iii. 54, 11; vii. 45, 4); mandra-jihva, pleasant-tongued (vi. 71, 4). He invests himself with golden or tawny mail (pisangam drāpim, iv. 53, 2); and assumes all forms (viśvā rūpāṇi prati mūnchate kaviḥ, v. 81, 2). He is also harikeśa, the yellow-haired (x. 139, 1). Luminous in his aspect, he ascends a golden car, drawn by radiant, brown, white-footed, horses; and beholding all creatures, he pursues an ascending and descending path, i. 35, 2-5; vii. 45, 1 (hiranyayena Savita rathena devo yāti bhuvanāni paśyan | yāti devaḥ pravatā yāti udvatā yāti subrābhyām yajato haribhyām | kṛiśanair viśvarupam

254 See the tasteless explanations of this epithet given by the commentator and the Kaushitaki Brāhmaṇa, as mentioned in Rosen's and Wilson's notes on i. 22, 5; and see also Weber's Ind. Studien, ii. 306. The same epithet is given to Savitri in the Vāj. Sanhitā, i. 16, where see the commentary. Savitri is also called prithupāni, broad-handed (ii. 38, 2), and supāni, beautiful-handed (iii. 33, 6; vii. 45, 4). Tvashtri, too, is called supāni (iii. 54, 12), as are also Mitra and Varuņa (iii. 56, 7).

255 According to the A.V. i. 33, 1, he, as well as Agni, was born in the goldencoloured waters (hiranyavarṇāḥ ś'uchayaḥ pāvakāḥ yāsu jātaḥ Savitā yāsu Agniḥ).

hiranya-samyam yajato bṛihantam a asthad ratham savità chitrabhānuḥ | vi janān śyāvāḥ śitipādaḥ akhyan ratham hiranyapraügam vahantaḥ | savitā suratno antarikshaprāḥ vahamāno aśvaiḥ). Surrounded by a golden lustre, hiranyayim amatim (iii. 38, 8; vii. 38, 1; vii. 45, 3), he illuminates the atmosphere, and all the regions of the earth, i. 35, 7, 8; iv. 14, 2; iv. 53, 4; v. 81, 2 (vi suparno antarikshāni akhyat | ashṭau vi akhyat kakubhaḥ prithivyāḥ | ūrdhvaṁ ketum savitā devo aśrej jyotir viśvasmai bhuvanāya kṛinvan | adābhyo bhuvanāni prachākaśat | vi nākam akhyat Savita). His robust and golden arms, 356 which he stretches out to bless, and infuse energy into, all creatures, reach to the utmost ends of heaven, ii. 38, 2; iv. 53, 3, 4; vi. 71, 1, 5; vii. 45, 2 (viśvasya hi śrushṭaye devaḥ urdhvaḥ pra bāhavā pṛithupāniḥ sisartti | pra bāhū asrāk Savitā savīmani | ud u sya devaḥ Savitā hiranyayā bāhu ayamsta savanāya sukratuḥ | ud asya bāhū śithirā bṛihantā hiranyayā divo antān anashṭām). In one place, however (vi. 71, 4), he is called ayohanu, the iron-jawed, though even there the commentator says that ayas, which ordinarily means iron, is to be rendered by gold. His ancient paths in the sky are said to be free from dust, i. 35, 11 (ye te panthāḥ Savitaḥ pūrvyāso arenavaḥ sukṛitāḥ antarikshe). He is called (like Varuna and others of the gods) asura, a divine spirit (i. 35, 7, 10; iv. 53, 1). His will and independent authority cannot be resisted by Indra, Varuna, Mitra, Aryaman, Rudra, or by any other being, ii. 38, 7, 9; v. 82, 2 (nakir asya tāni vrată devasya Savitur minanti | na yasya Indro Varuno na Mitro vratam Aryamā na minanti Rudraḥ | asya hi svayaśastaram Savituḥ kach chana priyam | na minanti svarājyam). He observes fixed laws, iv. 53, 4; x. 34, 8; x. 139, 3 (vratāni devaḥ Savita 'bhirakshate | Savita satyadharma). The other gods follow his lead, v. 81, 3 (yasya prayānam anu anye id yayur deraḥ). The waters and the wind obey his ordinance, ii. 38, 2 (āpaś chid asya vrate ā nimṛigrāḥ ayam chid vāto ramate parijman). His praises are celebrated by the Vasus, by Aditi, by the royal Varuna, by Mitra, and by Aryaman, vii. 38, 3, 4 (api stutaḥ Savitā devo astu yam ā chid viśve Vasavo grinanti | abhi yam devi Aditir grināti savam devasya

256 Indra, too, is called hiranya-bāhu, golden-armed, vii. 34, 4. Agni is said to raise aloft his arms like Savitri, i. 95, 7. In vii. 79, 2, the Dawns are said to send forth light as Savitri stretches out his arms. In i. 190, 3, also the arms of Savitri are alluded to. In vii. 62, 5, Mitra and Varuna are supplicated to stretch out their arms.