soma jyeshṭhaḥ ugrāṇām Indo ojishṭhaḥ | yudhvā san śaśvad jigetha | 17. Yaḥ ugrebhyas chid ojīyān śūrebhyaś chit śūrataraḥ | bhūridābhyaś chid mamhiyān). He conquers for his worshippers cows, chariots, horses, gold, heaven, water, a thousand desirable things, ix. 78, 4 (gojin naḥ somo rathajid hiranyajit svarjid abjit pavate sahasrajit), and every thing, viii. 68, 1 (viśvajit). He is a wise rishi, viii. 68, 1 (rishir vipraḥ kāvyena); strong, skilful, omniscient, prolific, glorious, i. 91, 2 (tvam Soma kratubhiḥ sukratur bhūs tvam dakshaiḥ sudaksho viśvavedāḥ | tvam vṛisha vṛishatvebhir mahitvā dyumnebhir dyumni abhavo nṛichakshāh). He is the priest of the gods, the leader of poets, a rishi among sages, a bull among wild animals, a falcon among kites, an axe in the woods, ix. 96, 6 (brahmā devānām padarīḥ kavīnām ṛishir viprānām mahisho mṛigānām | śyeno gṛidhrāṇām svadhitir vanānām). He is an unconquerable protector from enemies; i. 91, 21 (ashāṛham yutsu pṛitanāsu paprim); x. 25, 7 (tvam naḥ Soma viśvato gopāḥ adābhyo bhava | sedha rājann apa sridhaḥ). If he desires that his votaries shall live, they do not die, i. 91, 6 (tram cha soma no vaśo jivātum na marāmahe). In viii. 48, 7, he is prayed to prolong their lives, as the sun the days (Soma rājan pra naḥ āyūm̃shi tūrīr ahānīva sūryo vāsarāni). In x. 59, 4, he is prayed not to abandon the worshipper to death (mo shu naḥ soma mṛityave parā dāḥ). The friend of a god like him cannot suffer, i. 91, 8 (na rishyet tvātavaḥ sakhā). The friendship and intimacy of such a god is eagerly desired, ix. 66, 18 (vrinimahe sakhyāya vṛinīmahe yujyāya). In x. 30, 5, he is said to rejoice in the society of the waters, as a man in that of beautiful young women (yābhiḥ somo modate harshate cha kalyāṇībhir yuvatibhir na maryaḥ).

(7) Soma associated with other gods.

Soma is associated with Agni as an object of adoration in i. 93, 1 ff. In verse 5 of that hymn those two gods are said to have placed the luminaries in the sky (yuvam etāni divi rochanāni Agniś cha Soma sukratū adhattam). In the same way Soma and Pushan are conjoined in ii. 40, 1 ff., where various attributes and functions of a magnificent character are ascribed to them. Thus, in verse 1, they are said to be the generators of wealth, and of heaven and earth, to have been born

the guardians of the whole universe, and to have been made by the gods the centre of immortality (jananā rayīnām jananā divo jananā prithivyāḥ | jātau viśvasya bhuvanasya gopau devāḥ akṛinvann amṛitasya nābhim). The one has made his abode in the sky, and the other on the earth, and in the atmosphere (verse 4). The one has produced all the worlds, and the other moves onward beholding all things (verse 5) (4. Divi anyaḥ sadanam chakre uchchā pṛithivyām anyo adhi antarikshe | 5. Viśvāni anyo bhuvanā jajāna viśvam anyo abhichakshānaḥ eti). In vi. 72, and vii. 104, Soma and Indra are celebrated in company. In the first of these hymns they are said to dispel darkness, to destroy revilers, to bring the sun and the light, to prop up the sky with supports, and to have spread out mother earth (verse 1. Yuvam Suryam vividathur yuvam svar viśvā tamām̃si ahatam nidaś cha | 2. Vāsayathaḥ ushāsam ut sūryam nayatho jyotishā saha | upa dyām skambhathuḥ skambhanena aprathatam prithivīm mātaram vi). In vii. 104, their vengeance is invoked against Rakshases, Yatudhānas, and other enemies.

Hymn vi. 74, is dedicated to the honour of Soma and Rudra conjointly. The two gods, who are said to be armed with sharp weapons (tigmayudhau tigmāheti) are there supplicated for blessings to man and beast, for healing remedies, and for deliverance from sin (sam no bhūtam dvipade sam chatushpade | etāni asme viśvā tanūshu bheshajāni dhattam | ava syatam munchatam yan no asti tanūshu baddham kṛitam eno asmat).

(8) Soma in the post-vedic age a name of the moon.

In the post-vedic age the name Soma came to be commonly applied to the moon and its regent. Even in the Rig-veda, some traces of this application seem to be discoverable. Thus in x. 85, 2 ff. (which, however, Professor Roth regards as of comparatively modern date: Ill. of Nir. p. 147), there appears to be an allusion to the double sense of the word: 2. Somenādityaḥ balinaḥ Somena prithivi mahi | atho nakshattrānām esham upasthe Somaḥ ahitaḥ | 3. Somam manyate papivan yat sampimshanti oshadhim | Somam yam brahmāno vidur na tasyāśnati kaśchana | 4. Achhadvidhānair gupito bārhataiḥ Soma rakshitaḥ | grāvṇām it śṛinvan tishthasi na te aśnāti pārthivaḥ | 5. Yat tvā devāḥ prapibanti tataḥ āрyāyase punaḥ | Vayuḥ Somasya rakshitā samānām māsaḥ ākṛitiḥ |

99 404

"2. By Soma the Adityas are strong; by Soma the earth is great; and Soma is placed in the centre of these stars. 3. When they crush the plant, he who drinks regards it as Soma. Of him whom the priests regard as Soma (the moon) no one drinks. 4. Protected by those who shelter thee, and preserved by thy guardians, 403 thou, Soma, hearest the sound of the crushing-stones; but no earthly being tastes thee. 5. When the gods drink thee, o god, thou increasest again. Vayu is the guardian of Soma: the month is a part of the years. In the Atharva-veda the following half-verse occurs, xi, 6, 7: Somo mā devo munchatu yam āhuś chandramāḥ iti | "May the god Soma free me, he whom they call the moon." And in the Satapatha Brahmana, i. 6, 4, 5; xi. 1, 3, 2; xi. 1, 3, 4, and xi. 1, 4, 4, we have the words: Esha vai Somo rājā devānām annam yat chandramaḥ | "This king Soma, who is the moon, is the food of the gods." Similarly in xi. 1, 3, 5: chandramaḥ vai Somo devānām annam | Soma is the moon, the food of the gods." See also i. 6, 3, 24: Suryaḥ eva agneyaḥ | chandramāḥ saumyaḥ | "The sun has the nature of Agni, the moon of Soma ;" and xii. 1, 1, 2: Somo vai chandramāḥ | "Soma is the moon." In v. 3, 3, 12, and in ix. 4, 3, 16, Soma is said to be the king of the Brahmans (Somo 'smākam brāhmaṇānāṁ rājā). In the Vishnu Purana (book i. chap. 22, p. 85 of Wilson's translation, vol. 2, Dr. Hall's ed.) the double character of Soma is indicated in these words: "Brahmā appointed Soma to be monarch of the stars and planets, of Brahmans and of plants, of sacrifices and of austere devotions" (nakshattra-grahaviprāṇām vīrudhām chapy aśeshataḥ | Somam rajye dadau Brahmā yajnānam tapasām api).

403 The word so rendered is bārhataiḥ. In the Lexicon of Böhtlingk and Roth, 8.., its sense is said to be doubtful. Professor Weber (Ind. St. v. 178 ff. where these verses, with the rest of the hymn in which they occur, is translated and annotated) renders it "lofty ones" (Erhabene). Langlois makes it "overseers." The moon is mentioned again in verses 18 and 19. In R.V. viii. 71, 8, Soma sparkling in the cups is compared to the moon shining on the waters (yo apsu chandramāḥ iva somas chamushu dadṛise | piba id asya tvam īsishe). See Professor Benfey's note on R.V. i. 84, 15, in his Orient and Occident, ii. 246.

404 Weber and Langlois take masaḥ for a nominative. Böhtlingk and Roth cite the passage under mās, thus making it a genitive.

272

SECTION XVII.

BRIHASPATI AND BRAHMANASPATI.

I will commence my description of this god with a translation of the account given of him in Böhtlingk and Roth's Lexicon: "Brihaspati, alternating with Brahmanaspati, is the name of a deity in whom the action of the worshipper upon the gods is personified. He is the suppliant, the sacrificer, the priest, who intercedes with the gods on behalf of men, and protects them against the wicked. Hence he appears as the prototype of the priests, and the priestly order; and is also designated as the purohita of the divine community." The ancient Indian conception of this deity is more fully explained in Professor Roth's dissertation on "Brahma and the Brahmans," 405 in the first volume of the Journal of the German Oriental Society, pp. 66 ff., where the author well points out the essential difference between the original idea represented in this god and those expressed in most of the other and older divinities of the Veda, consisting in the fact that the latter are personifications of various departments of nature, or of physical forces, while the former is the product of moral ideas, and an impersonation of the power of devotion. From this paper I extract the following remarks: "Brahma, on the other hand [in contradistinction to deva], has an entirely different point of departure, and significance. Its original sense, as easily discovered in the Vedic hymns, is that of prayer; not praise or thanksgiving, but that species of invocation which, with the force of the will directed to the god, desires to draw him to the worshipper, and to obtain satisfaction from him. It denotes the impetuous supplication which was natural to that ancient faith, and which sought, as it were, to wrest from the god the

405 Portions of this paper were long ago translated by me in the Benares Magazine.

boon which it demanded" (p. 67). "Immediately derived from this neuter noun brahma is the name of the god Brahmanaspati, who is, in many respects, a remarkable deity. His entire character is such as does not belong to the earliest stage of the Vedic mythical creations, but points to a second shape which the religious consciousness endeavoured to take, without, however, being able actually to carry it fully into effect. The entire series of the principal divinities of the Veda belongs to the domain of natural symbolism, which appears here more decided, unmixed, and transparent than perhaps among any other people of the Indo-germanic race, but which, on this account, is also less rich in references to other departments of life, and has not been able to get beyond a certain uniformity. But Brahmanaspati is one of the divine beings who do not stand immediately within the circle of physical life, but form the transition from it to the moral life of the human spirit. In him, the lord or protector of prayer, is seen the power and dignity of devotion, the energetic action of the will upon the gods who are the personifications of natural objects, and immediately upon nature. And it may still be plainly perceived in what manner this god, as a new-comer, was introduced into the circle of mythological beings already established, and could only find a place by the side of the other gods, or by supplanting them.404

"Indra is the highest god of the Vedic faith, or, at least, the one whose action has the most immediate bearing on the welfare of men. He is the god of the friendly noon-day firmament, which, after all obscurations, again shines anew, on which the fertility of the earth and the tranquility and enjoyment of human existence depend. And the prayer which most frequently recurs in the Veda, and is addressed to Indra, is that he will counteract the attempts of the cloud-demon who threatens to carry away the fertilizing waters of the sky, or holds them shut up in the caverns of the mountains, will pour forth those waters, fertilize the earth, and bestow nourishment on men and cattle. Now, if the essence of the god Brahmanaspati really expresses, as the name imports, the victorious power of prayer, then we should find him in this circle of myths, more than in any other. And in point of fact

404 "All the gods whose names are compounded with pati (‘lord of’—) must be reckoned among the more recent, e.g. Vāchaspati, Vāstoshpati, Kshetrasya pati. They were the products of reflection.