"The Sdlia almost invariably combines the attributes of prayer and praise : the power, the vastness, the generosity, the goodness, and even the personal beauty of the deity addressed are described in highly laudatory etrains, and his past bounties or exploits rehearsed and glorified ; in requital of which commendations, and of the libations or oblations which ho is solicited to accept, and in approval of the rite in his honour, at which his presence is Invoked, he is implored to bestow blessings on the person who has instituted the ceremony, and some times, but not so commonly, also on the author or reciter of the prayer. The blessings prayed for are, for the most part, of a temporal and personal description,—wealth, food, life, posterity, cattle, cows, and horses ; protection against enemies, victory over them, and sometimes their destruction, particularly when they are represented as inimical to the celebration of religious rites, or, in other words, people not pro fessing the same religious faith. There are a few indications of a hope of immortality and of future happiness, but they are neither frequent nor, in general, distinctly announced, although the immortality of the gods is recognised, and the possibility of its attainment by human beings exemplified In the case of the demigods termed It'ibbus, ele vated for their piety to the rank of divinities. Protection against evil spirits (Rdkshasaa) is also requested, and in one or two passages nurse and his office, as ruler of the dead, are obscurely alluded to. There is little demand for moral benefactions, although in some few instances hatred of untruth and abhorrence of sin are expressed ; a hope is uttered that the latter may be repented of or expiated; and the gods are in one hymn solicited to extricate the worshippers from sin of every kind. The main object of the prayers, however, are benefits of a more worldly and physical character : the tone in which these are requested indicates a quiet confidence in their being granted, as a return for the benefits which the gods are supposed to derive from the offerings made to them, in gratifying their bodily wants, end from the praises which impart to them enhanced energy and augmented power : there Is nothing, however, which denotes any particular potency in the prayer or hymn, so as to compel the gods to comply with the desires of the worshipper ; nothing of that enforced necessity which makes so conspicuous and characteriatio a figure in the Hindu mythology of a later date, by which the performance of austerities for a continued period constrains the gods to grant the desired boon. although fraught peril and even destruction to themselves." (Wilson,' R'igveda,' voL I. p. xxiii, ft) If we ask wluet divinities were worshipped by the authors of the R'igveda hymns, en answer is given by Yanks, the oldest Valdik exegete of those whose writings are preserved, in the following manner :— " The Vaidik exegote says that there are three DevatAs, Agni, who resides on earth ; VAyu, or Intim, who resides in tho intermediate region (between heaven and earth) ; and Silrya, who resides in heaven. Because each of these Des-at:is has a variety of attributes, there are indeed many names of them " (vii. 5); and " of the Devata there is but one soul ; but the DevatA having a variety of attributes, it is praised in many ways : other gods are merely portions of tho one soul" (vii. 4). The Anukrainan'I, or explanatory index to this Veda, says, in a similar manner, " The deities are only three, whose places are the earth, the Intermediate region, and heaven : (namely) fire, air, and the sun. They are pronounced to be (the deities of the mysterious names severally); and (Prajtipatil the lord of creation is (the deity) of them collectively. The syllable Om Intends' every deity ; it belongs to (Parameaht'h'I) him who dwells in the supreme abode ; It appertains to (Brahman) the vast one; to (Deva) God ; to (Adhy(Itinan) the super intending soul Other deities belonging to those several regions are portions of the three gods; for they are variously named and described, on account of their various operations : but (in fact) there is only one deity, the °real Saul (MahAnfetniA). Ho is called the Sun ; for ho is tho soul of all beings : (and) that Is declared by the sage : 'the sun is tho soul of what moves and of (taathlvat) that which is fixed.' Other deities are portions of him." (Colebrooke, ' Misc. Ku.; i. p. 27.) If we took this account for a correct representation of the Vaidik creed we could not but draw the inference that it was based on tho belief In ono god, or, at least, one principle of creation, and that the many gods met with in the Vaidik hymns are merely poetical allegories of the One Great Soul. We have quoted indeed, before, a mysti cal hymn of tho R'igveda, which would seem to countenance this view. But an unbiassed examination of the It'ig-vecla poetry must lead to the conclusion that religion did not take this course in India ; that we must distinguish between one or more hymns, evidently the product of a later and philosophical age, and the bulk of that oollectIon which contains nothing but the adoration of the elementary powers in their various manifestations and degrees. Nor can we givo an unlualified assent to the threefold classification of the Vaidik divinities, as given by Yitaka, and repeated by the Anukramsn'i; for neither is Agni's abode restricted to earth, nor could Indra be identified or placed on the same level with Vtlyu, nor would it bo correct to assign to Sarya such a place in tho Vaidik pantheon as would equalise his rank with that of Agni or Indra. Tho real position and quality of the principal Vaidik divinities of the R'igveda is, in short, this : The chief deities are Agni and Indra, the two gods, as wo have noticed before, to whom the first series of hymns is addressed in eight out of tho ten lfan'd'alas of the Sanhita. Agni (from oj, "to Latin, igni-) is the God of Fire, under a threefold aspect of this element : as it exists on earth, in its daily use and in its sacrificial capacity, as well as the heat of digestion and the principle of animal and vegetable life; secondly, as the fire of lightning ; and thirdly, as tho fire of the sun. Agni is praised therefore as the originator of the sacrifice, and as
the mediator between gods and men: he conveys offerings to tho former, and brings the gods to the worshipper. During the night he protects mortals from the demons who haunt the altars and are hostile to religious rites. On tho other band, as the fire of lightning, Agni is the son, or the grandson, of tho waters ;" and as the fire of tho sun he grants wealth, food;health, and life, destroys and revives all things. Not many subordinate divinities are mentioned in his train ; sometimes; or Winds, are, but they are more frequently tho attendants of Indra; and the Aprfs, female divinities, which also include insensible objects, such as the doors of the sacrificial hall. The proper offering to Agni is ghee (ghrita), or clarified butter.
/subs (a word of doubtful etymology, probably from an obsolete radical id or (ad, " to sec " or " to know ") is the powerful god of the firmament. Ho bestows blessings and riches when propitiated by tho juice of tho Soma-plant, which is his appropriate offering. Ho has elevated the sun and fixed the constellations in the sky ; but above all he is the conqueror of Vr'itra (" the enveloper "), the demon who hides the sun, and of tho clouds which threaten to withhold their waters from the earth; he pierces them with his thunderbolt and tho waters are let down. lie is also represented as discovering, and rescuing with his thunderbolt, the cows which bad been etolcn and were hidden in the hollows of the mountains by a demon named Pan'i or Yak. It is possible that these cows, as Professor Whitney believes ('Journal Amer. Or. Soc.' iii. p. 320), are meant for an allegory of the reservoirs of water which are freed by India, liko the waters in the myth of Vr'itra ; but it is possible also that this legend is merely a poetical record of an occurrence of pastoral life, such as we frequently meet with in the R'igveda poetry. A subordinate class of gods who aro naturally associated with Indra, are the Maruts or Winds; they assist Indra in his battles with Vr'itra and of rain. "They ride on slotted stags, wear shining armour, and carry spears in their hands; no one knows whither they come nor whither they go, their voice is heard aloud as they come rushing on; the earth trembles and the mountains shako' before them. They are called the sons of Radra, who is conceived of as peculiar god of tho tempest." (lb. p. 3154 Besides them a god of wind, Vdgu, is named: " he drives a thousand steeds; his breath chases away the demons; he comes in the earliest morning, as tho first breath of air that stirs itself at day break, to drink tho Soma, and the Auroras weave for him shining garments." This god is sometimes identified with Indra; but thero are verses in which both, Indra and VAyu, are invoked conjointly to share in the sacrifice.
Amongst the gods assigned by Iiiiska to the sphere of heaven, we have to notice in the first rank the A dilyas, or the sons of the A dal. The latter word means " indestructibility," and the Adityas are dis cribed as " elevated abode all imperfection; they do not sleep or wink ; their character Is all truth ; they hate and punish guilt; to preserve mortals from sin is their highest office." One of these Adityas, is S4rya, the sun, who is described as driving a chariot drawn by seven golden steeds, and is also personified as the ornamented bird of heaven.
But be does not occupy that prominent rank among Vaidik gods which we might expect, and which seems to be allowed to him by Yaska. It must be observed, too, that some other words which mean "sun" in classical Sanskrit, especially Saritr`i, Pashan, and Aryarrian are likewise Adityas in Vaidik mythology ; and that Vishn'u also is an Aditya when he is identified with the sun in its three stages of rise, culmination, and setting (‘ Rigveda,' i. 22,17). Of other Adityas more over we point out Varun'a (from tr'i "to surround."—Greek, Olpavo). He is the "all-embracing heaven, the orderer and ruler of the universe; he established the eternal laws which govern the movements of the world, and which neither immortal nor mortal may break ; he regulated the seasons ; appointed sun, moon, stars, and their courses ; gave to each creature that which is peculiarly characteristic .... From his station in heaven Varun'a sees and hears everything, nothing can remain hidden from him." He is said to be the divinity presiding over the night, to support the light on high, and to make wide the path of the sun : he grants wealth, averts evil, and protects cattle. He is fre quently invoked, together with Mara, another Aditya, who is the divinity presiding over the day, and a dispenser of water. (Wilson, ‘Rigveda; i. p. xxxiv.) The adoration of the sun is naturally connected with that of Ushas, "dawn," or rather of Ushasas, " many dawns." " She is addressed as a virgin in glittering robes, who chases away the darkness, who prepares a path for the sun, is the signal of the sacrifice, rouses all beings from slumber, gives sight to the darkened, power of motion to the prostrate and helpless." (Whitney, 'Journal Amer. Or. Soo.; iii. p. 322.) The last divinities which deserve our special attention are the two As'arins. They are the sons of the sea, and are represented as ever young and handsome, travelling in a golden, three-wheeled, triangular chariot, drawn by an ass or two horses, and the precursors of the dawn. They are called Darras," destroyers of fever or of diseases," for they are the physicians of the gods, and Nelsatgaz, "never untrue." Many legends are connected with their career : they brought back to a father his lost child, they restored the blind to sight ; they relieved one man of his old body by giving him a new one instead; they sup plied another with a metal leg to replace the one he had lost in battle ; they assisted seafarers in their perils, and so on. They are probably the two luminous points which precede the dawn ; some compare them with the Dioscuri of the Greek.