Dhammapada

SR No.: 007674
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Max Muller
Publisher: Oxford
Publication Year: 1881
Total Pages: 2540
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 45 MB

Page 801

INTRODUCTION.
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the older Indo-Iranian god Trita', and to have gradually encroached on the province of Varuna, who perhaps was originally one of the highest deities of the Aryan (Indo-Germanic) pantheon. The warlike chiefs and clansmen evidently saw in Indra a more congenial object of their adoration. It can scarcely be without significance that of all the Vedic Rishis, Vasishtha, the priest par excellence, has ascribed to him by far the greatest number of hymns addressed to Varuna (and Mitra-Varuna), while there is not a single hymn to Varuna in the family collection of the royal Rishi Visva mitra, whose religious enthusiasm is divided almost exclusively between Agni, Indra, and the Visve Devâh. Lastly, the identification of the common people with a whole class of comparatively inferior deities would naturally suggest itself. Hence we also find the Maruts, the constant companions and helpmates of Indra, the divine ruler, employed in a similar
Mandala the hymns to Brihaspati are placed immediately after those to Agni and Indra. Though the abstract conception represented by this deity may seem a comparatively modern one, it will by no means be easy to prove from the text of the hymns addressed to him, that these are modern. It would almost seem as if two different tendencies of adoration had existed side by side from olden times; the one, a more popular and sensuous one, which, in Vedic times, found its chief expression in Indra and his circle of deities; and the other, a more spiritual one, represented originally by Varuna (Mitra, &c.; cf., however, Sat. Br. IV, 1, 4, 1-4), and in Vedic times, when the sacerdotal element more and more asserted itself, by Brihaspati, and especially by Agni. The identification of this god with the priestly office was as happy as it was natural; for Agni, the genial inmate of every household, is indeed vaisvânara, the friend of all men. Shadowy conceptions, such as Brihaspati and Brahman, on the other hand, could evoke no feelings of sympathy in the hearts of the people generally. Of peculiar interest, in this respect, are the hymns in which Agni is associated with Indra (see Max Müller's Science of Language, Second Series, p. 495 ; J. Muir, Original Sanskrit Texts, V. pp. 219, 220), and the passages in which Agni has ascribed to him functions which legitimately belong to Indra; viz. the slaying of Vritra and destruction of the enemies' cities. The mutual relation of Indra and Varuna has been well discussed in Dr. Hillebrandt's treatise "Varuna and Mitra,'p.97 seq. It is most concisely expressed by Vasishtha, Rig-veda VII, 83, 9, 'The one (Indra) slays the enemies in battles; the other (Varuna) ever defends the ordinances.'
See the present volume, p. 48 note; R. Roth, Zeitsch. der D. M. G, VI, p. 73 seq.
* The Maruts are identified with the visah, or clans, in Sat. Br. II, 5, 1, 12; 2, 24; 27; 35, etc. In Sankh. 16, 17, 1-4 the heaven of the Maruts is assigned to the Vaisya (Ind. Stud. X, p. 26).
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