Great Indian Religion

Author(s): G T Bettany
Publisher: Ward Lock Bowden and Co

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THE EARLY VEDIC RELIGION. evitably suggest the idea of a conflict between opposing forces; even we ourselves often speak of the war or strife of the elements. The worshipper would at one time transform the fantastic shapes of the clouds into the chariots and horses of his god, and at another time would seem to perceive in their piled-up masses the cities and castles which he was advancing to overthrow.” Frequently Indra is saluted as the god most powerful over the external world, the most adorable of the adorable, the caster down of the unshaken, the most distinguished of living things." His worshippers are enjoined to have faith in him, and his power is asserted against denials of scepticism. He has a love for mortals, and is the helper of all men, a wall of defence and a deliverer, hearing and answering prayers. He is supposed to be capable of bestowing all kinds of temporal benefits, and in fact arbitrarily to control the destinies of men. Yet the simplicity of the worshipper is sometimes shown by prayers that the god will prove his prowess, and statements that "little has been heard of as done upon earth by one such as thou art.” Indra is especially the champion and guardian of the Aryan Hindus against the darker races whom they subjected. It appears almost as if the conception of Indra expanded with the advance of the Aryans over India, while that of Varuna declined, who is more directly related to the early common Aryan belief before India was reached, and which appears also in the Zoroastrian Ormuzd and the Greek Ouranos. Another view regards Dyaus as the god whom Indra threw into the shade; answering to the difference between the time when in the more elevated and mountainous regions of Central Asia, the brilliant radiance of heaven was the holiest and most desirable thing, and the later time, in India, when the rainy sky was most longed for, and its representation as Indra became most popular.
Passing by Parjanya, the thundering rain god, and Vayu, the wind, as less important deities, we find the The Maruts, Maruts, Rudras, or storm gods, many in numor storm-'ber, often asscciated with Indra and with Agni.
gods. Some extracts from one of the hymns addressed