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THE HERITAGE OF ARYAN PEOPLES 149 poetic and devotional and there is a noticeable absence of moral precepts in them, though we find that in the Rig Veda charity is extolled in the following passage :
“The Devas have not ordained that hunger shall be our death: even those who are amply fed are overtaken by diverse deaths. The prosperity of the liberal man never decays, while the illiberal finds no comforter. ... Let the powerful man be generous to the suppliant. Let him look down the long path. For riches revolve like the wheels of a chariot, they come now to one, now to another. Bountiful men neither fail nor fall into calamity; they suffer neither wrong nor pain.”
In the Vedic hymns, in the invocation of their Deities, and figurative expressions employed, we find the origin of much of the Grecian and Latin mythology. The Greek Zeus, and the Latin Deus are the same as the Sanskrit Dyaus, the Sky. In the Rig Veda we find, according to Max Muller, "ancient thought expressed in ancient language. The highest authority for the religion of the Brahmans is the Veda,” he says. “All other works—the Laws of Manu, the six orthodox systems of philosophy, the Puranas or legendary histories of India-all derive their authority from their agreement
