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xvi
SATAPATHA-BRAHMANA.
expanse; now as a glittering stream, or again, as a vast sea of liquid light.
The references of the Avesta to the divine Haoma are even less definite and explicit than those of the Vedic hymns. His connection with the heavenly light, though not perhaps so close as that of Mithra and other deities, is unmistakable enough1; but we look in vain for any clear indication as to what the exact relations are. It is certain, however, that nowhere in the Avesta is there any passage which could warrant us to assume an identification of Haoma with either the Sun or the Moon. In Yasna IX, 81-82, we are told that Haoma was the first to be invested by Ahura-Mazda with the zone, spangled with stars, and made in heaven, in accordance with the good Mazda-yasnic law; and that girt therewith he dwells upon the heights of the mountain to uphold the sacred ordinances. It is difficult to see what else the star-spangled zone (the heavenly counterpart of the ordinary Kusti of the orthodox Pârsî) could here refer to, except the milky way, or perhaps the starry sky generally ;-unless, indeed, as is scarcely likely, some special constellation be implied; but neither this nor any other passage enables us in any way to define the divine personality of Haoma.
Soma's descent to the earth, as pictured in the Vedic hymns, is attended with violent disturbances in the regions of the sky, in which Indra generally plays the principal part. It is admitted on all hands that we have to look upon these supernal struggles as mythic impressions of ordinary atmospheric phenomena, especially those of the Indian monsoon and rainy season, and the violent thunderstorms by which they are usually accompanied. According to the needs and anxieties by which he was swayed at the moment, these atmospheric occurrences presented themselves to the poet's mind chiefly in two different lights. Either, the approaching masses of clouds brought with them the long-desired rain, and the prospect of abundant food for man and beast: in that case the gods were doing battle for the possession of
1 Cf. Spiegel, Eranische Alterthumskunde, II, p. 114.
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