Two Old Faiths | Page 4

which
it ever reaches. A mysterious presence, a mysterious power, a
mysterious knowledge amounting almost to omniscience, are ascribed
to Varuna. The winkings of men's eyes are numbered by him. He
upholds order, both physical and moral, throughout the universe.
[Sidenote: Contrast with the laudations of Agni and Soma. The loftier
conceptions of divinity the earlier.] The winds are his breath, the sun
his eye, the sky his garment. He rewards the good and punishes the
wicked. Yet to the truly penitent he is merciful. It is absolutely
confounding to pass from a hymn that celebrates the serene majesty and
awful purity of Varuna to one filled with measureless laudations of
Soma or Agni. Could conceptions of divinity so incongruous co-exist?
That they could not spring up in the same mind, or even in the same

age, is abundantly manifest. And, as we have mentioned, the loftier
conceptions of divinity are unquestionably the earlier. It is vain to
speak, as certain writers do, of religion gradually refining itself, as a
muddy stream can run itself pure; Hinduism resembles the Ganges,
which, when it breaks forth from its mountain cradle at Hardwar, is
comparatively pellucid, but, as it rolls on, becomes more and more
muddy, discolored, and unclean.[5]
[Sidenote: Indra. His achievements.] Various scholars affirm that
Varuna, in more ancient pre-Vedic times, held a position still higher
than the very high one which he still retains. This is probable; indeed, it
is certain that, before later divinities had intruded, he held a place of
unrivaled majesty. But, in the Vedas, Indra is a more conspicuous
figure. He corresponds to the Jupiter Pluvius of the Romans. In
north-western India, after the burning heat, the annual return of the
rains was hailed with unspeakable joy; it was like life succeeding death.
The clouds that floated up from the ocean were at first thin and light; ah!
a hostile demon was in them, carrying off the healing waters and not
permitting them to fall; but the thunder-bolt of Indra flashed; the
demon was driven away howling, and the emancipated streams
refreshed the thirsty earth. Varuna was not indeed dethroned, but he
was obscured, by the achievements of the warlike Indra; and the
supersensuous, moral conceptions that were connected with the former
gradually faded from the minds of the people, and Varuna erelong
became quite a subordinate figure in the Pantheon.
[Sidenote: Number and relations of deities uncertain.] The deities are
generally said in the Veda to be "thrice eleven" in number. We also
hear of three thousand three hundred and thirty-nine. There is no system,
no fixed order in the hierarchy; a deity who in one hymn is quite
subordinate becomes in another supreme; almost every god becomes
supreme in turn; in one hymn he is the son of some deity and in another
that deity's father, and so (if logic ruled) his own grandfather. Every
poet exalts his favorite god, till the mind becomes utterly bewildered in
tracing the relationships.
We have already spoken of Agni, Varuna, and Indra, as well as Soma.

Next to these in importance may come the deities of light, namely, the
sun, the dawn, and the two Asvina or beams that accompany the dawn.
The winds come next. The earth is a goddess. The waters are goddesses.
It is remarkable that the stars are very little mentioned; and the moon
holds no distinguished place.
[Sidenote: Hardly any fetichism in the Rig Veda.] In the religion of the
Rig Veda we hardly see fetichism--if by fetichism we mean the worship
of small physical objects, such as stones, shells, plants, etc., which are
believed to be charged (so to speak) with divinity, though this appears
in the fourth Veda--the Atharva. But even in the Rig Veda almost any
object that is grand, beneficent, or terrible may be adored; and
implements associated with worship are themselves worshiped. Thus,
the war-chariot, the plow, the furrow, etc., are prayed to.
[Sidenote: Early tendency toward pantheism.] A pantheistic conception
of nature was also present in the Indian mind from very early times,
although its development was later. Even in the earliest hymns any
portion of nature with which man is brought into close relation may be
adored.[6]
[Sidenote: Reverence of the dead.] We must on no account overlook
the reverence paid to the dead. The pitris (_patres_) or fathers are
frequently referred to in the Veda. They are clearly distinguished from
the devas or gods. In later writings they are also distinguished from
men, as having been created separately from them; but this idea does
not appear in the Veda. Yama, the first mortal, traveled the road by
which none returns, and now drinks the Soma in the innermost of
heaven, surrounded by the other fathers. These come also, along with
the gods, to the banquets