The Development of Hindu Iconography c19.s6.2

c19.s6.2

This is, however, only one side of the picture. Attempts at reconciliation and rapprochement between the rival creeds were being made even from a very early period, when some of them had not come into being, and others that had originated were being systematised. The sentiment so beautifully expressed in the famous couplet of the Dīrghatamas hymn (R.V., I, 164, 46) long before the evolution of these cults never lost its force in subsequent times, and it must have exercised its deep influence on many of the exclusive worshippers of subsequent times. The Ṛgvedic Ṛṣi rightly emphasised that the sages call the one eternally existing principle (in this context the Sun god) in various ways (ekam sat viprā bahudhā vadanti), and the names denoting this principle may be different, such as Indra, Agni, the celestial sun-bird Garutmān, Yama, Mātariśvā, etc. Many of the intellectuals among the followers of different cults, especially those with a liberal bent of mind, knew that the respective gods of their choice were but different aspects or names of the one absolute god who, by himself, was beyond the ken of speech and thought (avāṅmanasagocaraḥ). The spread of Vedāntic teachings among the worshippers of the various creeds was also not a little responsible for the growth of a liberal religious outlook.