A History of Sanskrit Literature c7.27

c7.27

There are, however, hardly twenty individual deities important enough in the *Rigveda* to have at least three entire hymns addressed to them. The most prominent of these are Indra, the thunder-god, with at least 250 hymns, Agni with about 200, and Soma with over 100; while Parjanya, god of rain, and Yama, god of the dead, are invoked in only three each. The rest occupy various positions between these two extremes. It is somewhat remarkable that the two great deities of modern Hinduism, Vishṇu and Çiva, who are equal in importance, should have been on the same level, though far below the leading deities, three thousand years ago, as Vishṇu and Rudra (the earlier form of Çiva) in the *Rigveda*. Even then they show the same general characteristics as now, Vishṇu being specially benevolent and Rudra terrible.