The History of Indian Literature c8.83

c8.83

Besides the three principal gods, Agni, Indra, and Súrya, we meet with a great number of other divine personages, prominent amongst whom are the Maruts, or winds, the faithful comrades of Indra in his battle; and Rudra, the howling, terrible god, who rules the furious tempest. It is not, however, my present task to discuss the whole of the Vedic Olympus; I had only to sketch generally the groundwork and the outlines of this ancient edifice.²⁹ Besides the powers of nature, we find, as development progresses, personifications also of spiritual conceptions, of ethical import; but the adoration of these, as compared with the former, is of later origin.