A History of Indian Literature v1.c8.s2.63.4

v1.c8.s2.63.4

Some held them to be heaven and earth, others day and night, and still to-day some scholars see in them the two twilights, others sun and moon, yet others the morning and evening star, and again others the constellation of Gemini.² But what is the most important is that most mythologists to-day agree that by far the greatest majority of the Vedic gods has proceeded from natural phenomena or natural beings.³ There were, indeed, some deities that have become divine beings out of abstractions, but they nearly all appear only in the latest hymns of the tenth book; thus Viśvakarman = "the world master-builder," Prajāpati = "the lord of creatures," or Śraddhā = "faith," Manyu = "anger," and some similar personifications. More important are certain gods of the so-called "lower" mythology, who also appear in the Ṛgveda: the Ṛbhus, who correspond with the elves, the Apsaras, who correspond with the nymphs, and the Gandharvas, who are a kind of forest and field spirits. Numerous demons and evil spirits too appear in the hymns as enemies of the gods, who are hated and fought against by the Devas or gods. The name Asura, however, by which in the later Vedic works these enemies of the gods are designated, appears in the Ṛgveda still with the old meaning "possessed of wonderful power" or "god,"¹ which the corresponding word "Ahura" has in the Avesta, and only in a few places also with the meaning of demons.