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Epic Mythology c6: V. The Eight Great Devas

Epic Mythology c6

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V. The Eight Great Devas

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§ 38. **The Sun-God.** — Sūrya (Helios), the Sun, is, as god, known under other names, which are synonymous as far as the epics are concerned. Āditya alone is the sun and one of the commonest designations of the sun-god. To this metronymic the epithet “day-maker” is sometimes added; ādityapatha = Divākarapatha or Bhāskarādhvan. A qualifying “thousand-rayed” or “ray-wreathed” is used alone or added to Āditya (7, 187, 1 f.; R 4, 39, 2, etc.) to designate the luminary (having fewer rays than the moon, q. v.). Pūṣan is recognised as the god kicked by Śiva, who also knocked out his teeth when Pūṣan was eating cakes at Dakṣa’s sacrifice (7, 202, 49; ib. 59; 13, 161, 19), and as elder brother of Parjanya, and the lover of Sandhyā (Twilight, RG 5, 25, 27) in distinction from Suvarcalā, wife of Sūrya (ib. 26); but this last passage is not in the alternate text (it also makes Kriyā the wife of Brahman instead of Dharma as in 1, 66, 14, and Dīkṣā wife of Soma). In the former passage, Śiva as Hara Virūpākṣa is also Bhaganetrahara (1, 221, 8) or Bhagaghna (7, 202, 47), that is, Pūṣan is distinguished from Bhaga, as in the formal lists of Ādityas (§ 37) and in maṅgalas (so in 10, 18, 16, Śiva “put out the two eyes of Bhaga and broke the two arms of Savitṛ”). In the extended maṅgalas particularly, Pūṣan, Bhaga, and the Ādityas, are all mentioned separately (e. g. R 2, 25, 8—23), and as the arms of the cosmic giant are Dhātṛ and Vidhātṛ, so are his hands Bhaga and Pūṣan (R 7, 23, pra.

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5, 22). But the identity of Pūṣan with the Sun-god remains, for he is the god who “shone in the wars of the gods and Asuras of old” (7, 105, 22) and the god who “goes, having a thousand rays, after warming the earth, to the western mountain at the close of day” (5, 179, 39). Savitṛ “on rising takes away the glory of the stars” (9, 32, 18; R 6, 12, 20 and 24, 21) and “the day-maker on rising takes away the glory of the heavenly lights”. Sūrya is gavāṃ pati, and Arka (sun) is united with tejomayair gobhiḥ (R 1, 7, 22; cf. H 2943, gavāṃ guruḥ, and 3, 3, 52, gobhir bhāsayase mahīm), as he is apāṃ pati (cf. gopati of Varuṇa), who is “attacked by Rudra” (babhau Rudrābhipannasya yathā rūpaṃ gavāṃ pateḥ, R 6, 76, 93). The disc of Savitṛ (7, 38, 18) leaves no doubt in regard to the identity of Savitṛ, who “sets in the west” etc. (5, 75, 12; 12, 58, 22). Savitṛ is sarvalokaprabhāvana and vibhāvasu; in the east Savitṛ rises and sings the Sāvitrī, bestowing, as Sūrya, the Yajus-formulas (12, 319, 2 f.). The rising Illuminator destroys the Asuras (of darkness, 5, 108, 3 f.). Vibhāvasu is a common name of the sun (1, 86, 8, etc.). Other synonyms are Vivasvat, Ravi, Tapana (1, 68, 13; 111, 18; 171, 20; 3, 133, 10 f.; 6, 101, 51 f.; 8, 49, 42). Arka, Bhāskara, and Savitṛ are indeed sons of Dyaus (as if separate), but as the first two are epithets, the assertion simply shows how easily epithets become persons.

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Vivasvat (Savitṛ) is the husband of Tvāṣṭrī (daughter of Tvaṣṭṛ), who under the form of a mare bore him in mid-air the two Aśvins (1, 66, 35). Ravi, the sun, is guarded by Aṅgiras as Indra is guarded by Dadhīci (3, 92, 6). Śiva, Indra, and the Sun-god all bear the title Deveśvara, "lord of gods" (2, 50, 16, bhāsi divi deveśvaro yathā). These names are also applied to demons and inferior spirits; Sūrya is an evil spirit; Bhaga is a Rudra; Vivasvat and Mitravat are evil demons; Arka is a Dānava. They probably represent a time when evil and good spirits were not absolutely differentiated, as indeed they are not in the epics, otherwise the maṅgala would not entreat "safety from all (other) gods and those that lurk around the path" to harm travellers (R 2, 25, 22). Sūrya is lord of the Grahas or seizing spirits (Arka, of heats, 14, 43, 6 and 8; R 7, 23, pra. 5, 3). Karṇa, son of Sūrya, is Sāvitra (1, 136, 3 and 8). Though formally identified with Sūrya (3, 3, 16), Bhaga is the sun especially as procreative power and as such his constellation, uttarā Phalgunī, is suitable for weddings (1, 8, 16; R 1, 72, 13 and R 7, 5, 34); the means of securing a husband's love and obedience is called yaśasyam Bhagadaivatam (3, 233, 8, v. l. vedanam and vetanam), or Bhagādhānam (H 7013). For Mitra, see below, p. 89.

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§ 39. The sub-divided sun includes the myth of Aruṇa, appointed to go before the sun on his rising, thus protecting the world from excessive heat. Brahman thus appoints him, to reassure the seers, but Aruṇa is son of Kaśyapa; he acts as charioteer of the sun (1, 24, 3 f.). Hence Aruṇa and Garuḍa, who was brother of Aruṇa, are reckoned among the Ādityas. Aruṇa's wife is Śyenī (but Aruṇā is an Apsaras). Aruṇa is deformed. According to one tale, both brothers were born to avenge the Vālakhilya saints on Indra, who had insulted them (1, 31, 34; see § 12, Garuḍa). For 66000 years Aruṇa is preceded by 66000 saints, who, fallen from Brahman's heaven, go before Aruṇa to guard all creatures, until they enter the disc — of the moon! (6, 7, 30). Aruṇa is "like a red wheel", but the foregoer of the sun, at sight of whom all men begin to pray (7, 186, 3 f.). He is father of Jaṭāyus, younger brother of the roc Sampāti (R 1, 1, 52; ib. 3, 14, 31). He, like Garuḍa, is Vainateya (son of Vinatā). Other sub-divisions of the sun amount to multiple suns marking the end of the world. At the time of universal dissolution, the twelve Ādityas appear as twelve suns (the sun is "twelve-souled", 3, 3, 26), of whom only Viṣṇu is eternal (3, 3, 59; 5, 181, 8; 13, 140, 34); though in reality ekaḥ sūryaḥ (3, 134, 8; 12, 352, 10), "the sun is one". Passages (3, 188, 67; ib. 190, 78) colored by Buddhistic thought speak of seven such suns.

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When it is said that the sun rains (Ādityāj jāyate vṛṣṭiḥ, 12, 264, 11), the process of gathering up the water and letting it out again is meant. The usual function of the sun is to drive away darkness and demons (from the gods in the sky as well as on earth, 3, 185, 30). At sunset he absorbs into himself all the glory of earth, even the light of flashing swords, and then all evil demons appear (6, 48, 114; 7, 50, 3; also 6, 86, 42). Light is goodness and the sun is superlative goodness, as all sinners are darkness (7, 146, 144; 14, 39, 14, Ādityaḥ sattvam udriktaṃ kucarās tu tathā tamaḥ). But there is a "sun of the sun" which supports earth and sky (5, 46, 3), a "sun that eats the sun", sūryādaḥ sūryaḥ, or an "over-sun" without parts (God; 12, 319, 29; v. l. S 323, 29 and 42, atisūryas tu niṣkalaḥ). Yet this is not myth but philosophy. According to it, a bastard mythology makes sun and moon the eye (sic) of God (the sun lights, and the moon enlightens; as the mystic seems to say, 12, 343, 66). As "eyes of the world" the two suffer eclipse (R 3, 66, 10). The sun has, besides light, a black part, pāda, or foot (cf. Viṣṇu as ekapād), which is that which absorbs water during eight months: "Vivasvat draws up water"; "eight months he drinks and then pours forth for four" (8, 79, 78; 12, 363, 5 f.). In Sūrya, Ravi, Vivasvat, live the saints (Śānti, ib. 9; cf. R 6, 74, 60, sūryanibandhana). Even God is established on some of his rays (yasya tejoviśeṣeṣu svayam ātmā pratiṣṭhitaḥ).

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Vivasvat extends his two arms when a saint approaches to enter his disc, and reaching out his right hand welcomes him; then the glory of the saint becomes one with the glory of the sun (Śānti, ib. 16). The tapas, heat, of the sun is identified with the ardor of the saint (tasmāt sūryo virājate, 5, 46, 1). But the sun also slays. The warrior kills with arrows, "like Savitṛ" and "like Āditya" (6, 48, 34 f.; 106, 78; R 5, 47, 9, and 15 f.). To see the sun kabandhāṅka (R 3, 23, 11) i. e. with the appearance of a headless trunk (masses of clouds), is a bad omen. Epithets of the sun are regularly sahasraraśmi ("of a thousand rays") and, less often, gabhastiśatasaṃvṛta (7, 13, 26), probably "having hundreds of hands" (rays), but he eats with these rays as well as protects with them (3, 33, 71). As the twelvefold sun (above), Sūrya has one hundred thousand rays (12, 313, 4). The rays make a wreath about his head, mandamarīcimaṇḍalaḥ (S for mantra-, at 5, 182, 29; cf. mandaraśmiḥ sahasrāṃśuḥ, 7, 148, 24). He drives a monocycle, ekacakram, dragged by seven horses, which grow weary after the day's work (5, 46, 5; 6, 120, 53; 7, 189, 54; R 3, 71, 30). A divine (Viṣṇu) Nāga replaces them on one occasion for a month (12, 358, 8; 363, 1). His steeds carry him ten thousand leagues in half an hour (R 4, 42, 41) or three hundred and sixty-four leagues in one wink (S 1, 189, 19 f. after B 173, 17). The sun, even as measured disc, is still called the "exalted bird".

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The measure of the sun is in accordance with the fact that the eclipse demon (Rāhu) devours sun and moon, so he must be the largest (also as circle) of the three. The circle of the demon is 12,000 leagues (diameter) by 42,000 leagues (circumference); that of the moon (larger than the sun) is 11,000 by 38,900 leagues; and that of the sun is 10,000 by 35,800 leagues (but "to those coming near he seems as large as earth", 6, 12, 40 f.; R 4, 61, 13). Both Rāhu and the Sun are Mahāgrahas; Sūrya seizes the light of the moon, etc. Thus he is attacked by "cruel Mahāgrahas" (6, 76, 11), while reckoned as one of these (grahāḥ sūryādayaḥ, 3, 200, 85; cf. 8, 87, 4) evil planets.

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§ 40. In all these references to the sun, though disc or bird or horse (see Agni) or bull, he is ever the god, never inanimate. He drinks, goes home, possesses hands, hair, etc., bestows wisdom, makes speeches, acts as a witness, etc. He has quite a family. His wife Suvarcalā (see Sandhyā above, loved by Pūṣan) is mentioned in 13, 146, 5; R 2, 30, 30; R 5, 24, 9, as a type of conjugal affection, his "devoted follower". As Suvarcalā is a plant it may be a sun-flower (heliotropic) myth which she represents. Older is the story of his espousals with Tvāṣṭrī (above). She is called Sureṇu and Saṃjñā, and, according to H 545 f., bore to Vivasvat Manu Vaivasvata, Yama and Yamunā, but unable to endure her husband longer created a similar self, her shadow (Savarṇā Chāyā) and commissioned her to act as wife (she bore Sāvarṇa Manu, etc.). This Chāyā of H and the Purāṇas is not known in the epic, but S 1, 203, 34 cites Uṣā as wife of Sūrya (Uṣeva Sūryam, etc.). That Vivasvat became a horse and begot by Tvāṣṭrī the Aśvins is referred to in the epic and told in extenso in H (601, see above). Śanaiścara is said to be his son by Chāyā

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in H (loc. cit.) and this legend with that of the future Manu is recognised in 12, 350, 55; cf. VP 3, 2, 4. Śanaiścara is the planet Saturn (the planets which appear to meet the Day-maker and Night-maker with especial pleasure are Śukra and Bṛhaspati, Venus and Jupiter, R 2, 99, 41). Sūrya's daughters are Suprajā, wife of Bhānu (3, 221, 9), and also (?) Śraddhā Vaivasvatī (12, 265, 8, perhaps identical with Sāvitrī, but N. says sāvitrī here is sā avitrī, "guardian and generatrix of pure birth"). The southern seer "Cakradhanus" is also called his son, "born of Sūrya" (5, 109, 17), the South being called the quarter given by Vivasvat as dakṣiṇā (ib. to his Guru, sc. Kaśyapa, ib. 1); the text says: vidur yaṃ Kapilaṃ devam, "whom (Cakradhanus) they know as the divine Kapila" (ib.). Kapila is a name of the sun (3, 3, 24), as well as of Viṣṇu (3, 47, 18), and the Kāpilas (Sāṅkhyas) are a sect especially favored by the sun (below). In R 1, 17, 9; ib. 5, 62, 36, etc., Sugrīva, uncle of Dadhimukha, who has the honey-grove, is "begotten of Tapana", "the son of him of a thousand rays", Sūryātman, "born of Sūrya's self" (R 4, 14, 22) and at death he enters the disc of the Sun (R 7, 110, 22). Other sons of the Sun, who return into their father at death, are the apes Śveta and Jyotirmukha (R 6, 30, 33).

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§ 41. Sāvitrī, given in marriage by her father the Sun to Brahman (3, 110, 26; S 4, 22, 11; 13, 169, 9), is the "mother of the Vedas", the recitation of which divine being as verses purifies from sin (3, 200, 83 and 12, 35, 37), a thorough identification of the verse and goddess (japaṃ devīṃ vedamātaram). As goddess she is attendant on Pārvatī (3, 231, 49). She appears to king Aśvapati (who, to get children, had worshipped her for eighteen years with Mantras and ten thousand fire-oblations daily, eating only at the sixth meal-time), and in person, rūpiṇī, promises him a daughter, "glorious Sāvitrī", whose story of devotion to her husband is known to both epics (1, 241, 48; 3, 293, 10f.; R 2, 30, 6 and ib. 118, 10). The goddess intercedes with her husband to have the boon granted; she has "divine ear-rings which she gave for a priest", and so got to heaven (12, 235, 24). She saves from difficulties, durgataraṇī, and as such abides in the palace of Brahman (2, 11, 34). She is both the mother of the Vedas (whom "she does not desert", 3, 81, 5) and the mother of the initiated regenerate (3, 100, 34; cf. Manu 2, 29 and 170). As a dramatic figure she blesses a Paippalādi priest, a Kauśika, and announces a discussion between Time, Death, and Yama, who as "son of the Sun" (12, 196, 6 and 199, 1 f.) is called Sūryaputra and Vaivasvata (the former being applied also to Saturn and the Aśvins). The mark of Sāvitrī's foot is still visible at the Udyanta mountain (where too is the yonidvāra, but the allusion is lost, 3, 84, 93 f.). Sāvitrī, as all knowledge, seems to be differentiated from Gāyatrī: "Sāvitrī is first of knowledges and is all (spoken), as Prajāpati is first of the gods, as Gāyatrī is first of metres" (14, 44, 5 f.).

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§ 42. Several stories are told of Sūrya, whose southern limit was set for him by Manu Sāvarṇi and the son of Yavakrīta (5, 109, 11). When Mt. Vindhya is angry with him (see § 6), Sūrya says: "Not by my own will do I revere Meru. My path is laid out for me by those who made the universe" (3, 104, 5). The daughter of the saint Harimedhas, Dhvajavatī, was once estopped from further flight through the western sky by the command of Sūrya, who twice commanded her to "stand still", and she stood still (5, 110, 13). The sun burns Jaṭāyus' feathers (R 4, 58, 4), but it is not said that this is due to anger. In the Anuśāsana, however, Sūrya burns the wife of Jamadagni and being threatened by the saint disguises

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himself as a priest and reproaches Jamadagni for trying to shoot the Day-maker, who is a benefactor, providing food by "raining on the seven continents" (13, 95, 18f.). Jamadagni replies that at noon the sun stands still for half a wink and at that instant he is resolved to shoot. His anger is averted by supplication, however, and as a reward for his leniency Sūrya gives Jamadagni shoes and an umbrella, which first introduced this sun-guard to man (ib. 96, 6 and 14). In a late passage, R 7, 23, pra. 2, the sun declines to fight Rāvaṇa. His door-keepers are here (vs. 9) Piṅgala and Daṇḍin, and he is called Āditya, Sūrya, Ravi, Ādideva, lord, Mārtaṇḍa, "witness of the world", "he of the seven steeds", "maker of day" (and of light), and described as adorned with ear-rings and bracelets, smeared with sandal paste, with yawning mouth and a thousand gleaming rays. The reason he gives for not fighting is that he "cannot spare the time" (nā 'haṃ kālakṣipaṃ sahe). As "witness of the world" the Sun sees all that is done and "with his heavenly eye" watches the rape of Sītā, being so shocked that he loses light (R 3, 52, 13). Rāma calls on him to tell where Sītā is gone, addressing him (Āditya bho lokakṛtākṛtajña) as one who knows what is done and not done, witness of actions true and false (R 3, 63, 16). A very late passage called "the mystery of Citragupta" also makes the sun the witness of all man's acts, but as witness the god here recounts it all to the judge of the dead.

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At Parvan time what a man does goes to the sun, and if he has been generous and given lamps to priests, then, as he goes through hell's darkness, the gods of light, Moon, Sun, and Fire, lend him light to see. The "mystery" ends, not very apropos, with the hearer, who is Vibhāvasu himself, saying: "This is the mystery of Citragupta; the five worst sinners are he who kills a cow, or a priest; an adulterer; an unbeliever; and he who lives on his wife. These five are avoided by gods and Manes and will live in hell on pus" (13, 130, 17 f.; see Yama). The sun will not hurt Rāma because he knows him (R 2, 44, 8). He upholds right but, as general benefactor, "Sūrya shines upon the good and the wicked" (12, 73, 24). Like Wind, Fire, and "the mothers of the worlds, the cows, who are deities among men", Sūrya is also said to be born of Brahman ("son of the Self-existent"), and as a divinity he must not be offended; one must not urinate against the sun nor look at him rising, etc. (as in the law-books, 13, 125, 64; cf. ib. 60 and 62, and 12, 193, 17 and 24, na meheta; 13, 104, 17). He who offends thus against Ravi, Bhānumat, lives eighty-six years in hell. In R 2, 75, 21, sūryaṃ ca pratimehatu is a curse, parallel (cf. AV. 13, 1, 56) to "may he kick a sleeping cow".

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Sūrya comes when called by a magic formula of Kuntī, yellow as honey, great-armed, wearing bracelets and diadem (3, 306, 10) and "making his body twofold, on earth and in the sky" begets Karṇa by mystic Yoga-power, who was born with radiant armor and ear-rings. He visits this son in a vision and gives him advice (3, 300, 6f.). He is here the beneficent god of a thousand rays, Bhānu, conqueror of Rāhu (Svarbhānusūdana, 3, 302, 18 and 20). When Karṇa dies, the sun, bhakta, devoted do him, bathes in the western ocean to purify himself (8, 94, 30). Aditi (§ 37) gives him the ear-rings (3, 307, 18f.). The story of Karṇa forms the basis of some of the strongest scenes in the epic and is often referred to (12, 6, 6 and 15, 30, 9). It is possible that Karṇa himself ("son of the bull") represents the sun. He is called Vaikartana from his cutting off the armor, and to distinguish him from the son of Dhṛtarāṣṭra (1, 67, 95). His death at the hands of (Indra as) Arjuna might point to a sun and storm myth. His family is the object of special regard on the part of the god, who gives Kuntī a copper dish of inexhaustible food (origin of the grail according to Prof. von Schroeder) and saves Kṛṣṇā from the amorous Kīcaka by giving her a demon guardian, Rakṣo rakṣārtham (3, 3, 72; ib. 262, 2; and 263, 21; 4, 15, 20).

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The ancestor of the Kurus called Saṃvaraṇa is a devout sun-worshipper, and his name is a personification of the veiling surrounding the sun, while his wife Tapatī is "daughter of Tapana". She is a younger sister of Sāvitrī and is born of Tapana Sūrya (1, 171, 6), and is formally bestowed upon Saṃvaraṇa by Vivasvat (1, 173, 18f.). According to 1, 1, 44f., the Kurus, Yadus, and Bharatas are descendants of the divine beings called (Daśajyoti, etc.) Ten-, Hundred-, and Thousand-light, sons of Subhrāj, son of Devabhrāj and grandson of Sahya (v. l. Manu), the youngest Vivasvat (Dyaus' son). Kuru is son of Tapatī Saurī, hence Tāpatyas as metronymic of the family. At 1, 189, 19, the priest Vasiṣṭha in S goes a niyuta of leagues upward to intercede for Saṃvaraṇa as suitor of Tapatī and here, in a brief hymn to Bhāskara Vivasvat, the god has the (Viṣṇu) epithets sahasracakṣus, trayīmaya, and Viriñcanārāyaṇaśaṅkarātman, a hymn approved by the sun, who said it should be muttered by all the faithful (ib. 24f., japyā bhaktānām). "Thousand-eyed" is an epithet of Viṣṇu and of Indra in other places; it here stands for the usual "Thousand-rayed". Haridaśva and Haryaśva are both sun-names (R 6, 107, 11 f.).

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§ 43. All the hymns to the sun are late, as shown by internal evidence. They may be due to a recrudescence, perhaps political in origin, of this cult. But even in the older texts mention is made of the ascetic Ūrdhvabāhus, who stand with arms up-stretched (R 2, 95, 7, beside the river Mandākinī), as does Saṃvaraṇa (1, 173, 12, ūrdhvamukhaḥ). The Pāñcarātras derive their doctrines from the sun himself (12, 340, 120), and they number 66,000 or (v. l.) 88,000 (but both numbers are conventional; the larger number in S). In the camp of the Pāṇḍus there were "a thousand and eight others who were Sauras" (7, 82, 16). That many worshipped the sun particularly, may be seen from the names of the Kurus' battle-friends, Sūryadhvaja, Rocamāna, Aṃśumat (etc., 1, 186, 10f.; Sūryadatta, 4, 31, 15). There was also a "secret Veda of the sun" taught to Arvāvasu (3, 138, 18f.). The Bhāgavatas identical with the Kāpilas have a doctrine taught Sarasvatī by the sun (12, 319, 6f.; ib. 302, 54 and 85; ib. 345, 14f.; 349, 3 and 57). R 6, 107 = Bomb. 105 (106) has one of these late hymns, introduced as a hoc signo vinces, but not found in the Bengal text. The sun is here identified with all the gods, including those of the Trimūrti; he is the bird, of a thousand flames, of seven steeds, saptasapti, the golden germ, twelve-souled, maker of all, witness of the world, devadeva, soul of all gods, destroyer and maker of the world. Compare yugāntasūrya for the usual yugāntāgni (R 5, 37, 65). The Mbh.

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describes the sun on the occasion of the gift of the food-vessel and then cites a hymn, first uttered by Brahman to Indra, and told to Nārada, who gives it to Dhaumya. He first gives the names of the sun, reckoned as one hundred and eight (3, 3, 5f.). In S, the names follow the hymn. The lists of names differ, and in neither text are there the stated numbers (nāmāṣṭaśatam). Here the Sun is Victory, Jaya, and especially the refuge of the Kāpilas (Sāṅkhyas); he illumines with his rays (gobhiḥ) the thirteen continents; he is lord of Manus and of Manvantaras; as twelve suns he dries the ocean; he is Indra, Rudra, Viṣṇu, Prajāpati, Agni, Brahman, the goose (haṃsa), Vṛṣākapi, Vivasvat, and inter alios Mitra and Mihira. The last (Persian) name gives the approximate period to which the hymn belongs, evidently that of the Pāñcarātras also. The sun is also Bhūtātman (S) and is to be worshipped with loving devotion, bhakti, especially on the sixth or seventh day. His adorers, believing in his love (tvadbhāvabhaktāḥ), will live long. His followers, who clasp his feet, are Māṭhara (3, 3, 68; cf. 12, 293, 8, another late touch), Aruṇa, Daṇḍa (aśanikṣubha, as lightning?), the divine mothers (cf. the Saurā Mātṛs of 9, 46, 38), Maitrī and Kṣubh (Love and Harm?), and the mothers of the Bhūts.

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Among his noticeable epithets here are alolupa (epithet of Śiva, free from passion), the sacred fig-tree, Kapila, the divine physician Dhanvantari, "door of heaven", and different divisions of time and fire. S has Vaiśravaṇo, v. l. for vai Varuṇo (error for Vaiśvānara?), devakartā for dehakartā, etc. and adds as epithet, maṇiḥ suvarṇaḥ, which refers to the maṇiḥ śuddhaḥ or "pure gem", supposed to drink the rays of the sun (12, 299, 12). It is once referred to under its usual later name sūryakānta (12, 218, 29). Mitra has lost his individuality in the epics except in the late (Uttara) tale of his quarrel with Varuṇa (§ 59 f.). The name is that of a Marut in H 11545. Mitrasena, Mitrabāhu, and other Mitra-names appear in Kṛṣṇa's family (H 9186, etc.). Many of the epic data are Vedic tradition, the sun as rain-giver, lord of cows, demondispeller, father of Yama, etc., but others are found only in the hymns, the pseudo-epic, Hariv., and Purāṇas. As philosophical adhidaivatam, Mitra and Arka appear differentiated from Sūrya (12, 314, 2 = 14, 42, 26, and 43, 7); also here as neuter, Mitram (14, 21, 4). The perfected saint of the same (perhaps antique) range of thought is identified severally with Viṣṇu, Mitra, Varuṇa, Agni, Prajāpati, Dhātṛ, and Vidhātṛ (ib. 42, 65). Sons "like Mitra and Varuṇa" (1, 105, 41, etc.) are promised a devotee, i. e. sons of special glory. On a group of "Mitra" gods see § 50. For Mitra as war-god, see Varuṇa, § 59.

§ 44. The Moon-God

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— Never a god of much importance in India, save as it mystically represented the yellow Soma plant whose name it assumed, the epic Moon-god remains much more restricted than its rival luminary, though it is supposed as a heavenly body to be higher (in space), larger, and better endowed with rays (1, 18, 34; R 7, 23, pra. 4, 16). It belongs probably to a lower class than does the Āditya sun, for it is one of the group of eight Vasus (1, 66, 19), three of whom, Moon, Wind, and Fire, are retained in the epic list of these pre-epic deities. Only late lists (§ 37) of Ādityas include Soma. The moon is of course never aught than a god (husband of Dīkṣā, § 38), yet it is generally referred to rather as delighter of eyes and hearts, a gleaming luna candida, Candra, Candramas, than as a god; that is, its gentle beauty and cool light (1, 177, 40) are regarded. It is physical, as in the figures, "the child crying for the moon", (R 3, 47, 41), "hard to touch as the moon", the nocturnal phenomenal body, rajanīcara, rather than the divinity is implied (4, 14, 51; 5, 130, 37 f.). Compare 8, 39, 16, where candraṃ jighṛkṣuḥ is parallel to a "frog croaking at a rain-cloud". In this sense also śaśāṅka (marked with a hare) and śaśin is generally used. Thus Karṇa is śaśīva divi (3, 301, 12), "like the moon in a cloudless sky" (Viśākhayor madhyagataḥ), that is, the physical moon shining between two stars with which his ear-rings are compared (cf. 8, 20, 48), describes Karṇa. For Candra, cf.

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the use in 7, 16, 54, citre rathe . . babhāse nakṣatracitre viyati 'va candraḥ. So Citrayā Candramā iva (R 3, 17, 4). It is Candra that is “like a white goose in the blue lake of the sky” (R 5, 2, 58, etc.) When speaking of the sickle of the moon and of the moon increasing in the bright half of the month, this is the word usually employed (Candra, or Śaśin, not Soma), though there are exceptions, and when Somasuta is described, naturally sahasrasomapratimaḥ is preferred (7, 23, 29); also a saumya (gentle) king is likened to Soma (passim). Besides Candra, Śaśāṅka, and Soma, the moon is called Uḍurāj, Uḍupa(ti), “water-lord” (boat?), and Indu = Soma(drop), besides names which are periphrases, Night-wanderer, Water-born, King of Stars, Cool of Ray, etc. In R 5, 16, 31, naikasahasraraśmi is the moon. Soma as a fighting god is almost forgotten. Indeed it is said that though he once had a bow and a war-chariot he gave them away to Indra (1, 225, 4f.). His not very reputable exploit of raping Tārā, the star-wife of Bṛhaspati (Jupiter), brought on the Tārakāmaya war, which is frequently alluded to as an event of the long ago. The son born of this pair was Budha (Mercury). Soma stands here on the side of Uśanas (Venus), the star-priest of demons, of Rudra, and of the demons themselves. As far as the later epic story goes, Budha is son of Soma and Tārā (H 1340), not the son of Rohiṇī (R 3, 49, 16), the favorite wife of Soma.

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Dakṣa gave the twenty-seven stars of the lunar zodiac (his daughters) to Soma. The remaining twenty-six objected to Soma’s partiality for Rohiṇī, and Dakṣa, after warning him three times, cursed him to have yakṣman, consumption, which still causes his monthly consumption, though by bathing in the Sarasvatī (where it joins ocean at Prabhāsa), and by worshipping Deveśa, Soma recovered. Yet he has to keep up the remedy, “drinking there the six essences of Varuṇa”, to ensure health. As Soma is “lord of plants” and as the gods depend on vegetable offerings, his decline devastated the world and frightened the gods, so that they interceded for him (1, 66, 17; 9, 35, 43f.). The star-wives are here Yoginīs, engaged “in time and weather”. He is called here Soma, Candra, Uḍupati (Uḍurāj in 5, 34, 55). This curse is alluded to in Manu 9, 314, as in the epic 12, 344, 57 (“consumption came upon King Soma through the curse of Dakṣa”). The Moon is lord of lotuses, kumudanātha, and his crescent, the boat (uḍupa), is the type of female loveliness, as the full moon (“the quiver of Love”; cf. the Jain Kalpa-Sūtra, 38) is the image of a beauty (smaraśarāsanapūrṇasamaprabhaḥ, 7, 184, 46f.). Urvaśī (e.g.) is candralekheva (3, 46, 15). The moon has a mark, lakṣman (7, 2, 5), which is jagat, the earth (shadow, see H, below), though “men see it without knowing it” (12, 203, 8). As lord of plants, the Moon restores to them the moisture taken from them by the sun (12, 52, 33).

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Soma also is the “king of priests” (5, 111, 8; 12, 79, 13), and delights the Fathers with ambrosia in the dark half, the gods in the bright half of the month (12, 47, 39). He is “water-born Soma, and grahagaṇeśvara; without him is nothing produced” (nīrajātena hi vinā na kiṃ cit saṃpravartate, 13, 67, 11f.). As benefactor of men he lives with cows in the world of Brahman (ib. 66, 38). In H 1330, he is ruler of waters.

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§ 45. Soma is son of Atri, the seer who had power over the sun, not ineptly selected, though rather late, by the genealogists, who wished to assure equal dignity for the parvenu Moon-race with that long claimed by the solar dynasty. In 7, 144, 4f.; 12, 208, 9, and probably in 13, 155, 12 (by inference), Soma’s father is thus made out to be Atri, the line being then confirmed in Hariv. and Purāṇas. But the early epic does not know this derivation, making Soma rise at the churning of the ocean (1, 18, 35)

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or appear as son of Prajāpati and Śvāsā (also later of Aditi). The anvavāya, however, is eventually established as Brahman-Atri-Soma-Budha-Aila, etc. In 9, 43, 47, Atri is the hotṛ (priest) of Soma at the god's Tīrtha (cf. his āśraya in 3, 84, 157, which Budha visits), but this may imply what the same expression has in expanded form at H 1311 and 1334: "Soma the Rājarāj (whose car is drawn by a thousand horses) was son of Atri, born of his tears, and Atri was his hotṛ". Yayāti is "sixth from Soma" and Soma alone is called the Prajāpati of the Kurus (5, 149, 3), as if the Atri legend were still unknown. Atri became the moon and sun (to rescue them and the other gods) in the legend of 13, 157, 7 f., when they were afflicted by Rāhu. H 8811 has Budha as father of Purūravas and, ib. 629f., gives the story of Budha in relation to Ilā, related also R 7, 87, 3 f. Ila was exposed to the female power and became female, but was permitted by Umā to be man one month and woman the next. Budha saw Ilā (as woman) and after turning her female companions into Kiṁpuruṣīs became by her the father of Purūravas (Ilā feminine is Manu's daughter and so of solar origin). Soma's daughter Bhadrā was given by Atri to Utathya and then stolen by Varuṇa (q. v.; 13, 155, 12). His daughter Jyotsnākālī married Varuṇa's son Puṣkara (5, 98, 12). In the Mbh. heroic genealogy, Varcas, part of Soma, becomes Abhimanyu (lives sixteen years, corresponding to the sixteen days of the bright moon); and in Rām. Dadhivaktra or Dadhimukha is begotten by Soma (1, 67, 114 f.; 18, 5, 18; R 5, 61, 9f.; ib. 6, 30, 23, saumyaḥ Somātmajaḥ). Soma is identified with Agni (12, 342, 59). With Agni and Vāyu he receives the fruit of Rāma's merit (R 2, 109, 28). See also under Indra. He acts as witness with sun and wind and other gods (see Vāyu and Agni) and unites with Yama in fearing a saint (1, 71, 39), but apart from Yama (here and in Śrāddhas) he is an isolated god, though perfunctorily serving as giver of blessings and hence perhaps having a shrine in a hermitage (R 2, 91, 20; ib. 3, 12, 17 f.), since his special business is to prepare food, being "lord of plants" (5, 156, 12; 13, 98, 17, "Soma's self in various ways produced on earth"); whence his peculiar province is taste, as the Sun's is sight and Wind's is touch (rasajñāne, 14, 43, 30; cf. above on the moon's making moisture in plants, and 1, 227, 2, Candramas makes fog). In 3, 57, 37, annarasa as a gift of Yama might revert to the lunar quality of the god. Like other gods the Moon has his earthly place (apart from Tīrthas, above), which appears as a mountain north of the Northern Kurus, "hard even for gods to reach" (Somagiri, R 4, 43, 57 f.; perhaps in 13, 166, 33 the same "sunless land beside the northern sea" is meant; H 12413, Saumyagiri, is imitation of the description in R). In R 4, 42, 14, Somagiri (at the mouth of the Indus) has v. l. Hemagiri (S). Somā and Somadā are names of Apsaras and female Gandharvī (§ 93 f.). For the moon as a gentle form and as diadem of Śiva, see § 155 f. His asterism is Mṛgaśiras (13, 64, 7, gifts according to asterisms). The moon has sixteen parts, only one of which remains intact; the others increasing and decreasing (12, 305, 3, image of jīva, one sixteenth pure soul). All Parvan days are sacred; on days of new and full moon especially one must be chaste (13, 104, 89); the seventh day the moon is very bright (11, 19, 8) and almost consumed on the fourteenth (ib. 21, 13, saptamyām iva; caturdaśāhe, of the dark half, na prītikaraḥ śaśī).

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§ 46. The moon disappears but is not lost, and so it is the same soul which reappears with a new body, as the moon reappears encom-

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passed with stars (12, 203, 15 f., amāvāsyām aliṅgatvān na dṛśyate). As a good god the moon is tamisrahan, and tamo nighnan, destroying darkness, "with the help of Budha and Śukra" (7, 84, 20). Candra Śaśāṅka destroys evil, rising like a horned bull with a hump, like an elephant with a gold-bound tusk, like a haṁsa in a silver cage, etc. (R 5, 5, 1 f.). The effect on the ocean of the moon's power is a trite simile (e. g. 6, 58, 32; 7, 172, 35). Gifts at the full moon or on the twelfth day increase "Soma and ocean"; Soma grants all his wishes who gives ghee and grain to the priests (ib. 8); the same increase of Soma and ocean is produced by a bali of rice and honey offered to the rising full moon in a dish of udumbara wood (ib. 134, 6). The moon is lokakānta, beloved, though fading (R 2, 19, 32), but reviving on the day of the new moon after the fourteenth of the dark half (R 6, 93, 65). The moon-stone candrakānta is comparable to the sun-stone and as rarely mentioned (Rāma's face is fair as the candrakānta, R 2, 3, 28, atīvapriyadarśanam). In R 7, 102, 6 f., a town is so named. This stone is made of moon-beams. In the bright half of the month Pauṣa, when Rohiṇī is in conjunction, one should bathe and lie in the open, half naked, and drink moon-beams (Somasya raśmayaḥ pītvā, 13, 126, 49). The next section gives rites and prohibitions for different phases of the moon (the rite of the lunar day is taitthika, ib. 12).

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Not to cut a tree or chew a toothpick on the new moon's day benefits Candramas (Soma). The connection with the Pitṛs (§ 15) is here close; it is they who are afflicted by the chewing of the toothpick (ib. 4). The rule, however, is ascribed to the authority of the Sun-god (the Pauṣamāsa rite, to Brahman) and is actually found in the law-book of Viṣṇu (61, 17). The Candravrata or moon-vow (ascribed to Bhīṣma) is not the cāndrāyaṇa of the law-books. It should be undertaken in the month Mārgaśīrṣa, when the moon, candra, is joined with the asterism Mūla: "When his feet are joined with Mūla, Rohiṇī in his calf, his knees in Aśvinī, his thighs in the two Aṣāḍhās, when his rump is Phālgunī, his waist Kṛttikā, his navel in Bhādrapada, the eye-circle in Revatī, back and front in Dhaniṣṭhāḥ and Anurādhā, his arms the Viśākhāḥ, the hands in Hasta, when his fingers are Punarvasu, his nails in Āśleṣā, neck in Jyeṣṭhā, ears in Śravaṇa, mouth in Puṣya, lips (teeth) are Svāti, his laugh Śatabhiṣā, his nose Maghā, his eyes Mṛgaśiras, Mitra in his forehead, his head in Bharaṇī, and his hair is Ārdrā" (13, 110, 3 f.). As the moon is full on the night of the full moon, so will he become full-limbed who performs this rite, which assures beauty and good fortune to the performer and also the "luck of knowledge" (ib. 10). The rite consists in gifts to the priest as well as in making the identifications, limb by limb (Mitra in vs. 8, lalāṭe mitram eva ca, is for Citrā).

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The chief reason for the Moon-god's importance is his influence over the Fathers (see the "Fathers' Path" and Pitṛs and Yama). As a god he has a vehicle drawn by sixteen (perhaps) or a thousand steeds (cf. H 1321, and 12, 37, 33, where a king drawn by sixteen horses is like god Soma mounting his ambrosial car, amṛtamayaṁ ratham .. tārakārājaḥ). R 7, 23, pra. 3 and 4, 29, says that the world of Candramas is above the seven worlds of wind, but the passage is late, describing how Rāvaṇa attacked the world till Brahman intervened, giving Rāvaṇa a Mantra for the hour of death, which he is to mutter as he grasps his rosary, akṣasūtra, yet it is interesting as distinguishing the Somaloka (where Rāvaṇa's father Parvata tells him of the local saints and the fiend fights Māṁdhātṛ) from the world of Candramas above the seven wind-worlds (Soma and Candramas here quite distinct). So 14, 43, 6 f. Candramas is lord of Nakṣatras (as Sūrya is of planets) and Soma is lord of plants (Soma is the moon-plant). Soma as ambrosia raped by Garuḍa (§ 12) and as the divine sacrificial plant has its own position as usual. To sell Soma would not be wrong if one had the higher knowledge in reference to it, though usually it would be a sin (tattvaṁ jñātvā tu somasya vikrayaḥ syād adoṣavān, 12, 34, 31). The pūtikā-plant may be substituted for Soma, and so a month or day for a year (3, 35, 33 and 52, 23 f.). Pressing of Soma and Soma-sacrifice are assumed as common meritorious actions.

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The Nakṣatras are both the wives of the god Soma (as Moon) and also the general stars of which he is Nakṣatrarāj (3, 237, 11), and Nakṣatramārga is Suravīthi, perhaps the Milky Way or path by which the dead go (7, 192, 72 and 3, 43, 12). Nakṣatranemi is both Moon and Viṣṇu (who is Nakṣatrin), and the best of Nakṣatras is Śaśin the moon (6, 34, 21). The Nakṣatras are personal attendants of higher beings (Śiva, etc.), suffering and enjoying Karma-fruit like other beings (5, 29, 15). Nakṣatradakṣiṇās offered by Gaya (nakṣatreṣu) were probable given to the special stars of the lunar zodiac (7, 66, 10). Asterisms unsuitable for Śrāddhas are Proṣṭhapadas, Āgneya, that of one's birth, any evil or hostile (dāruṇa, pratyari) asterism, and any forbidden in astrology (jyotiṣe, 13, 104, 127 f.). Āgneya is Kṛttikāḥ. The list as given in 13, 64, 5 f., is as follows: Kṛttikāḥ (Āgneya), Rohiṇī, Somadaivata (Mṛgaśiras, later the fifth), Ārdrā, Punarvasu, Puṣya (Tiṣya), Āśleṣā, Maghāḥ, Phalgunī (pūrvā, uttarā), Hasta, Citrā (as twelfth, earlier the fourteenth), Svāti, Viśākhā, Anurādhāḥ, Jyeṣṭhā, Mūla, Aṣāḍhāḥ (pūrvāḥ, uttarāḥ), Abhijit, Śravaṇa, Dhaniṣṭhāḥ (earlier Śraviṣṭhā), Śatabhiṣā, Bhādrapadāḥ (pūrvā, uttarāyoga), Revatī, Aśvinī, Bharaṇyaḥ (pl.), as twenty-eighth. Mṛgaśiras is called (ib. 89, 3) Mṛgottama; Śatabhiṣā is called Vāruṇa (ib. 12); Proṣṭha = Bhādrapadāḥ (pūrvāḥ, uttarāḥ, ib. 13); like Bharaṇyaḥ is Aśvinyaḥ (pl.) in vs. 14.

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One should not point out Nakṣatras nor tell the tithi pakṣasya (13, 104, 38). Excluded inter alios from Śrāddhas are kuśīlava, devalaka, and "he who lives by stars", nakṣatrair yaś ca jīvati (13, 90, 11, an astrologer). Lunar omens are rare. To see the full moon with broken light on the right is unlucky, but the same is true of a lamp, and the broken light is the important factor (portends death, 12, 318, 9). When Soma enters the sun (at the time of new moon), the gods are fighting Asuras (3, 224, 11 f.). See Anumati, Rākā, etc., as phases of the moon under Agni (Aṅgiras). For the moon as representing mind, see § 37, Candramas. While the adventures of the Moon are few and unimportant in the real epic, the tale of his rape of Tārā and consumption being almost all told of him as a hero, the Purāṇas give more details of his equipment (ten steeds, three-wheeled car, not in epics) and even Harivaṁśa rather delights to exploit him as a warrior (as well as the calf of sacrifice, H 369, see Kubera), a fact probably not unconnected with the desire of the lunar dynasty to see its progenitor exalted, as Soma even becomes a name of Śiva and Viṣṇu (H 7581 and 2382). Here Soma is dvijeśvara; "his body is marked with the elephant's shadow", gajacchāyā (2476); he is first invoked to fight against the demons (2584 f., has lokacchāyāmayaṁ lakṣma), and uses his "weapon of cold" (as Varuṇa aids him with water) against the fire of Maya;

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also fights against Śambara (13440 f.), when Bhaga retires defeated, etc. The most elaborate description of the moon (R 5, 5) is also late, but this is poetical rather than mythological exaggeration. For Soma and Agni, see § 52. It is possible that Trita may represent the moon. He is cast into a pit and curses his brothers to become wolves, but is rescued by prayer (cf. for interpretation as the moon on the third day of conjunction, Siecke, Drachenkämpfe, p. 21); but the epic version does not reflect any such origin. The three brothers are here sages who report the monotheistic cult of the White Islanders (12, 336). They are "sun-like in glory" and called sons of Gautama (9, 36, 10).

§ 47. The Wind-God

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He is called Vāyu, Vāta, Māruta, Anila; or, as purifyer, Pavana; as forceful, Prabhañjana; as bearer of odors, Gandhavaha; as constantly in motion, Satataga and Sadāgati; he has too a venerable title of unknown meaning, Mātariśvan, and as messenger of Indra he is Vāsavadūta. As indicated by the last title, he is closely connected with Indra, whose messenger and servant he is, though in other respects he appears as a mighty independent divinity, associated especially with his friend (son) Agni (see Indra and Agni). Often the names are used as if no divine being were in mind but only the physical phenomenon (if this is ever true), and then vāyu or vāta are preferred, whereas for the god quâ god Māruta is the favorite name. Compare "horses swift as thought or wind" (vāyu, 1, 225, 11); "clouds mixed with wind" (miśravāta, 7, 95, 7); "like a rotten old tree felled by the wind" (vātarugṇa, 3, 16, 20); the whirlwind is viṣvagvāta (7, 46, 10). Yet all the names interchange rather freely. Māruti is in one epic Bhīma, "son of Vāyu" whose "power derives from Mātariśvan" (1, 1, 114; 2, 24, 4), "son of Prabhañjana" and "like Vāta" by nature (1, 67, 111, etc.); in the other, Vāyusuta Hanumat, Vātātmaja, (R 4, 37, 16; R 5, 9, 31f.; R 6, 28, 10) and Gandhavahātmaja (R 6, 74, 70). Vāta teaches Arjuna the use of arms (1, 165, 12); to Vāta is addressed the wail of Rāma: vāhi Vāta yataḥ kāntā, tāṃ spṛṣṭvā mām api spṛśa (R 6, 5, 6).

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A sportive Vāyu or Māruta may raise the dust and plays with trees (R 3, 23, 12 and 14; ib. 4, 1, 12f.). As a Marut, Vāyu is the only one to "have great fame" in the sky, the other Maruts being distributed, one in the world of Indra, one with Brahman, and four in the four directions as followers of Indra, probably those in the "army of Maruts surrounding Indra" (R 1, 47, 5 and R 4, 64, 14). As independent gods their blessing is sought with that of other gods (R 2, 25, 8). Vāyu (Vāta) is the friend of Agni and helps him (1, 223, 78; 227, 14; 228, 40). The hosts of Maruts in the story of Maṅkaṇaka, progenitors of the Maruts, are called Vāyuvega (cf. Vātavega, son of Garuḍa), Vāyubala, Vāyuhan, Vāyumaṇḍala, Vāyujvāla, Vāyuretas, and Vāyucakra (9, 38, 36f.). The Māruta world or "world of the seven Maruts" (13, 107, 111; cf. ib. 80f.; ib. 95 and 126f.) and the allusion to the wind "pleasant, cool, and fragrant", which (or who) carries perfected saints to heaven, nabhasaḥ paramāṃ gatim, as the "best of seven Maruts" (12, 302, 75), show that the usual conception is that of seven winds. This agrees with the seven Prāṇas (ib. 27, etc.) in the metaphysical interpretation of breaths (winds), though they are distinguished from "mighty eight-souled Vāyu". This eightfold Vāyu, like the twelve-souled Sun, appears at the general dissolution of the world (12, 313, 10, aṣṭātmako balī), called yugāntavāta (7, 146, 2; cf.

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1, 154, 24, balaṃ Vāyor jagataḥ kṣaye), and blows in every direction, so it probably represents the eight directions (cf. § 10, elephant-protectors of the eight directions, blowing out winds). The "paths of Vāyu are seven" (12, 47, 89 = 51, 6), as other sevens are for several, or to conform to the seven Maruts (which amounts to the same thing); but, as the Prāṇas are also five, so “Vāyu, who moves created beings as their soul, divides himself fivefold and enters the body” (12, 47, 65), namely as devadeva, or lord of the senses (12, 259, 49). Hence Pavana, wind as purifying power (pavanaḥ pavatām asmi, 6, 34, 31) and the deity of touch (12, 314, 10), becomes a numeral “five” in post-epical literature. In the epics, citing revelation, Pavana is the “lord of life” or, as Vāyu, the soul of all, and even is the all: Vāyuḥ sarvam idaṃ jagat (TB. 3, 11, 1, 9; Mbh. 3, 313, 66; R 7, 35, 61; cf. R ib. 55, “without Anila, Pavana, father of Hanumat, lord of life, the body becomes a mere log”). A great wind is the “breath of Viṣṇu”, hence the Veda should not be read when a gale is blowing (12, 329, 26f., Vyāsa to Śuka; ib. 55f., Viṣṇor niḥśvāsavātaḥ). The path of gods leads to Viṣṇu, of Pitṛs the path leads downward. There are here seven paths of the winds, Vāyumārgas, and the Prāṇas are explained anthropomorphically. Samāna, son of the Devagaṇaḥ Sādhyāḥ, had a son Udāna, father of Vyāna, father of Apāna, father of Prāṇa, who had no child (ib. 32f.).

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Cosmically, Samāna is Pravaha, a wind of clouds and thunderstorms. Āvaha is a noisy wind; it makes the moon and other heavenly lights rise and is identical with Udāna (S, however, inverts the first and second names). Udvaha, the third wind, sucks up water for Parjanya to rain. Saṃvaha bears the gods’ cars, roars in clouds and rends mountains. The fifth wind is dry, incorporate in the Valāhaka clouds, bringing portents of disaster (but in 6, 91, 13, Valāhaka clouds are rain-clouds, prāvṛṣi), and is called Vivaha. Parivaha, sixth, upholds the atmospheric waters (Ganges, etc.), obstructs the sun, and makes the moon wax. The seventh wind is the death-wind, followed by Death and Yama, which disperses the breath of all beings that breathe; it is called Parāvaha. The seven are then identified with the Mārutas, sons of Diti (or Aditi), which blow everywhere; probably the same as “the seven Vāyus”, with whom, as with the seven Agnis, Śiva is, as All-god, also identified (ib. 53 and 13, 14, 410). As material power, Vāyu overthrows trees (agamas, R 6, 97, 19), blowing hardest “at winter’s end” (7, 95, 7) and “at the end of the hot season” (4, 65, 1; ghoro mahānilaḥ, 7, 95, 11; cf. uṣṇaparyāye, 7, 98, 31). “At the end of the rains Māruta dispels the rain-clouds” (R 5, 46, 23). Vāyu gives testimony from the air when invoked as witness, with the Sun and Moon (3, 76, 36; R 6, 119, 27).

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Philosophically, like the Sun, Vāyu is the “life of the world” (jagadāyu, 3, 147, 27) and despite his many forms is but one (eko Vāyur bahudhā vāti loke, 12, 352, 10), the soul of all, on whom all depends (2, 19, 14). In the later epic, he holds windy discourses on castes and kings (12, 72, 2f., with Purūravas). In one of these he says that he is the “messenger of the gods” who speaks from the sky (13, 153, 26; cf. 3, 76, 36). In 13, 154, 3f., he tells how he retreated from Aṅgiras into the Agnihotra and lectures on privileges, Brahman's birth, etc. Usually Vāyu is the messenger not of any god but of Indra. Hanumat is Vāsavadūtasūnu (R 6, 74, 62). Indra treats Vāyu Māruta even as a servant, telling him to raise the dust, for “that is thy work”, and Vāyu obeys (1, 32, 8). Indra again bids him help Menakā seduce Viśvāmitra (1, 71, 41 and 72, 1), here as Sadāgati. As Vāyu is a Vasu and Indra is the lord of Vasus (§ 112), this relation is natural from the epic point of view as well as traditional. His friend Agni is also a Vasu, and Vāyu drives Agni's chariot, and helps him burn the forest (12, 229, 86, etc.; cf. Agni as Anilasārathi, Vātasārathi, 1, 15, 1; 1, 228, 40). Agni is also called "son of Wind" (see § 49). Vāyu is typical of freedom, "cannot be bound" (R 3, 55, 24), and serves as type of the freed saint (na vaśe kasya cit tiṣṭhan sadharmā Mātariśvanaḥ, 1, 119, 19). He goes through air, the swiftest of beings; racing horses "drink the wind";

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he is the strongest god (12, 154 to 157, stronger than Indra, Death, etc., ib. 155, 10). He has physical power; Indra has fighting ability (8, 31, 14). He alone put to sleep (in death) the demons of the West, though accompanied, as forms of himself, by mahāvātas (5, 110, 5). He is the "smasher" (R 4, 31, 13); hence Arjuna is called Prabhañjanasutānuja (7, 146, 116; but Indra is Vāyubhūta, takes his form if he will). Perhaps because of their freedom the Maruts first instituted the self-choice of a maiden (13, 44, 35). The "troop of Maruts" is said to have begotten several heroes, Sātyaki, Drupada, Kṛtavarman, and Virāṭa (1, 67, 79f.). In 6, 50, 51, B and S have Mārutāḥ as a people.

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§ 48. The later epic, like the VP., may imply that the Maruts are seven times seven. In 9, 38, 37, the seven progenitors of the Maruts (above) are seven gaṇas, which may mean seven groups of seven, as the Hariv. and VP., in giving the tale of Indra dividing the embryo of Diti into seven parts and saying mā rudaḥ (H 249, mā rodiḥ, origin of the name, as in R 1, 46—47), also say that the Maruts were forty-nine (VP. 1, 21, 39); but the epic does not openly recognise this number (till H 252). The story of Diti is alluded to again in 5, 110, 8. Indra is Marutpati and king of the Maruts (1, 173, 48; 2, 62, 17; 14, 43, 7), with whom he is identified as their chief (13, 14, 324), and who as his sacivas, socii, laud ever their nāyaka, leader, and with moon and stars and planets add lustre to him (3, 157, 72; R 2, 3, 26; ib. 3, 32, 4; ib. 5, 51, 45; ib. 6, 12, 9). In 6, 34, 21, "Marīci am I among Maruts", the root and the fact that each is of a group of seven helps to put Marīci in this category. The mother of Maruts is Marutvatī (H 145, etc.) or Diti (below), as their father is Dharma (loc. cit.) or Kaśyapa (H 11849). In 12, 328, 53, the cosmical winds described above are Aditeḥ putrā Mārutaḥ (and so S, but Diteḥ may be right). Speed, strength, and his attribute of "bearing perfumes" are the chief characteristics of Vāyu (Analasakha is iṣṭagandha, sukhasparśa, sarvendriyasukhāvaha, 12, 229, 86), till the later epic emphasises his moral eloquence (above).

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