The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v1.c11.s2.31

v1.c11.s2.31

There is one further point of some interest. As we may have seen, the numbers of the gods as thirty-three are Indian and Iranian, but there is no similar grouping in any other of the religions, and the 12 of Greece which is not Homeric is only copied by Rome.³ On the other hand, in connexion both with groups of gods and with attributes of deities and cult actions the number 3 with its multiple 9 are found not rarely in all the religions.¹ In those of Europe the number 7 is rarely of specially sacred character until after the influence of the Christian religion had begun to be felt, or at least until the Jewish week had become familiar in the western world. On the other hand the number 7 is very often found in the Rigveda, and must be considered as distinctly a typical sacred number. It has been often suggested that this fact points to Semitic and specifically Babylonian influence,² but it must be noted that the week of seven days is not clearly proved for Babylonia,³ and there is therefore no obvious reason why the number should be denied as original in India.