The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v1.c11.s3.16

v1.c11.s3.16

With external vegetation demons in Wundt's sense and the spirits which preside over departments of activity, we attain something approaching gods, and, bearing in mind the fact that the souls of the dead are not fettered by connexion with any definite aspect of nature, it is possible to believe that the idea of a god not merely as superhuman but also as supermundane could develop itself easily. A definite theory of this process is evolved by Usener,⁴ who postulates as the first stage momentary gods (Augenblickgötter), spirits which preside over any specific activity in the moment it takes place, and which, therefore, are real only for that moment and for him who then invokes their aid. The next stage is when, in lieu of these momentary deities, man advances to the conception of a single deity presiding over all similar activities, a Sondergott of sowing in general, for instance; deities of this kind are asserted to exist in Greek, Roman, and Lithuanian religion. The final step to give a god personality and permit him to be developed thus in myth, cult, poetry, and art is furnished by language; if the progress of phonetic change, or the disuse of a root in ordinary speech, leaves the proper appellation of the Sondergott isolated and no longer readily intelligible, then he can easily assume a wider character than can ever be his as long as his name betrays his real nature. So in India Dyaus never developed a real personality comparable to Zeus or Jupiter, because the word remained in living use to denote the sky in India, while it died out in Greek and Latin; hence also the reason why the names of gods are so often difficult to interpret etymologically.