The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v1.c13.s1.t2.3

v1.c13.s1.t2.3

That the storm god should be conceived in human form appears to be as natural and as primitive as that he should be ascribed an animal form, unless indeed we are to be asked to believe that religious conceptions of animal gods were formed before the development of man as such. Apart, however, from theories such as these, there can be no question of the predominance of anthropomorphism in the Rigveda, while at the same time theriomorphism is not unknown, a condition which accords well with the observed fact that the distinction of man and beast is never drawn by early peoples with the definite precision of modern feeling. Two deities are recorded for us in animal form only, the one-footed goat, Aja Ekapād, and the serpent of the deep, Ahi Budhnya: it is not likely that either is in origin an animal deity: the one-footed goat may be the lightning flash that descends to earth in a single streak: the serpent has clear mythological meaning in its application to Vṛtra, the demon who is defeated by Indra, and who holds back the waters of the clouds which are desired. The mother of the Maruts, gods of the storm wind, is called the dappled cow, which deems to have been felt as a description of the clouds whence sprang the rain. The Ādityas themselves, sons of Aditi, herself either a personification of freedom, or an abstraction derived from their name, are also cow-born, reflecting perhaps—not probably—a conception of the birth of the luminaries from a celestial cow.¹ The sacrificial food is personified as early in the Rigveda as a lady with hands full of butter, but she is also styled a cow, and in the ritual ² the cow is addressed with the words, ‘Come, o Iḍā, o Aditi.’ Agni is often conceived of as a horse, and Indra as a bull. The clouds when the rain is brought down are normally and usually styled the cows. Saraṇyū according to an old tradition becomes a mare and in that condition brings forth the two Açvins.