The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v1.c13.s1.t3.3

v1.c13.s1.t3.3

We find also deities of very limited activity, who serve but one definite purpose. Thus in the Atharvaveda ² the spirit Uttuda is invoked to stir up a damsel to love, while even in the Rigveda ³ it is possible that Nivartana is felt as a divine power which moves the cows when departed to return to their place. These instances correspond closely with the Sondergötter ⁴ of Usener evidenced by the Indigitamenta in Rome, and the Lithuanian spirits presiding over all sorts of departments of nature and human activity. It is argued by Usener that the great nature deities are derived from such special deities, and doubtless there is no difficulty on conceiving the growth of such divinities to a more important status. The claim, however, of general derivation is clearly untenable. There is much more force in the view which sees in these Sondergötter a distinct mental attitude from that involved in the case of the worship of the great gods. The latter impress themselves on the mind of the worshipper, commanding his respect and fear; the former correspond with the development of the animistic conception of everything in the world as animated by a spirit, but not necessarily a source of reverence, though from time to time an activity may be desired to operate to serve one’s end, and for that purpose temporary reverence may be requisite.⁵ The worship of the sun or the storm is *prima facie* likely to be older than respect paid to Vāstoṣpati or Kṣetrasya Pati, deities who imply settled life and agriculture, and still less can Uttuda or Nivartana claim superior antiquity. It is, therefore, probably better to recognize that the worship of the sun and of these Sondergötter ultimately rests on the basis of animatism, regarded as that attitude¹ which ‘endows [what we now consider] inanimate and material objects with quasi-human consciousness and emotions, and sometimes with a superhuman power and volition which suggest worship’, and which passes over to animism. On that view it is natural to hold that worship was first given to the great phenomena, and only by a later process of more abstract thought was it accorded to such entities as Uttuda or Nivartana.