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The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v1.c19.s5: § 5. Deities of the House

The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v1.c19.s5

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§ 5. Deities of the House

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The deity of the house and the home is Vāstoṣpati, 'lord of the dwelling', who is invoked in one short hymn of the Rigveda² to bless man and beast, to remove diseases, to make cattle and horses prosper, to afford protection, and to grant a favourable entry. He is elsewhere described as destroyer of diseases, is identified with Soma, brought into close connexion with Tvaṣṭṛ as an artificer, or again he is likened to Indra as a cuirass of Soma pressers. In the late tenth book³ he appears as an observer of ordinances, who was fashioned by the gods along with prayer. His character is made more clear by the fact that the Gṛhya Sūtras⁴ prescribe that offerings are to be made to him when a new house is entered. There is no possible ground for supposing that either Pūṣan,⁵ or Rudra,⁶ or Agni,⁷ or any other god is designated by the title, though Rudra actually bears the style in one passage.⁸ The god is clearly the god of the house, who when a new house is built comes and abides in it. In the Sūtras⁹ we hear more generally of deities of the house.

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² vii. 54. 1–3.

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³ RV. x. 61. 7.

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⁴ AGS. ii. 9. 9; ÇGS. iii. 4; PGS. iii. 4. 7.

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⁵ Perry, *Drisler Memorial*, p. 241.

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⁶ *Festgruss an Weber*, p. 21.

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⁷ Wallis, *Cosmology*, p. 22.

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⁸ TS. iii. 4. 10. 3.

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⁹ AGS. i. 2. 4; MGS. ii. 12. 6; PGS. ii. 9. 2; Kauç. lxxiv. 10; so in the epic, Hopkins, *Epic Myth.*, pp. 41, 57.

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