The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v2.c30.s8.16

v2.c30.s8.16

There can be no doubt whatever as to the great part played by Indra in the Soma offering: the midday pressing is almost entirely his, the Maruts appearing only in his company, though at the evening pressing his place is comparatively slight. In the morning we find in the Praüga Çastra, which is certainly to be traced to the Rigveda, invocations of seven sets of gods, first Vāyu, then Indra and Vāyu, Mitra and Varuṇa, the Açvins, Indra, the All-gods, and Sarasvatī, while the three litanies of the assistants of the Hotṛ are devoted to Mitra and Varuṇa, Indra, and Indra and Agni. In the evening the ritual finds places for the Ādityas, Savitṛ, the All-gods, Agni with the wives of the gods, and Indra with the bay steeds. The Ṛbhus thus play a very minor part, though they have verses and though their old importance, which is asserted in the Rigveda, may be traced in the name of the Ārbhavapavamāna Stotra. In the case of the Ādityas we have evidence in the Rigveda of their having a share in the offering, and so also in the case of Agni and the Maruts, but so comparatively seldom as to show that the position of these gods was distinctly far from assured as regards their share in the Soma sacrifice. The wives of the gods are also mentioned in the Rigveda as having a part, but never Savitṛ, a fact which is doubtless fair evidence that the Rigveda did not know him as having a place in the rite, and that he was later brought in, perhaps because of his growing importance, perhaps as an Āditya. The position of Agni also in the rite is a proof that he was not at first one of the great Soma drinkers: he appears in it in the main as connected with Indra, or as one of many other gods. On the other hand, the evidence of the Rigveda forbids the adoption of the view that the Soma offering was originally given to Indra alone: if that were the case it lies in times beyond our possibility of knowledge. The exclusion of Rudra, which seems, however, to be post-Rigvedic, though it is marked in the ritual, is the obvious result of his hostile nature.¹