Vedic Mythology c5.6

c5.6

The Vedic gods, as has been shown, had a beginning in the view of the Vedic poets, since they are described as the offspring of heaven and earth or sometimes of other gods. This in itself implies different generations of gods, but earlier (*pūrve*) gods are also expressly referred to in several passages (7, 21⁷ &c.). An earlier or first age of the gods is also spoken of (10, 72²⁻³). The AV. (11, 8¹⁰) speaks of ten gods as having existed before the rest. The gods, too, were originally mortal⁵. This is expressly stated in the AV. (11, 5¹⁹; 4, 11⁶). The Brāhmaṇas state this both of all the gods (ŚB. 10, 4, 3³) and of the individual gods Indra (AB. 8, 14⁴), Agni (AB. 3, 4), and Prajāpati (ŚB. 10, 1, 3¹)⁶. That they were originally not immortal is implied in the RV. For immortality was bestowed on them by Savitṛ (4, 54² = VS. 33, 54) or by Agni (6, 7⁴; AV. 4, 23⁶). They are also said to have obtained it by drinking Soma (9, 106⁸ cp. 109²⁻³), which is called the principle of immortality (ŚB. 9, 5, 1⁸). In another passage of the RV. (10, 53¹⁰), they are said to have acquired immortality, but by what means is not clear. According to a later conception Indra is stated to have conquered heaven by *tapas* or austerity (10, 167¹). The gods are said to have attained divine rank by the same means (TB. 3, 12, 3¹), or to have overcome death by continence and austerity (AV. 11, 5¹⁹) and to have acquired immortality through Rohita (AV. 13, 17). Elsewhere the gods are stated to have overcome death by the performance of a certain ceremony (TS. 7, 4, 2¹). Indra and several other gods are said to be unaging (3, 46¹ &c.), but whether the immortality of the gods was regarded by the Vedic poets as absolute, there is no evidence to show. According to the post-Vedic view their immortality was only relative, being limited to a cosmic age.