Indian Philosophy v1.c8.s3.1

v1.c8.s3.1

As we shall see in our discussion of the Atharva-Veda, mythical conceptions from beyond the limits of the Aryan world belonging to a different order of thought entered into the Vedic pantheon. All this crowding of gods and goddesses proved a weariness to the intellect. So a tendency showed itself very early to identify one god with another or throw all the gods together. The attempts at classification reduced the gods to the three spheres of the earth, the air and the sky. Sometimes these gods are said to be 333, or other combinations of three in number.¹ The gods are also invoked in pairs when they fulfil identical functions. They are sometimes thrown together in one large concept of a Viśve devāḥ, or pantheon. This tendency at systematisation had its natural end in monotheism, which is simpler and more logical than the anarchy of a crowd of gods and goddesses thwarting each other.