Ancient Indian Education (Brahmanical and Buddhist) c9.7

c9.7

The advance of thought from the concrete towards the abstract is further shown in the conception of abstract deities. We have such names of the Supreme Being as *Dhātā*, *Vidhātā*, *Dhartā*, *Trātā*, *Netā*, *Tvashtā*, *Savitā*, *Viśvakarmā*, *Hiraṇyagarbha*, *Ka* (for which references are given below). We have also deities comprising personifications of abstract nouns like *Manyu*, Wrath; *Śraddhā*, Faith [x, 151]; *Anumati*, Favour of the Gods; *Aramati*, Devotion; *Sūnṛitā*, Bounty; *Asu-nīti*, Spirit-life; or *Nirṛiti*, Decease; and, lastly, *A-diti*, Liberation or Freedom, the Mother of *Ādityas*, who delivers from the bonds of physical suffering and moral guilt. There is also a goddess called *Araṇyānī* [x, 146], the goddess of Forest Solitude, who is invoked with much feeling: "Araṇyānī! Thou who seemest to lose thyself there, why dost thou not ask the way to the village? Dost not Terror seize thee at thy solitude!" She is described as at once harbouring wild beasts, feeding travellers on fruits, yielding abundant food, and fragrant with flowers!