'A thousand mortals worshipped him together; twenty (priests) have hymned his praise: a hundred (sages) again and again laud him: so, Indra, is the offering lifted up, manifesting thy rule.

'Indra by his strength overcame the strength of Vritra: great is his manhood, wherewith, having slain Vritra, he made the waters flow, manifesting his rule.

"This heaven and earth trembled, thunderer, at thy wrath, when attended by the Maruts, thou slewest Vritra by thy might, manifesting thy rule.

'Vritra stayed not Indra by his trembling or his clamour: the thunderbolt of many-edged iron fell upon him; Indra manifesting his rule.

'When thou, Indra, didst encounter with thy bolt Vritra, and the thunderbolt which he hurled, then, Indra, thy strength determined to slay AHI was shewn in the heavens, manifesting thy rule.

'At thy voice, wielder of the thunderbolt, all things moveable or immoveable trembled: even Twashtri, O Indra, shook with fear at thy wrath.'

So again in another place," continued the Achárya, "it is sung, 'Indra upholds, and has spread out the earth; having struck the clouds, he has extricated the waters.'

"In fact, then," here remarked Blancombe, "some of the most striking hymns in the Rig-Veda describe merely the slaying of Vritra, in the sense of making it rain; and if that is the language in which you metaphorically describe the operations of nature, it is not difficult to conjecture why the Sankhya philosophers yield only a partial assent to the Veda, or perhaps interpret it in a peculiar manner.' "But we have not finished the explanation which you are kind enough to give me," resumed Mountain, "and I have not yet asked you who is Ushas?" "Ushas," answered the A'chárya, "is the goddess of the dawn." "Then again, who are Mitra, and Varuna, who are called, as I observe, dispensers of waters?" "That," answered the A'chárya, "will not be obscure to you, if only you notice that one is called the ruler of day, and the other of night. Mitra also is called one of the Adityas, and hence it is clear that he is either the sun, or a manifestation of the sun; and similarly Varuna,

though in modern times he is considered merely as the regent of the waters, must properly have been the moon'. You see, therefore, how divine wisdom instructed us thus early in our scriptures of that which Europeans were many centuries before they fully discovered; namely, how the heavenly bodies govern the movements of the vast ocean below." "But I observe," remarked Mountain, "that the words Púshan and Aryaman are also applied apparently to the sun, and yet in a way contrasted with each other." "That arises," answered the other, "from the difference of aspect under which the same thing may be considered. When we call the sun Púshan, we consider him as the nourisher, or the great vivifier by heat and moisture; but again as Aryaman he is represented as the god of twilight, or the divider, there being a period at which the sun seems to separate day from night." "Very well; and now the Aswins?" "That," said the A'chárya, "is not altogether an easy question to answer. But you may remember that the Aswins are called the sons of Sindhu, or the sea; they are also termed physicians of the gods, since they bring healthful alternation; and they are said to pervade all things, one with heat and the other with moisture. Hence, although some have explained them either as Heaven and Earth, or again as Sun and Moon, I should myself more gladly consider them as Day and Night, who with pleasant alternation heal all living things. Thus they are very fitly termed Dasras, or destroyers of diseases; and Násatyas, having no untruth, since their promise of return is never broken, like that of unfaithful friends, but they come day by day." "Once more, then, what do you mean by the Apris, or who is Twashtri?" "Why, the Apris have been understood to mean deified objects in general, but especially Agni, of whom I have much to say and again, Twashtri is called the workman or artisan of the gods; and since he is also represented as an Aditya, perhaps

1 This inference is the speaker's own. But WEBER'S comparison of oupavós seems to have etymology in its favour, and may remind us of the οὐρανός, ἀθροίζων αστρ ̓ ἐν αἰθέρος κύκλῳ.

SIVA AND THE VEDAS.

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it would be not improper to consider him as another phase of the sun: if, for example, the sun were contemplated as performing the behests, or executing day by day the vivifying functions of the gods, then probably he might in that aspect be termed Twashtri.”

“I am exceedingly obliged to you," here resumed Mountain, "for giving me a clearer notion than I had before of those among the names in the Rig-Veda which just now I felt a curiosity to inquire about. Only all this time there has been no mention of Siva; and indeed, since my friend Blancombe here happens to have a copy of the Veda, if you do not object to take it from him, perhaps you would be good enough to turn to some passage in which the Mahéswara, or great lord, is pointed out as the Deity to be especially worshipped." "Just at present," replied the Acharya, "perhaps you will be good enough to excuse me; though many wise men conceive that Siva is in the Veda called Rudra; but indeed the question is not of any such importance as you appear to imagine: for the Puránas, which are also a portion of our sacred scriptures, clearly set forth Siva in the sense which I humbly adopt. If you wish an instance of this, perhaps it may be allowed me to quote to you the Linga Purána, in which we read how Brahmá and Vishnu contended together for the superiority, but were put to shame by the appearance of the fiery column. In vain they both attempted to traverse the extent of that mysterious emblem of lifegiving power; and after observing it to have neither beginning nor end, but that upon its extent was written the triple monosyllable AUM, and that from it proceeded the Veda of inspiration, they learnt that the destroyer is also the restorer, and that neither the creator, who indeed only seems to create what has really been before, nor the preserver whose thousands of years, during which he upholds the perishable, are but a moment compared to the larger circle of death and life, are worthy of veneration when compared to Siva, who was before Brahmá, and who swallows up Vishnu, the puller down and also the rebuilder, who drinks up the worlds and breathes them forth again. Such are the conceptions of the

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primeval and archetypal Deity which we gather from the Linga Purána, and which might be confirmed by reference to other Puránas, such as the Matsya and the Kúrma. Nor are they inconsistent, as some strangers appear to insinuate, with the general tenor of the Vedas: for all the hymns in those venerable books are addressed either to some of the divine agencies in nature, as we have already seen, or to some holy beings in whom the excellence of the all-embracing Deity has more especially manifested itself. Nothing then hinders us from saying that Súrya, or Savitri, whether he nourishes or whether he divides the seasons, and the Dawn, and the Stars, and the Skyey Influences in general, as well as Heaven which embraces them all, and Holy Men who by prayer or contemplation have become worthy of a like serene felicity, are all alike manifestations, if our friend here prefers it, I will say of Vishnu, or if any other follower of the Vedas should so require it, I would say of Brahmá, but this or these again both, of Siva, from whom we come, and to whom we go, who was before all thought, and who although he is eternally modified, or rather because he is so, will be for ever Satisfied with the calm contemplation of this great truth, I am not much disturbed by little differences, though in themselves persons who introduce such things may be blameworthy, and they should beware of the invisible witnesses who will accompany them to the house of Yama; but leaving all such things, I endeavour to take refuge with the Eternal, that I may escape further contact with this disturbing world, and pass into participation of the unspeakable blessedness of Swarga."

one.

Here the Acharya paused, but Mountain made no answer, seeming to be either satisfied with what he had heard, or rather perhaps to be considering it inwardly; so Blancombe asked, "What, then, is Swarga?" "By Swarga," answered Vidyáchárya, "we mean nearly what you term paradise, or heaven. It is the name of one of our places of blessedness; only you need not understand me as if I intended to assign local limits to either that presence of Deity which is universal, or to the abode of

spirit which ought not to be confined. Since, however, men in general approach divine things only by means of parables and images, our scriptures are mercifully adapted to the needs in this respect of people in general; and, if this seemed expedient to divine wisdom even in former times, much more it must be needed in this degenerate age." "I understand," said Blancombe; "but this loss of the local appropriation as it were of the term does not appear to deprive you of the happiness which should be connected with it; for you evidently enjoy a tranquillity of mind in the prospect of an hereafter, though in the uncompassable sort of extent of the revolution of life and decay which you speak of, as in the somewhat analogous one mentioned by Sadananda, my own frail intellect sees matter for awe and blank prostration rather than peace." "Certainly," replied the A'chárya, "I enjoy tranquillity, which indeed seems to be the gift of our religion in a greater degree than of any other I have heard of: for in the first place we are taught to subdue all the turbulent passions from which war and misery arise among mankind. To refrain our senses, and to keep them low, has been in all ages the virtue of the Hindús, as you may read it to have been a characteristic of the heroes in our earliest poems. Again, although Manu, our wise legislator, has taught us to consider the duties of life and family as having a certain claim on our regard, we are still permitted after a proper time of life to retire into a state of contemplation. Most indeed of my countrymen, even of the better sort, are prevented by the circumstances of these times from enjoying such a retreat; but to those who do so, what can be happier than to prepare for a higher union with the Eternal Spirit from whom we come? Yet indeed something of the same happiness belongs to every regenerate man; for in the first place he is bathed from sin, since his daily bath represents the purification of his mind; hence Medhátithi, son of Kanwa, divinely sings in a hymn of the Rig-Veda :

'Waters, take away whatever sin has been in me, whether I have done wrong, or have pronounced imprecations or untruth.