The History of Antiquity, Vol. 4 (of 6). Duncker Max

The daughter is the milkmaid (duhitar), the consort of the prince is even in later poems the buffalo-cow (mahishî), the prince is at times the cow-herd, or protector of cows (gôpa), the assembly of the tribe and the fold which encloses the cows are called by the same name (gôshtha), and the word expressing a feud (gavisshthi) denotes in the first instance the desire for cows. Similes are taken especially from cows and horses. Beside cattle and horses, buffaloes, sheep, and goats are mentioned. The gods are invoked to protect and feed the cows, to increase the herds, to make the cows full of milk, and satisfy the horses, to lead the herds to good pastures, and protect them from misfortune on the way. At the sacrifices parched corn was sprinkled for the horses of the gods.66

      In regard to the ethical feeling and attitude of the nation, we learn from the hymns of the Rigveda that it was filled at that time with a courageous and warlike spirit, with freshness and enjoyment of life. Liberality and fidelity were highly praised; theft and plunder held in contempt; faithlessness and lying severely condemned. The friend of the gods could look forward to horses, chariots, and cows. Beautiful to look upon, and filled with vigorous strength, he will shine in the assembly of the people. There is a lively feeling that the gods feel themselves injured by untruth and falsehood, by neglect and improper offering of the sacrifice, and the conscience is awake. The gods are earnestly entreated to forgive the sins of the fathers, and those committed by the suppliants, in wine, play, or heedlessness, to soften their anger, and spare the transgressor from punishment or death. If princes and nobles did not content themselves with one wife, monogamy was nevertheless the rule, so far as we can see. The beautiful maiden is accounted happy because she can choose her husband in the nation. Many a one certainly would be content with the wealth of him who seeks her.

      In the beneficent forces and phenomena of nature, which are friendly and helpful to men, the religious conceptions of the Aryas see the power of kindly deities; and in all the influences and phenomena which injure the prosperity and possessions of men they see the rule of evil deities. To the Aryas light was joy and life, darkness fear and death; the night and the gloom filled them with alarm, the light cheered them. With gladsome hearts they greeted the returning glow of morning, the beams of the sun, which awaken us to life. The obscuring of the sun by dark clouds raised the apprehension that the heavenly light might be taken from them. In the heat of the summer the springs and streams were dried up, the pastures were withered, the herds suffered from want, and therefore the more fervent were the thanks of the Aryas to the spirits who poured down fructifying water from heaven, and caused the springs, streams, and rivers again to flow full in their banks.

      The basis of these views the Aryas brought with them into the valley of the Indus. Their name for the deity of light —deva, from div, to shine – is found among the Greek, Italian, Lettish, and Celtic nations in the forms ϑεοί, dii, diewas, and dia; it recurs in the Zeus (dyaus) of the Greeks, and the Jupiter (dyauspitar) of the Romans. The god of the upper air is with the Aryas Varuna, the Uranos of the Greeks. And these were not the only ideas possessed by the Aryas before their immigration. When they had broken off from the original stem of the Indo-European tribes, they must for a time have lived in union with another branch of the same stem, which inhabited the table-land of Iran, and only after a long period of union did they become a nation, and emigrate to the East. The nucleus of the view of the nature and action of the gods is identical in the Aryas and the tribes of Iran to such a degree that it can only have grown up in a common life. In both it lies in the struggle and opposition in which the spirits of light stand to the spirits of darkness, the spirits who give water to the spirits who parch up all things – in the contest of good and evil gods. It is assistance and protection against the evil spirits, the boon of light and water, which is sought for in the worship of both nations. The names of the deities of light, which the Indians and the Iranians serve, are the same. Mitra, Aryaman, Bhaga, Ushas are invoked on the Indus and Sarasvati as well as on the Hilmend, in Bactria and Media. Here, as there, the beneficent morning wind which drives away the clouds of night is called Vayu; the same drink offerings were offered under the same names in both nations to the good gods. With the Indians Atharvan lights the sacrificial fire;67 among the Iranians the fire priests are called Athravas. The chief of the evil spirits, against which the good spirits have to contend, is called Veretra among the Iranians, and Vritra among the Indians; another evil spirit is called Azhi (Aji) in one nation, Ahi in the other. Such was the development given to the common inheritance from the parent stock, attained while the Airyas and Aryas lived together; and after the community was broken up, and the two nations became separated, those views received a peculiar shape in each. The point in this special development reached by the Aryas while yet in the Panjab we know from the poems of the Rigveda.

      To the Iranians, as to the Aryas, the brightness of fire was a friendly spirit which gave light in darkness. To it, among both nations, almost the first place was allotted. By far the greatest number of invocations in the Rigveda are addressed to this spirit, Agni (ignis). When the darkness of evening came on, the glowing fire scared the beasts of prey from the encampment of men and the herds, and so far as the flame shone it drove back the evil spirits of the night.68 Then the demons were seen from a distance hovering round the kindled fire, and the changing outlines of their forms were seen on the skirts of the darkness. Thus in the Rigveda, the fire-god is a bringer of light, who overpowers the night with red hues, who drives away the Rakshasas, or evil spirits; he is the conqueror and slayer of demons, with sharp teeth and keen weapons, a beautiful youth of mighty power. But the fire of the hearth also unites the family, and provides them with nourishment. As such Agni is the gleaming guest of men, the dear friend and companion of men, the far-seeing house-lord, who dwells in every house, and despises none; a god, giving food and wealth;69 the protector, leader, and guide of his nation. As his power carries the sacrificial gifts to the gods, he is also the priest of the house; to the sensuous conception of the Aryas he is the messenger of men to the gods; his gleam leads the eye of the gods to the sacrifice of men; hence he is himself a priest, the first of priests, the true offerer of sacrifice, the mediator between heaven and earth, the lord of all religious duties, the protector and supporter of the worship. With his far-reaching tongue, the smoke of the kindled fire of sacrifice, he announces to the gods the gifts offered, the prayers which accompany the sacrifice, and brings the gods to the place of offering. Through Agni they consume their food. He is to the gods what the goblet is to the mouth of men.70 With a thousand eyes Agni watches over him who brings him food, i. e. wood, and pours fat and clarified butter into his mouth; he rejects not the gifts of him who possesses neither cow nor axe, and brings but small pieces of wood; he protects him from hunger, and sends him all kinds of good; in the battle he fights among the foremost, and consumes the enemy like dry underwood. When he yokes to his chariot the red, wind-driven horses, he roars like a bull; the birds are terror-stricken when his sparks come consuming the grass; when, like a lion, he blackens the forest with his tongue, and seizes it with his flames, which sound like the waves of the sea; when he shears off the hair of the earth, as a man shaves his beard, and marks his path with blackness. Nothing can withstand the lightning of the sky, the sounding winds, and Agni; by his power the gods Varuna, Mitra, and Aryaman are victorious.71

      In the conception of the Indians Agni was born from the double wood; in this he lay concealed. They kindled fire by friction. A short staff was fixed in a round disc of wood, and whirled quickly round till fire was kindled.72 This process was the birth of Agni. The disc was compared to the mother, the staff to the father; the disc was impregnated by friction, and soon a living creature springs forth from the dry wood. At the moment of birth this golden-haired child begins to consume his parents; he grows up in marvellous wise, like the offspring of serpents, without a mother to give suck. Eagerly he stretches forth his sharp tongue to the wood of the sacrifices; with gnashing and neighing he springs up like a horse on high, when the priests sprinkle melted butter; streaming brightly forth, he rolls up the sacred smoke, and touches the sky with his hair, uniting with the sun.73 Yet not on earth only is Agni born; he

66

Muir, loc. cit. 5, 463.

67

"Rigveda," 10, 21, 5. Above, p. 29.

68

"Rigveda," 1, 94, 7; 1, 140, 1.

69

"Samaveda," by Benfey, 2, 7, 2, 1.

70

"Samaveda," by Benfey, 1, 1, 2, 2; 1, 1, 1, 9.

71

Muir, loc. cit. 5, 212 ff.

72

Kuhn, "Herabkunft des Feuers," s. 23 ff., 36 ff., 70 ff.

73

Kaegi, "Rigveda," 1, 23.