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

the sky by the lightning; in the lightning he descends to earth, and he is thus the twice-born. But as the lightning descends in the torrents of the storm, Agni is also born from the water of the sky, and is thus the triple-born; he is also named the bull begotten in the bed of water.74 "We call on Agni, who gives food, with solemn songs," we are told in a hymn. "We choose thee as a messenger to the all-knowing; thy rising gleam shines far into the sky. To thee, rich youth, is every sacrifice offered; be gracious to us to-day, and for the future. Sacrifice thyself to the mightiest gods; bring our sacrifice to the gods. Mighty as a horse, who neighs in the battle, give rich gifts, O Agni, to the suppliant. Bring thyself to us, O mighty one; shine, most beloved of the gods; let the winged smoke ascend. Bring thyself to us, thou whom the gods once gave to man upon the earth. Give us treasures; gladden us. Come, ascending at once to help us, like Savitar; shine and protect us from sin by knowledge; make us strong for action and life; destroy our enemies; protect us, Agni, from the Rakshasas; protect us from the murderer and cruel bird of prey, and from the enemy who plans our destruction, thou shining youth. Strike down the enemies who bring no gifts, who sharpen their arrows against us, thou who art armed with a gleaming beam as with a club, that our enemies may never rule over us. No one can approach thy darting, strong, fearful flames; burn the evil spirits, and every enemy."75

      If Agni scared away the spirits of the night for the Aryas, they greeted with the liveliest joy the earliest light, the approach of breaking day, the first white rays of the dawn, which assured them that the night had not been victorious over the light, that the daylight was returning. These rays are for them a beautiful pair of twins, the brothers of Ushas, the morning glow, the sons of the sky.76 They are named the two Açvins, i. e. the swift, the horsemen; and also Nasatyas, i. e. apparently, the trustworthy, or guileless. Swift spirits, they hasten on before the dawn. As they pass onward victorious against the spirits of the night, and each morning assist the earth against the darkness, they are the helpers and protectors of men. That this conception of the Açvins springs from the common possession of the parent-stock of the Indo-Europeans, is proved by the Dioscuri of the Greeks. Dioskouroi means, "the young sons of the sky," and in the myth of the Greeks they are the brothers of Helena, i. e. of the Bright one, the Light; and if, in this myth, they live alternately in heaven and in the gloom of the under-world, this fact is no doubt founded in the idea that the first beams which break forth from the night belong to the darkness as much as to the light. In the Rigveda, the Açvins are compared to two swans, two falcons, two deer, two buffaloes, two watchful hounds. They are invoked to harness their light cars, drawn by swan-like, falcon-like, golden-winged horses, to descend and drink the morning offering with Ushas (the Αὔως, Ἤως of the Greeks.) They heal the sick, the blind, the lame, and make the old young again, and strong; they give wealth and nourishment, they accompany ships over the wide sea, and protect them. In invocations in the Rigveda to the Açvins, in which the benefits done by them to the forefathers are extolled and enumerated, we find: "Açvins, come on your chariot which is yoked with the good horses, which flies like the falcon, and is swifter than the wind, or the thoughts of men, on which ye visit the houses of pious men; come to our dwelling. On the chariot, whose triple wheel hastens through the triple world (the Indians distinguish the heaven of light, the region of the atmosphere and the clouds, and the earth as three worlds) approach us. Make the cows full of milk, and feed our horses, and give us goodly progeny. Approach in swift, fair-coursing chariots; listen, ye bounteous, to my prayer; ye Açvins, whom the men of old extol as driving away want. The falcons, the swift-winged ones, who fly like the vultures in the sky, may they bring you, ye Nasatyas, like water streaming from heaven, to the sacrifice. In old days ye gave nourishment to Manu; ye speedily brought food to Atri in the dark dungeon, and freed him from his bonds; ye restored light to the blind Kanva, ye bounteous ones, whom we love to praise. With your onward flying horses ye brought Bhujyu without harm from the wide pathless sea; for Çayu, when he prayed to you, ye filled the cow with milk, and gave to Pedu the white horse, clear-neighing, fearful, who is victorious over enemies, and defeats them. Even as ye were of old, we invoke you, beautiful-born, to come to our help; come with the swift flight of the falcons to us, for I summon you to a sacrifice prepared at the first light of the eternal dawn."77

      This dawn is in the hymns of the Veda a ruddy cow, a tawny mare, a beautiful maiden, who is born anew every day, when the Açvins yoke their chariot.78 Many are the generations of men that she has seen, yet she grows not old. Like a maiden robed for the dance, like a daughter adorned by her mother, as a loving wife approaches her husband, as a woman rising in beauty from the bath, smiling and trusting to her irresistible charms, unveils her bosom to the eye of the beholder, so does Ushas divide the darkness and unveil the wealth hidden therein. From the far east she travels on her gleaming car, which the ruddy horses and ruddy cows bring swiftly over thirty Yojanas, and illumines the world to the uttermost end. She looses the cows (i. e. the bright clouds) from the stall, and causes the birds to fly from their nests; she awakes the five tribes (p. 30), as an active housewife wakes her household, and sets each to his work; she passes by no house, but everywhere kindles the sacrificial fire, and gives breath and life to all. Occasionally the hymns call upon her to accelerate her awakening, to linger no longer, to hasten that the sun may not wither her away.79 "Come, Ushas," we find in invocations, "descend from the light of the sky on gracious paths: let the red cows lead thee into the house of the sacrificer. The light cows bring in the gleaming Ushas; her beams appear in the east. As bold warriors flash their swords, the ruddy cows press on; already they are shining clear. The bright beam of Ushas breaks through the dark veil of black night at the edge of heaven. We are beyond the darkness. Rise up. The light is there. Thou hast opened the path for the sun; rise up, awakening glad voices. Listen to our prayer, O giver of all good; increase our progeny."80

      The god of the sun was invoked under the names Surya and Savitar (Savitri), i. e. "the impeller." The first name seems to belong specially to the rising, the second to the sinking, sun. "Already," the hymn tells us, "the beams raise up Surya, so that all see him. With the night, the stars retire like thieves before Surya, the all-seeing. His beams shine clear over the nations, like glowing flames. Before gods and men thou risest up, Surya. With thy glance thou lookest over the nations, wanderest through heaven, the broad clouds, measuring the day and the night. Thy chariot, bright Surya, far-seeing one with the gleaming hair, seven yellow horses draw. Looking on thee after the darkness, we invoke thee, the highest light. Banish the pain and fear of my heart; pale fear we give to the thrushes and parrots. The sun of Aditi has arisen with all his victorious power;81 he bows down the enemy before me."82 A hymn says to Savitar: "I summon Savitar to help, who calls all gods and men to their place, when he returns to the dark heaven. He goes on the ascending path, and on the sinking one; shining from far, he removes transgression. The god ascends the great gold-adorned chariot, armed with the golden goad. The yellow horses with the white feet bring on the light, drawing the golden yoke. With golden hands Savitar advances between heaven and earth. Golden-handed, Renewer, rich one, come to us; beat off from us the Rakshasas; come, thou who art invoked every night on thine old firm paths through the air, which are free from dust; protect us to-day also."83 In an evening song to Savitar we find: "With the swift horses which Savitar unyokes, he brings even the course of the swift one to a stand: the weaving woman rolls up her web; the workman stops in the middle of his work; where men dwell, the glimmer of the house fire is spread here and there; the mother puts the best piece before the son; he who has gone abroad for gain returns, and every wanderer yearns for home; the bird seeks the nest, the herd the stall. From the sky, from the water, and the earth, Savitar caused gifts to come to us, to bless the suppliant as well as thy friend, the minstrel, whose words sound far."84 A third god of light, who seems to stand in some relation to the sun, especially the setting sun, is Pushan, i. e. "the nourisher." He pastures the cows of the sky, the bright clouds, and leads them back into the stall; he never loses one; he is the protector

74

The triple birth is explained differently in the poems of the Rigveda and in the Brahmanas.

75

"Rigveda," 1, 36; cf. 1, 27, 58, 76.

76

Divo napata: "Rigveda," 1, 182, 1, 4.

77

"Rigveda," 1, 112, 116, 117, 118, 119, according to Roth's rendering; cf. Benfey's translation, "Orient," 3, 147 ff.

78

"Rigveda," 1, 92; 1, 30; 4, 52; 10, 39, 12.

79

Muir, loc. cit. 5, 193 ff.

80

"Rigveda," 1, 49; 1, 92; 1, 2, 5; 1, 113, 19 in Benfey's rendering, "Orient," 1, 404; 2, 257; 3, 155. The three skilful Ribhus, who are frequently mentioned in the Rigveda, are assistants of the spirits of light. They assist the gods to liberate the cows, which the spirits of the night have fastened in the rock-stable, i. e. the bright clouds.

81

The spirits of light are called sons of Aditi, i. e. of the Eternal, Unlimited, Infinite; seven or eight sons are ascribed to her; Hillebrandt, "Die Göttin Aditi." Originally Aditi meant, in mythology, merely the non-ending, the imperishable, in opposition to the perishable world, and the gods are called the sons of immortality because they cannot die. Darmesteter, "Haurvatat," p. 83.

82

"Rigveda," 1, 50, according to Sonne's translation in Kuhn, "Z. V. Spr." 12, 267 ff.; cf. Benfey's rendering, "Orient," 1, 405.

83

"Rigveda," 1, 35, according to Roth's translation; cf. Benfey, "Orient," 1, 53.

84

"Rigveda," 2, 38, according to Roth's translation, "Z. D. M. G." 1870, 306 ff.