. Indian myth and legend. tion—Rudra, the nourisher. Give unto me of thy medicines, Rudra, So that my years may reach to a hundred; Drive away hatred, shatter oppression, Ward off calamity. Rigveda^ ii, 33. The rain cloud was personified in Parjanya, who linkswith Indra as the nourisher of earth, and with Agni asthe quickener of seeds. Indras great rival, however, was Varuna, who sym-bolized the investing sky: he was the all-envelopingone . The hymns impart to him a character of Hebraicgrandeur. He was the sustainer of the universe, the law-giver, the god of moral rectitude, and the sublime so
. Indian myth and legend. tion—Rudra, the nourisher. Give unto me of thy medicines, Rudra, So that my years may reach to a hundred; Drive away hatred, shatter oppression, Ward off calamity. Rigveda^ ii, 33. The rain cloud was personified in Parjanya, who linkswith Indra as the nourisher of earth, and with Agni asthe quickener of seeds. Indras great rival, however, was Varuna, who sym-bolized the investing sky: he was the all-envelopingone . The hymns impart to him a character of Hebraicgrandeur. He was the sustainer of the universe, the law-giver, the god of moral rectitude, and the sublime sove-reign of gods and men. Men worshipped him withdevoutness, admiration, and fear. It is he who makesthe sun to shine in heaven; the winds that blow arebut his breath; he has hollowed out the channels of therivers which flow at his command, and he has made thedepths of the sea. His ordinances are fixed and un-assailable ; through their operation the moon walks inbrightness, and the stars which appear in the nightly oo I <o -3W z o t-H hu W O wuz I—t to THE GREAT VEDIC DEITIES 27 vanish in daylight. The birds flying in the air, the riversin their sleepless flow, cannot attain a knowledge of hispower and wrath. But he knows the flight of the birdsin the sky, the course of the far-travelling wind, the pathsof ships on the ocean, and beholds all secret things thathave been or shall be done. He witnesses mens truthand falsehood.^ He is the Omniscient One. Man prayed to him forforgiveness for sin, and to be spared from the conse-quences of evil-doing: May I not yet, King Varuna,Go down into the house of clay:Have mercy, spare me, mighty Lord. O Varuna, whatever the offence may beThat we as men commit against the heavenly folk,When through our want of thought we violate thy laws,Chastise us not, O god, for that iniquity. Rigveday vii, 89.^ His messengers descendCountless from his abode—for ever traversingThis world and scanning with a thousand eyes its e
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