Volume II Part 14 (2/2)

* _Sanskrit Texts_, v. 16,17.

** _Religion Vedique_, iii. 99.

*** _Tsuni Goam_, Hahn, p.

”There was gra.s.s growing, and a cow came and ate of that gra.s.s, and she became pregnant” (as Hera of Ares in Greek myth), ”and she brought forth a young bull. And this bull became a very large bull.” And the people came together one day in order to slaughter him. But he ran away down hill, and they followed him to turn him back and catch him. But when they came to the spot where he had disappeared, they found a man making milk tubs. They asked this man, ”Where is the bull that pa.s.sed down here?” He said, ”I do not know; has he then pa.s.sed here?” And all the while it was he himself, who had again become Heitsi Eibib. Thus the birth of Heitsi Eibib resembled that of Indra as described in _Rig-Veda_, iv. 18, 10. ”His mother, a cow, bore Indra, an unlicked calf.”* Whatever view we may take of this myth, and of the explanation in the Brahmana, which has rather the air of being an invention to account for the Vedic cow-mother of Indra, it is certain that the G.o.d is not regarded as an uncreated being.**

* Ludwig, _Die fa.r.s.e hat den groszen, starken, nicht zu venoundenden stier, den tosenden Indra, geboren_.

** As to the etymological derivation and original significance of the name of Indra, the greatest differences exist among philologists. Yaska gives thirteen guesses of old, and there are nearly as many modern conjectures. In 1846 Roth described Indra as the G.o.d of ”the bright clear vault of heaven” (Zeller's _Theologisches Jahrbuch_, 1846, p.

352). Compare for this and the following conjectures, E. D. Perry, _Journal of American Oriental Society_, vol. i. p. 118. Roth derived the ”radiance” from _idh, indh_, to kindle. Roth afterwards changed his mind, and selected _in_ or _inv_, to have power over. La.s.sen (_Indisclie Allerthumskunde_, 2nd ed., i. p. 893) adopted a different derivation.

Benfey (Or. und Occ, 1862, p. 48) made Indra G.o.d, not of the radiant, but of the rainy sky. Mr. Max Muller (lectures on Science of Language, ii. 470) made Indra ”another conception of the bright blue sky,” but (p.

473, note 35) he derives Indra from the same root as in Sanskrit gives indu, drop or sap, that is, apparently, rainy sky, the reverse of blue.

It means originally ”the giver of rain,” and Beufey is quoted ut supra.

In Chips, ii. 91, Indra becomes ”the chief solar deity of India ”. Muir (Texts, v. 77) identifies the character of Indra with that of Jupiter Pluvius, the Rainy Jove of Rome. Gra.s.sman (Dictionary, s. v.) calls Indra ”the G.o.d of the bright firmament”. Mr. Perry takes a distinction, and regards Indra as a G.o.d, not of sky, but of air, a midgarth between earth and sky, who inherited the skyey functions of Dyu. In the Veda Mr.

Perry finds him ”the personification of the thunderstorm”. And so on! It seems incontestable that in Vedic mythology Tvashtri is regarded as the father of Indra.* Thus (ii. 17, 6) Indra's thunderbolts are said to have been fas.h.i.+oned by his father. Other proofs are found in the account of the combat between father and son. Thus (iii. 48, 4) we read, ”Powerful, victorious, _he gives his body what shape he pleases_. Thus Indra, having vanquished Tvashtri even at his birth, stole and drank the soma.”** These anecdotes do not quite correspond with the version of Indra's guilt given in the Brahmanas. There it is stated*** that Tvashtri had a three-headed son akin to the Asuras, named Vairupa. This Vairupa was suspected of betraying to the Asuras the secret of soma.

Indra therefore cut off his three heads.

* On the parentage of Indra, Bergaigne writes, iii. 58.

** iii. 61. Bergaigne identifies Tvashtri and Vritra.

Cf. Aitareya Brahmana, ii. 483, note 5.

*** Aitareya Brahmana, it 483, note 6.

Now Vairupa was a Brahman, and Indra was only purified of his awful guilt, Brahmanicide, when earth, trees and women accepted each their share of the iniquity. Tvashtri, the father of Vairupa, still excluded Indra from a share of the soma, which, however, Indra seized by force.

Tvashtri threw what remained of Indra's share into the fire with imprecations, and from the fire sprang Vritra, the enemy of Indra. Indra is represented at various times and in various texts as having sprung from the mouth of Purusha, or as being a child of heaven and earth, whom he thrust asunder, as Tutenganahau thrust asunder Rangi and Papa in the New Zealand myth. In a pa.s.sage of the _Black Yajur Veda_, once already quoted, Indra, sheep and the Kshattriya caste were said to have sprung from the breast and arms of Praj.a.pati.* In yet another hymn in the _Rig- Veda_ he is said to have conquered heaven by magical austerity. Leaving the Brahmanas aside, Mr. Perry** distinguishes four sorts of Vedic texts on the origin of Indra:--

1. Purely physical.

2. Anthropomorphic.

3. Vague references to Indra's parents.

4. Philosophical speculations.

Of the first cla.s.s,*** it does not appear to us that the purely physical element is so very pure after all. Heaven, earth, Indra, ”the cow,” are all thought of as _personal_ ent.i.ties, however gigantic and vague.

In the second or anthropomorphic myths we have**** the dialogue already referred to, in which Indra, like Set in Egypt and Malsumis or Chokanipok in America, insists on breaking his way through his mother's side.*****

* Muir, i. 16.

** Op. cit., p. 124.

*** Rig- Veda, iv. 17, 4, 2, 12; iv. 22, 4; i. 63, 1; viii.

59, 4; viii. 6, 28-30.

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