Hinduism / by Monier Williams.

  • Monier Monier-Williams
Date:
1877
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Hinduism / by Monier Williams. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    sonations of the celestial sphere were felt to be too vague to suit the growth of religious ideas in ordi- nary minds. Soon, therefore, the great investing firmament was resolved into separate cosmical enti- ties with separate powers and attributes. First, the watery atmosphere, personified under the name of Indra, ever seeking to dispense his dewy treasures, though ever restrained by an opposing force or spirit of evil called Vritra ; and, secondly, the wind, thought of either as a single personality named Vayu, or as a whole assemblage of moving powers coming from every quarter of the compass, and impersonated as Maruts, or ‘ Storm-gods.’ At the same time the once purely celestial Varuna became relegated to a position among seven secondary deities of the heavenly sphere called Adityas (afterwards increased to twelve, and regarded as diversified forms of the sun in the several months of the year), and subsequently to a dominion over the waters when they had left the air and rested on the earth. Of these separately deified physical forces by far the most favourite object of adoration was the deity supposed to yield the dew and rain. Indra is the Jupiter Pluvius of early Indian mythology, and he is the principal divinity of Vedic worshippers, if, at least, the mere number of prayers and hymns ad- dressed to him is to be taken as an indication of his superiority. What, however, could rain effect without the aid of heat ?—a force the intensity of which must have im- pressed an Indian mind with awe. Hence, the second great god of Vedic worshippers and the most important
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