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6 III. RELIGION, WELTL. WISSENSCH. u. KUNST. i A. VEDIC MYTHOLOGY.
and uncertain conclusions of comparative mythology, but with the information
supplied by Indian literature, which contains a practically continuous record
of Indian mythology from its most ancient source in the RV. down to modern
times 2 . All the material bearing on any deity or myth ought to be collected,
grouped, and sifted by the comparison of parallel passages, before any con
clusion is drawn 3 . In this process the primary features which form the basis
of the personification
As soon as a
should be separated from later accretions.
person has taken the place of a natural force in the
imagination, the poetical fancy begins to weave a web of secondary myth,
into which may be introduced in the course of time material that has
nothing to do with the original creation, but is borrowed from elsewhere.
Primary and essential features, when the material is not too limited, betray
themselves by constant iteration. Thus in the Indra myth his fight with Vrtra,
which is essential, is perpetually insisted on, while the isolated statement that
he strikes Vrtra s mother with his bolt (i, 329) is clearly a later touch, added
by an individual poet for dramatic effect. Again, the epithet Vrtra-slaying ,
without doubt originally appropriate to Indra alone ; is in the RV. several
times applied
former to the
to the god Soma also.
latter deity, is sufficiently
But
plain
that it is
from the
transferred from the
statement that Soma
is the Vrtra-slaying intoxicating plant (6,
11
I7 ), the juice of which Indra
regularly drinks before the fray. The transference of such attributes is parti
cularly easy in the RV. because the poets are fond of celebrating gods in
couples, when both share the characteristic exploits and qualities of each other
(cp. 44). Attributes thus acquired must of course be eliminated from the
essential features. A similar remark applies to attributes and cosmic powers
which are predicated, in about equal degree, of many gods. They
can have
no cogency as evidence in regard to a particular deity 4 . It is only when
such attributes and powers are applied in a predominant manner to an in
dividual god, that they can be adduced with any force. For in such case it
is possible they might have started from the god in question and gradu
ally extended to others. The fact must, however, be borne in mind in this
connexion, that some gods are celebrated in very many more hymns than
others. The frequency of an attribute applied to different deities must there
fore be estimated relatively. Thus an epithet connected as often with Varuna
as with Indra,, would in all probability be more essential to the character of
the former than of the latter. For Indra is invoked in about ten times as
many hymns as Varuna. The value of any particular passage as evidence
may be affected by the relative antiquity of the hymn in which it occurs.
A statement occurring for the first time in a late passage may of course re
present an old notion; but if it differs from what has been said on the same
furnishes a later
point in a chronologically earlier hymn, it most probably
development. The tenth and the greater part of the first book of the RV.s
are therefore more likely to contain later conceptions than the other books.
Moreover, the exclusive connexion of the ninth book with Soma Pavamana
may give a different complexion to mythological matter contained in another
book. Thus Vivasvat and Trita are here connected with the preparation of
Soma in quite a special manner (cp. 18, 23). As regards the Brahmanas,
great caution should be exercised in discovering historically primitive notions
in them; for they teem with far-fetched fancies, speculations, and identi
fications 6 .
In adducing parallel passages as evidence, due regard should be paid
to the context. Their real value can often only be ascertained by a minute
and complex consideration of their surroundings and the association of ideas