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20 III. RELIGION, WELTL. WISSENSCH. u. KUNST. i A. VEDIC MYTHOLOGY.
in the RY. where they are spoken of as great and small, young and old
(i, 27 13 ). It is probable that this statement the Vedic
represents the settled
poets
view of
as to gradation of rank among the gods (cp. pp. 14. 17).
It is only a seeming contradiction when in one passage (8, 30 l
) it is said
with reference to the gods, none of you is small or young; you
are all
great for a ; poet addressing the sjods directly on this point could hardly
have expressed himself differently, pit is certain that two gods tower above
the rest as leading deities about equal in power, Indra as the mighty warrior
and Varuna as the supreme moral rulerTJ The older form of Varuna became,
owing to the predominance of his ethical qualities, the supreme god of
Zoroastrianism as Ahura Mazda, while in India Indra developed into the
(
\yarrior god of the conquering Aryans. Varuna appears as preeminent only
when the supreme laws "ot the "pEysTcal and moral world are contemplated,
and cannot be called a popular god. It has been held by various scholars
that Varuna and the Adityas were the highest gods of an older period, but
were later displaced by Indra (p. 28). There is at any rate no evidence to
show that Indra even in the oldest Rigvedic period occupied a subordinate
position.
It is true that Ahura Mazda is the highest god and Indra only
a demon in the Avesta. But even if Indra originally possessed coordinate
power with Varuna in the Indo-Iranian period, he was necessarily relegated
to the background when the reform of the Avestan religion made Ahura
Mazda supreme 20
(cp. p. 28).f/Next to Indra and Varuna come the two great
ritual deities Agni and SornaTJ These two along with Indra are, judged by
the frequency of the hymns addressed to them, the three most popular deities
of the RV. For, roughly speaking, three-fifths of its hymns are dedicated to
their praise. The fact that the hymns to Agni and Indra always come first
in the family books, while the great majority of the hymns
to Soma have a
whole book, the ninth, to themselves, confirms this conclusion 21 . Following
the number of the hymns dedicated to each of the remaining deities, com
bined with the frequency with which their names are mentioned in the RV.,
five classes of gods may be distinguished: i) Indra, Agni, Soma; 2) Asvins,
Maruts, Varuna; 3) Usas, Savitr, Brhaspati, Surya, Piisan; 4) Vayu, Dyavaprthivl,
Visnu, Rudra; 5) Yama, Parjanya 22 . The statistical standard can
of course be only a partial guide. For Varuna is celebrated (mostly together
with Mitra) in only about thirty hymns, his name being mentioned altogether
about 250 times, while the Asvins can claim over 50 hymns and are named
over 400 times. Yet they cannot be said to approach Varuna in greatness.
Their relative prominence is doubtless owing to their closer connexion with
the sacrifice as deities of morning light. Again, the importance of the Maruts
is due to their association with Indra. Similar considerations would have to
enter into an estimate of the relative greatness of other deities in the list.
Such an estimate involves considerable difficulties and doubts. A classification
according to gradations of rank would therefore not afford a satisfactory basis
for an account of the Vedic gods.
Another but still less satisfactory classification, might take as its basis
the relative age of the mythological conception, according as it dates from
the period of separate national Indian existence, from the Indo-Iranian, or
the Indo-European epoch. Thus Brhaspati, Rudra, Visnu may be considered
the creations of purely Indian mythology; at least there is no adequate
evidence to show that they go back to an earlier age. It has already been
indicated ( 5) that a number of mythological figures date from the Indo-
Iranian period. But as to whether any of the Vedic gods besides Dyaus may
be traced back to the Indo-European period, considerable doubt is justified.