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46 III. RELIGION, WELTL. WISSENSCH. u. KUNST. i A. VEDIC MYTHOLOGY.
almost synonymous with bhaga, expressing both the concrete sense of share,
portion* and that of apportioned. It is found but three times as the name
of a god 14 , only one of these passages stating anything about him besides
his name. Agni is here said to be Amsa,, a bountiful (bhdjayii) god at the
feast (2, 1 4).
Daksa 15 is mentioned hardly more than half a dozen times in the
RV. as the name of a god. The word occurs more frequently as an adjective
meaning dexterous, strong, clever, intelligent , applied to Agni (3, 147) and
Soma (9, 6i l8
&c.), or as a substantive in the sense of dexterity, strength,
cleverness, understanding . The name of the personification therefore appears
to mean the dexterous or clever god. Excepting the verse (2, 27*) which
enumerates the six Adityas, he is mentioned only in the first and tenth books.
In one passage (i, 89 3 ) he is referred to with other Adityas, and in another
(10, 64 5
) with Mitra, Varuna, and Aryaman, Aditi also being spoken of in
connexion with his birth. In a cosmogonic hymn (10, 72^5) Daksa is said
to have sprung from Aditi, when it is immediately added that Aditi sprang
from him and is his daughter, the gods being born afterwards. In another
it is stated that the existent and non-existent were in the womb
verse (10, 5?)
of Aditi, in the birthplace of Daksa. Thus the last two passages seem to
regard Aditi and Daksa as universal parents. The paradox of children pro
ducing their own parents has been shown (p. 12) to be not unfamiliar to
the poets of the RV. The manner in which it came to be applied in this
particular case seems to be as follows. The Adityas are spoken of as gods
who have intelligence for their father (6, 5o 2
), the epithet (daksapitard) being
also applied to Mitra-Varuna, who in the same verse (7, 66 2
) are called very
intelligent (sudaksa). The expression is made clearer by another passage
(8, 255), where Mitra-Varuna are termed sons of intelligence (sunu daksasya)
as well as children of great might (napata savaso mahaJi). The juxtaposition
of the latter epithets shows that daksa is here not a personification but the
abstract word used as in Agni s epithets father of skill (daksasya pitr: 3, 2 7 9)
or son of strength ( 8, 35). This conclusion is confirmed by the fact that
ordinary human sacrificers are called daksdpitarah, having skill for their father"
(8, 52 10
).
Daksa as
Such expressions probably brought about the personification of
the father of the Adityas and his association with Aditi. In the
2
TS. the gods in general are called daksapitarah, and in the SB. (2, 4, 4 )
Daksa is identified with the creator Prajapati.
i BLOOMFIELD, JAOS. 15, 176 note; vSPH. 2
31. OST. 4, 117 21. 3 BOL-
LENSEN, ZDMG. 41, 503. 4 Cp. GW., s. v. - - 5 Aditya. Cp. v. SCHROEDER,
WZKM. 9, 122. & On the Amesaspentas see DARMESTETER, Haurvatat et Ameretat
(Paris 1875), i f. ; BARTHOLOMAE, AF. 3, 26. 7 Cp. MACDONELL, JRAS. 27, 948.
* ZDMG. 6, 69 f. 9 Sp.AP. 199; HARLEZ, JA. 1878(1 1), 129 ff. "ROTH, ZDMG. 6, 74;
" BOLLENSEN, ibid. 41, 503; HVBP. 556. ROTH, 1. c.; WC. 11 12; BAYNES,
The Biography of Bhaga. Transactions of the 8th Oriental Congress, II, I, 85 9;
HRI. 536. - - 12 Cp. GW. s. v. bhaga. 13 v. SCHROEDER, WZKM. 9, 127.
M ROTH, ZDMG. 6, 75; BRI. 19.
J
5 OST. 5, 512; BRV. 3, 93. 99; W7 C. 45.
WHITNEY, JAOS. 3, 3236; OST. 5, 547; MM., SBE. 32, 252 4; ORV. 1859.
286 7; ZDMG. 49, 1778; 50, 50 4; SBE. 48, 1 90; HOPKINS, JAOS. 17, 28; IF. 6, n 6.
S 20. Us as. Usas, goddess of Dawn, is celebrated in about 20 hymns
of the RV. and mentioned more than 300 times. Owing to the identity of
of dawn
name, the personification is but slight, the physical phenomenon
never being absent from the poet s mind, when the goddess is addressed.
Usas is the most graceful creation of Vedic poetry and there is no more
charming figure in the descriptive religious lyrics of any other literature. The
brightness of her form has not been obscured by priestly speculation nor
has the imagery as a rule been marred by references to the sacrifice. Arraying