Cox, George - Aryan Mythology Vol 2.pdf

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CHAPTER V.
THE WINDS.
Section I.—VAYU AND THE MARUTS.
The god of the bright heaven, who is known as Dyu, Indra,
and Agni, is also called Vayu, a name denoting, it would .
CHAP.
,1—
seem, simply the gentler movements of the air, which are Va y u ? ncl
expressed by the sweet pipings of the Greek Pan and the
soft breathings of the Latin Favonius. As snch, he comes
early in the morning to chase away the demons, and the
Dawns weave for him golden raiment. 1 He is drawn by the
Nirjuts, and has Indra for his charioteer. 2 With some he
was, along with Agni and Sivrya, supreme among the deities.
4
There are only three deities, according to the Nairuktas
(etymologists) : Agni whose place is on earth ; Vayu or Indra
whose place is in the atmosphere, and Surya whose place is
in the sky.' 3
The blustering rage of the Greek Boreas and the more Boreas
6
violent moods of Hermes are represented by the crowd of
Marut? .
Maruts, or storm-winds, who attend on Indra. and aid him
in his struggle with his great enemy Vritra. Of these
beings it is enough to say, that the language used in de-
scribing their functions is, if possible, more transparent than
that of the poem known as the Homeric Hymn to Hermes.
They overturn trees and destroy forests, they roar like lions
and are as swift as thought, they shake the mountains and
are clothed with rain. They are borne on tawny-coloured
horses ; they are brothers, c of whom no one is the elder, no
one the younger.' They are born self-luminous with the
1 Muir, Sanskrit Texts, part iv. Muir, Sctnskr. Texts, iv. 3, 7.
p. 337. 3 Muir, Skr. Texts, part iv. p. 57.
2 H. H. Wilson, JR. V. S. iii. 209