Cox, George - Aryan Mythology Vol 2.pdf

BOOK
II.
MYTHOLOGY OF THE ARYAN NATIONS.
CHAPTER X.
THE DAEKNESS.
Section L—VRITRA AND AHI.
No mythical phrases have so powerfully affected the history
of religion as the expressions which described originally the
physical struggle between light and darkness as exhibited in
the alternations of day and night. These phrases stand out
with wonderful vividness in the hymns of the Rig Yeda. The
rain-god Indra is concerned with the sacrifices of men, chiefly
because these supply him with food to sustain his steeds in
the deadly conflict, and the drink which is to invigorate his
own strength. On the Soma, of which, as of the Achaian
Nektar, all the gods have need, the might of Indra especially
depends ; and as soon as he has quaffed enough, he departs
to do battle with his enemy. This struggle may be con-
sidered as the theme, which in a thousand different forms
enters into all the conceptions of Indra and into all the
prayers addressed to him. Like himself, his adversary has
many names; but in every word we have the contrast between
the beaming god of the heaven with his golden locks
and his flashing spear, and the sullen demon of darkness,
who lurks within his hidden caves, drinking the milk of the
cows which he has stolen. The issue of the battle is always
the same ; but the apparent monotony of the subject never
deprives the language used in describing it of the force
which belongs to a genuine and heartfelt conviction. So
far from the truth is the fancy that great national epics
cannot have their origin in the same radical idea, and that
the monotony which would thus underlie them all is of itself
conclusive proof that in their general plan the Iliad and the