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LITERATURE OF THE EAST 33
Maruts, strong in daring strength, have, like the sea,
surrounded their haters.
boldly
10. May we to-day, may we to-morrow in battle be called
the most beloved of Indra. We were so formerly, may we
truly be so day by day, and may the lord of the Maruts be
with us.
11. May this praise, O Maruts, this song of Mandarya,
the son of Mana, the poet, ask you with food for offspring for
ourselves! May we have an invigorating autumn, with
quickening rain! BOOK I. HYMN 170
DIALOGUE BETWEEN INDRA AND HIS WORSHIPER, AGASTYA 12
1. INDRA: There is no such thing to-day, nor will it be
so to-morrow. Who knows what strange thing this is We
must consult the thought of another, for even what we once
knew seems to vanish.
2. AGASTYA: Why dost thou wish to kill us, O Indra
the Maruts are thy brothers ;
not strike us in battle.
fare kindly with them, and do
3. THE MARUTS: O brother Agastya, why, being a
12 The hymn admits of several explanations. There was a sacrifice
in which Indra and the Maruts were invoked together, and it is quite
possible that our hymn may owe its origin to this. But it is possible
also that the sacrifice may be the embodiment of the same ideas which
were originally expressed in this and similar hymns, namely, that Indra,
however powerful by himself, could not dispense with the assistance of
the storm-gods. The idea that a great god like Indra did not like to
be praised together with others is an old idea, and we find traces of it
in the hymns. It is quite possible, therefore, that our hymn contains
the libretto of a little ceremonial drama in which different choruses of
priests are introduced as preparing a sacrifice for the Maruts and for
Indra, and as trying to appease the great Indra, who is supposed to feel
Blighted. Possibly Indra, and the Maruts, too, may have been actually
represented by some actors, so that here, as elsewhere, the first seeds of
the drama would be found in sacrificial performances. In the first verse
Indra expresses his surprise in disconnected sentences, saying that such
a thing has never happened before. The second line expresses that Indra
does not remember such a thing, and must ask some one else, whether
he remembers anything like it.
VOL. IX. 3.