BABYLON AND PERSIA

ARYAN MYTHS. 49dwelt in the consecrated plant of sacrificethe godSoma, the friend alike of gods and men,for in theircrude anthropomorphism they could not but imaginethat their devas would be affected in the same man¬ner as themselves, to a proportionately higher degree.So when they bade them to the sacrificial feast, theydid not forget to provide their due treat of Soma,and sent them, rejoicing and invigorated, to do bat¬tle against Vritra and Ahi and the cow-stealers withtheir bands of fiends.17- Great as is the power of prayer which is sup¬posed to help the deity, the Aryas went even fur¬ther: they imagined that in prayer, or rather in therecitation of certain prayers and sacred texts, lay aforce that could compel the devas' assistance, nay,almost their submission, and defeat the demons bytheir own inherent virtue. The Mantra (" SacredWord," text) thus became a weapon of attack anddefence against the demons, a weapon of irresistiblemight. At a late period of development, this ideaof the compelling power of prayer was carried to in¬credible lengths of absurdity, claiming nothing shortof omnipotence for certain peculiarly endowed mor¬tals ; but in its origin the notion has nothing impi¬ous or unnatural." Man's prayer," says one of ourmost eminent mythologists,* " is generally in accord¬ance to nature; he asks for rain in times of drought,and rain must follow on drought ; he asks for lightin darkness, and light i?tust come after darkness.Seeing that his prayer is invariably heard, he ascribesto it power to effect its object." The few other things* Darmesteter : " Ormazd et Ahriman," p.agc 114, note i,E