Myths of the Hindus & Buddhists

"Mythsof the Hindus &P Buddhistsmythology. The Pole-star, it seems, from his solitaryposition at the apex of the stellar system, gave rise to thenotion of a god who was one-footed. How ancient is thisconception will be guessed when we learn that the wildtribes of Australia have a star-god Turunbulun, who islord and protector of the Pleiades, and one-eyed and onefooted.After this Odin, or the Cyclopes with their oneeye, or Hephaistos, the ;Smith of Heaven, with his lamefoot, need occasion us no surprise. This lame-Footed god,again, forms an obvious stepping-stone to the one goatfootof the great god Pan, that deep and tender Asiaticconception which found itsway into Hellenic ideas fromthe older Phrygia. It is difficult to believe, and yetit issaid, that the Pole-star deity was at one time identifiedwith the goat. Thus the Rig-Veda contains numerousreferences to Aja-Ekapada a name that may be translated as either the One-footed Goat or the Birthless OnefootedOne. It is generally assumed that the second ofthese renderingsis correct, and that it points to the sun.And if it had not been for the great god Pan and his onegoat-foot, comparative mythology might have had toagree. Indeed, it is not easy to ignore this renderingentirely when we read in the Veda that he who has onefoot has outstripped them that have two." This wouldsound to a modern more like the sun than the Pole-star.But the ancient singer possibly meant that he who had butone foot had reached to the lordship and height of theuniverse. In this sense, of apex of the cosmos, Aja-Ekapada is constantly opposed to Ocean and the Dragonof the Deep, who is supposed to be the Rain-Cloud, thewomb of all life, and to personify the vast and immeasurable abyss of the southern sky. Thus we have a pair ofgods gods of the North and South.3B8