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position occupied by the god Rudra in the Rigveda is very different from that of his historical successor in a later age. He is celebrated in only three or four hymns, while his name is mentioned slightly less often than that of Vishṇu. He is usually said to be armed with bow and arrows, but a lightning shaft and a thunderbolt are also occasionally assigned to him. He is described as fierce and destructive like a wild beast, and is called “the ruddy boar of heaven.” The hymns addressed to him chiefly express fear of his terrible shafts and deprecation of his wrath. His malevolence is still more prominent in the later Vedic literature. The euphemistic epithet Çiva, “auspicious,” already applied to him in the Rigveda, and more frequently, though not exclusively, in the younger Vedas, became his regular name in the post-Vedic period. Rudra is, of course, not purely malevolent like a demon. He is besought not only to preserve from calamity but to bestow blessings and produce welfare for man and beast. His healing powers are mentioned with especial frequency, and he is lauded as the greatest of physicians.

      Prominent among the gods of the Rigveda are the Maruts or Storm-gods, who form a group of thrice seven or thrice sixty. They are the sons of Rudra and the mottled cloud-cow Pṛiçni. At birth they are compared with fires, and are once addressed as “born from the laughter of lightning.” They are a troop of youthful warriors armed with spears or battle-axes and wearing helmets upon their heads. They are decked with golden ornaments, chiefly in the form of armlets or of anklets:—

      They gleam with armlets as the heavens are decked with stars;

      Like cloud-born lightnings shine the torrents of their rain (ii. 34, 2).

      They ride on golden cars which gleam with lightning, while they hold fiery lightnings in their hands:—

      The lightnings smile upon the earth below them

      What time the Maruts sprinkle forth their fatness.—(i. 168, 8).

      They drive with coursers which are often described as spotted, and they are once said to have yoked the winds as steeds to their pole.

      The Maruts are fierce and terrible, like lions or wild boars. With the fellies of their car they rend the hills:—

      The Maruts spread the mist abroad,

      And make the mountains rock and reel,

      When with the winds they go their way (viii. 7, 4).

      They shatter the lords of the forest and like wild elephants devour the woods:—

      Before you, fierce ones, even woods bow down in fear,

      The earth herself, the very mountain trembles (v. 60, 2).

      One of their main functions is to shed rain. They are clad in a robe of rain, and cover the eye of the sun with showers. They bedew the earth with milk; they shed fatness (ghee); they milk the thundering, the never-failing spring; they wet the earth with mead; they pour out the heavenly pail:—

      The rivers echo to their chariot fellies

      What time they utter forth the voice of rain-clouds.—(i. 168, 8).

      In allusion to the sound of the winds the Maruts are often called singers, and as such aid Indra in his fight with the demon. They are, indeed, his constant associates in all his celestial conflicts.

      The God of Wind, called Vāyu or Vāta, is not a prominent deity in the Rigveda, having only three entire hymns addressed to him. The personification is more developed under the name of Vāyu, who is mostly associated with Indra, while Vāta is coupled only with the less anthropomorphic rain-god, Parjanya. Vāyu is swift as thought and has roaring velocity. He has a shining car drawn by a team or a pair of ruddy steeds. On this car, which has a golden seat and touches the sky, Indra is his companion. Vāta, as also the ordinary designation of wind, is celebrated in a more concrete manner. His name is often connected with the verb vā, “to blow,” from which it is derived. Like Rudra, he wafts healing and prolongs life; for he has the treasure of immortality in his house. The poet of a short hymn (x. 168) devoted to his praise thus describes him:—

      Of Vāta’s car I now will praise the greatness:

      Crashing it speeds along; its noise is thunder.

      Touching the sky, it goes on causing lightnings;

      Scattering the dust of earth it hurries forward.

      In air upon his pathways hastening onward,

      Never on any day he tarries resting.

      The first-born order-loving friend of waters,

      Where, pray, was he born? say, whence came he hither?

      The soul of gods, and of the world the offspring,

      This god according to his liking wanders.

      His sound is heard, but ne’er is seen his figure.

      This Vāta let us now with offerings worship.

      Another deity of air is Parjanya, god of rain, who is invoked in but three hymns, and is only mentioned some thirty times in the Rigveda. The name in several passages still means simply “rain-cloud.” The personification is therefore always closely connected with the phenomenon of the rain-storm, in which the rain-cloud itself becomes an udder, a pail, or a water-skin. Often likened to a bull, Parjanya is characteristically a shedder of rain. His activity is described in very vivid strains (v. 83):—

      The trees he strikes to earth and smites the demon crew:

      The whole world fears the wielder of the mighty bolt.

      The guiltless man himself flees from the potent god,

      What time Parjanya thund’ring smites the miscreant.

      Like a car-driver urging on his steeds with whips,

      He causes to bound forth the messengers of rain.

      From far away the lion’s roar reverberates,

      What time Parjanya fills the atmosphere with rain.

      Forth blow the winds, to earth the lightning flashes fall,

      Up shoot the herbs, the realm of light with moisture streams;

      Nourishment in abundance springs for all the world,

      What time Parjanya quickeneth the earth with seed.

      Thunder and roar: the vital germ deposit!

      With water-bearing chariot fly around us!

      Thy water-skin unloosed to earth draw downward:

      With moisture make the heights and hollows equal!

      The Waters are praised as goddesses in four hymns of the Rigveda. The personification, however, hardly goes beyond representing them as mothers, young wives, and goddesses who bestow boons and come to the sacrifice. As mothers they produce Agni, whose lightning form is, as we have seen, called Apāṃ Napāt, “Son of Waters.” The divine waters bear away defilement, and are even invoked to cleanse from moral guilt, the sins of violence, cursing, and lying. They bestow remedies, healing, long life, and immortality. Soma delights in the waters as a young man in lovely maidens; he approaches them as a lover; they are maidens who bow down before the youth.

      Several rivers are personified and invoked as deities in the Rigveda. One hymn (x. 75) celebrates the Sindhu or Indus, while another (iii. 33) sings the praises of the sister streams Vipāç and Çutudrī. Sarasvatī is, however, the most important river goddess, being lauded in three entire hymns as well as in many detached verses. The personification here goes much further than in the case of other streams; but the poets never lose sight of the connection of the goddess with the river. She is the best of mothers, of rivers, and of goddesses. Her unfailing breast yields riches of every kind, and she bestows wealth, plenty, nourishment, and offspring. One poet prays that he may not be removed from her to fields which are strange. She is invoked to descend

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