thought that the rising of the sun at the end of the cycle which they called the Sheaf of Years was an open question; so they proceeded by means of human sacrifice to persuade him to do so as before.[1] Indra's principal weapon in all his conflicts with the dark powers is his thunderbolt,[2] but he is also very materially aided by his worshippers' prayers,[3] and in some of his most difficult undertakings he has associated with him Brahmaṇaspati, the lord of prayer,[4] and likewise the Angiras.[5] He breaks open the enemies' gates by the spell of song;[6] and the importance of the worshipper's prayers to the Hindu god in his conflicts with the dark powers is the Hindu equivalent to the λόγος, eloquence and wisdom, which enable the Gaulish Ogmios to accomplish the labours of Heracles.
4. Another of the things which Indra acquires by conquest from the dark powers is the soma,[7] the drink of the gods, which in Sanskrit literature holds a place similar to nectar and ambrosia in Greek mythology. It is a sort of water of life, which, among many other wonderful qualities belonging to it, makes the sick well and gives the blind his sight; it prolongs life[8] and is a means of rejuvenescence generally, which calls to mind the
- ↑ Bancroft's Native Races of the Pacific States (London, 1875), iij. 393-6.
- ↑ Perry, p. 138 (Rig-Veda, v. 31, 4, &c).
- ↑ Bergaigne, ij. 235.
- ↑ Perry, pp. 165-6 (Rig-Veda, viij. 85, 15).
- ↑ Ib. pp. 141, 143 (Rig-Veda, iv. 16, 8).
- ↑ Bergaigne, ij. 312 (Rig-Veda, vi. 35, 5).
- ↑ Ib. ij. 195 (Rig-Veda, i. 32, 12, iij. 36, 8, iij. 44, 5, vi. 44, 23).
- ↑ Ib. i. 152 (Rig-Veda, viij. 61, 17, viij. 68, 2).
prayer formulæ, it would be unsafe to say that the proceeding is exactly what strangers have supposed it to be.
