DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.638#0082
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26 INDIAN MYTH AND LEGEND
Another wind or storm god is Rudra, also the father
of the Maruts, who are called " Rudras". He is the
" Howler" and " the Ruddy One ", and rides a wild
boar. Saussaye calls him " the Wild Huntsman of
Hindu Mythology". He is chiefly of historical interest
because he developed into the prominent post-Vedic god
Shiva, the "Destroyer", who is still worshipped in
India. The poets invested him with good as well as
evil qualities:
Rudra, thou smiter of workers of evil,
The doers of good all love and adore thee.
Preserve me from injury and every affliction—
Rudra, the nourisher.
Give unto me of thy medicines, Rudra,
So that my years may reach to a hundred;
Drive away hatred, shatter oppression,
Ward off calamity. Rigveda, ii, 33.
The rain cloud was personified in Parjanya, who links
with Indra as the nourisher of earth, and with Agni as
the quickener of seeds.
Indra's great rival, however, was Varuna, who sym-
bolized the investing sky: he was " the all-enveloping
one ". The hymns impart to him a character of Hebraic
grandeur. He was the sustainer of the universe, the law-
giver, the god of moral rectitude, and the sublime sove-
reign of gods and men. Men worshipped him with
devoutness, admiration, and fear. " It is he who makes
the sun to shine in heaven; the winds that blow are
but his breath; he has hollowed out the channels of the
rivers which flow at his command, and he has made the
depths of the sea. His ordinances are fixed and un-
assailable; through their operation the moon walks i«
brightness, and the stars which appear in the nightly sty'
26 INDIAN MYTH AND LEGEND
Another wind or storm god is Rudra, also the father
of the Maruts, who are called " Rudras". He is the
" Howler" and " the Ruddy One ", and rides a wild
boar. Saussaye calls him " the Wild Huntsman of
Hindu Mythology". He is chiefly of historical interest
because he developed into the prominent post-Vedic god
Shiva, the "Destroyer", who is still worshipped in
India. The poets invested him with good as well as
evil qualities:
Rudra, thou smiter of workers of evil,
The doers of good all love and adore thee.
Preserve me from injury and every affliction—
Rudra, the nourisher.
Give unto me of thy medicines, Rudra,
So that my years may reach to a hundred;
Drive away hatred, shatter oppression,
Ward off calamity. Rigveda, ii, 33.
The rain cloud was personified in Parjanya, who links
with Indra as the nourisher of earth, and with Agni as
the quickener of seeds.
Indra's great rival, however, was Varuna, who sym-
bolized the investing sky: he was " the all-enveloping
one ". The hymns impart to him a character of Hebraic
grandeur. He was the sustainer of the universe, the law-
giver, the god of moral rectitude, and the sublime sove-
reign of gods and men. Men worshipped him with
devoutness, admiration, and fear. " It is he who makes
the sun to shine in heaven; the winds that blow are
but his breath; he has hollowed out the channels of the
rivers which flow at his command, and he has made the
depths of the sea. His ordinances are fixed and un-
assailable; through their operation the moon walks i«
brightness, and the stars which appear in the nightly sty'