DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.638#0090
THE GREAT VEDIC. DEITIES 33
Surya is an Aryanized sun god. He drives a golden
chariot drawn by seven mares, or a mare with seven
heads; he has golden hair and golden arms and hands.
As he is alluded to as "the eye of Varuna and Mitra",
and a son of Aditi, it is evident that if he did not origi-
nally belong to the group of Adityas, he was strongly
influenced by them. In his Savitri character, which he
possesses at morning as well as at evening, he stimulates
all life and the mind of man. One of the most sacred
and oldest mantras (texts) in the Vedas is still addressed
by Brahmans to the rising sun. It runs:—
Let us meditate on that excellent glory of the divine Vivifier,
May he enlighten (or stimulate) our understandings.1
The feeling for Nature pervades the ancient religion
and literature of India. Priests were poets and singers in
early Vedic times. A Rishi was a composer of hymns to
the gods, and several are named in the collections. Every
great family appears to have had its bardic priest, and its
special poetic anthology which was handed down from
generation to generation. Old poems might be rewritten
and added to, but the ambition of the sacred poet was to
sing a new song to the gods. The oldest Vedic hymns
are referred to as " new songs", which suggests that
others were already in existence.
These Rishis looked upon Nature with the poet's
Bye. They symbolized everything, but they revelled also
in the gorgeous beauty of dawn and evening, the luxuri-
ance of Indian trees and flowers, the serene majesty of
Imalayan mountains, the cascades, the rivers, and the
lining lakes. The wonder and mystery of the world
ispired their hymns and their religion. Even the gods
>k delight in the songs of birds, the harping of forest
1 Indian Wisdom, p. 20.
<«*6D) 6
Surya is an Aryanized sun god. He drives a golden
chariot drawn by seven mares, or a mare with seven
heads; he has golden hair and golden arms and hands.
As he is alluded to as "the eye of Varuna and Mitra",
and a son of Aditi, it is evident that if he did not origi-
nally belong to the group of Adityas, he was strongly
influenced by them. In his Savitri character, which he
possesses at morning as well as at evening, he stimulates
all life and the mind of man. One of the most sacred
and oldest mantras (texts) in the Vedas is still addressed
by Brahmans to the rising sun. It runs:—
Let us meditate on that excellent glory of the divine Vivifier,
May he enlighten (or stimulate) our understandings.1
The feeling for Nature pervades the ancient religion
and literature of India. Priests were poets and singers in
early Vedic times. A Rishi was a composer of hymns to
the gods, and several are named in the collections. Every
great family appears to have had its bardic priest, and its
special poetic anthology which was handed down from
generation to generation. Old poems might be rewritten
and added to, but the ambition of the sacred poet was to
sing a new song to the gods. The oldest Vedic hymns
are referred to as " new songs", which suggests that
others were already in existence.
These Rishis looked upon Nature with the poet's
Bye. They symbolized everything, but they revelled also
in the gorgeous beauty of dawn and evening, the luxuri-
ance of Indian trees and flowers, the serene majesty of
Imalayan mountains, the cascades, the rivers, and the
lining lakes. The wonder and mystery of the world
ispired their hymns and their religion. Even the gods
>k delight in the songs of birds, the harping of forest
1 Indian Wisdom, p. 20.
<«*6D) 6