DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.638#0092
THE GREAT VEDIC DEITIES 35
seek their nests, cattle lie down; even the hawk reposes.
The people pray to the goddess to be protected against
robbers and fierce wolves, and to be taken safely across
her shadow:
She, the immortal goddess, throws her veil
Over low valley, rising ground, and hill.
But soon with bright effulgence dissipates
The darkness she produces; soon advancing
She calls her sister Morning to return,
And then each darksome shadow melts away.
Rigveda, x.1
The moon is the god Chandra, who became identified
with Soma. Among ancient peoples the moon was re-
garded as the source of fertility and growth ; it brought
dew to nourish crops which ripened under the "harvest
moon"; it filled all vegetation with sap; it swayed human
life from birth till death; it influenced animate and in-
animate Nature in its periods of increase and decline;
ceremonies to secure offspring were performed during
certain phases of the moon.
Soma was the intoxicating juice of the now unknown
Soma plant, which inspired mortals and was the nectar of
fthe gods. The whole ninth book of the Rigveda is
devoted to the praises of Soma, who is exalted even as
le chief god, the Father of all.
This Soma is a god; he cures
The sharpest ills that man endures.
He heals the sick, the sad he cheers,
He nerves the weak, dispels their fears;
The faint with martial ardour fires,
With lofty thought the bard inspires,
The soul from earth to heaven he lifts,
So great and wondrous are his gifts;
1 Indian Whdom, Sir Monier Williams.
seek their nests, cattle lie down; even the hawk reposes.
The people pray to the goddess to be protected against
robbers and fierce wolves, and to be taken safely across
her shadow:
She, the immortal goddess, throws her veil
Over low valley, rising ground, and hill.
But soon with bright effulgence dissipates
The darkness she produces; soon advancing
She calls her sister Morning to return,
And then each darksome shadow melts away.
Rigveda, x.1
The moon is the god Chandra, who became identified
with Soma. Among ancient peoples the moon was re-
garded as the source of fertility and growth ; it brought
dew to nourish crops which ripened under the "harvest
moon"; it filled all vegetation with sap; it swayed human
life from birth till death; it influenced animate and in-
animate Nature in its periods of increase and decline;
ceremonies to secure offspring were performed during
certain phases of the moon.
Soma was the intoxicating juice of the now unknown
Soma plant, which inspired mortals and was the nectar of
fthe gods. The whole ninth book of the Rigveda is
devoted to the praises of Soma, who is exalted even as
le chief god, the Father of all.
This Soma is a god; he cures
The sharpest ills that man endures.
He heals the sick, the sad he cheers,
He nerves the weak, dispels their fears;
The faint with martial ardour fires,
With lofty thought the bard inspires,
The soul from earth to heaven he lifts,
So great and wondrous are his gifts;
1 Indian Whdom, Sir Monier Williams.