Page:The Religion of the Veda.djvu/13

This page needs to be proofread.
Contents
xiii

PAGES

mythology – The Lettish myth of the two "Sons of God" – Common kernel of the myth of the two "Sons of Heaven" – The Aryan, or Indo-Iranian period – Important religious ideas common to the two peoples – The dual gods Varuna and Mitra – Ahura Mazda and Varuna – The conception of ṛta, or "cosmic order" – The Ādityas – Aditi, the mother of the Ādityas – Mitra, a sun god – The sun, the moon, and the planets – The Ādityas and Amesha Spentas – Early ethical concepts among the Indo-Europeans – Varuna and Greek Ouranos (Uranus) – The origin of man – Sundry parents of man – "Father Manu" – Yama and Yamī, the "Twins" – Interlacing of the myths of the first man – The human character of Manu and Yama – Yama, the god of the dead – Soma, the sacrificial drink of the gods – The myth of Soma and the Heavenly Eagle – Value of the preceding reconstructions 99-149

LECTURE THE FOURTH.

THE TRANSPARENT, TRANSLUCENT, AND OPAQUE GODS – RELIGIOUS CONCEPTIONS AND RELIGIOUS FEELING IN THE VEDA.

The transparent gods: their importance for the study of religion – Father Sky and Daughter Dawn – Sūrya, a god of the sun – Vāta and Vāyu, gods of wind – The most transparent god: Agni, Fire – Agni as the sacrifice fire – Prehistoric gods of fire – Birth and youth of Agni – Agni as god of the morning – New births of Agni – Agni on the altar, the agent of the gods – Priesthood and divinity of Agni – A hymn to Agni – Other myths of the Fire God – The translucent gods: definition of the term – God Vishnu – God Pūshan – God Indra, as an example of an opaque god – Traditional explanation of the myth of Indra and Vritra – Professor Hillebrandt's inter-

This article is issued from Wikisource. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.