Page:The Religion of the Veda.djvu/145

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The Prehistoric Gods
129

Truth and lie include, by an easy transition, right and wrong-doing. In a famous hymn[1] Yamī (Eve) invites Yama (Adam) to incestuous intercourse. Mythically speaking this is, of course, unavoidable: they are the first pair, and there are no other human beings whatsoever. But the poet conceives of the situation in the spirit of his own time. When Yamī pretends to justify the act Yama exclaims pithily: "In saying the ṛta we shall really say the anṛta," which, rendered more broadly, means to say: "When we pretend to justify the act as being ṛta, 'right-doing,' we really shall knowingly engage in anṛta, 'wrong-doing.'" We may imagine Yama finally saying: "Anyhow, don't let us beat the devil about the stump!"

Varuna and Mitra, the dual pair, are implicated still further in a group of divinities of the name āditya. The number of these gods is very uncertain. Sometimes it is three: Mitra and Varuna, with Aryaman as third. This third god, no less than the first two, is Indo-Iranian: the name of Aryaman's Avestan counterpart is Airyama. The name of this not too determinate god seems to mean "comrade"; accordingly Aryaman figures in the Veda as the typical groomsman at the wedding rites. Beyond this triad the name āditya becomes very indefinite,

  1. ↑ Rig-Veda 10. 10.
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