The Arian Witness

Proceeding now with our inquiry into the primitive seat of the Arian family, the pratna okas as the Rig Veda calls it, the first difficulty which stares us in the feceis the obscurity in which its early history is enveloped. The Brahmins and the Iranians were for a long period the only guardians of Arian honor and dignity in Asia. Both were, doubtless, races up to any effort requiring intellectual vigour and activity. But History or C3hronology had never been a favourite study with either. The one considered it undignified to write anything but verse and poetry, and the other disdained to instruct posterity except through the puzzles of Cuneiform Inscriptions. History was thus left to the tender mercies of Poetry and Sculpture. And each of these chroniclers of events had on it shackles, hard to be borne, in the discbarge of its office, so far as it related to the instruction of posterity. Poetry was bound by the dictum which declared its very life to consist in "rasa," which means /afowr. Unless facts are themselves fiavorous or sensational, the historian- poet muat be between two fires. He must supply both truth and flavour, or be must forfeit bie cbaracter for the consolidated office. But departures from truth cannot be quickly discovered. Like travellers' tales they may pass muster for the moment. Even where ground is found for suspicion, the process of detection is tardy. Want of flavour on the other hand is perceived instanter. It is a sensation, and the operation follows immediately on the presentation of the object. The conviction of the offender becomes simultaneous with the commission of the oflFence. The historianpoet, like most other men, provides against the evil of the moment, and leaves his character for truthfulness to t^e contingencies and chances of the future. He seasons a small modicum of truth witii a liberal dose of spicy inventions.

And as to the Cuneiform inscriptions, they can only give detached lessons — isolated bits of facts — and these again may remain veiled for ages, secure from tbe prying looks of posterity, like '* gems of fnirest ray," and pearls of the highest value, which repose undisturbed in " the dark unfathomed caves of oceans." Posterity's finition of them must be dependent on sheer chance or lucky venture.

To add to the misfortunes of Arehjeology, the Brahmins, as descendants of Arian emigrants, bad from tbe beginning so isolated themselves from " Ariana," as to have lost all sympathy for their cousins in Asia, in a very short space of time. They did indeed for some time recc^nize them as quam-hr others, (Bh^atrivyaJ, but they soon turned that endearing vocable into a term of reproacb, and it became subsequently a word for an enemy.*

Consanguinity or any ■ connection with Asiatic Ariana or Iranians was in the end altogether ignored. It is difficult to form a clear conception of the causes which induced such an unaccountable estrangement. There are no formal records on the subject. Neither the Brahmins nor the Iranians have given any consecutive narratives of their quarrel. They had no Thucydides on either side to chronicle their differences, or to preserve a' record of their eventful conflicts from the oblivious effects of time. It is only from glimpses of light which incidently shoot forth through the pages of the Vedas and the Zend Avesta that we are able to form any idea on the subject. Comparing the notes of these two sets of authorities, the respective sacred books of the two branches of Ajsia's great family, we are led to the inference that both parties originally recognized the same objects of worship, viz. the Sun,

foUQ^lDg is a consolidated translation of the Tedio verse and its commentary. " By this sacrificial hymn the devas had, aforetime, overcome the Asurae (Assyrians?) Therefore whatever other sacrificer makes worships by means of the same, he also overcomes that incaxnation of sin, tke Bbiatrivya, a (quasi- brother} i. e. the memy.

Fire and the elements of Nature. What the exact import of that worship was we cannot confidently declare, but whatever the theological character of their adoration might have been, neither condemned the other for it — both allowed and practised it. Both also theoretically allowed the primitive institution of Sacrifices, though, probably, they differed widely as to the mode of conducting them.

The distinctive feature of the Zoroastrian doctrine of two eternal principles of Good and Evil respectively, appears in tlie Sacred Records of both. " Ahuramazda," which in the Zend Avesta was often abbreviated into the simple initial " Ahura," and " Anghro mainyus," were also acknowledged in the Rig Veda. Varuna, to whom the same sort of creative agency is attributed which the Vendidad ascribed to " Ormuzd," is, in the 24th S6kta of the first Mandal, addressed as the eminently wm " Asura" (Zendice Ahura), and Anghro-mainyus, the principle of EvJl, appears in the same Hymn under the style of " Nir-riti," which is synonymous with his Zendic appellation. " Nir-riti" literally means un-righteous, and is, according td Sayana, equivalent to " P6pa-devatd" or the ddty of sin.^ But notwithstanding all these coincidences of faith, it appears that the two parties could not agree on the mode of conducting their sacrifices. The seceding party, which emigrated to India, seems to have been

Opposed to the teaching of Zoroaster, as it was maintained bj his successors, and hurled defiance against those who contemplated its forcible imposition on their belief or practice.

The seceders were, however, as zealous Fire-worshippers at the time of the separation, as the generaj bulk of the Arians whom they left behind in Central Asia, and who were subsequently stigmatized by the Mahometans as Gebers and Ataah-parasta. The Vedas declare that Fire was as much an object of adoration with " modern" Rishis (e. e. probably, the post-immigration separatists) as with the " ancients" before the separation.^

Indeed the Iranian and Indian branches vied with each other in doing honor to Agni. Both claimed him as their own divine herald or convener. The one honoured him as the son of the supreme Ahura-mazdao,* the other as their elected divine herald conversant with all things.'^ Both contended also for the monopoly of the

* Tlie ilre, the son of Ahura Mazda, we praise, the pure loi'd of purity, Bleeck ii. 22. " Messenger of Ahnra Mazda is Karyo Canha," (a name of Fire). Tendidad Farg. xix. 1 12.

Agni was also honoured on the one hand by the Eig. Veda as " the navel of the earth" snfinlTni sftwi' i. 59-2, and on the other hand by the Zend Avesta as " the navel of the Kings." Bieeck iii. 146,

Sun as their especial object of adoration.* The same rivalry may be inferred with reference to Indra,' whom the Iranians also worshipped under the title of Verethraghna. But the Indian branch, it would seem, declined to acknowledge a common guru or spiritual

" Tho Devas and Asuras were fighting. They were disputing ahout Aditya. [Each party claiming this divinity for itself, so the commentator explains it.] The devas won him." Taittiriya Brah-

" The Devas and Asuras disputed ahout Aditya. The Devas won him." Tandya Maha Br&kmana, p. 275.

' Indra is ho well known as the prevailing god of the Vedas that we need not cite more than one sentence in which tho authors express their desire of monopolizing him. " May he be outs only" ^W*WW 'i'^W- Eig. Veda i. 7. 10.

And in the Zend, a whole " Yasht" with 63 paragraphs is devoted to the glorification of Verethraghana. A few sentences will iuffice here: " Who among the heavenly Yazatas is the beat armed? Then answered Ahura Mazda, " Yeiethraghna, created by Ahura, 0 holy Zarathruatra."

" YSrSthraghna, created by Ahura, praise wo; the worker of manhood, the worker of death, the worker of continuance; who stands of himself, averts by himself. To him offered the pure Zarathustra, in the mind of YdrSthraghna, in the speech of Y^rSthraghna, Iq the act of YSr^thraghna, in the saying of Y^rSthraghna, in the answers of Y^rSthraghna.

" To him gave Y^rgthraghna, created by AhTira, the fountain of right, strength of arms, health of the whole body, thriving of the whole body and strength of sight as Kard-ma^yd possesses it, who is under the water, who in Banha, the far-to-step -over, deep, a thousand men (deep), has (each) water drop of the size of a hair (always) in mind." Bleeck iii. 106,

preceptor. The Brahmins recognized the seniority of some " Asura guru" or Iranian preceptor, but they refused to submit to the doctrine of Zoroaster.

The seniority which the Indians accorded to the preceptors of the Asuras appears from the very second verse of the Rig Veda, already cited. " Agni was an object of laudation with the ancient Rishia and is so with the moderns too." The " ancients" could be no other than the pre-emigration sages. Sayaua says in his commentary on the passage in question: " This Agni was an object of laudation or praise with the ancients, namely, with Bhrigu, Augiras, and other Risiiis."^ Now Bhrigu was by universal Indian tradition reputed the father of Sutra, preceptor of Asuras^ who was otherwise described by the patronymics *' Usana" and " Bhargava," the honorific " Kavi" (sage), and the stellar distinction " Venas" — he being still held in Indian astronomy as the regent of Venus. The Vedic TTsana is doubtless connected with the Zendic patriarch " Us," thus noticed in the Ya9na XXIX. " This one is known to me here, who alone heard our precepts: Zaratbustra, the Holy, he asks from Us, Mazda and Asha, assistance for announcing, I will make him skilful of speech." (Bleeck ii; p. 84) He is called Kavi Usa in the Bahram Yast. It is probably he that is also extolled in the Khordah- Avesta under the names of U^i-nemo and U^naka. " The Fravashi of the pure U9i-nem0 and U^ndka praise we" (Bleeck iii. 96). And in the word " Bhar- gara," easily contracted into " Bhargao," we may detect the first element of the word " Farg-ard," the name given to the Chapters of the Vendidad. "Farg'* must have the same relation to '* Farg-ard" that *' Visp" has to " Visp-erd," and " Farg" may be easily identified with *' Bhargao," In the absence, as far as we know, of a better derivation of " Fargard," wo cannot help referring it to " Bhargao," the " gum" of the Aauras.

But fi-om some cause which we cannot divine at this distance of time, the Indian Ariana refused to submit to the doctrine of Zoroaster's teachorahip, whioh was ■ought to be imposed on them, probably by force of arms.

We cannot say with any confidence or precision who Zoroaster's patron, bearing the name " Vistaspa" in the Zend Avesta, was. It appears that he was a zealous promoter of hia prophetical protege's doctrine. The Persians identify this Vistaspa (whom they call QuBtaspa), the patron of Zoroast^, with Hystaspes, the father of king Darius. It is true enough that Darius himself spells his father's name " Vishtaspa" in the cuneiform inscriptions of Behistan.^ But our dlfiSculty in accepting this tradition consists in the mention of the same name in the Kig Veda. To suppose that the Kig Veda was written after the ago of Darius Hystaspes would be preposterous. We are therefore driven to the conclusion that the Vistaspa of the Zenda Avesta, the promoter of the Zoroaste< rian doctrine, must have been a more ancient character, different irom the father of Darius. And if Gas. taspa be another form of the name of Vistaspa, the Assyrian inscriptions wouH favour the idea of a more ancient character of that name. We have a *' Kustaepi," a chief of Comukha who paid tribute to Titfhthpileser.^" This -would be in the 8th century before Christ. If such a name there was, some two hundred years anterior to Darius, there can be no difficulty in supposing the existence of a third person of the same name, still more ancient, who might correspond with the age of the Rig Vedas, and with the character noticed in the Zend Avesta. As a promoter of the Zoroasterian doctrine, he would doubtless, after the fashion of Oriental princes, and, even of Occidental princes too a few centuries ago, seek to impose it on the populace by means of the sword. But the seceding Arians hurled defiance at him and refused submission. " What can Ishtaswa", said they, " What can Ishtarasmi, rulers of the world as they are, do against our protecting men?"" That Ishtaswa was the same as the Vistaspa of the Zend Avasta, no one will dispute, especially as we learn from Dr. Hyde that the name was sometimes written with a ya ( (^«^U»^ ^ instead of a toau.

Whatever the actual points of difference may have been, the parties became very much embittered against each other. The Brahmins reviled the " Asuras," or chiefs ofthe Iranians, and the Iranians railed at " the devas" or chiefe of the Brahmins. Doubtless the Indian hranch was the most intellectual of the Asiatic Arian stock, while those whom the separatists left behind were, on the other hand, conspicuous for courage and physical strength. The Iranians warned their followers against the guerilla warfare of the devas. The Indians were always betraying signs of anxiety and, panic at the superior strength of their adversaries, and were, as ftigitives, longing for a settled"" habitation and dwelling.

The Zend Avesta calls upon its followers to standfast to their faith, and beware of sudden attacks from the Devas. '* Every one, both men and women, ought to-day to choose his creed (between the Devas and the Ahura religion). Ye offspring of renowned ancestors, awake to agree with us (^. e. to approve of my lore, to be delivered to you at this moment)."

*' You cannot belong to both of them: One of the Devas, against whom we are lighting, might overtake you, when in deliberation (what faith you are to embrace) whispering you to choose the naught mind."'*

The Indians, on the other hand, as the Hig Veda itself shows, were invoking their chiefs not to leave them in the lurch, but join them in thia land of divine aacrific^.'^ Indra was especially accosted to abandon

" 0 thou illanmiating purifier bring the Devas here [to this land of the worship of Devaa.]"

their "pristine habitation," and come to the multitude of sacrificers awaiting his commands, and looking for his protection, with the same feeling of allegiance and affection with which, in former days and in their original settlement, they had called.him father.'"* Hia followers appear at times to have been somewhat uneasy about his jjerseverance and firmness, and. offered to provision him themselves. They besought him. to give up parley with other people, passing them over. They were constantly praying that Agni might be able " to conduct the Devaa here," and that Indra, as he had killed the Asura Vritra of yore (probably an Assyrian character, real or imaginary) for which he was honoured in the Zend Avesta as " Verethraghna," ■would likewise arm himself against all " Vritras," or foes of Devas, and overcome their tricks by counter strategies.

" I invite the beloved Narasansa (Firo) to this Baorifice here fin this land of the worship of Devas]."

" I call back our heroic man (Indra) from our pristine homo whom i. e., thee (0 Indra) in days of yore I used to accost our father and protector."

" We provision thee, the warrior, in war."

" Do not parley with others, passing over us. Oome to us."

How long the enooantdr lasted, it is impossible to say, but it appears that when they settled down, in their respective localities of Central Asia and India, the Iranians found sufficient occupation in martial conflicts with- their immediate neighbours and with nations more to the West, while the Brahmins kept themselves resolutely within the confines of India, and solemnly prohibited even tours and pleasure excursions beyond the Indus. Their jealoiisy of any further intercourse with their trans-Indus brethren was parallel, in history, only with that of Jeroboam for any inter-communication between the ten revolted tribes and the two that continued &ithfal to the house of David. Like the Jews and Samaritans, the Brah:* mins and Iranians excluded each other from all social relations, so that even a cup of cold water would nei« ther be offered nor accepted between themselves.

The Brahmins were desirous of considering themselves as dead to the Iranians, and the Iranians to themselves. Hence they formally recorded nothing about the ancient exploits or adventures of their forefathers in Central Asia. They seem even to have abstained from teaching their children the former history of their own race, which they were manifestly desirous of obliterating from hnman memory.

But notwithstanding the efforts of the Indian Arians to isolate themselves within the well defined and almost inaccessible boundaries of their new habitation, they could not, as lovers of learning, be so Vandalic as to destroy records. Nor could they obliterate, from the tablets of their own memory, the hymns and odes which they had delighted to sing and chant as religious exercises. True it is, that they were anxious to ignore all trans-Indus events, and to put on the appearance of" autochthones" in India. But learning and letters prove dangerous accompaniments when the ohject is to suppress information. You cannot conceal live coals within your handkerchief, nor can the refulgence of Saraswati be so completely secreted as that no streaks of light should at all escape. The Arians had too much intellectual activity to drop at once into a state of mental stagnation. Nor was the time of a forced emigration from one's " pristine home," replete with a thousand pleasing associations, favourable for active intellects to remain dormant and torpid, or to submit, without a struggle or murmur, to a coerced banishment from the land of their birth. The authors of tho Vedas could not under such circumstances cease from thinking, cogitating, chanting, and reciting. And they would necessarily think, cogitate, chant, and recite those things in which they had taken pleasure since their infancy. The human mind loves to dwell on past ideas, imbibed with a mother's milk. It cannot dismiss them summarily. The Indian Arians were no exception to this rule. We find accordingly that at the very time when their sense of injury was the strongest against their brethren in Ariana, when they seem to have renounced their allegiance to the representatives of Ahura Mazda, they involuntarily gave utterance to expressions and ideas, once dear to them, which, notwithstanding all efibrts, they could not forget or ignore. The word Asura (or Ahura Sanscritized)

which became in a very short time a vocable for wicked spirits, and was [»-acticaIly identified in India with Angbro-Mainyue, espressire of the fulness of evil combined with lawless strength, still retained a solemn reverence which their minds could not renounce by a sudden revulsion. They knew that " Asura" did not mean an evil spirit, that it was a title of distinction corresponding to the idea of a " lord," and applied equally to gods and heroes. It was applied to one that was lately their common divinity, " AhuraMazda," or the great Asura. They were now desirous of profaning the term against their inmost conviction. They knew that the term was connected with their own ideas of sanctity and dignity, and that it implied nothing unholy or unmanly. And they were spell* bound by their own minds. An old writer had given the epithet ©f pMlalethes^'' to the human soul. It is a lover of truths and although a false tongue will often give utterance to an untruth, yet the mind can never turn such a traitor to itself, as to think that to be true which it knows to be false. And what a man decidedly ihinia to be right and true,.will often escape his lips in spite of himself. We find a striking illustration of this in the Indian Arian's case. He had been driven from home by differences with his Central Asiatic brethren. He was under a bitter sense of unmerited injury and wrong, suffered at their hands. He had determined to cut them altogether, with all their principles, ceremonies, and religious terminology. And yet we

" Simplicius in hia commentary on Aristotle de Anifna.

fiad him involuntarily applying to h 'evas and leaders, in his exile, the very term of respect and reverence to whieh he was accustomed in Ariana. Indra, his highest object of reverence, is himself invoked aa " Asura."'* " Thou, O India, art kkg, do thou and all the gods protect men. Do thou, O Asura, save us." Varuna also is similarly addressed: " Remaining with us, do thou, O illustrious and eminently wise Asura, absolve the sins we hare committed."" The exiles wished for the protection of Varuna. They wished him " to remafln" with them in their new habitation, and they involuntarily accosted him with the time-honoured title, which they were impelled ♦o believe would be most acceptable ta him. We also find the Maruts, Mitra, Twastri, PrajipatI, Agniy VAytt, Saraswati, Pusha, Savitriy Parjania, similarly accosted or spokwi of as Asuras."* Mitra and Varuna, again, frequently linked in the Veda as £^ods in the dual, are also sometimes linked as asuraw.^^ The term

Asura m also solemnly applied to the Creator of the Heavens and the earth, and the Supreme Governor of all worlds. We have already cited a passage to that effect, and we shall add another here still more remarkahle. "The all-knowing. Asura estahlished the Heavens and fixed the limits of the earth. He sat as the supreme Ruler of all worlds. These were the works of Varuna."'" Notwithstanding the rider about Varuna, the author's mind here was evidently contemplating the ZoToastrian divinity Ahura Mazda. The "all-knowing Asura" may be considered aa a translation of " Ahura Mazda" itself, the last word is doubtless the Zend vocable for the Sanscrit " Mahat." In the Zend " zota" for Sanscrit " bota," " Azis" for " Ahi," " Azem" for " Aham," " zemaka" for " hemaka," " zer" for "hiran," fgoldj, we detect the rule of the Sanscrit h being transliterated by z in the Zend. And therefore " mazd" is the same as mahat. But the same word appears to represent " magus" also, which

The titles " Asuias among Devaa," " Devas and ABuras," and as ini. 131. l.T. 41. 3. " Geteatial Aauras" were like the adjective Asora in the sense of etioiig as in t. 12. 1; 27. 1, perhaps artistically used to break the fall of the term " Asura" from a saersd to a AiahoUcal signifies knowledge and wisdom. " Mazda" accordingly standa both for greatness and knowledge, and Ahura Mazda is aptly represented here by " the allknowing Asura, who sat as the supreme ruler of all worlds."

These considerations tend to prove that the Arian ancestors of the Brahmins migrated to India from regions where Zoroaster's doctrine was the rule of human faith. The Vedic hymns we have abeady cited, themselves show that the minds of their authors were so saturated with the principles of that system, that at the very time, and in the very records, in which they contemplated -the foundation of another and a different body of divinity, ideas and sentiments found utterance, positively at variance with their main object. We have in the same Veda the sacrificial ministers and hymnists themselves called Asuras,'" and the very hymnists again invoking the destruction of Asuras.'^'^ We have almost all the Vedic gods worshipped, honoured and prayed unto under that title, and yet we find the same gods meditating the slaughter of Asuras, and complacently described as having accomplished their purpose.** The identical mandala of the Rig Veda

0 Brihaspatd, vith tliy burning; tbimdeibolt the sons of the Asura

coveting; the gate."

now recite that principal formula b; which the gods and myself may

overthrow the Asuras."

which attributed the creation of the heavens and earth to the *' all'knowing Asura," denied the divinity of the Asuraa; and posted them as impious Rakshasas.** The very chief god of the Veda, the hope and refuge of the Arian emigrants, Indra himself, is, in numeroua hymns, worshipped and accosted as an Asura, and, again, in other hymns, is complimented as the " de- Btroyer of Vritras, Dasyus, enemies and Asuras," his dazzling brilliance being fixed in the air as the solar luminary.** This tissue of inconsistencies shows a strange mental conflict among the Arians when they separated from their brethren in Central Asia.

One psychological explanation of that mental phe-

viii. 97. 1 ^ ^ vm WfK W^ ^(^rvp i " Enthroned in heavea all the wealth you have got, (you have obtained by killing) the Asuras (or mighty Eakshaaaa)" so Sayana interprets it.

" A great super -excellent light which giveth satisfying food waa produced and placed in the npholdor of the firmament (tbe sun) vhich was itself indestructible but was the destroyer of foes, thd destroyer of Vritra, the exterminator of Dasyus, the destroyer of Asuras, the destroyer of enemies."

" 0 Indra, thou destroyer of Asuras, the scourge of thy foes, thou that art inToked by many and largely endowed with wealth. What share in sacrifice, what food is appropriated to thee."

nomenon may, however, be collected from the Vedas and the Zend Avesta themselves. Indra had evidently left an impression on the Iranian mind, scarcely fainter than his stamp on the emigrant Arian. In the Zend Avesta, he is at the same time both worshipped as an archangel, as tlw beet armed amontf the Fasatas, and also condemned as a Deva. He was worshipped as the Destroyer of Vritra, and repudiated as a demon. We bave already given a concise specimen of the encomiums passed on him in the " Bahram Yasht," composed especially in commemoration of the triumphs of " Verethraghna," or slayer of Vritra. And yet every true Zoroasterian had to protest against him by saying, *' I combat Indra." (Bkeck^s Zend Avesta i, 93.) In the Indian Scriptures, however, Vritra is himself called an Asura, — an ungodly demon, who met at the hands of Indra a well-merited destruction. This " Asura" could not have been an Iranian chief, opposed exclusively to the seceding Arians. Ho must have been a common enemy of the whole Arian family of Asia, or both branches would not have chanted songs of congratulation on his death. His title or surname of Asura was probably an ethnic designation^ and it naturally leads to the inference that he was an Assyrian. Conflicts between Assyrians and Arians are conceivable in themselves, and have actually been recorded both in History and the Zend Avesta. An Assyrian expedition against Arian regions under Ninus is mentioned by Justin and Diodorus, and the Zend itself represents "the snake Dah&ka," asking a boon from Ardvi-sura In the region of Bawri (Babylon), that he might desolate " the seven Karesvares" or the whole ofAriana. The Rig Veda appears to identify "the snake Dahdka" with Vritra, describing him as a " snake," and a " DSsa," which is synonymous with "Dah6ka," each having the same meaning as the " Abaddon" or " Apollyon" of the Apocalypse.* Asura itself, as an ethnic appellative, naturally points to Assyria.

Vritra is said to have restrained the waters, and Indra to have released the same by destroying him. The native commentator S&yana construes it as an allegory, expressive of a liberal shower of rain, by

•• The Aban Tasht says: " To her offered the Snake Dahaka with three jaws, in the region of Bavri, a hondred male horees, a thousand cows, ten thousand small cattle. Then prayed he her for this fiiTor: Grant me, 0 good, most profitable Atdvi-^flra, spotlesH, that I may make the seven Karesvares empty of men." Bleeck iii. 34. And the Eig Veda thus describes the fall of Vritra:

" He (Indra) struck the serpent reposing in the mountain. Twastri made for him a brilliant thunderbolt. Without feet and hands he had challenged Indra, who discharged hie thunderbolt at his head like the summit of a mountain.

Like an impotent person affecting the appearance of a vigorona man, he dropped, crippled in many a limb. The waters guarded by the Destoyer (Disa), the serpent, had remained shut up like the cows by Fanie."

the action of thunder and ligJitning on the clouds. This would be no explanation, however, of the encomiums lavished on Verethraghna in the Zend Avesta, and the frequent doxologies in the Rig Veda to the honor and glory of Vritraha. It is possible that Vritra might have attempted against an Arian town (but foiled by Indra) what Cyrus afterwards successfully accomplished against Babylon, by turning the waters of the Euphrates into an artificial channel and causing a ford for his army to effect the capture of the city.

But whether the story be a veritable narrative, or an allegory, the consentient ideas of the Iranian and Indian Arians on the subject become a great fact, on which may be fairly based any psychological considerations, explanatory of theirnotion of " Ahura" or " Asura." Can it be doubted that when the Ariana from the plains or table lands of Central Asia gave utterance to the word " Ahura" or " Asura," in the palmy days of the Assyrian empire, that they would thereby mean either a native of Assyria, or a recognized prince, chief, or noble of that empire? In other words, the vocable " Asura" passing the Arian's lips must, at the time and place just mentioned, have stood for the identical ideas which the Cuneiform Inscriptions disclose.

Now Asura, we have seen, is found as a household word in the Inscriptions. We have already referred to some of the numerous places where it occurs in the sense of ** Asur, my lord." We shall now add that the different senses in which the word "Assur"is used in the Inscriptions correspond almost exactly with the various senses which it has in the Rig Veda, barring only the denunciatory notions, subsequently occasioned in India by the schism between the Iranians and Indians.

In the Inscriptions the word iadieates, in the first place, a god, a great god, and the king of the gods, thus:

" In honour of Assur, king of gods and of the gods of Assyria all of them, in goodness of health (and) joy of heart, may tribute much, (and) plenty stored, in it for ever accumulate.""

" In that day I elevated the hearts of tlie great gods, of Assur and the sun-god, &C.'""

" In honour of Assur (and) Istar, great deities, my lords.'"*

"The power of Assur, of Istar, and of the great gods, &c:"°

" Assur and Istar his prayers shall hear."^*

" Assur and Istar thy prayers shall hear.'"*

The use of Asura in this same sense in the Rig Veda we have already noticed, and as those divinities

** " Ina kibid Assnr Istar ili rabbi bili-a." Ibid, p. 486.

"* " Danan AsHur Istar Ta ill rabi bUi-ja." Ibid, p. 235.

had wiTes, so the Aesur diTinities of the Cuneiform Inscriptions had also theib ladies.

"Before Ninkit, mother c^the great gods, chosen wife of Assur.""

"Ninkit (?) wife of Bel (?), mother of the great gods.""

"For the sake of the temple of the great

Malted wife of Assur my Lord.'"*

" The great goddess wife of Bel."'*

We cannot readily see why there should hare beea some hesitation in translating the two last Inaciiptions as ihey stand in the origimtl. In the frn'mer we have

" bit Ninkit hirte Asut" tke hou^ of Mnkit wife of Asur, and in the latta: (albeit marked with a query) "Ninkit hirti Bel," Mnkit the wife ttf Bel. The hesitation was probably owing to two namesbe^ng given as husbands c^ Ninkit. But it appears "Bel" and*' Asur" were names orsumames of thesame divine individual, and therefore we need not blush at the idea of an act o£polyandria committed byNinkit.

We have made numerous refermices to passages containing the words " Assur my Lord" in a divine sense. We shall h^'O add a few other citations on the fflgnificatioD, attached to the t^m, of a prince, a nobleman, and an Assyrian.

" "Mahar Ninkit ummi ill rabi hirtu nortunti Asaur" JTorru'* Afyrian Dktionary, p. 453.

*' "Ninkit hirti Bel um iti raW." Ibid 454.

** " Ana vattthut bit Ninkit hitte rabte tkamaiJdi Abut bitfa," Ibid SOI.

" The decrees of Asaur, the lord (and) prince, my Lord."

*' The mighty weapona which Assur the lord furnished me."

" To the capture of Muzur, Assur the Lord urged mo.""

" Assur" appears almost invariably with a double s in the English translation, but it frequently occurs in the original with a single horizontal arrow, and is Homanized with a single s. Such is the case with the passage last cited, notwithstanding the double s in the English version. Four more examples, where the originals have but one s, will suffice here; —

*' Mighty son of Assur-dayan."

" By the high power of Assur my Lord."

" Whom Assur to the government of the land

of Assyria (Mat Asur) vigorously proclaimed him."

" Hehas subdued the enemies of Assur.'"*

Assur or Asiur stood also for the Assyrian empire and its capital.

"Who Padi their king, holding the creed and service of Assyria, had expelled," (p. 18).

" Buildings in the extent of all Assyria, I caused construct, (ina naphar Asur gahbi Tusarkis, p. 392)."

kinis ibbu-su," " Psanqitu gini Atw."

The double s was doubtless owing to a dajesh in the original Hebrew word " Asshur,"*^ one of the sons of Shem, and used to represent Assyria, but the Assyrians themselves as they changed the sh into s, so they were not particularly tenacious of the double s either. In the Phonetic form, the god " Assur"has commonly two horizontal arrows, but it often appears with a single arrow representing a single s.*" And we find that in the derivatives from the original " Assur," the double 3 is altogether dispensed with, as, " asarid" eminent, " asariduta" eminence, " asariddan" chie/f "asurite" chief, " asarrite" loftt/f " Telasurri" proper name of a country.*'

We may therefore venture to identify the " Assur" or ** Asur" of the Cuneiform inscriptions with the " Asura" of the Vedas. And this identification may account for the seeming inconsistencies in the Vedas in using that term in opposite senses. The seceding Arians, while still in Central Asia, may have reluctantly submitted to the introduction of the vocable " Asura," indicating goda and princes, and also honoured their own divinities and chiefs, with that title, and yet they may have ethnologically looked upon the term as hateful. We believe Ahura Mazda himself was so called, out of respect, real or pretended, for the paramount power in the palmy days of the Assyrian empire. One fact seems to be a conclusive proof of this.

The Zend Afesta says that Vistasp " brought forth the firm placed, bound (Law) from the Hunua" (Bleeck, iii. p. 93). Now Babylon, or at least a portion of it, was called Suanna, and the " Hunua" or Sunue were probably people inhabiting that place. " Dwelling within Suanna (Babylon)" Norria, p. 419, " Festivals of Suanna (Babylon)" p. 687.

And thus Indra may hare been worshipped as a divinity under the title of Asiira, and at the same time bis exploits in destroying hostile Asuras, whether Assyrian or Iranian, may have been celebrated triumphantly in hymns and songs. The ovation accorded to the slayer of Vritra, both in the Vodas and the Zend Avesta, wasprobably owing to that person having been an Assyrian and a common, enemy before the Indian immigration. And this appears still more evident from the overthrow of that Asura being reckoned as among the "ancient" exploits of Indra, previous to the Arian settlement in India."**

As far as our inquiry after the primitive home of the Arians, which is indeed the subject of this chapter, is concerned, we are thus led to look for it in the Westward of Asia — in the direction of " the land of Asur," from which was derived one of the most prevailing terms in the Rig Veda, and which still continues to haunt the Indian mind with visions of ogres and goblins. It is something to have arrived at the origin of this formidable term, which is annually symbolized, in the group of figmes representing Durga and her companions, by the grinning ogre, receiving his death stroke, under the feet of the giant-killing goddess.

Nor have we been rambliDg like truants, forgetful of our business. HVe hare been brought as far as the vicinity of Assyria iff quest of the primitive home of the Arian family. And yet our rambles are not yet done with. We have more evidence from the Rig Veda in store throwing still clearer light on what we have advanced, and leading to the same direction In our detective course. We must now introduce the story of SaramA, the Panis, and the cows.

This is the most striking of all Vedic allusions to Centralor rather Western Asian events. Thenarrative is thus epitomized by Sayana by way of introduction to Rig Veda x. 108:" " The Panis, Aeura officers of the Asura Vala, had stolen certain cows belonging to Bribaspati, the spiritual preceptor of Indra, and secreted them in a cavwn. Indra, moved by Brihaspati, deputed the divine bitch, by name Sarami, to track the cows. She having crossed a great river reached the capital or palace of Vala, and saw the cows secured in a secret recess. Then the Panis, having heard of the dog's approach, entered into a conversation with a view to gain her over." The Hymn in question is accordingly a dialogue between the Panis and Sarama, who are In the technical terminology of the Vedas, alternately the " Rishi" and " Devat4" of the several verses. In the first and every other odd verse as far as the 9th, the Panis are the " Rishi" or speaker, and 8aram& the Devata or the person addressed. In the second and all other even verses the case is just the reverse; and in the eleventh or final verse Saramli is allowed the utterance of the last words. Whatever the nature of this narrative be, the Asuras, Panis, and the dog Sarama seem to have been household words with the Indian Arians. The story is alluded to in some forty or fifty hymns of the Rig Veda interspersed in all the Mandals thereof. The "lofty stronghold" (as it is called in i. 6, 5) was, according to the above description, close to a " g^reat river," and the Asuras, who were officers or soldiers of Vala, were named Panis. Classical mythology supplies a clue to the identification of the characters and scenery described in the narrative. We have Belus or Bel as a representative surname of all the Bolides or successors of Belus. Vala may be compared with Belus, the names being almost identical, without th? classical termination in Belus. Panis may be fairly referred to Phineus,** a son of Belus, who had his representatives, again, in the Phinides." The " stronghold" or capital of Vala may then legitimately stand for Babel, or Borsippa, the "great river," said to have been crossed by Sarama, being the Euphrates. The

" See Dr. Smith's Diotioaaiy, and Claseical Mythological, under the name Pbineus.

Vedic references to such a capital of Vala, close to a " great river," with the Asuras, " Panayas,"** (perhaps brothers or cousins) advance us many a good step in determining the original home of the Arian family. Babel was at one time near enough to them, in their estimation, to enable its soldiers or princes to capture and carry off the cattle of Indra's guru — near enough s\jp for them to depute a spy, who, Ulysses-like, being, by his cunning and sagacity, the very image of a " Laconian dog," might track the lost animals, as the king of Ithaca had done so successfully in the Ajax of Sophocles."

After the ridicule which some scholars have passed on the story of Panis and the cows, it is not without some diffidence that we are noticing it here. But notwithstanding the ridicule, eminent critics have not disdained to treat it as a sort of nucleus for the story of the siege and destruction of Troy. The word *' Vilu" (Rig V. I. 6, 5) has been identified with iXioe, and the dog Sarama has been dignified with the rank of no less a person than the beauteous queen of Sparta, whose name, in various forms, is still owned by numberless ladies in Europe, and for whom a

" " Panayae" is plural of " Pauls," and must mean hia descendants or saccessors, as the "Baghua," Ttidas, and "Knnis," stand respectively for the suecesaora and repreaentatives of Kagiiu, Tadu, and Kuiu.

great fortress aud a great nation had fallen victijua to the vengeful rage of the Argives. The elevation of " Sarama" to " Helena," by the rule which allowed changes of s into h, and r into I, and cla^ised all nasals in the same group, so that m might at pleasure pass for n, is perhaps an infliction of the Indian Nemesis on those, who, on the other hand, had seriously broached a diametrically opposite theory — the theory of the siege and destruction of Troy having been the nucleus of the oldest epic of India, the RAmayana. But we have no pet theory of our own on the subject, and, however adverse our prejudices of early education may be against the conversion, into mythological vapour, of either Hector and Achilles on the one hand, or Kama and Havana on the other, we shall be delighted with the spectacle of a good archaeological fight between the extinguishers of Troy, who would invest Homer with a knowledge of the Rig Veda, and the abolishers of Lank& who would turn Valmiki into an adept in Homeric Greek.

It is also not a small puzzle to see, at the same time, the nucleus of the Trojan story itself evaporated into a — nothing. We cannot say we are able, however willing, to follow the eminent editor of the Rig Veda Sanhita — to whom we are under no common obligations, and, but for whose unrivalled editorial feat, these pages themselves would perhaps never have seen the light — in holding the cows stolen by Panis to be nothing more than " the cows of the morning, the dawns, or the days themselves, which are represented as rescued at the end of each night by the power of Indra, or some similar solar gods."" Our difficulty in accepting this summary resolution of Sarama, Vala, Pania and the cows, into a morning vapour, arises from the very pages of the great work edited by Professor Max Muller. Allusions to the story are found tliroughout the Rig Veda. Every mandala, every division, has to say something on it. And although in certain instances, the story is illustrated by the similitude of a morning cloud, dissipating at sunrise, yet it is treated even there as a substantive narrative, ornamented by an example, but never as a type of the example itself. The names of Vala and Panxs, with their antagonists, Indra and Brihaspati, aided hj their dog Saram^ (or some detective, allegorized ae such) which recognized the lowing of the cows, and tracked them to a recess in the fortress, appear so constantly as the heroes of a veritable narrative, that although it may have been coloured with many myths and figures, yet there can be no absurdity in supposing some fact or facts underlying it.

But it is not our present purpose to uphold the narrative of Sarama and the Panis as a historical fact. Our business now is with i\ie fact of such a conception in the minds of our Vedic writers. They speak of a divine hitch deputed by Indra, Brihaspati, and Angiras, to track some cattle, the property of Brihaspati and Angiras, which had been stolen and carried oflF by an Asura named Panis (or certain Asuras called

Panayas, plural of " Panis") to the capital or stronghold of Vala, also an Asura, by the side of a " great riTcr." Sarama crosses the river and tracks the cattle in a cave appertaining to the same stronghold, which in one place ( I. 6, 5) is indicated by tlje adjective " Vilu," and is also described as a high land or mountain. Indra attacks the stronghold and rescues the cattle. The story is recounted as among the ^rniCT* feats of Indra, by which he had entitled himself to the thanks of the Arian family for ever.

Now we find from other sources that there was an ancient king, or deified hero, named Belus, that he had, on an eminence on the banks of the river Euphrates, a fortified palace,*'' which was called " Babel," or *• Borsippa," and sometimes " Babilu,"^ in the original Assyrian tongue. Belus had a son named Phineus, who was a character of sufficient importance to have given occasion for a patronymic by which his descendants were known in after ages, as the Rlkghavas from Eaghu in our country, Belus or Bel was also a representative character, and might stand as an epithet for any of his successors. We find also that the word *' Assur" or " Asur" (sometimes, as we have already sesn, there was only one slbitant) was a term expressive of dignity, und indeed of divinity, highly extolled among the descendants, successors, or followers of BeluB.

The derivatives of ''Assur" again bear testimony to the dignity attached to the idea of the original term. We have " asaritti" for eminent, lofty; " asariddan" and " asurite" for chief. The phrase " asariddan malki" stands for chief of kings. There is likewise a term '* sar" (without the initial o) which is the ordinary word for " king." As " ina kibiti el sar apzu" in honor of the god, king of waters. We further learn from the same source that it was nothing unusual with the Assyrians, or descendants of Belus, to carry off spoils and captives to Babylon or Assyria. The tings themselves boastfully recorded, by means of indelible inscriptions, the carnage and other outrages they committed on their enemies — the numbers they impaled and crucified from time to time, and their plunderof cities and towns. Thus r "chief bow- men, assistants, drivers of four-wheeled chariots, common bow-men, headmen, cattle and sheep with conductors many, I carried off to Assyria.'"' Again, " sheep, which not numbered, from among them I carried off."*^, (( Goats and young, their property, not to bo counted I carried off."" " Sheep many, plunder much, I plundered."** Once morej " horses, camels, buJlocka, which at the approach of battle, had fled; my hands captured." " With 120 heads of cattle and sheep (which) he brought I received.'"'

If now we compare the Indian narrative with therecords of Cuneiform inscriptions, tliere can scarcely remain a doubt that the Vala of the Rig Veda, was the Belus or Bel of the Inscriptions — that '* the lofty capital of Vala" in the Rig Veda, was " the lofty citadel of Bel" in the Inscriptions, that the Asuras, Panis, (Sanskrit Panayas) of the Veda, were identical with the Phinides of classical history or mythology — that the river crossed by Saramd, or whatever detective was indicated by that term, was the Euphrates. As far then as the subject of this chapter is concerned, we find that the Arians who emigrated to India were once familiar with the lofty citadel of Bel, and must have, then lived not very far from the Euphrates.

Our idea of searching westward for the primitive home of the Arians is thus singularly corroborated by the Vedic story of the captured and recovered cows. But we must now add a few observations on the importance of the canine lady herself in this detective process. The very conception of such an animal in the Brahminical mind is a fact which requires accounting for. How did the Vedas get at such an idea as a " divine dog f" The canine species has never been in much favour on Indiansoil. It has always been reckoned an unclean animal fit only to be treated with stones of the roughest kind.^ How came an ammal, whose very touch is pollution, to be dignified with the title of " divine?" The gods have indeed certain favourite animals for their charters. Indra has his elephant, Siva his bull, Vishnu bia Garuda, Durga her lion, K^rtikeya hts peacock. Even the cat and the rat and the snake have their respective riders of celestial origin. The fish, the tortoise, the boar, have also been honoured as divine vehicles. But the dog has never enjoyed such a dignity in the pantheon of India. How then came the authors of the Rig Veda to entertain the idea of a " divine dog?"

There is nothing in human nature to induce such an exaltation of the canine species — certainly not in Asia. The merchant in the Bagh-o-Bahar, who had manifested. a peculiar interest for a dog, to which he had owed many obligations, and even his life, had a narrow escape with his head, when arraigned as a «fl!^-paras^ (dog- worshipper). Asiatics have never been such fox-hunters as to patronize hounds," nor had they the Spartan spirit which produced the " Laconian bitch," and made it the subject of learned dissertations and eulogies. But the Spartans themselves were innocent of the idea of a " divine dog." The

" Sankaracharia in his ■well known commentary on the Vedant takes oeoasion to speak of three claBsea of stones — highly preeions, of middling water, and low tough, clods ^t onl;/ for caslinff at doff a

Grecian Cerberus was a creature or denizen of hell, not heaven. The Egyptians, indeed, had their Anubis, but how came Indian Brahmins to be infected with notions peculiar to the land of Ham? How came the authors of the Rig Veda to devote a whole hymn to the glorification of Sarama — a hymn in which she is alternately a " deity" and a holy " Rishi." Even Anubis had never been worshipped as a M^e-diplomatist, such as the following Dialogue indicates.

The Panis. "With what object has Sarama come hither? The way back is far, and shut out iirom her. * What do you require from us? How have you travelled here? How have you crossed the waters of the aerial river?' "

Sarama. *' I come as an emissary, deputed by Indra. I am seeking, O Pania, your great wealth. The river itself saved me from the fear of passing over. Thus I crossed the waters of the aerial river."

The Panis. " * 0 Sarama, what sort of a person is Indra? What army has he whose emissary, thou hast come hither from such distance?" (^Turning to themselves) " Let Saramd come. Let us receive her as a friend. And let her be mistress of our Cows."

Saramd. " I do not consider him (Indra) to be destroyablo by you. He destroys (all enemies), whose emissary, I, have come from such a distance. Deep

" Kalbi [ur-ku] taibit hekal-ya" ioga the growth of my palace (meaning treacherons and seditious officers). Ibid, p. 511.

streams cannot overwhelm him. You shall, 0 PaniSj yourselves lie slain by Indra."

T}ie Panh. " O Blessed SaramS, these cows which thou seetest, coming round from the extremity of the sky, are thine. Who shall without a fight escape hence? Moreover our arms are sharp."

Sarama. " O Panis, your words are unworthy of soldiers. Your bodies are not fit. for arrows, because they are vile. Let your ways be passable or im-.passable, but Brihaspati will not, in either case, impart pleasure to you with those two attributes."

The Panis. " This treasure, O Saram^, is secured by rocks, obtained by means of cattle, horses and wealth. The Panis, who are excellent protectors, guard the sites of the cows, which, by their lowing thou suspectest. In vain hast thou come."

Sarama. " Here are some Eishis, sharpened by the Soma liquor, AySsia and the Angiras, who had been engaged for nine months in the sacrifice. They will divide among themselves that multitude of cows. Therefore, O Panis, renounce this language you have uttered that I have come in vain."

The Panis. "O blessed Sarama, thou bast come hither prevented from going back by divine power. We shall therefore make thee our sister. Do not go back. We shall share thy cows between our-

8arama. " I know neither brotherhood nor sisterhood. Indra and the fierce Angiras know it. They Lave now surrounded my desired cows for which I have come. Therefore, 0 Panis, surrender the great

multitude of cattle and depart hence. Sarama continues. Do ye, O Panis, go to some large distant country. Let the cows come out breaking thraugh the gates by the force of them. Bribaspati, Soma, the stones and the Rishia shall take them."*

Such virtues in a dog had never entered into Brahminical conceptions. How is this psychological marvel to he accounted for? Here '* the missing link" comes to our relief. The Zend Avasta solves our problem. The Vendidad comes with a whole, chapter, the Fargard XIII., devoted to the glorifica- tion of tlie canine race, commencing with its ancestor VanliapAra. " Which is the creature created by Spenta-Mainyus among the creatures which Spenta- Mainyus has created which every morning at the rising of the sun comes forth as a thousand slayers of Angra-Mainyus? Then answered Ahura Mazda: The dog with the prickly back and woolly muzzle, Vatihapara, upon whom evil-speaking men impose the name of Dujaka.'"^ Then follows a catechetical dissertation on the virtues of Vanh^para and his whole species, including both their physique and morale, occupying some 160 or 170 verses, to the vary end of the chapter. We do not wish to class ourselves with the " evil-spoaking men" who give a bad name to Vanh^para, nor either to join the groat scholar''* who had ridiculed the Vendidad for it. We shall only take note of this extravagant description of the dog as a peculiar feature in the Zend-Avesta, and the Veda, by supplying a fitting illustration of the same in its character of the '* divine bitcli," Saram^, exhibits an unmistakable resemblance to the same features, and thus indicates the quondam connection of Indian Arians with sites whore the Zend Avesta passed for a sacred Record. The story of tlio stolen cows in the citadel of Vala is consequently corroborated, for our purpose in this chapter, by the fact of such a conception as " Saramd, the divine bitcb," in

Hymns of the Rig Veda. And thus in our search for the original Arian home, we already find unmistakable vestiges in Central and Western Asia which cannot fail to place ua on the right track.

Having done with the dog, we shall now revert to the story of Vritra, the restrainer of waters. The opening of rivers by India is referred to in numerous hymna, which explain the sense, in which, the benefits, conferred by his successful conflict with Vritra, were appreciated by the undivided Arians. It was not, as SAyana imagined, a local allegory of thunder and lightning, turning the collected clouds into a refreshing shower. It was, as appears from various passages, Indra's opening rivers, the Parushni, (Euphrates?) being especially named, the natural course of which had been, by some secret manceuvre, perhaps during night, obstructed by a besieging enemy, that drew down upon him the thanks and acknowledgments of the grateful Arians, and inspired their doxologies, songs, and odes at his wonderful success.

One doxology of this kind is contained in R, V. x. 133, which ia attributed to Sud&a, son of Pijavana. The first mantra addresses Indra as " Vritrahfi," or destroyer of Vritra, and calls upon all ceremonial panegyrists to laud him — concluding with a sentence (which continues as a refrain throughout the hymn, the last mantra only excepted) " let the vile bowstrings of all others (our enemies) be broken." The second mantra recounts Indra's killing the Serpent (Vritra) and opening the streams, and concludes with the same refrain."' Now the author of this hymn waa a king as well aa a Rishi. He was probably ruler of the place which the enemy had intended to storm by a night march through a ford, caused by a manceuvre in the dark. The author of the hymn x. 133 had therefore ^himself mainly benefited by " the opening of streams." The benefits he had derived are given in detail in vii. 18 (attributed to Vasistha) the first four mantras of which indicate the intention of the dosologist to recount Indra's benefactions to a past generation.

1. " That, 0 Indra, even our fathers, extolling (or supplicating) thee, obtained all their desires, [it was quite befitting] because thou hast good-milking cows, thou hast horses. Treasure itself desires thee for its lord, thou being most bountiful to the sacrificers."*

2. " As a king with his wives, thou dwellest with lights, being thyself a wise performer of ceremonies. Protect us, 0 Maghavan, with cows, horses and treasure. Train us, thy own devotees, for the acquisition of riches.

3. " May these cheering encomiums, boldly coveting thee for their divine object, reach thee here. May thy way unto wealth come before us. May we remain at ease in thy good will.

4. ' ' Vasistha has offered these mantras desiring to milk thee, like a cow in a good green pasture. All my people call thee the owner of cows. May Indra come unto our well-intentioned devotions."

The hymnist then goes on giving in detail the acts of Indra in the interest of Sudas.**

" Even waters, dispersed by the enemy, Indra made easily passable by Sudas.

*' Turvasa came forward (against Sudas) for wresting his treasure. The Bhrigus and the Druhyas were the respective auxiliaries of Sudas and Turvasa. Indra by a flank movement delivered his friend.

"The wicked and evil-minded (enemy ofSudas) broke down the embankments of Parushni. Sudas, through the grace of Indra, reclaimed the lands. And Kavi, the son of Chayamana, fell like a sacrificial victim.

' ' The waters of Parushni went to their natural place, and no longer flowed where they were not intended to flow. The horses of Sudaa too moved in their natural place.

"Then the thunderbolt holder, Indra, inflicted death on Sruta, Kavasha, and Druhya, by drowning them in the waters.

" Then Indra at once destroyed all their cities and strongholds, and gave away to Tritsu the habitation of the followers of Ann.

" The followers of Anu and Druhya to the number of six thousand lay in the sleep of death being killed by Sudas.

" Then Yamuna and the sons of Tritsu gratified Indra who had in this battle killed Bheda. The people of Aza, the Sigrus, and the Yakshus, presented him the heads of horses, slain in war, as offerings.

" Neither thy good will nor thy wealth, whether of yore or now-a-days, can be sufficiently described. Even Devaka, the son of Manyamana, thou didst kill, and Sambara thou didst hurl down from an eminence.

" O Indra, Pardsara himself, capable of subduing hundreds of Yatus, together with Vasistha and other Rishis, having by thy favour got a home, and sought to propitiate thee, are by no means forgetful of thy kindness as their patron."

This hymn was evidently written, after the hymnists had " got a home" in India, recounting the deeds of Indra in the course of their migration. It shows that Vritra's meditated night attack was after the manner of what Cyrus afterwards did so successfully against Bahylon itself. The appearance of the sun and morning light, which some hymns mention, only meant that the enemy's plot was frustrated during the night, and morning dawned immediately after,— the sun rose with his gratifying brilliance, when Indra saw no enemy, for his foes were all submerged by the returning waters.^ From the number of persons punished and humbled hy Indra after Vritra's death, it would seem that many neighbouring princes and people had leagued with the enemy, and the situation of those princes and people must give material help

" When, 0 Indra, thon struckest the first-bom of Berpents (Vritra), then thou didst completely baffle the tricka of the deceivers. Then producing the sun, the sky, and the morning, thon indeed couldet observe no enemy. The heart-cheering waters had passed over Vritra, lying on the gronnd, like a river with embankments broken. Vritra lay nnder the feet of the very waters which by the force of hia arts he had restrained.

The mother of Vritra (ell prostrate on her son, Btrnck by Indra. There lay the mother Dian over, and the bos below, like a cow with hei calf." Big Veda I. 32. 4, 8, 9.

in ascertaining the quarter where the Ariana resided at the time and their line of march towards India.

Many names of places, peoples, and individuals are mentioned in the above hymn (vii. 18) of which Indian tradition knows next to nothing. The Assyrian inscriptions, however, throw much light. Turvasamay be easily recognized as Tubusn of the Inscriptions, king of Nirdun." The A'navas, or followers of Ann, and the Ajasa, liege subjects of Aja, readily find their respective objects of homage and allegiance in Ann** and Aza.^ The former, as a deified prince, the first member of the Assyrian triad, is constantly mentioned in the Inscriptions, and the latter appears as a son of Sanzu, king of Manna. Kavasha may have been a chief connected with Kabsu, a city on the monntains above Nipar."* Devaka, son of Manyamana, may be claimed by Dabigu* (a frontier town of Syria) as its chief, and Sambara, so well known throughout the Rig Veda, and (in iv. 30, 14) called a son or descendant of Kulitara, will perhaps be hailed as a relative by Kiliteru,^" prince of Commukha. The Yatus usually

" " Kiliteru son of Kaliteru fou of Serupin-sihusuri their king in the midst of the fight my hand took." Ihid,-^. bGA. This was in the reign of Tiglathpileser I., oi the 12th century B. G. which is a curious confirmation of the age of the Vedas aa calculated by the called y^tu-dhanaa or holders of Yatu, and reproached as eaters of human and equine flesh, without a local hahitation assigned to them, will perhaps gladly accept a home and a safe asylum in the country called "Yatu"" in the Inscriptions, and escape at once the railleries, hoth of the Veda and Zend Avesta, content with their " horse flesh," which, in the vicinity of the Scythians, will be coveted as a dainty, rather than execrated as an abomination.

Yamuna cannot be intended for the river of that name in India, as the word is joined with the sons of Tritsu and the people of Aza and others. It may more reasonably stand for a Hittite (possibly an ancestor of the) usurper Yamani,'* mentioned in the Assyrian Inscriptions.

The A'navas whom S&yana takes, in two places at least, as sons of Anu, or men, (Ann being held as the progenitor of mankind in the same sense as Mauu), may suggest other reflections for which this chapter, however, is not the proper place.

We thus find that most of the characters concerned in the encounter of Indra with Vritra belonged to Assyrian regions, in the West of Asia.

We shall now direct the reader's attention to another passage in the Rig Veda, not only most important for our object in this chapter, but, cm-iously enough, late Archdeacon Pratt, from aD aBtronomical coninnction mentioned b; Bentley. Hr. Pratt placed it in the 12th century before Ohrist. {Scripture and Science not at variance, p. 168.) " Ibid, p. 491. •■ Jbi4, p. 484.

throwing light on a point, in Assyrian history, oa which further light was held as a desideratum in the outer learned world. The question is thus stated by

Professor Rawlinson: "It only remains to notice the name of 2av5^ which is applied by Agathias to the Assyrian Hercules, [the god 7W» or Bar] on the authority of Berosus. This name has been much canvassed by classical and Oriental scholars, but ■without any definite results. It may be interesting, then, to add that Bar is explained in one of the Babylonian vocabularies by Zindu, as if the one name meant " the binder with chains," and the other, *' the binder to the yoke," and both being sufficiently applicable to the god in question, either as Hercules or as the Man* Bull.""

Sanda-Marka hare from time immemorial been popularly held in India as the twin names of the Asuraffuru, but the Rig Veda sanctions only the ^rsi, thus:

" Do thou, O Saraswati, save us. Joined with the Maruts, boldly overthrow the enemy. Indra has killed that daring powerful [Asura] hero, the very chief of the disciples of Sanda."'*

This verse not only confirms the name applied by

Siyana interprets " SandikinSm" iror ^rqirat cf '^ raw of Sanda, bat " Sukdika" would more properly staud for a follower or disciple of Sanda, just as Platonic would mean a follower, rather tfaaa a ' doBceudaiit, of Elato.

Berosus and Agathias to the " Assyrian Hercules," but also sustains the idea of the *' man-bull," — for " Sanda" means a hull. And aa far as our object in this chapter is concerned, its success becomes undoubted from the above passage. The Aauras are clearly identified, and the Arians are proved to have had conjiicta with the Aasyriana whose guru or god was Sanda alias Hercules, Nin, or Bar.

Numerous other names may be found in the Vedas with outlandish traces, but we shall content ourselves here with one more example only. Ambarisha, a wellknown royal Rishi, is mentioned in the Rig Veda as making obeisance to Indra in company with several others. He may also be claimed by the Cuneiform Inscriptions as a hero of Assyrian regions, perhaps the founder of a dynasty which had the courage to slight the fortunate star of a great Assyrian monarch." Ambarisha, again, had a son who like himself was one of the Rishis or authors of the Rig Veda, bearing the name of " A'mbarisha Sindhudwipa." This very name would tend to confirm what the Inscriptions say of Ambarisha. Sindhudwipa may stand for an island in the ocean, or a country on the other side the sea or the River Indus. In any case it would be an un-Indian

It H ■vyiiose king Ambarissi the power [fortunate star] of Sargina disregarded." iVbrru, p. 243. The AmbanBei of the Inscription appears to have been a contemporary of Sargon, whose age would be posterior, at least by two or three centuries, to the age of the Vedas. But as the descendants of the Vedio Ambarisha were also called Ambarisha, the initial vowel of the original name being only lengthened, Sargon's Opponent might have been a descendant of the.original Ambarisha;

locality. The prince who bore that name or surname must have had foreign associations.

We bhall here conclude this chapter. We think sufficient traces of Arian connection have been discovered in the West of Asia to encourage us to persevere in the inquiry after the original settlement of our ancestors in that direction, and this will be our business in the next chapter.