to find a universal Being whom they could adore,—is much more marked. Thus do they express this sentiment:—"Wise poets make the beautiful-winged, though he is one, manifold by words" (Chips, vol. i. p. 29—Rig-Veda, x. 114. 5). Or more elaborately thus:—
1. "In the beginning there arose the golden Child—He was the one
born lord of all that is. He established the earth and this sky;—Who
is the God to whom we shall offer our sacrifice? 2. He who gives life,
He who gives strength; whose command all the bright gods revere;
whose shadow is immortality, whose shadow is death;—Who is the God
to whom we shall offer our sacrifice? 3. He who through his power is
the one King of the breathing and awakening world; He who governs all
man and beast; Who is the God to whom we shall offer our sacrifice?
4. He whose greatness these snowy mountains, whose greatness the sea
proclaims, with the distant river—He whose these regions are, as it were
his two arms;—Who is the God to whom we shall offer our sacrifice?
5. He through whom the sky is bright and the earth firm—He through
whom the heaven was established,—nay, the highest heaven;—He who
measured out the light in the air;—Who is the God to whom we shall
offer our sacrifice? 6. He to whom heaven and earth, standing firm by
His will, took up, trembling inwardly—He over whom the rising sun
shines forth;—Who is the God to whom we shall offer our sacrifice?
7. Wherever the mighty water-clouds went, where they placed the seed
and lit the fire, thence arose He who is the sole life of the bright gods;—Who
is the God to whom we shall offer our sacrifice? 8. He who by
his might looked even over the water-clouds, the clouds which gave
strength and lit the sacrifice; He who alone is God above all gods;—Who
is the God to whom we shall offer our sacrifice? 9. May He not destroy
us—He the creator of the earth; or He, the righteous, who created the
heaven; He also created the bright and mighty waters;—Who is the
God to whom we shall offer our sacrifice?" (Chips, vol. i. p. 29, or A.
S. L., p. 569.—Rig-Veda, x. 121).
The same book contains a very important hymn, entitled the
Purusha Sûkta. In it we find ourselves transported from the
transparent elemental worship of the ancient Aryas into the
misty region of Brahmanical subtleties. Purusha appears to be
conceived as the universal essence of the world, all existences
