same as the Atli of the Volsung tale and the Etzel of the Nibelung
song. -
" Thou, Indra, hast opened the cloud for the Angirasas : thou hast shown the way to Atri who vexes his adversaries by a hundred doors." 1
He is also Namuki (the Greek Amykos), and Sambara.
"Thou, Indra, with thy bolt didst slay afar off the deceiver Namuki." '-
" Thou hast slain Sambara by thy resolute self." ^
" Verily thou hast made me, Indra, thy associate, when grind- ing the head of the slave Namuki like a sounding and roUing cloud." *
In the same way Indra is the slayer of Bala, of Chumuri, Dhuni, Pipon, Sushna, and many others,* and against him the strength of the Rakshasas is concentrated in vain, for Indra scatters them " with his friend the thunderbolt." On the issue of this conflict depends, it is true, the welfare of all human creatures. The victory of Indra brings with it wealth of corn and wine and oil, but the struggle and its issue are alike external to the human spirit In other words, the religious instinct found little scope in the phrases which described the offices of Indra, and most assuredly had nothing to do with sug- gesting them. It was not on the soil of Hindustan that the momentous physical struggle between Indra and his enemy was to become a spiritual struggle of still more fearful proportions. The wife of Indra is Indrani, who alone of the goddesses who bear the names of the gods is associated with her husband. Like of Indnu the rest, she has but a vague and shado^vy personality. But although the goddesses who are not thus simply developed from the names of their consorts are far more prominent, yet even these are spoken of in terms little resembling the language addressed to the supreme god under his many names. Ahana is a daughter of Dyaus, and her might is great, but Indra is mightier still. Ushas is hard to van- quish ; but Indra shatters her chariot, while Saranyu, the Harits, and the Rohits are rather beings who do his will than deities possessed of any independent power. In this respect a vast gulf separates the later from the early mythology of the Hindus ; and although Maha- deva retains a nominal supremacy, yet the popular mind dwells less on the god than on the awful terrors of his wife, whether known as Uma, Durga, or Kali." In an inquiry designed chiefly to bring out
» H. H. Wilson, R. V. Sanhila, i. « Jb. i. 279. « lb. ii. 418, 419. 136. * Muir, Principal Deities 0/ A'. F., "- lb. i. 147. 3 lb. i. 148. 577-
