CHAPTER II.
THE LIGHT.
SECTION I.— SÛRYA and SAVITRI.
NEITHER Dyaus nor Varuna, Indra nor Agni, occupies that precise CHAP. place which is filled by Helios in Greek mythology as the dweller in . ]}' — the globe of the sun, or by Nereus as the actual inhabitant of the sea pgr'^^j/jJ'J This place in the Veda is reserved for Surya ^ or Savitri, the former irresistibfe name being etymologically identical with that of Helios or Here. ^^"^""y- Like Hehos and Heimdall, Surya sees all things and hears all things, noting the good and evil deeds of men. Like Indra and Agni, he is sometimes independent, sometimes the servant of others ; but he is never, like Dyaus, without a parent. His light is his own, and yet it has been given to him by Indra or by Soma, who is often spoken of as his father. He is the husband of the Dawn, but the Dawn is also his mother, as lokaste is both mother and wife of Oidipous. In all such phrases it was impossible to lose sight of his real character. He is the most active of all the active gods, he is the third in the earlier trimurtti in which he is associated with Agni and Vayu, he has measured the worlds with their undecaying supports, he is the divine leader of all the gods ; but as such, he is still " the pervading irre- sistible luminary."^ His chariot is drawn by seven mares, and he " comes with them self-harnessed." Like Ixion, Tantalos, and Sisy- phos, he is the " lord of all treasures." ^ He is the eye of Mitra, Varuna, and Agni.* Sometimes again he is "without steeds, without stay; borne swift-moving and loud-sounding, he travels ascending ' The name remains in the Russian Ouranos. — Songs of the Russian People, Swarog, of whom Mr. Ralston speaks 85. as having been originally the supreme * Muir, Sanskrit Texts, part iv. deity of the Slavonic tribes, and as p. 96. R. V. viii. 90, 12. having been displaced by Perun, as * R. H. Wilson, A'. P'. i, 189. amongst the Greeks Zeus displaced * lb. i. 304.
