The position occupied by the god Rudra in the Rigveda is very different from that of his historical successor in a later age. He is celebrated in only three or four hymns, while his name is mentioned slightly less often than that of Vishnu. He is usually said to be armed with bow and arrows, but a lightning shaft and a thunderbolt are also occasionally assigned to him. He is described as fierce and destructive like a wild beast, and is called "the ruddy boar of heaven." The hymns addressed to him chiefly express fear of his terrible shafts and deprecation of his wrath. His malevolence is still more prominent in the later Vedic literature. The euphemistic epithet Çiva, "auspicious," already applied to him in the Rigveda, and more frequently, though not exclusively, in the younger Vedas, became his regular name in the post-Vedic period. Rudra is, of course, not purely malevolent like a demon. He is besought not only to preserve from calamity but to bestow blessings and produce welfare for man and beast. His healing powers are mentioned with especial frequency, and he is lauded as the greatest of physicians. Prominent among the gods of the Rigveda are the Maruts or Storm-gods, who form a group of thrice seven or thrice sixty. They are the sons of Rudra and the mottled cloud-cow Priçni. At birth they are compared with fires, and are once addressed as "born from the laughter of lightning." They are a troop of youthful warriors armed with spears or battle-axes and wearing helmets upon their heads. They are decked with golden ornaments, chiefly in the form of armlets or of anklets:-- They gleam with armlets as the heavens are decked with stars; Like cloud-born lightnings shine the torrents of their rain (ii. 34, 2). They ride on golden cars which gleam with lightning, while they hold fiery lightnings in their hands:-- The lightnings smile upon the earth below them What time the Maruts sprinkle forth their fatness.--(i. 168, 8). They drive with coursers which are often described as spotted, and they are once said to have yoked the winds as steeds to their pole. The Maruts are fierce and terrible, like lions or wild boars. With the fellies of their car they rend the hills:-- The Maruts spread the mist abroad, And make the mountains rock and reel, When with the winds they go their way (viii. 7, 4). They shatter the lords of the forest and like wild elephants devour the woods:-- Before you, fierce ones, even woods bow down in fear, The earth herself, the very mountain trembles (v. 60, 2). One of their main functions is to shed rain. They are clad in a robe of rain, and cover the eye of the sun with showers. They bedew the earth with milk; they shed fatness (ghee); they milk the thundering, the never-failing spring; they wet the earth with mead; they pour out the heavenly pail:-- The rivers echo to their chariot fellies What time they utter forth the voice of rain-clouds.--(i. 168, 8).