conqueror of all. And what more could human language achieve, in trying to express the idea of a divine and supreme power, than what another poet says of another god, Varu_n_a: "Thou art lord of all, of heaven and earth; thou art the king of all, of those who are gods, and of those who are men!" This surely is not what is commonly understood by Polytheism. Yet it would be equally wrong to call it Monotheism. If we must have a name for it, I should call it Kathenotheism. The consciousness that all the deities are but different names of one and the same godhead, breaks forth indeed here and there in the Veda. But it is far from being general. One poet, for instance, says (Rv. I. 164, 46): "They call him Indra, Mitra, Varu_n_a, Agni; then he is the beautiful-winged heavenly Garutmat: that which is One the wise call it in divers manners: they call it Agni, Yama, Mâtari_s_van." And again (Rv. X. 114, 5): "Wise poets make the beautiful-winged, though he is one, manifold by words." * * * * * I shall read you a few Vedic verses, in which the religious sentiment predominates, and in which we perceive a yearning after truth, and after the true God, untrammeled as yet by any names or any traditions[16] (Rv. X. 121):-- [Footnote 16: _History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature_, p. 569.] 1. In the beginning there arose the golden Child--He was the one born lord of all that is. He stablished 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 stablished,--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, look 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;--