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?[17] The following may serve as specimens of hymns addressed to individual deities whose names have become the centres of religious thought and legendary traditions; deities, in fact, like Jupiter, Apollo, Mars, or Minerva, no longer mere germs, but fully developed forms of early thought and language: [Footnote 17: A last verse is added, which entirely spoils the poetical beauty and the whole character of the hymn. Its later origin seems to have struck even native critics, for the author of the Pada text did not receive it. 'O Pra_g_âpati, no other than thou hast embraced all these created things; may what we desired when we called on thee, be granted to us, may we be lords of riches.'] HYMN TO INDRA (Rv. I. 53).[18] 1. Keep silence well![19] we offer praises to the great Indra in the house of the sacrificer. Does he find treasure for those who are like sleepers? Mean praise is not valued among the munificent. 2. Thou art the giver of horses, Indra, thou art the giver of cows, the giver of corn, the strong lord of wealth: the old guide of man, disappointing no desires, a friend to friends:--to him we address this song. 3. O powerful Indra, achiever of many works, most brilliant god--all this wealth around here is known to be thine alone: take from it, conqueror! bring it hither! Do not stint the desire of the worshipper who longs for thee! 4. On these days thou art gracious, and on these nights,[20] keeping off the enemy from our cows and from our stud. Tearing[21] the fiend night after night with the help of Indra, let us rejoice in food, freed from haters. 5. Let us rejoice, Indra, in treasure and food, in wealth of manifold delight and splendour. Let us rejoice in the blessing of the gods, which gives us the strength of offspring, gives us cows first and horses. 6. These draughts inspired thee, O lord of the brave! these were vigour, these libations, in battles, when for the sake of the poet, the sacrificer, thou struckest down irresistibly ten thousands of enemies. 7. From battle to battle thou advancest bravely, from town to town thou destroyest all this with might, when thou, Indra, with Nâmî as thy friend, struckest down from afar the deceiver Namu_k_i. 8. Thou hast slain Karaṅga and Par_n_aya with the brightest spear of Atithigva. Without a helper thou didst demolish the hundred cities of Vaṅg_r_ida, which were besieged by _R_i_g_i_s_van. 9. Thou hast felled down with the chariot-wheel these twenty kings of men, who had attacked the friendless Su_s_ravas,[22] and gloriously the sixty thousand and ninety-nine forts.