We have thus seen from the hymns and prayers preserved to us in the Rig-Veda, how a large number of so-called Devas, bright and sunny beings, or gods, were called into existence, how the whole world was peopled with them, and every act of nature, whether on the earth or in the air or in the highest heaven, ascribed to their agency. When we say _it_ thunders, they said Indra thunders; when we say, _it_ rains, they said Par_g_anya pours out his buckets; when we say, _it_ dawns, they said the beautiful Ushas appears like a dancer, displaying her splendor; when we say; _it_ grows dark, they said Sûrya unharnesses his steeds. The whole of nature was alive to the poets of the Veda, the presence of the gods was felt everywhere, and in that sentiment of the presence of the gods there was a germ of religious morality, sufficiently strong, it would seem, to restrain people from committing as it were before the eyes of their gods what they were ashamed to commit before the eyes of men. When speaking of Varu_n_a, the old god of the sky, one poet says:[256] "Varu_n_a, the great lord of these worlds, sees as if he were near. If a man stands or walks or hides, if he goes to lie down or to get up, what two people sitting together whisper to each other, King Varu_n_a knows it, he is there as the third.[257] This earth too belongs to Varu_n_a, the King, and this wide sky with its ends far apart. The two seas (the sky and the ocean) are Varu_n_a's loins; he is also contained in this small drop of water. He who should flee far beyond the sky, even he would not be rid of Varu_n_a, the King.[258] His spies proceed from heaven toward this world; with thousand eyes they overlook this earth. King Varu_n_a sees all this, what is between heaven and earth, and what is beyond. He has counted the twinklings of the eyes of men. As a player throws down the dice, he settles all things (irrevocably). May all thy fatal snares which stand spread out seven by seven and threefold, catch the man who tells a lie, may they pass by him who speaks the truth." You see this is as beautiful, and in some respects as true, as anything in the Psalms. And yet we know that there never was such a Deva, or god, or such a thing as Varu_n_a. We know it is a mere name, meaning originally "covering or all-embracing," which was applied to the visible starry sky, and afterward, by a process perfectly intelligible, developed into the name of a Being, endowed with human and superhuman qualities. And what applies to Varu_n_a applies to all the other gods of the Veda and the Vedic religion, whether three in number, or thirty-three, or, as one poet said, "three thousand three hundred and thirty-nine gods."[259] They are all but names, quite as much as Jupiter and Apollo and Minerva; in fact, quite as much as all the gods of every religion who are called by such appellative titles.