Those seven in the mountain of the sunset were born. Those seven in the mountain of the sunrise grew up. In the hollows of the earth have they their dwelling; On the high places of the earth are they proclaimed. Among the gods their couch they have not; Their name in heaven and earth exists not. Seven are they; in the mountain of the sunset do they rise; Seven are they; in the mountain of the sunrise do they set. Let the Fire-god seize upon the incubus; Those baleful seven may he remove, and their bodies may he bind. Order and kindness know they not, Prayer and supplication hear they not. Unto Hea they are hostile; Disturbing the lily in the torrents are they. Baleful are they, baleful are they, Seven are they, seven are they.” “They are the dark storms of heaven which unto fire unite themselves; They are the destructive tempests which, on a fine day, sudden darkness cause; With storms and meteors they rush, Their rage ignites the thunderbolts of Im, From the right hand of the thunder they dart forth. They are seven, these evil spirits, and death they fear not; They are seven, these evil spirits, who rush like a hurricane, And fall like fire-brands on the earth.”[71] Here we have more than a suggestion of the origin of some of the early songs of the Vedas, for these seven storm-spirits are represented by the Marūts of the Hindūs—“the shakers of the earth”—who dash through the heavens in chariots drawn by dappled deer. In this primitive mythology we find also ASSUR. The “god of judges” was the especial patron of Assyria, and afterward made to express the power of the later Assyrian empire by becoming “father of the gods” and the head of the pantheon. The Assyrian kings claimed that their power was derived from this deity, and in one of the inscriptions it is said that “The universal king,[72] king of Assyria, the king whom Assur, King of the spirits of heaven, appointed with a kingdom, Without rival has filled his hand. From the great sea of the rising of the sun To the great sea of the setting of the sun His hand conquered and has subdued in all entirety.” In the inscriptions of Shalmanesar II, all honor is also ascribed to this god; he is invoked as “Assur, the great lord, the king of all the great gods.” And it is said: “By the command of Assur, the great lord, my lord, I approached the mountain of Shitamrat— The mountain I stormed. Akhuni trusted to the multitude of his troops and came forth to meet me; He drew up in battle array. I launched among them the weapons of Assur, my lord; I utterly defeated them. I cut off the heads of his soldiers and dyed the mountains with the blood of his fighting men. Many of his troops flung themselves against the rocks of the mountains.”[73]