The Contemporary Review, Volume 36, October 1879Various
History
The Contemporary Review, Volume 36, October 1879
Various
Arts -- Periodicals; Literature -- Periodicals; Political science -- Periodicals
In fine, the sovereign god of Persia, notwithstanding the character of
profound abstraction which he has acquired and which is reflected in his
name Ahura Mazda, "the omniscient Lord," can himself be recognized as a
god of the heavens. The ancient formulæ of the litanies still show that
he is luminous and corporeal; they invoke the creator Ahura Mazda,
resplendent, very great, very beautiful, corporeally beautiful; white,
luminous, seen from afar; they invoke the entire body of Ahura Mazda,
the body of Ahura which is the greatest of bodies; they say that the sun
is his eye, and that the sky is the garment embroidered with stars with
which he arrays himself; lastly, the most abstract of the Aryan gods has
preserved a trait which shows him more closely tied than the others to
the material world from which they have freed themselves; he is called
"the most solid of the gods," because "he has for clothing the very
solid stone of the sky." Like Varuna, like Zeus, the lightning is in his
hands, "the molten brass which he causes to flow down on the two
worlds;" like them he is the father of the god of lightning, Atar.
Lastly, the most ancient historical evidence confirms the inductions of
mythology, as at the very time when the Achæmenian kings proclaim the
sovereignty of Aurâmazda, Herodotus wrote: "The Persians offer up
sacrifices to Zeus,[50] going up on the highest summit of the mountains,
as they call _Zeus the entire orb of the sky_."
Thus the supreme gods of the four great religions of Greece, of Italy,
of India, and of Persia, are at the same time, or have begun by being
gods of the skies. By the side of these four, Svarogu, the god of the
ancient pagan Slavs, should no doubt equally be placed. Like Zeus, like
Jupiter, like Varuna, like Ahura Mazda, he is the master of the
universe, the gods are his children, and it is from him that they have
received their functions; like them he is the god of the heavens, he is
the thunderer, and like them he is the father of the Fire, Svarojitchi,
"the son of heaven."[51]
His Origin.[52]
How did the god of the heavens become the organizing god, the supreme
God, the moral God? How was the abstract conception grafted on the
naturalistic conception? What is the connection between his material
attribute and his abstract function? The Vedas give the solution of this
problem.
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