The Religions of India: Handbooks on the History of Religions, Volume 1, Edited by Morris JastrowHopkins, Edward Washburn
Religion
The Religions of India: Handbooks on the History of Religions, Volume 1, Edited by Morris Jastrow
Hopkins, Edward Washburn
India -- Religion
The mother of Varuna and the luminous gods is the 'mother of kings,'
Boundlessness (_aditi_)[90] a product of priestly theosophy. Aditi
makes, perhaps, the first approach to formal pantheism in India, for
all gods, men, and things are identified with her (i. 89. 10). Seven
children of Aditi are mentioned, to whom is added an eighth (in one
hymn).[91] The chief of these, who is, _par excellence_ the [=A]ditya
(son of Aditi), is Varuna. Most of the others are divinities of the
sun (x. 72). With Varuna stands Mitra, and besides this pair are found
'the true friend' Aryaman, Savitar, Bhaga, and, later, Indra, as sun
(?). Daksha and Ança are also reckoned as [=A]dityas, and S[=u]rya is
enumerated among them as a divinity distinct from Savitar. But the
word _aditi,_ 'unbound,' is often a mere epithet, of Fire, Sky, etc.
Moreover, in one passage, at least, _aditi_ simply means 'freedom' (i.
24. 1), less boundlessness than 'un-bondage'; so, probably, in i. 185.
3, 'the gift of freedom.' Ança seems to have much the same meaning
with Bhaga, _viz.,_ the sharer, giver. Daksha may, perhaps, be the
'clever,' 'strong' one ([Greek: dexios]), abstract Strength; as
another name of the sun (?). Aditi herself (according to Müller,
Infinity; according to Hillebrandt, Eternity) is an abstraction that
is born later than her chief sons, Sun and Varuna.[92] Zarathustra
(Zoroaster, not earlier than the close of the first Vedic period) took
the seven [=A]dityas and reformed them into one monotheistic
(dualistic) Spirit (Ahura), with a circle of six moral attendants,
thereby dynamically destroying every physical conception of them.
DAWN.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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