RIBHUS. ORPHEUS. ELVES. 17 of the twelve nights will come to pass within the next year. * Before the dispersion of the Aryan race the Ribhus were also called Arbhus, and this form of the word is strictly identical with the Greek name, Orpheus. Of this, as of most other Greek mythical names, the Greek language affords no explanation, but Sanscrit reveals its origin and gives a new interest to its story. We see how the cruder idea of the Ribhus, sweeping trees and rocks in wild dance before them by the force of their stormy song, grew under the beautifying touch of the Hellenic imagination into the legend of that master of the lyre whose magic tones made torrents pause and listen, rocks and trees descend with delight from their mountain beds, and moved even Pluto's unrelenting heart to pity. In Northern Europe, the word Arbhus became changed, in conformity with the laws of the Germanic languages, into Albs, Alb, or Alp; plural Elbe, Elfen; English Elf, Elves. The Maruts also survived under the name of Mârt, or Mahr. The English Nightmare, French Cauchemar, is one of them, and the whole family formed the retinue of Odin, when he rode abroad as the Wild Huntsman. * Kuhn, Ndd. p. 411; Kuhn, Westf. ii. 115. 18 RUDRA. ODIN. APOLLO. Odin's prototypes are Indra and Rudra, the storm-god and dragon-slayer. The latter is called the father of the Maruts, or Winds, and they are as often in attendance on him as on Indra. The stormy Apollo of the older Greek legends is also a close copy of Rudra. The latter "is evidently a form of Agni, or Indra.”* Agni, the god of fire (Latin, ignis), has for retainers the Bhrigus and the Angirases. They are his priests on earth whilst they dwell there in mortal form; and after death they are his friends and companions in heaven. They are also the companions of the clouds and the storms. The Angirases tend the heavenly cows (the clouds), and the Maruts (the storms) milk them. On the whole, it is manifest that all these divine tribes, Maruts, Ribhus, Bhrigus and Angirases, are beings identical in nature, distinguished from each other only by their elemental functions, and not essentially different from the Pitris, or fathers. The latter are simply the souls of the pious dead. High above the clouds and the blue firmament there is a shining realm, whence the sun, the moon, and the stars receive their light, and whence also is drawn the fire of the lightning, which again is the origin of the earthly fire. Here the * Wilson, Rig Veda, Introd. YAMA. MANU. PITRIS. 19 Pitris dwell in everlasting bliss with their great progenitor, the god Yama. The myths relating to the origin of mankind are many and various, but they all agree in this, that the soul of the first man came down to earth as a particle of living fire in the lightning. So it is in the Greek legend of Prometheus he brought down fire from heaven and created the first men. In the Vedas, Yama is the first lightning-born mortal, the first, too, who trod the path of death, and therefore he became king of the departed fathers. His brother, Manu, (i.e., man,) is the chief of the living. It is manifest that Yama and Manu were originally one, but were subsequently divided, Manu becoming the supreme representative of human life on earth, and Yama that of its continuance after death. Manu is the thinking being* (from the root man, whence also the Greek, Latin, and English words, ménos, mens, mind). The Minos and Minyas of the Greeks, and the Mannus of the Germans are identical with Manu. Minos is judge of the dead; Yama, who is only another form of Manu, is their king. The Pitris, or fathers, led no inactive lives in their blissful abode. They were elementary powers, and * Max Müller, "Lectures on Language." 20 PITRIS. BRIGHT ELVES. ANGELS. it was their office to distribute the light that filled that lustrous region, and to adorn the firmament with stars. They themselves too shone as stars to mortal eyes. This most ancient belief is not yet extinct in England and Germany. It has come down to our own day through the fairy mythology of the north, and has become blended with popular conceptions of the nature of the angels. The author of the prose Edda says that, "at the southern end of heaven stands the palace of Gimli, the most beautiful of all, and more brilliant than the sun. It will continue to stand when heaven and earth pass away, and all good and upright men of all times will dwell therein. It is said, that above and southward of yonder heaven, there is another called Andlângr, and also a third above these two, which is called Vîdblâinn; and in this heaven, as we believe, is that palace situated, and only inhabited now by the bright elves (liosâlfar)." These bright elves are in all respects identical with the Pitris. "The idea," says Sommer, "that men, at their birth, come out from the community of the elves, and return to it after death, is deeply-rooted in our (German) paganism." In most English villages children are taught that it is very wrong to point at the stars, but they are not often told why it is wrong. APAS. APSARASES. SWAN-MAIDENS. 21 Their parents have probably forgotten the reason, for that is a common occurrence in matters of superstition. The rule remains in force long after its principle has faded from popular recollection. But in Germany the same precept is inculcated, and the reason is always given for it: "the stars are the angels' eyes."* The cloud-maidens, of whom we have already spoken, are known in the Vedas as Âpas, (waters), and are styled brides of the gods (Dêvapatnis) and Nâvyah, i.e., navigators of the celestial sea. Nearly related to them, but less divine, are the Apsarases, damsels whose habitat is between the earth and the sun. They are the houris of the Vedic paradise, destined to delight the souls of heroes. Their name means either "the formless" or " the water going," and they appear to have been personifications of the manifold but ill-defined forms of the mists; but other natural phenomena may also have been represented under their image. The Apsarases are fond of transforming themselves into water fowl, especially swans; they are the originals of the swanmaidens of Germanic story, and are closely related to the Elves, Mahrs, and Valkyries. The Apsarases had shirts of swan plumage, and it * Wolf, Beitr., ii. 291. |