presumably made it popular among the
enlightened. Exoterically the sun was only the goal of the soul, or,
in pure pantheism, of the sight. In the following[22] the
sin-forgiving side of Savitar is developed, whereby he comes into
connection with Varuna:

God Savitar deserveth now a song from us;
To-day, with guiding word, let men direct him here.
He who distributes gifts unto the sons of men,
Shall here on us bestow whatever thing is best;
For thou, O Savitar, dost first upon the gods
Who sacrifice deserve, lay immortality,
The highest gift, and then to mortals dost extend
As their apportionment a long enduring life.
Whatever thoughtless thing against the
race of gods We do in foolishness and human insolence,
Do thou from that, O Savitar, mid gods and men
Make us here sinless, etc.

But if this song smacks of the sacrifice, still more so does V. 81,
where Savitar is the 'priest's priest,' the 'arranger of sacrifice,'
and is one with P[=u]shan. He is here the swift horse (see above) and
more famous as the divider of time than anything else. In fact this
was the first ritualistic glory of Savitar, that he divides the time
for sacrifice. But he receives more in the light of being the type of
other luminous divinities. In the next hymn, another late effort (V.
82; see the dream in vs. 4), there may be an imitation of the
G[=a]yatr[=i]. Savitar is here the All-god and true lord, and frees
from sin. There is nothing new or striking in the hymns VI. 71; VII.
38 and 45. The same golden hands, and references to the sacrifice
occur here. Allusions to the Dragon of the Deep, who is called upon
with Savitar (VII. 38. 5), and the identification of Savitar with
Bhaga (ib. 6) are the most important items to be gleaned from these
rather stupid hymns. In other hymns not in the family-books
(II.-VIII.), there is a fragment, X. 139. 1-3, and another, I. 22.
5-8. In the latter, Agni's (Fire's) title, 'son of waters,' is given
to Savitar, who is virtually identified with Agni in the last part of
the Rig Veda; and in the former hymn there is an interesting
discrimination made between Savitar and P[=u]shan, who obeys him. The
last hymn in the collection to Savitar, X. 149, although late and
plainly intended for the sacrifice (vs. 5), is interesting as showing
how the philosophical speculation worked about Savitar as a centre.
'He alone, he the son of the waters, knows the origin of water, whence
arose the world.