ike heroes rushing to
battle, they stream onward. They are fair as deer; their roar is like
that of lions. The mountains bow before them, thinking themselves to
be valleys, and the hills bow down. Good warriors and good steeds are
their gifts. They smite, they kill, they rend the rocks, they strip
the trees like caterpillars; they rise together, and, like spokes in a
wheel, are united in strength. Their female companion is Rodas[=i]
(lightning, from the same root as _rudra_, the 'red'). They are like
wild boars, and (like the sun) they have metallic jaws. On their
chariots are speckled hides; like birds they spread their wings; they
strive in flight with each other. Before them the earth sways like a
ship. They dance upon their path. Upon their chests for beauty's sake
they bind gold armor. From the heavenly udder they milk down rain.
"Through whose wisdom, through whose design do they come?" cries the
poet. They have no real adversary. The kings of the forest they tear
asunder, and make tremble even the rocks. Their music is heard on
every side.[18]

RUDRA.

The father of the Maruts, Rudra, is 'the ruddy one,' _par excellence_
and so to him is ascribed paternity of the 'ruddy ones.' But while
Indra has a plurality of hymns, Rudra has but few, and these it is not
of special importance to cite. The features in each case are the same.
The Maruts remain as gods whose function causes them to be invoked
chiefly that they may spare from the fury of the tempest. This idea is
in Rudra's case carried out further, and he is specially called on to
avert (not only 'cow-slaying' and 'man-slaying' by lightning,[19] but
also) disease, pestilence, etc. Hence is he preeminently, on the one
hand, the kindly god who averts disease, and, on the other, of
destruction in every form. From him Father Manu got wealth and health,
and he is the fairest of beings, but, more, he is the strongest god
(ii. 33. 3, 10). From such a prototype comes the later god of healing
and woe--Rudra, who becomes Civa.[20]

RAIN-GODS.

There is one rather mechanical hymn directed to the Waters themselves
as goddesses, where Indra is the god who gives them passage. But in
the unique hymn to the Rivers it is Varuna who, as general god of
water, is represented as their patron. In the first hymn the
rain-water is meant.[21] A description in somewhat jovial vein of the
joy produced by the rain after long drought forms the subject matter
of another lyric (less a