s there, the moon, but the glory
of the Vedic Soma has departed. His lunar representative is of little
importance. Agni, too, is changed. As Fire in the Rig Veda is not only
the altar-fire, but also common, every-day fire, so, too, in the epic
this god is the material flame, and as such even performs his greatest
deeds for his worshippers. He takes on every form, even becoming a
priest, and a dove. He remains the priest of the gods, but his day of
action in war is over. He no longer wins battles. But he burns down a
forest to aid his party. For the Vedic gods are now but weak partizans
of the combatants. In the sectarian parts of the epic Agni is only a
puppet. His new representative, Skanda, is the chief battle-god, a
name almost unknown before. He himself is either the son of Vishnu or
a form of Civa. He is the All-god, the _[=a]tm[=a]_. It is he who
burns the world when the time shall have come for the general
destruction.

The high and mighty Varuna of the Rig Veda is no longer great. He is
no longer serene. He descends and fights on earth. Indra, too, battles
with Vritra as of old, but he is quite anthropomorphic, and of no
marked value in the contest of heroes. Not only this, but all the gods
together are represented as weaker than a good hero, not to speak of a
priestly ascetic. In a word, the gods are believed in, but with what a
belief! They no longer, as natural powers, inspire special respect.
Their nature-origin is for the most part lost. They are thoroughly
anthropomorphic. Even S[=u]rya, the sun, in action if not in
laudation, is often more man than god. This gives a strange effect to
the epic battle-scenes as compared with those of Homer. Unless Vishnu
is active on the field the action is essentially human. No great god
or goddess stands ready to save the fainting warrior. He fights and
falls alone. Save for the caresses and plaudits of the half-gods, the
most that the Vedic gods can do is to wipe away the sweat from the
hero's brow.[12] The All-god does not take the place of the band of
watchful and helpful gods pictured by Homer. Vishnu fights on the
field; he saves only his proteges, and much as a mortal warrior would
do it. But the Vedic gods hang like a mist upon the edge of battle,
and are all but idle spectators of the scene. Abstractions, as well as
the All-god, have routed them, and Dharma or Duty is a greater god
than Indra. But there is an older side to this, as we shall presently
show. On the