s time,
who admitted three deities only, viz., A g n i or fire, whose place is on
the earth; V a y u or I n d r a, the wind and the god of the thunderstorm,
whose place is in the air; and S u r y a, the sun, whose place is in the
sky. These deities, they maintained, received severally many
appellations, in consequence of their greatness, or of the diversity
of their functions, just as a priest, according to the functions which
he performs at various sacrifices, receives various names.

This is _one_ view of the Vedic gods, and, though too narrow, it
cannot be denied that there is some truth in it. A very useful
division of the Vedic gods might be made, and has been made by Yaska,
into _terrestrial_, _aerial_, and _celestial_, and if the old Hindu
theologians meant no more than that all the manifestations of divine
power in nature might be traced back to three centres of force, one in
the sky, one in the air, and one on the earth, he deserves great
credit for his sagacity.

But he himself perceived evidently that this generalization was not
quite applicable to all the gods, and he goes on to say: "Or, it may
be, these gods are all distinct beings, for the praises addressed to
them are distinct, and their appellations also." This is quite right.
It is the very object of most of these divine names to impart distinct
individuality to the manifestations of the powers of nature; and
though the philosopher or the inspired poet might perceive that these
numerous names were but names, while that which was named was _one_
and _one_ only, this was certainly not the idea of most of the Vedic
_Ri_shis themselves, still less of the people who listened to their
songs at fairs and festivals. It is the peculiar character of that
phase of religious thought which we have to study in the Veda, that in
it the Divine is conceived and represented as manifold, and that many
functions are shared in common by various gods, no attempt having yet
been made at organizing the whole body of the gods, sharply
separating one from the other, and subordinating all of them to
several or, in the end, to one supreme head.

Availing ourselves of the division of the Vedic gods into terrestrial,
aerial, and celestial, as proposed by some of the earliest Indian
theologians, we should have to begin with the gods connected with the
earth.

Before we examine them, however, we have first to consider one of the
earliest objects of worship and adoration, namely