tion in India, where nothing is so powerful for dispelling
miasmas, restoring health, and imparting fresh vigor to man and
beast, as a thunderstorm, following after weeks of heat and drought.

All these and several others, such as Par_g_anya and the _Ri_bhus, are
the gods of mid-air, the most active and dramatic gods, ever present
to the fancy of the ancient poets, and in several cases the prototypes
of later heroes, celebrated in the epic poems of India. In battles,
more particularly, these fighting gods of the sky were constantly
invoked.[225] Indra is the leader in battles, the protector of the
bright Aryans, the destroyer of the black aboriginal inhabitants of
India. "He has thrown down fifty thousand black fellows," the poet
says, "and their strongholds crumbled away like an old rag." Strange
to say, Indra is praised for having saved his people from their
enemies, much as Jehovah was praised by the Jewish prophets. Thus we
read in one hymn that when Sudas, the pious king of the T_ri_tsus, was
pressed hard in his battle with the ten kings, Indra changed the flood
into an easy ford, and thus saved Sudas.

In another hymn we read:[226] "Thou hast restrained the great river
for the sake of Turviti Vayya: the flood moved in obedience to thee,
and thou madest the rivers easy to cross." This is not very different
from the Psalmist (78:13): "He divided the sea, and caused them to
pass through; and he made the waters to stand as an heap."

And there are other passages which have reminded some students of the
Veda of Joshua's battle,[227] when the sun stood still and the moon
stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies.
For we read in the Veda also, as Professor Kaegi has pointed out (l.
c. p. 63), that "Indra lengthened the days into the night," and that
"the Sun unharnessed its chariot in the middle of the day."[228]

In some of the hymns addressed to Indra his original connection with
the sky and the thunderstorm seems quite forgotten. He has become a
spiritual god, the only king of all worlds and all people,[229] who
sees and hears everything,[230] nay, who inspires men with their best
thoughts. No one is equal to him, no one excels him.

The name of Indra is peculiar to India, and must have been formed after
the separation of the great Aryan family had taken place, for we find it
neither in Greek, nor in Latin, nor in German. There are Vedic gods, as
I mentioned before, whose names must have b