counted in terms of
lakes, and not only nerve him for the fray but also intoxicate him[150].
Under the name of Sakka, Indra figures largely in the Buddhist sutras,
and seems to have been the chief popular deity in the Buddha's lifetime.
He was adopted into the new creed as a sort of archangel and heavenly
defender of the faith. In the epics he is still a mighty deity and the
lord of paradise. Happiness in his heaven is the reward of the pious
warrior after death. The Mahabharata and the Puranas, influenced perhaps
by Buddhism, speak of a series of Indras, each lasting for a cycle, but
superseded when a new heaven and earth appear. In modern Hinduism his
name is familiar though he does not receive much worship. Yet in spite
of his long pre-eminence there is no disposition to regard him as the
supreme and only god. Though the Rig Veda calls him the creator and
destroyer of all things[151], he is not God in our sense any more than
other deities are. He is the personification of strength and success,
but he is not sufficiently spiritual or mystical to hold and satisfy the
enquiring mind.

3

One of the most interesting and impressive of Vedic deities is Varuna,
often invoked with a more shadowy double called Mitra. No myths or
exploits are related of him but he is the omnipotent and omniscient
upholder of moral and physical law. He established earth and sky: he set
the sun in heaven and ordained the movements of the moon and stars: the
wind is his breath and by his law the heavens and earth are kept apart.
He perceives all that exists in heaven and earth or beyond, nor could a
man escape him though he fled beyond the sky. The winkings of men's eyes
are all numbered by him[152]: he knows all that man does or thinks. Sin
is the infringement of his ordinances and he binds sinners in fetters.
Hence they pray to him for release from sin and he is gracious to the
penitent. Whereas the other deities are mainly asked to bestow material
boons, the hymns addressed to Varuna contain petitions for forgiveness.
He dwells in heaven in a golden mansion. His throne is great and lofty
with a thousand columns and his abode has a thousand doors. From it he
looks down on the doings of men and the all-seeing sun comes to his
courts to report.

There is much in these descriptions which is unlike the attributes
ascribed to any other member of the Vedic pantheon and recalls Ahura
Mazda of the Avesta or Semitic deities. No proof of foreign inf