nvited to come to
the sacrifice "with the gods," but this, of course, is not meant to
exclude them from the list of gods[56].

The antithesis of male and female, to Bergaigne's insistence on which
reference was made above (p. 43), even here in this most obvious of
forms, common to so many religions, shows itself so faintly that it
fails utterly to support that basis of sexual dualism on which the
French scholar lays so much stress. Dyaus does, indeed, occasionally
take the place of Indra, and as a bellowing bull impregnate earth, but
this is wholly incidental and not found at all in the hymns directly
lauding Heaven and Earth. Moreover, instead of "father and mother"
Heaven and Earth often are spoken of as "the two mothers," the
significance of which cannot be nullified by the explanation that to
the Hindu 'two mothers' meant two parents, and of two parents one must
be male,--Bergaigne's explanation. For not only is Dyaus one of the
'two mothers,' but when independently used the word Dyaus is male or
female indifferently. Thus in X. 93. I: "O Heaven and Earth be wide
outstretched for us, (be) like two young women." The position of
Heaven and Earth in relation to other divinities varies with the fancy
of the poet that extols them. They are either created, or they create
gods, as well as create men. In accordance with the physical reach of
these deities they are exhorted to give strength whereby the
worshipper shall "over-reach all peoples"; and, as parents, to be the
"nearest of the gods," to be "like father and mother in kindness." (I.
159; 160. 2, 5.)

One more attribute remains to be noticed, which connects Dyaus morally
as well as physically with Savitar and Varuna. The verse in which this
attribute is spoken of is also not without interest from a
sociological point of view: "Whatsoever sin we have committed against
the gods, or against a friend, or against the chief of the clan
(family)[57] may this hymn to Heaven and Earth avert it." It was shown
above that Savitar removes sin. Here, as in later times, it is the
hymn that does this. The mystery of these gods' origin puzzles the
seer: "Which was first and which came later, how were they begotten,
who knows, O ye wise seers? Whatever exists, that they carry."[58] But
all that they do they do under the command of Mitra.[59]

The most significant fact in connection with the hymns to Heaven and
Earth is that most of them are expressly for sacrificial intent. "With
s