1 Th2 philosophy and
2 religion of the anci-
3 ent Hindus.
4 Tho modern notions
5 reguding the Deity.
6 The Hindu gods.
7 Bruhma.
8 faders.
9 Shiva
10 40 HISTORY OF THE PANJAB.
11 taken place among them. The whole of their system of theology is
12 professedly founded on the Vedas, and the great objects of worship in
13 the Maniras are Indra, or the firmament, Surya, the god of the sun,
14 Soma, the god of the moon, and the gods of fire, air, water, earth, the
15 atmosphere and spirits. The elements and_ planets are personified. We
16 remember how the Aryaus of the Panjab, in their struggle with the abori-
17 ginal tribes, invoked the gods for help. Indra, the god of heaven, thunder,
18 lightning, storms and rain, destroyed the towers and fortresses of their
19 enemies, The warriors in the land of the Indus were urged to follow the
20 victorious chariot of Indra. Indra was invoked to raise up the souls of
21 the warriors, to be with them when the banners of war waved, and to give
22 them supremacy over the black skins. The stature of Mitra, the highest
23 god of light, transcended the sky. He 6 sustained heaven and earth,” “ his
24 glory spread beyond earth” and “with never closing eyes, he looked down
25 on allcreatures.” Varuna was the god of the life-giving water which
26 sprung from the heavens. Agni, the god of fire, “warmed everything
27 with a glance.” The Vedas taught belief in “one Supreme Power,” “the
28 Self-existing Power,” “He whom the mind alone can perceive.” By degrees
29 the worship of deified heroes was inculcated, and numberless inferior gods
30 were introduced. About the tenth century of the Christian era, however,
31 these notions about the Deity seem to have undergone a material change,
32 and the Hindu worship has been since chiefly confined to Shiva, Vishnu,
33 Sakti and a few other gods. ‘Rama, the champion of the famous epic poem,
34 HeenG: Krishna and other heroes emanating from Vishnu, are worshipped
35 as gods.
36 It may be interesting to give here a brief sketch of the characteristics
37 of the principal Hindu gods now worshipped.
38 Brahma, the grandfather of the gods and of the human race, is the
39 chief person of the Trinity, representing the creating, the preserving and
40 the destroying principles, the three mighty forces by which nature works
41 her miracles. He is represented in the form of a man with four faces of
42 gold, dressed in white and riding on a goose. He holds a wand in one
43 hand and adish for charity in the other. He is the possessor of the most
44 spacious heaven, “the beauties of which could not be described even in
45 two hundred years.”
46 _ Indra, who was so much dreaded and flattered by the ancient Aryans,
47 1s now most frequently worshipped by women. He is regarded as the
48 generous bestower of sons, riches, houses and different kinds of pleasure
49 in this world and the next.
50 Shiva, “the destroyer,” “the prince of death and god of war,” is
51 represented, sometimes, with five faces and four arms, and, at others, in the
52 natural form of a man, but with an additional eye. He is adorned with a
53 necklace of skulls, and is propitiated as the enemy of mankind. He dances
54 over mangled corpses and drinks blood from the skulls of the slain. Festivals
55 are annually held in his honour, at which horrible cerernonies of self-inflicted
56 torture are : ere : : -
57 ture are performed ; such as piercing the tongue, inserting pieces of wood
58 into the wound and such like rites. He is the husband ‘of the goddesses
59 Durga and Kali. ”
60 : Vishnu, “the preserver,” is represented in the form of a black man
61 ee joes arms, one of which holds a club, another a shell, the third
62 vsdve ee and the fourth a water-lily. His garments are yellow, and he
63 ae Dae animal half man and half bird. He is the household god and
64 fate : remove family misfortunes. He is the lord of two wives
65 ‘sisamt, the goddess of fortune and prosperity, and Saraswati, the
66 Sri Satguru J agjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@ gmail.com