Myths of Babylonia and Assyria Part 26

The earliest germ of the Creation myth was the idea that night was the parent of day, and water of the earth. Out of darkness and death came light and life. Life was also motion. When the primordial waters became troubled, life began to be. Out of the confusion came order and organization. This process involved the idea of a stable and controlling power, and the succession of a group of deities--pa.s.sive deities and active deities. When the Babylonian astrologers a.s.sisted in developing the Creation myth, they appear to have identified with the stable and controlling spirit of the night heaven that steadfast orb the Polar Star. Anshar, like Shakespeare's Caesar, seemed to say:

I am constant as the northern star, Of whose true-fixed and resting quality There is no fellow in the firmament. The skies are painted with unnumbered sparks; They are all fire, and every one doth shine; But there's but one in all doth hold his place.[360]

a.s.sociated with the Polar Star was the constellation Ursa Minor, "the Little Bear", called by the Babylonian astronomers, "the Lesser Chariot". There were chariots before horses were introduced. A patesi of Lagash had a chariot which was drawn by a.s.ses.

The seemingly steadfast Polar Star was called "Ilu Sar", "the G.o.d Shar", or Anshar, "star of the height", or "Shar the most high". It seemed to be situated at the summit of the vault of heaven. The G.o.d Shar, therefore, stood upon the Celestial mountain, the Babylonian Olympus. He was the ghost of the elder G.o.d, who in Babylonia was displaced by the younger G.o.d, Merodach, as Mercury, the morning star, or as the sun, the planet of day; and in a.s.syria by Ashur, as the sun, or Regulus, or Arcturus, or Orion. Yet father and son were identical.

They were phases of the One, the "self power".

A deified reigning king was an incarnation of the G.o.d; after death he merged in the G.o.d, as did the Egyptian Unas. The eponymous hero a.s.shur may have similarly merged in the universal Ashur, who, like Horus, an incarnation of Osiris, had many phases or forms.

Isaiah appears to have been familiar with the Tigro-Euphratean myths about the divinity of kings and the displacement of the elder G.o.d by the younger G.o.d, of whom the ruling monarch was an incarnation, and with the idea that the summit of the Celestial mountain was crowned by the "north star", the symbol of Anshar. "Thou shalt take up this parable", he exclaimed, making use of Babylonian symbolism, "against the king of Babylon and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! the golden city ceased!... How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend unto heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of G.o.d; I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, _in the sides of the north_; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High."[361] The king is identified with Lucifer as the deity of fire and the morning star; he is the younger G.o.d who aspired to occupy the mountain throne of his father, the G.o.d Shar--the Polar or North Star.

It is possible that the Babylonian idea of a Celestial mountain gave origin to the belief that the earth was a mountain surrounded by the outer ocean, beheld by Etana when he flew towards heaven on the eagle's back. In India this hill is Mount Meru, the "world spine", which "sustains the earth"; it is surmounted by Indra's Valhal, or "the great city of Brahma". In Teutonic mythology the heavens revolve round the Polar Star, which is called "Veraldar nagli",[362] the "world spike"; while the earth is sustained by the "world tree". The "ded" amulet of Egypt symbolized the backbone of Osiris as a world G.o.d: "ded" means "firm", "established";[363] while at burial ceremonies the coffin was set up on end, inside the tomb, "on a small sandhill intended to represent the Mountain of the West--the realm of the dead".[364] The Babylonian temple towers were apparently symbols of the "world hill". At Babylon, the Du-azaga, "holy mound", was Merodach's temple E-sagila, "the Temple of the High Head". E-kur, rendered "the house or temple of the Mountain", was the temple of Bel Enlil at Nippur. At Erech, the temple of the G.o.ddess Ishtar was E-anna, which connects her, as Nina or Ninni, with Anu, derived from "ana", "heaven". Ishtar was "Queen of heaven".

Now Polaris, situated at the summit of the celestial mountain, was identified with the sacred goat, "the highest of the flock of night".[365] Ursa Minor (the "Little Bear" constellation) may have been "the goat with six heads", referred to by Professor Sayce.[366]

The six astral goats or goat-men were supposed to be dancing round the chief goat-man or Satyr (Anshar). Even in the dialogues of Plato the immemorial belief was perpetuated that the constellations were "moving as in a dance". Dancing began as a magical or religious practice, and the earliest astronomers saw their dancing customs reflected in the heavens by the constellations, whose movements were rhythmical. No doubt, Isaiah had in mind the belief of the Babylonians regarding the dance of their goat-G.o.ds when he foretold: "Their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls (ghosts) shall dwell there, and _satyrs shall dance there_".[367] In other words, there would be no people left to perform religious dances beside the "desolate houses"; the stars only would be seen dancing round Polaris.

Tammuz, like Anshar, as sentinel of the night heaven, was a goat, as was also Nin-Girsu of Lagash. A Sumerian reference to "a white kid of En Mersi (Nin-Girsu)" was translated into Semitic, "a white kid of Tammuz". The goat was also a.s.sociated with Merodach. Babylonians, having prayed to that G.o.d to take away their diseases or their sins, released a goat, which was driven into the desert. The present Polar Star, which was not, of course, the Polar star of the earliest astronomers, the world having rocked westward, is called in Arabic Al-Jedy, "the kid". In India, the goat was connected with Agni and Varuna; it was slain at funeral ceremonies to inform the G.o.ds that a soul was about to enter heaven. Ea, the Sumerian lord of water, earth, and heaven, was symbolized as a "goat fish". Thor, the Teutonic fertility and thunder G.o.d, had a chariot drawn by goats. It is of interest to note that the sacred Sumerian goat bore on its forehead the same triangular symbol as the Apis bull of Egypt.

Ashur was not a "goat of heaven", but a "bull of heaven", like the Sumerian Nannar (Sin), the moon G.o.d of Ur, Ninip of Saturn, and Bel Enlil. As the bull, however, he was, like Anshar, the ruling animal of the heavens; and like Anshar he had a.s.sociated with him "six divinities of council".

Other deities who were similarly exalted as "high heads" at various centres and at various periods, included Anu, Bel Enlil, and Ea, Merodach, Nergal, and Shamash. A symbol of the first three was a turban on a seat, or altar, which may have represented the "world mountain". Ea, as "the world spine", was symbolized as a column, with ram's head, standing on a throne, beside which crouched a "goat fish".

Merodach's column terminated in a lance head, and the head of a lion crowned that of Nergal. These columns were probably connected with pillar worship, and therefore with tree worship, the pillar being the trunk of the "world tree". The symbol of the sun G.o.d Shamash was a disc, from which flowed streams of water; his rays apparently were "fertilizing tears", like the rays of the Egyptian sun G.o.d Ra. Horus, the Egyptian falcon G.o.d, was symbolized as the winged solar disc.

It is necessary to acc.u.mulate these details regarding other deities and their symbols before dealing with Ashur. The symbols of Ashur must be studied, because they are one of the sources of our knowledge regarding the G.o.d's origin and character. These include (1) a winged disc with horns, enclosing four circles revolving round a middle circle; rippling rays fall down from either side of the disc; (2) a circle or wheel, suspended from wings, and enclosing a warrior drawing his bow to discharge an arrow; and (3) the same circle; the warrior's bow, however, is carried in his left hand, while the right hand is uplifted as if to bless his worshippers. These symbols are taken from seal cylinders.

An a.s.syrian standard, which probably represented the "world column", has the disc mounted on a bull's head with horns. The upper part of the disc is occupied by a warrior, whose head, part of his bow, and the point of his arrow protrude from the circle. The rippling water rays are V-shaped, and two bulls, treading river-like rays, occupy the divisions thus formed. There are also two heads--a lion's and a man's--with gaping mouths, which may symbolize tempests, the destroying power of the sun, or the sources of the Tigris and Euphrates.

Jastrow regards the winged disc as "the purer and more genuine symbol of Ashur as a solar deity". He calls it "a sun disc with protruding rays", and says: "To this symbol the warrior with the bow and arrow was added--a despiritualization that reflects the martial spirit of the a.s.syrian empire".[368]

The sun symbol on the sun boat of Ra encloses similarly a human figure, which was apparently regarded as the soul of the sun: the life of the G.o.d was in the "sun egg". In an Indian prose treatise it is set forth: "Now that man in yonder orb (the sun) and that man in the right eye truly are no other than Death (the soul). His feet have stuck fast in the heart, and having pulled them out he comes forth; and when he comes forth then that man dies; whence they say of him who has pa.s.sed away, 'he has been cut off (his life or life string has been severed)'."[369] The human figure did not indicate a process of "despiritualization" either in Egypt or in India. The Horus "winged disc" was besides a symbol of destruction and battle, as well as of light and fertility. Horus a.s.sumed that form in one legend to destroy Set and his followers.[370] But, of course, the same symbols may not have conveyed the same ideas to all peoples. As Blake put it:

What to others a trifle appears Fills me full of smiles and tears.... With my inward Eye, 't is an old Man grey, With my outward, a Thistle across my way.

Indeed, it is possible that the winged disc meant one thing to an a.s.syrian priest, and another thing to a man not gifted with what Blake called "double vision".

What seems certain, however, is that the archer was as truly solar as the "wings" or "rays". In Babylonia and a.s.syria the sun was, among other things, a destroyer from the earliest times. It is not surprising, therefore, to find that Ashur, like Merodach, resembled, in one of his phases, Hercules, or rather his prototype Gilgamesh. One of Gilgamesh's mythical feats was the slaying of three demon birds.

These may be identical with the birds of prey which Hercules, in performing his sixth labour, hunted out of Stymphalus.[371] In the Greek Hipparcho-Ptolemy star list Hercules was the constellation of the "Kneeler", and in Babylonian-a.s.syrian astronomy he was (as Gilgamesh or Merodach) "Sarru", "the king". The astral "Arrow"

(constellation of Sagitta) was pointed against the constellations of the "Eagle", "Vulture", and "Swan". In Phoenician astronomy the Vulture was "Zither" (Lyra), a weapon with which Hercules (identified with Melkarth) slew Linos, the musician. Hercules used a solar arrow, which he received from Apollo. In various mythologies the arrow is a.s.sociated with the sun, the moon, and the atmospheric deities, and is a symbol of lightning, rain, and fertility, as well as of famine, disease, war, and death. The green-faced G.o.ddess Neith of Libya, compared by the Greeks to Minerva, carries in one hand two arrows and a bow.[372] If we knew as little of Athena (Minerva), who was armed with a lance, a breastplate made of the skin of a goat, a shield, and helmet, as we do of Ashur, it might be held that she was simply a G.o.ddess of war. The archer in the sun disc of the a.s.syrian standard probably represented Ashur as the G.o.d of the people--a deity closely akin to Merodach, with p.r.o.nounced Tammuz traits, and therefore linking with other local deities like Ninip, Nergal, and Shamash, and partaking also like these of the attributes of the elder G.o.ds Anu, Bel Enlil, and Ea.

All the other deities worshipped by the a.s.syrians were of Babylonian origin. Ashur appears to have differed from them just as one local Babylonian deity differed from another. He reflected a.s.syrian experiences and aspirations, but it is difficult to decide whether the sublime spiritual aspect of his character was due to the beliefs of alien peoples, by whom the early a.s.syrians were influenced, or to the teachings of advanced Babylonian thinkers, whose doctrines found readier acceptance in a "new country" than among the conservative ritualists of ancient Sumerian and Akkadian cities. New cults were formed from time to time in Babylonia, and when they achieved political power they gave a distinctive character to the religion of their city states. Others which did not find political support and remained in obscurity at home, may have yet extended their influence far and wide. Buddhism, for instance, originated in India, but now flourishes in other countries, to which it was introduced by missionaries. In the homeland it was submerged by the revival of Brahmanism, from which it sprung, and which it was intended permanently to displace. An instance of an advanced cult suddenly achieving prominence as a result of political influence is afforded by Egypt, where the fully developed Aton religion was embraced and established as a national religion by Akhenaton, the so-called "dreamer". That migrations were sometimes propelled by cults, which sought new areas in which to exercise religious freedom and propagate their beliefs, is suggested by the invasion of India at the close of the Vedic period by the "later comers", who laid the foundations of Brahmanism. They established themselves in Madhyadesa, "the Middle Country", "the land where the Brahmanas and the later Samhitas were produced". From this centre went forth missionaries, who accomplished the Brahmanization of the rest of India.[373]

It may be, therefore, that the cult of Ashur was influenced in its development by the doctrines of advanced teachers from Babylonia, and that Persian Mithraism was also the product of missionary efforts extended from that great and ancient cultural area. Mitra, as has been stated, was one of the names of the Babylonian sun G.o.d, who was also a G.o.d of fertility. But Ashur could not have been to begin with merely a battle and solar deity. As the G.o.d of a city state he must have been worshipped by agriculturists, artisans, and traders; he must have been recognized as a deity of fertility, culture, commerce, and law. Even as a national G.o.d he must have made wider appeal than to the cultured and ruling cla.s.ses. Bel Enlil of Nippur was a "world G.o.d" and war G.o.d, but still remained a local corn G.o.d.

a.s.syria's greatness was reflected by Ashur, but he also reflected the origin and growth of that greatness. The civilization of which he was a product had an agricultural basis. It began with the development of the natural resources of a.s.syria, as was recognized by the Hebrew prophet, who said: "Behold, the a.s.syrian was a cedar in Lebanon with fair branches.... The waters made him great, the deep set him up on high with her rivers running round about his plants, and sent out her little rivers unto all the trees of the field. Therefore his height was exalted above all the trees of the field, and his boughs were multiplied, and his branches became long because of the mult.i.tude of waters when he shot forth. All the fowls of heaven made their nests in his boughs, and under his branches did all the beasts of the field bring forth their young, and under his shadow dwelt all great nations.

Thus was he fair in his greatness, in the length of his branches; for his root was by great waters. The cedars in the garden of G.o.d could not hide him: the fir trees were not like his boughs, and the chestnut trees were not like his branches; nor any tree in the garden of G.o.d was like unto him in his beauty."[374]

a.s.shur, the ancient capital, was famous for its merchants. It is referred to in the Bible as one of the cities which traded with Tyre "in all sorts of things, in blue clothes, and broidered work, and in chests of rich apparel, bound with cords, and made of cedar".[375]

As a military power, a.s.syria's name was dreaded. "Behold," Isaiah said, addressing King Hezekiah, "thou hast heard what the kings of a.s.syria have done to all lands by destroying them utterly."[376] The same prophet, when foretelling how Israel would suffer, exclaimed: "O a.s.syrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation. I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets."[377]

We expect to find Ashur reflected in these three phases of a.s.syrian civilization. If we recognize him in the first place as a G.o.d of fertility, his other attributes are at once included. A G.o.d of fertility is a corn G.o.d and a water G.o.d. The river as a river was a "creator" (p. 29), and Ashur was therefore closely a.s.sociated with the "watery place", with the ca.n.a.ls or "rivers running round about his plants". The rippling water-rays, or fertilizing tears, appear on the solar discs. As a corn G.o.d, he was a G.o.d of war. Tammuz's first act was to slay the demons of winter and storm, as Indra's in India was to slay the demons of drought, and Thor's in Scandinavia was to exterminate the frost giants. The corn G.o.d had to be fed with human sacrifices, and the people therefore waged war against foreigners to obtain victims. As the G.o.d made a contract with his people, he was a deity of commerce; he provided them with food and they in turn fed him with offerings.

In Ezekiel's comparison of a.s.syria to a mighty tree, there is no doubt a mythological reference. The Hebrew prophets invariably utilized for their poetic imagery the characteristic beliefs of the peoples to whom they made direct reference. The "owls", "satyrs", and "dragons" of Babylon, mentioned by Isaiah, were taken from Babylonian mythology, as has been indicated. When, therefore, a.s.syria is compared to a cedar, which is greater than fir or chestnut, and it is stated that there are nesting birds in the branches, and under them reproducing beasts of the field, and that the greatness of the tree is due to "the mult.i.tude of waters", the conclusion is suggested that a.s.syrian religion, which Ashur's symbols reflect, included the worship of trees, birds, beasts, and water. The symbol of the a.s.syrian tree--probably the "world tree"

of its religion--appears to be "the rod of mine anger ... the staff in their hand"; that is, the battle standard which was a symbol of Ashur.

Tammuz and Osiris were tree G.o.ds as well as corn G.o.ds.

Now, as Ashur was evidently a complex deity, it is futile to attempt to read his symbols without giving consideration to the remnants of a.s.syrian mythology which are found in the ruins of the ancient cities.

These either reflect the attributes of Ashur, or const.i.tute the material from which he evolved.

As Layard pointed out many years ago, the a.s.syrians had a sacred tree which became conventionalized. It was "an elegant device, in which curved branches, springing from a kind of scroll work, terminated in flowers of graceful form. As one of the figures last described[378]

was turned, as if in act of adoration, towards this device, it was evidently a sacred emblem; and I recognized in it the holy tree, or tree of life, so universally adored at the remotest period in the East, and which was preserved in the religious systems of the Persians to the final overthrow of their Empire.... The flowers were formed by seven petals."[379]

This tree looks like a pillar, and is thrice crossed by conventionalized bull's horns tipped with ring symbols which may be stars, the highest pair of horns having a larger ring between them, but only partly shown as if it were a crescent. The tree with its many "sevenfold" designs may have been a symbol of the "Sevenfold-one-are-ye" deity. This is evidently the a.s.syrian tree which was called "the rod" or "staff".

What mythical animals did this tree shelter? Layard found that "the four creatures continually introduced on the sculptured walls", were "a man, a lion, an ox, and an eagle".[380]

In Sumeria the G.o.ds were given human form, but before this stage was reached the bull symbolized Nannar (Sin), the moon G.o.d, Ninip (Saturn, the old sun), and Enlil, while Nergal was a lion, as a tribal sun G.o.d.

The eagle is represented by the Zu bird, which symbolized the storm and a phase of the sun, and was also a deity of fertility. On the silver vase of Lagash the lion and eagle were combined as the lion-headed eagle, a form of Nin-Girsu (Tammuz), and it was a.s.sociated with wild goats, stags, lions, and bulls. On a mace head dedicated to Nin-Girsu, a lion slays a bull as the Zu bird slays serpents in the folk tale, suggesting the wars of totemic deities, according to one "school", and the battle of the sun with the storm clouds according to another. Whatever the explanation may be of one animal deity of fertility slaying another, it seems certain that the conflict was a.s.sociated with the idea of sacrifice to procure the food supply.

In a.s.syria the various primitive G.o.ds were combined as a winged bull, a winged bull with human head (the king's), a winged lion with human head, a winged man, a deity with lion's head, human body, and eagle's legs with claws, and also as a deity with eagle's head and feather headdress, a human body, wings, and feather-fringed robe, carrying in one hand a metal basket on which two winged men adored the holy tree, and in the other a fir cone.[381]

Layard suggested that the latter deity, with eagle's head, was Nisroch, "the word Nisr signifying, in all Semitic languages, an eagle ".[382] This deity is referred to in the Bible: "Sennacherib, king of a.s.syria, ... was worshipping in the house of Nisroch, his G.o.d".[383]

Professor Pinches is certain that Nisroch is Ashur, but considers that the "ni" was attached to "Ashur" (Ashuraku or Ashurachu), as it was to "Marad" (Merodach) to give the reading Ni-Marad = Nimrod. The names of heathen deities were thus made "unrecognizable, and in all probability ridiculous as well.... Pious and orthodox lips could p.r.o.nounce them without fear of defilement."[384] At the same time the "Nisr" theory is probable: it may represent another phase of this process. The names of heathen G.o.ds were not all treated in like manner by the Hebrew teachers. Abed-_nebo_, for instance, became Abed-_nego_, _Daniel_, i, 7, as Professor Pinches shows.

Seeing that the eagle received prominence in the mythologies of Sumeria and a.s.syria, as a deity of fertility with solar and atmospheric attributes, it is highly probable that the Ashur symbol, like the Egyptian Horus solar disk, is a winged symbol of life, fertility, and destruction. The idea that it represents the sun in eclipse, with protruding rays, seems rather far-fetched, because eclipses were disasters and indications of divine wrath;[385] it certainly does not explain why the "rays" should only stretch out sideways, like wings, and downward like a tail, why the "rays" should be double, like the double wings of cherubs, bulls, &c, and divided into sections suggesting feathers, or why the disk is surmounted by conventionalized horns, tipped with star-like ring symbols, identical with those depicted in the holy tree. What particular connection the five small rings within the disk were supposed to have with the eclipse of the sun is difficult to discover.

In one of the other symbols in which appears a feather-robed archer, it is significant to find that the arrow he is about to discharge has a head shaped like a trident; it is evidently a lightning symbol.

When Ezekiel prophesied to the Israelitish captives at Tel-abib, "by the river of Chebar" in Chaldea (Kheber, near Nippur), he appears to have utilized a.s.syrian symbolism. Probably he came into contact in Babylonia with fugitive priests from a.s.syrian cities.

This great prophet makes interesting references to "four living creatures", with "four faces "--the face of a man, the face of a lion, the face of an ox, and the face of an eagle; "they had the hands of a man under their wings, ... their wings were joined one to another; ...

their wings were stretched upward: two wings of every one were joined one to another.... Their appearance was like burning coals of fire and like the appearance of lamps.... The living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning."[386]

Elsewhere, referring to the sisters, Aholah and Aholibah, who had been in Egypt and had adopted unmoral ways of life Ezekiel tells that when Aholibah "doted upon the a.s.syrians" she "saw men pourtrayed upon the wall, the images of the Chaldeans pourtrayed with vermilion, girded with girdles upon their loins".[387] Traces of the red colour on the walls of a.s.syrian temples and palaces have been observed by excavators. The winged G.o.ds "like burning coals" were probably painted in vermilion.

Ezekiel makes reference to "ring" and "wheel" symbols. In his vision he saw "one wheel upon the earth by the living creatures, with his four faces. The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the colour of beryl; and they four had one likeness; and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel.... As for their rings, they were so high that they were dreadful; and their rings were full of eyes round about them four. And when the living creatures went, the wheels went by them; and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up. Whithersoever the spirit was to go, they went, thither was their spirit to go; and the wheels were lifted up over against them; _for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels_....[388] And the likeness of the firmament upon the heads of the living creature was as the colour of terrible crystal, stretched forth over their heads above.... And when they went I heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of great waters, as the voice of the Almighty, the voice of speech, as the noise of an host; when they stood they let down their wings...."[389]

Another description of the cherubs states: "Their whole body, and their backs, and their hands, and their wings, and the wheels, were full of eyes (? stars) round about, even the wheels that they four had. As for the wheels, it was cried unto them in my hearing, O wheel!"--or, according to a marginal rendering, "they were called in my hearing, wheel, or Gilgal," i.e. move round.... "And the cherubims were lifted up."[390]

It would appear that the wheel (or hoop, a variant rendering) was a symbol of life, and that the a.s.syrian feather-robed figure which it enclosed was a G.o.d, not of war only, but also of fertility. His trident-headed arrow resembles, as has been suggested, a lightning symbol. Ezekiel's references are suggestive in this connection. When the cherubs "ran and returned" they had "the appearance of a flash of lightning", and "the noise of their wings" resembled "the noise of great waters". Their bodies were "like burning coals of fire".

Fertility G.o.ds were a.s.sociated with fire, lightning, and water. Agni of India, Sandan of Asia Minor, and Melkarth of Phoenicia were highly developed fire G.o.ds of fertility. The fire cult was also represented in Sumeria (pp. 49-51).

In the Indian epic, the _Mahabharata_, the revolving ring or wheel protects the Soma[391] (ambrosia) of the G.o.ds, on which their existence depends. The eagle giant Garuda sets forth to steal it. The G.o.ds, fully armed, gather round to protect the life-giving drink.

Garuda approaches "darkening the worlds by the dust raised by the hurricane of his wings". The celestials, "overwhelmed by that dust", swoon away. Garuda afterwards a.s.sumes a fiery shape, then looks "like ma.s.ses of black clouds", and in the end its body becomes golden and bright "as the rays of the sun". The Soma is protected by fire, which the bird quenches after "drinking in many rivers" with the numerous mouths it has a.s.sumed. Then Garuda finds that right above the Soma is "a wheel of steel, keen edged, and sharp as a razor, revolving incessantly. That fierce instrument, of the l.u.s.tre of the blazing sun and of terrible form, was devised by the G.o.ds for cutting to pieces all robbers of the Soma." Garuda pa.s.ses "through the spokes of the wheel", and has then to contend against "two great snakes of the l.u.s.tre of blazing fire, of tongues bright as the lightning flash, of great energy, of mouth emitting fire, of blazing eyes". He slays the snakes.... The G.o.ds afterwards recover the stolen Soma.

Garuda becomes the vehicle of the G.o.d Vishnu, who carries the discus, another fiery wheel which revolves and returns to the thrower like lightning. "And he (Vishnu) made the bird sit on the flagstaff of his car, saying: 'Even thus thou shalt stay above me'."[392]