The Offering Promised Twice

Most hymns of the Rigveda speak to the gods. A few let the gods speak, and three of them, kept close together in the first book, hold an argument.

The first voice is the poet's. He sees the Maruts coming, the storm gods, all of one age and all shining.

"Where have they come from?" he asks. "Whose prayer has turned them this way? They sweep through the air like eagles."

Then he falls silent, because someone else is on the same road. It is Indra, and he is alone.

The Maruts speak first. "Where are you coming from, Indra, all by yourself? You are a great lord. Tell us plainly what you have against us."

Indra does not answer the question. "The prayers are mine," he says. "The pressed drinks are sweet. My thunderbolt is already thrown. People are calling for me, and my two bay horses are carrying me to these offerings."

"Then we will come too," say the Maruts. "We have put on our ornaments and harnessed our spotted deer. You know what we are."

At that, Indra turns on them.

"What you are? Where was that nature of yours when you left me alone to kill the dragon? I am the fierce one, the strong one. I turned aside every enemy's weapon myself."

The Maruts answer carefully. "You have done a great deal with us at your side, hero. And we can do a great deal too, when we choose."

"I killed Vritra by my own strength," says Indra. "It was my anger that made me great. With the thunderbolt in my hand I set these bright waters flowing for mankind."

Now the Maruts give way. "Nothing stands firm in front of you, generous one. Among the gods there is not one like you. No one born comes near you. Do what you mean to do."

Indra has heard what he wanted. His voice changes.

"Your praise has made me glad, Maruts. It is a fine hymn that you have made for me, as friends make for a friend. When I see you in your splendour you delight me. Delight me now."

The poet closes the hymn in his own name. He is a son of Mana, and that is the family of Agastya.

The quarrel was not finished. A later hymn opens in a dark mood, with a riddle.

"There is nothing today and nothing tomorrow. Who understands the mystery? We must turn to another's thought, and then the hope we had is lost."

Agastya speaks up. He is a mortal standing between angry gods.

"The Maruts are your brothers, Indra. Why would you take our lives? Make it right with them. Do not strike us down."

The answer is bitter. "Brother Agastya, you are our friend, and still you pass us over. We know your mind. You do not mean to give us anything."

So Agastya gives orders. "Let them prepare the altar. Let them kindle the fire in front. We two will spread the sacrifice here for you." And he begs Indra, master of all treasures, to speak kindly with the Maruts and taste the offerings in their proper season.

Then he turns to the Maruts with another hymn, and he asks their pardon.

"I come to you with this homage. Put away your anger. Unyoke your horses. I ran in terror from mighty Indra, and my body was shaking. The offerings had been made ready for you, and we set them aside. Forgive us for it."

His last verse is for Indra again. He asks him to give up his anger against the Maruts and to guard them.

That hymn names Indra and the Maruts together.

Long after the hymns, a handbook called the Brihaddevata set out to say which god each hymn of the Rigveda is for. Where a hymn has a story behind it, the handbook tells the story. This is what it says about these hymns.

Indra was roaming through the sky when he met the Maruts. He praised them, and they spoke to him as seers do. Agastya, by the power of his austerity, came to know everything that passed between them.

He prepared an offering for Indra and went to them quickly.

But when he arrived he praised the Maruts too, in three hymns, one after another. Then a new thought came to him. He would give the Maruts the offering he had made ready for Indra.

Indra saw what he meant to do. An older book of word meanings, the Nirukta, says that Indra came up to him and complained.

"There is nothing for today and nothing for tomorrow," Indra said. "Who knows what has not yet come to be? A plan can come to nothing while it is still only a plan."

"Why are you angry with us?" Agastya asked. "The Maruts are your brothers. Come to terms with them, and do not kill us."

"Brother, why do you slight us?" said Indra. He was still shaken.

Agastya spoke to him gently, with a verse about the altar and the fire, until the god was calm. When Indra was at peace, Agastya handed the offering to the Maruts.

The handbook tells of no second quarrel. When the Soma was pressed, Indra himself made the Maruts drinkers of it at his side.

The handbook then draws its conclusion, which is the reason it told the story. When a hymn is for Indra, the Maruts are praised along with him. Whenever they are with him he has a name for it, Marutvat, Indra with the Maruts.