NINTH BRAHMANA .

1. Then Vidagdha Sakalya asked him : 'How many gods are there, O Yagnavalkya?' He replied with this very Nivid : 'As many as are mentioned in the Nivid of the hymn of praise addressed to the Visvedevas, viz. three and three hundred, three and three thousand .'

'Yes,' he said, and asked again: 'How many gods are there really, O Yagnavalkya?'

'Thirty-three,' he said.

'Yes,' he said, and asked again: 'How many gods are there really, O Yagnavalkya?'

'Six,' he said.

'Yes,' he said, and asked again: 'How many gods are there really, O Yagnavalkya?'

'Three,' he said.

'Yes,' he said, and asked again: 'How many gods are there really, O Yagnavalkya?'

'Two,' he said.

'Yes,' he said, and asked again: 'How many gods are there really, O Yagnavalkya?'

'One and a half (adhyardha),' he said.

'Yes,' he said, and asked again: 'How many gods are there really, O Yagnavalkya?'

'One,' he said.

'Yes,' he said, and asked: 'Who are these three and three hundred, three and three thousand?'

2. Yagnavalkya replied: 'They are only the various powers of them, in reality there are only thirty-three gods .'

He asked: 'Who are those thirty-three?'

Yagnavalkya replied: 'The eight Vasus, the eleven Rudras, the twelve Adityas. They make thirty-one, and Indra and Pragapati make the thirty-three .'

3. He asked: 'Who are the Vasus.'

Yagnavalkya replied: 'Agni (fire), Prithivi (earth), Vayu (air), Antariksha (sky), Aditya (sun), Dyu (heaven), Kandramas (moon), the Nakshatras (stars), these are the Vasus, for in them all that dwells (this world) rests; and therefore they are called Vasus.'

4. He asked: 'Who are the Rudras?'

Yagnavalkya replied: 'These ten vital breaths (pranas, the senses, i.e. the five gnanendriyas, and the five karmendriyas), and Atman , as the eleventh. When they depart from this mortal body, they make us cry (rodayanti), and because they make us cry, they are called Rudras.'

5. He asked: 'Who are the Adityas?'

Yagnavalkya replied: 'The twelve months of the year, and they are Adityas, because they move along (yanti), taking up everything (adadanah). Because they move along, taking up everything, therefore they are called Adityas.'

6. He asked: 'And who is Indra, and who is Pragapati?'

Yagnavalkya replied: 'Indra is thunder, Pragapati is the sacrifice.'

He asked: 'And what is the thunder?'

Yagnavalkya replied: 'The thunderbolt.'

He asked: 'And what is the sacrifice?'