It should be borne in mind that Diti occurs in the Rig-veda thrice only, and in one passage it should, I believe, be changed into Aditi. This passage occurs in VII, 15, 12. tvám agne vîrá-vat yásah deváh ka savitâ´ bhágah, dítih ka dâti vâ´ryam. Here the name of Diti is so unusual, and that of Aditi, on the contrary, so natural, that I have little doubt that the poet had put the name of Aditi; and that later reciters, not aware of the occasional license of putting two short syllables instead of one, changed it into Aditi. If we remove this passage, then Diti, in the Rig-veda at least, occurs twice only, and each time together or in contrast with Aditi; cf. V, 62, 8, page 243. I have no doubt, therefore, that Professor Roth is right when he says that Diti is a being without any definite conception, a mere reflex of Aditi. We can clearly watch her first emergence into existence through what is hardly more than a play of words, whereas in the epic and Purânic literature this Diti (like the Suras) has grown into a definite person, one of the daughters of Daksha, the wife of Kasyapa, the mother of the enemies of the gods, the Daityas. Such is the growth of legend, mythology and religion!

Aditi in her Moral Character.

Besides the cosmical character of Aditi, which we have hitherto examined, this goddess has also assumed a very prominent moral character. Aditi, like Varuna, delivers from sin. Why this should be so, we can still understand if we watch the transition which led from a purely cosmical to a moral conception of Aditi. Sin in the Veda is frequently conceived as a bond or a chain from which the repentant sinner wishes to be freed:

VII, 86, 5. áva drugdhâ´ni pítryâ sriga nah áva yâ´ vayám kakrimá tanû´bhih, áva râgan pasu-trípam ná tâyúm srigá vatsám ná dâ´mnah vásishtham.

Absolve us from the sins of our fathers, and from those

which we have committed with our own bodies. Release Vasishtha, O king, like a thief who has feasted on stolen cattle; release him like a calf from the rope a.

VIII, 67, 14. té nah âsnáh vríkânâm â´dityâsah mumókata stenám baddhám-iva adite.

O Âdityas, deliver us from the mouth of the wolves, like a bound thief, O Aditi! Cf. VIII, 67, 18.

Sunahsepa, who, as we saw before, wishes to be restored to the great Aditi, is represented as bound (dita) by ropes, and in V, 2, 7, we read:

súnah-sépam kit ní-ditam sahásrât yû´pât amuñkah ásamishta hí sáh, evá asmát agne ví mumugdhi pâ´sân hótar (íti) kikitvah ihá tú ni-sádya.

O Agni, thou hast released the bound Sunahsepa from the stake, for he had prayed; thus take from us, too, these ropes, O sagacious Hotar, after thou hast settled here.