2 An idol in a temple, Harihareshwar, on the outskirts of the Maisûr (Mysore) State contains the conjoint emblems of Vishnu and Shiv.

3 Aesch. Prom. Vinc. 49.]

ages before the emigration of the Aryans to Europe. Prajapati, who was represented as the father of the gods, the lord of all living creatures, gradually received exceptional human homage. There was also Aditi, who appears under various guises, being, in one passage of the Rig Veda, identified with all the deities, with men, with all that has been and shall be born, and with air and heaven. In this character she corresponded to the Greek Zeus;

{Greek Zeu`s e?sti`n ai?ðh'r, Zeu`s de` gh^, Zeu`s ou?rano's,

Zeu's toi ta` pa'nta xw?'ti tw^nd? u!pe'rteron,}[1]

and to the Latin Jupiter

Iupiter est quodcunque vides, quocunque moveris.[2]

But there appears again to have been even a more exalted concept of a divinity who was inexpressible and who could only be described by a periphrasis. He was bright and beautiful and great. He was One, though the poets called Him by many names.

###

Before there was anything, before there was either death or immortality, before there was any distinction between day and night, there was that One. It breathed breathless by itself. Other than it nothing has since been. Then was darkness, everything in the beginning was hidden in gloom, all was like the ocean, without a light. Then that germ which was covered by the husk, the, One, was produced.[3]

Guru Nanak, as we shall see, gave expansion to this conception of the one God:--

[1. Aesch. Frag.

2. Lucan, Pharsalia ix.

3 Rik Veda, X, 129. Tacitus indicates one God worshipped under different names by the Germans, and only perceived by the light of faith: 'Deorum nominibus appellant secretum illud quod sola reverentia vident.' It may be here noticed that Tacitus' account of Germany and its people is much more trustworthy than that of Caesar, who was a less philosophical writer. Caesar states that the Germans worshipped the sun, fire, and the moon, and them only.]

{p. lxi}

In the beginning there was indescribable darkness;

Then was not earth or heaven, naught but God's unequalled order.

Then was not day, or night, or moon, or sun; God was meditating on the void.

Then were not continents, or hells, or seven seas, or rivers, or flowing streams.

Nor was there paradise, or a tortoise, or nether regions;

Or the hell or heaven of the Muhammadans, or the Destroyer Death;

Or the hell or heaven of the Hindus, or birth or death nor did any one come or go.

Then was not Brahma, Vishnu, or Shiv;

No one existed but the One God.

Then was not female, or male, or caste, or birth; nor did any one feel pain or pleasure.

There was no caste or religious garb, no Brahman or Khatri.