Welsh Cauldron of Regeneration. The rishis or the sages of Sanskrit tradition carry it in their hearts,[1] while India makes rishis, wise men or poets, of those who have drunk of it; and it is said to untie the poet's tongue.[2] The Hindu divinities in the highest heaven quaff soma with Yama, the god of the dead, under a tree with large leaves.[3] The soma is theirs, and they made it for themselves,[4] but it was brought to this world by an eagle,[5] which reminds one of Woden, after (banking the giant Suptung's mead, flying away as an eagle, whence poetry was called by the Norsemen the billows of Woden's breast and other names of the like nature; on the other hand, the soma from the sacrifices is said to be carried aloft to Indra by an eagle.[6] More usually the one of the dark powers, who conceals the soma coveted by Indra is Tvashṭar, a sort of Dis and Vulcan in one. Indra overpowers him in his own house and drinks his soma,[7] though Tvashṭar was sometimes reckoned Indra's own father:[8] this has a kind of parallel in Gwydion's con-
- ↑ Bergaigne, i. 149 (Rig-Veda, x. 32, 9).
- ↑ Ib. i. 150 (Rig-Veda, i. 87, 5, iij. 43, 5).
- ↑ Ib. i. 86, 90 (Rig-Veda, x. 135. 1, 7).
- ↑ Ib. i. 149 (Rig-Veda, ix. 18, 3, ix. 78, 4, ix. 85, 2, ix. 109, 15).
- ↑ Ib. i. 199 (Rig-Veda, iv. 26, 6), i. 173 (Rig-Veda, viii. 84, 3, ix. 86, 24, ix. 87, 6, ix. 89, 2).
- ↑ Perry, p. 165 (Rig-Veda, i. 80, 2, i. 93, 6, iv. 26, 5, vi. 20, 6): the Sanskrit word is çyena, which Dr. Perry renders by 'falcon' and M. Bergaigne by 'aigle,' while the definition in the Petersburg Dictionary is 'der grösste und stärkste Raubvogel; Adler; auch Falke oder Habicht.'
- ↑ Bergaigne, i. 158 (Rig-Veda, i. 84, 15), iij. 58, 59 (Rig-Veda, iij. 48, 4, iv. 18, 3; see also iv. 18, 11); Perry, pp. 148, 149, 177.
- ↑ Ib. iij. 58-9 (Rig-Veda, ij. 17, 6, iij. 48, 4.
