Man's original skin was put by the gods upon the cow; hence a cow runs
away from a man because she thinks he is trying to get back his skin.
The gods cluster about at an oblation, each crying out 'My name,'
_i.e._, each is anxious to get it. The gods, with the evil
spirits--'both sons of the Father'--attract to themselves the plants;
Varuna gets the barley by a pun. They build castles to defend
themselves from the evil spirits. Five gods are picked out as worthy
of offerings: Aditi, Speech, Agni, Soma, the Sun (five, because the
seasons are five and the regions are five). Indra and Wind have a
dispute of possession; Praj[=a]pati, the Father, decides it. The
heavenly singers, called the Gandharvas, recited the Veda to entice
(the divine female) Speech to come to them; while the gods, for the
same purpose, created the lute, and sang and played to her. She came
to the gods; hence the weakness of women in regard to such things.
Indra is the god of sacrifice; the stake of the sacrifice is Vishnu's;
V[=a]yu (Wind) is the leader of beasts; Bhaga is blind;[32] P[=u]shan
(because he eats mush) is toothless. The gods run a race to see who
shall get first to the sacrifice, and Indra and Agni win; they are the
warrior-caste among the gods, and the All-gods are the people (_viçve,
viç._). Yet, again, the Maruts are the people, and Varuna is the
warrior-caste; and, again, Soma is the warrior-caste. The Father-god
first created birds, then reptiles and snakes. As these all died he
created mammalia; these survived because they had food in themselves;
hence the Vedic poet says 'three generations have passed away.'[33]

Varuna is now quite the god of night and god of purification, as a
water-god. Water is the 'essence (sap) of immortality,' and the bath
of purification at the end of the sacrifice (_avabh[r.]tha_) stands in
direct relation to Varuna. The formula to be repeated is: "With the
gods' help may I wash out sin against the gods; with the help of men