very finely shown in one of the oldest hymns in the _Rig Veda_,
or the Book of Praise--a hymn written 4,000 years ago, and
addressed to Varuna, or the All-Surrounder, the ancient Hindu
name for the chief deity:--

"Let me not, O Varuna, enter into the house of clay.
Have mercy! Almighty, have mercy!
If I go trembling, like a cloud driven by the wind,
Have mercy! Almighty, have mercy!
Through want of strength, thou strong and bright God,
have I gone wrong;
Have mercy! Almighty, have mercy!"

But, besides Dyaus pitar, or Varuna, the Aryans worshipped other
gods, whom they made for themselves out of the elements, and the
changes of night and day, and the succession of the seasons.
They worshipped the sky, the earth, the sun, the dawn, fire,
water, and wind. The chief of these deities were Agni, the fire;
Prithivi, the earth; Ushas, the dawn; Mitra, or Surya, the sun;
Indra, the sky; Maruts, the storm-winds; and Varuna, the
All-Surrounder. To these deities sacrifice was offered and
prayer addressed; but they had no priests or temples--these came
in later ages, when men thought they had need of others to stand
between them and _God_. But the ancient Aryans saw the Deity
everywhere, and stood face to face with Him in Nature. He was to
them the early morning, the brightness of midday, the gloom of
evening, the darkness of night, the flash of the lightning, the
roll of the thunder, and the rush of the mighty storm-wind. It
seems strange to us that those who could imagine the one
Heaven-Father should degrade Him by making a multitude of Gods;