Max Mueller adds:  “It would be easy to find, in the numerous hymns of the Veda, passages in which almost every single god is represented as supreme and absolute.  Agni is called ‘Ruler of the Universe’; Indra is celebrated as the Strongest god, and in one hymn it is said, ’Indra is stronger than all.’  It is said of Soma that ‘he conquers every one.’”

But clearer traces of monotheism are to be found in the Vedas.  In one hymn of the Rig-Veda it is said:  “They call him Indra, Mitra, Varuna, Agni; then he is the well-winged heavenly Garutmat; that which is One, the wise call it many ways; they call it Agni, Yama, Matarisvan.”

Nothing, however, will give us so good an idea of the character of these Vedic hymns as the hymns themselves.  I therefore select a few of the most striking of those which have been translated by Colebrooke, Wilson, M. Mueller, E. Bumont, and others.

In the following, from one of the oldest Vedas, the unity of God seems very clearly expressed.

   RIG-VEDA, X. 121.

   “In the beginning there arose the Source of golden light.  He was the
   only born Lord of all that is.  He established the earth, and this sky. 
   Who is the God to whom we shall offer our sacrifice?

   “He who gives life.  He who gives strength; whose blessing all the
   bright gods desire; whose shadow is immortality, whose shadow is death. 
   Who is the God to whom we shall offer our sacrifice?

   “He who through his power is the only king of the breathing and
   awakening world.  He who governs all, man and beast.  Who is the god to
   whom we shall offer our sacrifice?

   “He whose power these snowy mountains, whose power the sea proclaims,
   with the distant river.  He whose these regions are, as it were his two
   arms.  Who is the god to whom we shall offer our sacrifice?

   “He through whom the sky is bright and the earth firm.  He through whom
   heaven was stablished; nay, the highest heaven.  He who measured out the
   light in the air.  Who is the god to whom we shall offer our sacrifice?

   “He to whom heaven and earth, standing firm by his will, look up,
   trembling inwardly.  He over whom the rising sun shines forth.  Who is
   the god to whom we shall offer our sacrifice?

   “Wherever the mighty water-clouds went, where they placed the seed and
   lit the fire, thence arose he who is the only life of the bright gods. 
   Who is the god to whom we shall offer our sacrifice?

   “He who by his might looked even over the water-clouds, the clouds
   which gave strength and lit the sacrifice; he who is God above all
   gods.  Who is the god to whom we shall offer our sacrifice?

“May he not destroy us,—­he the creator of the earth,—­or he, the righteous, who created heaven; he who also created the bright and mighty waters.  Who is the god to whom we shall offer our sacrifices?"[40]

The oldest and most striking account of creation is in the eleventh chapter of the tenth Book of the Rig-Veda.  Colebrooke, Max Muller, Muir, and Goldstucker, all give a translation of this remarkable hymn and speak of it with admiration.  We take that of Colehrooke, modified by that of Muir:—­