CHAPTER IV.
THE RIG VEDA (CONTINUED) .-- THE MIDDLE GODS.
Only one of the great atmospheric deities, the gods that preeminently govern the middle sphere between sky and earth, can claim an Aryan lineage.

One of the minor gods of the same sphere, the ancient rain-god, also has this antique dignity, but in his case the dignity already is impaired by the strength of a new and greater rival.

In the case of the wind-god, on the other hand, there is preserved a deity who was one of the primitive pantheon, belonging, perhaps, not only to the Iranians, but to the Teutons, for V[=a]ta, Wind, may be the Scandinavian Woden.

The later mythologists on Indian soil make a distinction between V[=a]ta, wind, and V[=a]yu (from the same root; as in German _wehen_) and in this distinction one discovers that the old V[=a]ta, who must have been once _the_ wind-god, is now reduced to physical (though sentient) wind, while the newer name represents the higher side of wind as a power lying back of phenomena; and it is this latter conception alone that is utilized in the formation of the Vedic triad of wind, fire, and sun.

In short, in the use and application of the two names, there is an exact parallel to the double terminology employed to designate the sun as S[=u]rya and Savitar.