“He is the giver of breath, and strength is his gift.
The high Gods revere his commandments.
His shadow is life, his shadow is death;
Who is He to whom we shall offer our sacrifice?
Through His might He became lord of the living
and glittering world
And he rules the world and the men and the beasts
Who is he to whom we shall offer our sacrifice?
From his strength the mountains take being, and
the sea, they say,
And the distant river;
And these are his body and his two arms.
Who is He to whom we shall offer our sacrifice?
He made the sky and the earth, and His will
fixed these places,
Yet they look to Him and tremble.
The risen sun shines forth over Him.
Who is He to whom we shall offer our sacrifice?
He looked over the waters which stored His power
and gendered the sacrifice.
He is God over Gods.
Who is He to whom we shall offer our sacrifice?
May He not hurt us, He who made the earth,
Who made the sky and the shining sea?
Who is this God to whom we shall offer sacrifice.”
A hymn from the Veda which John Steinbeck employed as the motif
of his third novel “To a God Unknown” of which my paperback copy
ls published by Penguin Group [USA] Inc. 375 Hudson Street,
New York, New York 10014, U.S.A. and contains a quite concise and
informative biography in the introduction by Robert De Mott.
Islander.