THE QUINTESSENCE OF THE RIGVEDA hilosophy. The former is called the Brahmanas and the atter is known as the ZJpanishads. Then there are exegeti- cal works relating to Etymology (. Nirukta ), Grammar (Vyakarana), Prosody (Chandas), Phonetics (Shikshd), As¬ tronomy (Jyotisha) and Rituals ( Kalpa ). They are called the Six Limbs of the Vedas (Vedangas). The Vedic literature in the four classes and in the first three strata came to an end by the time of the Buddha, about 600 b.c. Max Muller assigned a period of two hun¬ dred years to each of the three stages and then he added another span of two hundred years as the period for the origin and early development of the texts. Thus he re¬ garded 1400 b.c. as the beginning of Vedic literature. In this calculation the last stage, namely, that of the exegetic texts, is not taken note of sinee they came after the Buddha. The civilizations on the western side of India date back to the fifth and the fourth millenniums b.c., and there is a view that the Vedas might have been contemporaneous Rl 2 QUINTESSENCE OF THE BIGVEDA with them. Thus the date may be pushed back to 3000 or even 4000 b.c. for the beginning of the Vedas. The date suggested by Max Muller has the linguistic support of the Avesta , the date of which is assigned to about 1000 b.c. The language of the Avesta is so very l an Sfuage ofjbe Vedas that the sepa- > t- s is 1 na * : S e nerally accepted by scholars. They do not believe mat the calculations of the positions of the Sun could have been accurate enough in those primitive times to form a basis for fixing dates. About a.d. 1920, some remnants of an early civiliza¬ tion were discovered in the Indus Valley and this civiliza- ^ CC f P onnn as P re ~ Ve dic. That must have come f ^°°° ®- c - and the Aryans could not have ^ date - Ab ° Ut ten y earS e£lr ' n aS SET ? ? the Hittite civilization were discovered a Mitlni? S fik d m . a tpea *y between a Hittite king and This!? mention of some of the Vedic gods. SleimXm bifn of the second half of the second millennium before Chnst. If the Vedas were known in INTRODUCTORY S Asia Minor at that time, some scholars have suggested that the Vedas must he pushed back a little more. But all scholars do not accept this mention of die Vedic gods as a reference to the Vedas, but only to the pre-Vedic period of Indo-Iranian history when the two peoples had the same residence in Iran. Thus the date of about 1400 b.c. is generally accepted for the Vedas by scholars. We have to consider the question whether the astro¬ nomical calculations noticed in the Vedas could be so far removed from the actual positions as to be unfit for fixing dates. What could be the error? Can it be more than half a constellation distance? That will then be only a difference of about half a millennium, and the difference between the date calculated on astronomical basis and the date calculated on linguistic basis is. about three to four millenniums. Tire matter demands to be examined. The final date has not been fixed yet. Indian tradition has an era called the Kali Era that started in 3101 b.c. That was the time when there had been a degradation of virtue in the life of Man and when the Great God came down to earth as Shri Krishna to exterminate the enemies of civili¬ zation. If this tradition has any historical value, then the Vedas must be pushed back to about the time suggested by Tilak. At the time when Westen scholars came into contact with Sanskrit and when they began to calculate the date of the Vedas, there was their belief in the theory of Crea¬ tion as given in the Genesis of the Bible and in the geolo¬ gic^ calculations on the age of the earth and of human civilization. Both of these had some influence in keeping the date or the Vedas at as late a period as possible. That was also considered to be the time when Man was young in the world. Thus Vedic poetry could be considered to be only the poetry of a primitive jpeople. They came from a foreign land and moved about him from region to region in search of water and pasture. They worshipped the powers that are supposed to abide behind the visible facts of Na¬ ture, to obtain favours and to avert dangers from them. But in India itself, the Vedas were considered to be the repository of all wisdom. AH arts and sciences and every aspect of Mans knowledge was traced to the Vedas. 4 QUINTESSENCE OF THE RIGVEDA This did not have reference to the text of the Vedas. The Vedas were a set of texts and the Vedas were also the ag¬ gregate of human wisdom, not committed to any text form. No one has seriously propounded a doctrine that the avail¬ able text of the Vedas comprehend the entire wisdom and that there is nothing in the text that does not literally express the truth. The position taken up in Indian tradi¬ tion is that the Vedas in the abstract contain the entire wisdom and that if any fact is not found in the available text, such a fact should be considered as contained in the Veda that is now lost (Nashta Veda). Further, only a por¬ tion of the text of the Veda expresses the truth and the remaining parts are subsidiary to such parts and derive authority as expressions of truth only in a secondary and indirect way. Yet there has always been some popular belief that the text contains the entire wisdom and that the entire text expresses the truth in a literal way. The Yajurveda and the S amaveda are related to the rituals in their entirety. The Atharvaveda has no relation with the rituals, and in the case of the Rigveda only certain parts are employed in the rituals. Even here many pas¬ sages have been employed in the rituals in an artificial way and not in consideration of the natural content of the text. Poets used to compose new adorations addressed to the gods on the occasion of the rituals and die old texts were ignored and pushed out of currency; many of them were lost and some of them were imitated by later poets Most of them were composed for recitation on the occa¬ sion of the rituals and not as any integral part of the ritual. They were composed as poetry and not as sacred formulae tor employment in the rituals as in the case of the Yaiur- veda. ' The entire Vedic literature was taken up at a later stage as a unit for employment at the rituals. They ceased to have any other value. The meaning of the texts was studied oniy as a necessary preliminary for employing diem at the rituals. Their kterary value was completely ignored. Even m the fame of Yaskas Nirukta, the Vedic texts were regarded only as elements in the rituals. If they have no other importance than to be recited at the rituals, what has then- meaning to do with the latter? As factors in the INTRODUCTORY 5 rituals, the Vedas have no meaning; they are only a series of sounds, like musical sounds. This was the position taken up by some persons. Later it became a cardinal doctrine that the Vedas have no other value than as reci¬ tations at the rituals, and that the texts have to be employ¬ ed at the rituals only by those who know the meaning also. Thus one of the medieval commentators, named Skanda- swamin, who belonged to the beginning of the seventh century a.d., definitely says at the beginning of his com¬ mentary that he was writing the commentary only in so far as the texts have to be employed at the rituals by those who know the meaning. Sayana, about eight centuries later, also says that he undertook the commentary of the Yajurveda before he took up the Rigveda in so far as the Yajurveda is more important at the rituals than the Rig¬ veda. In the whole range of Sanskrit literature there is no hint that the Rigveda has a literary value. No one sug¬ gests that it is good poetry. They drew a distinction between the Vedas which are superhuman (Apaurusheya) and the poetry of later days like that of Kalidasa, which is the product of a poet. The Vedas express the things as they are, and the poetry of the later days represents the things as they were known to the poets. They did not recognize that die works of Kalidasa and other poets also represent the thin gs as they are, as reflected on the imagination of the poets, and not as they were understood by the poets. The distinction really holds good only between true poetry and empirical sciences. But according to the latter-day theories, the Vedas represent the true state of things, as some sort of revealed literature, and not as true poetry. Such a revelation was possible only in the case of a few gifted persons, who will not reappear in the world. The rituals were performed only by a few persons, and so thestudy of the Vedas was confined also to a few persons. They claimed a monopoly of its study and of its employment at the rituals. Others disowned the Vedas. Thus what was originally a national literature became the property of a community. When other religions also be¬ came prominent in the national life of the country this Vedic literature became the property of a community with- 0 QUINTESSENCE OF THE RIGVEDA in a certain religious persuasion and the Vedas became the basis for a particular religion. It lost its national and uni¬ versal appeal. As a matter of fact, when it ceased to be literature, it also lost all its emotional appeal. Thus at present some people claim monopoly of the Vedas and others disown the Vedas as of no value to them. I cannot deny the fact that the Yajurveda > in spite of its literary and historical importance, is essentially a ritualistic litera¬ ture relating to a particular religious persuasion. But that is not the case with the Rigveda. May be, portions of the Rigveda are employed at the rituals. But it is essentially good poetry and that is its real importance. What was once a national literature with a universal appeal has again to be lifted to that old position of eminence and human values. It is only a very small part of the Rigveda that has any true relation with the rituals. There are many por¬ tions that can have no sort of relation with any ritual at all. According to tradition also, such portions have a value in rituals only by being employed for the recitation of a holy text (Japa). The Rigveda has both a ritualistic and some religious background. But the religion in the background is not what can be called a religion. In a religion there is some particular person who has a revelation of the truth in the universe and that particular person establishes a Church with, a hierarchy of priests and also some sort of Religious Order to which admission is restricted to those who are prepared to accept certain disciplines in private life and also some beliefs m certain dogmas. There is no such reli¬ gion behind the Rigveda. The only factor that is of a religious nature consists of the rituals. In most of the reli¬ gions, the person who had the revelation had that revela- £ lon a C°d, an d there may be religions where i lv ® d * 3t gelation through personal effort without v.S° fW Wltlun * he scheme of the rituals of the Ynd Lw no , sucl1 Original Teacher of the religion ^ J d £ mas for belief. There are no Reli- j-^JL Th* *b e £ e is no Church and there are no S ' f Af® 1 citizens functioned at the rituals as citizens r 7 rJ^ n? berS ° f ? Clerical Order. They lived as special disciplines to be observed by them. INTRODUCTORY 7. There is no Personal Supreme God in the religion of the Vedas. There are many gods and there are many persons on whom there had dawned the wisdom about tne nature of the truth. They all functioned together in conducting the ritual. Otherwise they were all members of the civilian population with their homes and their families. It is at a very late stage in the current of Vedic culture that there arose a Personal Supreme God with Teachers carrying the message of the God to the world. In this way, one Supreme God was set against another Supreme God and one Tea¬ cher was set against another Teacher. But this is not a survival of the Vedic order of things; it is a complete de¬ viation from the Vedic Path. When there are many persons who have had some sort of illumination regarding the truth of the universe, there is sure to be some sort of philosophy also. We find such a philosophy too in the background of the Vedas. The Vedas are not texts on philosophy, and what may be called Vedic philosophy is not the philosophy in the Vedic texts; it is the philosophy behind the Vedic texts. Such a philosophy that was behind the original Vedas became crystallised in the interpretation of the original texts called the Upanishads. There is an Absolute and there is this phenomenal world that has evolved from that Absolute. There are certain stages in the course of this evolution of the phenomenal world from the Absolute and such stages are what are called the three worlds in the text of the Rigveaa. They represent a gradation in fineness and not a gradation in space, what is above and what is below. There are certain powers, some active agents, generated during the course of this evolution, and they are the gods (Devos), situated within the different gradations in this evolution. Only some persons can be in communion with such powers. They have poetry about such powers des¬ cribing them in their own form, with a body, with limbs, with emotions, with all the features of human beings. They eat, they wearrobes, they put on weapons, they fight in the cause of the Order of Evolution (Rita), They function in such a way that people could have plenty and be happy in their life on this earth. In every religion, there is a dogma of a condition beyond this world and beyond this 8 QUINTESSENCE OF THE BIGVEDA life where alone there is true happiness. But there is no such escape into another world and another condition be¬ yond, from the sufferings of this world. There is nothing in this world which is absolutely beyond the grasp of hu¬ man intellect. It may be that all persons cannot grasp that subtle truth. But there is no subtle truth which is denied to Man. Others may have to infer such truths, without directly understanding them or they may have to know about such things on the authority of others who can have a direct experience of them. Ultimately everything is known through direct experience. There is nothing in the world that can be known only through inference or on the authority of another. If a thing cannot be known through direct experience by some human being, such a thing has no existence. There are two fundamental doctrines in the Vedic scheme. One is that the life of Man on earth is sufficient for realizing the highest goal of Man. There may be some expansion beyond the sphere experienced by the people in general. But that is not a beyond; it is only an exten- sion of this. This” and “that” together form a single whole. There is no migration from “this” into “that”* there is only an extension of “this” into “that”. The other doctrine is that human intellect can grasp everything that is real. Everything that is real corned within the scope of the direct experience of Man. Everything may not be within the scope of the direct experience of Man. Every¬ thing may not be within the sphere of the knowledge of every one. But one is capable of knowing everything by his nature, though not by his actual accomplishment. The truth may be what is hidden; but it is taught to Man be- 3 “®° { f Man * ability to experience directlj. Th e 7e is no g J . aa G°d to Man. Man has that faculty, info th a i ater J tage SOme new doctrines found their way “5 a 5 e Aou S h t Patterns of India. Some sort of In iron the ultimate goaf?f Man^The J2| ' ' e>h °\ ^ SSn„d r b3aS e ■*? ° f to*?tarn called Moksha^ “V th,s w hat % the state of final telea^^r^pSfio^aSeSf INTRODUCTORY The rituals take Man from this world to heaven and know¬ ledge takes him from this life to the state of final release. Thus the purpose of both the rituals and of knowledge became quite a new one. Man as Man cannot know cer¬ tain things. If he knows those things, then he ceases to be a man. He becomes disembodied. Limitation becomes an integral part of Man’s being. Certain categories found their way into the scheme of philosophical thought that are by their very nature beyond the purview of direct ex¬ perience; such things can only be inferred. There are other categories which can be known by Man only on the autho¬ rity of others. Thus inference and authority became pri¬ mary modes of knowing instead of confirmatory modes for such things that can be known by direct experience. If what is known by direct experience is later inferred or known through the testimony of another person, such in¬ ference and such authority are only confirmatory of what is known earlier by direct experience. Thus fire is seen in the kitchen in association with smoke, and when smoke is seen on the hill, the knowledge of the fire only confirms what was known earlier by direct experience in the kitchen. Similarly when fruits are seen on the riverside and when some one knows the existence of the fruits on the riverside on the authority of the person who had seen them, tins authority too has only a confirmatory value. Neither infer¬ ence nor authority is a primary mode in these cases. A soul that survives the destruction of the body at the time of death, its passage into heaven or hell or back into the world again in a new body with new environments and new experiences, the existence of that soul in a state without any experience of an object, free from sufferings the methods of reaching that heaven or of a better condi¬ tion in the next life, and such other matters do not come within the experience of the ordinary man. They are either inferred or they are accepted on the authority of specially gifted persons who will not reappear in the world. In this situation, inference and authority become primary modes of knowing, independent of direct experience. Those who are already in heaven cannot communicate with their brethren left behind on earth, Those who have gone beyond experience and suffering cannot also communicate their 10 QUINTESSENCE OF THE RIGVEDA condition to those who are within the limitations of life. The Charvaka system did not subscribe to this new situation. It regarded Man as supreme in his ability to know everything. It also regarded life as sufficient for the fullest realization of the highest goal of Man. The fol¬ lowers of this system retained the Vedic ideals. And they were later condemned for not accepting Dharma , the per¬ formance of rituals to reach a heaven, and for not accept¬ ing the authority of texts prescribing such rituals which did not exist in the Vedas. In the Vedas the rituals were performed for happiness in life and not in after-life. The Charvakas also did not accept the authority of others who taught the doctrine of a final escape from the limitations of life on earth. The Vedic position was further distorted to the extent that the Vedas contained the teachings of God. The Vedas really contained the knowledge of the truth as revealed to Man in his illumination from within. The Mimamsa system did not accept the origin of the Vedas in God. But in practically aU systems of Indian thought the Vedas are believed to have been revealed to the primal Teachers among men by God and these teachers continued the tra¬ dition of the knowledge of the Vedas among men in the world. Thus the doctrine of a heaven and the doctrine of a final release have required the acceptance of the autho¬ rity of a Supreme Personal God. This is a new factor. The Charvakas could not accept such a God too. Scholars could not understand the scheme of religion and philosophy in the Vedas. How can there be a religion without a Personal God? How can there be rituals unless such rituals took the performer to the region of that God? How can there be a philosophy or a science in which there is no distinction between matter and spirit? Matter must be dead, without life, if it is to be matter. Life must be extraneous to matter if it is to be life. All the reli¬ gions and schemes of philosophical thought accorded with SUC h pattern. So, scholars tried to reconcile the religion and the philosophy of the Vedas with the generally ac¬ cepted patterns. The Vedic religion was taken to be a progression from the worship of the powers of Nature to the worship of a INTRODUCTORY 11 Supreme God. There is the intermediate stage in which each of the powers behind the phenomenon of Nature was in turn thought of as the Supreme God. Thus there is a Supreme God and only one Supreme God. This is not Monotheism as it is understood; in Monotheism the Sup¬ reme God is permanent and his qualities do not shift from this divinity to that. Here there is such a shift. -So Max Muller coined a new term for this sort of Monotheism. For the Latin word “Mono”, he substituted the Greek word “Heno” and coined the term Henotheism to designate this Vedic pattern of Monotheism. And this pattern, accord¬ ing to him, represents a passage from the Many Gods to the One God. To the scholars a Supreme One God is an in¬ tellectual necessity. The rituals led Man from this world to the higher world of spiritual light. There is a distinc¬ tion between matter and spirit, and Man tried to ignore the matter below and to reach the pure spirit above. This is die general interpretation. The difficulty is that in India we never had a Mono¬ theism till very recent times. If one reads the Maha- bharata , it will be found that every divinity is in his turn a Supreme Godhead. This is exactly what is found in the Vedas too. There was never a time when there were many gods representing the different phenomena of Nature and there never came a stage when there was only One God. Each such god represents the Supreme and each has his own individuality too. But a stage came later when there arose a plurality of Supreme Gods. Some asserted that Vishnu was the Supreme God and others appointed Shiva as the Supreme God. There was feud among the people on this account. In each persuasion there arose sects differing from one another on details of ritualism and dogmas and this too gave rise to conflicts. But this is not a progression of the Vedic religion; it is an abandonment of and a departure from it. In the Veda there is no distinction between matter and spirit. There is only the world which is a unity. It is matter with life or life in matter. The relation is something like the relation between sugar and its sweetness. We cannot discard the material aspect in sugar and enjoy the sweetness side of it* There is an Absolute and there is QUINTESSENCE OF TOE RIGVEDA 12 - also the Phenomenal World. The Absolute is infinite while the Phenomenal World is limited. Throughout the Rig- veda we find this distinction between the Absolute and the Phenomenal. The terms used are Sthatus (stationary) and Charatham (moving), Jagatas (moving), Tasthushah, (stationary) Amritam (immortal) and Martyam (mortal). There are also the terms Para and Parama (Supreme) and Uttama (highest). The Absolute is spoken of as essentially matter with the potentiality of life as an inherent factor in it (X-129) and' also essentially life with the potentiality of matter in it (X-90). In the first of these two poems, it is said that a Will arose in that Absolute Matter and that it had the life-breath without inhaling and exhaling air. In die se¬ cond it is said that out of tha£ Life Absolute there arose the differentiated world (Virat). Nowhere is it said in the Vedas that one can be separated from the other. There is the life aspect which continues when at the time of death, the gross material aspect falls out. But that life is a finer aspect of matter and is not outside matter. What is not found in the Vedas and what is not accepted by the Charvakas is that there is something called a soul which at the time of death migrates from the dead body to a new body, like a monkey hopping from one tree to an¬ other, or that the soul migrates to a higher region called the heaven, just like a monkey climbing'from the earth to the tree-tops. At the time'of death and after death there is a continuity in life function and that continuity is again in matter. Life is never dissociated from matter and there is no matter which is absolutely devoid of life. The life function moves from gross matter to another set of gross matter and the fine aspect of matter keeps up the conti¬ nuity. This fine matter is what is known as Linaa Sharira or Subtle Body in the later systems of philosophy When God and Heaven and a Final Release from the world are all taken out of the religion and the philosophy of the Vedas and when matter and life become inseparable factors in the constitution of the world, evolved from an Absolute, there remains only a real world in which Man functions without a beginning and without an end. Man and his life and enjoyments in the world become the chief INTRODUCTORY 13 subjects of the Rigveda and that is what we find in it. Man does not migrate into another world, die region of the gods. The gods come to the region of Man and Man is in constant communion with die gods. There is mutual co-ordination between Man and the gods and it is said in the Rigveda that gods helped in die prosperity of Man and Man aided in the prosperity of the gods (X-14-3). There was family life and there was social life There was also civic organisation. The people had their own festivities and amusements and arts and sports and pas¬ times and avocations. Social life was not confined to wed¬ lock. They ate and drank; they ate animal food and they drank, alcohol. They even ate beef. They fought their enemies with success. They never committed aggression on a foreign nation and they never allowed a foreign na - D°rn t0 i coir !™ lt aggression on diem. They were united. th £ ® ntir ® people was not so stiff as to crush the freedom of the individual or even of the smaller political units. And at the same time, unity was sufficient¬ ly strong to protect the integrity of the nation against fo- m ^w m ° n-ff ° n * Difference s never deteriorated into conflicts. Differences contributed to the development of individualities. If any one asks me the question, "What consider to be the essence of Vedic culture?” my re ptyjf> ^ ha PPy life in a beautiful world.” 7 T,® which we find the reflection of such a culture, consists of songs or poems ( Suktas ), 1017 in num- ber, consisting of 10,472 verses, grouped into ten Books. They are all by a number of different poets, and though the “g . Ri ^eda is in thefo’rm of adore- tions addressed to the various deities, tiiere is a variety of matenal as dieme for die poetry of the Rigveda and each such subject matter has some human interest. The poets loved Nature and they found their own likeness in Nature. They sang about Nature in their own form with their own emotions and their own feelings. They werein communion with Nature. a y . e The poets whose compositions are included in the Rig- vedic collection belong mainly to certain Families Seven of the ten Books are assigned (from II to VIII) to seven such Families. The ninth Book is composed of adorations 14 QUINTESSENCE OF THE RIGVEDA to the Soma. In the first Book there are adorations of the gods by poets who belong to Families other than those con¬ tained in Books II to VII. In the tenth Book there are songs other than adorations to the gods as the main fea¬ ture. Even the poets outside the seven Families belong to -a few important Families whose founders had been an¬ cient Sages, unlike the Families of the seven Books. In the poetry of the Vedas, there is a variety of me¬ tres employed, which shows that the existing Rigveda had a long antecedent in the form of a gradual development and growth of the art of poetry. The Vedic poets em¬ ployed various devices in manipulating metres and also in handling the language. There are various kinds of figures of speech found in the Rigveda, of which, naturally, si¬ miles form the chief ones. The poets knew that the com¬ position of poetry is an art. The language is simple, lucid and elegant, rhythmic and musical. There are lyrics and odes and ballads and songs* There is profundity of thought. The picture painting in words is graphic. In matter, in form, and in variety, the Rigvedic poetry can claim a place among the highest literary art in any language. Rigvedic poetry has never been surpassed in Sanskrit and as art, there is no literature in any language that can beat it. It is the earliest poetry of humanity and it continues to be the finest even after the lapse of so many millenniums. It is not the "Scripture” of any religion. There are no dogmas involved in it. It calls for no be¬ liefs. It reflects a very advanced civilization. It is a source book for the study of Man and his life. Its appeal is thus universal. II. Indra Smites Down The Dragon There are many gods in the Rigveda to whom prayers are addressed for the securing of various benefits. Indra is the most important of them, both in the status that he occupies among the gods and also in the number of songs addressed to him. It is only the Fire God to whom an eq¬ ually large number of songs are addressed in the Rigveda. The songs to Indra and Fire exceed a quarter of the whole text for each. Indra is the hero of a race of martial people. He fights the enemies, defeats and destroys them. He helps me good people. In the description found in the songs, he is the most personal among the gods. We can clearly discern the personality of Indra very vividly in the songs. He has his weapons, as all the gods have. He rides on a chariot drawn by horses, and in many places the horses are spoken of as having manes (Keshinau) It has been suggested that the word may mean "What be¬ longs to the Kessies.” He drinks the Soma juice and his belly* compared to an ocean when it is filled with Senna. He, luce all the gods, loves the songs and derives his power to destroy the enemies from them. He holds in his hands a Thunderbolt, the Vajra , which has a hundred edges In heroic exploits he is helped by the group of gods called *e Maruts the Storm-gods, in one case, and by the singers called the Angirases and by the singer named Brihaspati in another case. There are two exploits of his that are more prominently mentioned than others, and they are many. One is the killing of Vritra, a demon, who stops the nvers from flowing; by killing him he allowed the waters to flow in the seven rivers. The other is the kill¬ ing of Vala, another demon, who conceals the cows in a cave behind die mountain; by killing him the cows are re¬ leased. The latter are spoken of as having been stolen by his friends, the Panis. Among the many places where his first adventure is described there is one song which is very poetical in its imagery and in its graphic description. That is 1-32. 16 QUINTESSENCE OF THE RIGVEDA 1 will now proclaim the heroic exploits of ^ n ^ ra which he had performed in the beginning. He killed the dragon. He urged the waters down. He broke open tne channels in die mountains ” (1) Vrita is very often spoken of as a dragon, a serpent. This conception of die enemy of virtuous people is mon to other ancient nations also. It is this exploit tna later became the story of Shri Krishna trampling down tne dragon Kaliya, who defied the waters in the river Kalin i, Jumna, as described in the Bhogovata Parana and o e works where the story of Shri Krishna is narrated. _ “He killed the dragon who had been living in tne mountain. The divine architect fashioned for him the Vajra, which is easy to handle and to smite with. UKe milch-cows that make a bellowing sound, the waters tail¬ ing down quickly rushed towards the ocean. (2) “Behaving like a strong bull, he accepted the Soma to drink. He drank the Soma that had been pressed from the Three Vessels. The powerful hero took up the weapon, the Vajra. He killed the first-bom among the dragons.”(3) The impetuous nature of the bull is very often men¬ tioned in the Rigveda, and the nature of Indra is compar¬ ed to that. The Vessel is called Trikadruka in which there is the element “Three”. “When Indra killed the first-bom among the dragons, he was able to destroy the mysterious powers of those who had been wielding such powers. He then produced the Sun, also the celestial region and the Dawn. Thereby, there remained no enemy to him, known.” (4) There is a particular feature in this song which can be understood only in the original. The end of the first verse is the beginning of the second verse, and there is the same relation between the third and the fourth verses. It will be noted that the expression, “He killed the dragon,” is common between the first and the second verses'and the expression, “He killed the first-bom among the dragons,” is also common between the third and the fourth verses. “Indra killed Vritra, the worst sinner, splitting off his shoulder with his Vajra, the mighty smiter. He split up his body like the trunle of a tree, with his Vajra. The dra¬ gon lay touching the earth below ” (5) INDRA SMITES DOWN THE DRAGON n “He challenged the great hero, one who drinks the Soma, who is able to attack others immensely, being filled with a false pride, and he was really one who is not a warrior. He was not able to withstand the continuous rush of Ipdra’s weapons. Being stricken, he, with Indra as his enemy, was crushed.” (6) “With his legs and hands removed from hiin, he fought with Indra. Then Indra smote the Vajra on his sides. He wanted to be a rival to the strong bull. But being smitten he lay scattered in many places, having been cut into pieces.” (7) “The waters began to flow over him who was lying down like this, taking up their hearts, as if the waters were flowing over the bed of a river that had been dug for them. These very waters which Vritra had been encom¬ passing and stopping with his powers, the dragon had to lie down falling at their very feet.” (8) “She who had Vritra as her son had come down there to protect him. Indra brought down the deadly weapon over her also. In that state, the mother lay above and &e son was below; that demoness lay there down like a cow with the calf.” (9) In the midst of the waters that never stop, that never take a rest in their flow, the body of Vritra lay concealed The waters flowed freely over the concealed body of Vritra He who had Indra as a foe, lies there in eternal dark- ness* (10) ^ The women of the Dasa, they who were protected bv the dragon, stood there like the cows hidden by the Pani When the„cave of the waters remained covered up Indra opened it. (11) ^ There are two terms here, Dasa and Pani. Dasa must be a ., v ‘ U ?§ er ’ an 3 tlle ^, rd is rela *ed to the moderh Per¬ sian Deh , a village. They were people across the bor¬ ders of the Vedic region, and they became the enemies of the Vedic people. The Panis are also enemies of the Vedic people and they lifted their cattle and kept them hidden in caves in the mountains. The story about Panis ha¬ ving stolen the cows and hidden them in a cave belonging to the demon Vala, and the recovery of the cows by Indra R2 18 QUINTESSENCE OF THE RIGVEDA after killing Vala, is very famous in Rigveclic lore. It is indicated here. It is easy to say that Indra is related to the clouds and that the story of Vritra and the release of the waters stop¬ ped by him, are only a description of the phenomenon of waters hidden in the clouds and their release by Indra after smiting the clouds with his Thunderbolt. The thunder and the lightning represent the weapon called the Vajra. This is what can be said about every Nature poet. It is all a matter of flowers and birds and animals and trees and forests and rivers and lakes and stars and moonlight. But what is interesting in poetry is the human touch in the poems. The poet finds life in them, they find in them their own companions who can sympathise with themselves. Here also we find the same human touch. We see a mother fond of her son and the son making a strong person his enemy. The son challenges the strong enemy but he is not equal to him The mother tries to protect her son. Both fall in battle. The son had done some harm to innocent persons and now he has to lie down at their feet. The poet has constructed a story out of a phenomenon of Nature. The Maruts, as helpers of Indra in the fight, are not introduced in this poem. The power which Indra derived from the drink of Soma is only hinted at here in the early part. They are all mentioned very often in other parts of the Rigveda. There is a humanization of the objects of Nature and there is also a philosophy of life in this poem. The son keeps the waters as prisoners and challenges, in the intoxication of his power, a strong enemy to battle. He is defeated and he lies down at the feet of his former victims. There are similes about the bull and the trunk of the tree and the cow which bellows and which has its calf. The whole description is very vivid. Winning The Light Indra is the greatest among the gods of the Rigoeda. This is true from the point of view of the number of songs addressed to him, as found in the Rigveclic collection, and also from the point of view of the part played by him in the national life of the people. He is a warrior and an ideal warrior. He represents the heroic genius of the peo¬ ple. A large number of enemies are mentioned in the Rig- veda as having been killed by him. There are stories about the protection that he has rendered to some indivi¬ duals. There are two exploits of Iris that stand out pro¬ minently above all the other achievements of this god and that stand out far more prominently than the exploits of any other god in.the Rigveda. One is his fight against the dragon called Vritra who had been surrounding the waters, preventing the waters from flowing; he killed Vritra and ' let the waters flow freely. The other is his fight against another demon named Vala who had stolen the cattle and concealed them in the cave behind the mountains; Indra killed Vala and rescued the cows from their captivity. In his fight against the dragon Vritra, he had the as¬ sistance ot the gods known as the Maruts. He received his strength to fight that enemy on account of the Soma which he drank. The Maruts were also drinkers of the Soma*. r wa ^’ plays an important part in the fight of 1“^ against Vritra. He is called the “Lover of Sotna^ (1-104-9). Indra attacked and defeated the god Tvashtar (Architect) when he was bom and he drank the Soma from the vessels (III-48-4). He must have taken the Soma by force! Indra is the same Soma-drinker among men and among the gods (VIII-2-4) Indra drank the Soma from the Threefold Vessel and through the exhilaration caused thereby he was able to kill the dragon (II-15-1). When Indra drinks the Soma , there is no one who can stand up against him in battle (VI-47-1). He drank at the same time three lakes of Soma so that he could kill Vritra (V-29-7). "The Maruts whom he associated with himself in drinking; 20 QUINTESSENCE OF THE RIGVEDA the Soma, who as a group increased his powers, along with them, O Indra, drink this Soma through Fire as the mouth, with great eagerness.” (III-35-9) In the other exploit of Indra, the Sages called the An- girases and the god named Brihaspati are Indra s close as¬ sociates. While the Maruts who helped Indra in his tight against Vritra are essentially Soma-drinkers, though they are also singers, the Angirases and Brihaspati are essential¬ ly singers of adorations, poets, though their connection with the rituals at which Soma is offered to the g oc *?> , 1S very intimate. It is poetry sung by the Angirases and by Brihaspati that plays the same part in Indra s fight agamst Vala which Soma played in his fight agamst Vntra. In the case of Vritra, Soma plays the most conspicuous part and in the case of Vala, poetry and song play the most impor¬ tant part. In the case of Vritra, waters are released while in the case of Vala, cows are released from captivity. Cows represent light. , The Angirases are a group of Sages. There is also the chief Angiras whose name is borne by the family of the Angirases. The name means Messenger . There is the corresponding word in Greek, “Aggiles” (pronounced An- giles) and this is the English word Angel I cannot say for certain whether the Angirases are an original Indian creation. No other family of Sages'in the Rigveda can be traced to the other Aryan languages. The Angirases are the messengers between heaven and men on earth. They had all gone to heaven and there they enjoy their life along with the gods and they visit the men on earth at the time of the, rituals. Brihaspati belongs to the Angiras family and he is essentially a god who is associated with songs and with wisdom. But he is never a god in the heaven; he is a god on the earth. He is also a poet whose compositions find a place in the Rigvedic collection. The Angirases are essentially poets who sing their songs. "The Angirases who through rituals of worship and through holy gifts, attained immortality and the compa¬ nionship of Indra, let there be auspiciousness for such Angirases.” (X-62-1). . This companionship is the theme for many a piece in the Rigveclic poetry. WINNING THE LIGHT 21 “You (Indra) opened up the stalls of the cows for the sake of die Angirases.” (1-51-3) “On account of Indra, our ancient , forefathers who know the mysterious positions, were able to secure the cows through dieir songs of adoration.” (1-62-2) “When Indra and the Angirases were making a search for the cows, it was Sarama who actually found the cows.” (1-62-3) “Being adored by the Angirases in their songs, Indra was able to open up the dark gloom and release the’ light.” (1-62-5) ° “Indra along widi the Angirases as companions wnc able to break down Vala.” (11-11-20) “Indra was able to break down Vala, being adored in die songs by the Angirases.” (II-15-8) Indra broke open the cow-stall, being adored in sonss by die Angirases.” (IV-16-8) b "With the Angirases as companions, Indra burst open the doors that were firmly fixed, and released die cows from the cave.” (VI-17-6) “‘Let there be that old companionship of yours for med^ala.” h Vw S 8-5) SeS Way > Indra “Indra drove out die cows that were confined in thf» ( C vni-14- V 8 e ) g them f ° r the sake ° £ the ^“SfrMes? Securing Indra as Companion, the Angirases were able to open the cow-stall.” (X-68-7) There are many places where the song of the Angirases are mentioned and in many places their songs are spoken of as the standard for sweetness, taking them for comparison in similes. Brihaspati is another divinity who has been associated with Indra, and he is, as his name shows, the “Lord of Songs.” ’ His songs spread on the earth and in heaven (1-191-4) He kills demons, he breaks open tile cow-stall (11-23 4) This is connected widi Indra’s fight against Vala to release the cows that were hidden in the cave. Brihaspati was able to defeat Vala and to drive the cows out; he sent darkness beyond sight and brightened up the heaven (II-24-3). 22 QUINTESSENCE OF THE BIGVEDA Brihaspati is spoken of as associated with some singers (VII-10-4; X-14-5). Along with the hosts of the singers who chant sweet songs of adoration, he was able to over¬ come Vala with his voice (IV-50-5). “Let Brihaspati sing songs of adoration with his Saman chants” (X-36-5). Bri¬ haspati won the Dawn, the heaven, the Fire; he was able to remove darkness through his songs (X-68-9). In all such cases we find that he was able to see the light through his songs. Brihaspati is not specifically mentioned as having been a mortal at any time. But the Angirases are spoken of as having immortality through their companionship with Indra. There is another person, Yama, who too saw the Path and went to the other world. “Yama had found out the Path for us for the first time and along that Path our ancient forefathers had gone” (X-14-2). He had seen the Path for the many (X-14-1). In the Kathopanishad it is said that he was the only man who knew the mysteries beyond death. What was to come after death was a dark mystery to Man before he was able to discover the true Path. This must be a sort of illumination regarding the •darkness that hides the beyond from our view. We> do not know what steps he had taken to secure this illumina¬ tion. He is in the heaven along with the Angirases (X-14-5). But he is not mentioned along with the Angi¬ rases in the search for the cows. The cows are really the light of wisdom. There is a Sage named Dadhyang who belonged to the Atharvan Family. He received the secret wisdom called the Honey Wisdom from Indra and revealed this to the Twin-gods, the Ashvins, through a horse’s head. This is mentioned by the poets when they enumerate the stories connected with he Ashvins. “Dadhyang, son of Atharvan, propounded to you the Madhu (Honey Wisdom) with a horse’s head.” (1-116-12) “You replaced for Dadhyang, the son of Atharvan, a horse’s head. He, knowing the Law, propounded to you the Madhu (Honey Wisdom) which related to Ivashtar (Architect) and which was concealed.” (1-117-22) You won the heart of Dadhyang and then you replaced the head of the horse for him.” (1-119-9) WINNING THE LIGHT 23 Dadhyang had some superhuman powers and Indra was able to ldll the ninety-nine Vritras with the bones of Dadhyang (1-84-13). Searching for the horse’s head which had been thrown away in the mountains, he found it in die Sharyanavat (1-84-13). ' The story is that Indra had imparted the secret wis¬ dom called the Honey Wisdom to Dadhyang and the con¬ dition' was that he should not reveal it to any one. Should he reveal it, his head would burst into pieces. The Asvins, the Twin-gods, wanted to know this secret wisdom and they approached Dadhyang for it. But there was the con¬ dition imposed on the latter. So the Ashvins placed a horse’s head on the neck of Dadhyang and through that, Dadhyang revealed the secret to the Ashvins. The horse’s head burst and then the Ashvins placed Dadhyang’s own head back on his neck. The head of the horse was thrown into a lake called the Sharyanavat. Dadhyang died in due course. The demons attacked Indra knowing that the great sage was dead; so long as he was alive, they were afraid of him and kept quiet. Indra wanted to know if anything of Dadhyang remained, and after a search, the horse’s head was found in the lake. With that as a wea¬ pon, Indra killed Vritra. The bull is the symbol of physical power and the horse that of intellectual power. There are the two words “Daksha which means “Physical power” and “Rratu” which means “Intellectual power.” This distinction and this symbolism have been very clearlv kept up in the Rig- veda. There is a horse called Dadliikravan. He repre¬ sents wisdom in the Rigveda. We do not know the exact relation of the Sage with the horse. But the fact that the wisdom was imparted with a horse’s head and that there is a horse which represents wisdom show that there must have been some connection between the two "Dadhi” means “Curdled milk” and “Anch” means “Proceeding to¬ wards”; Kravan means “Running towards.” I have not been able to see any connection between curdled milk and wisdom in the Rigveda. Curdled milk is related to Soma, which represents activity and physical power. Soma is often mixed with curdled milk for offering to the gods (Dadhyashira). I am not satisfied with this etymology. I 24 QUINTESSENCE OF THE BIGVEDA feel that the former part of the two names is related to the root “Dhyai”, which means “to contemplate.” The word “Dhi” means “song, adoration, thought, etc.” in the Rigveda. In the Avesta there is the word “Datha” appearing as “Da- theng’ (Catha 28-10), which means “Wise” My own view is that there is some connection between this word in the Avesta and the name of the Sage in the Rigveda. The discovery of some Path had been known to the Vedic poets. They speak of the gods as having known the Path ( Gatuvit ). It is only among the mortals that Yama was the first to know that Path. That must be the Path that leads to the region of light, the heaven described in the Rigveda and included in this book (next chapter). In that description it has been said that the king Yama is there. Yama sought out the Path and found it. Angirases and Brihaspati are seekers of that fight to which the Path leads. Inara broke open the cave where that light was concealed for the sake of the Angirases. Dirghatamas was a great Sage who had some sort of illumination and in a song,which he recited sitting before the Fire Altar, he explains the mode of that revelation which shone on him. This is in the famous song on wis¬ dom by Dirghatamas (1-164). After dealing with the mys¬ tery of Time in symbolic language, he says.- “Who has seen that corporeal being which came into being at first, which the incorporeal had supported? Where is that fife, that blood, that soul of the earth? Who has gone to the wise man to ask about this?” (4) “I with my limited knowledge, ask in my mind, not knowing the truth, about these concealed positions of the gods.” (5) “Not having seen, I ask the poets who have seen, for the sake of knowing, not having known.” (6) “Let him declare here who certainly knows this— the concealed position of the lovable bird.” (7) 1 “They are really women; but they say to me that they are men. One with eyes can see; the blind cannot see. The son who is a poet knows this. He who knows them well becomes the father of the father.” (16) The meaning here is rather uncertain. There is a lot that puzzles in this song. They say something that is ab- WINNING THE LIGHT ^\