NOV lo 1924 j IHvisiou BlZOO! Section • H4-G S ' [ ■ Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2019 with funding from Princeton Theological Seminary Library https://archive.org/details/religionofrigvedOOgris THE RELIGIOUS QUEST OF INDIA « EDITED BV N. FAKQUHAR, M.A., U.Litt. PROFESSOR OK < OMPARATIS’E RELIGION, MANCHESTER UNIVERSITY AND ll. 1). (tRISWOLU, M.A., Ph.D., 1).D. SECRETARY OF THE COUNCIL OF THE AMERICAN PRESBYTERIAN MISSIONS IN INDIA UNIFORM WITH THIS VOI.UME ALREADY PUBLISHED INDIAN THEISM THE HEART OF ^ A IN ISM THE TRE A SUR E OF TU E MAGI . REDEMPTION, HINDU A OHRISTIAN. THE RELIGIOUS LITER¬ ATURE OF INDIA ... THE RITES OF THE TWICE-BORN ... HINDU ETHICS By Nicol Macnicol, M.A., D.Litt. Pp.xvi4 292. Price 6s. net. By Mrs. Sinclair Steven¬ son, M. A., Sc. D. (Dublin). Pp. xxiv -r 886. Price 7s. 6(i. By James Moulton, D.Litt, D.D., D.C.L. Pp. xv + 278. Price 8s. 6d. By Sydney Cave, D.D. (Loud.). Pp. xii + 263. Price 10s. 6d. By .1. N. Fakqlihar, M.A., D.Litt ,(Oxon.). Pp. xxviii ^ 451. Price 18s. By Mrs. Sinclair Steven¬ son, M. A., Sc.D. (Dublin). Pp. xxiv+ 474. Price 21s. By John McKenzie, M.A. Pp. xii+267. Price 10s. 6d. IN PREPARATION THE VEDANTA ISLAM IN INDIA By W. S. Urolihakt, M.A., D.Phil., Calcutta. By M. T. Titus, B.Litt, MoT*adabad. 11 EDITORIAL PREFACE The writers of this series of volumes on the variant forms of religious life in India are governed in their work by two impelling motives. 1. They endeavour to work in tlie sincere and sym¬ pathetic spirit of science. They desire to understand the perplexingly involved developments of thought and life in India and dispassionately to estimate their value. They recognize the futility of any vSuch attempt to understand and evaluate, unless it is grounded in a thorough historical study of the phenomena investigated. In recognizing this fact they do no more than share what is common ground among all modern students of religion of any repute. But they also believe that it is necessary to set the practical side of each system in living relation to the l)eliefs and the literature, and that, in this regard, the close and direct contact which they have each had with Indian religious life ought to prove a source of valuable light. For, until a clear under¬ standing has been gained of the practical influence exerted bj' the habits of worship, by the practice of the ascetic, devotional, or occult discipline, bj the social organization and by the family system, the real impact of the faith upon the life of the individual and the community cannot be estimated: and, without the ad¬ vantage of extended personal intercourse, a trustworthy account of the religious experience of a community can scarcely be achieved by even the most careful student. It. They seek to set each form of Indian religion by the side of Christianity in such a way that the relationship may stand out clear. Jesus Christ has become to them the light of all their seeing, and they III EinTORIAL PREFACE \\ believe Hiin destined to be the light of the world. They are persuaded that sooner or later the age-long quest of the Indian spirit for religious truth and power will find in Him at once its goal and a new starting point, and they will be content if the preparation of this series contributes in the smallest degree to hasten this con¬ summation. If there be readers to whom this motive is unwelcome, they may be reminded that no man ap¬ proaches the study of a religion without religious con¬ victions, either positive or negative: for both reader and writer, therefore, it is better that these should be explicitly stated at the outset. Moreover, even a complete lack of sympathy with the motive here acknowledged need not diminish a reader’s interest in following an honest and careful attempt to bilng the religions of India into comparison with the religion which to-day is their only possible rival, and to which they largely owe their present noticeable and significant revival. It is possible that to some minds there may seem to be a measure of incompatibility between these two motives. The writers, however, feel otherwise. For them the second motive reinforces the first: for they have found that he who would lead others into a new faith must first of all understand the faith that is theirs already — understand it, moreover, sympathetically, with a mind quick to note not its weaknesses alone but that in it which has enabled it to survive and has given it its power over the hearts of those who profess it. The duty of the Editors of the series is limited to seeing that the volumes are in general harmony with the principles here described. Each writer is alone responsible for the opinions expressed in his volume, whether in regard to Indian religions or to Christianity. 1.J24 THE REIHGIOUS QUEST OF INDIA T H E ilk; OF THF: klGVF:i)A BY H. D. GRISWOLD, Pu.D. (Cornell), D.D. (Union), SECRETARY OF THE COUNCIL OF THE AMERICAN PRESBYTERIAN MISSIONS IN INDIA HUMPHREY MILFORD OXP'ORD UNIVERSITY PRESS LONDON EDINBURGH GLASGOW NEW YORK TORONTO MELBOURNE CAPE TOWN BOMBAY 1928 Printed at the KANARESE MISSION PRESS AND BOOK DEPOT. MANGALORE TO MY WIFE FOREWORD Two things have attracted the author to the study of the Rigveda; first, the living interest which has lured him on ever since he began the study of Vedic in 1889 with Prof. Weber of Berlin, after previously reading Sanskrit with Prof. Macdonell of Oxford; and secondly, the fact that he has had the advantage of living nearly thirty years in the Punjab, the very habitat of the Vedic Indians. The religion of the Rigveda in the foi*in in wJiich it was professed and practised is, of course, dead, and yet, in a sense, it still lives. As the Old Testament has ful¬ filled itself in three monotheisms, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, so the Rigveda has fulfilled itself in the popular polytheism, the philosophic pantheism and the occasional monotheism of India. If it is impossible to understand present-day Hinduism without a knowledge of the Rigveda, the reverse is also true that it is im¬ possible to understand the Rigveda without a knowledge of modern Hinduism; for very many of the doctrines and rites of Hinduism point back to the Rigveda as their fountain-head and as such are survivals of that ancient time. While it is true that the Rig vedic gods have passed into the twilight, yet the Rigveda itself abides as a permanent source of material for the reconstruction of the ancient religion. As the New Testament reveals the nature of early Christianity, and the Quran that of early Islam, so does the Rigveda that of early Vedism. Two things are necessary as an adequate equipment FOREAVOIM) \' for the reconstruction of Vedic religion — a knowledge of the Rigvedic text and a knowledge of the Rigvedic land. The writer can claim only a moderate acquaintance with the text of the Rigveda, in this respect falling short of the linguistic equipment possessed by the great Vedi(* scholars of the world. On the other hand, the fact of residence in the Punjab for nearly thirty years ought to.yield some fruit. For as Palestine is sometimes called Hhe fifth Gospel’, so the Punjab might well be (tailed ‘the fifth Veda’. Its fauna and flora, must be essentially the same to-day as they were 1000 b. c. So with the general look of the land — great rivers thread¬ ing their way through great plains, and to the north the snow-cap})ed Himalayas. During the lapse of ilOOO years the climatic and meteoric conditions which rule to-day can hardly have changed very much, such as the great heat of the pre-monsoon season, the dust storms, the monsoon rains, and the feverish time im¬ mediately following the close of the monsoon. Then as regards the blood of Aryan and Dasyu, the ancient inhabitants of the land, it is found commingled in the present-day population of the Punjab. ^ The Kashmiri and PunjabT Brahmans represent probably the,purest Aryan blood; but the whole population, like every other race on the face of the earth, is to be regarded as more or less a mixture. Thus the Vedic antithesis between Aryan and Dasyu has been resolved into a higher synthesis consisting of the blending of the two races. To dwell in living contact, then, with a people whose forebears were Aryans or Dasyus or both is to occupy a certain vantage ground for the study of the earliest literature produced by their ancestors. Again, the present-day PunjabT, the dialect of the Punjab, is undoubtedly a direct descendant of the earliest FOREWORD XI Vedic dialect spoken in these parts'. The Punjabi vocabulary is large, and it is highly probable that a critical examination of it on the part of a competent scholar would throw light on some of the obscure words of the Rigvedu. The Rigvedic age, then, has projected down to the present time (of course in blended and modified forms) its language, blood and religious con¬ ceptions. To be for years in living contact with these survivals of the past is an advantage which the writer has enjoyed for the study of the Rigveda. Whether he has made good use of his opportunities or not is for the expert reader to judge. It was in 1909 that the present writer promised to prepare this book for The Religious Quest of India Series. He has often been tempted to drop the task as he came to realize more fully its magnitude and difficulty. It has been due to the steady encouragement of Dr. J. N. Farquhar, his colleague on the editorial staff, that this work has ever seen the light. An un¬ usually long furlough in the U. S. A. (1919-1920) made possible continuous work at Ithaca, New York, where the writer enjoyed the use of the Cornell University Library. His thanks are due to the Librarian and staff for the many courtesies received. His thanks are also due to A. C. WooLNER, Esq., m. a., Principal of the Oriental College, Lahore, for looking over several 1 . Compare the folknvmg Punjabi: - Vedic Punjabi agni m ‘ fire ’ yajna jag ‘ sacrifice ’ deva de ‘ god’ pita pio ‘father’ list of words in Vedic and Vedic Punjabi bhrata, bhrd ‘ brother’ duhitd dhi ‘ daughter ’ mdtd ma ‘ mother ’ vaifv vd ‘ wind ’ Xll POKEWORD (‘hapters of the MS. and suggesting many corrections and improvements; also to Prof. Macdonell for per¬ mission to <{UOte several of his translations of Rigvedic hymns. As regards the method of transliteration, it is in general that of the JRAS. CONTENTS ’CHAPTEi: Part A. Introduction. I. The Antecedents of the Rigvedic Age . 1. fndo-European Peiiod. a) The Eigveda and the Aiyans b) The Indo-European family of languages . c) Table of Indo-European cognate words d) Comments on the relations of these words e) Stage of Indo-European culture f) Indo-European religion. !f) Significance of Indo-European religious ideas fi) Original home of the Indo-European tribes i) Date of dispersion. j) India a land of archaic survivals . 2. Indo-Iranian Period. rt) Sources of information .... b) The undivided Aryan tribes . C) Indo-Iranian religion. d) New developments in Indo-Iranian religion (1) The conception of ‘Order’ (2) The ethical conception of Cod (3) Amesha Spentas and Adityas (4) Development of demonology (5) Development of the priesthood . II. The Rigvedic Age 1. Somces. 2. Geography . . . . 3. Climate . * . . 4. Aryans. 5. Dasyus. b. Conquest of the land 7. Organization of society a) Vedic tribes b) King and Ksatriyas c) Priesthood PAGK 1-27 7 n 15 U5 19 19 20 20 21 22 24 24 24 2.5 26 26 28-53 28 29 32 34 37 41 45 45 47 48 xiii XIV CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE d) Vaisyas. 51 e) Sudras. 51 8. Conclusion. 52 III. The Rigvedic Book. .54-7i* 1. Introductory. 54 2. The text of the Rigveda. 57 3. The language of the Rigveda. t)2 1. The chronology of the Rigveda. 07 5. The interpretation of the Rigveda. 75 Part B, Religious Contents of the Rigveda. IV. The Vedie World of Gods and Demons . . 80-lli> 1. Introductory. SO 2. Pix)cess of personification.. . 81 3. Gods and demons. S« 4. Specimen of Vedic demonology. !>1 a) Genesis of Vedic belief in demons. 94 b) Relation of demon and demon-possessed .... 94 r) Depravity of the demons !>;5 d) Demons in the form of night-wandering animals . • !M> e) The doom of the demons of darkness .... f) They arc overcome by the gods of light .... IfT 5. Father Dyaus and his children the Devas. '98 d. (7ommon characteristics of the Vedic gods .... 100 7. IVo recent theories of the Rigveda. 108 a) Max Muller’s Hemtheism in the Rigveda ... 108 h) Swam! Dayanand’s Monotheism in the Rigveda . . 109 V. Varuna the Ethical God.lit-149 1. Introductory .•. Ill 2. Distribution of the Rigvedic .fiiaterial. 112 The prehistoric Varuna. 112 4. Mitra and Varuna. 114 5. Varima and ethical order. 121 a) Varuna inflicts disease as a reminder and punish¬ ment of sin. 122 h) Fellowship with Varuna is broken by sin . . . . 124 r) Vanina is besought to loose the sinnej’ from sin tind ils penalty. 124 (CONTENTS XV CHAPTER d) Sin is ‘the transgression of the law’ of V’aruna . e) Varnna is a witness of the deeds of men . . . . /) Means of gaining the meiey of A''aruna . . . . ;/) Varuua grants protection and happiness to liis woi’ship- pers. h) Varnna as i^ord of ethical order is a holy ao«l t). Varuua and cosmic order. a) Creator and so\'ereigu .... ... b) Vamna and the waters. 7. Varuua and the Adityas. ft) Varuua and Mitra the Aditya chiefs. h) Common chat actenstics of the Aditya-grouj» . A c) Place of Aditi among the Adityas. d,) Adityjis and Amesha Spentas. e) Semitic influence possibly to be recognised in the Adityas 'and Amesha Spentas. PAGE 126 127 129 i:n 181 188 183 186 188 189 148 144 14 .-) 147 VI. Agni the Priestly Gfod.17)0-176 1. Introductory. 150 2. ’Phe prehistoric Agni. 1.52 ft) Domestic character as a primitive trait .... l.")4 h) Dispeller of darkness, demons, hostile magie, etc. . 1.55 (1) Agni dispels darkness. 155 (2) ,, repels enemies . 155 (3) ,, wards off hostile magic. 155 (4) destroys demons. 156 (5) ,, banishes illness. 157 8. The Sacrificial Agni. 157 ft) Agni dwells in the Vedi or ‘ lire-pit ’ . . . . 159 h) ,, is strengthened with fuel, ghee and soma . . 160 c) ,, is mediator between gods and men .... 160 I. Agni’s heavenly origin. 1«)8 5. Agni as the great High Priest. 164 ft) The divine counterpart of the Earthly priesthooil . 164 h) The king of sacrificial rites. 165 c) Wise and able to correcit mistakes in wm-ship . . 166 • 1, Agni is Intercessor tmd Judge. 166 ft) Agni is an all-seeing god. 16t) h) ,, takes account of sin and punishes it . . . 167 c) ,, intercedes with V^aruna for siunei-s .... 167 d) „ is besought to forgive sin. 16)8 XVI CONTENTS CHAPTER page 7. Agni and Brihaspati. 168 s. Vedic nature studies on the subject of fire .... 17.^ VII. Indra the Warrior God. 177-208 1. Introductory. 177 2. Indra the slayer of Vritra. 178 a) Indra’s ‘ mythological essence’. 180 b) Vritra the chief enemy of Indra. 188 c) India’s equipment for the fight with Vritra ... 184 d) Indra’s winning of the light. 186 India and the earthly waters. 187 4. Indra the war-god of the Vedic Aryans. 191 7). Heroic deeds wrought by Indra. 196 ♦i. C!haracter of Indra. 198 rt) Indra’s relation to Varmia. 198 b) „ „ ,, flUd . 200 c) ,, ,, the wicked. 202 7. Indra and the Maruts. 202 5. Indra the bountiful .. 207 VIII. Soma the Deified Sacrificial Drink. 209-248 1. Introductory. 209 2. The origin and habitat of Soma. 215 a) Soma’s heavenly origin. 215 b) Soma’s earihly habitat. 217 8. The identification of the Soma plant. 218 4. The sacramental preparation of the soma juice . . . 221 а) 'J'he pressing of the Soma. 223 б) The straining of the Soma. 228 c) The mixing of the Soma. 230 .4. Soma as an offering to the gods.• . 231 <). Soma and the moon. 233 7. Soma and immortality. 238 IX. Usas and the Asvins. 244-264 1. Uses.•. 244 a) Plural Usasali, dawn-gleams or successive dawns . 245 b) Dawns as aspects of the Lady Dawn. 246 c) LL^as banishes night, bad dreams and evil spirits . 246 (1) Usas is the lady bountiful. 24t» e) Dawn-gleams are conceived as cattle. 247 CONTENTS XVII CHAPTER PACE f) Usas awakes man, beast and bird . . • . . 247 g) Usas is the sister of RStrl ‘ Night ’. 248 h) Usas is a path-maker. 249 i) Usas is called immortal. 249 j) Usas and the duration of time. 250 k) Repeated births of Usas suggestive of transmigration 251 l) Usas is an expression of cosmic rita. 252 in) Usas is closely connected with the sun .... 253 n) Comparisons. 253 2. The Asvins. 254 а) The Pre-Vedic Asvins. 255 б) Identification of the Asvins. 256 e) Asvins closely associated with Usas. 259 ft) Asvin hymn VII. 71 translated. 260 Asvins are heralds of the dawn and harbingers of day 261 f) Genealogy of the Asvins.• . . 262 g) Asvins are connected with love, courtship, marriage, etc. 262 h) Asvins as compared with Indra. 263 X. The Minor Gods of the Vedic Pantheon A. Celestial Gods. 1. Surya. 2. Savitar. a) Connected with evening and morning b) Seems to have charge of the sun at night c) Has two arms, which he raises up . . . d) Pre-eminently a golden deity. e) Puts creatures to sleep evenings and awakens mornings.. f) The lord of stimulation. i)') The SSvitrl (Gdyatri) stanza. h) Savitar makes men sinless. 3. Pufan. a) Shepherds domestic animals. b) Pusan is a path-lord . . . • . c) His birth, habitat and connections are heavenly 4. Visnu.• . . . • • B. Atmospheric Gods. 1. Vayu-Vata ...... a) The restlessness of the wind them 265-307 265 266 270 272 272 273 273 I O 275 277 278 278 279 280 281 282 285 286 287 XVIII CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE b) Connection between morning breeze and morning dawn 287 c) Vayu joined with India as a dual divinity . . . 288 d) Vayu has the first draught of Soma. 288 e) Collective wind and individual gusts of wind . . 288 f) The mysteriousness of the wind. 289 g) Hygienic and vital aspects of wind. 289 2. Apah. 290 a) Heavenly waters chiefly referred to . . . . 290 b) Waters naturally thought of as feminine .... 291 6*) The waters are wealthy and wealth-giving ... 291 d) The waters are nourishing and life-giving ... 292 e) The waters cleanse and purify. 292 3. Rudra. 293 a) Father of the Maruts. 295 b) Rudra is both divine and demonic. 295 c) Extension of Rudra’s original function .... 296 d) Rudra as a physician god. 296 e) Rudra as a god of grace. 298 4. Apam Napat, Trita Aptya, Matarisvan, Ahibudhnya and Aja Ekapad. 298 C. Terrestrial Gods. 299 1. SarasvatT and the Rivers. 300 2. Mountains. 304 3. Forests, plants and trees. 305 XI. The Eschatology of the Rigveda. 308-327 1. Translation of the funeral hymn X.14 . 308 2. Disposal of the dead by burial and cremation . . . 309 3. Rigvedic psychology. 313 4. The paradise of the Rigveda. 314 5. The Rigvedic hell. 318 6. The pitris or fatheis. 319 7. Yama the king of the blessed dead. 322 a) Ancestry and relationships of Yama. 322 b) Origin and future life of mankind. 324 c) Yama’s two dogs. 326 Part C. The Significance and Value of the Rigveda. XII. The Rigveda and Later Hindu Developments . 328-350 CONTENTS XIX CHAPTER PAGE 1. The Rigveda and Hindu art. 328 a) Poetry. 328 b) Music.•. 333 c) Painting and sculpture. 334 2. The Rigveda and Hindu society and history .... 335 a) Historical names.• , . . 335 b) Caste. 335 c) Pessimism. 336 3. The Rigveda and Hindu popular religion .... 336 a) Ritual. 336 b) Magic. 337 c) Priesthood. 338 d) Austerity. 338 4. The Rigveda and Hindu philosophical and religious thought. 339 a) Philosophical conceptions. 339 b) Ethics. 341 c) The foi’giveness of sin. 341 d) Polytheism. 342 (?) Pantheism.• . . 344 f) Monotheism . 347 XIII. The Fulfilment of the Religion of the Rigveda . 351-375 1. Difficulty of reaching and maintaining ethical monotheism 351 2. Lack of a strenuous ethical temper in the Rigveda . . 351 3. Vedie anticipations of Christian doctrine ...... 354 4. Vedic and Chnstian eschatology compared .... 364 5. General suggestions of truth in Rigvedic polytheism . . 366 6. The theism of SwamT DaySnand Sarasvati .... 367 7. Conclusion. 370 ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THE NOTES AJP. Baneijea, AW. Barth, RI. Bartholomse, AW. Bergaigne, RV. Bhandarkar CV. Bloomfield, AV. Bloomfield, HAV. Bloomfield, RC. Bloomfield, RV. Bloomfield, RVR. Bloomfield, HL. Bode, Bokhara. Bohnenberger, AGV. Bradke, DA. Brugmann, CGIL. Brunnhofer, IT. Carnoy, IVO. Clayton, RV. Crooke, PR. Darmesteter, OA. Deussen, AGP. ERE. E. Tr. Farquhar, CH. „ , MRMI. , PH. , ORLI. Feist, KAHI. Geldner, G. America^i Journal of Philology. Banerjea, Avian Witness, Calcutta, 1875. Barth, Religions of India, (E. Tr.) Boston, 1882. Bartholomae, Altiranisches Worterhuch, 1905. Bergaigne, Religion Vedique, I-III, Pans, 1878-1883. Bhandarkar Commemoration Volume, Poona, 1917. Bloomfield, Alharva-Veda, 1899, in Grundriss. Bloomfield, Hymns of the Aiharva-Veda, SBE. XLII, 1897. Bloomfield, Relative Chronology, in JAOS. 21 (1901). Bloomfield, Religion of the Veda, New York, 1908. Bloomfield, Rig~Veda Repetitions, in HOS. 1916. Bloomfield, Hittite Language, in JAOS. 41 (June 1921). deBode, Bokhara, its Amir and its People, London, 1845. Bohnenberger, Der Altindische Gott Varuna, 1893. V. Bradke, Dydus Asura. Brugmann, Comparative Grammar of the Indo-Germanic Languages, E Tr., I-IV, 1888. Brunnhofer, Iran und Turan. 1893. Carnoy, Iranian Vieivs of Origins in JAOS. 36, p. 307 ff. Clayton, Rig-Veda and Vedic Religion, Madras, 1913. Crooke. Popular Religion and Folk-Lore of Northern India, I-II, London, 1896. Darmesteter, Ormazd et Ahriman, Paris, 1877. Deussen, Allgem eine Geschichte der Philosophie, Leipzig, 1894. Hastings, Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, Edinburgh. English Translation. Farquhar, Crown of Hinduism, London, 1915. ,, , Modern Religious Movements in India, New York, 1915. Farquhar, Primer of Hinduism, London, 1912. ,, Outline of the Religious Literature of India, London, 1920. Feist, Kultur, Ausbreitung und Herkunft der Indo- germanen, 1913. Geldner, Glossar, Stuttgart, 1907. XXI XXII ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THE NOTES Geldner & Kaegi, SL. Geldner & Kjegi, Siebenzig Lieder. Grassmann, RV. Grassmann, Big-Veda I-II.Leipzig, 1876-1877. Griffith, HR. Griffith, Hymns of the Bigveda l-II. Benares, 1896. Griswold, Brahman. Griswold, Brahman: J Study of Indian Philosophy, Griswold, GVR. Grundriss New York. 1900. Griswold, God Varuna in the Big-Veda. Ithaca, 1910. Grundriss der Indo-Arischen Philologie und Altertums- kunde (Encyclopaedia of Indo-Aiyan Research), Strasshurg. Haddon, WP. Haddon, Wanderings of Peoples, London, 1911. Hillebrandt, AI. Hillebrandt, Alt-Indien. ,, , Brahman. ,, , Art. Brahman in ERE ,, , LR. „ , VM. ,, , Lieder des Bigveda, Gottingen, 1913. ,, , Vedische Mythologie. T-IIl, Breslau, 1891, 1899, 1902. # , V. &M. Hillebrandt, Varuna and Milra, Breslau, 1877. Hirt, IG. Hopkins, ION. „ , HR. ,, , RI. HOS. IGI. lA. Jackson, IR. Jastrow, RBA. JAOS. JA. JRAS. Keith, IM. Hirt, Indogermanen, I-II, 1905-1907. Hopkins, India Old and New, New York, 1901. ,, , History of Beligions, 1918. ,, , Beligions of India, Boston, 1898. Harvard Oriental Series. Imperial Gazelteer of India. Indian Antiquary, Bombay. Jackson, Die Iranische Religion (in Iranian Grundriss) Jastrow, Religion of Babylonia and Assyria, 1898. Journal of the American Oriental Society. Journal Asiatique, Paris. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society? Keith, Indian Mythology, 1917, in vol. YU of The Mythology of All Nations. Keith, TS. Kuhn, HFG. Keith, Taittiriya Saiihild, I-H, 1914 in HOS. Kuhn, Herabkunft des Feuers und des Gbltertranks, Berlin, 1859. Lajpat Rai, AS. Ludwig, RV. Lajpat Raif Ary a Samdj, London, 1915. Ludwig, Der Bigveda, I-V, 1876-1883. Macdonell, HR. Maedoirell, Hymns from the Bigveda, London, 1922. ,, , Principles. „ , Principles to be followed in translating the Macdonell, SL. Bigveda (Bhandarkar CV. 1917). Macdonell, Sanskrit Literahire, London, 1900. ,, , SB. in IGI. „ , Sanskrit Literature in Imperial Gazetteer of India, 1908, Vol. II. ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THE NOTES XXIII Macdonell, VM. Macdonell, VRS. Macnicol, IT. Meyer, GA. Moore, HR. Moulton, EZ. , I. , TM. yy yy Macdonell, Vedic Mythology in Grundriss, Strassburg, 1897. Macdonell, Vedic Reader for Students, London, 1917. Macnicol, Indian Theism, London, 1915. Meyer, Geschichte des Altertums, I^, 1909. Moore, History of Religions, I. 1914. Moulton, Early Zoroastrianism, London, 1913. , Iranians in ERE. VII. , Treasure of the Magi, London, 1917. Mrs. Stevenson, HJ. Mrs. Sinclair Stevenson, Heart of Jainism, London, 1915. „ „ , RT. „ „ „ Rites of the Twice-Born, London, 1920. Muir, OST. Muir, Original Sanskrit Texts, London, 1858 ff. Muller, PR. Max Muller, Physical Religion, 1891. Myriantheus, AAD. Myriantheus, Die .Irrtns Oder die Arischen Dioskuren> 1876. N. T. New Testament. O. T. Old Testament. Oldenberg, Buddha. Oldenbcrg, Buddha, E. Tr., London, 1882. ,, , LiAI. ,, , Die Literatur des Alien Indien-, Berlin, 1903. , LiU. ,, , Die Lehre der Upanishaden und die Anfdnge des Buddhismus, Gottingen, 1915. , RV. Oldenberg, Die Religion des Veda, Berlin, 1894. Rv. Noten. ,, , Rigveda, Textkritische und Exegelische Nolen, 1-11. Berlin, 1909, 1912. Sanskrit- Worterbuch, Bohtlingk and Roth, St. Peters¬ burg, Vols. l-VII. 1855-1875. Phillips, TV. Phillips, Teaching of the Vedas, London, 1895. Pischel&Geldner, VS. Pischel und Geldner, Vedische Studien, I-III, Stuttgart, 1889, 1897, 1901. Prabhu Dutt Sastrl, Doctrine of Maya, London, 1911. Prellwitz, Elymologisches Worterbuch der Griechischen Sprache, Gottingen, 1905. Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archceology. Ragozin, Vedic India, London, 1895. Rapson, Cambridge History of India, Vol. I. Cambridge, 1922. Roosevelt, Winning of the West, 1889. Sacred Books of the East, Oxford. Sanskrit. yy pw. P. D. Sastri, DM. Prellwitz, EWGS. PSBA. Ragozin, VI. Rapsan, CHI. Roosevelt, WW. SBE. SKT. XXIV ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THE NOTES Sayana. Scherman, PH. Schrader, AR. „ , IG. „ , RIA. S5yana, Commentary on Rigveda, Ed. Max Muller. Scherman, Philo soy hische Hymnen, Strassburg, 1887. Schrader, Aryan Religion in ERE, II. ,, , Die Indogermanen, 1911. ,, , Reallexikon der Indogermanischen Altertums~ kunde, 1901. Schroeder, AR. Soper, RM. Spiegel, AP. Strauss, BV. Sadhu. SKPAW. Schroeder, Arische Religion, Vol. I. Leipzig, 1914. Soper, Religions of Mankind, 1921. Spiegel, Die Arische Periods, 1887. Strauss, Brihaspati in Veda, 1905. Streeter and Appasamy, The Sadhu, London, 1921. Sitzungsberichte der Kbniglich-Preussischen Akadamie der Wissetischaften. Usener, Gotternamen- Usener, Gotternamen. Versuch Einer Lehre von der Vedic Index. religibsen Begriffsbildung, 1896. Macdonell and Keith, Vedic Index of Names and Subjects, London, 1912. Vend. Wallis, CR. Weber, IS. Vendidad. Wallis, Cosmology of the Rigveda. 1887. Weber, Indische Studien, Berlin. Whitney&Ijanman,AV. Whitney and Lanman, Atharva-Veda Samhita in Winternitz, GIL. ETr. HOS., Harvard, 1905. Winternitz, Geschichte der Indischen Litleratur, Leipzig 1904. Yaska, Nirukta. ZDMG. Yaska, Nirukta. Zeitsehrift der deutschen morgenldndischen Gesellschaft, Zimmer, AL. 1847 ff. Zimmer, Altindisches Leben, Berlin, 1879. 1 THE RELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA PART A. INTRODUCTION CHAPTER I. THE ANTECEDENTS OF THE RIGVEDIC AGE 1. Indo-European Period a) The Rigveda reflects the life of certain Aryan tribes living in the Punjab. We may think of them as occupying the fertile territory of the northern Punjab extending from the Kabul valley to the Jumna, and also as following the banks of the great rivers some distance southward toward the sea. The most striking features of their home were the mountains on the north and the five (or seven) rivers which rising in the mountains flowed downward through the land. The aboriginal inhabitants were called Dasyus, and the Rigveda is dominated throughout by the antithesis < between Aryan and Dasyu. The Dasyus of the Punjab were connected ethnologically with other aborigines of India. But who were the Aryans? Unlike the Hebrews, who after their settlement in Palestine retained lively traditions of their escape from Egypt and their journey through the wilderness, the Aryan tribes of the Punjab, although aware of the existence of ancient priests and poets, yet betray no slightest consciousness that they had not always lived in the Punjab. So far as their testimony is concerned, we might think of them as autochthonous. But there are reasons for holding that the Aryan tribes came into India as strangers from the north-west. For we see them pushing their way steadily eastward, and the Ganges river, mentioned only once or twice in the RIK, is still before them on their horizon. Then, too, their names for year undergo a significant shift, which can be explained only through change of habitat. When they lived in a 1 2 THE RELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA colder climate ten years were called ‘ ten winters’ (kima ); in the Punjab, where the cold season was like their former autumn (sarad)^ ten years would be hen autumns’; and later on in the ‘middle land’, where the characteristic season is the rains {var'sani)^ ten years would be called ‘ten rainy seasons’. But there is a still more decisive proof. b) The greatest linguistic discovery of the nineteenth century and perhaps of all time was the discovery of the Indo-European family of languagesh This is hardly less important in the sphere of philology than the discovery of America in the sphere of geography. According to Brugmann’s classification there are included within the Indo-European family the following eight major groups: Aryan (including Iranian and Indian), Armenian, Greek, Albanian, Italic, Keltic, Teutonic and Balto-Slavic. These groups cover pra«tically all the languages of Europe except such negligible quantities as Basque, Lapp, Finnish, Hungarian, Turkish, etc. They cover also at least three out of the many language groups of Asia, namely, Armenian, Iranian, and the Aryan languages of India, besides the lately discovered Tocharian, and apparently an element in Hittite.^ Thus we see that the Vedic Aryans are connected linguistically and possibly racially with Persians, Greeks, Romans, Russians, Germans and English. No longer do they stand battling in the Punjab against the Dasyus, as they are represented in the pages of the Rv., while themselves unconnected with the rest of mankind. They represent the vanguard of the Aryan dispersion Indiaward. e) In order to indicate the nature of the linguistic evidence on which the unity of the Indo-European (IE.) family is based, there is here subjoined a short table of cognate words in some of the more important related languages:— ’ Brngmann, CGIL,, Vols. 1-IV., 1888; Schrader, RIA., 1901; Feist, KAHI., 1913. * “It {i.e. Hittite) seems to contain an injection of I. E. material” — Bloomfield, Hittite Language, JAOS., June, 1921. THE ANTECEDENTS OF THE RIGVEDIC AGE 3 Sanskrit Avestan Greek Latin Gothic Lithuanian English 1 pitar pitar Pater fadar father 2 matar matar [rdi'/jp mater mote mother 3 bhratar bhratar 4>prjrr)p frater brothar broterelis brother 4 svasar xvauhar sop soror swistar sesu sister 5 sunu-s hunu-s moc sun us sunus son. 6 duhitar dugeda bo^(dzqp daub tar dukte daughter 7 snusa VDOC: nurus (daughter-in-law) 8 svasuras xvasuro sxopdc socer szesznras (father-in-law) 9 svasrus izopd socrus swaihro (mother-in-law) lOpitrivyas tuiryo TCdTpWg patruus (father’s brother) 11 nap at nap at nepbs nepdtis nephew 12 vira viro vir wair vvgras (man) 13 jani jainis 70VY] qens queen 14 patis paitis TTOGir pot- faths patis (master) 15 patni pathni TTOTVia pati (mistress) 16 vispati vJs-paiti wiesz-pats (clan-lord) 17 dampati dangpaiti dsOZOTTjC dom-inu8 (house-lord) 18 raja . rex reiks (king) 19 vis vis olv.OQ vicus weihs (clan) 20 damas ^6[xo^ do mus tim(b)er 21janas Ysvoc: genus kin 22 vidhava vidua widuwo widow 23 gaus gaus poor bos cow 24 uksan uxsam auhsa ox 2 5 asva asp a ITUTUGC equus aihwa (horse) 26 sva spa xotov canis hunds szu hound 27 avis ole; ovis avis (sheep) 28 su-kara hu r oc sus sow 29 zdp/toc porcus parszas pork 30 aja ale ozys (goat) 31 hamsa V.P anser goose 32 vrika vehrko 'koT.OC lupus wulfs vilkas wolf 33 riksa arsa dpxTOc; ursus (bear) 34 mus p.oc mus mouse 35 sardha hair da herd 1* 4 THE RELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA Sanskrit Avestan Greek Latin Gothic Lithaanian English 36 pasu pasu pecus faihu fee 37 yugam Cnyov jugam juk Jungas yoke 38 pur pilis (city) 39 dvar dvar d’JfjOL fores daur durys door 40 naus \/y.DQ navis (ship) 41 yava yava to javas (grain) 42 '■''l sal salt salt 43 dru dru SpDC triu tree 44 sarpis salve 45 madhu madu |X£6v medus mead 46 bahu bazu Tzff/jyr: (arm) 47 dan oBobq dens tunthus dantis tooth 48 pad TTOOC pes fdtus foot 49 janu Yovo genu kniu knee 50 urna Xrjvoc lana wulla vilna wool 51 ayas ayah aes aiz (metal) 52 dhumas Go[j.dc fumus dumas (smoke) 53 an ‘to breathe’ av£[io<; animus 54 ajras ocYpoc ager akrs acre 55 dvau 66o duo twai two 56 trayas ipst? tres threis tri three 57 usas usah fjWC aurora auszra (dawn)^ 58 agm-s ignis ugnis (fire) 59 srad "zapSta cor hairto szirdis heart 60 satam i-xaidv cent-um szimtas hundred 61 sringa xspac; cornu horn 62 hima zayan ystjiwv hiems zema (winter) 63 deva daevo deus devas (god) 64 Dyaus Jupiter (Jupiter) 65huta (?) guth god 66 dhaman dsGig doms doom 67 agas aja<^ (sin) 68 as os (mouth) 69 sala xaXta cella hall * Words in parenthesis in the table above give the meaning but are not the etymological equivalents of the series after which they stand. THE ANTECEDENTS OF THE RIGVEDIC AGE 5 d) This table of cognate words will show at a glance how closely related the different branches of the IE. family are. These languages must be regarded as only dialectical variations of one original IE. speech. To explain the cause of some of the variations, mention may be made of the consonantal shift which separates the Teutonic tongues from all the other members of the IE. family. The following series of consonants are affected by this shift ^: — . Labials bh b P (f) Dentals clh d t (th) Velars gh S k (h) Palatals gh' g' k’ (h') The law known as ‘Grimm’s Law’'^ means that where- ever bh or its equivalent is found in any other IE. tongue, b will appear in the Teutonic, e. g. Skt. bhratar=Eng. brother. As bh shifts to b, so b shifts to p, and p to f. The same rule holds good throughout the other series. In other words, there is a shifting forward in the Teutonic, bh to b, dh to d, gh to g, etc. This shift, by which the Teutonic tongues are placed on a different consonantal level from that of the other cognate tongues, may be compared with a geological fault. Palatalisation takes place in Tocharian by which the dental t becomes ch (c), as Skt. matar, Toch. macar. It will be seen that ^ Armenian, Tocharian and old Irish have suffered greater phonetic ^ Cf. O. W. Emerson, History of the English Language, p. 3 ff. ^ Jacob Grimm, 1785-1863. ® A short list of Tocharian, Armenian and Old Irish equivalents of Sanskrit words is now presented for the sake of completeness of statement :— Sanskrit Tocharian Armenian Old Irish Meaning pitar pacar (A) hair athir father mat^ macar mail’ mathir mother bhratar pracar elbair brathii* brother svasar sar khoir siur sister duhitdr ckacar dustr daughter vlra wir fer (man) gaus kou bo cow 6 THE RELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA decay than Sanskrit, Avestan, Greek, Latin and Lithuanian. The term Indo-European (IE.) indicates that the languages of this great family are found in both Europe and Asia. A more scientific distinction between eastern and western IE. is found in the difference which holds between the Centum- ✓ group and the Satam-group, which difference apparently indicates the existence of dialectical variations within the primitive IE. In the Centum the IE. palatals gh', g, k', h' appear as stops, while in the Satam they appear as spirates. Thus the spirate s (sh) in Skt. Satam ’ ‘ hundred ’ appears as the stop k in the Greek izaiov and the Latin centum. The languages of the Centum-division are Hellenic, Italic, Celtic, Teutonic, the Asiatic Tocharian “ recently discovered in Eastern Turkestan, and possibly an IE. element in the ancient Hittite of Asia Minor. The Satam-division consists of Balto-Slavic, Albanian, Thracian, Phrygian, Armenian and Indo-Iranian. Some of these languages are not onlj^ neighbours geographically, but are also closely allied linguistically. Thus the Indian and the Iranian constitute one group, the Indo-Iranian. In like manner, although to a less extent, Greek is allied to Latin, Latin to Celtic, and Teutonic to Balto-Slavic. A glance at the table of IE. cognate words" will show that they all occur in at least two and many of them in Sanskrit Tocharian Armenian Old h'ish Meaning sva ku (B) sun cu hound riksa arj arth (bear) dvar durn dorus door salyi (B) al salanu salt bahii pokem (A) bazuk (arm) diin atamn det tooth pad pe (A) otn foot nrna gelmn olan wool * as as (B) a mouth ' p. 4, No. 60. “ Vid. Sieg and Siegling, Tocharisch die Sprache der Indoskythen, in SKPAW., 1908, XXXrX, and S. Feist, KAHI., pp. 428-431. ^ pp. 3-4. THE ANTECEDENTS OF THE RIGVEDIC AGE 7 six or seven different IE. tongues. Since there is no evidence that these are loan words, we are shut up to the conclusion that, in most cases, thej^ go back to one pre¬ historic speech, that is to say, the speech of the IE. clans before their separation. Words for cow, brother, foot, heart, etc. are found in the most widely separated branches of the IE. family. Through the study of such words, then, we are able to penetrate to the prehistoric stage of IE. life and culture. Help is also furnished by prehistoric archaeology and the study of comparative IE. institutions as seen in the oldest historical sources. e) In this way, then, we get the following picture ^ of the stage of culture reached by the IE. clans before their separation \ The pastoral and agricultural stage had been reached. Animals that had been domesticated were the cow, sheep, dog, horse, and, less certainly, goat and swine (23-30), also the goose (31). Cattle-rearing was the great occupation, and herds of cattle constituted the wealth (35-36). There were draught animals such as oxen (24), as proved by names for cart and yoke (37). Bears and wolves (32-33) are mentioned among wild animals, but not camels, lions or tigers. Clothing consisted of the skins of wild and domestic animals, and of wool (50), which was woven. As regards articles of food, yava (41), ‘barley’, or perhaps in general ‘corn’, was grown. Evidently the flesh of domestic and wild animals was eaten, since the names of the inner organs of the body, such as the heart (59), would seem to imply the knowledge gained from slaughtered animals. There is no common vocabulary of fishing. Hence we may infer that fish were not used originally as an article of food. The same thing holds true of milk, which apparently, as in China to-day, was not a primitive article of IE. diet. Butter, too, (44) was apparently used ^ I am much indebted for the following sketch to O. Schrader, Die-Indo- (Hernianen, 1911; Sigmund Feist, Kultur., Ausbreitung und Herkunft der Indo- Germanen^ 1913, and 11. Hirt, Die Indo-Germanen, Vols. I-II, 1905-1907. * Reference by number will be made to the table of IE. words on pp. 3-4. 8 THE RELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA more as a salve or ointment than for food. In the matter of agricultural terminology there is a cleft between eastern and western IE., which would seem to indicate that the western Aryans put more stress on agriculture and the eastern Aryans on the pastoral life. Quite likely physical and climatic conditions were at the basis of this difference. It may be that the non-existence of a primitive word for salt (42) in the Indo-Iranian branch, and its existence in all the rest, fits in with this difference, since salt is more needed for a vegetable than for an animal diet. The general name for tree (43) is common, but there are no special names for fruit trees, indicating that tree culture was not yet practised. The primitive IE. intoxicant was a honey product (45). Houses (19, 20) were used, which had doors (39), posts and roofs, but were doubtless little better than huts. These houses were probably partially underground, to ward off the cold of winter. There is no mention of any furniture, such as beds, chairs, tables. Mats and skins may have been used to sit on. Because of the joint family system, a house would naturally expand into a clan-village (19). There were also forts (38), or places of refuge in times of danger. Many such prehistoric forts have been discovered. There is a primitive name for field (54), but no evidence of any private property in land. As means of travel, carts ^ and also boats (40) were used. The linguistic evidence, then, indicates that the undivided IE. clans were in a condition of unstable equilibrium between the nomadic and the settled life. There is evidence of some trade in IE. times. The numbers 1-10 and 100 (55-56, 60) are primitive. The cow was the oldest measure of value (23, 36). Judging from later evidence, there were probably customs of hospitality, such as the interchange of gifts between host and guest, which made it possible for the wandering trader to journey in safety. The winter was the northern winter, because of ’ Skt. anas, ‘cant’; cf. Lat. onus, ‘burden’. THE ANTECEDENTS OF THE RIGVEDIC AGE 9 the common words for snow and ice (62). Probably, there were names for only two seasons, winter and summer, the name winter also designating the year. There was the common idea of the month as the measurer of time. The outlines of the present family system were already in existence (1-11), the father being the head (16-17) and the son’s wife being adopted into the clan of her husband. It was the joint family system, the primitive names (1-11) indicating that the family consisted of a man and his wife and children, his brothers and their families, his sons and their families, besides the old people, grandfather and grand¬ mother. From a comparative study of the customs and institutions of the different IE. branches in connection with the linguistic evidence, it is clear that the authority of the head of the family (16-17) was unlimited. He had the power of life and death. Sons were greatly desired as warriors, avengers of blood, performers of funeral rites, and as means for the continuation of the clan. There was, owing to the chronic warfare of the time, usually a dearth of men and a superfluity of women. Hence girl infants as not needed were often exposed. Old people, too, were frequently put out of the way especially in time of need. The joint family coffer was controlled by the head of the family. Primitive IE. marriage was by purchase or capture. The lot of the wife was not easy. She was more or less a beast of burden. Her mother-in-law ruled her with an iron hand. Separate dining of the two sexes was, according to the evidence, a primitive custom. There are traces also among the Scythians, Thracians, Slavs, Germans and Indo-Aryans of ‘sati’, the custom of a wife voluntarily accompanying her husband in death'; also of a distinct prejudice against the second marriage of widows (22). The brother was the guardian of the honour of his sister, and after the death of the father an unmarried sister came under his authority. IE. antiquity was dominated by the idea of the necessity of ' Schrader, Indogermanen, 97. 10 THE RELIGION OF THE RIG VEDA marriage. So indispensable was it considered that, accord¬ ing to the evidence, the unmarried dead v^^ere sometimes even married ritually to the living, that they might be thus provided for in the life to comeb The future comfort of the dead husband was the primitive idea of ‘sati’. The patriarchal family may have been preceded by the so-called ‘matriarchate’, according to which descent was reckoned from the mother ^ While the change to the patriarchal system would diminish the independence of women, it would greatly increase the dignity and purity of family life. Whether there was a totemistic stage is disputed. If totemism, as F. B. Jevons thinks, “led to the domestication of plants and animals”, and so was “the prime motor of all material progress'^”, then it must be placed considerably anterior to the prehistoric IE. period, which we are studying; for already the pastoral and agri¬ cultural stages had been reached. Monogamy was the rule, polygamy the exception. As between different clans, probably exogamy was the custom. There is evidence to indicate joint land possession on the part of the members of a clan. The wife as purchased was the property of her lord and master (14). Hence marriage was later called the lordship (patiiva) of the husband over the wife. Accordingly there was the double standard of morality. The single family would usually develop into the Barge family’ and the clan (19, 21). The ‘joint family’ goes naturally with agriculture, where much help is needed. There is no evidence of slavery in IE. times. A clan was united together by the bonds of birth, speech and custom. There is no evidence of any formal political union among the various IE. tribes, although they would usually act together in time of war. The earliest federation (namely of the Indo-Iranian tribes) may be inferred from the * Schrader, Totenhochzeit, 1904. * The so-called ‘ mutterrecht ’ was clearly found among the pre-Aryan Etruscans, Piets, and Iberians. ^Introduction to the History of Religion, 1896, p. 113. THE ANTECEDENTS OF THE RIGVEDIC AGE 11 common name “Arya”. Different clans may have often been different in blood, although the same in language and custom. There were clan-lords or kings (16, 18). The clan-lord was chosen by the clan, the brotherhood acting together in the choice of a head. The term ‘Indo-European’ is not racial \ but purely linguistic. f) It has been truly said that the study of the religion of a people is not to be separated from that of its history and cultured Accordingly IE. religion must now be linked up with IE. culture as described above. There were two lines of development, according to the evidence, the worship of ancestors and the worship of the ‘Heavenly Ones’ (63) ^ The worship of ancestors is closely connected with the sense of the solidarity of the family. For primitive man death involved not annihilation but a state of weakness, a kind of shadowy existence. He knew that faintness on the^ part of the living is removed by food. By parity of reasoning faintness and weakness on the part of the departed must be removed in the same way. Hence the custom of feeding the dead. This must be regarded as at • first of the nature of a pious service, not as worship. It is the expression of a family’s affection for a departed member, not unmingled also with the fear of a possibly troublesome ghost. That such customs were followed by the IE. clans before their separation is rendered in the highest degree probable by the evidence of prehistoric graves as well as of the funeral rites of the Greeks, Romans, Indians and Lithuanians. The ceremonies included lamentation for the dead, burning (or burial) of the corpse, purification after the funeral, the death-feast, and the feeding of the dead. There were also gifts to the dead, ‘ The clans which spoke primitive Indo-European probably belonged in part at least to the so-called ‘Nordic’ race. The term “Wires” might be taken as a convenient name for the speakers of primitive Indo-European. Cf. CHI. I. 66 ff. ^ Harnack (pioted by Schrader, ERE. II, 13. '^Schrader, Aryan Heligion in ERE. II. 11-57, and Ilirt, Indogernianen, H. 485-522. 12 THE RELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA which were buried or burned with the corpse, gifts of such things as, according to the analogy of this life, would be useful in the life to come, e. g. food, weapons, furniture, clothes, domestic animals, and in some cases servants and even wife. After the funeral there was a rigidly appointed service of the dead, food and drink being offered on stated occasions up to six weeks after the death, during which time the spirit of the departed was supposed to hover about. The food and drink were displayed, and the dead was formally invited to the feast and then as formally dismissed. In this way the living were bound to the dead by a long chain of death ceremonies. The inevitable tendency re¬ sulting from such pious service was the apotheosis of the dead, they being called by the Greeks “divine uncles” (6£oI Tcaipwoi.), by the Romans “divine parents” {Di parentes), by the Indians “ divine fathers ” (divdh pitarah), and by the White Russians “sacred grandfathers” {svjaty dzjady). The very names which they bear indicate their close relation¬ ship with the living. Such ancestors, who, while living, * had governed the family and cared for its welfare, would after death naturally become tutelary house deities, like the Roman Di par elites. The service and worship of ancestors was one of the foundations of primitive social organization. Relatives were united in ancestor-worship, in the right of inheritance, and in the duty of blood-revenge. A son was necessary to perform the funeral rites of his father. The patriarchal head of a family or clan, while alive, was the human father, but on his death became a divine father. He was the guardian genius of the clan, charged especially with the duty of promoting its fertility. Rites connected with ancestral worship involved expert guidance, in other words, priestly functions. In all primitive societies the head of the family, as the one standing, because of age and experience, in closest communication with the ancestors, is usually priest, shaman or medicine man. Old women as priestesses doubtless shared in similar functions. There were no priests in the technical sense, but there THE ANTECEDENTS OF THE RIGVEDIC AGE 13 may have been families in which propitiatory and magic rites were handed down from father to sonh In addition to the awe and reverence felt toward dead ancestors there was a keen sense of the potency and mystery^ of natural phenomena. Here again we have the working of analogy. Children and peoples in the childhood stage find it natural to ascribe to inanimate objects the same powers of will and effort which they themselves are conscious of possessing. Accordingly, from a very primitive period, the whole of nature was regarded as an aggregate of animated entities. Each object or phenomenon of nature, such as heaven, earth, sun, wind, lightning, etc., could be named, isolated from the rest, and made into a special object of awe and wonder. Thus to name things was to fixate attention upon them, make them objects of reflection and imagination, and so proceed in the direction of full personification. In this way there was the possibility of as many different special objects of awe as there are different phenomena in the world, an endless number. Usener in his Gdtteimamen has assumed a stage anterior to that of personal gods, which he calls the stage of SondergotteVy * * special gods’, ‘departmental gods’, holding that ‘personal gods’ were developed out of these. As proof of his thesis Usener cites the testimony of the Roman Indigitamenta, according to which every single fact and process of agriculture was under the direction of a special god, Ceres presiding over growth. Flora over blos¬ soming, Insitor over sowing, etc., and the testimony of the old Prusso-Lithuanian religion, which had a special god for every aspect of cattle-raising. But the evidence thus cited is chronologically late, long after the conception of personal gods had been formed. What can be assumed, however, with practical certainty to be prehistoric is, in the words of Schrader, “the mere capacity and the tendency to form into a divinity every conception in nature or in culture which was of significance for primitive man"”. ‘ Schrader, hidogermanen, 146. * Secretum illud^ Tacitus, Gerviania, Chap. IX. ERE. II. 32. 14 THE RELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA The two IE. linguistic equations in religion which have successfully run the gauntlet of criticism are the following: — Skt. Dycius Pitdr — QfV. Zsd Ildrsp^Lat. Jxi-piter; and Skt. devd-s = Lith. deva-s = Lat. deus. The reconstruction of the primitive IE. worship of the ‘heavenly ones’ finds a sure starting-point in this material. The deivos^ {div ‘to shine’ and div ‘sky’) were the bright heavenly ones, such as sun, moon, morning star, lightning, wind, dawn, etc. Dxjoms- Zeus-Jupiter, the sky, was regarded as Father Sky, and his children were the Devas, who appear in the sky. Thus Father Sky and his children the Devas constituted ‘the real kernel of the primitive Aryan religionSuch an interpretation of the sky represents the beginning at once of IE. myth-making and IE. science. The sky, both day and night, remains the same in form. Within its capacious limits come and go the ‘heavenly ones’, sun, wind, rain, lightning, dawn, etc., playing each his respective part in the ordered life of the clan of the devas. As clan-lord (vikpati) of the ‘heavenly ones’, Zexis-Dydus-Diespiter is supreme. He bends down over the earth and fertilizes it with the rain which is his seed. From this point of view also he is called ‘father’. If the differentia of a ‘personal god’ is the exerting of influence outside of his own proper sphere, then it is doubtful if the stage of personal gods had then been reached. In fire, dawn, lightning, etc. the primitive IE. peoples adored the mysterious powers, the divine animce, which manifested themselves in the phenomena of the sky, but possibly not as yet any god who was regarded as a person. The IE. period was, accordingly, the period of ‘ special ’ or ‘ departmental ’ gods, whatever else it may have been. Whether there had already been formed a motley crowd of special gods, out of which the deivos had been separated because of their significance for the life at that time, or whether the deivos alone had thus been isolated. ' Assumed ])rehistoric form. - ERE. II. 33. THE ANTECEDENTS OF THE RIGVEDIC AiiE 15 is a question that we cannot answer. Actually there may have been but few special gods recognized, while multitudes may have been acknowledged as potentially to be dis¬ covered. We may compare the 33,000,000 Hindu' gods, very few of whom are actually named. If, on the other hand, every nomen is a numen, and everything named becomes thereby a ‘special god’, then we have already in the IE. period multitudes of special gods, potentially, if not actually, millions. To illustrate: janus as the name of an object means ‘door’, but as the name of the mysterious potency manifested in the door it means ‘he of the door’. So vesta means ‘hearth’ and ‘she of the hearth’; ag^ii ‘fire’ and ‘he of the fire’; usas ‘dawn’ and ‘she of the dawn’, etc. The Heavenly ones were worshipped by offerings of food. There was a close resemblance between the feeding of the dead (the divine fathers) and the feeding of the gods. Most probably the feeding of the gods arose from the feeding of the dead. As the dead needed to be strengthened by food, so also did the gods, for example, Agni ‘fire’ through oblations of ghee. The fireless offering was the more primitive method, according to which food was laid out on a sacrificial litter, to which the gods were invited. The fire-offering came later. Magic, of course, is of immemorial antiquity. It is more or less interwoven with prayer and sacrifice. g) What is the significance and value of the religious ideas attained by the IE. clans before their dispersion? The primitive tendency to regard all nature as animate was the first step towards a spiritual interpretation of the universe. This reading of the world in terms of human life was the beginning of anthropomorphism, every external object as well as man being regarded as possessing an anima. It was only a question of time for the human figure to be added to the human anima present in each phenomenon b ^ This tendency toward anthropomorphism is infinitely suggestive, pointing, as it does, toward the conception of God manifesting Himself as man and of man attaining to the imag(! of God. 16 THE RELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA The custom of feeding dead ancestors was a recognition of life beyond the grave and the worshipping of them as Mi vine fathers’ was a confession of faith that the departed ones had in some sense or other become “partakers of the divine natureThus through pious memorial gifts the living were closely bound up with the blessed dead, and the memory of the good deeds of the departed was an incentive to practise the same virtues. ‘Father Heaven’ and his children the ‘Heavenly Ones’ were conceived after the analogy of an earthly clan-father and his clan I The head of an earthly clan was at once father and lord. By analogy the head of the heavenly clan of the deivos must be the same. Thus several religious ideas of fundamental im¬ portance are at least dimly adumbrated through the con¬ ception of Father^ Sky and his children the Heavenly Ones, namely: God as heavenly, as light, as father and as lord, and the conception of the world as ordered. Surely on that far-off ‘bank and shoal of time’ the Eternal God had not left Himself without witness. Through their own nature as men gathered into families and clans, through the external world which ever confronted them as an object of curiosity and awe, and through their experiences of fatherhood and lordship, life and death, God spoke to them, as they were able to hear. It all comes home to us very personally, since the people to whom we refer were among the ancestors not only of the Indian and Persian Aryans, but also of most of the peoples of modern Europe and America. h) The original home of the IE. peoples is unknown. The data bearing upon the problem are linguistic (as found on pp. 3-5), ethnological, that is, the distribution of IE. peoples over the earth, and archaeological, the evidence of their migrations and settlements. Besides this there is the more or less indefinite weight to be ascribed to historical ’ 2 Peter, I. 4. * This gives, at least implicitly, the concept of order. ^ It is noteworthy that ‘father’, an epithet belonging to ancestor-worship, is carried over and applied to the sky. THE ANTECEDENTS OF THE RIGVEDIC AGE 17 precedent, such as the migrations that have taken place from Central Asia in historical times, and the settlement by Alexander of Greek colonies in Bactria. The linguistic evidence points clearly to a temperate, if not a cold climate. The earliest conjecture was Central Asia east of the Caspian. A more westerly situation in Southern Russia on the border between Europe and Asia was a later conjecture of scholars^ The recent discovery of Tocharian in Eastern Turkestan has • tended somewhat to revive the earlier view ^ The extremely archaic character of Lithuanian speech suggests that the original IE. home may have been not far from Lithuania'*. The latest hypothesis is that of Professor Giles who thinks that the original habitat or ‘area of characterization’ of the IE. clans was in Austria-Hungary, the region enclosed by the Carpathians, Erzgebirge, Bohmer Wald, Austrian Alps and Balkans. The fact that Central Asia has been historically a veritable officina gentium, or ‘hive of the nations’, whence have gone forth Scythians, Huns and Turks, renders possible the view that the IE. clans came from the same region. Tocharian, a Centum tongue, is far removed from the other Centum tongues, which are all found in Western Europe. It is possible, then, to hold that Tocharian is a stay-at-home, and that the speakers of the other Centum tongues have all migrated westward. IE there was an early connection between the Indo-European and the Ural-Altaic families of languages, ns Sweet asserts, then this would suggest some area in Russia as the primitive habitat. The archaic character of Lithuanian does not help much in settling the question; for by parity of reasoning the Punjab might be taken as the original IE. home, because the primitive consonants are * " Somewhere in Asia.’’ — Max Muller. ■- Schrader, EIA. 878; Meyer, GA. 41. V ^ Meyer, op. cil., 801; Keith, Indo-Iranians in Bhandarkar, CV. 91. ^ Bender, Princeton Lectures, No. 8, on The Aryan Question, October 1921. 5 CHI. I. 68. ® History of Language, London, 1899, p. 112 ff. 18 THE RELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA best preserved in Sanskrit^ The fact that Alexander brought Greeks with him all the way from Macedonia and settled a colony of them in Bactria, while he himself and several of his Graeco-Bactrian successors invaded India from Bactria as a base, and the further fact that IE. peoples — Phrygians, Mysians, Bithynians, Hittites (?), Armenians, Persians — stretched in almost a continuous line from the Dardanelles to Bactria, suggest the possibility that the Aryan advance to India may have been through Asia Minor and North Persia ^ Winckler’s notable discovery in 1906 at Boghaz-koi, the old Hittite capital in Asia Minor, of a cuneiform inscrip¬ tion (1400 B. c.) containing the names Indra, Mitra, Varuna and Nasatya, may possibly be interpreted as a landmark of the IE. advance eastward ^; and, at any rate, it fits in well with Hrozny’s^ interpretation of Hittite as an IE. tongue ^ It might also be assumed that the IE. clans, being largely in the pastoral stage, roamed over the great ^grassy plainof Central Europe and Asia, extending perhaps from the Danube and the plains of North Germany through Southern Russia on into Central Asiak This would cover practically all the territory embraced by the previous hypotheses. The pressure of enemies round about would doubtless be even more effective than a circle of mountains to hold a primitive tribe together and give it a unified development. Thus something may be said for each of the above-mentioned hypotheses as to the original home of the IE. people. The whole question must be left as a ’ Icelandic, though the farthest removed from the centre of the Teutonic world, is nevertheless the most archaic of the Teutonic group. * Hopkins, HR. 171; Giles, CHI. 1. 70-72. Giles, op. cit. 72. ^ Die Sprache der Heltiter, Leipzig, 1917. ® More probably only an IE. loan element. See p. 2, n. 2. *= Haddon, WP. ^ The valleys of the Ural and Volga, Don and Dnieper, and also that of the Danube, would furnish a suitable habitat for the undivided IE. tribes Cf. Meyer, GA. I*. .’579. THE ANTECEDENTS OF THE HlGVEDIC AGE 19 “stimulating and fruitful uncertainty”'. That the problem is ‘stimulating’ is shown by the number of scholars, especially German, who during the last three decades have addressed themselves to its solution. i) The date of the dispersion of the IE. tribes is also unknown. The only material bearing directly on the problem consists of the dates of IE. migrations, settlements and inscriptions: e. g. the appearance of Aryan-speaking bands in connection with the Cassite invasion of Babylonia B. c. 1760", and at the same time the earliest reference to the Hittites in history*^; the Dorian invasions of Greece, B. c. 1500-1100; the Boghaz-koi inscription, b. c. 1400; the date of Zoroaster, b. c. 1000^; the founding of Rome, B. c. 753; and the Celtic invasions of Gaul, Spain and Britain, B. c. 800-300. From these figures a later date than B. c. 2000 can hardly be assumed. The period b. c. 3000-2000, with a conventional average of 2500 b. c. may be presented as a reasonable conjectured The discovery of fire had already taken place; the domestication of animals and plants and the transition from the stone to the metal age were in process. j) On the basis, then, of evidence drawn from the words common to the IE. tongues, the study of prehistoric graves, the witness of the earliest IE. literature, such as the Rig veda, the Homeric poems, Herodotus, Tacitus, etc., as well as from the study of the institutions, customs and folklore of the peoples concerned, there is a very high degree of proba¬ bility, amounting in most cases to practical certainty, that ^ Quoted by Marcus Dods with reference to the authorship of the anonymous Epistle to the Hebrews, Expositor’s Greek Testament-) IV. 2.34. 2 Haddon, WP. 20-21, 25, 27. ^ Meyer, GA. I®, 577. ■* Moulton, TM., 6, 13; Oldenberg, LU. The traditional date is 600 B. c. ^ Feist, KAHI., postulates B. c. 2500-2000 for the breaking up of the IE. unity. But Hirt, Indogermanen, as.sumes a still later date B. c. 1800-1600. ‘‘Need not be placed later than 3000 B. c.” — Keith, Indo-Iranians, in Bhandarkar, CV. 92. 20 THE llELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA among the undivided IE. clans the following customs were prevalent: the joint family system organized on a patri¬ archal basis, the authority of the head of the family being absolute over life and death, polygamy to some extent, espe¬ cially among leading men, early marriage of girls, prejudice against widow remarriage, exposure of female infants, the frequent going of a wife with her liusliand in death, or in other words sati, feeding of the dead, human sacrifice, especially of captives, worship of ancestral spirits, and the worship of the personified phenomena of nature such as sky, sun, moon, wind, fire, water, lightning, etc. Such were some of the customs which our IE. ancestors practised. In Europe, through the clashing of different types of culture, and especially through the impact of Christianity, these primitive customs have been either greatly modified or done away with altogether. In India, because of her isolation^ througli the ages, most of these customs persist intact or even in an exaggerated form. Thus India is a land of archaic survivals. 2. iNDO-lRANLiN PERIOD. a) The sources of information, as might be expected, are much more abundant than for the IE. period. Rigveda and Avesta may both be used as indirect witnesses to what existed before Indian and Iranian separated. For there are a large number of technical religious words in each literature which are only dialectical variants, e. g. yajha and yasna, ‘sacrifice’, rita and asha, ‘order’, Asura and AJmi^a, ‘Lord’, etc,, etc. It goes without saying that the existence, for example, of the word yajha in the Rik and of yasna in the Avesta is proof enough that the thing signified originally by both words alike existed in the period before the Indian group broke away from the Iranian. As a matter of fact, Veda and Avesta are so closely related that each is a good commentary on the other. In order to make this clear, ^ Cf. liido-Aryan Thought and. Culture by Prabhaker S. Shilohi, New York, 191:?. THE ANTECEDENTS OF THE RIGVEDIC AGE 21 there is here subjoined a short list of cognate Vedic and Avestan words of a technically religious character: — Vedic Avestan ^Meaning Vedic Avestan Meaning / Asura Ahura Spirit, I^ord ahuti azuiti offering Aryaman Airyaman Aiyaman amrita t ■ amesha immortal Aramati Annaiti piety Ary a Airya Aryan Apam nap at Apam napat water-child Indra Indra (Andra) Indm iiptya rdhwya watery n sas ushah dawn a pas apo waters llSlj nsij priest Atharvnn Athravan fire-piiest I’ita ash a order apn afri A pi I O'andhai’v i tiandarewa Gandharva Trita Thrita Trita mivedha myazda sacrificial meal deva daeva god, demon Viuna Yima Yam a druh druj evil spirit yajha yasna sacrifice Narasamsa Naiiyosangb a Narasamsa Yajata yazata worshipful Nasatya (n) Naonhaithya Dioscnri yatu yatn demon Piiramdhi Purendi Purahidhi vajra vazra bolt barhts barezish litter Vayii vayii wind Bhaga Bagha Bhaga Viviisvant VTvaiihvanl Vivasvaut bhuta bvdti ghost V ritraban Verethragna Vritra-slayer roadhii ma svar livar sun Mitra Mithra ^litra hutar zaotar in voking priest It requires only a glance at these parallel columns of words to become convinced of the close connection of Vedic and Avestan religion as well as of language. These separate lines of development point back to one undivided Indo-Iranian people, language, culture and religion. SpiegeFs Die Arisehe Pe}'iode (1887), although it is somewhat out of date, nevertheless shows what can be done through the use of such material in reconstructing the cultural and religious conditions of the undivided Indo-Iranians. b) The undivided tribes bore one common name which appears in both the Old Persian Ariya and the Vedic Ary a. This common name points to a union of tribes, the earliest federation of IE. clans of which there is any evidence. Assuming b. c. 3000-2000 as the period within which the 2 ^ THE KELIGIOlV OF THE RIGVEDA dispersion of the IE. clans took place, we may postulate provisionally b. c. 2500-1500 as the period when the Indo- Iranian tribes lived together as one people. Whether they lived all that time in Bactria and the neighbouring re¬ gions is unknown. It may be that their line of advance lay through Asia Minor and that the various IE. tribes which settled in that region, Phrygians, Armenians and others were either left behind in their course or followed later in their wake. Be that as it may, one thing is certain that the Indo-Iranian tribes were together for a considerable time and then separated, the Indian branch moving by one or more migrations into the Punjab, and the Iranian branch remaining in Bactria and Persia. As a result, the two linguistic groups, Indian and Iranian, “lie closer together than any other distinct languages in the IE. family”’. Before the dispersion of the Indo-Iranian tribes, their habitat in Bactria and still more their line of march east¬ ward from Asia Minor, if they came that way, would have brought them into fairly close contact, by trade and other¬ wise, with the great centres of Babylonian culture in the Euphrates-Tigris plain. It is possible that the mystical and sacred number seven, which is such a favourite in both Veda and Avesta, as well as in the Hebrew Old Testament, was borrowed from Babylon-, especially if its origin was due to the observation of astronomical facts such as the seven planets (sun, moon and five planets) or the seven stars of the Great Bear. It is possible, too, as Oldenberg thinks, that there may have been some Babylonian influ¬ ence upon the development of Indo-Iranian religious and ethical ideas. c) The two lines of religious development which were found in the IE. period, namely, the worship of ancestors and the worship of the ‘heavenly ones’, continued through¬ out the Indo-Iranian period; for they appear in both the ‘ Moulton, Art, Iranians in ERE., Vol. YII. So V. Schneder, Artsche lieiigion^ I. 427-420. THE ANTECEDENTS OF THE RIGVEDIC AGE 23 Rv. and the Avesta, especially in the Younger Avesta. The service and worship of the Pitns in the Rv. is paralleled by the similar service and worship of the Fravashis in the Avesta h The worship of the ‘heavenly ones’ also continued through the Indo-Iranian period, for we see it in full bloom in the Rv. There was indeed among the Iranians the re¬ ligious reformation connected with the name of Zoroaster, through which Ahura Mazda, ‘the Wise Lord’, was made the supreme and sole object of worship, the daevas of the old religion being degraded to the position of demons, or at least to that of angels; but this reformation was followed, as is so often the case, by a counter-reformation, which restored the daevas to their old position, or at least to the status of angels. If the Boghaz-koi gods, Varuna, Mitra, Indra and the Nasatya (b. c. 1400) were early Iranian deities, as Oldenberg thinks, then they must have preceded the Zoroastrian reformation, since at a later period Yaruna drops out altogether, or rather is replaced by the name Ahura Mazda, and the three gods Indra and the two Heavenly Twins are turned into demons. If they were Vedic deities, then their appearance on the Boghaz-koi inscription proves a backward connection at that early age between the Punjab and Asia Minor, and suggests strongly that that was the route which the Indo-Iranian clans followed in reaching their eastern home. If Indo-Iranian or early Iranian deities, then we have Varuna as the Heaven God (Ouranos?) and four ‘heavenly ones’ as his associates, namely, Mitra, Indra and the two Asvins. The next important outside evidence concerning early Iranian religion is found in the famous passage of Herodotus (I. 131), which reads as follows: “Their custom is to ascend to the highest peaks of the mountains, and to offer sacrifices to Zeus, calling the whole vault of the sky Zeus; and they sacrifice also to sun, moon, earth, fire, water, and winds” ^ Here we have clearly the old IE. pantheon consisting of * See especially Farvardin Yasht. - Moulton, EZ. 391-392. 24 THE RELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA the sky-god Dy3us and his children, ‘the heavenly ones’. The Yashts prove sufficiently that the Younger Avesta admits of such worship’. d) Certain new developments in religion were intro¬ duced during the Indo-Iranian period:— (1) The conception of * order ^ This was present at least implicitly in the IE. period, being involved in the cosmic order represented by the rule of Heaven^ over ‘the heavenly ones’, and in the social and moral order created by the rule of the clan-father over the clan. It first became explicit, however, during the ’period represented by the Tel-el-Amarna correspondence (b. c. 1400) in which there occur certain names containing artci-^ as Artashuvara and Artatama, which remind one of the later Persian names Artaxerxes, Artaphernes, etc. The element arta in these names stands for the Avestan asha and the Vedic rita. Til at carries back the origin of this important conception to at least 1400 b. c. And, as we have seen, its roots run back still further into the IE. period. In both Veda and Avesta rita-asha is fundamentally important. In the Rik it covers the threefold order, cosmic, ritualistic and moral. In the Avesta it runs out into the meanings, right, truth,, righteousness, holiness,—all ethical in connotation. Veda and Avesta, then, are witnesses that the conception existed before the breaking up of the Indo-Iranian unity. (2) The Ethical conception of God. A conception like rita-asha would naturally have its effect upon the idea of God. Scholars practically agree that Vanina equals Ahura ’ From the combined testimony of the Boghaz-k<)i inscription, the Rik and the Younger Avesta, it is clear that among the Indo-Iranian gods were included Varuna, Mitra, Soma, Aryaman, Indra, the Asvins, Vivasvant and Yama. Cf. Farquhar, ORLI. 2. ® Vedic rita, Avestan asha. ^ “ A people whose worship included the Sky, loftiest of all nature-deities, and those ancestor-gods who are ever the most potent to stir up the feeling of a close bond between religion and conduct, had native material on which lo work,’^ Moulton, EZ. 24o. THE ANTECEDENTS OF THE RIGVEDIC AGE 25 Mazda, that is to say, the ethical god of the Rik is regarded as the same in origin as the ethical and supreme god of the Avesta. This means that a movement in the direction of ethical monotheism preceded the Indo-Iranian dispersion. This movement was not originated by the reformation connected with the name of Zoroaster, since that took place after the Indo-Iranian separation, probably as early as 1000 B. c. What the Zoroastrian reformation really did was to take up the earlier reform movement and carry it forward to its logical issue in an ethical monotheism. The Vedic period had nothing corresponding to the Zoroastrian reformation. Hence the Vedic Varuna did not rise far above the level of the pre-Zoroastrian Ahura Mazda' ethically very great, but not the supreme God. (3) So7nething corresponding to the Iranian Amesha Spentas and the Indian Adityas. These two groups of gods have, as we shall see, so many points of contact that a common preparation during the undivided Indo-Iranian period for both lines of development seems to be demanded. Father Dyaus was clearly the chief deity of the Indo-Iranian as he had been of the undivided IE. clans. We may think of him as having other names which emphasized various aspects of his nature, such as Asura ‘Lord’, Varuna (or Varena) ‘Encompasser’, Mitra ‘Friend’, Aryaman ‘True’, Bhaga ‘Distributor’, etc. The mystical number ‘seven’ may have served as a framework to unite this special group and to isolate it from all the rest. The list of names furnished a plurality associated with Dyaus as his supreme council, but also a plurality in unit}^ since the various names were all names of Dyaus and served merely to ^ That Ahura Mazda was pre-Zoroastiian in origin has been apparently proved by documentary evidence through Prof. Hommel’s discovery of the name Assara Mazas in an Assyrian inscription of the reign of Assur-banipal (b. C. G68-626). The archaic form of the name Assara instead of Ahura (cf. Nasatya, in place of Naonhaithya in the Boghaz-kdi inscription) carnes us back before the Iranian consonantal shift from s to li, doubtless to a period not far removed from that of the Bjghaz-koi inscription. See PSBA., 1899, 132, and Moulton, Ez. 31 ff. 26 THE RELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA express different aspects of his unitary nature. Between this hypothetical scheme and the Amesha Spentas intervened the great cleft of the Zoroastrian reform, which rejected all of these names as unsuitable except the one name Ahura ‘Lord’, and created substitutes for the rest more in harmony with the spiritual ideas of the Reform. Thus the Amesha Spentas represent a radical change. The Adityas, on the other hand, continue more closely the old tradition h (4) Development of demonology. Both Veda and Avesta are conscious of the forces of physical evil in the world. In both alike sickness, death, impurity, darkness, drought, cold, etc., are ascribed to the action of demons. In this they were only following primitive habits of thought. Corresponding, however, to the ethical spirit of the Avesta is its emphasis on moral evil as the work of demons-. Such emphasis, too, is not altogether absent from the Rv. It looks as if in both Veda and Avesta, but particularly in the Avesta, the conception of an ethical order and of an ethical god had heightened the consciousness of moral evil in the world. The result of the Iranian reform movements was that the earlier Indo-Iranian daevas were reduced to the status of demons, and so men were classified as either ‘worshippers of Mazda’ or ‘worshippers of the daevas’. In the words of Darmesteter^ “Persia took her demons in real earnest”; for she had Angra Mainyu, ‘enemy spirit ’ standing over against Spenta Mainyu ‘holy spirit’. In the Rv. this ethical distinction is not so sharply drawn as it is in the Avesta. (5) Developmeiit of the priesthood. The common terms for priest, Atharvan-Athravan ‘fire-priest’, hotar-zaotar ‘invoking priest’, etc., indicate a differentiation of priestl}^ functions in the Indo-Iranian period. Knowledge of such ' technical functions, we may be sure, had a tendency to be ’ V. Schioeder, AR. I. 441-444. * Cf. Angra Mainyu, ^Enemy Spirit’, Dm] ‘Lie’, etc. The sins of pride, unbelief and sodomy are ascribed in Vend. I to the influence of demons. 3 SEE. IV, p. LXII. THE ANTECEDENTS OF THE KIGYEDIC AGE 27 propagated in priestly families There are many references in the Rv. to ancient priestly families, Bhrigus, Atharvans, etc. Mixed up though they be with mythical and legendary material, there are nevertheless quite likely in many of them historical reminiscences of priestly families reaching back into the dim past, possibly to the time before the separation of the Indo-Iranian clans. Such specialization of function led to great results in India. Priestly technique demanded considerable knowledge—knowledge that could be gained only through division of labour—for its proper exercise. In this way the tradition was naturally set of a learned priestly class made up of different orders of priests. As a result the religious literature of India, so far as it has been aryanized, is the work of the priesthood, and its fundamental conceptions represent largely the thinking of the same dominant community. ^ In the Khordad and Aban Yashts (IV. 10 and V. 80) there is mention of Athravaus and their pupils, clearly a reference to priestly schools. For example, in the Khordad Yasht, 10, we are told that “a spell may be divulged by an Athravan to his pupil”. CHAPTER II. THE RIGVEDIC AGE 1. Sources. — The primary source for the Rigvedic age is, of course, the Rigveda. It contains a multitude of allu¬ sions to persons and things, mostly however incidental and fugitive. To illustrate from the hymns translated the kind of information thus given, we may note the following allusions: skin of slain beast, V. 85, 1; barley, yava^ V. 85, 8; dice-playing, II. 12, 4-5; V. 85, 8; VII. 86, 6; X. 84; strong drink, sura, VII. 86, 6; cattle-thief, VII. 86, 5; wild beasts, I. 154, 2; II. 88, 11; cattle at pasture, VI. 54, 5-6; chariots, VI. 54, 8; VII. 71, 2; sacrificial posts, IV. 51, 2; desert lands,. I. 85, 8; water-skin, V. 88, 7; medicines, II. 83, 2, 4, 7, 12; winter, II. 88, 2; river-crossing, 11. 88, 8; III. 88; necklace, II. 88, 10; gold, I. 85, 9; II. 83, 9; bow and arrows, II. 12, 10; II. 83, 10; wolves, X. 127, 6; debt, X. 34, 4, 10; 127, 7; villagers, X. 127, 5; spears, I. 85, 4; wells, I. 85, 10; snakes,. II. 12, 3; battle, II. 12, 8; mountains, II. 12, 13; rivers, II. 12, 12; spies, I. 25, 13, etc., etc. By piecing together all such references and allusions a fairly complete picture of Vedic life' may be secured. Two indirect sources of infor¬ mation may be singled out for special mention, the similes and metaphors'^ of the lUk., and the anthropomorphised picture of the Rigvedic gods. There will be no attempt to give an exhaustive picture of Vedic life. For the purpose in hand it will be sufficient to sketch briefly the geographical, climatic, ethnological and cultural background, which conditioned the religious think¬ ing and practice of the Vedic Aryans. They clearly brought * As found in Macdonell and Keith’s Vedic Index of' Names and Subjects, Vols. I-II, London, 1912, and in Zimmer’s Allindisches Leben, Berlin, 1879. ~ Gleichnisse und. Meinphern ini Rigveda by A- Hirzel, Leipzig, 1890; ami ailicle in the Journal of the Punjab Historical Society, Yol. I. .56 ff. on Vedic Social Life according to the Similes in the Agni Hymns of the Rigveda, by H. D. Griswold. THE RIGVEDIC AGE 29 with them a large inheritance from the past in addition to what they achieved in their new habitat in India. For, as we have seen, the roots of Vedic life and thought run back into the Indo-Iranian period and even beyond that into the Indo-European period. 2. Geography —Four points of the compass ma}^ be mentioned as enclosing the area occupied by the Vedic Indians, viz. the river Rasa on the west, and the Ganges on the east, to the north the snowy mountains, and to the south the sea. Since the Avestan form of Rasa is Rahha, and the Rasa is mentioned several times as a river in the extreme north-west of the Vedic territory’, it is probable that it refers to a real stream, perhaps originally the Araxes or Jaxartes-. If this is a correct interpretation, then the name betrays an historical reminiscence of an earlier home to the north of the Hindu Kush. In other passages, however, it is the name of a mythic stream en¬ compassing the atmosphere and the ends of the earth" and once called ‘Mother Rasa’. With the passage of time and the fading out of the memory of the original Rasa as a real earthly stream, it was quite natural for it to be charged finally with mythical elements. The Ganges {Ganga) is directly mentioned only once in the Rv.and • indirectly once through the epithet {Gangya) ‘being on the Ganges’"'. It was on the eastern horizon of the Vedic Indians. On the north were the ‘snowy’ mountains’^, clearly ' Rv. I. 112, 12; V. 53, 9; X. 75, 0. ® So Zimmer, AJj. 15-16; Macdonell and Keith, Vedic Index, II. 209. It may be that there was a Rasa on the Punjab side of the Hindu Kush. If so, it was doubtless named after the original Bactnan Rasa, a procetlure altogethei natural. MW. V. 41, 15; IX. 41, G; X. 108, 1-2; 121, 4. * X. 75, 5. ^ VI. 45, 31. . ^ Irne himavantafi, X. 121, 4. 30 THE RELIGION OF THE RIGVEHA a reference to the snow-covered Himalayas. ‘ To the south was the Samudra, literally the ‘gathering of waters’, which denotes at least the river Indus when it receives the Punjab tributaries, and becomes a sea-like expanse of waters. While there is no definite proof that the Vedic settlements extended to the mouth of the Indus, we may yet regard it as highly probable that the Vedic people had some knowledge of the ocean. The Indian Aryans were a daring and adven¬ turous people. In the winning of the wild West of America from savage beasts and savage aborigines, there were ever intrepid hunters and Indian fighters, like Daniel Boone, who were wont to push into the wilderness far in advance of the regular settlements. So was it doubtless in Vedic days. It is most unlikely, then, that the Indian Aryans were without at least a dim knowledge of the Indian ocean ^ The region comprehended within these four points. Rasa and Gahga, snowy mountains and sea, is approximately the territory drained by the Indus and its tributaries, extend¬ ing as far south as to the junction of the main river with its branches, that is, a region corresponding roughly to the present Punjab, North-Western Province and Kabul valley. Of the Aryan habitat as thus defined the most promi¬ nent features were the rivers. The ‘seven rivers’ (sapta sindhavah) of the xYryan country are often mentioned in the Rv. \ either a conventional number like ‘the seven churches that are in Asia’‘, or a reference to the five '' well-known rivers of the Punjab together with the two boundary streams, Sarasvati and Indus. In at least one passage sapta sindhavah ^ On days when the atmosphere is clear (confessedly a rare experience) the snowy Himalayas are plainly visible to one ti'avelling by train on the N. W. Railway line all the way from Saharanpur to Amritsar, as the present writer knows from experience. * Zimmer, AL. 25; Vedic Index II, 431-433. "1. 32, 12; 35, 8; IV. 28, 1, etc- * Rev. I. 4. ^ Sutlej, Be.as, Ravi, .Jhelum and Chenab. Vni. 24. 27. THE RIGVEDIC AGE 31 is the designation of the land* *. We may assume that the Vedic settlements occupied the submontane region, where the water is near the surface, all the way from Kabul to Ambala, and also followed the banks of the rivers some distance toward the sea. The phenomena of mountain, river and sea furnished the Vedic singer with plenty of imagery for describing the drama of the storm. He saw in the sky an aerial ocean. There were cloud mountains which Indra pierced with his bolt, and in which he hollowed out deep beds for the aerial rivers. The special geographical features of the Punjab were not without influence upon the development of the folklore concerning the gods, which comes under the head of mythology. The rivers of the Punjab furnished natural political boundaries and natural lines of defence. The famous victory of Sudas over the ten kings was won on the banks of the Parusni - (Ravi). We are reminded that Porus^ contested Alexander’s passage of the Jhelum and that the boundary between Ranjit Singh’s territory and British territory was the Sutlej. The Sikh army definitely began hostilities, when it crossed the Sutlej into British territory. In the Vedic age the boundary rivers must have been also the scene of frequent crossings and recrossings in connection with plundering raids \ One can imagine, too, that indivi¬ dual Vedic adventurers, of the spirit of Daniel Boone, would frequently cross over a river into the territory of the Dasyus or of a hostile Aryan tribe, and attempt exploits, either winning booty or having to get back to ^ Cf. Vend. I. 18; Hapta Hindu. * Rv. YII. 18, 8-9. The mention of the Yamuna in v. 19 of the same hymn may possibly be interpreted with Macdonell and Keith (Vedic Index I. .500) as a refei-enee to another victoiy of Sudas, on the theory that the hymn is a condensed account of more than one victory. ^ iTmpOi; i- e. the Panrava prince. ^ Such an one as is described in Visvamitra’s hymn to the rivers Vipas and Sutudi-T (III. 33), in which there is mentioned a village or ‘horde’ of the Bharatas crossing the rivers in quest of booty (cows). 32 THE RELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA their own side of the river as speedily as possible by swimming or by boat. Such experiences seem to be pre¬ supposed in the following verses: — And may ive dive with thee across All enmities and hostile powers, As swimmers over watei'-strearns. II. 7, 3; and Put us across hostilities As ivith a boat, thou radiant god, Expelling evil with thy light. For welfare carry us across, As in a boat o'er Smdhus ivave. Expelling evil with thy light. I. 97. 7-8. Such similes are very numerous in the llv. In fact, the Vedic experience of being helped across a river to a place of safety, together with later experiences of the same sort, has left almost as deep a mark upon Hindu religious symbolism as the crossing of the Jordan has upon Christian symbolism h The boats used in crossing the Punjab rivers must have been very simple in structure, probably dugouts or rafts. The paddle was apparently used for steering as well as for propulsion. 3. Climate.— The climatic changes experienced by the Vedic Aryans in passing from Bactria into the Punjab were numerous and striking. From a temperate climate- they passed into one almost torridWinter was a thing of the past. The Punjab cold season was like their former autumn. As earlier they had reckoned the years as so many winters, so now in the Punjab they began to reckon them as so many autumns although the older terminology was still in use \ In the distribution of the rainfall there ^ One may compare the line of the Chiistian l)hojo.n; Kaun kare mohi par? ‘Who will put me across?’ In the same hymn Par Karaiya is a divine title. ^ Unusally cold in winter but pretty hot in summer. Cf. de Bode’s Bokhara, 50. ^ During July and August 1922, according to the weather reports in the Pioneer, the hottest places in India were Peshawar, Dera Ismail Khan, .Tacobabad, Lahoi'e, Lyallpur, Multan, Fort Sandenian, Sialkot and Rawalpindi, all in the Punjab oi .the neighbouring regions of the N. W. Frontier and Baluchistan. ^Rv. n. 27, 10; III. :iG, 10., etc. "■Rv. I. 64, 14; 11. .43, 2; V. 54, 15; VL 48, 8. THE RIGVEDIC AGE 33 were striking differences. In Bactria, as in most temperate climates, rain falls more or less throughout the year*, alternating with snow- in winter; but in the Punjab, with the exception of one or more winter rains (usuall}^ in January), no rain ordinarily falls during the rest of the year except in connection with the monsoon, between June and October. The monsoon in the Punjab is often very deficient, although quantities of rain usually fall in the lower Hiinalayas and flood the Punjab rivers. The ‘luh*, or monsoon wind, wdiich is such a characteristic feature of the United Provinces, is hardly felt in the Punjab; but for several months preceding the breaking of the monsoon the Punjab is afflicted with violent dust storms, accompanied by strong wind and not infrequently causing darkness even at midday. The mon¬ soon is followed in September and October by a very feverish and unhealthy season lasting for several weeks. Before the coming of the monsoon rains, the heat is extreme, often as high as 117° in the shade and 170° in the sun. Thus in the Punjab habitat of the Vedic Aryans the drama of the elements had its own special setting, which must have modified to some extent the mjdholog}^ which the Aryans brought with them from their trans-Himalayan home. The bipartite division of the year into winter and summer", six months each, which dates from the IE. period, was broken up in the Yedic age into three seasons, spring (vasania), summer (grlsma) and autumn (sarad)\ The Rik knows also the winter (himd) as a reminiscence from the past; and in the Frog-song'' the rainy season^ is mentioned twice. ^ “Thunder storms me not infrequent, especially in spring”. De Bode's Bokhara, 47; and “Out of 180 days . . . .08 were overclouded or rainy”— op, cit., 52. “ hioui and sania. Rv. X. 00, G, ^ VII. 103, 3, 0. ^ Pravris. The rainy season is mentioned by name only here in the Rv., in harmony with the fact that the monsoon in the Punjali tends to be light. When the Aryan tribes reached the United Provinces, the three seasons became five, anritain by Jute, Angle, Saxon, Dane and Norman, extending over many ceutunes, tmd the gradual winning of the wild West of America through the forward pressure of the Scotch-Irish ‘backwoodsmen’, who were equally good at hunting, fighting and tilling the soil. See Roosevelt, VVW. Vol. I. ® “We may be certain that the invasions were no mere incureions of armies, but gradual progressive movements of whole tribes.” — Rapson, CHI. L 43- "IGI. I., 1907, Chap, on Languages. ^So Macdonell and Reith, Index I. 108-169: “The geographical position of the Kuru~Pancalas rendeis it probable that they were later immigrants into India than the Kosala- Videhas or the Knsis, who must have been pushed into their more eastward territories by a new wave of Aryan settlers fyom the west”. So Oldenberg (Buddha 9) who speaks of “ the first immigrants ” and of “a second wave of the great tide of immigration ”. So also James Kennedy, JRAS., October 1919, p. 510: “The immigrants from Bactria had come at intervals through a long series of yeai’s.” 3* 36 THE RELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA frequently at war among themselves, in which case Dasyu allies would probably at times be found on the one side or the other. For example: — * Looking to you and to your friendship, heroes twain, Forward have gone the broad-ribbed ^ warriors keen for spoil; Both Dasa foes and Ary a foes smite and destroy, With succour help Sudas, O Indra-Varuna. VII. 83, 1; and Thou hast our foemen, Indra, of both races, O hero, both the Arya and the Dasa, Struck down like forest trees with well-aimed axes; In fights thou rcntest them, most manly warrior. VI 33, 3-. On the h 3 ^pothesis that the Aryan tribes entered the Punjab at different times, it is easy to see how warfare between tribe and tribe would have been especially easy. The earliest invaders may also have made common cause with the Dasyus against the later Aryan invaders, very much as Anglo-Saxons and Celts combined forces against the Danes. Under these circumstances some clans of Aryan origin doubtless shared with the Dasyus in the degradation which must have befallen them both alike ^ This, on the whole, seems to be the most reasonable hypothesis of the way in which the Aryans entered India, and it is supported by the weight of expert opinion. Nevertheless, in the light of the numerous armed invasions of the Punjab made by Persians, Macedonians, Scythians, White Huns, Moghuls, etc., it must be left an open question. It is barely conceivable that the Aryan invaders entered practically as a single warrior band, got a foothold in the Punjab, sent off settlements in various directions, which ’ Or ‘with broad sabres armed’—^lacdonell, II. lb bl. 2('f. also 1. 102, 5; III. 32, 14; VI. 22, 10, etc. •D’ompare Vedic Index 2G0 : “It is also probable that the Sudras came to include men of Aryan race, and that the N'edic period saw the degradation of Aryans to a lower social status. This seems, at any rate, to have been the case with the Hathakdras ”, In this connection it is worth while mentioning that the classes in the Punjab wliich Risley {The People of India, 2nd Ld., edited by Orooke, Calcutta, 191.0, pp. 37, 40, GOO-S.jO), on the basis of skull-measurement, finds as the purest specimens of Aryan Idood, include (»» 2 Va/h/c dicin'-) the despised Chvhra.s. THE RIGVEDIC AGE 37 formed the basis of the different Aryan tribes, and develop¬ ed dialectic variations in speech. 5. Dasyus. —The Dasyus ^ were clearly the aboriginal inhabitants of the Punjab, in the opinion of Baines \ ethnologically connected with tlie Kols. Since, however, the cerebral letters are characteristic of the Dravidian . languages, but not of the Indo-European, and are found in the Rik but not in the Avesta, we may conclude that speakers of Dravidian tongues were found in the Punjab at the time of the Aryan invasions \ They differed from the Aryans, in appearance, speech and religion. As con¬ trasted with the white Aryan colour, the Das 3 Gis were dark- skinned. So in the following passage: In fights hath Indra helped the Aryan worshipper, Giving a hundred aids in every battle-drive, In battle-drives that win the light; Plaguing the lawless gave he u]) To Manu’s folk the dusky skin: ’ Burning, as ’twere, he every greedy foe consumes. Yea quite consumes the venturesome. I. 130, 8. Clearly referring to the ‘black skin’ of the Dasyus is the Ddsa colour as mentioned in the following stanza: Who hath made all things in this world unstable, Humbled the Dasa colour-' or destroyed it; ^ Dasyit and Dnsa are words of nncert;dn origin. Dasyu corresponds with the Iranian dakhii^ doqyu meaning ‘province’. In the Behistun inscription Darius calls himself Khsdyathiya dahynnam ‘ruler of provinces,’ which is the phonetic equivalent of the Vedic Kmlriyo Dasyundm ‘ruler of Dasyus’ (or eiremies). The original meaning, as Zimmer thinks (AD. 110) may have been ‘enemy’, the development in Iranian giving dakhu the meaning ‘province’ as the countiy of con<[uered enemies. It would be quite natural for the invading Aryans to call their foes in the Punjab by their old name for ‘enemy’. The same word in later Persian appears in the form dih (pi. dihdl) ‘\ illage’. There is also a Vedic root das ‘to waste’, which may furnish the derivation. See Vedic Index under Dasyu and Ddsa. It is possible that the words had a more contemptuous connotation than merely ‘enemy’, something like ‘heathen’, ‘wretch’, ‘fiend’, ‘rustic’ (gakwdr). * Ethnography (in Crundriss), 1912, p. 3. Rapson, CHI. 1. 41-42, 49. ^ Krisnd tvac ‘black skin’. So probably X. 41, 1. Ddsa varna. 38 THE RELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA Who takes the foe’s possessions, as a gambler Stakes of his rival, — he, O men, is Indra. II. 12, 4. As might be expected, the Aryan colour is also mentioned : He won the sun, he won the heavenly horses, Indra obtained the cow that feedeth many; Won, too, the golden treasure for enjoyment, The Dasyus smote and helped the Aryan colour \ HI. 34, 9. The ‘wliite-liuedfriends who are mentioned as helping Indra in the conquest of the land are doubtless to be taken as Aryans. Furthermore, the Dasyus are called in one passage anasaJi^ ‘noseless,’ according to the most probable inter¬ pretation, or possibly ‘misfeatured.’ It is quite likely a reference to the broader and flatter non-Aryan nose of the aborigines. In the same passage occurs another epithet ‘ ‘of stammering speech Vor more probably ‘of hostile speech’, since it is used of Aryan ^ as well as of Dasyu enemies. The passage may be rendered as follows: Didst crush the noseless Dasyus with thy weapon. And in their home didst overthrow the fiend-voiced^\ V. 29,10. The great difference, however, between Aryan and Dasjai was religious. The Dasyus were given such negative epithets as ‘riteless’', ‘lawless’^, ‘without devotion’^, ‘not sacri¬ ficing’^* *’, ‘indifferent to the gods’etc., as in the following: * Ary a varna. ^ Svitnya^ 1. 100, 18. So Macdoncll and Keith, Index I. d.oO, ()• '’’Either an-dsah 'without face’ or a-ndsah ‘without nose’, V. 29, 10. Or possibly an-asa(» ^should be interj^reted as Gvithout moutli’, that is ‘ speecldess’, unable to use the speech of the Aryans. This well illustrates the difficulty of Vedie interpretation. At any rate as applied to the Dasyus it is a term of reproach and contempt. * Mridhra-vdeah V. 29, 10, lit. ‘whose voice is hostile’. This may possibly refer to the war-cry of the enemy, which may have been as terrible for the invading Aryan as the war-whoop of the American Indian was for the frontier settler. ^ Of the Aryan VUru in Vll. IS, 1V>. ^ Miidhravdc ‘ dessen Rede mangcUiaft, barbarisch redend’ — Geldner, Glossar. '^a-karman, X. 22, 10. ^ a-vrata, I. 51, 8. ^ a •brahman, IV. 1(5, 9. '■^Ai-yajran, VlII. 70, 11. a-deiaya, VHI. 70, 11. THE RIGVEDIC AGE 39 Who is no-man, who loves nor god ^ Nor sacrifice nor Aryan law’, Him let his friend* the mountain hurl to speedy death, The mountain hurl the Dasyu down. VIII. 70, 11. Once more: Against us is the riteless senseless Dasyu, Inhuman, keeping alien laws; Do thou, O slayer of the foe. This Dasyu’s weapon circumvent. X. 22, 8. Thus Arya in the thought of the invaders came to be a synonym for ‘godly’, ‘devout’, and Dasyu for ‘godless’ as in I. 51, 8: Distinguish Aryans from the Dasyus; chastening The lawless make them subject to the pious man". The only positive information concerning the religious practices of the Dasyus is to be found in two references to what were in all probability phallus-worshippers ’: ‘No phallus-worshipper come near our offering,’ YII. 21, 5; and in X. 99, 3 we are told that Indra slew the Hsna-devah, when he by craft got the treasure of the hundred-gated fort ^ The clashing of Aryan and Dasyu on the plains of the Punjab was of distinct significance for the social and religious history of India. The outstanding points of difference, as we have seen, were race, colour and religion. These lines of difference were sharply drawn. The very term ‘Dasyu’, as opposed to Arya, meaning as it did ‘fiend’, came to be applied to the demons, so that there is a very ’Note the collection of epithets, anyavrata, nmanusa, ayajvan, adevayu. * Here the mountain as opposed to the plain, is called the ‘ friend ’ of the Dasyu, presumably because it was his refuge, as Ludwig thinks (UV. III. 1). So the Hebrews occupied the hill country of Palestine (Judges I. 19) and the Britons took refuge in the mountains of Wales and the highlands of Scotland against the victorious Anglo-Saxons. ^ Barhisrnat, lit. he who has strewn the litter for the gods. * Sis n a-dev a hi ‘whose god is a phallus' VII. 21, 5; X. 99, II. ^ See Macdonell, VM. 1.95. Doubtless there is here ascribed to Indra, the war-god of the Vedic Aryans, the exploits which the people accomplished under his inspiration. 40 THE RELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA frequent ambiguity in the reference of the word, whether to human or to demonic enemies. There was a sharp distinction drawn between the Arya colour and the Dasa colour, the Aryans coming from a cold climate being white,, and the Dasyus having lived for centuries or millenniums in the hot climate of India being black*. This difference in colour was one of the causes that lay at the foundation of caste, for the very name of caste is variia *colour*^ If the interpretation of sibnadevllh as ‘phallus-vforshippers* is correct, as is most likely, then the contrast between Aryan and Dasyu in the matter of religion was equally great; and so the religious difference was drawn as sharply as the other differences. For the Aryan the conception of the divine fatherhood was embodied in the idea of Father Sky, the bright heavenly one; for the Dasyu the same conception WRS expressed in the form of lihga-^woi'ship. Sisnadeva is ■> a term of reproach and contempt in the Rv. But the time came in India, when this same worship became widespread even among the Brahmans. The despised Dasyus had thus their revenge. ^ It was only in India that the white Aryans encountered a really dark race in ancient times. The clash was marked by wbat was perhaps the first appearance in history of the “colour line”. Of course the Greek, l^atin and Celtic Aryans encountered the olive-skinned Mediterranean races, but found no serious difficulty in amalgamation. In modern times the ‘ colour line ’ as between white and Negro has been most difficult in America and South Afiica. In both regions alike it has been the contrast of white Aryans (Indo-Europeans) and those of dark skin. “ “The ultimate cause of the extreme rigidity of the caste system, as compared with the features of any other Aryan society, must probably be sought in the — r sharp distinction drawn from the beginning between the Arya and the Sudra. The contrast which the Vedic Indians felt as existing between themselves and the conquered population, and which probably rested originally on the difference of colour between the upper and the lower classes, tended to accentuate the natural distinctions of birth, occupation, and locality, which normally existed among the Aryan Indians, but which among the Aryan peoples never developed into a caste system like that of India.If there had been no varna, caste might never have arisen”. Vedic Index II. 267, 270. But see Ketkar, History of Caste in India, Ithaca, 1909, and Vincent Smith, Oxford History of India, 1919, pp. 34-43. THE RIGVEDIC AGE 41 6. Conquest of the land. — The early struggle between Aryan and Dasyu must have been as ruthless and bloody as that between invading Jute, Angle and Saxon and the indigenous Celt for the possession of Britain, or between Hebrew and Canaanite for the possession of Palestine, or between backwoodsman and American Indian for the pos¬ session of the great plains of the West. The bow was the main weapon of the Veda’, as is clear from the great battle-hymn VI. 75, in which the bow is the only offensive weapon mentioned. This is a kind of Vedic ^song of the Bow’. It is a fairly late hymn, standing at the very end of the sixth book, and composed apparently of fragments- The following is Griffith’s translation, with some changes: — Weapons of War, VI. 76. 1. Like that of threatening storm-cloud is his visage, When armour-clad he seeks the lap of battle. Be thou victorious with unwounded body; So may the thickness of thine armour shield thee. 2. With Bow let us win kine, with Bow the battle, With Bow be victors in the sharp encounters. The Bow does to the foeman what he loves not; Bow-weaponed may we subjugate all quarters. 3. Close to his ear, as fain to speak, she presseth. Holding her well-loved friend in her embraces; Strained on the Bow she whispers like a woman, — This Bow-string that preserves us in the combat. 4. These meeting, like a woman and her lover. Bear, mother-like, their child upon their bosom. May the two Bow-ends, starting swift asunder. Scatter, in unison, the foes that hate us. 5. With many a son, the sire of many daughters. He makes a clatter, going down to battle; Bound on the back, the Quiver, launched in action. In every fray and struggle is victorious. ’ Vedic Index, I, 205. So importiuit was the bow as the supreme weapon of war that later in the Mahabharata Dhanurveda ‘the science of the bow’ meant the science of war in general. 42 THE RELIGIOX OF THE RIGVEDA 11. Her tooth a deer-horn, dressed in eagles’ feathers, Bound with cow-hide, launched forth, she flieth onward; Where warriors rush apart or rush together. There may the Arrows furnish us protection. 12. 0 glowing Arrow, pass us by'. And let our bodies be as stone; May Soma intercede for us. And Aditi protect us well. 14. It compasses the arm with serpent windings, Defending from the impact of the bow-string; Knowing well all the ways of the hand-smiter May it guard manfull}- the man on every side. 15. Now to the Arrow poison-smeared, Horn-headed shaft or metal-tipped. Divine, born of Parjanya’s seed, Be this high adoration given. 16. Loosed from the bowstring fly away. Thou Arrow, sharpened by our ; Go forth and fall upon our foes. And leave not one of them alive. 17. Where flights of hurtling Arrows show Like locks dishevelled of young boys; Even there may Brahmanaspati And Aditi protect us well. Protect us well through all our days. 18. Thy vital parts with coat of mail I cover. With immortality King Soma clothe thee; Varuna give enlargement more than ample. And in thy triumph may the gods be joyful. 19. Whoso would kill us, whether he Be alien foe or one of us. May all the gods discomfit him. Prayer is my dearest coat of mail. This hymn is addressed to the deified weapons of war. Since the bow occupied the most important position in the Vedic armoury, all its parts are named, bow^, bowstring"’, ' Or, Avoid us thou whose flight is straight. " See Oldenberg, RVN. 1. 416. Brahman, ‘spell’. So v. 19. dhanvan. THE RIGVEDIC AGE 43 bow-endsquiver^’, arrows^ and (by implication) hand- guard \ Arrow-heads were tipped either with horn or with metal and were sometimes at least smeared with poison. The bowman wore some kind of protecting armour % and fought most effectively from the war-chariot®. By means of the bow the Vedic Indian won battles and was successful in cattle raids. War-chariots were the artillery of antiquity. Much depended upon the swiftness of the horses and the skill of the charioteer. Hence chariot-racing as a sport was only a practice for the serious business of war*. In this hymn there are two references to prayer (brahman)y but prayer here is used undoubtedly in the sense of magic incantation or spell s In fact, some if not all of the stanzas of this hymn are probably spells^, and doubtless they owe their preservation to their apparently successful use in this capacity Weapons of war and especially the chariot play a large part in the equipment and furnishing of the Vedic gods. Indra the supreme war-god of the Vedic Indians is armed with a club", and the gods in general are mounted on chariots. It is probable that the Vedic Aryans offered sacrifice before battle and called on Indra for help’^ Gradually but surely the Aryans overcame the Dasyus and got possession of the choicest parts of the Punjab. The Dasyus were either killed or reduced to slavery*^, or driven ’ artm. * i-endhi. bdna. fiastatra (understood) or jwrhaps hanloghna. '' vantian. rnilia. ^ Zimmer, AL. 29d. * See Hillebrandt (ERE. art. Hrahruan) for the meaning ‘magic spell’. Notably vv. 12, 16, 17, 19. If the Erog-soiig, YU. 103, is a rain-charm, it is quite reasonable to regard VI. 75 as a baltie-charm. As other examples of battle-charms may be mentioned YIIl. 70, 10 and X. 22, 8. We may cite Balak’s hiring of Balaam to curse Israel (Numbers XXII. 2-G) as an Old Testament instance of the use in war of hostile spells. vajra. Zimmer, AE. 294. With this compare the similar enstom among the Hebrews, 1 Sam. VII. 9-10, XIII. 9-13. Rv. VH. 80, 7; YHI. 56, 3; X. 02, 10. The meaning ddsa ‘slave’ is due to the fact that the Dnsa class were recruited from the Ddsa people. 44 THE RELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA to take refuge in the mountains* and desert places- They probably found the war-chariot difficult to contend with, and so found their natural refuge in the mountains, very much as the Hebrews were able to hold only the hill country of Palestine and not the plains, because of the iron chariots of their enemies^ Sambara, the mountain-dwelling^ son of Kulitara'^ has the appearance of being a Dasa chieftain, in some passages at least. The famous Divodasa'^ was the ly great antagonist of Sambara®, whom he often defeated. Names of Aryan chieftains, such as Trasadasyii~ ‘before whom the Dasyus tremble’, and Dasyave vrika^ ‘the wolf for the Dasyus’, are reminiscent of the successful struggle. There is frequent mention of ‘forts’ or ‘strongholds’^, generally as belonging to the Dasas, for the Aryans un¬ doubtedly took the offensive and the Dasyus defended themselves in forts as best they could. Probably each Dasa (as well as Aryan settlement had its fortified enclosure consisting of earthworks with wooden palisades and a ditch in which the people could find refuge in time of danger, taking with them also their cattle There seems to be a ^ Rv. VUl. 70, 11 (so Ludwig); II, 12, 11; IV. 30, 14; VI. 20, 5. - Judges I. 10. Rv. II. 12, 11 ; IV. 30, 14; VI. 20, 5. ^ IV. 30, 14. ^ The name is to be interpreted as ‘slave of Dyaiis’ (so Gldenberg RV. 155 note 1) after the analogy of slave of Varnna (implied in VII. 80, 7), with which may be compared iTjOG’j XplOTGO, Rom. I. 1, etc. Divodasa may have been of Dasa origin as Hillebrandt thinks (VM. I. 97), but at any rate he was an ally of some of the Aryan tribes, and was clearly regarded by them as practically one of themselves. Perhaps a convert from the Dasyus. 1. 112, 14; 130, 7; 11. 10; 0, etc. ’ V. 33, 8; VII. 10, 3, etc. Vlll. 51, 2; 5.5, 1 ; 50, 1, 2. Par, 1. 53, 7-8; Ill. 15, 4; IV. 20, 3; 27, 1, etc- The pne Gort’ was Indo-European, see p. 4, No. 38. See Vedic Index, I. 538-540 (under pwr). A parallel situation is to be found in the early days when the American backwoodsmen won the region west of the Alleghany mountains from the red Indians. “When a group of families moved out into the wilderness, they built themselves a station or stockade fort, a square palisade of upright logs.• The families only lived in the fort when there was war with the Indians, and even then not in winter”. — Roosevelt, ^VW. I. 144. THE RIGVEDIC A(}E 45 reference to the capture of Dasa forts in the following as translated bv Griffith: In the wild joy of Soma I demolished Sambara’s forts, ninety and nine, together; And, utterly, the hundredth habitation. When helping Divodasa Atithigva. IV. 2G, 3. In some passages there is undoubtedly reference to the cloud-forts of the demon-Dasyus, and in others is used metaphorically as, e. g. when Agni is besought to guard his worshipper with ‘strongholds of iron’h 7. Organization of Society. a) Vedic Tribes. — There is frequent reference in the Rv. to the ‘five peoples’", a term of somewhat uncertain appli¬ cation. It is found in each book of the Rv." and is probably to be taken as a conventional number for the Aryan tribes in the Punjab, just as the number of rivers was conventionally seven h In I. 108, 8 the five names of Yadus, Tui'vasas, Druhyus, Anus and Pitrus are mentioned together. Both Indra and Agni are described as pahcaianya, ‘belonging to the five peoples’-’; and there is a reference to them in the hymn to Sarasvati (VI, 61, 12), as if they were settled on or near that river in the eastern Punjab. From all the evidence it looks as if, in their steady progress eastward^', the Aryan tribes were stopped for a time in the region of the Sarasvati and Kuruksetra, unable to force their way through the masses of aborigines' holding the great ‘ r. 58, 8. ^ panea-janoh, -numusah, -Krifitayah, -Knlayah, -carsanyafj. ^ Vedic Index L 4(3G n. 1. ^ The Vedic Index mentions the^names of 31 rivers and G6 tribes as occuriiig in V'^edic Literature. Of 00111 * 80 , not so many are found in the Rv. but at any rate more than five tribes and seven rivers. ^ V. 32, 11; IX. GG, 20. ^ The general direction of the Aryan migrations was from oold and poor lands to those warmer and lieher. Oidenberg, LAI, 7. ' See James Kennedy’s theory (The Aryan Invasion of Northern India JR AS. October 1919, p. 513) that what really stopj)ed the Aryan advance was the dense aboriginal population of the .1 umna-Ganges valley. 46 THE RELIGION OF THE RIG VEDA “gateway ^of India’’\ There they were crowded together and forced to coalesce, until they grew strong enough to break through the gateway. The region of Kuniksetra, then, was the area of their fusion; and when they appear later on the upper Jumna and Ganges under the name of Paricalas, there may possibly be a reference in the very name to the “five” tribes from the fusion of which they by hypothesis sprang^': At any rate the names of the tribes mentioned in I. 108, 8 had practically ceased to be. While the Aryans were in the Punjab, their divisions were tribal, but when they reached the more thickly populated ' “It. would be difficult to exaggerate I he importance to India of the existence of the great desert of liajputana. The ocean to the south-east :md south-west of the peninsula was at most times an ample [uotection against overseas invasion, until the Europeans rounded the Cape of Good Hope. The vast length of the- Himalaya, backed by the desert plateau of Tibet, was an equal defence on the north side. Only to the north-west does India lie relatively open to the incursions of the war-like peoples of Western and Central Asia. It is precisely in that direction that the Indian desert presents a waterless void extending north-eastward from the Rann of Catch, for some 400 miles, with a breadth of I.jO miles. In rear of the desert a minor bulwark is constituted by the Ar.ivalli range. Only between the noith-eastern extremity of the desert and the foot of the Himalayas below Simla is there an easy gateway into India.Delhi stands on the west bank of the .Tumna at the northern extremity of the Aravallis, and may ti-uly be called the historical focus of all India; for, as we have seen, it commands the gatewaj' which leads from the Punjab plain to Hindustan, the plain of the .Jumna and the Ganges. Here the fate of invasions from India from the north¬ west has been decided. Some have either never reached this gateway or have failed to force their way through it. The conquest of Darius in the latter part of the sixth century B. c. and of Alexander the Great in the years 827-5 b. c., were not earned beyond the Punjab plain. Such direct influence as they exercised in modifying the character of Indian civilization must therefore have been confined to this region. On the other hand, the invasions which have succeeded in passing the gateway and in effecting a permanent settlement in Hindustan have determined the history of the whole subcontinent. These belong to two groups, the Aryan and the JNIusalman, distinguished by religion, language, and type of civilization and separated from each other by an interval of pi-obably some two thousand years.” Mackinder, CHI. I. 21-3. Paucala and Putica “five”. Suggested by Professor Weber, IS. I. 202, and Geldner, VS. HI. 108 n. 1., but questioned by Macdonell and Keith, Index, I. 460. THE RIGVEDie AGE 47 basin drained by the Jumna and the Ganges, it was differ¬ ences of caste that received the emphasis. In the land of the “seven rivers’' the population was divided into Aryan and Dasyu, ancient and hereditary foes of each other. In the region of Madhyade'sa it was no longer Aryan and Dasyu, but priest, king, subject and serf ’, the Dasyus^ forming the fourth and servile element in the total population, while the first three orders consisted of ‘twice-born’ Aryans. This fourfold division of the population which forms the basis of caste undoubtedly had its real beginning in the Rigvedic age, reaching its full culmination in the period of the Yajurveda^ h) King and Kmtriyas \ The Ksatriyas were the ruling class among the Aryan tribes in the Punjab, and normally each tribe had its chieftain or king. Thus the king was the Ksatriyapar excellence. In some cases at least Vedic monarchy was hereditary, for descent can be traced. Undoubtedly the necessities of the war with the Dasyus helped to strengthen the monarchical element, and perhaps even to create it, where it did not exist beforeThe ruling- class and the military class coincided, as they do in every age. The Vedic nobility provided the rulers in times of peace and the military leaders in times of war. Sudds, Divoddsa and Ti'osadasyu are names of prominent kings. The highest level was reached by the Vedic nobility in the matter of strength, beauty, wealth and happiness. They were the favoured class. Hence most of the Vedic gods were patterned after the nobility. They were in fact ^ Brahmana-, Brijanya, VnUya and SUdra^ Rv. X, 90. 12. a late hymn. ^ With the Dasyu tribes that were degraded to the status of Sudras or viilually serfs, may be compared the similar degradation which overtook the remnants of the early population of Palestine, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, in the days of Solomon, about 975 B. c. (2 Chron- VIII. 7-8). ’’ See Macdonell and Keith on Varna (Index II. 247 ff.). See also Kt. VIII. 35, 16-18 for a clear reference to brahma, hsatrain and visah. ^ See Vedic Index imder Ksalriya, Bdjan and Rdjanya. ^ So the wars with the Philistines helped to create the monarchy in Israel. 1 Sam. VIII, 5, 19-20. 48 THE RELKHON OF THE RIGVEDA glorified K^^atri^^as, The Ksatriya god par excellence was Indra. c) Priesthood. — As we have seen \ the priesthood was well developed before the Indian and Iranian clans separated. Hence the Aryan chiefs were accompanied into India by priests, who had already a fairly complicated ritual connected with the Soma offering and the fire sacrifice. It is possible that some of the priestly families mentioned in the Rik as authors of the ‘family books’ began their career as priests before entering India. The continuity of the Soma-sacrifice both in Persia and India would seem to demand such an un¬ broken tradition, and the very term brahmaria^ ‘son of a brah¬ man’, indicates the hereditary character of the priesthood. As is usual even in primitive societies, priestly functions were largely in the hands of a special priestly class. Already in the Rigvedic age the distinction between ruler and priest- was clearly drawn'4 There were several functions'* * such as recitation of hymns, manual acts of sacrifice, and singing of songs, which required several classes of priests for their proper performance. The oldest list*^ mentions seven different kinds of priests. The chief of the seven priests was the hotar or reciting priest. He sang the h 3 ^mns, and in early times during the creative period of the Rv. he composed them also. Apart from the seven priests stood the purohitay the domestic chaplain of king or noble. According to the later ritual every king must have a piirohita who alone could properly officiate for the king**. He was the spiritual adviser of the king, and in the nature of things ^ p. 2G. * Ksatriya and bruhmana. ^ ‘-.Priests and sorcerers every where differ from the mass of the population at an earlier period of cirltnre than any of the lay classes”.— Landtman, Priest and Priesthood (Primitive) in PiRE. ' ^ Keith, Priest and Priesthood (Hindu) in ERPh ^ Rv. II. 1-2, hotri, potri, nestri, agnldh, ])rasdsln, adhvaryu and brahman. The position of Samuel in relation to Saul was quite analogous to that of the purohila to the king in ancient India. 1 Samuel XTH. 8-12; XY. 10-35. THE RIGVEDIC AGE 49 tended to become also his adviser in temporal matters’. Examples of piirohitas in the Rv. are Visvamitra- and Vasistha'' in relation to king Sudas, and Devapi ’ the pnro- hita of Santanu. The semi-political"’ as well as religious functions of the piirohita^’ undoubtedly contributed to the growing influence of the priesthood. The nobility and priesthood were closely connected by ties of mutual dependence. The noble was dependent upon the priest for the proper performance of the sacrifice and the priest was dependent upon the noble for his honorarium. The daksina or sacrificial ‘fee’ was greatly appreciated by the fji’iests, and many a ‘gift-laud’* * celebrates the gener¬ osity, anticipated or realized, of wealthy Ksatriya patrons. For example, I. 126, 1-8 is a Danastutl: 1. Thoughtfully I present these lively praises To Bhavya dweller by the Sindhii river, Who measured out for me a thousand pressings \ The King unconquerable, desiring glory. 2. In one day I received a hundred niskas ^, A hundred gift-steeds from the urgent monarch. Of the lord’s cows a thousand, I Kaksivant. His fame undying hath he spread to heaven. 3. Dark coloured horses Svanaya’s gift, and chariots. Ten of them, came to me, filled full of women ^ The Brahman purohilci of the Yedic king pointed as an institution in the direction of the Brahman moniria or prime minister of later times, e, g. Kalhana Pandit in Kashmir, and the Peshwas of the Maratha Kings. 2 TIL 33, 53. 2 VII. 18, 83. ^ ^ “ The purohita, the spiritual and temporal aid of the king, his chaplain and ehaneellor”. —Bloomfield AV. in SBE. XLII, p. LXYII. See Vedic Index under Purohita and liitcij. DdnastuU. * Sava (acc. pi. savan) ‘pressing's of Soma’. But in the Kausika Sutra the word frequently means ‘the formal bestowal of the dak°ind.’ See Bloomfield, HAY. 414, 528, etc. If in this late Danastuti hymn sava has this meaning, then the translation should be: ‘Who made to me a thousand gift-bestowals’. * Niska ‘necklace’ {cf. 11. 33, 10). The niska was used as a kind of currency or measure of value. Cf. Vedic Index under XLska. Yedic niskas should be discovered in the great mounds of the Punjab. Or ‘with mares to draw them’ (Griffith). 4 50 THE RELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA There followed after sixty thousand cattle. Kaksivant gained them at the day’s conclusion. According to the above-translated ‘gift-laud^ the prince Svanaya Bhavya, who dwelt by the Indus, had apparently been in trouble probably from some Gandhara tribe (v. 7), and had implored help (v. 2). This the priest Kaksivant rendered through his sacrifices, prayers and spells * *. Hence the magnificent gifts of the king, which the joriestly recipient celebrates probably with suitable exaggeration. The gifts include horses, cows, gold ornaments and female slaves (?), but not land^ It indicates that there were Aryan tribes still dwelling on the Indus. Most or all of the material of the Bv. is due to the mutual relationship and co-operation of wealthy Ksatriya patrons and indigent Brahman priests. In the early creative days of Rigvedic literature the hotar priests did not merely recite the hymns, but also composed the hymns they recited ^ We may assume with a high degree of probability that very few hymns in the Rik collection were composed except by priests under contract to wealthy patrons to provide the hymns necessary for the solemnizing of the sacrifice. And as the supreme ritual of the Rv. was the Sonia ritual, which gathered up in itself the worship of all the gods, it follows that most of the hymns were composed for the Soma sacrifice. This means that the Rigveda is a literary monument of the religious views and practices of the Vedic aristocracy and priesthood alone, the usages of the Vaisyas and Sudras being inadequately represented. Along with the ‘hieratic’ religion of the Rv. there were current un¬ doubtedly lower forms of belief, which were later collected in the Atharvaveda, practices such as charms and spells^ which receive comparatively slight recognition in the Rv.'* ^ Compare Exodus XVII. 8-13, 1 Sam. VII. o-ll. - See Vedic Index under Dahsind. ^ See Vedic Index under JUlvij, and Oldenberc;, RV. 380. * While this, on the whole, is true, it must be admitted that leeent research has tended to diminish somewhat this difference between Uigeeda and Alharvaveda. THE RIGVEDIC AGE 51 There were priestly gods as well as warrior gods. If Indr a was conceived after the likeness of the Ksatriya, Agni and Brihaspati are represented as divine priests. d) Vaisyas .—Apart from the nobility and the priesthood the rest of the population of Aryan descent was included under the name of Vaisyas’, that is, ‘commons’, ‘subjects’. They constituted the agricultural and industrial class. According to the later literature their distinctive sign was the goad of the ploughman, and their subordinate position in relation to the nobility was indicated by their character¬ ization as ‘tributary to another’, ‘to be oppressed at will’^, etc. The Vaisyas formed the backbone of the stateb Superior to, but resting upon them, were the Brahman and Ksatriya communities. Brahman, Ksatriya and Vaisya as Aryan in descent were sharply distinguished from Sudra. As a class the Vaisyas seem to have had little to do with the political, religious and intellectual life of the Vedic age. On the ✓ whole, like the Sudras, they were an inarticulate element in the population, with some tendency to fall rather than rise in social standingb Probably their religious practices were largely of an Atharvanic character, consisting of domestic and agricultural charms '. The bucolic Pusan armed vdth a goad seems to have been a Vaisya deity. ^ _ ^ ^ e) Sudras. — The Sudrasas in general people of non- Aryan blood, colour and religion were at the bottom of the social scale in Vedic India. If according to the Aitareya, Brdhmana' the Vaisya could be ‘oppressed at will’, the Sudra could be ‘slain at will’. The term SUdra. occurs only once in the Rv. ^ as the substitute and equivalent for the ^ Rv. X. 90, 12 (only here), but compare AUll. 35, 16-18, wlu're brahma., ksalram and visah- are mentioned together. “ See Vedic Index articles Vaisya and Varna. •' Cf. the agricultural communities of most modern states. ^ Cf. the Ilalhakaras, ‘ chariot-makersh ^ Bloomfield, HAV. in SBE. XLIl. 140-160. , Probably the term Sadra ( 3 ^ ‘primitive Veda’ of course is meant the poetic material of the Vedic age before it was collected. Such material ’ In the Purufia Sukta (Rv. X. 00. 9) the stanzas fricah) of the Pik are mentioned before t)ie verses (stimtini) of the Sdman, and the Yajns. * " Cognates of Veda arc Gr. oiO'X, Lat. vid-SO, Eng. wit- " Hopkins, ION. 23 • ■* Hopkins, ION, 24. THE RIGVEDIC BOOK 55 existing in the various Vedic clans and priestly families ^ consisted, as the four historic collections show, of ‘a heterogeneous combination of old hymns, charms, philo¬ sophical poems, and popular songs, most but not all of which are of religious content’\ This primitive Vedic material was in part ‘hieratic’ or priestly, having to do with the worship of the great gods, such as Agni, Indra, Soma; and in part, popular, consisting of house ceremonies, charms and magic spells \ The Rigveda, while containing some popular material, especially in the tenth, first and seventh books'-^, is pre-emineijtiy a text-book of priestly religion; whereas the Atharvaveda, though containing some priestly material, is very largely a text-book of popular religion. The process of the formation of the Rigveda as a collection of hymns must have been complete by about 800 B. c., and the true date may be still earlier. The complete Rik is presupposed in the existing Brahmanas, which, according to the most moderate possible estimate, cannot be dated later than 800 to 600 b. c. The other three Vedas were collected rather later than the Rik, but we need not discuss the dates of their formation here. It is, besides, quite probable that long before the fourfold collection was formall}^ made, the Vedic material began to break up into four groups on the basis of religious use. Thus the reference in the Purusa-Sukta^ may be only to an incipient classification of the Vedic material into lauda¬ tory verses (ricah) used by the Hotri or invoking priest, * Hopkins, ION. 23. - Bloomfield, AV. 2, and On the Relative Chronolofjy of the Vedic Hymns, JAGS, 21 (1901) p. 4G. “ Considerably more than one half of the RY. stanzas which cjorrespond to the AV. belong to the tenth book of the RV., largely to the last anuvdka of that book; about one-sixth to the first book; about one-tenth to the seventh book; about one-eighth to all the other books put together. ” Bloomfield, AV. 4f). Rv. X. 90. 56 THE RELKHON OF THE RIGVKDA chants (samani) used by the Udgdtri or singing priest, and sacrificial formulas (yajus) used by the Adhvaryu or officiating priest. The final redaction of the four collections may very well have been only a de jure recog¬ nition of what had for some time been a de facto state of tilings. The motive which determined the fourfold collection of the Vedic material was, then, primarily — to serve the interests of the ritual h Of course, there was in oper¬ ation at the same time a more theoretical motive, namely, the preservation from change and destruction of the ancient heritage of sacred song. But though the Rigveda as a collection is not to be dated later than 800 b. c., the final settlement of the exact spelling of the text as we have it to-day, did not take place until after the completion of the older Brahmanas, about 600 B. c., when the Saihhita text '-, i. e. the text settled in accordance with the rules of samdhiy which control Classi¬ cal Sanskrit, was formed. Since that date the text of the Bigveda has been preserved with almost faultless accuracy. The Rigveda deserves to be called ‘the most important’^ of the Vedas, because it is the oldest and largest collection of Vedic hymns and the source of much of the material found in the Saman, Yajus and Atharvan. Of the 20,000 metrical stanzas in Vedic literature (omitting variants) about 10,000, or fully one-half occur in the Rikh Of the 1549 stanzas of the Samaveda 1474 are derived from the Rik, and also one-fourth of the matter of the Yajurveda. Besides a considerable portion in prose, the Atharvaveda contains about 6000 poetic stanzas, one-fifth of which, namely 1200 stanzas, occur also in the Rv. \ The Rigveda, ^ Bloomfield refers to his own “ rapidly growing conviction that the Rv., as we have it, in common with the other Vedas, is a liturgic collection”. Relative Chronology, JAOS., 1901, p, 4.5. * Macdonell, SL. 46-50; Hopkins ION. '27. Macdonell, SL. in IGI. H. 209. ^ Bloomfield, op. cit. 42-43. Macdonell op. cit. 227-229. THE RIGV.EDIC EOOK 57 then, is a great documentary source for the other three Vedas, very much as the Gospel of Mark is an important source for the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. Vedic literature covers three classes of literary pro¬ ductions in the Vedic age, viz, (1) Mantras or Vedic stanzas produced largely in the creative period and after¬ wards collected in the form of the four Vedas; (2) Brah- rnanas, exposition and further elaboration of the ritualistic element in the Vedas, and also of the philosophical element^; and (3) Sldras, mnemonic compendia dealing with Vedic ritual and customary law. Thus by Veda we mean, in a narrow sense, the Rigveda; in a wider sense, any or all of the Four Vedas; and, in the widest sense of all, the whole cycle of Vedic literature according to the threefold division of Mantra, Bfahmana, and Satra. The extent of the exist¬ ing Vedic literature may be estimated from the fact that about one hundred and twenty texts have contributed to the Vedic Concordance of Prof. Bloomfield^ The Rigveda is about equal in bulk to the Iliad and Odyssey combined. Being ‘the most ancient literary monument of India’, it is the foundation not only of Vedic literature, but of Indian literature in general. Thus for Indian history, religion, philosophy and civilization the Rigveda is a book of origins. As prophetic of the lines of future development it may also be called a collection of ‘first fruits. 2. The Text of the Rigveda. — The Rigveda con- tains 1017 hymns, or 1028, if we add the supplementary Vdlakhilya hymns. But the number can be easily increased by breaking up some of the larger wholes into separate hymns, as we seem forced to do on critical grounds^ Thus out of the total collection of 1028 hymns E. V. Arnold finds about 220 which are composite and consist of 780 parts. ^ The elaboration of the philosophical element in the Vedas is, of course, the work of tlie Upaniaads, philosophical appendices fo the Brahmauas. * Bloomfield, RV. 18. ^ Hillebrandt, All-lndien, 53. 58 THE RELIGION OF THE KlGVEDA usually short hymns of three verses each *. The hymns are arranged in ten books or mandalas (lit. ‘cycles’). Books II-VII are the so-called ‘family books’, because each is assigned by tradition to the eponym ancestor of a particular priestly family ^ That these groups of hymns were produced within the families to which they are as¬ cribed is sufficiently proved by internal evidence. The hymns of the family books are arranged on a uniform plan, which seems to reveal the editorial work of a single school. Each major group or inandala is a collection of smaller groups of hj^mns arranged according to the deities ad¬ dressed, the first sub-group consisting of hymns to Agni, the second to Indra, and so forth. Within these smaller groups the position of any hymn is determined by the number of stanzas it contains, the hymn containing the largest number of stanzas being placed first, and so on. Hymns which break this rule are to be regarded either as complexes of smaller hymns, or as containing later additions. Again books II-VII seem to have been arranged according to the number of hymns they severally contain (not counting later additions); for the second book contains the smallest number of hymns (43) found in any of the family books, and the seventh book the largest number (104). Thus the ‘family books’ clearly form one great group. The first, eighth and tenth books agree together in the fact that the groups of which they consist are based on identity of authorship, actual or assumed. The eighth book and Fart A (hymns 1-50) of the first book have a certain affinity with each other due to the strophical arrangement^ which exists more or less in both and also to the fact that the family of the Kdnvas figures in the authorship of each. The ninth book is unique, in that all of its hymns are addressed to Soma. Its groups depend upon identity of * The Jiiffveda and Atharvaveda, JAGS. 1901, p. 312. “ The names of these Ijishis are: Gritsamada, Visvamitra, Vainadeva, Atri, Bharadvaja, YasisUia. THE RIGVEDIC BOOK 59 metre K We see, then, that there are three principles which lie at the basis of the groups within the several books, viz. identity of the deity addressed, as in the family books, identity of authorship, as in the first, eighth and tenth books, and identity of metre, as in the ninth book. The first and tenth books have each the same number of hymns (191), and together they contain the great mass of all the Atharvanic or ‘popular’ stanzas in the Rigveda. On the basis of these uniformities of arrangement b}" which various sections of the Rv. are linked together, it is plausible to assume more or less independent redaction for several of the larger wholes of which the Rv, consists. Professor Hopkins" thinks that a threefold process of grouping lies at the basis of the present arrangement; books II-VII, the ‘family books’, furnishing the nucleus, books I and VIII adding a framework, and books IX and X completing the collection. This, or something like it, must have taken place. If Hopkins’ view is correct, then we have a kind of threefold canon in the Rv. The canonical form of the Rv., as we have seen, is known as the Samhita text, that is, the text in which the words are united according to the rules of combination current in Sanskrit, and is not earlier than 600 R. c. Several schools existed, each with its own text, distinguished by unimportant differences; but the text has come down to us only in the recension of the Sakala school''. As soon as the Rv. ‘collection’ was made, an extra¬ ordinary set of devices was invented, in order to guard the purity of the text. Soon after the formation of the Samhita or synthetic text, the Pada or analytic text was constructed. In the or ‘word’-text each word of the Samhita was reproduced in its separate, unmodified and (generally) older ’ See for this whole section Macdouell, Sanskrit Literatnrp, Chap. TII. 2 ION. 26-27. •* This single recension of the Rv. reminds us of the similar textual history of the Quran, the single recension of Othman being I’csponsible for all later copies of the Bible of Islam. f>0 THE RELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA form. It is easier to read metrically from the pada than from the samhita text. Further devices for safeguarding the text were the Krama-patha * step-text’, the jata-patha ‘woven text’, and the ghana-patha, a still more complicated text. Representing the words of a Vedic stanza by the letters of the alphabet, we may illustrate the three safeguarding texts by the three following formulas: (1) ab-bc-cd-de, etc., (2) ab-ba-ab; bc-cb-bc, etc. (3) ab-ba-abc-cba-abc; bc-cb-bcd, etc. By these complicated processes of dis¬ location and repetition forwards and backwards, the aim was to make impossible the slightest change in the sacred text. Besides the five forms of the text mentioned above,, there were two more safeguards in the shape of the Pratisakhyas, which explain all the changes necessary for converting the pada into the samhita, text, and the Amikramanis or ‘Indices’, which define the contents of each hymn from various points of view, and also furnish a statistical account of the Rv. as a whole*. The result was that from the time that these safeguarding devices began to be applied, the Sakala recension of the Rv., like that of Othman’s recension of the Quran, was preserved in a unique state of purity. Before that time, however, some textual corruption had taken placed It should be mentioned also that for a long time the Vedic texts were in all probability orally transmitted. If writing was introduced into India in the 8th century b. c., as Biihler^ thinks, its use for long centuries was confined largely or entirely to commercial transactions and tlie like. Doubtless the Brahmanical community had an interest in keeping the sacred texts as a kind of priestly monopoly. Such a monopoly could be maintained only if the texts were taught orally and not reduced to writing. ’ 1028 hymns, 10,402 verses, 153,826 words and 432,000 syllables. Ma.\ Miiller, Physical Religion, 66. “ For evidences of this see Oldenbeig, Hymns to Agni, SBE. NLVI. ^ Indian Paleography in lA. vol. XXXIH, .Appendix 15-16. THE RIGVEDIC BOOK G1 The extraordinary machinery for safeguarding the text of the Rv., the like of which is not found elsewhere in the world, indicates the existence of a well-grounded fear that the textual history of the Vedic hymns in the past would repeat itself in the future; in other words, that “the text would continue to be corrupted, modified, modernized, as without such precautions it had been changed in the pasf’b The textual history of the lijnnns of the Rv. before the ‘collection’ was stereotyped in the form of the canonical text, was undoubtedly a liistory of linguistic levelling. On this point the testimony of experts may be cited. Macdonell'^ admits that “there are undeniable corruptions in detail belonging to the older period.” Hopkins^ holds that the hymns of the Rv. collection—hymns of very different periods originally — had been already reduced pretty much to one linguistic level, at the time the canonical text was formed. Grierson and Barnett^ also remark that the songs of Lalla, or Lai Ded, the Kashmiri female ascetic, furnish a valuable example of the manner in which the language of the Vedic hymns must have changed from generation to generation, before their text was finall}' established. The effect of such linguistic levelling was to obscure more or less the data for the existence of different dialects in the Rv. and the evidence for different periods of composition. The samhitd text stereotyped the form of the Rv. very much as the grammar of Panini fixed the form of Sanskrit. What has the extant text of the Rv. to say regarding the material out of which it is composed ? As an answer to this question Bloomfield "’, the editor of the great Vedic Concordance, remarks: “Of the 40,000 lines of the Rigveda ^ Hopkins, ION. 20. ^ Sanskrit Literature 47- op. cit. 20. ^ Lalla-Vakyani, 1920, p. 1.28, note 1. ^ On. Certain Work in Continuance of the Vedic Concordance, .lAOS. 29 (1908) pp. 287-28S. 62 THE RELIGION OF THE RIGVEHA about 5000 are repeated ‘ lines. Not far from 2000 verse-lines occur two, three, or more times. This collection as a whole is the last precipitate, with a long and tangled past behind it, of a literary activity of great and indefinite length. Every part seems to be conscious of and assimilated to every other part.” And in another place the same scholar- writes that “the earliest books of the Rv. are not exempt from the same processes of secon¬ dary grouping and adaptation of their mantras, though they are less frequent and less obvious than is the case in the Atharvaveda In harmony with this Hopkins^ declares that “the Rigveda Collection itself is a composite consisting largely of the same material disposed in various ways”. And he draws the conclusion that “the hymns are founded on older material, the wreck of which has been utilized in constructing new poetic buildings, just as many of the temples of India are to a great extent built of the material of older demolished temples”. This is certainly true to some extent. But may not many of the phenomena of repetition in the Rv., even as in the O. T. Psalms and in the Quran, be due to a stereotyped religious vocabulary, in which the same phrases would naturally tend to recur? 3. The Language of the Rigveda. — The centre of gravity of the Indo-Aryan world at the time that the Rv. collection was made (circa 600 b. c.) was most probably in Brahmarsidesa"^ (the country of the Holy Sages) in the region between the upper Jumna and Ganges. It is clear that the earlier hymns were produced in the western Punjab, while the later hymns were composed further East and probably largely in the vicinity of the sacred river Sarasvati I Now an outstanding fact in the linguistic ’ Cf. Bloomfield, lUavcda ll^pelitions in HOS., Vol. 20. 2 SBE. XLII, p. LXXIL I( )X. 24. ^ Bapson, CHI. 1. 46. •’ Maniismriti if. 17; Hopkins, ION. 31, 34, and .TAOS. 19, p. 20; Grierson, .IRAS. 1904, p. 476. THE RIGVEDIC BOOK 63 history of Aryan India is the distinction emphasized in Sanskrit literature between the ‘Midland’ (Madhyadesa) and the ‘Outland’b The Midland extending approximately from the Himalayas to the Vindhya Hills and from Sirhind to Allahabad was regarded as the true home of the Aryan people, language, religion and culture. The Outland, namely, Punjab, Sind, Gujarat, Rajputlina, Oudh and Bihar, was also peopled by Aryan tribes, each with its own dialect. Now in the opinion of Grierson, the Superintendent of the Linguistic Survey of India, “a comparison of the modern vernaculars^ shows that these* outer dialects were more closely related to each other than any of them was to the language of the Midland”. To account for this linguistic condition of things, he assumes that the latest invaders “entered the Punjab like a wedge into the heart of the country already occupied by the first immigrants, forcing the latter outwards in three directions, to the East, to the South and to the West”\ The result of course would be the creation of a kind of linguistic cleavage between the language of the Midland, on the one hand, and the various dialects of the Outland, on the other, such a cleavage as is suggested by the linguistic facts imbedded in the modern Indo-Aryan vernaculars. If this is a correct interpretation of the facts, then the Aryans of the Midland as distinguished ’ See chapter on Lantjtiatjes by (Jiierson in Kil. I- 349 ff. - Grierson’s classification of the Indo-Aryan Vernaculars of India is as follows: — A. Liinguage of the IMidland, Western Hindi,. B. Intermediate Jjanguages. ti) More nearly related to the Midland: Rojaslhnnl, Paharl, Gnjarntl,. Punjab). hj More nearly related to tlie outer band, Eastern Hindi. ('. Outer Languages. n) North Western Group; Kasmlrl, Kohislhdnl, LahndU, Sindhl. bj Southern Group: Marathi. cj . Eastern Group: Bihdrl., Oriya, Bengali, Assamese- Grierson iGI. I. 358 (following Ilawnle) 64 THE RELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA from the Aryans of the Outiand, were the last to arrive, but the first to achieve great things. This interpretation of the linguistic facts lies at the foundation of the assumption of two widely separated gates by which the Ar^uins entered India, the Khyber Pass and the route through Chitral and Gilgit. This view is not supported by the general consensus of opinion. If certain scholars, such as Hoernle, Grierson and Risley' favour it, other equally great scholars like MacdonelP, Keith ^ and Rapson\ who occupy the Sanskrit chairs at Oxford, Edinburgh, and Cambridge, oppose it. Rap son suggests an alternative theory to account for the linguistic facts. The language of the Rigveda was naturally the dialect of the region where the hymns were composed, namely, the northern and eastern part of the Punjab, with its centre probably at the sacred river Sarasvati. It was, without doubt, the literary form^ of a living vernacular,, and Grierson^’ sees in it “the earliest Prakrit, of which we have any cognizance”. The language of the Rv. doubtless represents a more archaic dialect than was commonly spoken. The later hymns, we have reason to believe, were largely imitative and presuppose a fixed tradition of the kind of speech proper for a sacred song. If, as Hopkins holds, the earlier Rigveda hymns have suffered from ‘linguistic levelling’, it is probably equally true that the later hymns have suffered from the opposite process of linguistic heightening, so to speak, through the conscious archaizing of their authors k The speech of the Rv. may be called Vedic to distinguish * IGI. I. 303 ff. “ Vedie Index, CHI. I. 119, 123. ^ CHI. I. 50. Keith, CHI., I, 109-110. “ op. eil. 360- ’ This may he illustrated from the rcligious hymns or bhajans of North India. Even to-day Hindi hymns are usually written in the arehaie dialect of the Rmn^yana of TulsT Das. THE RIGVEDIC BOOK 65 it from the elaborate and artificial form given to the language by the grammatical canons of Panini (circa 350 B. c.). The main difference, then, between Vedic and Sanskrit is the difference between an earlier and relatively unpruned popular speech and a later pruned and polished • speech. In fact, Vedic as the vernacular of a limited region in and near the upper Gangetic Doab is referred to by Grierson as the only known specimen of “the Primary Prakrits of India’’’. The language of the Rv., then, was in its time as truly a vernacular speech as the Hebrew of the Old Testament or the so-called ^Biblical’ Greek of the New Testament; at the same time, as the hieratic speech, it was “the first literary dialect of India”-. There are of course other differences between Vedic and Sanskrit. Vedic is much richer in conjugational forms, having numerous sub¬ junctive, infinitive, and aorist forms, which do not occur in Sanskrit. Phonetically, there is little difference between the two. Of course, many Vedic words were obsolete by the time of Panini and the beginnings of classical Sanskrit. On the whole, Vedic and Sanskrit differ from each other very much as Homeric differs from Classical Greek or as the language of Chaucer differs from that of Milton. The processes of levelling down and levelling up, to which reference has already been made^’ — the old being assimilated to the new and the new to the old — have naturally more or less obscured any traces of dialectical differences which might otherwise have existed in the Vedic text. The distinction between ‘hieratic’ and ‘popular’ ’ Grierson distinguishes between primary, secondary and tcrtiaiy Prakrits. The language of the Rv. illustrates the first; the Pali of the Buddhistic writings, the second; and the modern Indo-Aryan veniaculars, such as Hindi and Punjabi, the third. It is noticeable that these various vernaculars, Vedic, Pali, Hindi and Punjabi, have furnished the litemry vehicles for such religious books as the JUgveda^ the Tripitaka of Buddhism, the Rarnayana of TulsT Das, and the Granth Sahib of the Sikhs. “ Fanjuhar, OPJT. 8. 66 THE RELIGION OF THE RIGYEDX language in the Rv. is a real distinction, if priestly and popular hymns belong to the same age; if not, it may mark simply chronological sequence. Such a distinction, however, between two varieties of Vedic speech, one more . learned and technical, and the other more popular, would be very natural according to all analogy. We would expect that the priests as the learned class of the Vedic age would have a ‘class’ speech, technical and professional. There are also some linguistic phenomena in the Rv., which suggest as their causes the existence of different Indo-Aryan dialects, notably the multitudinous present, aorist and infinitive forms’. The language of the Rv. is closely akin to that of the Avesta, the Bible of the Zoroastrian religion. In fact, as already shown”, Vedic and Avestan are simply dialects of the same Indo-Iranian speech. Entire passages of Avestan can be rendered into Vedic and vice versa merely by making the necessary phonetic changes^ And a knowledge of Vedic is the best preparation for the study of Avestan. But Vedic, as we have seen’, is related not only to Avestan, but also to Greek, Latin, Celtic, Teutonic and Slavonic. It is, in other words, a member of the great Indo-European family of languages, the only rival of which in historic importance is the Semitic family. If Assyro- Babylonian, Hebrew and Arabic were important vehicles of ancient culture, none the less were Vedic, Avestan, Greek and Latin. But in modern times the languages of the Indo-European family have far outstripped in importance the languages of the Semitic family (except perhaps Ai^^abic). As modern representatives of the Indo-European family there may be mentioned nearly all the languages of Europe, including such tongues as English, French, German, Russian ’ “The wealth of iiiriectional forms in the Vedic a.qe may be partly e:^plained as the result of a mixture of dialects”, llapson, .IRAS. 1904, p. 440. * p. 21. .lackson, Avesla (A'cinimar, Part I (1892), p. .\XX1. * pp. 2-C. THE RIGVEDIC BOOK G7 and Italian, and in Asia Persian', Hindi, Bengali, Punjabi, Marathi, etc. Thus Vedic belongs to that potent and widely conquering family of languages which more than any other (except possibly the Semitic) has furnished literary vehicles for the best thought of the ages past, and is apparently bound up, to a large extent, with the future linguistic destiny of mankind. Vedic, as the Indian branch of the Indo-European family, lias shared with the other branches in the common tendency to spread and conquer. What was first simply the dialect of a district became the language of a caste and a religion, and afterwards (in the form of Sanskrit) the language of religion, politics and culture throughout Indian 4. The Chronology of the Rigveda. — Brief references have already been made to the migrations and settlements^ of the Western Indo-Europeans, as bearing upon the problem of the date of the Bigveda. It seems desirable to consider this question from the point of view also of Indian history and archaeology. There is as yet no unanimity among scholars concerning the age of the Bigveda. Brahmanical orthodoxy holds that the Vedas are eternaP. Modern critical scholars have hitherto been divided into three ’ If the supersfructure of Persian is Seiuith^ (Arabic), its foundation is Indo-Earopean. “ Eapson, op. eit. 456. "p. 19. Mann I. 21-23, XTI. 94-100. The view embodied in Manusmriti (circa 100 A. d ) is that in the beginning Brahma fashioned fi-om the words of the Veda the several names, functions and conditions of oil creatures, and that in order to the performance of sacrifice he drew forth from Agni, Vayu and Surya the triple eternal Veda. According to st^hol.astie Brahmanism, then, the Veda is at once a creative and a sacrificial program. Kulluka-Bhatta (loth Cent. a. D.) who builds on Govindai aja (12th Cent. A D.) interprets Mann to mean that at the beginning of the present mundane era (Kalpa) Brahma drew forth the \'edas from Agni, Vayn and Shrya. The Arya Samaj, which has broken with Brahmanical tradition at so many points, holds fast nevertheless to the Brahmanical theory of the antiquity of the Vedas and t(!aches that the Four Vedas were revealed to four sages, Agni, Vayu, Surya and Angiras at the lM*giniiing of the present mundaiie age over one hundred billion (!) yearo ago. 68 THE RELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA camps, according as they have favoured an early, a late, or an intermediate date* Professor Hopkins * of Yale, a great authority on the Epic literature of India, and Professor Jackson of Columbia, well known as a Zoroastrian scholar, both agree in urging a late date, 1000-600 b. c. Briefly stated their grounds are as follows: (1) The date of Zoroaster is now generally fixed at b. c. 660-583^ by e.g. Geldner", West^ and Jackson*'^; and since there is onl}^ a dialectic difference between the language of the Rv. and that of the Avesta, there can be no great interval in time between the two works, the date of Zoroaster, of course, determining the date of the oldest part of the Avesta. (2) The change in language between the Rigveda and the Upanisads is not greater than that between Chaucer and Milton, and hence it is fair to suppose that about 200 years would suffice in the one case as well as in the other. The two hundred years within which Hopkins and Jackson place the bulk of the Rigveda hymns are b. c. 800-600. (3) The Rishis who composed the hymns may very well have been in large measure contemporary with one another, and certain differences in vocabulary and style may be accounted for simply by variety of authorship. According to this view, then, the Rigveda is roughly contemporaneous with the bulk of early Hebrew literature. At the opposite pole from Hopkins and Jackson stand Tilak^ and Jacobi', who on the basis of astronomical cal¬ culations would carry the period of the composition of the Rigveda back beyond 2500 b. c., as far at least as 3500, and according to Tilak farther still. Jacobi X3laces the ^ ION. 30. ^ Oldenbcvg demurs. See Orientalische Heligionen, 78, in Die KnUnr der Gegenivart (190G), I. 3, 1. ^ Art. on Zoroastrianism in Encgclapcvdia Biblica, IT. .■)431. “ SBE. XLYII, p XLH. ^ Zoroaster the Prophet of Iran, IG. ^ Orion or Researches into the Antiquity of the Vedas, Poona, 1910. ^ ZDMG. XLIX. 218-230; JRAS. (1009) 721 ff., and (1910) 456 ff. THE EICTVEDIC BOOK 69 Vedic age within the period 4500-2500 b. c. but refers the composition of the Kigveda to the second half of this period. Tilak dates the oldest period of Aryan civilization between 6000 and 4000 b. c., when he thinks certain ‘sacri¬ ficial formulae’ were ‘probably in use’. He places the composition of the Rigveda hymns, as we have them, within the period 4000-2500 b. c.^ The Tilak-Jacobi thesis has met with severe criticism from Weber, Whitney, Oldenberg^, Thibaut^ Hopkins, Macdonell, and Keiths Apart from the assumed astronomical data, however, Jacobi urges that the norm of European progress cannot be applied to India on account of its isolated position and the consequently inde¬ pendent character of its development. And he emphasises the fact that the dates assumed by himself for the Vedic period are not greater than are accepted by scholars for the civilization of the Euphrates and the Nile I The late Professor Biihler^ was of the opinion that the conquest and brahmanization of India requires a much earlier date than 1200-1000 b. c. Following him, Winternitz' declares that from the standpoint of Indian history there is nothing against the view that Vedic literature goes back to the third millennium and the beginnings of Indian culture to the fourth millennium B. c. Prof. Bloomfield ^ too, declares himself “now much more inclined to listen to an early date, say 2000 b. c., for the beginnings of Vedic literary production, and to a much earlier date for the beginnings of the institutions and religious concepts” thereof. * Tilak, Orion, 20G. 2 ZDMG. XLIX. 470 ff. ■’ Antiqnji(,i/ of Indian Literalnre and Civilization (fTindiistan Bevievv^, January 1904). JRAS. (1909), 1095 ff., a-uil (1910) 404 ff. ''' The Tilak-Jacobi hypothesis is, to some extent, lecommended by the fact that each sponsor dLscoveretl and foimnlated it independently of the other. lA, XXlir. 245 ff. ' GIL. 254. « RV. 20. and JAGS (1908) p. 287 ff. 70 THE RELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA The third group of scholars stands between these ex¬ tremes. Their convictions are based largely upon consid¬ erations of the time necessary for the linguistic, literary and historical development in India. It was Max Muller who suggested the chronological system we refer to, in his brilliant pioneer volume, A History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature, published in 1859. Here are the essential features: - 1200-1000 B. c. the Chhandas period, v/hen the earlier hymns of the Rigveda were composed. 1000-800 „ the Mantra period, when the later hymns were composed and the Sdma- veda and the Yajurveda were compiled. Most British scholars and many belonging to other lands have followed him; and it now seems as if his ideas were likely to have a far wider range. The first volume of The Cambridge History of India, published in April 1922, is a magnificent piece of collaborative scholarship. The book consists of chapters written by fourteen great scholars — eleven British, two American, one Swedish, — Sir Halford Mackinder, Prof. Rapson, Peter Giles, Master of Emmanuel College Cambridge, Prof. A. Berriedale Keith, Prof. Jarl Charpentier of Upsala, Prof. T. W. Rhys Davids, Mrs. Rhys Davids, Prof. Hopkins of Yale, Prof, Jackson of Columbia, Dr. George Macdonald, Mr. E. R. Bevan, Dr. F. W. Thomas, Dr. Barnett and Sir John Marshall — ; and the whole group accept for the early Vedic period the chronological scheme proposed sixty-three years ago by Max Muller. It is notice- ^ able that the two brilliant men, who are mentioned above as favouring later dates, are included in this group. Their views have doubtless been modified during the intervening years. But, although this scheme seems to be steadily gathering, the suffrages of a larger number of scholars, the grave differences which separate them from those thinkers who favour far earlier dates make it quite clear that positive THE RIGVEDIC BOOK 71 dates are as yet lacking for determining the chronology of the Vedic period. Scholars who bring forward consider¬ ations based upon the length of time assumed to be necessary for a particular development, linguistic, literary or historical, as the case may be, sometimes forget that in literature and history as well as in religion one day may be as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day^; that is to say, the literary and political development may at one time drag very slowly and at another time proceed with leaps and bounds. If the development of the invading Aryan tribes was rapid — and the development of an invading popu¬ lation is more likely to be rapid than that of a stationary population — then a period of four hundred years might well suffice for the composition of the Rigveda hymns, as is shewn by the development of the new world after its discovery in 1492. If, on the contrary, the development was slow, then the period suggested by Jacobi and Winternitz may be none too large. What is needed in order to set all this uncertainty at rest is the discovery of positive data. Such data must clearly be archceological. The appearance of Iranian proper names^ in one of the Tel-el-Amarna letters (1400 b. c.), the occurrence of the name Assara-Mazas (Ahura Mazda) in an Assyrian list of gods^, and Winckler’s discovery at Boghaz-Koi ^ are suggestive of the kind of evidence needed. And there is good reason to hope that the needed evi¬ dence will be forthcoming in the future. If it is true, as Bloomfield'' says that “from the entire Vedic period we have not one single piece of antiquarian or archaeological material, not one bit of real property; not a building, not a monument, not a coin, jewel or utensil”, it is equally true that “the archaeology of India is, at present, almost * 2 Peter III. ^ Bloomfield calls this “ the earliest direct record of Indo-Etiropean chronology”. AJP. XXV. 10. Hommel, PSBA. 21 (1899) p. 137. * Meyer, GA. P (1909), p. 802. ^ PvV. 20. THE RELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA an nnworked field ’ ”, at least so far as pre-Buddhistic sites are concerned. One needs but to visit the Punjab and see the numerous ancient mounds scattered over its surface, in order to be convinced that material bearing upon the Yedic period will almost certainly be forthcoming, when these mounds have been adequately explored. A glance at the map of Asia is also instructive. Leaving out China, there are three river basins which are among the earliest culture-centres of mankind, viz. the Nile, the Euphrates-Tigris, and the Indus-Ganges. The Euphrates- Tigris basin lies between the Indus on the east and the Nile on the west. It is well known that there were close relations, political, diplomatic and commercial, between Babylonia and Egypt at a remote period. While there were probably no political relations equally ancient between the Euphrates and the Indus, it is certain that there was an early trader Biililer’s-’ conclusions concerning the origin of the earliest Indian script presuppose such trade relations at least as early as the 8th century b. c. Kenned}^ also on the basis of all the evidence available concludes that ^Gn the ninth century b. c. some trade existed between the Punjab and Assyria”, and that “maritime commerce between India and Babylonia flourished in the seventh and sixth century b. c.”^ The sea-route between Babylonia and the mouth of the Indus was relatively not a long one, the distance from the base of the Persian Gulf to the Indus being less than from the same point on the Persian Gulf to Babylon. Hitherto archaeological research in the Punjab, ^ Quoted from Prof. Rhys Davids by Vincent Smith, JRAS. 1902, p. 288. Ihiring the last twenty years (1900-1920) there have been groat developments in Indian ai’chieology, but the sites selected for excavation have been largely Buddhistic. For example, at Taxila, the first and oldest city represented by the Bhir mound, the occupation of which probably reaches back to the Vedic age, is as yet hardly touched by the spade. * Kennedy, The Early Commerce uf Babylon loilh India, JRAS, 1898, p. 241 ff. Indian Paleography in lA., Vol. XNXlll, Appendix, I.j-IG. * op. cit. 264, 270. THE RIGVEDIC BOOK 73 as already stated, has done practically nothing toward the discovery and excavation of the earliest sites of Vedic culture. We may well cherish the hope that there may yet be found some dateable objects, such as inscribed seals or tablets or other articles from Babylonia or Egypt, which by establishing a lucky synchronism, may solve the chro¬ nology of the Vedic age. But as yet Winternitz’s formula, X to 500 B. c., expresses the facts of our knowledge or lack of knowledge concerning the chronology of the Vedic period. Theoretically x may mean any date between 1000 and 6000 b. c. as determined by future investigation. This is but giving to the Indus valley a chance to prove for its culture a like antiquity with that of the Euphrates and Nile. In the light of the extraordinary discoveries of recent years {e.g. the discovery of the relics of Buddha at Peshawar) Max Muller * seems to be too pessimistic when he says that “the date assigned to the poetry of the Veda is and will always remain hypothetical”. As yet it is hypothetical. That it will always be so, remains to be seen. While, then, the lack of evidence precludes the fixing of the Vedic age with anything like certainty, yet a tentative and provisional chronology may be adopted, subject to modification or even rejection in the light of future dis¬ covery. The present writer would accordingly present the following system of chronology found in the Cambridge History of India as the best available to-day: — B. c. 2500 Probable date of the beginning of the Indo- European migrations. 1800 Period during which, in Northern Asia Minor onward. and eastward through Northern Mesopotamia to Media, Indo-European peoples can be traced. 1500 Probable date of the first Aryan invasion of India. 1400 The Boghaz-koi tablets, containing Indo-Aryan deities in Vedic form. These clearly come from ^ Physical Beligion (1891) p. 22. THE RELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA 74 Aryans who have not made “the Iranian shift’'. Possibly we should think of them as Aryan tribes, who had stopped on the way, while their brethren had already passed on and settled in Iran and in India. At a later date we find Aryan gods at Babylon, whose names are still of the old forms. 1000-800 aOO-600 600 B. c. 1200-1000 Early hymns of the Rigveda composed proba¬ bly for the most part in the western Punjab, notably the hymns to Us as and to Varuna. Later hymns of the Rigveda composed in BrahmSvarta. The Sdmaveda and the Yajurveda, Beginnings of the Brahmana literature. The existing Brahmanas. Formation of the Samhitd text of the Bik^ This scheme has the merit of not being extremist either upwards or downwards. It fits into the latest and most trustworthy ethnological opinion as to the chronology of the dispersion of the Indo-European peoples, and har¬ monizes well with the conclusions of students of prehistoric IE. archaeology, such as Schrader, Hirt, Feist and Giles", and students of ancient history such as Eduard Meyer. It makes possible a reasonable interpretation of all the evidence recently found in Asia Minor, Mesopotamia and elsewhere. The Indian dates were originally based on the literary and cultural evidence of Indian literature; and the majority of our greatest scholars still agree that, from this point of view, these dates are the most natural. Finally it makes possible a common chronology for India and Persia. If we place Zoroaster circa 1000 b. c., as Oldenberg, Moulton and others suggest, then the linguistic phenomena of the early A vesta and of the early Vedic hymns become clearly ' CHI. Yol. r. 1922, pp. 76, 112-113, 697. -Schrader, RIA. and Indogermanen; Hirt, Indogermanen 1 and H; Feist, EAHL; Giles, CHI. I. 65 ff. I THE RrGVEDIC BOOK 75 eomi^reiiensible; while we are able to understand at once the Zoroastrian reformation in Persia, and in India the rise of Varuna and the composition of the great Vanina hymns. This becomes all the more natural and credible, if we accept the suggestion that there was intercourse in those days between the early Zoroastrians in Bactria and a special group of their brethren in the Punjab. It is altogether within the limits of possibility that the personal influence of Zoroaster reached the Punjab, whether by the actual sending of preachers or in the ordinary intercourse of trade. It is certainly not too much to believe that some reverberation from that mighty voice — for as a personality he is surely comparable with the Buddha himself - would be heard in the Punjab. 5. The Interpretation of the Rigveda* *.— The Rigveda is not only ‘the most ancient literary monument of India’, but also ‘the most ancient literary document of the Indo- European peoples’I Covering, as it does, several centuries at least, it may be characterized as nothing less than ‘a library and a literature As already pointed out, it forms a connecting link betw'een India and the West. For wdiile, on the one hand, it fulfils itself in the later history and literature of India, on the other, its roots run deep into the Indo-Iranian and even Indo-European period. Its dis¬ covery laid the foundation of the sciences of Comparative Philology and Comparative Mythology. In view of its in¬ trinsic importance in so many fields of thought, linguistic % mythological, religious, literary, and historical, it is not at all strange that an unusually large proportion of Sanskrit scholars have been attracted to its study. The Rigveda is not an easy book. Its dialect is archaic, and there are a very large number of w^ords which occur * Okleuberg, Vedaforsclumg; Gray, Interpretation (VedicJ, ERE. VTl ; Macdonell, \TIS. XXIX-XXXI, and Principles (Rhandarkar, CV. 3 ff.). * Bloomficdd, RV. 17. ^ Arnold, Vedic Metre, p. 1. ^ San.^krit lies at the foundation of Indo-European ('oniparative Giaminar. 76 THE RELI(4I0N OF THE RIGYEDA only once. The vocabulary is priestly, full of mystic allusions to the technique of the sacrifice. Hence, while a considerable part of the Kv. is fairly clear, there are many single stanzas and even whole hymns which still remain obscure. Moreover, there is hardly a single hymn in the Rv., in which there is not some obscure word or difficult phrase. A comparison together of the various translations is the best proof of the difficulty of the Kigveda text. The traditional text of the Rigveda and its traditional interpretation constitute, as it were, the given element, the data to be critically examined. The traditional text was fixed (circa 600 b. c.) in the form of the Samhitd text. This is open to a limited amount of conjectural emendation in correction of errors which preceded the final editing of the Rv. When Yaska wrote his Nirukta (Etymology) about 500 B. c., the meaning of many Vedic words had already become unintelligible; for he quotes one of his predecessors as saying that the Vedic hymns are ‘obscure, unmeaning and mutually contradictory'. ^Tliis was only one of seven¬ teen predecessors of Yaska, whose opinions often disagreed. Accordingly Yaska has a way of assuming alternative roots and meanings for the same word, from which we conclude that there was no unbroken tradition. Yaska’s weakness is his too great dependence on etymology. About eighteen centuries after Yaska, Say ana (14 th Cent. A. D.) wrote his great commentary on the Rv. It is extremely valuable’ as setting forth the Indian tradition, * The late Prof. Oldenberg, while at Lahore iu 19L’), ex{)ressed in the hearing of the author his regret at having carried the conjectural emendation of the Uv. text too fai’, an example of the humility of the true scholar. Compare Macdonell, Principles (Bhandarkar, CV. 18): “Advancing study has proved many emen¬ dations made by earlier scholars owing to imperfect knowledge, to be unnecessary. Conjectural corrections of the text should, therefore, be resoited to only in extreme cases”. ^ At the basis of all modem study of the Rv. is Prof. Max MiillePs magnum opus, his critical edition of the JUgveda-Sarkhita together with the Commentary of Sayanaeai*ya, vols. I-VI, 1849-1874, a library in itself. THE RIGYEDIC BOOK 77 ill Say ana’s time, of the meaning of the Rigveda. Say ana leaned heavily upon Yaska, and like him put too much dependence upon etymology. He fails to deduce the mean¬ ings of words by a comparison of parallel passages. We may note in passing that the Vedic interpretation of Swaml Dayananda Sarasvati (1824-1883), the founder of the Arya Samaj, outstrips Yaska and Sayana in its over-emphasis on etymology, neglect of the consideration of parallel passages, and appeal to later and non-Vedic usage*. The history of the modern interpretation of the Rigveda is the story of various attempts to penetrate its secret, different schools of investigators emphasizing different points of view. The traditional interpretation as represented by Sayana was regarded by H. IT. Wilson- as adequate and trustworthy; and so he reproduced it in his English trans¬ lation of the Rv. Roth, the founder of the ‘critical’ school, was impressed with the primitive and natural poetry in the Rv. For him it was ‘the oldest religious lyric’. His principle was that we must gather the meaning from the texts themselves with the help of comparative philology. He overlooked, however, the importance of the Indian commentators and of a knowledge of the ritual literature. His merits and defects are both reflected in his lexico¬ graphical work^ Bergaigne^ employed an allegorical method and emphasized the single meanings of words, but interpreted the !Rv. from too narrow a standpoint. Dayanand Sarasvati ^ built upon the theistic element in the Rv., es¬ pecially on such passages as I. 164, 46 and X. 114, 5, which seemed to him to indicate that the multitudinous divine names in the Rv. refer to a single exalted divine being; and on the basis of this interpretation helped out by his ‘ (Tfiswold, Thu Daynnandl Interpretation of (he. word ‘ Deva’ in the (lijveda, J^iUdhiana, 1897 (out o£ print). * lUgveda Samhitd, Kng. trans., vols, I-VI, 18.50 ami folloVing- years. pw. i-vn. La Religion VedUiuc, 1-111, Paris, 1876-1881*. lUgvrdddibhdtigabhhmibl, A.Jmcr (vSanskrit with explanation in Hindi). 78 THE RELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA ^ift for etymologizing, he laid the foundation of an indige¬ nous theistic society in North India. Pischel and Geldner^ represent a reaction against the school of Roth in favour of a more indigenous method of interpretation. Their principle is that the Rigveda is a purely Indian book, and that accordingly the later Indian literature is the key to its interpretation. It was a vigorous attempt, in the words of Oldenberg-, to rehabilitate the indigenous Vedic exegesis which had fallen into disrepute. In the opinion of Pischel and Geldner the Rv. hymns do not reflect a primitive state of society, but rather an advanced culture with all its evils, such as greed for gold and a highly developed (leniimonde. The weakness of Yaska and Say ana are re¬ produced along with their method, namely endless ety¬ mologizing and the assumption of multitudinous meanings for words. The one solid contribution of Pischel and Geldner is their emphasis upon the necessity of making the fullest use of the resources of indigenous scholarship in the elucidation of the Vedic text. Brunnhofer", the Ishmael among Sanskritists, lays hold of the fact that the roots of the Rv. run deep into the Indo-Iranian period. It is for him almost as much an Indo-Iranian as an Indian book. Hillebrandt and Oldenberg stress the importance of the later Vedic ritual for the understanding of the Rv. Macdonell and Keith cherish well-balanced views on Vedic topics and avoid eccentric opinions. Such are some of the different points of view from which the Rigveda has been studied, — the adequacy of the traditional interpretation, the allegorical metliod, the Indian or the pre-Indian character of the Rv., and the presence in it of a primitive lyrical, a tlieistic, and a ritualistic element. Devotion to a particular point of view has inevitably meant exaggeration, but has at the same time accomplished the end of bringing out whatever truth ^ Vedische Sladietiy 1-lJl. “ Vedoforschung, 21. Crgeschichie der Ariev, anti Aristhe tV*.e Indrdni, Varundnl Agndyl. The great gods are furnished with wives in order to make the parallel between the human race and the divine race complete. No public functions are ascribed to them. They are ‘house-wife’ deities, Mistress Indra, Mistress Varuna, Mistress Agni. This detail may be taken as reflecting the attitude of the Rigvedic age as regards the proper sphere and functions of married women. Again, the human race is broken up into small groups. By analogy the divine race will have similar groups, e. g. Adityas, Vasus, RudraSy the semi-divine Angirasas, and among the lower deities the RihhuSy Apsarasas and Gan- dharvasy and finally Vi'svedevdh ‘all-gods’, a term designed to cover them all. As a tribal chieftain is represented as the head of his tribe, so Agni is the head of the ‘fires’, Soma of the somas ‘soma drops’, Rudra of the rudras ‘lightning flashes’ (?) and Usas of the usasas ‘dawn gleams’. The gods may be divided according to function. As in Vedic society there were priests, warriors and commons, so among the gods Agni and Brihaspati were priests, Indra and the Maruts warriors, Tvastar and the Ribhus artizans. The agricultural community, whether Vaisyas or Sudras, had special agricultural deities such as KsetrapatP ‘lord of the field’, Urvard ‘she of the ploughland’, Slid ‘she of the furrow’, and perhaps Pusany the ‘thrift’-god, guardian of flocks and herds. * Probably originally the voice of thunder. Cf. niiT’ in Ps. XXIX. ’ Reminds one of the Hindi Bhumiya ‘land-lord’. 104 THE RELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA We may also classify the gods according to certain great functions in which, as groups, they share. There is the work of rain giving, in which, to a greater or less degree, Parjanya, Varuna, Indra, Dyaus, Rudra and the Maruts all participate. As gods of the lightning there are Indra, Trita Aptya, and so forth; as physician gods Rudra and the Maruts, Varuna, Soma, Asvins, Vata and the Waters; as demon-slayers Agni and Indra and in general the gods of light; and as gods of song Brihaspati, the Maruts and the Ahgirasas. The so-called ‘dual divinities’ constitute the smallest groups of Vedic gods. The union of man and wife is the human analogy followed in the primeval conception of the marriage of Heaven and Earth. So compelling was this analogy that in harmony therewith the great Vedic gods had to be joined in wedlock, e. g. Indra with Indrani, Agni with Agnayi, Varuna with Varunanl. There must also have been ‘David and Jonathan’ friendships among men in the Vedic age. At any rate, after the analogy of Dyavaprithivl ‘heaven and earth’, a considerable number of male deities were joined together so as to form dual gods, e. g. Mitra- Varuna ‘sunlight and sky’, or possibly as Oldenberg and Hillebrandt think ‘sun and moon’, Indra-Agni ‘lightning- flash and altar-fire’, Indrd-Varuria ‘lightning flash and sky’, Indrd-Vdyu ‘lightning-flash and storm-wind’, Indrd-Soma ‘the drinking god and the drunken liquor’, SUryd-Mdsa ‘ sun and moon ’, Indra- Visnu ‘ lightning and sun ’, etc.; also one group of two female gods Naktd-Usasd ‘night and dawn’. In the case of each dual divinity there is distinct contrast in the constitutive elements as well as close asso¬ ciation of the same in sphere and function. The Ahvind ‘ two horsemen ’ may also be mentioned here, since they are essentially dual gods, meaning probably either ‘morning star and evening star’ or ‘the twin-lights before dawn, half dark and half light ’ ^ In either case they are almost ‘ mytho¬ logical synonyms’ of ‘night and dawn’. ^ MacdoiieU, VM. 53. THE VEDIC WORLD OF GODS AND DEMONS 105 Thus the whole ‘clan of the devas’ is conceived anthro- pomorphically after the analogy of human society. They wear ornaments of gold, ride in cars drawn by horses, and have houses. They fight against the demons, as Aryans fight against the Dasyus. They are glorified Ksatriyas. Some gods are male, others are female. Indra, god of the lightning-flash and thunder-roll, is suitably represented as a man; Usas, the many-coloured dawn, as a fair and richly- dressed woman. The gods are related together anthropo- morphically. Examples of wedded gods have already been given. Some gods are represented as parents, e. g. Dyava- Prithivl, and others as children. Some are related as brothers and sisters. Usas^ is the daughter of Dyaus, the sister of Bhaga, the kinswoman of Varuna, and the wife (or mistress) of Sdrya. Night and Dawn are sisters. Agni“ is the son of Dyaus and the brother of Indra. The principle of ‘division of labour’ exists among the gods. Each deity is in charge of some special aspect of nature or of life. While there is considerable overlapping of function, as explained in another place yet on the whole the Vedic gods are ‘departmental deities’, although in some cases new and extensive functions have been added in the course of time to their original tasks. As the members of a human clan act together and mutually support one another, so is it with the clan of the Devas. There is much mutual help¬ fulness and interchange of services among the gods, as is natural in a clan consisting of members related as husbands and wives, parents and children, brothers and sisters, etc., in general kinsmen, children of Heaven and Earth. Thus Varuna prepares a path for Surya (I. 24, 8), and in turn Surya reports to Mitra and Varuna concerning the sinful¬ ness of men (VII. 62, 2). Agni serves Indra, since Indra drinks Soma with the tongue of Agni (III. 35, 9-10) and ’ I. 124, 3; 123, 5, 10. 2 III. 3, 11; VI. 59, 2. 3 P. 82. 106 THE RELIGION OF THE RIG VEDA Indra serves all the gods (including Agni) by gaining the victory over Vritra and so giving freedom to the gods (III. 34, 7). Agni, too, serves all the gods by acting as their messenger. The Maruts, who constitute the host of Indra, serve him as his soldiers (III. 35, 9). Tvastar fashioned the bolt of Indra and sharpened the metal axe of Brihaspati (V. 31, 4; X. 53, 9). Soma stimulates Indra to perform great cosmic deeds. Visnu helps Indra in the fight with Vritra, etc., etc. The gods in general are thus conceived as living together in a state of harmony and mutual helpfulness. The only exception of importance is in the case of Indra, the violent and changeable weather god, the shifty nature of whose tasks helps perhaps to excuse the note of discord which he sometimes introduces among the gods. 6. Common Characteristics of the Vedic Gods.— As we have seen, the Vedic gods are a celestial folk, the clan of the shining ones. The members of the heavenly clan, as is natural, have a family resemblance one with another. Certain common features characterize them as a group. In the first place, they are all Devas ‘bright heavenly ones\ whose proper habitat is the sky^ and proper nature lights While the term Asura ‘mysterious lord’ is not explicitly applied to all the gods, yet in general it is one of their epithets, emphasizing their ‘mysterious’ nature, which expresses itself through may a ‘occult power’. In sharp contrast to mortal men the gods are described as ‘ immortal \ As might be expected, brilliance is a common characteristic of the race of gods whose very nature is light. Since the Vedic gods in general preside over cosmi- cal functions, power is an attribute of them all. So with ‘ In the case of such terrestrial deities as Agni and Soma, their heavenly origin and subsequent ‘descent’ to earth is expressly stated. The deified ‘Waters’ and ‘Rivers’ manifestly descend from the sky in the form of rain. Deified terrestrial ‘ Mountains ’ may be regarded as having their prototype in the cloud- mountains of the sky. ^ . ‘Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment’, Ps. CIV. 2. THE VEDIC WORLD OF GODS AND DEMONS 107 knowledge. Each god being in charge of a special depart¬ ment must have knowledge and power adequate to his task. Beauty is commonly ascribed to the gods. As distinguished from the malevolent demons, the gods as a class are be¬ nevolent, and, on the whole, are upholders of moral order. The attributes of power, wisdom, beauty, benevolence and righteousness though possessed by all, are not possessed by all in the same degree. Thus Usas, the lady ‘Dawn’, has more beauty than knowledge and strength; Indra, the warrior god, more strength than knowledge and righteous¬ ness. Of all the Vedic gods Varuna possesses the best combination of physical and moral attibutes. Agni, as a priestly god, is well endowed with knowledge, Jatavedas ‘knowing all generations’ being his exclusive epithet. The mutual relationships and mutual interchange of services that held among the Vedic gods have already been traced out with some detail. Every department of nature and of life is brought under the control of some deity. All the deities together function as a unity. The unity of the divine activity is not the unity of an individual will as in monotheism, but the unity formed by the collective wilD of a clan, the clan of the devas. The multiplicity- of the Vedic gods reflects the multitudinous aspects of nature and of life; and the unity which, on the whole, pervades the diverse activities of the gods reflects, in like manner, the unity of nature, the fact that the universe is a cosmos, an ordered whole. One of the great con¬ ceptions of the Rigveda is that of Rita ‘order’, a con¬ ception which goes back to the Indo-Iranian period and the roots thereof to the IE. period. As the Greek and Roman gods are linked up with Fate {Moira, Fatum), so the Vedic gods are connected with Rita, ‘Eternal Order’. The relation which the gods sustain to rita is variously * Cf‘ X, 33, 9, ‘Beyond the will (vrata) of the gods lives not even the hundred-lived.’ * Like the multiplicity of Greek, Roman and Lithuanian gods. 108 THE RELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA stated. Heaven and Earth are called the ancient parents (matara) of rita (VI. 17, 7), and in the same passage they bear the epithet devdputre ^ whose sons are gods \ Heaven and Earth, then, are parents of the gods and parents of rita. In other words, the devas, each in his own proper sphere, are express ritay are the guardians and cherishers of rita. For example, Usas is not independent of Eternal Order. She was born in rita (ritejd I. 113, 12), and so her task is to cherish and protect it. She does not infringe the heavenly ordinances \ the law of rita but rather follows its rein (I. 123, 13), for day by day she returns to the place appointed. In the thought of rita being expressed by the daily recurrence of dawn we have the idea of the uniformity of nature. Of all the gods the two chief Adityas, Varuna and Mitra, are most intimately connected with iHta, so that what seems in some passages to be the work of n7a, in others is referred to as the work of Varuna. All the gods, then, are alike in either determining^, or expressing or guarding some aspect or other of ritay which may be translated as ‘the course of things’, ‘nature’, or ‘cosmic order’. Through the great conception of Rita the multiplicity of nature is reduced to a unity and the multiplicity of the gods (corresponding to the multiplicity of nature) is seen to reflect a single will, because all are ‘labourers together’ in maintaining a single all-compre¬ hensive cosmic order. Thus the tendency of Rigvedic religion was toward some form of unity, - whether mono¬ theistic or pantheistic. 7. We may finally note the bearing of all this upon two recent theories of the Rigveda:— a) Max Muller’s theory of ^Henotheism’’* *‘y namely ‘the belief in individual gods alternately regarded as the * Daivyani vratani I. 92, 12. * liilasya dMnia I. 123, 9. * As in the case of Varuna. '* Oldenberg, RV. 101, note; and Macdonell, VM. 16. THE VEDIC WORLD OF GODS AND DEMONS 109 highest’. We have seen that the gods form a heavenly ‘caste’. All participate in deity. All possess in super¬ abundant measure the qualities of power, sovereignty, wisdom, beneficence and beauty. Where there are so many gods, there must necessarily be considerable inde¬ finiteness of outline; and, as we have seen, there is a tendency to the recognition of an underlying unity, and so to fusion. Hence the loftiest attributes might properly be ascribed to any and every deva^ simply because he was a member of the ‘clan of the devas’, and because all alike participated in divinity. This did not imply in the least that a god thus addressed was regarded as the ‘highest’ in contradistinction to all the rest, but simply that he had his full share of divinity. Of course, exaggerations and inconsistencies are found in the Vedic hymns, but so are they in other religious literature ^ Where there is more than one deity or divine person, it is difficult always to keep the right balance, especially when the one worshipped is an ista devatd. Swami Dayanand Sarasvati’s theory of ^Monotheism^ in the Rigveda. Taking his cue from the late passages Rv. I. 164. 46^ and X. 114, 5^ the founder of the Arya Samaj held that all the gods mentioned in the Rv. are simply variant names for one god. This process of reduction from multiplicity to unity would have been easier, if there had been no dual gods or group gods mentioned in the Rv. It has already been remarked that the tendency of Rigvedic polytheism was toward unity of some sort, either monotheistic or pantheistic. Swami ^ Farnell {Greece and Babylon, 1911, p. 84) refeiB to the “tendency very marked in the Babylonian liturgies, to exalt the paiticular divinity to whom worship is at that moment being paid above all others”, with the result that “the ecstatic poet is always contradicting himself ”. ^ ‘ The one Being priests speak of in many ways: they call it Agni, Yama, Matarisvan. ’ ^ ‘ Priests and poets with words make into many the bird (= the Sun) that is but one-’ 110 THE RELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA Dayanand was not a pantheist. In reading into the Rigveda a monotheistic doctrine as opposed to pantheism, he virtually declares that instead of issuing in pantheism or at most in an unstable monotheism, Vedism ought to have issued in a clear-cut and definite monotheism. The monotheistic interpretation of the Rigveda involved on the part of Swami Dayanand much wild and unscientific exegesis. For this, however, we may be thankful that as between theism and pantheism Swami Dayanand took the side of theism. CHAPTER V. VARUNA THE ETHICAL GOD 1. Introductory. — Varuna is the most impressive deity among all the Vedic gods. As a prehistoric god he is more or less opaque, his nature substratum (if he ever had one) being a matter of dispute. He certainly dates from the Indo-Iranian period, being the Indian analogue of Ahura Mazda; and by some he is carried back to the Indo-European period and connected with the Greek Ouranos. The two greatest German authorities on Vedic mythology^ both agree in finding in the moon Varuna’s original physical basis. Varuna stands in the midst of the group of Adityas as one of them, possibly seven in number, which the late Professor Oldenberg thought represented originally sun, moon and five planets, in his opinion loan gods from the Semitic world. The Vedic Adityas as a group remind one distinctly of the Avestan Amesha Spentas. Varuna is as closely connected with Mitra in the Rv. as Ahura Mazda is with Mithra in the Avesta; and both names Mitra and Varuna occur in the Boghaz-koi tablets (1400 B.c.). The name ^Varuna’ has vanished entirely from Iranian unless it be represented by the word Varena; but the nature of Varuna is clearly manifest in the impressive character of Ahura Mazda ^ For as the ^wise’ Ahura gathered up in himself the attributes and functions of the daevas whom he supplanted, so it is equally true, in the words of Barth, that “if we combine into one all the ' Oldenberg and Hillebrandt. ^ It is certain that Varuna and Ahura Mazda originally weie either identical, as Oldenberg thinks (RV. 95, “Varuna, der Ahura des Avesta”), or were parallel forms of the same conception. See Keith CHI. I* 103: “Varuna bears the epithet Asura, which serves to show his parallelism with Ahura Mazda, the highest of Iranian gods”. Cf. also v. Schroeder, AR. I. 325 ff. 112 THE RELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA attributes of sovereign power and majesty which we find in the other gods, we will have the god Varuna ^ As Ahura Mazda represented the actuality of ethical monotheism in ancient Iran, so Varuna represented its possibility in ancient India. If the one may be rightly called Uhe Iranian Yahweh’, the other with almost equal justice may be called Hhe Indian Yahweh’. 2. Distribution of the Rigvedic Material. —Since the group of the Adityas must be considered in connection with Varuna, we have the following statistics. There are addressed to Varuna hymns II. 28, V. 85, VII. 86-89, VIII. 41-42 and I. 24-25, ten in all; to Mitra-Varuna 23, of which eleven are in Book V and six in Book VII; to Indra- Varuna 9, of which 4 are in Book VII; to Mitra only one, III. 59; and to the Adityas 6, of which 3 are in Book VII. Although none of these hymns is found in Bk. X, yet there are isolated references to Varuna in no less than 35 hymns belonging to that book. From the prominence of Bk. VII in connection with Varuna, one might infer that the priestly family of the Vasisthas was very specially the guardian of this worship during the pre-Vedic or the Vedic age. 3. The Prehistoric Varuna. —If connected etymo¬ logically with Oopavdc, Varuna goes back to the period of IE. unity. There is, indeed, a slight phonetic difficulty, but nothing so serious as to prevent its acceptance by competent scholars ^ In Greek mythology Ouranos is represented as an ancestor of Zeus, a consciousness of his great antiquity being perhaps thereby revealed. In IE. times Zeus (Dyaus) and Ouranos (Varunas) may both have ’ RL 16. * “There has been some phonetic scepticism about the equation Varunas = 00pavd<; which time has not justified. Greek oopavo^ is Indo-European uom-nnos or uorv-enos: Sanskiit Varunas is Indo-European uoi'u-nos. The two forms differ no more than, for instance, Vedic nuta7ias and nutrias ‘ recent’, or Greek and ^rsYVdc ‘covered’”—Bloomfield RV. 136. / VARUNA THE ETHICAL GOD 113 been descriptive appellations of the one physical fact of the sky, Zeus Hhe bright’ and Ouranos Hhe encircling’, two names for the same thing, or one perhaps an epithet of the other. Before the IE. clans had separated, these words had already parted company. In Greek and Vedic both words survive; in Avestan both are lost a fact probably due to the Zoroastrian reformation. In Greek mythology Zeus is the great personality, not Ouranos; the opposite is true in the Rv. - There is very much, then, to be said in favour of regarding Varuna as originally the same as Ouranos, both words being derived from vri Ho encompass’, therefore ‘encompassing’ as an epithet of Zeus (Dyaus). This seems to the present writer to be, on the whole, the most satisfactory conclusion ^ In the nature of the case there is no absolute proof. But whether Varuna is connected with Ouranos or not*, nearly all scholars regard the word as derived from vri Ho encompass’, meaning the same as if it were connected with Ouranos, namely ‘encompassing sky^. It is possible too that folk etymology has been at work, the word Varupa naturally suggesting to the popular mind some connection with vari ^ This statement must be qualified to this extent that in the textually uncertain Yasht HI. 13 dyaos, abl. of dyav ‘sky’, occurs (only here in Avesta). ‘Headlong down from heaven fell he’.—Moulton’s trans. As regards Varuna there is the possibility of a connection with varena and varenya^ ^ “In so far as Zeus has a parallel, it is in Varuna not in Dyaus”. Keith, IM. 21. ^The latest and best statement of this position is found in Schroeder, AR. I. 322 ff. Other scholars who connect Varuna with Ouranos are Muir, OST. V. 76; Barth, RI. 16; Grassmann, Worterbuch’, Roth, PW.; Bohnenberger, AGV. 22; Darmesteter, OA. 53, 78; Bloomfield, RV. 136-137. Such authorities on Com¬ parative Philology as Brugmann, Grundriss 2. 154, and Prellwitz EWGS, have not rejected this connection. ^ “ Joh. Schmidt writes to the effect that till the relation of the ^olic opavoc^ and mpavoc to ODpavo^ has been determined, it is inipossible to say whether Varuna is connected with OOpavdc or not.” — Macdonell, VM. 1897, Addenda and Corrigenda ^ So Macdonell, VM. 27-28, and Keith IM. 25; as well as the scholars mentioned under note 3 above. 8 114 THE KELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA ‘water’, and var-sa ‘rain'^, just as oopavdc might suggest a connection with oDpsiv ‘to make water 4. Mitra and Varuna. —The divine names Mitra and Varuna^, discovered by Winckler on the Boghaz-koi tablets (1400 B. c.) indicate the existence of the two gods at that early date. The question whether these divine names are Indo-Iranian, Iranian or Indian has already been raised'*. They clearly belong to a people and language in which s had not been changed to and in which Indra and Nasatya (u) were gods and not demons. Hence the period before the Zoroastrian reformation and before the Iranian consonantal shift. The inscriptions represent, then, either the undivided Indo-Iranian, the pre-Zoroastrian Iranian, or the Vedic Indian; or possibly they are the work of Indo- European speaking tribes, who had stopped in Upper Mesopotamia on their way eastward, or of Aryan people, who had migrated westward from Bactria. At any rate, whatever the facts are, the Divine names are mentioned along with Mitanian kings, whose names seem to be genuinel}^ Aryan®. The appearance of Varuna in the midst of an environ¬ ment of Iranian royal names at such an early date is a reason for reviving the older view that the late Avestan ’ “Varuna is the covering sky united with the sun, or he whose covering is rain and dew”. Hopkins RI. 71. ^ Pischel (VS. I, 88) regards it as not impossible to bring Varuna into con¬ nection with OOpsl'v. Aeschylus in a fragment calls the rain the seed of OopOtVOC, and in the Rv. rain is virtually called divo retah. ^ Mi-it-ra-as-si-il u-ru-w-na-as-si-el variant a-ru-na-as-si-el. Assil is (dearly a combining suffix; hence the divine pair Mitra and Varuna. Meyer, GA. H 802. See p. 23. ^ Indra and Nasatya occur on the same tablets as gods along with Mitra and Varuna; and Nasatya is the form which appeal’s, and not the later Avestan Ndonhaithya^ in which the Iranian consonantal shift from s to h has taken place. ^ The letter of Dushratta, the King of Mitani, in the Tel-el-Amarna correspon¬ dence contains the Iranian names Artashumara and Artaldma. Keith, Indo- Iranians in Bhandarkar, CV. 84 ff; Giles, CHI. 1, 76; Bloomfield, RV. 12. VARUNA THE ETHICAL GOD 115 vareiia^y name of an earthly district, is connected with Varuna. Zoroaster clearly made a clean sweep of the old gods, even the noblest of them such as Varuna and Mitra. They were doubtless too closely connected with the physical aspects of nature to suit his reform. So he cast them out of heaven-; and Varuna who undoubtedly was the highest fell the lowest, for he was apparently transformed into a demon of lust^ With the counter-reformation of the later Avesta Mitra returned, but not Varuna*. The reason clearly was that the noble aspects of the Iranian Varuna had been conserved and retained under the name of Ahura Mazda, while the ignoble side of Varuna to which his name still apparently clung had nothing that even the later Avesta wished to revive. The earlier fellowship of Mitra and Varuna as seen in the Boghaz-Koi inscription and revealed in so many passages of the Bv. was restored in the later ' So Darmesteter, OA- G9-70; Hillebrandt ia his early book Varuna und Mitra, 1877 ; and recently Prellwitz, EWGS., and L- v- Schroeder, Arische Religion I. 332. A conversation at Itha\3a with Prof. Jackson left the impression that he was prepared to leave the question open. From varena is formed varenya daevas (Vend. X 14), by hypothesis OOpdviOl OcGt, and also the phrase varenya drvanto (Yasht X. 68, 97). The degradation of meaning may have been from devas in heaven to demons in heaven and finally to demons in the Varena land, demons of lust and doubt. In the Pahlavi texts there is a Vareno^ a demon of lust. See Jackson in Iranian Grundriss I. 655,660. It must be mentioned, however, that Spiegel who earlier (AP. 181) accepted the equation Varuua = V'arena, in a later article (ZDMG- 32, [1878], 716-723) considers the identification questionable, while not i-ejecting it out and out. In favour of the identification is the fact that in nouns formed from roots in r, a succeeding a is changed to u; e. g. dhri, vri and tri give dharuna, Varuna and taruna instead of dharana^ varana and tarana. Against the identification is the fact that the Iranian forms karena, parena and varena seem to have as their equivalents in Sanskrit karna ‘ear’, parna ‘feather’ and varna ‘covering’. Then, too, Skt. varuna would seem to require as its Iranian equivalent vauruna, since Skt. taruna = lrscn. tauruna and Skt. aruna — Iran, auruna. But at any rate varena is clearly derived from vri in some one of its numerous meanings, and that is the main point. - Neither Mithra nor Varuna is mentioned in the Gathas. ^Dinkard VIII. 9, 3; IX. 32, 3; Dadistan 1 Dlnik XXXVIL 44, XCIV, 2. 8 * 116 THE RELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA Avesta in the comradeship of Mithra and Ahura^ In this way we are able with a considerable degree of confidence to reconstruct portions of Iranian religious history which do not lie on the surface; for, as Prof. Oldenberg says^: “We must try to read the Avesta like a palimpsest; under the writing of the Zarathustrians we discover the clear traces of a more ancient text which very closely resembles the Veda”. The existence of the copulative compounds, Mlthra- Ahura and Mitra-Varuna, in both the later Avesta and the Rigveda presupposes a similar conjunction of these names before the breaking up of the Indo-Iranian unity. This is also supported, by the Boghaz-koi inscription, in which Mitra and Varuna are linked together by the combining suffix assil. See p. 114 n.i5. Mithra in the Avesta means ^compact"’, and in the Rv. friendship (neut.) and friend (masc.). It looks as if Mitra were originally a ‘Sondergott^ ‘he of the compact’, just like Janus ‘he of the door’. Mitra, then, would be the god who watches over truth-speaking and sincerity between man and man in the matter of con¬ tracts, promises, treaties. Now there has ever been recog¬ nized an inner affinity between truth and lights Truth is an inner light; and light is a kind of external truth. We do not know which idea emerged first in connection with Mitra, but probably Meillet is right in giving the priority ^ “Ahura Mazda spake unto Spitama Zarathushtra, sayiiig: ‘Verily when I created Mithra. I created him as worthy of saciifice, as worthy of prayer as myself, Ahura Mazda’”.—Yasht X. 1, Cf. also: “We sacrifice unto Mithra and Ahura, the two great imperishable holy gods”.—Yasht X. 145. Darmesteter’s translations, SEE. XXIII, pp. 119-120, 158. 2 JRAS. 1909, pp. 1097-98. ^ ‘Vertrag, Abmachung, Kontrakt’—Bartholomse AW. 1183. Brugmann {Grundriss, 2nd ed. 1906 II. 1, p. 346) explains the word as originally meaning ‘austauschen, verkehren’, indicating especially friendly intercourse (das freundliche Verkehren); mei ‘to exchange’, mayale ‘he exchanges’, Lat. communis. Cf. Oldenberg RV. 186, n. 1. ^ “He that doeth the truth cometh to the light” —John III. 21. God is “true” (I. John V. 20) and God is “light” (I. dohn I. 5). VARUNA THE ETHICAL GOD 117 to the ethical idea ^ It really makes little difference. The original Mitra stands for truth and compact-keeping*. His business was to help men ‘ to walk in the light ’ of covenant¬ keeping faithfulness as between man and man and tribe and tribe, and to punish them, if they did otherwise. It may not be without significance that among all the IE. tribes the first to form a confederacy were the Aryans. We may perhaps see in this the influence of Mitra, the god presiding over the great social principle of faithfulness to compacts. Such was Mitra’s ethicak sphere, and his physical sphere sooner or later was the light. Some scholars, as Moulton puts it, have been too prone to antedate the ultimate identification of Mithra with the sun*. The pas¬ sage from sunlight to sun was, of course, natural and inevitable, and the transition was effected in Persia by the time of the later Avestak The physical meaning, then, of the two divine names, Mitra and Varuna, was most probably ‘sunlight and encircling sky’. These two separate entities, light and sky, naturally fuse together into one conception. Why did the Zoroastrian reform find no place for Mithra? For one thing he is represented in the Mihr Yasht as a fighter, a god of battles ^ This was another side of his character — the militant side — which probably appealed with special force to the robber hordes who had little use for a god of good faith. For this or other reasons Zoroaster transferred to Asha ‘Truth’, ‘Ethical Order’, the care of covenant faithfulness and loyalty — a charge which Mitra had apparently forfeited. But, as we have seen, Mithra came back in the later Avesta as a yazata or ‘angel’. Later on as the Sol Invictus of Mithraism the ^Journal Asiatique, 1897, II. 143 ff. -Moulton, EZ. 151; Schrceder, AR. 367-383. ^ Moulton, EZ. 151 ; Schroeder, AR. 381. Schrxder, AR. 382, denies that the Indian Mitra ever was a sun-god. ^ A natural development from the conception of Mitra as a god of light, since the early mythologies are full of the conflict between light and darkness. 118 THE RELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA worship of Mithra penetrated the Roman Empire h As a warrior god and the patron of the blunt honesty and straightforwardness which soldiers love, he was very spe¬ cially the god of soldiers. The golden period of Mithraism in the West was between 100 and 300 a. d. For a time it was uncertain whether Christianity or Mithraism would win the day. Only one hymn of the Rv. is addressed to Mitra, III. 59. A 1. Mitra mankind uniteth, to them speaking; Mitra the earth upholdeth, and the heaven; Mitra with eye unwinking sees the tillers; To Mitra offer the oblation oily. 2. Pre-eminent be that man who brings oblation, Who serves thee duly, Mitra the Aditya; Never is slain or vanquished whom thou helpest, From neither far nor near doth trouble reach him. 3. Free from disease, in sacred food delighting, Standing firm-kneed upon broad earth’s expanses, Abiding by the will of the Aditya. May we continue in the grace of Mitra. 4. Adorable and gracious is this Mitra A king with fair dominion, born disposer; May we abide in his auspicious favour. The loving-kindness of the holy Mitra. 5 We must approach with awe the great Aditya, Mankind-uniter, to the singer gracious; To him most highly to be praised, to Mitra Into the fire pour this oblation pleasant. ’ As India exported Buddhism eastward, so Persia exported Mithraism westward. Something of Mithraism entered India also, fo)‘ in the first century A. D. and later (see Farquhar, ORLI. 152) there was continuous Iranian influence in North India {cf. the Iranian symbols on the Kanishka coins), and Hindu Sun-worship was carried on almost entirely in accordance with Iranian ndes. Magian Priests entered India in large numbers and not only became Priests in temples of the sun, that were also recognized as Brahmans. Farquhar op. cil. 152, 205. VARUNA THE ETHICAL GOD 119 B 6. Mitra the god upholds the folk, His favour bringeth ample gain, His wealth conspicuous renown. 7. The fair-famed Mitra is the one Who by his might excels the sky. And by his lofty fame the earth. 8. To Mitra, mighty one to help. The peoples five submit themselves, ’Tis he supporteth all the gods. 9. ’Mongst gods and mortals, for the man Who spreads 'the straw, hath Mitra made Provision by his will and law. This hymn (really two hymns) contains, as we shall see further on, almost nothing which could not have been said with equal truth and appropriateness of Varuna. Mitra is described as upholding heaven and earth (1), the folk (6) and even the gods (8); as greater than heaven and earth (7); as beholding man with unwinking eye (1); as a king whose ^ordinance’ (vrata) is to be observed (3, 9); and as a god of grace (3, 4) who helps and delivers, and grants health, wealth and prosperity (2, 3, 6, 8). The only attribute mentioned in this hymn which seems specially to belong to Mitra is yatayajjana\ ^uniting men’ (vv, 1, 5). Unfortunately the particular meaning of the verbal root yat is mot very definite ^ Nevertheless the various interpretations given in the foot-note are not so very far apart. There is a social reference. Mitra stirs up men and sets them at their respective tasks in friendly ^Occurs in only three-other passages in the Rik: V. 7‘2, 2 of Mitra-Variina; I. 136, 3 of Mitra, Varuna and Aryaman; and VIII. 91, 12 of Agni who ‘ Mitra- like unites men’. * For example yatayati (v. 1) has received the following interpretations: sets men at their respective tasks (Sayana); indicates to men their place (Ilillebrandt, LR. 73); incites to emulation, that is to say, sets a good example (Geldner, VS- HI. 15); sets in motion (Ludwig on passage); stirs men (Macdonell, VRS. 79); inspects (Bergaigne RV. III. 165); unites (Roth PW., Oldenberg RV. 287 note 1) Grassmann, Uehersetzung I. 102, V. Schroeder, AR. 369); and makes men keep their engagements (Meillet, JA. X (1907), 2. 148). 120 THE RELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA emulation and co-operation. As Geldner finely interprets it, ‘he who calls himself Mitra (friend) incites to emulation of himself’. He the divine ‘friend’ as he is called in the Rv., and the guardian of compacts according to the Avesta, incites men by his own example to friendly and co-operative, that is, to social activities, in the performance of which there must necessarily be mutual faithfulness and loyalty to engagements. Other evidence in the Rv. for an inter¬ pretation of Mitra similar to that of the Avesta is found in X. 89, 9, ‘Men of evil ways who injure Mitra, injure Aryaman, injure agreements (sahgirah)^ injure Varuna’. The word ‘agreements’ set in the midst of the three Adityas suggests that to do violence to ‘ agreements ’ is the same thing as to do violence to the three gods. Rv. IV, 55, 5, “May the Lord (Varuna) protect us from distress caused by strangers; Mitra, from distress * caused by friends^ ” may also be cited, if this translation is correct As the Avestan Mitra had a luminous character, so had the Vedic Mitra. Both ultimately were identified with the sun, Mithra in the later Avesta and Mitra in the younger Veda. The first texts clearly indicating the identification of the Vedic Mitra with the sun are AV. XIII. 3,13 and IX. 3, 18, according to which Mitra at sunrise is contrasted with Varuna in the evening, and Mitra is asked to uncover in the morning what has been covered up by Varuna. Certain Rigvedic passages also may be cited which point more or less clearly in the direction of this ultimate identification, e. g. X. 8, 4, Agni at the head of the dawns generates Mitra for himself; III. 5, 4 and V. 3, 1, Agni when kindled becomes Mitra; V. 81, 4, Savitar becomes Mitra because of his laws; Val. 4, 3, Visnu took his three steps by the laws of Mitral On the whole, then, while an indefinite luminous character cannot be denied to the Rigvedic Mitra, such as * It is supported by Grassmann, and by Whitney-Lanman on AV. II. 28, 1. 2 Macdonell, VM. 29-30. VARUNA THE ETHICAL GOD 121 belonged to the Adityas as a class and indeed to the Devas in general, yet on the basis of the earliest evidence, Vedic and Avestan, the original Indo-Iranian Mitra must be assumed to have been the apotheosis of the friendly compact, the ‘gentleman’s agreement’*. 5. Varuna AND Ethical Order. —Rv. VII. 86 is almost entirely penitential in character, and as such vividly reminds one of the Hebrew and Babylonian penitential psalms: 1. Wise are the generations through the greatness Of him who propped the two wide worlds asunder; Pushed forth the great and lofty vault of heaven, The day-star, too; and spread the earth out broadly. 2. With mine own self I meditate this question: “ When shall I have with Varuna communion ? What gift of mine will he enjoy unangered? When shall I happy-hearted see his mercy ? 3. Wishing to know my sin I make inquiry, I go about to all the wise and ask them ; One and the self-same thing even sages tell me; ‘Varuna hath with thee hot indignation.” 4. O Varuna, what was my chief transgression. That thou wouldst slay a friend who sings thy praises ? Tell me, god undeceived and sovereign, guiltless Would I appease thee then with adoration. 5. Set us free from the misdeeds of our fathers. From those that we ourselves have perpetrated; Like cattle-thief, O king, like calf rope-fastened. So set thou free Vasistha from the fetter. 6. ’Twas not mine own will, Varuna, Twas delusion, Drink, anger, dice, or lack of thought, that caused it; An older man has led astray a younger. Not even sleep protects a man from evil. 7. O let me like a slave, when once made sinless, Serve him the merciful, erewhile the angry. The noble god has made the thoughtless thoughtful; He speeds the wise to riches, he a wiser. ^ So Oldenberg, RV. 186 note 1, “die Verkorpenmg des Vertrags”; Schroeder, AR. 372; and Meillet, JA. X (1907), 2, p. 145: “Mitra est la person- nification du contrat”. 122 THE KELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA 8. May this my praise-song, Varuna, sovereign ruler, Reach unto thee and make thy heart complaisant; May it be well with us in rest and labour, Do ye protect us evermore with blessings. Rita, as has been pointed out, means ‘order’ cosmic, ethical and ritualistic. The kind of rita celebrated in this hymn is predominantly ethical, the first and last verses alone having to do with cosmic and ritual order respectively. The following comments may be made: — a) Varuna inflicts disease as a reminder and punish¬ ment of sin. — Some member of the priestly family of the Vasislhas was fettered^ with disease (v. 5) and so was in peril of death (v. 4). Like Job he did not know the exact nature of his transgression (vv. 3-4). The wise assured him that he must be a sinner, because his illness was proof that Varuna who hates sin was angry with him (v. 3)He ^ There are many references to ‘the fetters of Varuna’ (I. 24, 15; 25, 21; VII. 88, 7, etc.), the term pasa being characteristic of him. This clearly refers to the suffering entailed by sin. Here, too, we have the working of analogy. As an earthly king binds criminals with fetters, so does the heavenly king Varuna deal with those who violate his ordinances, binding them with the fetters of disease and death. Cf. “The cords of Sheol were round about me, The snares of death came upon me”. Ps. XVIII, 5. Also: “His own iniquities shall take the wicked. And he shall be holden with the cords of his sin”. Prov. V, 22. This punitive aspect of Varuna’s character has perhaps been brought into harmony with the meaning of the name Varuna through the working of popular etymology. The root t’rf means‘to obstruct’, ‘to beset’, as well as‘to encompass’, as seen in the name Vritra ‘the obstructor’. Varuna ‘besets’ with illness those who violate his ordinances, becoming the antagonist, the enemy (meaning in Iranian) of all evil-doers. Thus Varuna is a kind of ethical Vritra for all who disobey his laws. The Vedic Indians recognized many demons of disease. Varuna, too, caused disease, but he was not a demon. His chastisements were those of a holy god, which are blessings in disguise, leading as they often do to repentance and amendment. ^ The same point of view is found in the Babylonian penitential hymns con¬ cerning which Prof. Morris Jastrow (RBA. Chap. XVHI) writes: “The two parts which presented themselves with overpowering force to the penitent were the anger of the deity and the necessity of appeasing that anger.The man afflicted VARUNA THE ETHICAL GOD 123 accepts this opinion as correct, asserts that he did not mean to err, mentions as possible causes of his sin, strong drink, anger, dice, thoughtlessness, bad example, and evil dreams (v. 6), and prays that he may be released from all misdeeds, whether committed by himself or by his ancestors^ (v. 5). Through the infliction of suffering Varuna rendered thoughtful the thoughtless one who had sinned through thoughtlessness^ Like the prodigal son in the parable^ *he came to himself’ through the insight which comes from suffering. The same general situation is brought before us in VII. 89, in which there is an apparent reference to dropsy as the peculiar infliction of Varuna: 1. I do not wish, King Varuna To go down to the home of clay, Be gracious, mighty lord, and spare. 2. Since like one tottering I move, O slinger, like inflated skin, Be gracious, mighty lord, and spare. 3. Somehow through weakness of my will I went astray, O shining one; Be gracious, mighty lord, and spare. 4. Thirst found thy singer even when He in the midst of waters stood; By gracious, mighty lord, and spare. 5. Whatever wrong we men commit against the race Of heavenly ones, O Varuna, whatever law Of thine we here have broken through thoughtlessness. For that transgression do not punish us, O god. Here too disease is regarded both as a penalty for sin causing suffering and death and as a reminder of sin. was a sinner, and the corollary to this position was that misfortunes come in consequence of sin.Within this circle of ideas the penitential psalms of Babylonia move.An ethical spirit was developed .... that surprises us by its loftiness and comparative purity.” ^ Note the conception of the solidarity in sin as between the fathers and their children, an idea belonging to a primitive tribal state of society, where the unit of responsibility is the family or tribe rather than the individiral. * dcitli ‘thoughtlessness’ acii ‘thoughtless’, dcelayat ‘made thoughtful’. 3 Luke XV. 17. 124 THE RELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA b) Fellowship with Varuna is broken by sin. —This is brought out in VII. 86, 2 and more fully in VII. 88, 4-5: 4. Varuna took on board with him Vasistha, Made him a Rishi by his mighty working; The Sage on gladsome days made him a singer, As long as days, as long as dawns continue. 5. But now what has become of this our friendship, When lovingly we walked together erstwhile: When, sovereign Varuna, to thy lofty palace, Thy thousand-gated house I had admittance ? We have here two pictures of the intimacy which Vasistha enjoyed with Varuna; first, when he was in a boat at sea alone with Varuna, and again when as the guest of Varuna he had free access to his thousand-gated house. But alas! this intimacy was broken through sin. The violation of Vanina’s ordinances involves loss of communion with him as well as penalty in the form of disease and death. Varuna as a holy god has righteous indignation^ against the sinner. c) Varuna is besought to loose the sinner from sin and its penalty. —As specimens of Vedic prayer for release from sins, we have the following: — Set us free from the misdeeds of our fathers. From those that we ourselves have perpetrated; Like cattle-thief, O king, like calf rope-fastened. So set thou free Vasistha from thy fetter. VII. 86, 5. As from a bond release me from transgression. Remove far hence the debts by me contracted. Let me not suffer, king, for guilt of others. II. 28, 5«, 9«-*. Against a friend, companion, or a brother, A fellow-tribesman, or against a stranger. Whatever trespass we have perpetrated, Do thou, O Varuna, from that release us. If we, like those that play at dice, have cheated. Have really sinned, or done amiss unwitting. Cast all these sins away, as from us loosened; So may we, Varuna, be thine own beloved. V. 85, 7-8. * Vll. 86, 2, 3, 7; 1.24,11,14; L 25, 2, etc. VARUNA THE ETHICAL GOD 125 A hundred are thy remedies, a thousand, Wide be thy grace and deep, O sovereign ruler; Far, far away from us drive off Destruction, And make us free from every sin committed. O Varuna, we deprecate thine anger By bowings down, oblations, sacrifices ; Sage Asura, thou sovereign widely ruling. Release from us the sins we have committed. I. 24, 9, 14. A god who is thus appealed to is conceived as a merci¬ ful and gracious god. There are many references to the grace' of Varuna, which is clearly the basis of the hope of the worshipper who is conscious that he has violated Varuna’s laws and so is the object of his wrath. Varuna is the lord of life and death. If he has ‘weapons’ with which to consume the evil-doer (11. 28, 7), he has also a hundred, a thousand ‘remedies’ (I. 24, 9) with which, as the divine physician, to heal and restore the penitent. The forgiveness of sin is conceived as a removing of sin, that is, of its penalty, and as a release, separation and losing therefrom ^ The conception of sin as a defilement and of forgiveness as a cleansing from such defilement is not found explicitly stated in the Rv. ^ Sin itself is viewed as transgression and indebtedness* *. There are, as ’ sumati, mriUka VII. 86, 2, 7; 87, 7 ; 88, 1 ; 89, 1 ; I. 24, 9; 25, 3, 5, 19, etc. * Such verbs are used a ava-srij, srath, vi-srathaya^ para-su^ vi-as, pra-miic. We may cite the following parallels from the Bible: “ As far as the east is from the west. So far hath he removed our transgressions from us” (Ps. CIII. 12). Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world ” (John. I. 29); “Unto him that loveth us, and loosed us from our sins by his blood” (Rev. I. 5); “Jehovah also hath put away thy sin,” (2 Sam. XII. 13). ^ With this compare the following: “ The inward defilement of sin, i. e. its power to defile the conseience of the sinner, is well represented in the Old Testament penitential psalms, but is hardly referred to, at least not explicitly, in the Vedic penitential hymns.” Griswold, Repentance as illustrated from the Old Testament Psalms and from the Varuna hymns of the Rigveda^ Madras, 1919, p. 10. ^Transgression, enas, drugdha sniddgas; debtrma. Cf. “Forgive as our debts" Matt. VI. 12. Also anrita^ ‘falsehood’ and vrijina ‘crookedness’. 126 THE RELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA we have seen, two consequences of sin, the loss of the fellowship of the holy Varuna, and the physical penalty of disease or death. Prayer to Varuna for the remission of sin seems to cover both needs alike. There is certainly . prayer for deliverance from disease and death \ There is also (by implication) prayer for the restoration of Varuna’s friendship-; and the feeling is expressed that Varuna’s grace deserves ‘slave-like’ devotion (VII. 86, 7); for through the grace bestowed those who have been the objects of Vanina’s wrath become his beloved (V. 85, 8), and stand before him and his law guiltless^ and so happy-hearted (VII. 86, 2). d) Sin is *the transgression of the law’ of Varuna ^.— This is the burden of VII. 86, and it is implied wherever there is an appeal to Varuna for the remission of sin. For example:— Whatever ordinance (vrata) of thine, God Varuna, we violate. As human beings day by day; Yet to the stroke subject us not. Death-dealing of the angry one. The wrath of the incensed one. I. 25, 1-2. Whatever wrong against the heavenly race we do. Being but men, O Varuna, whatever law Of thine we may have broken through thoughtlessness, For that transgression do not injure us, O god. VII. 89, 5. According to one passage the moral ordinances and laws^ are an expression of Vanina’s character and will, being built, as it were, upon him: ^ See Vir. 86, 4; J. 24, 9, 12-15; II. 28, 7- 2 VII. 88, 4-5; 86, 2. ^ Anagas VII. 86, 7, I. 24, 15. ^ Other gods have to do in a lesser degree with the punishment or remission of sin, as will be pointed out in the proper place. ^ The terms employed are vrata ‘ordinance’ I. 25, 1; II. 28, 8, etc.; dharman ‘statute’ VII. 89, 5; dhdman ‘decree’ IV. 5, 4; VI. 67, 9, etc.; kratu ‘will’ IV. 42, 1-2; daksa ‘will’ in putadaksa ‘whose will is pure’ VII. 65, 1, etc. Cf. idso YH. 86, 6. The terms used of the will of Varuna are the same whether applied in the sphere of nature or of morals. Cf^ Bohnenberger, AGV. 50. VARUNA THE ETHICAL GOD 127 For on thee, undeceivable one, are founded. As on a mountain, ordinances unshaken. II. 28, 8. No wonder, then, that the gods follow the will and ordinances of Varunah The laws of Varuna, like the laws of the Medes and Persians, change not. His is the charac¬ teristic epithet dhritavrata ‘whose ordinances are fixed As regards special sins, we meet with such implicit prohibitions on the part of Varuna as not to kill (I. 41, 8), not to curse (I. 41, 8), not to deceive (II. 27, 16, VII. 65, 3, VIII. 49, 3), not to gamble (II. 29, 5), or at least not to cheat at gaming (V. 85, 8) and not to indulge immoderately in wine, anger and dice (VII. 86, 6)^ Vedic ethics was, on the whole, tribal, as might be expected at that early age, moral obligation being largely limited to the clan. But there is in V. 85, 7 a reference to the possibility of sinning against a stranger, and in the next verse the distinction is drawn between deliberate sinning and such sin as is committed unintentionally. As regards the causes of sin the Vedic Indians clearly believed that “to err is human” (1. 25, 1, VIL 89, 5). They plead as excuses for sin thoughtlessness, weakness of will, wine, anger, dice, bad example and evil dreams \ Besides being responsible for one’s own sins, there is also the suggestion in VII. 86, 5 and II. 28, 9 that one may be responsible for the sins of others, especially for the sins of one’s ancestors, who are bound up with one in the same bundle of life^ e) As omnipresent and omniscient, Varuna is a witness of the deeds of men. — For this aspect of Varuna’s character I. 25 is important: HV 42, 1-2 ; V. 69, 4; VIII. 41, 7. ® I. 25, 8, 10, etc. There is the suggestion that moral law is as fixed as physical law. J{iln covers both ideas. ^ Cf. Bohnenberger, AGV. 52. 4 VII. 86, 6; 89, 3, 5. 5 Cf. Ex. XX. 5, Ps. LI. 5, Pom. VII. 20. 128 THE KELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA 7. He knows the path of birds that through The atmosphere do wing their flight, And ocean-dwelling knows the ships. 8. He knows, as one whose law is firm, The twelve months with their progeny. Knows too the month of later birth. 9. He knows the pathway of the wind. The wide, the high, the mighty wind. And those that sit enthroned above. 10. Enthroned within his palace sits God Varuna whose law is firm. All-wise for universal sway. 11. From there the observant god beholds All strange and secret happenings. Things that are done or to be done. 12. Let him the all-wise Aditya Make all our days fair-pathed for us; May he prolong our earthly lives. 13. Wearing a golden mantle, clothed In shining garb, is Varuna; His spies are seated round about. 14. He whom deceivers do not dare Try to deceive, nor injurers To harm, nor th’ hostile to defy. Quite in the same spirit is I. 24, 6: Thy realm, O Varuna, thy might, and anger. Even these winged birds have not attained to. Nor yet the waters that go on for ever. Nor (mountains) that obstruct the wind’s wild fury. Here Varuna’s separateness and ethical transcendence are emphasized. His realm is ^beyond the flight of birds beyond the utmost surge of the waters and beyond the farthest reach of the wind-breaking mountains. Within the highest heaven he sits enthroned in his thousand-gated palace, wielding universal sway, surrounded by his spies * The spies (spasah) of Varuna might be interpreted as the rays of the sun, moon and stars, which, as it were, search out and reveal the doings of men. It is possible, however, to see here the working of analogy, the heavenly king Varuna being equipped like an earthly king with a ‘ secret service ’ of spies to discover evil-doers. In them is embodied the all-seeing might of Varuna (Oldenberg RV. 286). The Iranian Mithra also has spies. VARUNA THE ETHICAL GOD 129 the all-wise observer of the deeds of men. The “heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain” him; but on the contrary, the three heavens and the three earths are deposited in him (VII. 87, 5), and he is all-embracing (VIII. 41, 3, 7). His omnipresence is such that a man cannot escape from Varuna by fleeing far beyond the sky^ (AV. IV. 16, 4). He knows the flight of birds in the sky, the path of ships in the sea and the course of the wind; and he beholds all the secret things that have been or shall be done. Thus past, present and future, far and near, are all alike to him. As such he cannot be deceived ^ Whatever thing two sitting down together talk about, Varuna as a third knows (AV. IV. 16, 2). He surveys the truth and falsehood of men (VH. 49, 3). No creature can even wink without him (H. 28, 6), and the winkings of men’s eyes are all numbered by Varuna (AV. IV. 16, 2). Varuna’s omniscience is distinctive and typical, Agni being compared to him in this respect (X. 11, l)^ f) Means of gaining the mercy of Varuna. —• Among the means expressed or implied may be mentioned moral seriousness in trying to discover one’s ‘hidden faults’ (VH. 86, 3-4), confession of sin (VH. 86, 6; 88, 6; 89, 3), longing to be justified in the sight of Varuna (VH. 87, 7; I. 24,15), prayer for the remission of penalty (often) ^ purpose after new obedience (VH. 86, 7), oblations and sacrifices (I. 24, 14), and hymns of praise. As examples of praise are the following: — May this my praise song, Varuna, sovereign ruler, Reach unto thee and make thy heart complaisant. VH. 86, 8®-^ May we thy heart by means of song For grace, O Varuna, release. As charioteer a tethered steed. ^ Ct. Ps. cxxxix. ^ dulabha, VH. 86, 4; I. 25, 14; II. 28, 8. Macdonell, VM. 26. ^VII. 86, 5; 88, 6; 89, 1, 5; 1.24, 9, 11-15; 25, 1-2; V. 85, 7-8, II. 28, 5-7, 9. 9 130 THE RELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA Away indeed in search of good My (hymns) propitiatory fly, Ev’n as the birds unto their nests. I. 25, 3-4. In the prayers for the pardon of sin there is undoubtedly too great an emphasis on the removal of the temporal consequences of sin; and some of the Varuna hymns are rather conventional and possibly late‘. Such literary monuments, however, as we have of the worship of Varuna represent the fullest consciousness of sin that is found anywhere in the hymns of the Rik; and most of them were probably produced within some special Aryan tribe or priestly family, such as the Vasisthas^ The Vasistha hymns to Varuna, Mitra-Varuna, Indra- Varuna and the Adityas in Bk. VII (17 in all out of 104 hymns, ^. e. one-sixth of Book VII) are the most notable in the Rigveda. The hymns addressed to Varuna, e. g. VII. 86, are most probably to be regarded themselves as in some sense sacrifices*, and, as such, means for propitiating Varuna. As soon as Vasistha learns the nature of his sin against Varuna, he purposes to appease him^ by means of adoration. In the later Vedic literature are described many ritualistic devices for accomplishing the same end ^ But in the Varuna hymns of the Rv. the sacrifices which receive the emphasis are the outpourings in confession and prayer of what seems ^ Hopkins, RI. 64-65. We must remember that Baetiia is only three or four hundred miles from the Punjab. It is possible that the family of the Vasisthas remained in touch with Bactrift, and advanced in spiritual worship pari passu with the worship of Varuna or his equivalent in Ir&n. Keith {Indo-Iranians in Bhandarkar CV. 89) holds that “ the spread of the people over Iran and India did not at first and in itself cause complete severance This is probable. If then the suggestion of continued intercourse between the Punjab and Bactria is accepted, we can take the Varuna hymns and the Zoroastrian reformation as parallel chronologically, and place both about 1000 B. c., or a little earlier. ^Oldenberg, BV. 318. ^nva-i VII. 86, 4, cf. I. 24, 14. ^ Oldenberg, KV. 319-326. VARUNA THE ETHICAL GOD 131 almost ‘a broken and a contrite heart’. It is because of a change of attitude on the part of the sinner toward his sin that Varuna can show himself just while justifying the sinful Because Varuna is gracious and merciful, he delights to respond to the cry of the penitent. By way of the ritually appointed oblations and sacrifices (1. 24, 14; VII. 86, 2) the sincere penitent doubtless offered the Vedic equivalent of ‘a broken spirit’. It is just because Varuna is ethically so exalted and because there is hardly a hymn of his which does not contain some reference to sin and its remission, that there is such danger of committing the ‘psychologist’s fallacy’, that is, the fallacy of importing modern and especially Christian feelings and conceptions into the hymns. g) Varuna grants protection and happiness to his worshippers. —Happy are they who experience the mercy of Varuna (VII. 86, 2) and continue in his ordinance (II. 28, 2); for Varuna represented by the sun has a thousand boons to give (VII. 88, 1). He guards the thoughts of men (VIII. 41, 1), grants protection'^ (II. 28, 3, VII. 88, 6, VIII. 42, 2), removes fear (II. 28, 6, 10), delivers from thief, wolf and inauspicious dreams (II. 28, 10) and furnishes the singer with a wealthy patron^ (II. 28, 11). h) Varuna as Lord of the Ethical Order is a holy God .— ‘ Cf. Rom. III. 26. * The word varutha ‘ protection ’ is derived from vri in the meaning to ‘encircle’, ‘protect’. Popular thought may have found a connection between the name Varuna and the protective aspect of Vanina’s activity. We are reminded of the Biblical phrase: ” “ As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, So Jehovah is round about his people”. Ps. CXXV. 2. ^ The danastuti character of the mention of a ‘wealthy patron’ need not disturb us even in a Varuna hymn, when we recall that Zarathushtra in one of the genuine Gathas reminded Ahura Mazda that he had been promised as a reward “ten mares with a stallion and a camel”, besides “the future gift of welfare and immortality” (Yasna XLIV. 18). It was felt by these ancient seers that godliness is profitable not only for “the life that is to come”, but also for “the life that now is”. Then, too, stanza 11 in II. 28 may be an editorial addition. 132 THE RELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA This is his distinctive province. Other gods share with him in his cosmic activities, such as the creation and direction of the world, sending of rain, etc., but outside of his own circle of the Adityas none have to do so fully as Varuna with the moral life and destiny of mankind. In passages, the context of which is ethical, Varuna is referred to as Hhe support* * of rita\ as possessing Hhe fountain of rita ' (II. 28, 5) and as the one on whom as on a mountain everlasting ordinances are based (II. 28, 8). The conception of ethical order was covered and explicated by the statutes {dharman)y decrees (dhaman)^ and ordinances {vrata) of Varuna. The term vrata, which is so often used in con¬ nection with Varuna is to be derived from vH to ‘choose', ^wiir, therefore ‘ordinance', ‘will'. The word suggests that the laws of morality are to be referred immediately to the holy will“ of Varuna. The best Vedic equivalent of the New Testament expression ‘the will of God^ would accordingly be Varunasya vratam, ‘the will of Varuna.' ‘The great conception of Rita ‘Order' stands in the closest connection with Varuna, whether in its cosmic or its ethical application. Thus : The Aditya distributed the waters, The rivers follow Varuna's holy order; (cosmic) Unwearied do they flow and never tarry, Like birds that speed them quickly on their courses. ^ dharnisi I. 105, 6. * Meillet (JA. X. (1907) 2, p. 157) proposes to connect Varuna with vrata ^ordinance’, A.\csta.n urvata, urvaiti ‘contract’, urvdta ‘order’, ‘law’. Accordingly Varuna would be originally a personification of the idea of order, a Sondergott ‘he of order’, like Mitra ‘he of the compact’. But is it not also possible that this derivative vrata, from the fertile root vri, may have been through popular etymologizing brought into connection with Varuna so a? to form a kind of etymological support for the thought of the will, ordinances, statutes, decrees of Varuna? The Aryans of India love to etymologize, and Sanskrit lends itself peculiarly well to such treatment. ^ HsX7][J,a TOO GaOO I Thess. IV. 3, etc. VARUNA THE ETHICAL GOD 133 As from a bond release me from transgression, May we swell, Varuna, thy spring of order,^ (ethical) May no thread break as I weave my devotion, Nor mass of work before the time be shattered. II. 28,4-5. The prayer ‘May we swell, Varuna, thy spring of order’ seems to imply co-operation with Varuna through the practice of righteousness and reverent devotion. Varuna’s ‘ordinances’ are fixed and changeless, nevertheless man is free either to obey them or to disobey them. To obey them is life and health; to disobey them is death ^ Rita, then, in its ethical connection meant the moral law. It was an impersonal conception. With the passing of Varuna in the post-Vedic period, the content of rita was taken up into that of dharman ‘law’ and karman ‘retri¬ bution’. The conception of rita in the Indo-Iranian and Vedic periods is a striking witness to the belief that the world-order is essentially righteous, and that morality belongs to the inmost nature of things. Being embodied in the will of Varuna Rita was made concrete and personal. As the guardian and cherisher of moral order Varuna was called ritdvan ‘holy’ and pTttadaksa ‘whose will is pure’. Thus on that ‘far-off bank and shoal’ of time the Vedic Indians were not without the conception of a law of righteousness viewed as the will of a holy God. 6. Varuna and Cosmic Order. a) Creator and Sovereign. —Varuna’s creative activity is expressed in such passages as the following: Wise are the generations through the greatness Of him who propped the two wide worlds asunder; Pushed back the great and lofty vault of heaven, The day-star, too ; and spread the earth out broadly. VII. 86,1. Varuna cutteth for the sun his pathways, Causeth the river floods to hasten seaward; ^ The expression Kha ritasya ‘spring of rita'' (II. 28, 5), as Bloomfield points out (RV. 126), is ‘sound for sound the same’ as the Avestan asahe khao, Yasna X. 4. 2 I. 24, 9, 11, 15; 25, 1-2, 21; II. 28, 5, 7, 9. cf. “The wages of sin is death”. Rom. VI. 23. 134 THE RELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA Digs for the shining days their mighty channels, Guiding them as a racer guides his horses. Thy breath, the wind, resoundeth through the mid-air. Like a wild beast that smites its prey in pasture; Between these two world-halves, the great, the lofty, Are, Varuna, all thy loved habitations. VII. 87, 1-2. In baseless space king Varuna, the holy. Sustains erect the summit of a great tree; Its rays, whose root is high above, stream downward; Among us be deposited these gleamings. King Varuna hath made a spacious pathway, Wherein the sun may travel on his journey; Feet for the footless made wherewith to stay him. And by his ban removes heart-piercing trouble. The stars that show themselves by night in heaven Placed high above,—where are they gone by daylight ? Inviolable are Varuna’s regulations. And through the night the moon wide-gleaming wanders. I. 24, 7-8, 10. Rita, as already pointed out, embraces both cosmic and ethical order. Varuna’s creative power is manifested especially in the great vault of heaven, through which he has made a path for the sun to travel by day, and for the moon and stars by night. As compared with the moon and stars, the sun in the Rv. receives the emphasis, being called the ‘day-star’ {naksatra, VII, 86, 1), the ‘tree of the sky’ (I. 24, 7), the ‘mighty beast’ (VIL 87. 6), ‘the heavenly measuring line’ (V. 85, 5), ‘the lofty bull’ (VII. 88, 1), ‘the golden swing’ (VII. 87, 5), ‘the eye of Mitra and Varuna’ (VI. 51, 1), and ‘the bright beautiful face of rita' (VI. 51, 1). The wind is Varuna’s breath ‘ and his habitat or domain is the great space between heaven and earth (VII. 87, 2). ^ Does the description of Varuna as having the wind for his breath, the sun for his eye, and the space between heaven and earth for his home, bear upon his original physical substrate? All that can be said is that it fits in well enough with the assumed derivation from r’ri ‘to encompass’, namely ‘encompassing sky’. As a matter of fact Varuna has become so entirely spiritualized in the Rv. that nothing can be proved with certainty as regards his original nature- VARUNA THE ETHICAL GOD 135 Varuna is a divine pathmaker, having dug out channels for the rivers and the days as well as for the sun. The appearance and disappearance of sun, moon and stars and their courses are all subject to the regulations {vratani, I. 24, 10) of Varuna. There seems to be the suggestion in all this that the order which rules in the physical world should also rule in the moral world. Through his creative might he makes men wise \ Like Ahura Mazda, Varuna is represented as the creator of the best things: The Air hath Varuna placed among the tree-tops, Milk in the cows and strength in the swift horses, Wisdom in hearts and fire within the waters. In heaven the sun and soma on the mountain. V. 85, 2. As creator Varuna is naturally ruler. The attribute of sovereignty (ksatr^a) is very specially his. He is ‘the king of all that is’ (VII. 87, 6), ‘the king of the whole world’ (V. 85, 3). The title samraj‘^ ‘universal monarch’ is so often applied to him that it may be regarded as peculiarly his. Svaraj ‘self-dependent,’ i. e. independent ruler (II. 28, 1), is also given to him as a title. Vanina’s sovereignty embraces both the physical and the moral spheres. Varuna sits enthroned within his heavenly palace, fully equipped for universal sway {samrajya I. 25, 10). The sun as the eye (caksus) of Varuna and the face (anlkd) of rita (VI. 51, 1) may be regarded as a visible symboP of Varuna. We may compare the following: — ' Cf. Ps. XIX. and Job XXXVIII-XLI. 2 V. 85, 1. ^ Only a symbol, be it noted. The metaphoi's of the sun and light are used in connection with Varuna, just as the same metaphors are used of God in the Bible. For example, God is ‘a sun and a shield’, and ‘the sun of righteousness’, Ps. 84, 11; Mai. IV. 2. If we had to choose between the sun and the moon as the original physical basis of Varuna, we should, on the basis of Rigvedic evidence, have to choose the sun. 136 THE RELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA Now that at last I have come near and seen him, The face of Varupa looks like that of Agni; To see his beauty may the master lead me Unto the sun in heaven or to the darkness, VII. 88, 2. Here, too, the sun as the heavenly form of Agni resembles the face of Varuna. But the beauty of Varuna may be seen either by looking at the sun in heaven by day or by night looking at moon or star. The theophany of Varuna is given at both times to the spiritually illumined. Again: Like Dyaus, god Varuna sank into the Sindhu, Like a white drop, or mighty beast, descended; Ruling in depths and measurer of the mid-air. King of this world, whose empire is fair-bounded. VII. 87,6* This verse presupposes some place on the Indus where sky and water meet, and where the light-bearers (sun, moon and stars) as revelations of Varuna seem to sink into the sea-like bosom of the great river. Varuna as represented by the sun is compared, when he sinks into the sea, with a white drop or ball or with a mighty beast. h) Varuna and the Waters. — We may cite the following stanzas from V. 85, 3-6: — 3. Varupa caused the cloud-cask opening downwards To stream forth over heaven and earth and mid-air: Therewith the king of all the world doth moisten The ground, just as the rain the fields of barley. 4. What time Varupa longeth for the cloud-milk. He moisteneth the ground, yea earth and heaven, The mountains clothe themselves then in the rain-cloud. Their firm foundations the strong heroes loosen. 5. Let me declare this mighty deed of magic Of Varupa the glorious and the godlike, Who standing in the air’s mid region meted The earth out with the sun as with a measure. 6. This, too, is the all-wise god’s deed of magic, A mighty deed, which none hath ever challenged. That all the streams that pour themselves out quickly Do never fill the one sea with their waters. V. 85, 3-6. VARmiA THE ETHICAL GOD 137 He knows the path of birds that wing Through air their flight, knows too the path A boat takes, ocean-dweller he. I. 25, 8. The Aditya distributed the waters ; The rivers follow Varuna’s holy order; Unwearied do they flow and never tarry. Like birds that speed them quickly on their courses. II. 28, 4. Varuna, as lord of cosmic order, has control of the waters. The connection of Varuna with this department of nature is so emphasized as to require special explanation. The great encircling vault of the sky is sometimes ‘clothed with light as with a garment \ majestic in its repose and calm, the very picture of sovereignty and order. Again it is covered with dark rain clouds. By day it is traversed by the sun; at night, by moon and stars, and Usas displays her beauty in the morning. It is the same mighty vault — by hypothesis the same Varuna as originally conceived — that undergoes these magic transformations. It is sug¬ gestive that the word may a ‘occult power’ is specially used, in connection with such changes. In the ten hymns ad¬ dressed to Varuna may a occurs only four times (V. 85, 5, 6 and VIII. 41, 3, 8) and then in hymns, which especially emphasize Varuna’s connection with water. Through his ‘occult power’ he measures the earth by the sun as with a measuring line (V. 85, 5), brings it about that the constantly flowing streams never fill the one sea (V. 85, 6), and es¬ tablishes the dawns (VIII. 41, 3). With his shining foot he scatters magic wiles {mayah VIII. 41, 8), doubtless the evil magic of the demons of darkness. Varuna bears the title samudriya ‘oceanic’ (I. 25, 8) and is called a ‘hidden ocean’ {samudrah apicyah VII. 41, 5)» both references being primarily to his atmospheric character. The fact that the rain falls from the sky proves that there is in the sky an invisible ocean, as the source of supply, ‘the waters above the firmament’. Varuna ‘he of the all-covering sky’ is thus naturally conceived as ‘he of the all-covering rain’, the two appearing 138 THE RELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA at times as one and the same. A similar development of meaning is seen in Dyaus, Zeus and Jupiter, each originally meaning ^the bright, shining sky’, and each coming to have in addition a ‘rainy’ character^, just as in the case of Varuna. Furthermore Varuna by a natural development^, very much as in the parallel case of Indra, comes to be the lord of the earthly as well as of the heavenly waters^ 7. Varuna and the Adityas. The Adityas are a group of gods with Varuna the Aditya par excellence at their head. They may be charac¬ terized in general as ‘the gods of celestial lightThe group, however, is somewhat indefinite both as to the number of gods it includes and as to their names. In II. 27, 1 six are mentioned, namely Mitra, Aryaman, Bhaga, Varuna, Daksa and Aihsa. In IX. 114, 3 the number is given as seven in X. 72, 8 as eight. In the later Vedic literature twelve is the usual number of the Adityas, to correspond apparently with the number of the months. In addition to the names given above there are sometimes mentioned Dhatar, Indra, Vivasant, Martanda, Surya and Visnu. There seem to be certain points of contact between the seven Amesha Spentas of Zoroastri¬ anism and the Vedic Adityas (likewise assumed to be seven). In order, however, to make up the list of seven Adityas, it is necessary to add one to the number given in II. 27, 1, Shrya as Macdonell thinks®, or possibly Parjanya". ^ Cf. Jupiter Pluvius and ZsOi; (Zeus rains). ^ “ Der Gott, der liber den Regen gebietet, wird sich leicht zu einem Gott alles Wassers und so denn aiich des Meeres entvvickeln”—Oldenberg^ ZDMG. L. 59. ^ The conception of Varuna as regent of the waters would find a support in popular etymology, if Varuna were connected with vri Go cover’ in the sense of ‘he whose covering is rain and dew’, or with such words as vari ‘water’ and vari ‘river’. See Hopkins Rl. 60 n. 1, 71. Pischel (VS. II. 124-125) holds that the watery character of Varuna is original and fundamental. ^ MacdoneU, VM. 44. ^ So Yasna 47. 1 as interpreted by Oldenberg, ZDMG. L. 53. « VM. 44. ’ Schrceder, AR. I, 408-423. VARUI?A THE ETHICAL GOD 139 a) Varuna and Mitra, the Adilya Chiefs -—Of the approximately seven Adityas the most distinct and indi¬ vidualised are Varuna and Mitra. Mitra has not a single quality which is not found in Varuna \ What is said of Varuna alone is said equally of Mitra-Varuna. Thus Mitra and Varuna are related to rita (V. 62, 1) and are even identified with rita (V. 68, 1), have the sun for their eye (VII. 63, 1), are kings and imperial rulers (V. 62, 3; 63, 2), wield dominion {ksatra V. 66, 2, 6), are Asuras and possess asura-\\oo6. (VII. 65, 1, 2), are the guardians of rita (VII. 64, 2) and of the word (V. 62, 9), manifest creative activity by establishing heaven and earth (V. 62, 3) and setting the sun in heaven (V. 63, 7), possess steadfast and inviolable ordinances (V. 69, 1, 4), have spies and watch with unwinking eye the deeds of men (VII. 61, 3), take account of sin^ (VII. 60, 1, 5, 9; 65, 3), manifest anger (VII. 62, 4), are the chastisers of anrita (VII. 60, 5; 61, 5), strengthen and cherish rita (V. 65, 2; 67, 4), are observers of rita, i.e. ‘order-loving’ {rHavana VII. 62, 3), are pure- minded {putadaksasa V. 66, 4), are gracious and merciful (V. 70, 1; VII. 60, 10), are wise (V, 63, 7) and givers of wisdom (VII. 60, 6, 7), are uniters of people (V. 65, 6; 72, 2) and upholders of mankind (V. 67, 2), wield occult power (maya V. 63, 3, 4) and through it effect magic transfor¬ mations of the sky (V. 63, 4, 6), send forth the rain (V. 63, 1-3, VII. 65, 4), are lords of rivers {sindhupatl VII, 64, 2), and together mount their car in the highest heaven (V. 62, 5, 7-8; 63, 1). Hymn V. 63 emphasizes the rainy aspect of Mitra- Varuna and its connection with rndyd ‘occult power’, ^ With the exception possibly of ydtayajjana ‘uniting men’, which however is really implicit in Varuna, if not actually predicated of him in I. 136, 3. * Mitra-Varuna are bhuripdsdv dnritasya selu, i. e. ‘barriers, furnished with many fetters, against falsehood’. See Macdonell, VM. 26. It is worthy of note that the group of Vasisfha hymns to Mitra-Varuna (VII. 60-66) contains references to sin, whereas the corresponding Atri group (V. 62-72) is devoid of such reference, at least explicitly. , 140 THE RELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA containing also allusions to the Maruts or * storm-winds' and Parjanya the deified ‘rain-cloud’. It reminds one of V. 85, a hymn to Varuna already considered \ and also of V. 83 a hymn addressed to Parjanya. To Mitra-Varuna V. 63. 1. In highest heaven ye twain united mount your car, Joint guardians of order, ye whose law is true; What man here, Mitra-Varuna, is blessed of you. To him from out the sky the rain with sweetness streams. 2. As joint imperial rulers govern ye the world, O Mitra-Varuna, sunlike at the sacrifice; The rain, your boon, we crave, and immortality. The thunderers traverse the heaven and the earth. 3. Joint kings, strong bulls, and lords of heaven and earth are ye O Mitra-Varuna, present and active everywhere; With gleaming storm-clouds girt ye twain attend the roar. And through the Asura’s * magic power cause heaven to rain. 4. Your magic power, O Mitra-Varuna, in heaven resides; The sun, a gleaming weapon, as a light, doth roam; Him in the sky with cloud and rain ye do obscure; The honied drops, Parjanya, then bestir themselves. 5. Their easy-running car the Maruts yoke for pomp, Even as a hero, Mitra-Varuna, in battle strife; The thunderers traverse the gleaming atmosphere; Ye twain all ruling, sprinkle us with milk of heaven. 6. A voice, in truth, refreshing, gleaming, shattering, Parjanya utters now, O Mitra-Varuna; [ power; The Maruts clothe themselves with clouds through magic Cause ye the sky to rain, the red, the spotless one. 7. Through law and through the Asura’s magic power ye guard The ordinances, Mitra-Varuna, wise gods : Through rita, holy order, rule ye all the world; The sun in heaven ye stationed as a gleaming car. Professor Leopold von Schroeder in a recently published work^ seeks to find the seventh Aditya in Parjanya, which ' p. 13G. ^ The Asura mentioned here (vv. 3, 7) is either Dyaiis or Parjanya. See Macdonell, VM. 24; Giaffith on the passage; v- Bradke, Dyaus Asura 55, 60. ^ Arische Religion 1914, pp. 408-423. VARUNA THE ETHICAL GOD 141 he regards as originally an epithet of Dyaus, and a parallel form of Dyaus and Varuna in their capacity as heavenly rain-givers. Whether this view be correct or nOt, the great hymn to Parjanya (V. 83) is worthy of insertion, because of its correspondence with similar utterances addressed to Varuna and Mitra-Varuna ^ V. 83. To Parjanya''- 1. Salute the mighty one with these thy praise-songs, Parjanya laud, with reverence seek to win him. The bull, the bellowing one, whose gifts enliven. Places his seed in vegetation, germ-like. 2. The trees he shatters and he smites the Raksasas, The whole world is afraid of the great-weaponed one. Even the guiltless man before the strong one flees. What time Parjanya thundering smites the evil-doers. 3. Like charioteer with whip his horses urging hard, He maketh manifest his rainy messengers; From far away arise the lion’s thunderings. What time Parjanya constitutes the rainy sky. 4. The mighty winds break forth, the lightnings flash and fly. The growing plant s shoot up, the heavens stream with rain; For the whole world of being refreshment is produced. What time Parjanya quickeneth the earth with seed. 5. Under whose law the broad earth bendeth lowly. Under whose law hoofed creatures leap and gambol; Under whose law the plant-forms grow diversely. As such, Parjanya, grant us mighty shelter. 6. Bestow on us, ye Maruts, rain from heaven; Pour forth the genial streams of the strong stallion. Come hither with this thunder, O Parjanya, Shedding the floods as Asura our father. ^ See Rv. V. 85 and V. 63, pp. 136 and 140. - If the word Parjanya, in spite of phonetic difficulties, proves finally to be identical with the name of the Lithuanian thunder-god Perkimas, then it goes back to the IE. period. Possibly the phonetic difficulties may be removed by assuming with Grassmann and v. Schroeder a derivation from the root pare ‘to fill, satisfy’ t. e- Parcanyay this through the working of popular etymology having been turned into Parjanya, the rain-cloud which generates {jan) the plants. See v. Schroeder, AR. 422, n. 2. 142 THE RELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA 7. Bellow and thunder thou, the germ deposit: With wagon water-laden fly around us. Draw well thy water-skin unloosened downward, Let heights and valleys all alike be level. 8. Draw up the mighty vessel, pour it downward; May the streams thus released flow forward rushing, Moisten and drench with ghee the earth and heaven; May there be found good drinking for the cattle. 9. When thou, Parjanya, bellowing. And thund’ring smitest evil-doers, This whole world, thereupon exults. Yea everything upon the earth. 10. Rain thou hast shed, pray grant us its cessation; Thou hast made passable the wildernesses. Plant-life thou hast begotten for man’s sustenance. And from thy creatures hast received a praise-song. This hymn reminds us vividly of Psalms 29 and 65, the thunder and rain Psalms of the Old Testament. As there, so here, as well as in V. 85 and 63, we have the revelation of deity in storm and rain. The imagery is theriomorphic. Parjanya is the bellowing bull of the sky^ Through the rain represented as his seed he quickens the earth and generates the plants providing food and drink for man and beast. The ^wilP (vrata) of Parjanya governs all things within the sphere of his activity (v. 5). There is a distinct ethical element. With his weapon the lightning, Parjanya smites the demons and the evil-doers (vv. 2, 9), and causes the whole world to rejoice at the vindication of righteous¬ ness. So terrible is he that even the guiltless man flees before him. In v. 6 Parjanya receives the remarkable epithets ^asura’ and ‘father’ — the Asura who is at the same time ‘our father’ — epithets which elsewhere are almost entirely confined to Dyaiis and Varuna^ As re¬ gards ethical quality there is nothing in this hymn which might not have been addressed to Varuna^ ’ So Dyaus V. 58, 6. Father Asura in X. 124, 3 is probably Varuna. Cf- v. Schrceder AR. 319, n. 1 and 416; but see also Oldenberg, Rigveda Nolen, 342-343. ^ Hopkins RT, 102-104. VARUNA THE ETHICAL GOD 143 h) Common Charactmstics of the Aditya-group,— Varuna stands out clear and distinct with sharply defined characteristics. Mitra his companion and double is in most matters simply the replica of Varuna. What is true of Mitra is true of all the other Adityas in their relation to Varuna their head. They have little or no individuality or real personality. They indeed form a system with Varuna, revolving about him, as it were, like planets about a central sun. But in relation to Varuna they are little more than expressions of his divine nature, personified aspects of the same,—in short, little more than names of the great god. Thus Mitra and Aryaman explicate the social nature and laws of Varuna. Mitra, ‘he of the compact’, signifies that Varuna is a covenant-keeping god and demands that men should be like him in this respect. Aryaman ‘the loyal’, ‘the true’ with special reference to the marriage contract means that Varuna desires truth and loyalty in the marriage relation. Bhaga, ‘he of bounty’, and Aiiisa ‘he of the due share’ emphasize the bountiful and gracious character of Varuna who ‘gives to all men liberally’, and to every man his due. Daksa ‘he of strength, cleverness, insight, will’ emphasizes the creative purpose, power and skill of Varuna. In a word, if the Adityas are ‘in the aggregate sense gods of celestial light’ they are also, ‘in the aggregate sense’, gods of truth and righteous¬ ness, the creators and directors of an eternal and invio¬ lable world-order, both physical and moral. Being ob¬ servers of order’ ritdvanah, i. e. ‘holy’ themselves, they are able to say with one voice: “ Be ye holy, for I am holy”^ With some slight abatement^ the saying of Macdonell is true that “there is no hymn to Varuna (and the Adityas) in which the prayer for forgiveness of guilt does not occur, as in the hymns to other deities the prayer * Macdonell, VM. 44. cf. I John I. 5. * I Peter, I. 16. ^See p. 139. n. 2. The Varuna hymn Pv. VIll. 41 has also no explicit ethical reference. 144 THE RELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA for worldly goodsEthically then the Adityas are the highest gods of the Vedic world. No myths are told of Varuna and the Adityas. c) Place of Aditi among the Adityas. Aditi- is clearly an abstract goddess, ‘she of bondless freedom’^, hence a personified idea. The Adityas are rep¬ resented as the sons of Aditi, sons of her who is the expres¬ sion and embodiment of freedom from the bonds of sin and suffering. Roth conjectured that Aditi herself is the seventh or last Aditya^ Better is it to consider her the mother ^— the common nature^ — that binds all of the Adityas into a unity. In addition to motherhood, Aditi’s most basic function is to free from sin. In I. 24, 15 the prayer is to be guiltless (andgas) before Aditi. She is besought to release her worshipper like a thief that is tied ipaddha VIII. 67, 14). The emphasis in the case of Aditi, as well as in that of her sons, is on the ethical. Aditi is represented as the holy mother of holy sons. But, as we have seen, Aditi herself is an abstraction, a purely Indian goddess, the product of reflection, historically younger than most of her sons. What does this mean except that under the figure of a mother a common nature or essence is postulated for the Aditya-group. The Adityas as brothers or parallel forms express each the common nature of the whole group, and that is the quality of guiltlessness and the capacity to make even sinful men guiltless. ^ VM. 27, c/”. Roth, Ueber die hochsten Gutter der arischen Volker, ZDMG. VI. 72. “ From dd to bind, diti ‘binding’, a-diti ‘unbinding’. Aditya is a metronymic formation from aditi, meaning ‘son of aditi’. The expression aditeh putrdh may have meant in the pre-Vedic period simply ‘sons of freedom’, just as sahasah putrdh means ‘sons of strength’. We may compare the blebraic expressions ‘sons of Belial’, and ‘sons of thunder’. Aditi being feminine and described as having a son would easily become personified as a mother. ^ So Oldenberg, RV. 203-207; Macdonell, VM. 122; v. Schrceder, AR. 295-407. ^ ZDMG. VI. 76. ^ In VII. 51, 1 the nature of Aditi (adititva) is defined as guiltlessness (andgdstva)- VARUNA THE ETHICAL GOD 145 As an abstraction from the Adityas, Aditi is not only ethical, but also luminous. She is asked for light (IV. 25, 3), her imperishable light is celebrated (VII. 82, 10), and Dawn is called Hhe face of Aditi' (I. 113, 19). This is the aspect of Aditi which Hillebrandt makes central — Aditi as the light of day in its boundlessness and imperishability In X. 63, 2 occurs the expression dyaur aditi ‘Aditi the sky’ or ‘boundless sky’. On the basis of this and similar expressions Max Muller ^ thought of Aditi as the unlimited expanse of space visible to the eye, and Roth"’ as the bound¬ lessness of the sky as opposed to the finite earth. In I. 72, 9 Aditi seems to be identified with the earths This is the view of PischeP following the Naighantuka, The earth for Pischel is ‘the inexhaustibly creative and generous one’. In a late passage (I. 89, 10) Aditi stands for universal nature in a Pantheistic sense. These various cosmological and mystical extensions of the meaning of Aditi are made possible by applying the idea of ‘boundlessness’, ‘lack of limitation’ to different aspects of nature®, such as heaven, earth and the totality of existence. Such speculations based upon the etymology of Aditi are quite after the manner of Indian thought, and are a Rigvedic anticipation of the methods of the Brahmanas. d) Adityas and Arnesha Spentas. — Reference has already been made" to the similarity which holds between these two groups of gods. The points of resemblance have been impressively drawn by Oldenberg^. Ahura Mazda ^ VM. in. 106-108. 2 SEE. 32, 241. 3PW. * Prithivt . .. ,mata . .. . adiiih, e. ‘boundless mother Earth’ or ‘spacious Mother Aditi’. ^ VS. II. 86. ® Max Muller defines Aditi as “ what is free from bonds of any kind, whether of space or time, free from physical weakness, free from moral guilt”. SEE. 32, 241. ’p. 25. ^ EV. 29-30, and ZDMG. 50 (1896), 43-68. 10 146 THE RELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA stands at the head of the (seven) * * Amesha Spentas, as Varuna at the head of the (seven) Adityas. As Mazda is an Ahura, so Varuna is an Asura. Ahura Mazda is the lord of right {asha) and Varuna of order {rita\ both bearing the same epithet, ashavan ritavan ^righteous’, ‘holy’. In the Avesta Ahura and Mithra appear clearly conjoined*, just as Mitra and Varuna in the Rv. In the Avesta the sun is ‘the eye of Ahura Mazda’ (Yasna I. 11); in the Veda, ‘the eye of Mitra and Varuna’ (VI. 51, 1, etc.). As Ahura is related to Spenta Mainyu ‘Holy Spirit’, so Varuna is related to Aditi, the holy mother whose nature is freedom and guiltlessness. The Amesha Spentas “are parts of the divine hypostasis, sharing with Mazda the name Ahura ‘Lord’.The Ahuras are not really separate from Mazda or subordinate to him; they seem to be essentially part of his own being, attributes of the Divine endowed with a vague measure of separate existence for the purpose of bringing out the truth for which they severally stand.”® The same view is to be taken of the Adityas in their relation to Varuna. “Alongside of Varuna the uniquely great Aditya, the other Adityas appear as little more than expressions of his divine nature, personi¬ fied aspects of the same—yes, hardly more than names of the one great God”\ Thus the Adityas represent the ‘holy of holies’ of Vedic religion, even as the Amesha Spentas, ‘Immortal Holy Ones’, hold the same place in Avestan religion. How are the similarities which hold between Adityas and Amesha Spentas to be explained? Two such similar ^ Neither the Adityas nor the Amesha Spentas appear as a definitely closed group. The number seven is in each case comparatively late. What determined the selection of candidates for the place of honour next to Ahura Mazda and Varuna respectively was not the demands of a fixed niunher, but rather ethical and spiritual congruity. * Yasna I. 11, Ahuraeihya Milhraeibya (Dvandva-compound). 2 Moulton, EZ. IX. 97, 293-295. * V. Bchrceder, AR. 355. yaruna the ethical god 147 lines of development almost certainly presuppose, as already stated \ a common starting point in the undivided Indo-Iranian period. The Zoroastrian reform obscured many resemblances which must have existed by leaving not one name in common in the two lists. The seventh book of the Rv. is specially connected with the worship of Varuna, and it is possible that the priestly family of the Vasisthas, the authors of the seventh book, maintained some connection With the mother country Bactria^ before and during the progress of the Zoroastrian reform. As the pure doctrine of Yahweh was mediated through a small group of Hebrew prophets, so may it have been with the high doctrine of Varuna and the Adityas. The real ethical and spiritual earnestness connected with the worship of Varuna, the ‘holy’ god, was probably displayed only in a limited quarter and among a select few. It may be that these ‘select few’ continued in contact with their ‘separated brethren’ across the mountains, both giving and receiving spiritual inspiration. It is even possible that some of the stimulus toward the Zoroastrian reform came from India, or vice versa, e) Semitic Influence possibly to he recognized in the Adityas and Amesha Spentas. This hypothesis was brought forward by Oldenberg^ to account for three things: (1) the sevenfold number of the Adityas and Amesha Spentas, (2) the implications involved in the close asso¬ ciation of Mitra (assumed to be a sun-god) with Varuna (hence taken to be a moon-god) and with five other Adityas (hence taken to be the five planets), and (3) es¬ pecially the appearance of such exalted ethical deities as Ahura Mazda and Varuna in the Aryan world. To account for these things Oldenberg assumed that there was a borrowing of seven planetary gods from the Semitic (or Accado-Sumerian) world, and that of these the moon-god ‘ p. 25. - From Peshawar to Balkh it is less than 400 miles as the crow flies. MlV. 185-195; ZDMG. 50 (1896>, 43-68. 10* 148 THE RELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA (Varuna) was the bearer of the noble ethical qualities of the later Ahura Mazda and Varuna, since there was an earlier ethical development in the Semitic than in the Indo-European world. It may be admitted at once that the discovery of the names of Mitra and Varuna on the Boghaz-koi tablets counts to some extent in favour of Oldenberg’s view. So also ddes the highly probable Semitic origin of the later Avestan goddess Ardvi Sura AiiahitaK Babylon too was probably responsible for fixing the Aihshaspands as seven—a secondary trait—in the time of the later Avesta; and Babylon, the teacher of astronomy to the nations, knew of the seven heavenly bodies, sun, moon, and five planets, possibly the origin of the sacred number seven. It is true also that the Babylonian moon-god Nannar- Sin is described in language which reminds us strongly of the Varuna hymns^ He is a ‘merciful one’ .whose ‘strong command produces right and proclaims justice to mankind’ . a ‘king of kings’, whose ‘sovereignty is in heaven and on earthIt must be admitted, too, that in the development of any god it is not the original physical substratum (whether moon or what not) that is of im¬ portance, but rather the degree in which the god represents the highest ethical ideals and brings under his authority all departments of nature and of life. But all due admissions having been made, what is the result? The sevenfold number of the Adityas and Amesha Spentas is apparently not primary, as is required by Oldenberg’s hypothesis, but secondary and late. So is the sun-nature of Mitra, which therefore cannot serve to prove that Varuna was originally the moon. The only question that remains is this: May there not have been an influence, if ^ Cf. Strabo 15, 3, 15; Carnoy, Iranian Views of Origins-, JAOS. 36 (1917), pp. 301-303; Moulton EZ. 238 ff. “ Jastrow, RBA. 303 ff; Oldenberg, ZDMG. 50, p. 67 ; Carnoy IVO. in JAOS. 36 pp. 307 ff.; Griswold, GVR. 28. ^ Jastrow, RBA. 303 ff. VARUNA THE ETHICAL GOD 149 not direct, at least indirect, subtle, and almost telepathic \ over the religious thinking of the undivided Indo-Iranian people in Bactria on the part of the culturally and religiously more developed Babylonians ? The Indo- Iranians themselves had something on which to build, the lofty conception of Dyaus as Father and Lord, which had come down to them from the time of the undivided IE. period, and the great ethical conception of Asha-rita ‘ order, righteousness, truth’. It may be that these ideas were fructified - and helped to come more speedily and fully to fruition through the influence of Babylonia *. The hy¬ pothesis of Professor Oldenberg has rendered a service in emphasizing the unique significance of Varuna and the Adityas in the religion of the Rigveda. ^ Compare Renan Vie de Jesus, Ecg. trans. by C. E. Wilbour, N. Y. 1868, p. 65: “The delicate and clairvoyant Virgil seems to respond, as by a secret echo, to the second Isaiah”. ^ “The admirable conception of the rita is probably supeiior to all that is found in Babylonian religion and philosophy, and gives proof of an exalted mentality among the Indo-Iranians. This does not^ however, preclude the fecun¬ dation of Aryan thought on this point by the contact with their neighbours at a very early period’\ Carnoy, IVO. in JAOS. 36, p. 308. The influence postulated is of the subtle, telepathic sort that made the period 600-400 B. C. so notable in the religious and ethical history of the world. For example, it was the period of Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Second Isaiah 600-500, Confucius 551-478, Buddha 560-477, Socrates 469-399, possibly too of Zoroaster 660-583 B. c. Even direct intercourse between Babylonia and Bactria during the period of the Indo-Iranian unity (b. c. 2500-1500 circa) must be admitted as possible. During all that period Babylonia Avas in close touch with Egypt. If as the crow flies, it is about 800 miles from the Euphrates to the Nile, it is only about 1200 Miles from the Euphrates to the Oxus. This bear’s upon the possibility of a Babylonian origin for the sacred number seven in both Veda and Avesta. Keith (Numbers, Aryan, ERE. IX) on the basis of all the evidence declares that ‘three and nine are Aryan numbers’, the implication being that seven is possibly Semitic, since it is prominent in Babylonian and Hebrew. Among all the IE. branches, seven as a sacred number is apparently found, apart from Christian influence, only in Iranian and Indian, C e. in the Avesta and Veda. Bactria was near enough to Babylonia and the Indo-Iranian period was early enough for such a loan of the number seven to be made in connection doubtless with trade. This view becomes even more plausible, if we hold that the route by which the Aryan clans travelled eastward to Bactria and India lay across the upper Euphrates and Tigris. CHAPTER VI. AGNI THE PRIESTLY GOD. 1. Introductory. — The Rigveda recognises a threefold division of the universe into heaven, mid-air and earth, in connection with each of which a form of fire is found. The altar-fire on earth, the lightning in mid-air, and the sun in heaven, are the same in nature, but differ in location, function and attendant circumstances. This is the earliest Indian triad, the centre of much mystical speculation. Thus Agni is threefold (I. 95, 3; IV. 1, 7)‘ for thus the devas made him to be (X. 88, 10), has three heads (I. 146, 1), three stations, tongues, bodies (III. 20, 2), three dwellings (VIII, 39, 8) and three kindlings (III. 2, 9) ^ On the basis of the threefold classification in I. 139, 11 of the 33 gods into eleven each for sky, earth and aerial waters, together with the three forms of Agni as mentioned above, there existed a very early view quoted by Yaska, according to which the three groups of eleven deities reduce respectively to Agni on earth, VUyu or Indi'a in air and Sitrya in heaven. A possible proof-text for the identification of the inter¬ mediate form of Agni with lightning is found in I. 164, 1, according to which the heavenly Agni ( = the sun) has two brothers, of whom ‘the middlemost is lightning’ (asna) and ’ Threefold are those, the highest, true, and lovely, The births of this god Agni. Close enveloped Within the infinite has he come hither. The shining, gleaming and resplendent Aryan. IV. 1, 7. ^ As the three stations and dwellings of Agni are probably earth, mid-air and sky, so his three heads, kindlings and tongues probably represent his three forms, altar-fire, lightning and sun. This triad of Vedic Agnis doubtless lies at the basis of the three later ritualistic fires, garhapaiya, ahavanlya and daksimigni- But in view of such texts as II. 36, 4 ‘Sit down in the three yonis’, and V. 11, 2 ‘Men have kindled Agni in his threefold seat’, it is possible that the three ritualistic fires may Ire lligvedic. AGNI THE PRIESTLY GOD 151 the other is ‘butter-backed’ (the altar-fire)* *. But in VIII. 18, 9 the three are represented as Agni, Surya and Vata ‘wind’, the same being also implied in I. 164, 44. The ambiguity in the Rigvedic texts between the meanings ‘lightning’ and ‘wind, explains the view referred to by Yaska that the regent of the air is ‘Vayu or Indra’. Agni is celebrated in about 200 hymns, being next to Indra the most prominent of the Vedic gods. The Agni- hymns stand at the beginning of each of the ‘family-books’ (II-VII) and every one of the ten books of the Rv. except two, begins with a hymn to Agni. The cult of fire has been maintained in India down to the present time — 3000 years at least. Since the name of the god is also the name of the thing, Agni ‘fire’ is a thoroughly transparent Sonder- gott — ‘he of the fire’. Hence in contrast with Varuna and Indra Agni’s personification is very rudimentary, the process being constantly arrested by the fact that his nature as fire is so obvious. Thus Agni is called butter- backed, butter-faced, butter-haired, etc., with reference to the oblations of ghee which he receives, and flame-haired, burning-jawed, thousand-eyed, thousand-horned, etc., with reference to his flames^. For further illustrations of this compare the following: 2. Seizing his own food for himself, th’ unaging one, Agni stands greedy mid the brushwood, full of thirst; When ghee-besprinkled shines his back like racer swift, Like heaven’s exalted ridge he thundering doth roar. 4. Wind-driven, with the sickle, Agni ladle-fed Spreads lightly through the brushwood with his mighty roar; When, bull-like, thirstily thou rushest on the sticks. Black is thy course, imaging god with fiery waves. * So Ludwig and Macdonell. Hillebrandt (VM. 2. 128) and Geldner (Glossai’) take asna in the sense of ‘eater’ or ‘hungry’. Since it is clear that Vayu ‘wind’ is one of the three in I. 164, 44, it is reasonable to look for Vayu or Vata in I. 164, 1. cf. X. 158, 1. * I. 58, 5; 79, 12; III. 1, 18; V. 4, 3; VIII. 49, 2. See Macdonell VM. 88-89. 152 THE RELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA 5. Fire-jawed, wind-driven, there blazes down upon the wood Agni, like a strong bull that rushes on the herd, Mounting the everlasting air with streaming light, — Then both things fixed and moving fear the winged one. I. 58, 2, 4, 5. In these stanzas Agni is little more than ‘ an assortment of fire-qualities^ linked together by a slight measure of personification. At any rate, the poet is very conscious of the fiery nature of Agni. 2. The Prehistoric Agni. —Agni ‘fire’ is the Latin ignis and the Lithuanian ugni. Hence the word comes down from the undivided IE. period. During the long cold winters of their northern home the hearth-fire must have been the centre of the domestic life of the IE. clans, and as such must have been a place connected with religious rites. It is highly probable that the hearth-fire itself received offerings in connection with the custom of making gifts to the gods in fire*. But the Sondergott ‘fire’ in that early period was probably little more than the name of an element at once friendly and terrible, and as such surrounded with a halo of mystery ^ The special sanctity of the house-fire was inherited by the Iranians from Indo-European antiquity ^ There are many points of contact between Agni and Atar^ e,g, Agni (Rv. I. 26, 10) and Atar (Yasna 2, 12, etc.) are both adored together with all fires. Atar is the son of Ahura Mazda, and Agni of Dyaus. Corresponding to the three Vedic fires there are in the Avesta probably a house-fire, a village-fire and a community-fire ^ As Agni is called ‘house-lord’ in the Rv. so Atar is called ‘the ^ Oldenberg, RV. 103. “ The wide diversity of the IE. names for fire, such as Skt. Agni, Lat. ignis, Lith. ugni] Gr. pur, Eng. fire; Gr. Hestia, Lat. Vesta; Iran. Atar, cf. Lat. atrium, the room containing the hearth; Lat. tepor, Sk. tapas, etc., shows that there was no catholic name for fire-god in the IE. period. ^ Moulton, Art. Iranians in ERE. ^ Avestan word for fire. ^ See Yasna 62, 5, and Spiegel, AP. 152. AGNI THE PRIESTLY GOD 153 house-lord of all houses’ in the A vesta (Yasna 17, 11). It is clear that there was a developed fire-ritual in the period of Indo-Iranian unity, out of which sprang the worship of both Agni and Atar in later times \ The fact that Atar was retained by the Zoroastrian reform shows that in the pre-Zoroastrian period it had no unworthy associations. It was simply the house-fire or hearth, and is to be compared with Hestia and Vestas In the later Avesta Atar is sometimes reckoned as a Ydzata or angel (Yasna 17. 1-11) and sometimes as an Amesha Spenta or archangel (Yasna 1. 2). According to Yasna 62. 4 Atar as Ahura Mazda’s son is besought to give ‘glory .nourishment . .. .booty. .. .understanding...virile power .... offspring’. We are reminded of similar statements in many of the hymns to Agni. For example: Agni bestows the swift prize-winning racer, Agni gives heroes famed, in duty steadfast; Agni pervades the two great worlds, anointing, Agni the fruitful wife makes teem with heroes. X. 80, 1. As in the sun the rays are firmly centred So in Vaisvanara are placed all treasures; Whether in mountains found, or plants, or waters, Or in mankind, — thou art the king of all that. I. 59, 3. Come to us, Agni, with thy gracious friendship. With thy great blessings, great one, swiftly speeding; Vouchsafe to us wealth plentiful victorious. Our share make laudable and full of glory. III. 1, 19. Here Agni is represented as a cosmic, generative force intimately connected with the origin and growth of plant and animal life. But the generative Agni is at the same time the economic Agni. If fire is the condition of the existence and growth of life, both vegetable and animal, * “The history of religion practically includes only two genuine fire-gods— Agni of Hinduism and Atar of Zoroastrianism”. Crawley, Art. Fire^ Fire-gods in ERE. VI. 28. " Atar is referred to seven times in the G5th&s, three times together with the spirit or thought of Zoroaster, quite as in Matt. III. 11 the Holy Ghost is associated with fire. 154 THE RELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA then fire may also be regarded as the cause of food, wealth and prosperity, as it actually is regarded in the stanzas quoted above. The two most primitive aspects of Agni are undoubtedly his * * domestic’ (damimas) character as * house-lord’ (griha- pati)f and his function as a dispeller of darkness, evil spirits and hostile magic. The Rv. offers abundant illustrations of both points: a) Agni’s domestic character as his first primitive trait: Who o’er the Five Tribes bearing sway Hast set him down in every home, Sage, youthful, master of the house. VII. 15, 2. Doing his work he dwells in earthly houses. Though god he wins the fellowship of mortals. IV. 1, 9. As god domestic thou hast settled mortals. III. 1, 7. Thus, as Macdonell says, Agni’s “association with the dwellings of men is peculiarly intimate It is from this point of view that Agni is called by such names as kinsman, friend, father, brother, son and mother. For example: As is a father to a son, Agni be easy of access ; Stay with us for prosperity. I. 1, 9. Thee, Agni, men do make their father through the rites, A brother through sacrifice, O thou of shining form; Thou dost become a son to him who worships thee, As a kind friend thou dost protect from all attack. II. 1, 9. These stanzas were written from the point of view of the developed sacrificial system, but they doubtless pre¬ suppose a more primitive condition. As Macdonell says, “such terms seem to point to an older order of things, when Agni was less sacrificial and, as the centre of domestic life, produced an intimate relation such as is not easily found in the worship of other gods ” ^ This char¬ acteristic of Agni naturally connects him more closely than any other god with the past. In him is perpetuated. ^ VM. 95. * VM. 96; cf. Oldenberg, EV. 132. AGNI THE PRIESTLY GOD 155 as it were, the usage of the fathers h Thus there is mentioned an Agni of Bharata, Devavata, Trasadasyu, Divodasa and Vadhryasva^ Agni is called an Ahgiras (I. 1, 6), and he is besought to respond to his worshippers as he did to Manus, Yayati and Ahgiras in the days of old (I. 31, 17). b) The second primitive trait of Agni is his character as a dispeller of darkness, night-foes, hostile magic, demons and illness. First, then, Agni’s function in dispelling darkness: Over against the Dawns resplendent Agni Has been awakened, priest and guide of sages; Of ample splendour, by the pious kindled. The carrier-god throws back the gates of darkness. III. 5,1. Shepherd of clans is he; by his night-shining rays All the two-footed and four-footed creatures walk; The great bright splendour of the dawn art thou. In thine own friendship, Agni, may we live unharmed. I. 94, 5. O Agni god, whose wealth is light. Beaming with radiance like the sun Boldly thou dost the darkness slay. VIII. 43, 82. Swallowed by darkness was the world and hidden; At Agni’s birth the light became apparent. X. 88, 2. Secondly, Agni repels enemies. The dispelling of darkness is closely connected with the discomfiture of enemies, for undoubtedly the Vedic Aryans experienced night-attacks from their foes. The opportune rising of the sun would often mean the flight of the enemy. Through fear of thee the clans of dusky colour Have fled at random leaving their possessions; When thou, fierce-glowing Agni, stronghold-piercing. Hast shone, Vaisvanara, on behalf of Puru. VII. 5, 3. Thirdly, Agni wards off hostile magic. Anthropological researches have abundantly shown the large place that magic holds in the life of primitive man. * Macdonell, VM. 96; Hillebrandt, VM. II. 57. * Rv. II. 7, 1; III. 23, 3; VIII. 19, 32; 92, 2; X. 69, 1. 156 THE RELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA Should any one bring on us sin, transgression On him of evil spells inflict the evil; Destroy, O knowing one, such imprecation, O Agni, of the man that harms by falsehood. V. 3, 7. Ghee-offered and resplendent one. Burn thou against the mischievous. Yea, Agni, ’gainst the sorcerers. I. 12, 5. May our curse overcome the evil-minded ones. With thy dread weapons beat away all those who curse, Devourers, evil-minded, be they far or near. I. 94,8^, 9“-^. These passages indicate a strong belief in the potency of the magic spell. A conflict between two hostile tribes was often a conflict between sorcerers using magic b From the point of view of the Vedic hymns the magic of their enemies was the magic of ‘evil-minded sorcerers’, and so belonged to the works of darkness. Fourthly, Agni destroys the demons or puts them to flight. The belief in demons and goblins of the night is an article of the primitive faith of mankind — a belief vastly antedating the composition of the Vedic hymns. The distinction between sorcerer and demon is not always clear. Agni expels the Raksasas, God of clear radiance, deathless one. Bright, cleansing, worthy to be praised. Agni protect us from distress. With hottest flames, unaging god. Burn thou against our enemies. VII. 15, 10, 13. The raksas-slaying racer I besprinkle, Mitra approach for most capacious shelter; Kindled and sharpened by the potent off’rings May Agni guard us day and night from mischief. Kindled, with flame attack the Yatudhanas. O Jatavedas, armed with metal grinders; ^ Just as in the O. T. Balak hired Balaam to curse the children of Israel, Numbers XXII-XXIV. AGNI THE PKIESTLY GOD 157 With fiery tongue assault the Muradevas, Rend, place within thy mouth the raw-flesh eaters. Annihilate with heat the Ydtudhanas, With fiery force annihilate the Raksas: Annihilate with flame the Muradevas, Burning against the life-destroying monsters K X. 87,1,2,14. The modern man has no difficulty in understanding the primitive man's tendency to associate demons and ghosts with darkness. With the breaking of the day how quickly the mind-created goblins of the night take them¬ selves off. Fifthly, Agni banishes illness, or perhaps more strictly illness-demons, for this is the primitive point of view. As Macdonell'^ says, “evils closely conn^ected with human life, such as disease proceed from lesser demons”. The hygienic value of fire, warmth and light must have impressed primitive man. To the sage Agni render praise. Him of true rules in sacrifice, God, banisher of illnesses. I. 12, 7. The last line might just as well be translated: ‘God, banisher of illness-fiends'. Thus far we have considered the aspects of fire which would naturally impress primitive man — the function of the fire on the hearth as the centre of domestic life, its function as a dispeller of darkness, demons and hostile magic, and its function as a cosmic force vitally connected with the growth of animal and vegetable life, and so the cause of food, wealth and prosperity. These aspects of fire are all most primitive, although they are often found side by side with more modern conceptions. 3. The Sacrificial Agni. — The discovery of fire as a means of preparing food was one of the most epoch- ^ According to Oklenberg (RV. 336-340) a distinction must be drawn between the sacrificial fire and the magic fire. The fire which is besought to expel or destroy demons belongs to the latter category. * VM. 18. 158 THE KELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA making experiences of mankind. It probably came about accidentally through forest-fires caused by lightning. We may assume that wild animals would be killed by the fire and roasted ^ Primitive man always hungry would thus get his first taste of roasted flesh, and at the same time it would be easy for him to snatch a fagot from the burning forest, and keep it alive. In some such way as this the great discovery was made. Cooked food was seen to be more palatable than uncooked food. And so food prepared by fire would be set before a guest, in order to do him honour. After the same analogy the gods being conceived anthropomorphically as the divine guests of men would be entertained and fed with fire-prepared food. Such is un¬ doubtedly the psychological origin of the chief sacrificial use of fire", stated very roughly. A distinction must be drawn between fire-offerings and fireless offerings. Fire offerings are those which, whether prepared by fire or not, are consumed in fire and go up in flame and smoke to the gods. Fireless offerings, on the other hand, are those that, whether consisting of cooked or uncooked food, are not consumed in fire, but are laid out for the gods to eat. Of the two types of offerings the fireless variety would seem to be the more primitive. The well-known passage in Herodotus (I. 132) describes a Persian sacrifice of the fireless sort, according to which the dismembered parts of the animal victim, after being seethed, are laid out on a carpet of the tenderest herbage^. This carpet of grass corresponds to the Vedic barhis^, the * See Charles Lamb’s Dissertation upon Roast Pig in the “Essays of Elia.”. ^ Oldenberg (RV. 347) refers to two early uses of fire, which may stand in close connection with the sacrificial fire, namely the fire that scares away demons, and the fire in which the remnants of the sacrifice as possibly dangerous to men (cf. Lev. VII. 15), are consumed. ^Moulton, EZ. 394; Oldenberg, RV. 341-347; Schrader, ERE. II. 41-42. ^ The tender grass mentioned by Herodotus reminds us of the description of barhis as ‘soft as wool’, uriiamradab, Rv. V. 5, 4. cf- Avestan barczish, ‘mat’, ‘bolster’. Note that the barhis is so closely connected with the gods at their AGNI THE PRIESTLY GOD 159 sacred * strew ^ or ‘litter’ on which the gods are invited to sit and partake of the sacrificial food. Herodotus tells us that the old Persians had no fire-altar in connection with ‘the carpet of herbage’. In the Rv., however, the juxta¬ position of barhis ‘litter’ and vedi ‘altar’, would seem to be an indication at once of the primitive method of fireless sacrifice and of the later innovation of the fire-altar \ Both the old and the new, as so often seen in Indian practice, are thus brought together, the barhis which re¬ quires the gods to come to earth for their feast, and the vedi which carries in flame and smoke the sacrifice to heaven. As illustrating the two points of view there may be quoted the two following stanzas of I. 1: — Agni is worthy to be praised By former Risliis and by new; May he the devas hither bring. I. 1, 2. That is, to sit on the barhis and partake of the food (originally laid out on it). And for the second point of view: Agni, the rite and sacrifice Which thou encirclest on all sides, That to the devas truly goes. I. 1, 4. That is, the sacrifice, when encircled by fire and so consumed, goes to the gods in heaven. Under the head of Fire as a sacrificial element we may roughly classify the Vedic material as follows; — a) Agni dwells in the vedi or fire-pit, where he (or it) is kindled at dawn (the morning sacrifice). To th’ altar-seated fair-established, brilliant (god). To Agni proffer drink-like the encircling ghee. I. 140, 1. earthly feasts and with Agni in connection with the altar-fire that it receives apotheosis and in the AprT hymns is adored as a form of Agni. According to Taitt. Samh. VI. 3, 8, 3, so holy is the barhis that the offering is not lost, i. e. defiled by¬ falling upon it. ’ Oldenberg, RV. 343. 160 THE RELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA Over against the Dawns resplendent Agni Has been awakened, priest and guide of sages, Of ample splendour, by the pious kindled. III. 5, 1. Agni arrayed in many-coloured garments Is seated in the navel of the broad earth. Born ruddy in the place of sacrifices. X. 1, 6. As such, O Agni, be to us the nearest. For help the closest, while this dawn is breaking. IV. 1, 5. Agni’s abode being in the form of a round fire-pit is called ‘the navel of the earth’. The round altar of earth corresponds to the round sun in the sky Navel of earth and head of heaven is Agni. I. 59, 2. h) Agni is strengthened with fuel, ghee and soma for his various tasks. The lofty one has by receiving fuel Propped up the sky, the highest light becoming. III. 5, 10. Men with oblations magnify thee ever, Agni the agile* * one, to act as envoy. VII. 11, 2. O Agni, magnified with ghee, On lightest car bring near the gods; Thou art a hotar Manus-made. I. 13, 4. This is thy goodness that when kindled in thy house, And soma-fed, thou dost awake, most merciful. Treasure and wealth thou givest to thy worshipper; In thine own friendship, Agni, may we live unharmed. 1.94,14. Thus by means of fuel, ghee, etc. Agni is made to blaze up fiercely, and so is enabled to do his work. c) Agni as the sacrificial fire is the mediator and messenger between gods men. Through thee who art their mouth the guileless deathless gods All eat the off ring which is sacrificed to them. II. 1, 14. However constantly to all The gods we offer, yet in thee Alone the sacrifice is made. I. 26, 6. ^ Cf. Hillebrandt, VM. II. 135: The arrangement of the place of sacrifice is a copy of the heavenly world. * ajira ‘agile’ from aj to drive (Lat. ago, Gr. aYtO) a possible etymology of agni as the ‘agile’ or ‘nimble’ element. AGNI THE PRIESTLY GOD 161 * To kindle thee may we be able; speed our prayers; In thee the gods do eat the offered sacrifice. I, 94, 3. Agni, the other fires are thine own branches, In thee the immortals find exhilaration. I. 59, 1. Splendour of sacrifice, great art thou; never Without thee are the gods exhilarated. With all the deathless ones come on thy chariot. Sit down here, Agni, as the first of hotars. VII. 11, 1. The strength-begotten deathless hotar downward smites*, What time Vivasvant’s messenger he has become; By straightest paths the atmosphere he has traversed. Invites the gods in heaven by sacrificial food. I. 58, 1. To eat th’ oblation, bring the devas, Agni; With Indra leading let them here be joyful. In heaven among the gods place this our off’ring; Ye gods, protect us evermore with blessings. VII. 11, 5. O Agni, mayest thou announce Among the gods this newest song Of ours, a potent gayatra. I. 27, 4. As god domestic thou hast settled mortals; As charioteer, the gods directly seekest. III. 1, 17. Delight the yearning gods and bring them, youngest. Knowing right times, O lord of times and seasons. X. 2, 1. Awaken thou the yearning ones. What time as envoy thou dost go; Sit with the devas on the straw. I. 12, 4. By Agni Agni kindled is. The sage, house-master, youthful god, Oblation-bearing, spoon-mouthed one. I. 12, 6. Agni doth send the sacrifice to heaven. X. 80, 4. Hotar is he; he knows the work Of messenger; goes to and fro ^Twixt heaven and earth, knows heaven’s ascent. IV. 8, 4. Bring forth a praise-song for the mighty Agni, For him, the manager of earth and heaven. VII. 5, 1, ' Navel of earth and head of heaven is Agni, He has become the steward of the two worlds. I- 59. 2. Thee, Agni god, the gods have ever set to work Unanimously as their representative. IV. 1 , 1. * Or perhaps better ‘never fires’, after Oltlenberg’s conjectural emendation. See SBE. XLVI. 4B. 11 162 THE RELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA Under this head an unusually large number of texts are cited, since the doctrine of Agni as sacrificial mediator is the central doctrine of the sacrificial fire. In and through Agni men offer sacrifice to the gods (I. 26, 6) and in and through Agni (11. 1, 14; I. 94, 3) the gods eat the sacrifice and are exhilarated (VII. 11, 1, 5). Thus Agni is the mouth of the gods (II. 1, 14). Ghee as a drink of the gods is poured into the fire with a spoon and so Agni is called spoon-mouthed \ Then he mounts up toward heaven, bearing in flame and smoke the oblation to the gods (I. 12, 6; VII, 11, 5; VIII. 80, 4); and the flames of Agni crackle and roar, calling out to the gods, as it were, to come to the sacrifice (I. 58, 1; VII. 11, 1, 5). Agni as the roaring fire awakens the gods (I. 12, 4), and perhaps from this point of view he is called a hotar (VII. 11, 1, etc.) or invoking^ priest. Agni announces among the gods not only sacrifices, but also hymns (I. 27, 4). Agni has a golden chariot ^ with which he traverses the mid-air by straightest paths (I. 58, 1), seeks the gods directly (III. 1, 17), and brings them on lightest car to the sacrifice (I. 13, 4). The twofold direction of Agni’s car, heavenward and earthward, may have been suggested by the upward movement of the altar-flame and the downward movement of the lightning, when it falls to the earth. Agni rising in flame from the altar heavenward and falling in the form of lightning from heaven earthward is the mediator between the two worlds. On earth Agni is the sacrificial fire on the altar, the ^navel’ or centre of earth; in heaven he is the sun as well as lightning. Thus Agni as the sacrificial representative'* of the gods belongs to both worlds, and as messenger ^ Juhvnsya, I. 12, 6, ‘whose mouth is a spoon’, or more probably ‘having a spoon in his mouth’. * Hu ‘to call’, as well as Im ‘to sacrifice’. ^ IV. 1, 8. doubtless referring to the ruddy flame as it mounts heavenward. ^ Arati IV. 1, 1 ; VII. 5, 1. AGNI THE PRIESTLY GOD 163 moves freely to and fro between them. His connection with the two worlds is thus emphasized 4. Agni's Heavenly Origin. —According to the Hv. both Agni and Soma, the sacrificial fire and the sacrificial drink, came down from heaven. Matarisvan brought Agni from afar (HI. 9, 5; VI. 8, 4). We have here in general the Vedic equivalent of the Greek myth of Prometheus. There is some difference of opinion as to whether Matar¬ isvan in the Rv. means lightning^ or wind\ Wind is the usual meaning from the Atharvaveda onward. If, however, we recall that lightning and wind usually go together in a thunder-storm, there will be no difficulty in making Matarisvan^ to mean in the Rv. lightning accompanied by wind. The isolated texts in which Matarisvan is mentioned indicate sufficiently his fiery quality, but do not overlook altogether his windy nature®. We may regard Matarisvan, then, as the lightning form of Agni with a windy character. We know that lightning is attended by wind, is to some extent guided by draughts of wind, and at any rate the swiftness of lightning is like that of the wind. The lightning element, which was primary at the beginning, finally dropped out leaving in the later Matarisvan only a windy character, just as in the parallel case of Varuna nothing was left finally but the headship of pools. For the Vedic Aryan the lightning and wind of the thunder-storm were an indissoluble unity. The lightning was windy and the wind was bright and gleaming The original meaning of * Rv. II- 6, 7; III. 1, 3; 3, 2; IV. 2, 3, etc. niacdonell, VM. 72. ^HUlebrandt, VM. II. 149-154. ^ Lit.—‘growing in his mother’ the rain-cloud (Macdonell. VM., 72), hence probably a mythological synonym of Apam Napat ‘ Son of the (heavenly) waters’. ^ Only 27 in all. ® Thus when fashioned in his mother, he became ‘ the swift flight of wind’, III. 29, 11; and Agni as a raging serpent in the air (lightning) is compared with the rushing wind I- 79, 1. ’ In V. 87, 6 the Maruts are compared with fires. 164 THE RELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA the myth clearly is that fire was brought to earth by means of lightning (and wind)\ Agni, then, though as the deified altar-fire a god of earth, yet in origin is a deva ^a bright heavenly one’, brought ‘from afar’. The bringing down of Agni and Soma from heaven are the earliest instances of ‘descents’ in the history of Indian religion^ Agni’s title as ‘guest’ may refer to the same circle of ideas. 5. Agni as the great High Priest. — Since the sacri¬ ficial fire was the centre of the Yedic ritual, it was natural to ascribe to Agni priestly functions. a) Agni is the divine counterpart of the earthly priesthood. Thine, Agni, is the Hotar’s, thine the Potar’s task, Thine, too, the Nestar’s; thou art Agnidh for the good; Thine the Prasastar’s office, thine Adhvaryii’s too. The Brahman-priest art thou. House-master in our house. H. 1, 2. Agni I praise, domestic priest, God, minister of sacrifice. The Hotar, giver best of gifts. I. 1, 1. Th’ Adhvaryu art thou and the ancient Hotar priest, Prasastar, Potar and by birth Purohita; Knowing all priestly duties, thou dost give success. In thine own friendship, Agni, may we live unharmed 1.94,6. There was division of labour among the Vedic priests, their tasks being distributed among seven or eight different persons, not to mention the Purohita or ‘domestic priest’. Agni knows and performs the functions of each priest. Thus Agni’s priesthood is essential and architypal. Over against the many priesthoods of men there is the one divine priesthood of Fire, for through Agni alone men worship the gods. Thus Agni as the sacrificial element of fire was the great high priest of the Vedic period. This fact may ^ This interpretation fits in well with the early view quoted by Yaska, that the god of the middle region is V5yu or Indra, i- c. wind or lightning. "They introduce the idea of ‘descents’, such as are found in tlic acataraa of Visnu in the form of animals and men. AGNI THE PRIESTLY GOD 165 help to account for the position of the Agni hymns in the Rv. collection. They stand first in the ‘family books’ and in general occupy the most prominent position in the whole collection. At the time when the Rik text was finally fixed (circa 600 b. c.), the priestly caste had gained the supremacy over the warrior caste. This condition of things may be symbolized by the fact that the hymns dedicated to iliepriest Agni are given a more prominent position than those ascribed to the tvarrior Indra. At any rate as Macdonell says, Agni’s priesthood is the most salient feature of his character, he being the great priest as Indra is the great warrior \ b) Agni is the king of sacrificial rites: In the abode of mortals has th’ immortal, The king sat down, performing acts of worship. III. 1, 18. Lord of the mighty sacrifice is Agni, Yea, lord of all oblations that are offered. VII. 11, 4. He who at eve and dawn receives Praise for his beauty, house by house, Whose ordinance is inviolate. II. 8, 3. King of the clans, the wonderful Director of the rites, — I praise This Agni; may he hear our call. VIII. 43; 24. Thou who art kmg of holy rites. Guardian of rita, shining one. Increasing in thine own abode. I. 1,8. Delight the yearning gods and bring them, youngest. Knowing right times, O lord of times and seasons. X. 2, 1. O Agni, long-tailed ^ like a horse. Thee let me greet adoringly. The sovereign lord of sacred rites. I. 27, 1. According to these specimen passages selected at random Agni is the king, superintendent and sovereign^ of rites and sacrifices and of sacrificial times and seasons. He is the guardian of rita and his ordinance (vrata) is inviolate. * VM. 97. * The shifting flame is compared with a hoi’se’s tail. Rajan, adhaksa, samrdjan. 166 THE RELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA Agni as the sacrificial element par excellence and the archi- type of every human priesthood is the very embodiment of ritualistic order*. He possesses the priestly function and wields the priestly authority. c) Agni, as the wise priest, is able to correct mis¬ takes in worship ^ If ever we violate your regulations, O ye sage gods, we who are poor in knowledge; Wise Agni, then, corrects the matter wholly. So as to give each god his proper season. When, simple as they are, weak-minded mortals Fail to bethink themselves of sacrificing. Then may the hotar Agni, wise, discerning. Worship the gods, best worshipper, in season. X. 2, 4-5. Agni is the very embodiment of priestly wisdom. He knows all priestly duties (1. 94, 6) and is as wise as a sage^ Especially as the ritualistic god is Agni interested in the production of prayers and hymns. He is the deviser of brilliant speech (II. 9, 4), the first deviser of prayer (VI. 1,1). As the master of every thought he promotes the worship¬ per’s meditation (IV. 6, 1). 6. Agni as Intercessor and Judge. In relation to sin Agni plays a part only second to that of Varuna and the Adityas^ a) Agni is an all-seeing god. He has eyes (II. 2, 4, X. 21, 7), 100 eyes (I. 128, 3), 1000 eyes (X. 79, 5), with which to behold the deeds of men. Like Varuna, he has spies which he sends forth (IV. 4, 3). He knows accordingly the ^hidden part’ {aplcya VHI. 39, 6) of men. He can ^ Of the three strands of meaning in rila ‘order, namely cosmic, ethical and ritualistic, the meaning ritualistic order is naturally prominent in connection with Agni. ^ With Agni as the perfector of human woi-ship compare Rom. VIII. 26-27, where the Holy Spirit is represented as helping our infirmity, himself making intercession for us, and so enabling us to offer acceptable worship. ^ Kavikratu I. 1, 5. ^ Oldenberg, RV. 201. AGNI THE PRIESTLY GOD 167 distinguish the wisdom and folly of mortals like straight and crooked backs of horses (IV. 2, 11). Thus Agni is the eye and guardian of mighty rita\ and is to be identified with Varuna when the latter strives after rita (X. 8, 5)^ b) Agni takes account of sin and punishes it. He publishes the guilt of sinful men before Varuna and the Adityas, nay, before all the gods (IV. 3, 5-8). He brings evil upon the man who utters evil spells, imprecations and falsehood (V. 3, 7) and consumes with his hottest flame those who violate the fundamental principles (dhama) of Varuna and Mitra: May Agni rich in wealth with flame most scorching, Agni the sharp-toothed one, consume those people Who break the laws by Varuna established. The dear abiding rules of watchful Mitra. Roaming about like girls that have no brothers. Of evil ways like wives that trick their husbands. Being unrighteous, lost to truth and goodness, They for themselves have this deep place created IV. 5,4-5. c) Agni intercedes with Varuna for sinners and de¬ precates his wrath. Therefore, O Agni, turn to brother Varuna, The god who graciously accepts the sacrifice. O Friend, to (Varuna) thy friend turn promptly thou. Like a swift wheel, like two car-steeds in rapid course. O Agni, mercy find for us with Varuna. Knower of Varuna mayest thou, O Agni, For us appease the god’s fierce indignation. Best agent of the gods, best sacrificer. Flaming remove far from us every hatred. As such, O Agni, be to us the nearest. For help the closest, while this dawn is breaking; Make Varuna go away by sacrificing; As liberal one, have mercy, heed our prayer. IV. 2, 4, 5. * Certainly ethical order here as well as ritualistic. * Is the common relation to rita on the part of both A’'aruna and Agni the basis of their identification in such passages as II. 1, 4; III. 5, 4; V. 3,1; VII. 12, 3? ^ The grammatical uncertainties are not such as to affect the general sense. See Oldenberg, RVN. I. 270-271- 168 THE RELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA A very notable passage. Varuna is angry. He must be appeased. The one who can find mercy with Varuna and remove his anger is Agni. This he can do, because Varuna is his friend and brother. Agni the sacrificial god, shows his mercy ^ toward the sinful by appealing to the mercy of Varuna on their behalf. Thus Agni the priestly god fulfils the role of an intercessor. d) Agni is besought to forgive whatever sin has been committed (VII. 93, 7), to pardon the sin which has been perpetrated through thoughtlessness by those who are only human (IV. 12, 4), to release from ‘great guilt’ and its penalty ‘the prison of gods and mortals’ (IV. 12, 5), to make men guiltless before Aditi (IV. 12, 4), to grant Diti and keep off Aditi (IV. 2, 11), to protect from Varuna’s dhurti (harmful purpose I. 128, 7), and to put away the wrath of the gods (IV. 48, 10). In relation then to sin and its punishment or remission Agni who dwells in the homes of men is the counterpart of the heaven-dwelling Varuna ^ 7. Agni and Brihaspati. — Brihaspati^ ‘the lord of prayer’ shares in the activities of both Agni and Indr a, as the following hymn together with other passages indicates: To Brihaspati IV. 50 1. The one who propped with might earth’s ends asunder, The charming tongued, three-seated, loudly roaring, Him god Brihaspati the ancient Rishis And sages pondering made their priestly leader* *; 2. They who with noisy rush, exhilarated, For us, Brihaspati, stormed the extensive Dappled, conspicuous, uninjured cattle; Brihaspati, guard thou the kine recovered ^ *The word ‘mercy’ (mrilika) is the same in verses 3 and 5. ^Bergaigne, PiV. III. 169-174; Oldenberg, RV. 201, 298-299. ^Alternative form Brahmanaspati, lit. ‘lord of Brahman’. * i. e. made their purohita (purodhS). ® For this very difficult stanza see MacdoneU, VRS. 85-86; Oldenberg, Notm I. 305-306; Hillebrandt, LR. 59. AGNI THE PRIESTLY GOD 169 3. Brihaspati from farthest distance coming The i?^7<2-lovers have for thee been seated; For thee the springs dug out or milked with press-stones Of mead drip superabundance in all quarters. 4. Brihaspati, when first receiving being From the great light that is in highest heaven, With seven mouths, strong-born, with sevenfold radiance, Dispersed with his vast roar the glooms of darkness. 5. He with his troop exultant, jubilating Burst open with his roar th’ enclosing Vala; Brihaspati bellowing drove out the cattle. That, red and lowing, sweeten the oblation. 6. Thus the strong sire of all gods would we worship With sacrifices, homage and oblations; Brihaspati, we would be lords of riches. Begirt with children fair and warrior offspring. 7. That king, indeed, with power and might heroic Doth meet and overcome all hostile forces. Who tends and keeps Brihaspati well-nourished. Honours and lauds him who receives first portion. 8. Truly he dwells well-set in his own mansion; To him the sacred food yields ever plenty; To him spontaneously bow down his subjects; The king with whom the Brahman has precedence. 9. He irresistible obtains the riches Of both his enemies and his own people; The king who for the succour-needing Brahman Secures relief and help, the gods assist him. 10. Drink ye the soma, Indra and Brihaspati, Glad in this sacrifice, O ye of mighty wealth; The invigorating drops shall enter both of you. Bestow upon us riches linked with hero sons. 11. Brihaspati and Indra, make us prosper. Let that benevolence of yours be with us; Assist our prayers, stir plenteous bestowals. Weaken hostilities of foe and rivals. The points of contact between Brihaspati and Agni are numerous. Both are three-seated ^ and were born in the * trisadhastha^ IV. 50, 1; V. 4, 8, referring either to heaven, mid-air and earth, or to the three sacrificial fires. 170 THE RELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA highest heaven (IV. 50, 4; VI. 8, 2); both are identified with Matarisvan (III. 26, 2; III. 29, 11), Narasaiiisa (I. 18, 9; III. 29, 11) and Ahgiras (II. 23, 18; I. 1, 6); both are associated with the Ahgirasas (X. 67, 2-3; IV. 3, 11), and are friends and allies of Indra (I. 18, 6; II. 23, 18; VI, 59, 2, ); both are purohitas or ‘family priests' (II. 49, 9: I. 1, 1), and brahmanas or ‘praying priests' (X. 141, 3; II. 1, 2); both offer sacrifice (1. 139, 11; I. 45, 10) and inspire hymns (I. 18, 7; VI, 1, 1); both dispel darkness (IV. 50, 4; VIII. 43, 32), drive away disease (I. 18, 2; I. 12, 7), protect from evil charms (I. 18, 3; I. 12, 5), and destroy raksasas (II. 23, 14; X. 87, 2); both bear the title', ‘son of strength' (I. 40, 2; III. 1, 8) and both are sages (II. 23, 1; I. 12, 6); each is like a father (VII. 97, 2; I. 1,9), etc. Not less closely related are Brihaspati and Indra. Like Indra, Brihaspati is associated with a band of singers^ does exploits as soon as born, cleaving Vala, winning the kine, dispersing the darkness; is a warrior, drinks Soma, gives kine and horses; was generated by Tvastar-; wields the thunderbolt {vaji^ay, roars like a lion, bellows like a bull and thunders; shakes things unshaken, rent the forts ✓ of Sambara; has a bow and arrow; is a pathmaker, is called maghavan^ and should be worshipped with faiths It is not strange, then, that the opinion of scholars is divided between the two types of affinity pointed out above. Max Muller Macdonell ^ and Keith {Indian Mythology ’ Augirasas belong to Brihaspati, Maruts to Indra. Hence both B. and I. bear the title ganapati ‘lord of a host’ (II. 23, 1: X. 112, 9). Note, however, that the companions of Brihaspati are once called ‘boars’ {varaha X. 67, 7), a name given elsewhere to Rudra (once I. 114, 5), and to the Maruts (once I- 88, 5), but not to the Aiigirasas, unless in X. 67, 7. Brihaspati is, however, sometimes mentioned along with the Maruts (I. 40, 1-2) as Indra with the Ahgirasas. * As Indra’s vajra was generated, I. 32, 2. ^ Only once of Brihaspati (I. 40, 8) and once of the Maruts, VIII. 7, 32. ^ Sraddhamanas II. 26, 4. cf. 11. 12, 5 for Indra as an object of faith. ^ SBE. 32, 94. 6 VM. 101-104. AGNI THE PRIESTLY GOD 171 45) regarding Brihaspati as a variety or ^parallel form' of Agni, while Weber and Hopkins^ consider him to be a priestly abstraction of Indra. But Brihaspati may be approached from another angle. Recall the Indo-Iranian and Vedic constituents of worship, namely soma-drink, fire-offering and sacred utterance^. Corresponding to them are Soma, Agni and Brihaspati, the deified sacrificial ‘drink’, ‘fire’ and ‘formula’. Soma and Agni (or Atar) are Indo-Iranian, while Brihaspati looks like a purely Indian deityIf Soma and fire are concrete, brahman as the sacred formula (only heard) is intangible and abstract. Each received apotheosis, Soma and Agni as concrete deities and Brihaspati as an abstract god, ‘the personifi¬ cation of the mighty power which lies at the heart of the brahman or ‘holy word’, and manifests itself in the wonderful effects of the sacred formulasThis seems to be in general the view of Roth ', Oldenberg® and Strauss\ The name of Brahmanaspati expresses his nature. He is the supreme king and generator of prayers {hrdhma)^ assists holy thoughts {dhiyah) and promotes their prepa¬ ration, pronounces the formula {mantra) in which the gods take pleasure, places in the mouth of the earthly priest an effective word {vde\ and punishes those who hate prayer \ Most of the Vedic gods share in the function of helping the priests in the production of effective prayers, but Brihaspati as Strauss truly says, is a ‘specialist’^ in the department of inspiration. ' RI. 136. ® Farquhar, ORLI. G; Yasna IX. 1. The name Brihaspati is relatively archaic, being interpreted by the form BrahviaHaspati. It belongs at least to ‘the beginning of the Rigvedic period’ (Macdonell). Some compounds in -patij however, go back to the IE. period. See p. 84 n. 3. ^ Griswold, Brahman, 8. ZDMG. I. 73. RV. 65-68. " Brihaspati im Veda, 1905. « I.* 18, 7; 40, 5; II. 23, 1-2, 4; IV. 50, 11 ; X. 98, 2. « BV. 23. 172 THE RELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA Brihaspati is the divine embodiment not only of the sacred utterance {brahmanY^ but also of the sacred order of the priesthood {brdhman)'\ In IV. 50, 7-9 the king’s cherishing of Brihaspati is identified with his giving precedence to the Brahman and helping him in his need, and in X. 141, 3 Brihaspati is actually called a Brahman. Furthermore he is closely linked up with a band of singers, undoubtedly to be identified with the Ahgirasas, the semi- mythical ancestors of the Brahmans. Thus Brihaspati is a priest, the prototype of the earthly priesthood, and the embodiment of the mysterious potency which dwells both in brahman, the holy word, and brahman, the holy order of the wielders and custodians thereof. As Agni is the apotheosis of agni ‘fire’, so Brahmanaspati is the apo¬ theosis of brahman ‘word’. It is uncertain in what way the abstract ‘lord of prayer’ gained concrete content, such as is revealed in the hymns addressed to him. Since the curse or spell had a very definite military value and priests like Visvamitra (III. 33) accompanied expeditions of war, it is possible that Brihaspati after the same analogy was conceived as the Brahman piirohita of the warrior Indra^ This would probably account for the numerous points of contact between Brihaspati and Agni, on the one hand, and between Brihaspati and Indra on the other. There is another possibility. Both the Maruts and the Ahgirasas are represented as singers. The song of the Maruts is ^ The meaning of hrdliman as already pointed out (p. 97) halts between ‘prayer’ and ‘spell’, according as its aim is either to pemuade the gods or to compel them. In the following passages brahman is clearly used in the sense of ‘spell’: I. 82, 6; II. 2, 7; 17, 3; 24, 3; V. 40, 6; VI. 65, 5, etc. Cf. Strauss BV. 57-58, and Hillebrandt Art. Brahman in ERE. Oldenberg and Strauss have much to say about a ^ Zauberfluidum’ or magic element, which operates in both the sacred priesthood and the sacred utterance, like mana among primitive peoples. It is regarded as constituting the very nature of brahman. Cf. Strauss BV. 20, n. 4. * Cf. the terms ‘Brahma ca Ksatram ca’ in the later A'edie literature. ^ Strauss, BV. 43. AGNI THE PRIESTLY GOD 173 clearly the song of the thunder and wind, as heard in a thunderstorm. The Ahgirasas like the Bhrigus and Atharvans were ancient priestly families, probably historical, most likely reaching back to the Indo-Iranian period \ They are, however, heavily clothed upon with mythical elements, as was natural, being associated with the gods Brihaspati and Indra in their exploits. Quite likely we may detect the working of popular etymology in the mythical drapery ^ that has overspread the original Ahgirasas. The fiery nature of the Ahgirasas, as indicated by the probable connection of the word with ahgdra 4ive coaB, may have suggested to the myth-making imagination a * fiery ^ career akin to, or even identical with, that of the Maruts. Brihaspati, the lord of bnh^ or brahman, ‘formula^ ‘incantation’, was in origin a purely ritualistic deity, but unlike Soma and Agni had no physical nature except sound. It is antecedently probable, however, that Brihaspati as lord of the effective spell would be linked on to something analogous in nature. What would that be except the thunder'*, which might easily be regarded as the song or mantra of a heavenly priest, a most effective ‘charm’ to release the heavenly waters. ^ The probable connection of these names with anglira ‘live coal’ and ayysXoQ ‘messenger’, bhraj and ‘to shine’, atharyu ‘flaming’ VII. 1, 1 and filar ‘fire’, helps to support the view that they were ancient fire-priests. So Hillebrandt, VM. II. 155-178; cf. Maedonell, JR AS. (1900), 383. " Oldenberg has made it probable (RV. 151-1G2) that the Dasyu chieftains Susna, Pipru, Sambara, et al., were aborigines dressed up in the livery of the demon world. According to the same analogy we may regard the Angirasas as an ancient Aryan priestly family arrayed in the habiliments of the world of the devas. In this sense they came to be ‘ a race of higher beings intermediate between gods and men’ (Maedonell, VM. 143). ^Oldenberg connects the word brih or brahman with the Irish bricht ‘magic’, ‘Magic formula’ (LU. 46 n. 1). Bricht is related to the Icelandic bragr ‘poetry’ and so brahman is the ‘ceremonially conceived’ word as used in magic. Hillebrandt, Art. Brahman in ERE. Cf. the thunder in Hebrew as the HirT’ ^1p, * voice of Yahweh ’, in Psalm XXIX; also .lohn XIT. 28-29. 174 THE RELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA The Ahgirasas as singing priests would naturally ac¬ company Brihaspati, the great high priest of the sky, just as the Maruts as young warriors accompany Indra. There is more or less mutual assimilation between the Ahgirasas and the Maruts, the Ahgirasas becoming military and the Maruts priestly h Perhaps the Ahgirasas and the Maruts are largely ‘mythological synonyms’, parallel forms of each other. Possibly by this very weak bridge might be secured an interpretation of the Maruts as ‘personifications of the souls of the dead’, the dead thus embodied in the storm- winds being the ancient Ahgirasas. The love of music and song which has ever characterised India lends some weight to an interpretation which would emphasize the play of the Vedic imagination along musical lines. If the great musical composers have drawn part of their inspiration from the music of the elements, the songs of the thunder^ and wind, probably the Vedic singers had imagination enough to find in the same music the heavenly analogue of the ‘song’ or ‘incantation’ of the earthly priest. As regards his relation to ritay Brihaspati is ritaprajdta ‘n7a-born’; that is to say, he represents an aspect of eternal order, mounts the shining car of vita, has a bow the string of which is rita, punishes and avenges guilt is the upholder of great rita, consumes (tap) enemies, the brahman-hater and raksasas, manifests wrath and remits debt (or guilt) according to his own will (vasa)\ Here brahman, the mysterious power of ‘prayer’ or ‘spell’ is represented as an expression or instrument of eternal order, serving it by both the punishment and the remission of guilt. To sum up, Agni and Brihaspati, as ritualistic gods, have many functions in common. Only in this general ’ Cf. V. 29, 3, Brahmano Marutah. - BrihaspaU is represented as roaring, bellowing and thundering (X. G7, 3, G, 9; VII 97, 5), and as 'born of the great light in the highest heaveiF, IV. 50, 4 (*. e the lightning which is followed by thunder as its child). ^ JUnacit, rinaya II. 23, 17. II. 23, 3, 15, 17; 11. 24, 8, 13-14. AGNI THE PRIESTLY GOD 175 sense however can Brihaspati be called a Variety’ or * aspect’ of Agni, for each is the apotheosis of a different cult object. The great interest connected with Brihaspati is that ‘the lord of brahman’ is one of the links in the chain that led from the primitive conception of brahman as a kind of ^mana^ or ^Zauberfluidum \ on to the supreme conception of it as the central reality of the universe. Three notions of fundamental importance in the Rv. remain impersonal, viz. rita ‘order’, brahman^ ‘word’ and mdyd ‘power’. Of these brahman alone became personalized in Brahmanaspati, who as the divine brahman priest was the prototype of Brahma, the first person of the later Hindu triad I 8. Vedic Nature Studies on the Subject of Fire.— There remains a great mass of material pertaining to Agni, which while most interesting, can receive only the briefest reference. It may be studied in detail in Macdonell’s Vedic Mythology. Agni dwelt in the homes of the Vedic Indians as the hearth-fire and the altar-fire. He was mysterious, potent for both good and evil, at once friendly and terrible. With his apotheosis as one of the great gods he became the object of most careful study and the centre of the earliest Vedic speculation. The result was that we have in the Rv. a most elaborate series of nature studies on the subject of fire^ We have already referred to the three ^ Oldenberg remarks that not one of the powers that aspired to the place of Universal Being belonged to the sphere of physical nature. (Die dlteren Vpanishaden, 45.). ^ No reference has been made to Prof. Hillebrandt’s view of Brihaspati as a lord of plants and a personification of the moon. The present writer finds himself incapable of appreciating the arguments which have led the learned author to the conclusions he adopts. Once while at Gureis, Kashmir, I sought to test the accuracy of the Rigvedic descriptions of the behaviour of fire when ghee is poured on it. The three altars were dug under the direction of a Srinagar pandit, the round Gdrhapaiya westward, the square Ahavinlya eastward, and southward the Daksindgni in the form of a half-moon. Each fire-pit was dug about six inches deejr. Fuel was heaped in the Gdrhapatya fire-pit, and when the darkness came on the pile was lighted and ghee 176 THE RELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA forms of Agni, the earliest Indian triad. Very often also Agni is called dvijanman ‘having two births’, one in heaven and the other on earth. Then there was the fact of the indefinite multiplicity of fires. What was the relation between fires and Fire ? It was the first emergence in Indian thought of the problem of the one and the many, a problem destined to receive such a radical solution in the Vedanta philosophy. Sometimes Agni is invoked with the agnis‘ as Indra with the Maruts. At other times it was observed that Agni is ‘of like appearance in many places’ (VIII. 11, 8), and so the conclusion was drawn that there is ‘only one Agni though many times kindled’ (VIII. 58, 2)^ Already multiplicity had begun to give way before unity. Then there is the distinction between the latent and the manifested, so important in the later philosophy of India. For example, Agni is latent in the heavenly waters^ until he is born in the form of lightning, and also in the plants until through the twirling of the fire-sticks he is brought to birth. Because of the strong friction necessary to produce fire, Agni is called ‘son of strength’. The mystery of fire is the ground of many Vedic paradoxes. Agni is at once young and old, heavenly and earthly, latent and manifested. As soon as born he devours his parents. was poured on, accompanied with the recitation of Vedic fire-mantras. I was exceedingly impressed with the vividness and accuracy of the language* * used in describing the rushing flames, A Hindu servant some years after referred to it as our pujd / ^ VII. 3, 1; Vni. 18, 9, etc. * Oldenberg, RV. 43-45. ^ Hence called apdm napat, ‘son of the waters’. t CHAPTER VII. INDRA THE WARRIOR GOD. Introductory.— Indra is celebrated in not less than 250 hymns of the Rv. and in approximately 50 more he is praised conjointly with other deities. Judging then from the fact that he is celebrated in nearly one-fourth of the total number of hymns, we must conclude that he was a favourite deity in the Vedic age. The name ‘Indra’ is of uncertain derivation ‘ and meaning, being more ‘opaque’ than that of any other divine name in the Rv. The result is that there is some uncertainty as to his original physical basis. For most scholars Indra is a storm-god, who sends thunder and lightning, but for Hillebrandt he is an ancient sun-god. In the Boghaz-kbi list Indra is mentioned in the form ‘In-dar’ along with Mitra, Varuna and Nasatya (1400 B. c.). Hence he must have been recognised at that time as a great god. In the Avesta he is mentioned twice” in the variant form Indra or Ahdra. The name occurs in the list of demons; hence it is clear that Indra like the other pre-Zoroastrian daevas was reduced at the great reform to the status of an evil spirits Indra is perhaps the most completely anthropomorphised of all the Vedic deities. While the anthropomorphism of Varuna’s person¬ ality is more fully developed on the moral than the physical side (Macdonell, VM. 28), the opposite holds true of Indra. As might be expected, then, Indra represents ^ Derivations which have been suggested are the following: indii ‘ drop ’; idh ‘kindle’; in ‘stir’ ‘urge’; ina ‘strong’, hence perhaps In(d)ra; aner, an(d)ros ‘man’, hence An(d)ra, In(d)ra ‘manly’, ent ‘giant’ in Anglo Saxon, etc. ^^Vend. X. 9, XIX. 43, the second passage n6t being found in all manuscripts. ^ While the Vedic Vritrahan is a regular epithet of Indra, its Avestan equivalent Verethraghna is quite separate from the Avestan demon Indra or Andra, and is regarded as a yazata, the ‘genius of victory’, created by Ahura and clothed with the light of sovereignty. Vend. XIX. 37. cf. Spiegel, AP. 194-198. 12 178 THE RELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA the apotheosis of naked might, the embodiment of the martial and imperialistic tendencies of the Vedic Indians. No phenomenon of nature is so suggestive of ruthless might as the lightning stroke. Indra is Agni's twin brother (VI. 59, 2), a way of expressing the close relation between the lightning-fire and the altar-fire. 2. Indra the Slayer of Vritra. —Indra’s most notable exploit is set forth with great vividness and energy in the following hymn: To Indra, L S2\ 1. Let me tell out the manly deeds of Indra, Which he accomplished first of all, bolt-weaponed: He slew the serpent, opened up the waters. And cleft in twain the belly of the mountains. 2. He slew the serpent lying on the mountain; Tvastar for him the heavenly * bolt had fashioned; Like lowing cattle downward sped the waters In rapid flow descending to the ocean. 3. With bull-like eagerness he sought the soma; Out of three vats he drank the pressed out liquor; Maghavan took in hand his bolt, the missile. And smote therewith the first-born of the serpents. 4. When, Indra, thou didst smite the serpent’s first-born. When thou didst spoil the wiles of the enchanters. Anon the sun and sky and dawn disclosing; Thou didst not then a single foe discover. 5. The Vritra Vyamsa worst of Vritras, Indra Smote with his bolt, smote with his mighty weapon ; Then just like trunks of trees laid low by axes. The serpent lies stretched out along earth’s surface. 6. For, like a drunken weakling, Vritra challenged The mighty hero, the impetuous warrior; * Indebtedness is acknowledged to Oldenberg’s translation of this hymn (RV. 136-138) and to his Rv. Noten 31-33. ^ Svarna ‘gleaming’, Ludwig; ‘roaring’ Geldner and Oldenberg; ‘whizzing’ Macdonell. INDRA THE WARRIOR GOD 179 He did not meet the clash of Indra’s weapons, Broken ^ and crushed he lay, whose foe was Indra. 7. Footless and handless battled he with Indra, Who on the back of Vritra hurled his missile; With scattered limbs lay the dismembered Vritra, Emasculate, who tried the Bull to equal. 8. On this wise, as he lay like ox® dismembered. Over him ruthlessly did sweep the waters. Which Vritra by his greatness had surrounded; Down at their feet low lieth now the serpent. 9. The strength of her whose son was Vritra withered; Indra his weapon brought to bear against her. The mother lay above, the son was under, Danu lay like a cow her calf alongside. 10. There lay her body midst the watercourses. That never cease, that never rest from flowing; Through Vritra’s secret place the waters speed them; In lasting gloom sank he whose foe was Indra. 11. Dasa-controlled and guarded by the serpent. The waters stood like cows confined by Panis; The orifice of the waters which was fastened. That opened Indra, having slaughtered Vritra. 12. A horse-tail-’ didst thou then become, O Indra, What time the foe, as if sole god, assailed thee; Didst win the cows, didst win the Soma, hero. And didst set free to flow the seven rivers. 13. Lightning and thunder profited him nothing. Nor mist nor hailstorm which he spread around him; When Indra and the serpent fought their battle, Maghavan won the victory for ever. ^ Rujanah, either correct to rujandh ‘broken’ (Oldenberg, RV. 136) or divide into rujd + dndh (Oldenberg, Noten 32) “Durch Zei-schmetterung ist der Mundlose (Nasenlose?) zermalmet worden”. Note that ‘noseless’ goes well with ‘footless’ and ‘handless’. Accordingly it naay be trajislated’ Crushed was the noseless fndra-foe when smitten. “Or: ‘like broken reed’—Maedonell, HR. 48. ^ Agni’s flame (I. 27, 1) is compared to a horse with a tail. Indra became a ‘horse-tail’ apparently, when he appeared as the lightning flash. The translation of stanza twelve is only tentative. 12 * 180 THE RELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA 14. Whom didst thou see to avenge the serpent, Indra, When terror filled thy heart that thou hadst slain him, When like a frightened eagle through the mid-air Thou didst cross over nine and ninety rivers ? 15, Indra is king of that which moves and moves not. Of tame and horned creatures, too, bolt-weaponed; Over the tribes of men he rules as monarch; As felly spokes, so holds he them together. A description of the great battle between Indra and Vritra, which resulted in the slaying of Vritra and the release of the imprisoned waters. The following points may be noted : — a) Since Vritrahan ‘slayer of Vritra’ is Indra’s most characteristic epithet, the exploit referred to constitutes Indra’s mythological essence. Three questions arise. What is Vritra, a demon of drought or a demon of cold? What is Indra, lightning or sun ? And what are the waters, atmospheric or earthly ? An answer to these questions is complicated by the fact that Indra is con¬ fessedly a prehistoric god belonging to the Indo-Iranian and possibly even to the Indo-European periodHence with the change of environment and climatic conditions his own nature and attributes may have suffered a change, since he was the reflection largely of natural phenomena. The great majority of Vedic scholars regard the slaying of Vritra and the release of the waters as referring to the atmospheric drama of the thunderstorm in which the demon of drought is pierced by the lightning and made to surrender the pent-up waters, which fall to the earth in the form of rain. The two chief German authorities on Vedic Mythology, Oldenberg and Hillebrandt, would, however, introduce important modifications into the traditional explanation. Oldenberg follows the traditional view in holding that the original pre-Vedic conception was the freeing of the waters from the prison of the cloud-mountain, but thinks that this conception in the Rigvedic environment was trans- * Oldenberg, KV. 34, (n. 1), 134. INDRA THE WARRIOR GOD 181 formed into the freeing of the earthly waters from the earthly mountains. This transition was favoured by the identity of the heavenly and the earthly waters, which made it natural to think that the freeing of the earthly waters must be the work of the same god who freed the heavenly waters'. The changes which Hillebrandt would introduce into the traditional view are much more radical. For him Vritra ‘the encompasser’ was originally a personi¬ fication of cold and ice, a ‘winter-giant'. Only the sun could be the antagonist of such a demon. Hence Indra must have been originally a sun-god. Indra and Vritra then represent the antithesis between summer sun and winter cold, as was natural in a northern environment. With the change from such a climate to that of the Punjab where drought, not cold, was the great enemy, Indra was transformed from a sun-god into a storm-god or simple rain-god. Indra's original task was to free the waters from the clutch of the ice-demon. His later development as a rain-god was doubtless helped by his early connection with water ^ Thus according to Hillebrandt both Indra and Vritra owe their pre-Vedic character as god of summer warmth and demon of winter cold to pre-Vedic climatic conditions. The theory is brilliantly stated, but in its totality is not convincing. It will be profitable to compare Indra with Vanina in their capacity as water-gods. Varuna as a sky-god^, sends rain from heaven and wets the earth (V. 85, 3-4). But not only is he a rain-god, but also a river-god (id. v. 6). By analogy Varuna's function was extended from rain-giving to river-digging ^ Assuming with Oldenberg that Indra's original function was that of a storm-god wielding the thunderbolt and slaying the ^ Oldenberg, RV. 51, n. 1. ’Hlillebrandt, VM. 111. 195-197. ^Whether he was originally the ‘encompassing sky’ or the ‘moon’ makes no difference in this connection. ^ Cf. X. 75, 2, Varuna dug (rad) the bed for thy course, O Sindhu. So Indra dug out (rad) the Vipas and SutudrI (III. 33, 6). 182 THE RELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA rain-withholding demon, one can easily see how by analogy his domain in the Punjab would be enlarged so as to cover rivers, quite as in the parallel case of Vanina. Especially would this be natural and inevitable, if the standing metaphors of the Indra-Vritra myth* had a pre-Vedic origin. The cloud-mountains and the cloud-waters of the myth would fit in well with the literal mountains and mountain streams of the northern Punjab '-. At any rate, it seems clear that Indra like Vanina was a regent of both heavenly and earthly waters. Vritra may be interpreted, then, as anything which obstructs the waters, whether drought-demon in the case of the heavenl}" waters, or mountain barriers or snow in the case of the earthly ’ Mountains (=clouds) and waters (=rain or rivers). The deep cut through the mountains by which the Jhelum river flows from Kashmir down to the Punjab must have impressed the Vedic Indians. There arc traditions of a large body of water anciently held back in the mountains — a tradi¬ tion amply attested by geology. The Ilimidayas are the scene of violent thunder¬ storms. In view of the language of the original myth, what more natural than to think of the deep cleft of the Jhelum ‘in the belly of the mountains’ as hollowed out by Indra? To this day the people of Kashmir refer many changes to the action of lightning. A Srinagar Pantiit asserted that the mountains were once full of the caves of ascetics. On being asked where the caves were, he replied that the lightning had destroyed them. About the 20th June 1911, while our boats were tied up in the Tsunth Kul, Srinagar, a terrific storm of thunder and r ^ lightning came on at night. Not very much rain fell at Srinagar, but a good deal must have fallen on the mountains. The next morning the water had risen so much that we were compelled to move our boats to another place. It was a warm rain which melted much snow. The evening of the thunder-storm was marked by a marvellous display of lightning. On the far-off horizon the lightning would dart down apparently from heaven to earth. The phenomenon might very well have been interpreted by primitive man as a sky-deity smiting with his weapon some atmospheric or earth demon reclining on the mountains. It may be that the Indra-V ritra myth was extended by analogy to cover such cases as this, and to this extent Hillebrandt’s theory may be true. As seen from a long distance a white cloud and a snow-capped mountain are practically indistinguishable. A cloud looks like a mountain. As a matter of fact, the cloud-mountains and the snowy mountains of eastern Bactria must have made possible from the beginning a double application of the Indra-Vritra myth, namely to the cloud-waters obstructed by the drought- demon and the mountain-waters obstructed by the snow-demon INDRA THE WARRIOR GOD 183 waters. Indra must be regarded throughout as the wielder of the lightning. b) Vritra, the chief enemy of Indra, seems to be the name of those cloud or atmospheric appearances which promise much in the matter of rain, but perform little or nothing, an abortive rain-storm, as it were. Vritra manipulates lightning, thunder, mist', darkness^ and hail (v. 13; 1. 80, 12). He is clothed in the habiliments of Indra, ‘Satan transformed’, as it were, ‘into an angel of light’. His ‘snorting’ is several times referred to (V. 29, 4; VHI. 85, 7), and he is called a muttering or bellowing snake (navantam ahim VI. 17, 10). His mother is Danu ‘drip’, a name of the rain-cloud which sprinkles only a few drops. ‘She of the drip’ is the mother of a demon-brood^, of which Vritra is the first-born. As thus interpreted Vritra means a false thunderstorm with little or no rain, while Indra means a thunderstorm followed by abundance of rain. Vritra is also called Ahi ‘serpent’, the same epithet being applied to the chief atmospheric demon in the Rv., as is applied to Satan in the Bible. Agni is once called ‘a raging - ^ Susna ‘hisser’ or ‘scorcher’, one of the demon-brood is called mihonapdt, ‘son of mist’, V. 32, 4. ^ V ritra as ‘ son of mist ’ moves in darkness and waxes in sunless gloom (V. 32, 4, 6). Is there any reference here to the phenomena of dust-storms, so characteristic of the Punjab before the rains? Rv. X. 120, 6 mentions seven DSnus (Danavas), sons of the Cow Danu. As drought-demons they probably cover different aspects of the sky in the dry season, e.g. Vritra ‘the obstructor’ of the heavenly waters being the entire dry weather sky (cf- Varuna from the same root), and associated with him prpbably Susw-a ‘the scorcher’ who spoils the harvests, personification of the intense pre-monsoon heat, Aurnavdbha ‘son of the wool-weaver, possibly referring to the woolly look of the dry-weather sky or to the whitish dust-haze which hangs over the Punjab in the very dry season. As soon as Vritra is smitten and the rains fall, all the other drought-demons take themselves off. Hence Vritra as the most important drought-demon is called ‘the fimt-born of the dragons’ (I. 32, 3). In May and June 1921 both on the plains and on the hills at Mussoorie the drought and heat were intense. Vritra had withheld the waters, Susna had spoiled the winter crops in the hills, and over all the mountains a thick, whitish dust and smoke-haze was spread, possibly Aurnavdbha’s work. 184 THE RELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA serpent like a rushing wind’ (1. 79, 1), and the Maruts, or ‘storm-winds and lightning flashes’, bear the epithet ahi- bhanavah ‘shining like ahi’ (I. 172, 1). The name ‘serpent’ may refer to the subtle deceptive nature of Vritra, to his appearance as lightning, or to the wide-spread tradition that serpents guard treasures, especially water-springs. So the word nag ‘serpent’ is applied generally as a name for ‘spring’ in Kashmir. We may draw an instructive com¬ parison between Ahi Vritra and Ahi Budhnya, Both have their habitat in the atmospheric ocean. It looks as if both were very much the same, the only difference being that Ahi Budhnya ‘the serpent of the deep’ is a parallel form of Indra and hence a deva, while Ahi Vritra ‘the serpent obstructor’ is a demon ^ As is fitting for a snake, Ahi Vritra is represented as footless, handless and perhaps noseless (I. 32, 6-7; III. 30, 8). Being armed with thunder, lightning and magic devices (maya), Vritra is no mean antagonist. c) Indra’s equipment for the fight with Vritra. The gods constituted him for this purpose (III. 49, 1) and made him their champion (VI. 17, 8). To this end he was strengthened with food, drink and song^ Indra is repre¬ sented as a mighty eater and drinker ^ He eats the flesh of bulls ^ and buffaloes, and drinks enormous quantities of Soma. ^ MacdoneU, VM. 72-73. ^ Since agni ‘fire’ could be literally increased (vridhj by pouring in ghee, the same general idea of strengthening was carried over by analogy to Tndra {cf. II. 11, 1-2) and the other gods. It may be that the growth of the storm from ‘a little cloud like a man’s hand’ was viewed as the growth of Indra. ^ The anthropomorphic representation of the gods in India is frequently symbolical. Large activity and heroic deeds are often represented by multiplying the number of hands and feet, or as in the case of Indra by multiplying the amount of food and drink consumed. Big eating among the Vedic Aryans was doubtless the preparation for big doing. So by analogy among the gods. It is safe to say that the Greek with his artistic restraint and sense of form would not have used such a metaphor as ‘he like an ocean has made room in his belly (for Soma)’ I. 30, 3. ^ ‘They di*ess for thee bulls’, pacanti te vnsabhdn, X. 28, 3. Thus Indra the ‘bull’ eats bull-meat. INDRA THE WARRIOR GOD 185 As friend for friend Agni made ready quickly Three hundred buffaloes, to meet his longing; Indra at once three lakes of pressed-out Soma, As Manus ordered, drank for Vritra’s slaughter. “When thou three hundred buffaloes’ flesh hadst eaten. And drunk, as Maghavan, three lakes of Soma, All the gods raised as ‘twere a shout of triumph. To Indra praise because he slew the Dragon.” V. 29, 7-8 (Griffith’s translation of v. 8). Indra’s weapon par excellence is the vajra or ‘bolt’, clearly a mythological name for the lightning stroke. It is described as golden, heavenly, hundred-edged, thousand- pointed, roaring, shattering, etc.* * Synonyms'^ are ‘heavenly stone’, ‘burning dart’ and ‘moving weapon’. It is the weapon exclusively appropriate to Indra though assigned a few times to Rudra, the Maruts and Manyu. Through it Indra shakes all things: Even the heavens and earth bow down before him. And at his vehemence the mountains trembled II. 12,13. Indra then settles the things shaken and fixes the unsteady: He who the quivering earth hath firm established. And set at rest the agitated mountains. II. 12, 2. What Indra shakes and agitates by his thunderbolt, he also calms and settles. What are the facts of the thunder¬ storm ? First, the heavy peals of thunder shake the world. Then after the storm has passed a great calm succeeds ^ As the Vedic Aryan interpreted it, Indra first shakes® all things and then makes fast the quivering and the agitated. Indra and Vritra are both furnished with may a. This ’ I. 57, 2; 61, 6; II. 11, 9-10; VI. 17. 10. 2 1. 176, 3; III. 30, 17; 32, 6. ^ Macdonell, VM. 55. * Cf. Judges V. 4-5; Ps. XVIII. 7; XXIX. 4, 8. ^ Cf. Psalm XXIX for both aspects of a thunder-storm. ® Earthquake tremors are very common in the Punjab- It is possible that these are included in the agitation mentioned. The great Kangra earthquake of 1905 synchronized with dust storms and other meteoric phenomena. 186 THE RELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA very pregnant word occurs in about thirty Indra hymns \ In these there are about twenty references to the maya of Vritra, Susna, etc. and about ten to the maya of Indra. The word maya signifies occult, incomprehensible, super¬ human power’, and so easily passes into the meanings, trick, magic, illusion ^ etc. We have already noticed that the atmosphere is the scene of the mayah or magic trans¬ formations of Varuna^ So it is with Indra. He frustrates the tricks of the tricky (I. 32, 4). With his maya he blew away the tricky ones, that is to say, he dispersed Vritra and his company ^ Indra through his maya can assume all forms: “Maghavaii weareth every shape at pleasure, Effecting magic changes in his body’’; and “Indra moves multiform by his illusions”. II. 53, 8 and VI. 47, 18 (Griffith’s translation). Ir is craft played off against craft. Indra is equipped with thunder, lightning, mist®, wind, etc., which constitute the armoury of his maya, while Vritra and his company, like the magicians of Egypt, do “in like manner with their enchantments’’ (Exodus VII. 11). But all in vain. Vritra cannot meet the clash of Indra’s weapons. So strong is Indra that fighting on his part is ‘appearance’, not reality. That is thy magic power which men call battles, Never foe hast thou found, to-day or erstwhile. X. 54, 2. d) Closely connected with the slaying of Vritra and the liberation of the waters is the winning of light. The lightning flash ‘makes light where no light was’, cf. VI. 24, 5. Indra generated the lightnings of the sky (II. 13, 7), and ^ Prabhu Dutt Sastn, The Doctrine of Maf/a, London, 1911, pp. 7-8. *01denberg, RV. 163-166, 293-295. ® We may compare the later meaning of maya as the cosmic illusion. 4 V. 63 and 85, pp. 140, 136. ^ I. 51, 5. cf. Indra blew the great snake out of the mid-air, VIII. 3, 20, and Indra blew the Dasyus from the sky with his weapon, X. 55. 8. ® Veiled in mist (mill) Indra rushed upon his foe (II. 30, 3), and cast forth mists (mihah) and darkness (X. 73, 5). INDRA THE WARRIOR GOD 187 also the sun, the sky and the dawn (I. 32, 4; VI. 30, 5). What is the Vedic point of view? Indra’s supreme mani¬ festation is the lightning flash with the accompanying ‘bolt’ (vajra). The wonder of the lightning is that light all- illuminating {cf. Matthew XXIV. 27) suddenly appears, where all was darkness before. But the light of morning also appears, where all was darkness before. The Vedic conception seems to be that the same power that produces the lightning flash produces also the light of the dawn and sun which reveals the whole ‘heaven’. Indra in both ex¬ ploits appears in his characteristic guise as a warrior, slaying the drought-demon Vritra and also the darkness- demon of the night; and thereby releasing the cloud-cows and the dawn-cows. It is to be noted that the point of departure is the lightning flash. With this as his char¬ acteristic theophanic appearance Indra embraces all phe¬ nomena of light and fire. 3. Indra and the Earthly Waters. — Indra, like Varuna, had to do with both the heavenly and the earthly waters. His relation to the latter is well brought out in Visvamitra’s conversation with the rivers: — To Indra, III. SH. 1. (Visvamitra) Forth from the bosom of the mountains, eager, Like two mares racing side by side, loose-coupled, Like two bright mother cows that lick each other \ Vipas and Sutudri pour down their waters. 2. Sent forth by Indra, begging him to speed you. Ye twain move seaward, as it were on chariots; Running together, swelling with your billows. Ye lucid streams, to each draws nigh the other. 3. Now have I reached the most maternal river. We have approached Vipas, the broad, the blessed; They are like mother cows that lick their offspring. Flowing on toward their common home together. ^Or; ‘As cows a calf lick, lapping earth, the fair streams’. Hopkins, ION. 48. 188 THE RELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA 4. (Rivers) Swelling with floods of water we move forward Unto our place of meeting, god-appointed; Not to be halted is our stream, full-flooded. What would the seer have, calling to the rivers? 5. (ViSvamitra) Halt for a moment at my potent saying. Ye streams law-loving, on your ocean journey; To you ward is addressed my purpose lofty. I, Kusika’s son, call on you, succour needing. 6. (Rivers) Indra the bolt-armed hollowed out our channels. Drove Vritra off, obstructor of the rivers; God Savitar has led us, the fair-handed; In his propulsion we go forth wide-ranging. 7. (Visvamitra) For ever memorable is that deed of Indra, The valiant deed, that he dismembered Ahi; Broke open with his bolt the strong enclosures, Forth flowed the waters, for their course desirous. 8. (Rivers) Never forget this utterance, O singer. Which later generations shall re-echo; O bard, in these thy hymns be toward us friendly; Humble us not ’mongst men; to thee obeisance. 9. (Visvamitra) Give ear, O sisters, to the bard; he cometh To you from far away with cart and chariot. Bow down yourselves, please give an easy passage; Floods, with your waves remain beneath our axles. 10. (Rivers) We will give heed unto thy words, O singer. Thou comest from afar with cart and chariot;: Low like a nursing mother will I bend me. Will yield myself like maiden to her husband. 11. (Visvamitra) Now when the Bharatas have crossed thee safely, Indra-impelled, a horde in search of booty. Then may your stream full-flooded flow as ever; Of you the worshipful I beseech the favour. 12. The booty-seeking Bharatas crossed over; The sage enjoyed the favour of the rivers. INDRA THE WARRIOR GOD 189 Rush forward, swelling, speeding, pouring riches. Fill full your channels, hasten swiftly onward. 13. Your wave the yoke-pegs merely touch. Ye waters, spare the chariot-thongs; And never may the bullocks twain, Faithful and steady, come to grief. This notable hymn celebrates the crossing of the Beas and the Sutlej by a cattle-raiding band of the Bharatas accompanied by the sage Visvamitra, the reputed author of the third Mandala. The rivers were in flood, but Visvamitra by his prayer caused the waters to subside®, • so that the Bharatas passed over safely. Already reference has been made to the military significance of the rivers of the Punjab ^ The god who could so control their waters as to cause them to rise or subside at wilf was in very truth a war-god. While the Beas and Sutlej are represented as deified streams, the personification is only of the slightest. The hymn is addressed to Indra. It is he who dug the channels of these two rivers and sent forth their waters from the mountains to the sea (vv. 1-2, 6). Since the Beas and Sutlej as well as the war-band of the Bharatas were all alike under the control of Indra (vv. 2,11), it was a simple thing for Indra at the request of his devotee Visvamitra to send the Bharatas across the streams ‘on dry ground’ as it were. We may compare the crossing of the Red Sea and of the Jordan in Hebrew story Yahweh, like Indra, is ‘a man of war’ (Ex. XV. 3), and the crossing of the Red Sea, as well as the crossing of the ’ Indebtedness is acknowledged to Hillebrandt, LR. 137* *138 and Hopkins, ION. 48-50. ^ Cf. Vedic Index, 11. 310-311. 3 pp. 31-32. * There are other references to a similar control of the rivers. Thus ‘ even the wide-spreading floods Indra made for Sudas into passable fords’ (VII. 18, 5). ‘The great Risi (Visvamitra) stayed the billowy river’ (III. 53, 9, a reference to the crossing of the Beas and Sutlej); and Indra arrested the streams for Turvlti and Vayya to cross (11. 13, 12; cf. also II. 15, 5 and I. 61, 11). '^Exodus XIV-XV; Joshua III-IV. 190 THE RELIGION OF THE RIG VEDA Beas and Sutlej is celebrated by a hymn. It is probable that no great chronological difference separated the Vedic and Hebrew events. The Vedic hymn is in the form of a dramatic dialogue between Visvamitra and the rivers, an interesting anticipation of the later Indian drama. The whole hymn may have been used in later times as a charm against accidents in crossing swollen streams \ Especially was the last stanza, which looks like a later addition, thus used as a magic spells It is to be observed that the mountains, channels and rivers of this hymn all belong to the earth. The Beas and Sutlej flow from the mountains, and Indra hollowed out their channels ^ In connection with this there is mentioned Indra’s supreme exploit, the slaying of Ahi- Vritra (vv. 6-7). Indra dismembered Ahi and broke open with his bolt the obstructing enclosures, so that the waters flowed freely. Whether this refers to the obstruction of heavenly or of earthly waters is uncertain. Probably to both, for the release of the heavenly waters is the funda¬ mental condition of the flooding of the earthly rivers, even more fundamental than the melting of snow. Since Indra is certainly connected with the lightning and the thunder, why not think of the whole process of the release of the waters as beginning with the sky and including the melting of snow on the mountains, the piercing of the springs^ of the rivers, the hollowing out of channels^, the swelling of ^ The writer has had experiences in crossing the Krisna at Sangli and an arm of the Ganges near Kasganj, when an effective spell (!) would have been most welcome. “ Hillebrandt, LR. 138, n. 3 ; Oldenberg, Rv. Noten 245. ^ These are clearly literal rivere, but they are assimilated to the sky-scheme, for Indra hurled away Vritra, obstructor of the waters (v. 6). Such a process of assimilation by analogy is common in the Bv. ^ Cf. ‘He pierced with his bolt the fountains of the rivers’, II. 15, 3. Springs in Kashmir are called ndgas, lit. ‘snakes’, a memorial of the time when eveiy fountain was thought of as guarded by a snake. It reminds one of the heavenly fountain guarded and confined by the heavenly snake, Vritra. ^ Thunder and lightning go with the kind of rainfall that digs channels {cf. Habakkuk III, 9) and produces floods (Hab. III. 10; Nahum I. 8; Judges V. 21). INDRA THE WARRIOR GOD 191 the waters, and their advance in flood to the Samudra? Wherever the streams are flooded, there is seen the work of Indra, the releaser of the waters, whatever the immediate occasion of their release may be \ 4. Indra the War-god of the Vedic Aryans. As Indra first released the heavenly waters, and then was brought down to earth, as it were, to release and guide the earthly waters, so he began his martial career in the atmospheric fight with Vritra, extending it so to speak to become the war-god of the Vedic Indians in their struggle with the aborigines. The parallel development of Yahweh - is so striking and significant that some reference must be made to it. In the earliest poetry of the Old Testament Yahweh is represented as a kind of Hebrew Indra, a storm- god wielding the weapons of thunder, lightning^ and wind, hailstones and flood, earthquake and (possibly) volcanic fire. Yahweh is also, like Indra, a national war-god, ‘the lord of hosts and god of battles’. Quite as in the case of Indra, Yahweh employs the artillery of the sky against the enemies of his people, thundering from heaven against them (I Sam. VII. 10) and smiting them with hailstones (Joshua X. 11). On earth Yahweh so manipulated the waters of sea, river and flood as to save his people and drown their enemies ^ It is the military, rather than the economic aspects of water that are emphasized in the great Hebrew war-songs,—the Song of Moses (or Miriam) in Ex. XV, and the Song of Deborah (Judges V). So is it also in such Vedic war-songs as III. 33, the crossing of the ^ Thus Hillebraudt’s theory, while contributing an important element, is too narrow and exclusive. Moreover it is based upon just as indirect evidence as is the traditional theory. If clouds and rain are not as a rule mentioned in connection with the release of the waters, no more are snow and ice. * The tetragrammaton yhwh, is possibly to be connected with Arabic hawa, ‘to fall’, that is, ‘He who causes lightning or rain to fall’. So Wellhausen and Robertson Smith. See Hebrew Lexicon, Brown, Driver and Briggs, 1906,. under Yahweh. ^Ei. XIV-XV; Joshua IH-IV; Judges V. 192 THE RELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA Beas and Sutlej, and VII. 18 the battle of the Ten Kings. Thus both Yahweh of Palestine and Indra of the Punjab were storm-gods and war-gods. In each case the god who presided over ‘the war of the elements’ naturally became the leader of his people in the wars against their earthly foes. The hymn now to be translated contains interesting reference to the military side of Indra’s activity. To Indra, I I 12 K 1. He who as soon as born keen-thoughted, foremost, Surpassed the gods, himself a god, in power; Before whose vehemence the two worlds trembled Through his great valour; he, O men, is Indra. 2. He who the quivering earth hath firm established. And set at rest the agitated mountains; Who measured out the mid-air far-extending, And sky supported: he, O men, is Indra. 3. Who slew the snake and freed the seven rivers, Drove out the cattle by unclosing Vala; Who fire between two rocks hath generated, In battles victor: he, O men, is Indra. 4. Who hath made all things in this world unstable, The Dasa colour humbled or destroyed it; Who takes the foe’s possessions, as a gambler Stakes of his rival; he, O men, is Indra. 5. The terrible one, of whom they ask, ‘where is he?’ Concerning whom they also say, ‘he is not’; Like player’s stake the foe’s wealth he reduces. Have faith in him; for he, O men, is Indra. 6. He who of rich and poor alike is helper. And of the supplicating Brahman singer; Who fair-lipped 2 aids the one who presses Soma, Making the stones work; he, O men, is Indra. * Cf. the translations of Hillebrandt, LR. 40-41, and Macdonell, VRS. 45-56 and HV. 49-50. “ Susipra is probably to be rendered ‘ fair-lipped ’ in the sense of ‘ well-lipped *. One may recall the protuberant lips of the Irimurti figures in the Elephanta Caves (Farquhar, PH. 99) or in the late Mr. Justice Ranade’s statue at Bombay. Cf. Macdonell, VRS. 50. Note also the phrase prapruthya siprc HI. 32, 1 ‘having puffed out his lips’. INDRA THE WARRIOR GOD 193 7. He under whose control are steeds and cattle, Clan-villages and every kind of chariot; Who hath begotten sun and dawn of morning, Guide of the waters; he, O men, is Indra. 8. Whom rival hosts appeal to, joined in battle, On both sides foes, the farther and the nearer; On self-same chariot mounted two invoke him, Each for his own self; he, O men, is Indra. 0. Apart from whom men never are victorious, Whom they when fighting call on for assistance; Who is for every one a match, who moveth The things immovable; he, O men, is Indra. 10. Who with his arrow slays the perpetrators Of grievous sin, when such fate not expecting; Who pardons not the arrogant man his arrogance’. Who slays the Dasyu; he, O men, is Indra. 11. He, who discovered in the fortieth autumn Sambara dwelling on the lofty mountains; Who slew the serpent as he lay defiant, The son of Danu; he, O men, is Indra. I‘2. Who as the mighty seven-rayed bull releases The seven streams so that they flow in torrents; Who, bolt in arm, spurned Raiihina the demon As he scaled heaven; he, O men, is Indra. IS. Even the heavens and earth bow down before him. And at his vehemence the mountains tremble; Who, bolt in arm, is known as Soma-drinker, With hands bolt-wielding; he, O men, is Indra. 14. Who with his aid helps him that presses Soma, Him that bakes food, sings praise, does sacrifices; For whom prayer is a means of strength, and Soma, .4jid tliis our offering; he, O men, is Indra. 15. Faithful and true art thou, the fierce, exacting Largess for Soma-presser and food-baker; We being evermore of thee beloved, ’ Would, Indra, with strong sons thy worship utter*. It will be necessary to add only a few comments, since Vedic warfare has been sufficiently treated in the sections ’Or: ‘Who yields not to the boasting foe in boldness’. Maedonell, HR. .50. "Or: ‘address the synod’, Maedonell, HR. 50; Hillebrandt, IjR. 41. 194 THE RELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA of Chapter III on ‘Aryans’, ‘Dasyus’ and ‘Conquest of the Land’. As the gods chose Indra to be their champion against Vritra and the other atmospheric Dasyiis (vv. 11-12), so the Aryans chose him to be their champion against the earthly Dasyus (vv. 4, 10)Indra is a match for every one, whether demon or man (v. 9). The resources of language are exhausted in describing his irresistible might: He is a bull, mightier than the mighty, tlie lord of strength, the might-lord of might, having a hundred powers^, etc. If forty or more epithets celebrate his matchless strength, about the same number glorify.him as a victorious warrior. Indra made a broad place for the afflicted sky (or for Dyaus, VI. 18, 14) by slaying Vritra, that is to say, by sending a thunderstorm and clearing the atmosphere of dust and mist. He filled the spacious mid-air, and by battle gave enlargement and freedom to the gods (VII. 98, 3; III. 34, 7). Such enlargement and victory he gives also to his friends and worshippers among men (IV. 24, 2, 6; X. 43, 11), that is, to those who press soma for him (II. 12, 6, 14-15). For the ‘Strong Soma’ makes Indra strong (v. 14) and everything connected with Indra is also strong. The vessel of the strong flows forth, the flood of meatb, Unto the strong who feeds upon the strong^ for drink; Strong are the two Adhvaryiis, strong are both the stones, They press the Soma that is strong for him the strong. St7'ong is thy thunderbolt, yea, and thy car is strong ; Strong are thy bay steeds and thy weapons too are strong. Strong Indra, thou art lord of the stro7ig gladdening drink, With the strong Soma, Indra, satisfy thyself. (II. 16, 5-6, Griffith’s translation with slight changes.) ’ The word Dasyu or DSsa is ambiguous, referriug as it does to both human foes and demon foes. Both aie Dasyus, fiends, devils. Cf. Roosevelt, WW. I. 110. “ Appalling by their craft, their ferocity, their fiendish cruelty, they (the Algonquins) seemed to the white settler* devils and not men , 10-11; Vll. S‘2, d ; IV. 41, 4, 7, 11 ; 1 -8; Vn. 84, 2. INDRA THE WARRIOR (JOD 199 however closely allied Indra and Varuna may be in cosmic matters, yet in the most fundamental things they will not fuse. Varuna as a sky-god can easily be made to wield the thunderbolt and slay Vritra, but Indra is ethically too far removed from Varuna to be easily assimilated to him \ Hence in tlie Indra-Varuna hymns there are drawn no less than six contrasts between Varuna and Indra. Varuna is king, possessor of the most-exalted Asurahoodf whose will- the gods follow; whereas Indra loves battle and stirs the dust of conflict (IV. 42, 2, 5). Indra with his bolt slays Vritra, while Varuna as a sage {viprd) keeps to the settlements (VI. 68, 3). Varuna is a god of peace and quiet {ksenia)^ whereas Indra associated with the Maruts is a warrior seeking glory (VIL 82, 5-6). Indra in the conflicts slays the Vritras, whereas Varuna evermore guards his ordinances {vrata VII. 83, 9). Prayer is made that the wrath of Varuna may pass us by, while Indra is besought to make wide room (VII. 84, 2). Varuna upholds the terrified ' people, while Indra smites resistless foemen (VII. 85, 3). In these significant antitheses Varuna is represented as watching over his ordinances, as one whose will the gods follow, as a sage who in peace and quiet abides in the settlements, and as one whose anger punishes the evil-doer. On the other hand, Indra loves battle, smites Vritra and makes wide room for gods and men. The difference is manifest. In connection with the Zoroastrian reformation, as we have seen, Indra was reduced to the status of a demon, while Varuna—the Ahura of the Avesta— was exalted to the supreme position. In India, however, the fortunes of these two chief gods of the Vedic pantheon- rivals, as it were, for supreme honour—were the reverse of what they were in Iran. The influence of the soma- ’ Some indications of an attempt at assimilation are found in the seventh and tenth books. * kratu. Pvavikta fiDiu vij ‘to slink away frightened’ (Oldenberg Rv. Noten)- (leldner (RV. filossar) derives it from vie ‘to separate’ hence ‘chosen’ people. 200 THE RELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA cult aud of both Brahman and Ksatriya sentiment told in favour of Indra. Varuna was too remote and inflexible, too august and holy, to be popular. Flence the popularity of Indra gradually increased at the expense of Varuna. For in the Brahmana period Indra became chief of the Indian heaven, while Varuna was reduced to the lordship of lakes and pools* *. b) Indra’s relation to Rita. In general it may be said that each Vedic deity, while respecting the ‘order’ of the other departmental gods, especially represents and protects the order within his own department. Neither gods nor mortals infringe the ordinances {vrata) and statutes (dhama) of Indra, (III. 32, 8; VI. 21, 3); and on the other hand, Indra as a deva does not infringe the statutes of the devas, be they Adityas, Vasus or Rudriyas (X. 48, 11). Within his own sphere Indra is strong and active through law (dharman X. 44, 1). He distributes through law the plants and the streams (II. 13, 7): and the rivers follow his ordinance (I. 101, 3). Through vita he lighted up the many dawns (VI. 39, 4). . The Simadevdh are not to .approach Indra’s rita (VII. 21, '5). Thus the emphasis is on the cosmic and ritualistic. There is little reference to ritci in the ethical sense. It is to be remarked, however, that three stanzas in praise of rita (vv. 8-10 of IV. 28) occur in the middle of an Indra hymn, containing the notable lines: The thought of RUa slayeth crookednesses (v. 8); and Of Rita sure and firm-set are the bases (v. 9). The first line contains, or at least we would like to read into it, the thought of the supremacy in conscience of the moral law, and the function of the moral law in making sin known and so checking it^ Neither line, however, is closely linked up with Indra. As consciousness has the three aspects of knowing, feeling, and willing, so rita has * Oldenberg, RV. 94-97; MacdonelJ, VM. 65-66. * Cf. '‘By the law is the knowledge of sin”. Rom, III. 20. INJDRA THE WARRIOR GOD 201 three strands of meaning, cosmic, ritualistic and ethical. Varuna is the Lord of ethical law, Agni of ritualistic law and Indra of cosmic law as displayed in the flash of the lightning, the roar of the thunder, and the downpour of the waters. Varuna is depicted as a king seated on his heavenly throne, while Indra is sketched as a warrior hurling the bolt at Vritra or leading the Aryans in their struggle with the aborigines. The one is characterised by ‘passive sway’; the other, by ‘energetic action’k Being primarily a storm-god, Indra manifests a shifty and arbi¬ trary temper as compared with Varuna, Thus Indra is represented as having shattered the wain of Usas wdth his bolt (II. 15, 6)^ quarrelled with the Maruts (I. 170, 2) and fallen out with Slirya over the heavenly chariot race. Doubtless cosmic myths underlie these episodes. If one thinks of Indra’s stormy nature, his love of the intoxicating Soma, his military braggadocio and his uxoriousness — qualities doubtless all found in the Vedic ‘Yunkers’ — one is not surprised that he does not cut a better ethical figure than he does. But even so Indra is the apotheosis of heroic action rather than of meditative calm. The ‘ strenuous life' in the person of Indra receives the praise in the largest number of hymns addressed to any god in the Kv. It is striking that the national god of the Vedic peoples ex¬ emplifies this quality — a quality which the Indian Aryans lost more or less through the influence of the climate and of fusion with the aborigines. That tlie majestic and re¬ poseful Varuna shows up better than the active, Soma¬ drinking, fighting Indra simply illustrates the fact that a negative character who does nothing bad appears often to much better advantage than a man of action who does great deeds, but commits many faults in the doing of them. ' Macdonell, VM. G4. ^ Not a very gallant procedure on the })art of Indra to strike the lady Dawn I Mythologically, either the obscuration of the dawn by a thunderstorm, or the extinction of her light after the rising of the sun. Oldenberg, RV. 169 ; Macdonell,. YW. 63; Griffith, Eng. Trans. 2nd Edition, Vol. I. 1896, p. 432, footnote 8. 202 THE KELKHON OF THE KKiVEDA c) Indra’s relation to the wicked. Indra vSinites the earthly foes of the Aryans as well as the atmospheric Vritras and Asuras. With his arrow he slays the perpetra¬ tors of great sin, and pardons not the arrogant (II. 12, 10). He is often called ^guiltless’ (III. 32, 9, etc.). In the earlier books of the Rv. there is little more than this. In the seventh book, however, Indra is once represented as a ‘saviour even from great sin’ (VII. 20. 1); there is a reference to the sinless Varuna as the beholder of sin (VII. 28, 4); and we read that both the crooked (vrijina) and the deceiver lie in the net’ of Indra (VII. 104, 13). It would seem that in the Vasistha book, which so exalts Varuna, Indra also gets, at least by assimilation to Varuna, a considerable degree of ethical character. For he (like Vai*una) observes sin, punishes tlie sinner, and saves from even great sin. Tlie most notable passage, however, is found in X. 89, 8-9, probably a late hymn: 8. Indra thou art a clever debt-exactor; As sword a joint, so cleavest thoii the wicked®, Who break the law of Varuna and Mitra, Even as people wrong a friend and ally. 9. Those men of evil ways who break agreements, And injure Varuna, Aryaman and Mitra,— Against such enemies, puissant Indra, Sharpen thy heavy, strong and ruddy weapon. On the whole, then, Indra in his ethical function is represented as little more than an executioner who punishes those who break the laws of the Adityas. With him the ethical is not primary as with Varuna, but secondary. It is something, however, that he serves Varuna, and the Adityas at least in the capacity of executioner. 7. Indra and the Maruts. — Thirty-three hymnsare devoted to the Maruts, besides several in which they are addressed conjointly with other gods, especially with Indra. * prasiti. cf. the pasa, ‘noose’ of Varuna. * vrijina, lit. ‘crooked’. ® Eleven in V., eleven in I. and eleven in all the other books. INDRA TUK WARIITOR GOD 203 They constitute a band or troop’, the sons of Kudra and of the cow Prisni^ Their close connection with Indra as his helpers in the fight with Vritra throws light upon the nature of Indra, on the principle that ‘a man is known by the company he keeps’. The following hymn sets forth their activity: To the Mar ids y 1. cVo. 1. As wondrous sons of Riidra, racers of the sky Who on their course, like women, beautify themselves, The Maruts have indeed made heaven and earth increase; Th’ impetuous men rejoice in rites of sacrifice. 2. Having waxed strong, they unto greatness have attained. In heaven the Rudras have established their abode; Singing their song and generating Indra-might, Glory have they put on, the Prisni-mothered ones. 3. When they, cow-mothered, deck themselves with ornaments’ With brilliant weapons arm themselves, the shining ones; Then everj'^ adversary and foe they drive away. And fatness flows abundantly along their paths. 4. Who as great warriors shine resplendent with their spears’ Shaking with might even the things unshakable. When ye, O Maruts, swift as thought have to your cars The spotted mares yoked, ye whose hosts are powerful; 5. When ye have yoked the S})otted mares to chariots. Speeding the stone, ye Maruts, in the conflict. Streams of the ruddy steed of heaven discharge they And as with water-skin earth’s surface moisten. b. Let your swift-gliding racers bring you hitherward. Advance swift-flying with your mighty arms outstretclied; Be seated on the straw, the wide seat made for you; Delight yourselves, ye Maruts, in the honied juice. 7. Strong in themselves, they have increased through mightiness, Have climbed the sky, and made themselves an ample seat When Visnu helped the Soma-drunken bull of heaven. Like birds on the dear sacrificial grass they sat. ’ gana. and sardkas. * That is of lightning in its destructive aspect and of the mottled storm-cloud. See Macdonell, VM. 77, 78. ^ Change of second to thinl person. 204 THE RELIGION OF THE RiGVEDA 8. Like heroes bold, like warriors speeding in the fray, Like glory-seekers, they in fights array themselves; All creatures are afraid of the fierce Mariit-band, Like kings of aspect fierce and terrible are the men. 9. When Tvas^r, skilful workman, turned the thunder-bolt^ Well-wrought, with thousand edges, and of gold compact^ Then Indra took it to perform his manly deeds, ‘ Slew demon Vritra and forced out the water-flood. • "^10. Up have they pushed the bottom of the well with might. Even the firm cloud-mountain have they cleft in twain; Blowing their pipes the Marut heroes bountiful In Soma’s rapture have accomplished glorious deeds. 11. Prone have they laid the heavenly well so as to flow. For thirsty Gotama poured they out the water-spring. Of brilliant splendour they approach the sage with help, By mighty deeds may they his wishes gratify. 12. The shelters which you have to give the zealous Extend them threefold, Maruts, to the pious; Extend them to us also, O ye Maruts, Grant wealth to us with hero sons, ye mighty. From this and other Rigvedic material the Maruts may be described as follows: They are born of the laughter of lightning (I. 23, 12): are ‘sons’ ‘heroes’ and ‘males’ of the sky (X. 77, 2; I. 122, 1; III. 54, 13); are brothers who have grown together, all equal in age and of one mind (V. 60, 5; V. 56, 5; I. 165, 1; VIII. 20, 1); are closely associated with the lady Rodasl ^; shine like tongues of fire and have the brilliancy of serpents (X. 78, 3; I. 172, 1); hold lightnings in their fists and are ‘lightning- speared’ (V. 54, 11; 52, 13); wear golden ornaments such as armlets or anklets {Khadi)^ with which they shine like the sky with stars (II. 34, 2); have chariots of lightning drawn by spotted steeds, and yoke the winds as horses to their pole (III. 54, 13; II. 34, 4; V. 58, 7); are playful like calves, and also terrible like wild beasts (VII. 56, 16; II. 34, 1); with thunder and blasts of wind cause the mountains to quake (I. 23, 11; VIII. 7, 4); sow the mist, milk the ’ Perhaps a personification of the lightning, since she is described as ‘self- luminous’ and ‘like light’, VI. 66, 6. IXDFvA THE WARRIOR GOD 205 udders of the sky, cover the eye of the sun with showers, make darkness with tlie cloud when they wet the earth, and milk the thundering well (VIII. 7, 4; 1. 64, 5, 6; Y. 59, 5; I. 38, 9); are singers of the sk}^, who generate Indra- might while singing their song, and cleave the mountain while blowing tlieir pipe (V. 57, 5; 1. 85, 2, 10); co-operate with Indra in slaying Ahi and Saihbara and in performing all his celestial exploits (III. 47, 3-4^ I. 100, etc.) k To sum up the picture of these confederates of Indra and warriors of the skj^ they have spears on their shoulders, anklets on their feet, golden ornaments on their breasts, splendours on their chariot, lightnings in their fists, golden helmets on their heads (Y. 54, 11). It is clear from all this that the Maruts are conceived as storm-gods, their nature being defined in terms of lightning, thunder, wind and rain. In a thunderstorm there are numerous lightning flashes and peals of thunder, the ‘winds’ blow, and ‘showers’ of rain fall. For such a description it is natural to use the plural. As conceived by the Yedic poets a thunderstorm is a theophany of Indra, who goes forth at the head of his army the Maruts to smite Vritra and release the watersk We are surprised that Indra had to go outside of his own circle, as it were, and find Ids helpers in the circle of Rudra. For the Maruts' as the sons of Rudra are called Rudras or Rudriyas. « It may be that the distinction between Agni and Agnis, Rudra and Rudras, Usas and Usasas, Soma and Sonias, Vayu and Yayus, etc.^ belongs in its very nature to ^ Sec Macdouell, ^'M. 77-81. ^ Indra at the head of the heavenly host of the Miu uts fighting against Vritra and the other atmospheric demons is the Rig^'cdie analogue and anticipation of the later stniggle between the Devas and Asnras. , ^ From mar ‘to die’, ‘to crush’, oi- ‘to shine’, j>robahly the last See Macdonell, VM. 81 and VRS. 2‘i. ^ That is, collective Fire and individual fires, collective Lightning fin it* destritctive aspect) and individual lightning-flashes, collective Soma and individual- soma-drops, collective Wind and individual })lasts of wind. There are no Indras 200 THE RELKHON OF THE RIOVEDA transparent names and not to an archaic and opaque name like Indra. At any rate Indra had no family of sturdy sons to, help him in toil and fight, and so had perforce to adopt as it were, the numerous' sons of Rudra as his children and co-workers. The Maruts are frankly storm-gods ‘racers of the sky’, whatever else the}^ may be"^, whereas Indra is described predominantly as cleaving the mountains and digging the channels of rivers. On the other hand, Indra’s characteristic weapon is the bolt {vajra) which is only once placed in the hands of the Maruts (VII. 7,32). The different terminology'’ employed in describing the exploits of Indra and the Maruts respectively probably indicates that they originated at different times and in different circles. The fact that Indra uses as his soldiers the Marut band of ‘storm-gods’ is sufficient proof that he too is essentially a storm-god I We may reasonably expect or Tndriyas as there are Rudras imd lliidriyas. There is a V'amua but no Varuuas. Fossribly it is the iinicjueness and exaltation of Vaiuna and Indra tliat has precluded any lesser Indras or Varunas. To this extent like Allah they are lil-sharlk. ’ Thrice seven or thrice sixty, I. 133, 0; VUI. 85, , 190'). * See Indra as God of Ferliliti/^ Hopkins, JAGS. ;’*6, 1917, pp. •242-268. The numerous rcfeiences to sexual relations in the Indra hymns are probably to be interpreted from the jx)int of view of Indra as a fertility god. Cf. Hopkins, tyf). eit., pp. 262-265. ’it is frequently uncertain in what manner Indra gives for)d, cows, etc., whether through victory over Vritra and conserjuently ‘rain from hea.V('n and fruitful seasons’, or through the winning of booty from earthly foes. Wives may have been captmed in battle, or good harvests and plenty of food may have made marriages easy and numerous. ^ Vesupaii vasTmdm III. 36, 9. 208 THE RELIGION OF THE RKU EDA Indra bestow on us the best of riches, Discernment of the practical, good fortune; Increase of substance, welfare of our bodies. Sweetness of speech, and pleasantness of weather. (II. 21, 6.) And to illustrate the enthusiasm and confidence with which men called upon Indra: Hurrah, let us invoke large-hearted Indra, Most manly in the fight for gain of booty; Mighty, a very present help in battle. Slayer of Vritras, winner he of riches. (III. 34, 11.) CHAPTER VIIL SOMA THE DEIFIED SACRIFICIAL DRINK 1. Introductory. — Of the three ritualistic gods Agni, Brihaspati and Soma, the last is, in one respect at least, the most important, since the Soma sacrifice furnished the centre and framework ‘ for the whole Rigvedic ritual. As the importance of Agni is suggested by the fact that his hymns occupy the first place in the family books, so that of Soma is indicated by the equally significant fact that one whole book, the ninth, is devoted entirely to his praise. About 120 hymns are addressed to Soma, so that he ranks third in importance in the Rv., if judged by statistical standards. Like Agni, Soma is a thoroughly transparent deity. His physical nature as the Soma plant and juice was so obvious as to prevent that completeness of the anthropomorphic process which is seen in the more opaque gods, Indra and Varuna. The fact that Soma- Haoma was prominent in both the Indian and the Iranian ritual proves sufficiently that the divine drink was known to the undivided Indo-Iranian tribes. There are only two references to Haoma in the Gathas of Zoroaster, one mentioning DTiraosa^^ ‘the averter of death’, the standing epithet of Haoma in the later Avesta, and the other alluding to ‘the filthiness of this intoxicantThese allusions are sufficient to prove that the intoxicating Haoma was under the ban of the great reformer ^ But in the later Avesta Haoma, like so many others of the old daevas, came back ^ The Soma sacrifice is the soul (alma yajnasya IX. 2, 10; 6, 8) of the Vedic ritual. ^Yasna, XXXII. 14. 3 Yasna, XLVIII. 10. * Moulton, EZ. 71-72. Even if the force of these allusions be challenged, the resvdt remains the same. Haoma was certainly pre-Zoroastrian, and the name constantly appears in the Younger Avesta. This means simply that Haoma was banned by Zoroaster. See Jackson, Grundriss (Iranian) II. 644. 14 210 THE RELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA again, and according to Yasna IX-X was in almost every respect the same as the Vedic Soma. The details of the following hymn will be compared with the corresponding Avestan account: To Soma, VIII. 48. 1. Of the sweet food I have partaken wisely, That stirs good thoughts, best banisher of trouble, On which to feast, all gods as well as mortals. Naming the sweet food ‘honey’, come together. 2. Hast thou within gained entrance thou becomest Aditi, appeaser of the gods’ hot anger. May’st thou, O Indu, Indra’s friendship choosing. To riches speed us as a mare the car-pole. 3. We have drunk Soma, have become immortal. Gone to the light have we, the gods discovered. What can hostility now do against us ? What, O Immortal, mortal man’s fell purpose*? 4. Joy to our heart be thou, when drunk, O Indu, Like father to a son, most kind, O Soma; Thoughtful like friend to friend, O thou of wide fame, Prolong our years that we may live, O Soma. 5. These glorious freedom-giving drops by me imbibed Have knit my joints together as straps a chariot; From broken legs may Soma drops protect me. May they from every illness keep me far removed. 6. Like friction-kindled fire inflame me. Soma, Make us more opulent and us illumine; For in thy rapture. Soma, I regard me As wealthy. For prosperity, then, enter. 7. Of thee pressed out with mind devoted. Soma, We would partake as of paternal riches. Years of our life do thou prolong. King Soma, Even as the sun prolongs the days of springtime. 8. Be gracious unto us for good. King Soma; We are thy devotees; of that be certain. When might and wrath display themselves, 0 Indu, Do not abandon us, as wished by foemen. ’ /. e. When thou hast been imbibed. ^ “And what, immortal god, the spite of mortals?”. Maedonell, HR. 80. SOMA THE DEIFIED SACRIFICIAL DRINK 211 9. Protector of our body art thou, Soma, In every limb hast settled man-beholding: If we infringe thine ordinances, be gracious As our good friend, O god, for higher welfare. 10. May I with that kind friend be close united Who, Lord of bays, when quaffed shall harm me never. As for the juice deposited within us, Indra, prolong our years for its enjoyment. 11. Ailments have fled away, diseases vanished. The powers of darkness have become affrighted. With might hath Soma mounted up within us; The dawn we’ve reached, where men renew existence’. 12. The drop imbibed within our hearts, O Fathers, The immortal drop in mortals hath found entrance; That Soma we w'ould worship with oblation. Rest in his loving kindness and fair favour. 13. Uniting with the Fathers hast thou. Soma, Thyself extended over earth and heaven. Thee, Indu, would we worship with oblation. And we ourselves become the lords of riches. 14. Ye gods, protectors, speak for us defending; Let neither sleep nor prattle overpower us. May we beloved evermore of Soma With hero sons attended utter worship. 15. Soma, thou art our strengthener on all sides; Light-finder art thou; enter us, man-beholder. Do thou, O Indu, with thine aids accordant. Grant us protection both in front and rearwards This hymn written by a member of the priestly family of the Kanvas describes the effects of Soma when quaffed by mortals. It protects the body, preserves from accident, removes illness, banishes trouble, gives joy and comfort, prolongs life, speeds to riches, scares away the powers of darkness, averts hostility, preserves from the wrath and malice of enemies, gives exhilaration, inflames and illumines, gives good thoughts, makes one think one is rich^, appeases * ‘We have arrived where men prolong existence’. Macdonell, HR. 81. ^ Acknowledgment is made of indebtedness to translations of this hymn by Macdonell, VRS. 152-164; HR. 79-81; HiUebrandt, LR. 35-36. ^ So through the drinking of Soma the singer thinks himself to be a Rishi, III. 43, 5. 14* 212 THE RELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA the anger of the gods, and makes immortal. In the Avesta likewise Haoma is best for drinking and most niitricious for the soul, heals illness, gives health of body and long life, furnishes prosperity, overcomes enemies, warns off thief, murderer and wolf, is a cause of good exhilaration, and drives away death \ It should be observed that, according to the Vedic hymn just translated, the wonderful effects of Soma in the individual are bound up with and conditioned by, the actual drinking of Soma Soma mounts up with might, and settles in every limb (vv. 9,11). With it one is ‘filled’. Peoples and mortals in general, and wealthy Ksatriya patrons, besides priests, are referred to as drinkers of Soma^, but the evidence is insufficient to show that it was a popular drinks The Soma-juice as freshly prepared three times a day could hardly have been intoxicating, except when allowed to stand for a sufficient time in which to ferment, as when pressed two days before using. Hymn X. 119 is clearly a monologue, in which some one, when exhilarated with Soma, boasts of his prowess. It is usual to think of Indra as the one^, but Oldenberg® * Yasna IX. 16-21; X. 8-19. Cf. L. H. Gray’s fine translation of Yasna IX. 17 according to the original metre (the same as that of Longfellow’s Hiawatha): Thee I pray for might and conquest, Thee for health and Thee for healing, Thee for progress and for increase, Thee for strength of all my body. Camoy, Iranian Mythology in volume VI. of The Mythology of All Nations, p. 282. 2 vv. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 15. ^ Surayah IX. 99, 3; Krstayci i III. 49, 1; martyasah VIII. 48, 1. See Vedic Index under Soma and Surd. It may be that the difference between surd, the evil effects of which were frankly recognised (VII. 86, 6) and Soma was this, that Soma was used chiefly for religious purposes and was freshly and liturgically prepared, whereas sura was a ‘commercialised’ article of trade. Possibly it was the mode of preparation, sacramental in the one case, secidar in the other, that helped to make the difference. At any rate surd was a popular and Soma a hieratic drink, ^ So Muir, OST. V. 90-91; Geldner and Kaegi, SL. 81-83; Macdonell, VM. 65. ® Rv. Noten, 11. 339. SOMA THE DEIFIED SACRIFICIAL DRINK 213 following Bergaigne prefers to think of the poet himself as describing his feelings after drinking Soma. Both interpretations are possible and it makes little difference whether the hymn is placed in the mouth of Indra or in the mouth of a priestly devotee who through participation in Indra’s drink ^ became mystically identified with Indra^ Each stanza has the same refrain; ‘Have I not drunk of Soma juice?’ Leaving out the refrain, the hymn reads as follows: — Thus even thus my purpose is to win a cow, to win a horse. Like violent winds, the draughts I drink have lifted and trans¬ ported me. As the swift horses move the car, so have the draughts excited me. To me has come the hymn of praise, like lowing cow to darling calf. As carpenter a chariot-seat, so with my heart I frame the hymn. Not ev’n as mote within the eye do the Hive tribes’ appear to me. The heavens and earth themselves are not the equal of even half of me. In greatness I surpass the sky, surpass also this spacious earth. Hurrah! let me deposit earth, and set it either here or there. In one brief moment will I smite this broad earth either here or there. One half of me is in the sky; the other half I cause to trail. I am superlatively great, have been exalted to the skies. Such a monologue, as the above, shows clearly that Soma, when imbibed, did produce a certain exhilaration or intoxi¬ cation, call it what you will. A distinctive characteristic of the experience was a feeling of strength and greatness. The poor man thought himself rich (VIH. 48, 6). Psycho¬ logically, Soma would never have been thought of as stimu¬ lating the strength of Indra, if it had not been known in ^ Soma is called in IX. 85, 3 the ‘ soul (atma) of Indra’, and even ‘ the generator of Indra’, IX. 96, 5. ^ In fact, the ascription of the hymn to Lava Aindra, ‘Indra as Lava’ or ‘Lava the Indra-Iike’ would seem to suggest this. We have foimd (p. 95) such mystical identification of demon and sorcerer as largely to obliterate the difference between them. This suggests the possibility of a similar identification of god and devotee. 214 THE RELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA experience to stimulate ‘ the strength of men. In Vedic battle doubtless each side was fearful of the other, and afraid to make a desperate onset. Whatever, then, like Soma (or siira\ would help to banish * * collateral trains of thought’^ connected with caution, personal safety, etc. and furnish a feeling of strength until the rush of battle was accomplished, would ordinarily bring about victory. Soma in IX. 77, 1 is called ‘the bolt (vajra) of Indra\ The rush of warriors in battle was due to Soma, just as the rush of the lightning. The mysterious qualities of the Soma juice as seen in its exhilarating the warrior and helping him to perform valiant deeds were also seen in the inspiration which it gave to the priestly singer and in the healing it furnished to the sick. Soma himself was a singerand as such was a source of inspiration to singers\ He is called ‘generator of hymns.leader of poets, Rishi of sages’ (IX. 96, 5-6). He is ‘Rishi-minded’ and a ‘Rishi-maker’. Soma, like Brihaspati, was a ‘specialist’ in the work of inspiring hymns. Thus in X. 119, 2 the poet sings: ‘Like violent winds the draughts I drink have lifted me and borne me on^’. Soma was also the sick man’s medicine (VIII. 61, 17). Thus, as shown above, god Soma was the guardian of men’s bodies, occupying their every limb, knitting together their * I. 82, 5 suggests that Soma stimulates the sexual instinct. For the similar effect of ^yine compare Gen. XIX. 30-36, 2 Sam. XI. 13. Once while in camp in India, a low-caste (Chamar) servant got intoxicated. When expostulated with he replied: “If one does not use strong drink, how can one beget children?” ^ See article on Alcohol and the Individual by H. S. Williams, M. D. in McClure’s Magazine, October 1908, p. 705. ^ Rebha IX. 7, 6, etc. * Similar spirituous sources of the divine afflatus are not unknown in modern times. ^ This reminds one of 2 Peter I. 21: “Men spake from god, being moved ((|>£p6[XSV0l, lit. ‘borne along’) by the Holy Spirit”; and also of Eph. V. 18-19, “Be filled with the spirit; speaking one to another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs ”. SOMA THE DEIFIED SACRIFICIAL DRINK 215 joints, protecting from broken legs, causing ailments and diseases to vanish, and so bestowing long life^ (VIII. 48, 5, 7, 9, 10, 11). Not only did Soma bestow health of body, but also health of mind, giving good thoughts, a sense of peace with the gods, joy, rapture, illumination, forgiveness^ Soma is a very wise sage (IX. 12, 4). As such he bestows ‘a happy mind, practical skill and mental ability’ (X. 25,1). Here the nature and effects of Soma are idealized, very much as wine is idealised in the lines of a certain Christian hymn^. Victory over enemies, composition of hymns, and recovery from disease, as manifestations of the grace of Soma, are well illustrated in X. 25, 9-11. 2. The Origin and Habitat of Soma.— a) Soma^s heavenly origin .— Like Agni Soma came from heaven ^ The celestial origin of the two is mentioned once together: Matarisvan fetched one of you from heaven; The eagle twirled the other from the cloud-rock. I. 93, 6. There is reason for holding that Matarisvan and the eagle, although belonging to different myths, are yet ‘mythological synonyms’, both referring to the lightning- form of Agni. There is no doubt in the case of Matarisvan. Bloomfield makes it highly probable for the eagle also^. There is no difficulty in understanding the eagle as the lightning, since Agni is often called a bird, and is once termed ‘the eagle of the sky’®. The Maruts, whose lightning-nature is so manifest, are also called ‘eagles of the sky’ (X. 92, 6). Soma is represented as a ‘child of the sky’, whom, though heavenly in origin, earth received. ^ The writer recalls meeting with an Indian civilian in 1890 who declared that if it had not been for whiskey he would have died long ago. * VIII. 48, 1, 2, 4, 6, 9. ^ “ He brings a poor vile sinner Into his ‘house of wine' ^ See Kuhn, HFG. ^ The Legend of Soma and the Eagle, JAOS, 16, (1896), pp. 1-24. Bloom¬ field's interpretation is favoured by Macdonell, VM. 111-112, and Keith, IM. 47. ^ Divah syenah VII. 15, 4. 216 THE RELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA High is the birth of thee, the plant; Thee being in heaven the earth received. IX. 61, 10. The eagle brought Soma from afar, from heaven, flying swift as thought ^ That is to say, the lightning as the eagle of the sky darts down from the cloud, bringing with it the nectar of the skies, in other words Uhe water of the cloud’. In one hymn especially the myth of the rape of Soma is summarized: IV. 27. To the Eagle. (Agni the lightning) 1. While yet within the womb* I was acquainted With all the generations of the dev as; A hundred metal forts kept me well guarded. Then with all speed I flew forth as an eagle. (Soma) 2. Not easily did he effect my capture. Yet in heroic strength was he triumphant; As bountiful he far outstripped the niggards, O’ertook the winds and passed them, he the mighty. (Poet) 3. And so when from the sky down rushed the eagle. Or when from there (the gods) brought him, the bounteous; Then furious in his mind Krisanu^ th’ archer. An arrow aimed at him and loosed the bow-string. 4. From heaven’s zenith swift the eagle bore him. As from afar the Asvin pair bore Bhujyu^; Then downward fell meantime the flying feather Of that bird hasting forward on his journey. The myth of the heavenly origin of a divine beverage ^ IX. 68, 5; 77, 2; VIII. 89, 8. i. e. the cloud-womb, in which the lightning form of Agni was shut up by a hundred metal forts, as it were. ^ Probably a Gandharva, a guardian of the celestial Soma. Kri^anu is possibly to be identified with the demon Karesani mentioned once in the Avesta (Yasna IX. 24). Krisanu may be compared with Vritra. ^ The translation of this line gives only the general sense as gathered from other passages. For the various attempts to interpret or amend indravatah see Ludwig, Uebersetzung II. 593, V. 468; Pischel, VS. I. 206-216; Bloomfield, JAOS. 16 (1896), 13-24; Hillebrandt, LR. 29; and Oldenberg, Rv. Noten, I. 292-293. SOMA THE DEIFIED SACRIFICIAL DRINK 217 conceived as a kind of honey-mead ^ may be Indo-European. At any rate there is the myth of the nectar-bringing eagle of Zeus and the metamorphosis of Odin as an eagle to carry off the mead, both myths agreeing in general with that of the Soma-bringing eagle of Indra^ These three myths clearly refer alike to the downward swoop of the lightning-bird bringing therewith the rain as the madhu^ or amrita of the sky. b) Soma^s earthly habitat .—In several passages Soma is called ‘mountain-dwelling’* *, and once ‘mountain-grown’®. His origin is closely connected with ‘rock’®. While the same ambiguity may beset some of these texts as adheres to the special vocabulary of Indra (‘mountains’ and ‘rivers’ as either heavenly or earthly), yet it is clear from both the Rv. and the Avesta^ that Soma-Haoma was a mountain-grown plant. It is connected with the mountain Haraiti in the Avesta, and with MCijavant in the Rv. As draught of Maujavata® Soma, so doth, Th’ enlivening Vibhidaka delight me. X. 34, 1. ^ Skt. mddhu, Gr. (XsOd, Anglo-Saxon. Medu, Eng. Mead. *01denberg, RV. 176; Macdonell, VM. 114; Kuhn, HFG. 153, 177. ^ Madhu, because of its wonderful intoxicating effects, was conceived as the drink of the gods. It must naturally then have been a heavenly drink, which was brought down to earth, this being the function of the nectar-bringing eagle in the three mythologies. The connection between rain-watei’ and madhu was sufficiently explained by the fact that water is a constituent of the honey-mead. And the close connection between waters and plants provided a sufficient nexus between the rain and the soma-plant. ^giristha III. 48, 2; V. 43, 4; IX. 18. 1, 62, 4. . ^parvatdvridh, IX. 46 1. ^ adri V. 85, 2; I. 93, 6. ^According to Yasna X. 4, 10-12, 17, Haoma is represented as placed on the high mountain Haraiti by a skilful god, whence holy birds carried it everywhere to the heights, where it grew both on the lofty tablelands and in the mountain valleys. ® The mountain Mujavant (if it was a mountain and not simply the name of a people; cf- HiUebrandt, VM. I. 65), being closely connected with the Gandharis (AV. V. 22, 5, 7, 8, 14) must have been situated somewhere between Bactria and the Punjab. In the Tail, Samh. I. 8, 6, 2 and the AV. passages referred to above the Mujavants aiie taken as a type of distant folk, to which Rudra with his fever¬ bearing bow is entreated to depart. In fact Mujavant is as far off and mysterious as the river Rasa. Possibly both embody dim reminiscences of the undivided Indo-Iranian days. 218 THE RELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA 3. The identification of the Soma plant. Not much need be said under this head. When the Indo- Iranian tribes left the original IE. home, they experienced along with the change in their habitat a change also in their drink. The IE. madhu ‘honey-mead’ was replaced by the Indo-Iranian Soma. Soma-Haoma means literally ‘extract’ or ‘juice’, from su — hu ‘to press’^ In the Rv. Soma and madhu are often used interchangeably and each in the form of an adjective may qualify the other I Soma ‘juice’ and madhu ‘sweet’ are too general in meaning to be confined necessarily to any one drink. It is true the Avestan account in Yasna X would seem to indicate that the Haoma juice was produced from a particular plant which grew in a particular place. The preparation of Soma-Haoma, as we have seen, belonged to the undivided Indo-Iranian period. With their ‘trek’ into India the Vedic Aryans probably had to give up largely the use of the Iranian Soma plant and find substitutes nearer their new horned This was not difficult. Besides the various Sarcostemmas^ there was the Afghan grape, the possibility of a preparation from hops as suggested by Max Muller, or from sugar-cane; or, as recently suggested by E. B. HavelH, from ragi, the common millet®, from which an intoxicating drink is still made in the Eastern Himalayas. In both Veda and Avesta the Soma plant is described as ^ Madhu seldom occurs in the Avesta and then only in the sense of honey, never in that of Soma. See Hillebrandt, VM. I. 238; Oldenberg, RV. 368. 2 Soma is madhuman ‘honied’ (IX. 96, 13), and madhu is sornya ‘Soma-like’ hll. 53, 10). ^ Cf. Roth PW. under Soma; Hillebrandt, VM. I. 68. ^ Viminale, Intermedium, Brevistigma and Brunonianum. See Hillebrandt, VM. I. 4 ff. ^ What is Soma? JRAS. July 1920, pp. 349-351. ® Eleusine coracana. “It is cultivated along the Himalayas up to a height of 8000 feet,” op cit. p. 351. SOMA THE DEIFIED SACRIFICIAL DRINK 219 having hanging branches*, and a yellow colour I Mountain- growth, yellow colour and hanging branches (?) are the two or three points in which Veda and Avesta agree in the description of the Soma-stalk ^ It is most probable that this is a true description of the plant used for Soma during the undivided Indo-Iranian period. The technical expres¬ sions ‘stalk ‘yellow*, ‘mountain-grown’, etc. were so firmly imbedded in the Soma-Haoma ritual as to reappear in both the Rv. and the Younger Avesta. While in Persia there was less probability of a break in the tradition, in India, as shown above, substitutes most likely had to be found for the ancient Soma plant. Substitutes of such a nature would naturally be chosen as would best conform to the traditional description of the Soma plant and juice, and in any case the technical terms of the ritual would be retained, even if there was a lack of perfect correspondence \ Since the Soma sacrifice was the ‘soul’ of the Vedic ritual and the three daily pressings constituted the framework in which practically all of the gods were worshipped, it is clear that large quantities of the plant used for the sacred liquor must have been necessary. It is difficult to think of such quantities being brought from a distance, unless perhaps the plants could be cleansed and stored for future use, as is the custom of the modern Parsees I But, as said before. ^ Naicasakha Uv. III. 53, 14 according to Hillebrandt (VM. I- 14), a name of the Soma plant as having branches that bend down, and namyasus (nam to bend) ‘with bending sprouts’. Mill’s translation of Yasna TX. 16. Unfortunately full certainty attaches to the interpretation of neither word. ^ Hari ‘yellow’ (Kv. IX. 92, 1), and zairi ‘golden-hued’ (Yasna IX. 16, 30). ^ Vedic amsu, Avestan asu. In this respect the Soma sacrament may be compared with the use of vrine in the Holy Communion of the Christian Church. The liquor used is grape-juice fermented, or unfermented, or any liquid made to look like grape-juice. Here the colour is the essential thing, for it must be red like blood. ^ Jivanji Jamshedji Modi, Art. Haoma ERE. VI. 506-510, says that twigs of the Soma plant, a species of Ephedra, are brought from Persia to India, where they are washed and purified and then laid aside for thirteen months imd thirteen days. If properly cleansed and stored they c^ be used several years afterwards. 220 THE RELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA it is probable that some Indian plant or shrub growing not too far away from the Vedic settlements was used for the preparation of the sacred drink^ perhaps as a substitute* * for the original Iranian plant. Whatever it was, it flour¬ ished during the rainy season, swelling with milk (11. 13, 1), generated and strengthened by Parjanya, the deified rain- cloud (IX. 82, 3; 113, 3^). It had a stalk (amsu) which was ruddy (VII. 98, 1), and the whole plant was called dndhas^. According to the later ritual the Soma shoots had to be purchased from a Sudra. This transaction was made the subject of a dramatic representation, one of the earliest anticipations of the later drama. The Sudra was not merely a trader in Soma shoots but also an impersonation, as Hillebrandt thinks, of the Gandharva {e. g. Krisanu) who held back the celestial Soma^ This would seem to indicate that the Soma shoots came from a non-Aryan tribe, such a tribe as the Kikatas, who apparently ar e mentioned in connection with the Soma plan t. ^ To illustrate the possibility of there being more than one plant fit to produce Soma, reference may be made to the ‘ cow-tree ’ of Brazil which yields a quantity of milk especially at sunrise, the milk after being drawn growing yellow; the Masseraudnba, a milk-tree also of Brazil, concerning which an observer writes: “We cut several notches in the bark of some logs of this tree that had lain on the ground for a month, and in a minute the rich milk was oozing out in great quantities, some of which we collected in a basin, diluted it with water, strained it, and used it for supper and breakfast” (W. A. Cook, By Horse, Canoe and Float thi’ough the Wilderness of Brazil^ p. 374); “the Carnauba Palm, which yields a white liquid like cocoanut milk” (op. cit. p. 375); and certain beverages used by the Creek Indians, concerning which Roosevelt wrote: “They had a cool drink made from honey and water, besides another made from fermented corn, which tasted much like cider,. also the Black Drink, a bitter beverage brewed from the crushed leaves of a small shrub” (WW. I- 84, 88). * According to Sankhayana III. 20, 9-11, in case the recognised Soma plant was not available, it was permitted to take as a substitute the plant most resembling the one recognised by ordinary usage, but the words of the ritual were not to be changed. Quoted by Hillerbrandt, VM. I. 23. ® Cf. Yasna X. 3: I praise the cloud and the waters that made thy body to grow upon the mountains. See Hillerbrandt, VM. I. 56-57. * Etymologically the same as the Gr. av6oc, ‘flower’. ^ Hillebrandt, VM. I. 81; Vedic Index, H. 475. SOMA THE DEIFIED SACRIFICIAL DRINK 221 Mid Kikatas what do thy kine, O Indra? That tribe nor mixture‘ pours nor heats oblation; Bear thou to us the wealth of Pramaganda, Give up, O Maghavan, to us the Mow-branched’. III. 53, 14. 4. The Sacramental Preparation of the Soma Juice. Of the Soma hymns translated above, IV. 27 describes the bringing down of the heavenly Soma by an eagle, while VIII. 48 and X. 119 depict the effects which spring from the drinking of the divine intoxicant. The hymns to Soma in Book IX are addressed to Soma Pavamana^ that is, to Soma while in the process of passing through the filter. Two of these hymns are herewith reproduced on the basis of Griffith’s translation with certain changes:— To Soma Pavamana, IX. 1. 1. By most exhilarating stream And sweetest. Soma, filter thee. Pressed out for Indra as his drink. 2. Fiend-slayer, present everywhere, He through the wooden trough has reached His seat, his metal-wrought abode. 3. Be thou best Vritra-slayer, best Granter of bliss, most liberal; Our noble patrons’ wealth increase. 4. Flow onward with thy juice unto The banquet of the mighty gods; Flow unto victory and fame. 5. O Indu, we draw nigh to thee. This is our object, day by day; To thee our wishes are addressed. 6. By means of the unfailing fleece The daughter of the sun doth cleanse Thy Soma that is streaming forth. 7. Him seize and hold fast in the fight Ten slender maidens, sisters all, In the decisive day of war. * The word rendered ‘mixture’ means ‘the milk that serves for mixing with Soma’. 222 THE RELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA 8. Him send they forth, the virgin band, They blow the bagpipe* musical; Threefold protection is the juice. 9. Milch-kine inviolable anoint The infant Soma with their milk,— Soma for Indra as his drink. 10. In the wild raptures of this draught, Indra slays all his enemies; The mighty one bestoweth wealth. To So7na Pavcmicina, IX. 28. 1. Sent forth by men, this mighty steed. Lord of the mind, who knoweth all. Runs to the woollen straining-cloth. 2. Within the filter hath he flowed. This Soma for the gods effused. Entering all their various worlds, 3. Resplendent is this deity. Immortal in his dwelling place. Foe-slayer, feaster best of gods. 4. Directed by the sisters ten. Bellowing on his way this bull Runs onward to the wooden vats. 5. This Pavamana made the sun To shine and all his various worlds. Omniscient, present everywhere. 6. This Soma filtering himself. Flows mighty and infallible. Slayer of sinners, feasting gods. The preparation of Soma was the supreme ritualistic performance of the Rigvedic religion. There were three distinct stages in the operation, the pressing, the filtering and the mixing, of the sacred liquor. The ceremonial was elaborate and costly. It is difficult to get a clear picture of all the details, but happily this is not necessary for the purpose in hand. * The Soma-stalk is probably meant, which seems to have given forth a sound when struck. So Hillebrandt, LR. 32, n. 3. SOMA THE DEIFIED SACRIFICIAL DRINK 223 a) The Pressing of the Soma. — Probably the most arch¬ aic, if not the most usual, method was by means of the mortar and pestle', for this is the Iranian way, both ancient and modern, of extracting the Soma^ In only one hymn of the Rv. and that probably a late one, is there a clear reference to the mortar. To the Mortar, etc. I. 28. 1. There where the broad-based pressing-stone Stands upright to crush out the juice; 2. Where dual parts to crush the stalk Are like the parts of man and wife^; 3. There where a woman practises The backward and the forward move; 4. Where as it were with reins to guide They bind with cords the twirling-stick ^ ^ Ulukhala, ‘mortar’ I. 28, 1, 5; ulukhala-musala, ‘mortar and pestle’, AV. IX. 6, 15; Satapatha Brah. I. 1, 4, 6. * Yasna XXIV. 7; XXV. 2. For the modem usage see J. J. Modi, ERE. VI. (1914), article Haoma, according to whom Havana (hu ‘to crash’) is “the utensil in which the twigs of the haoma plant are pounded.” ® The broad-based gravan (usually rendered ‘ press-stone ’) is clearly the mortar. In AV. III. 10, 5 there is mention of vdnaspatya gravanah, ‘forest-tree pressing- stones’, ^.«. the wooden mortar and pestle. So Sat. Brah. I. 4, 7, 10, according to which the wooden mortar and the wooden pestle are called gravanah ‘ press- stones’. Cf. Hillebrandt VM. I. 161-162. In Kashmir a similar wooden mortar and pestle are used for removing the husks from rice, and women do the pounding alternately drawing back the stick and driving it down {cf. v. 3). The mortar is made of the trunk of a tree sawed off into a block and hollowed out so as to have a large bowl-shaped opening. The mechanism of pestle- and mortar, as of the two fire-sticks, suggests sexual analogies. In vv. 2-3 there is double entendre- This is furthered by the fact that the roots su and su, originally one root mean ‘to press’ and ‘to generate’, respectively. Cf- Hillebrandt, VM. I. 162. ’’ The mention of nianthd ‘ twirling-stick ’ does not fit in well with the picture of the mortar- Two explanations have been suggested. One that of Oldenberg (Rv. Noten, 1. 24, note 2), who suggests that it may refer to the production of fire as an integral part of the Soma ritual, vv. 3-4 belonging together. The other is that of Hillebrandt (VM. I. 161), who thinks the twirling stick went with the mortar both together forming ‘ a kind of hand-mill ’ for the crushing of Soma. A 224 THE RELIGION OF THE RIGVEDA Each stanza has the following refrain: O Indra, drink thou eagerly Of Soma liquor mortar-pressed. Two more stanzas of the same hymn may be quoted: 5. Whenever thou from house to house * Art harnessed, mortar, for thy task. Then utter here thy clearest sound. Loud as the drum of conquerors. 6. Lord of the forest, once the wind Blew all about thy summit high; Mortar, for Indra press thou forth The Soma juice that he may drink. A reference to the same method of pressing Soma may possibly be found in X. 101, 10-11 (confessedly obscure stanzas): 10. Into the wood’s lap pour thy tawny (object). With stony cutters make the product ready; Embrace and compass them with girdles tenfold, And to both chariot poles attach the car-horse. 11. Between the car’s two shafts the car-horse bulky Goes to his place as goes the doubly wedded; Place on the wood the sovereign of the forest. And sink a well, although ye do not dig it. If this interpretation is correct, the pestle is represented by the ‘stony cutters’, the car-horse and Vanaspati ‘the further suggestion may be made. May it not be that first the Soma shoots were pounded and crushed in the mortar, and then after water was added to obtain the juice, the whole was churned by the regular Indian twirling apparatus, the better to secure the juice ? In the ritual of Soma-pressing as followed by Indian Parsees the priest after pounding the soma twigs in the havana and adding water “gives a little push to the pestle which is within the mortar and causes it to turn in a circle”. “This part of the ritual”, explains J. J. Modi (ERE. art. Haoma in a foot-note) “is a relic of the old practice, when, after being pounded, the haoma twigs were regularly rubbed in the mortar with the pestle to extract the juice further”. This may possibly throw light on the Vedic reference. ^ The reference to the mortar in every house (v. 5) as a means of pressing Soma suggests that Soma was a popular drink in the early Rigvedic days, or at least in the area where this hymn was produced. SOMxV THE DEIFIED SACRIFICIAL DRINK 225 sovereign of the forest’, while ‘the wood’ and ‘the wood’s lap’ indicate the mortar^ There was a second Rigvedic method of pressing Soma, namely by means of the gravmiah or ‘press-stones’, the stones resting on the ‘ox-hide’ and, according to the later ritual, being manipulated in connection with two boards. Three hymns are addressed to the deified press-stones, • X. 76, 94 and 175, from which the following quotations are made: This very excellent oblation press ye out; Like steed hand-guided is the Soma-pressing stone. X. 76, 2. These speak a hundredfold, yea speak a thousandfold, They cry aloud to us ivith taivmj-coloured mouths; The pious press-stones busied with the pious work Get, even before the Hotar, taste of th’ offered food. X. 94, 2. These speak aloud, for they have found the honied Juice, Over the ripe flesh of the stalk they hum a song. As thej^ devour the branch of the red-coloured tree, Bellow aloud the bulls that gnaw the Soma shoots ^ X. 94, 9. The skilful ones dance with the sistei's linked with them. Making the earth reecho with the noise thej" make. X. 94, 4. The winged ones lift up their voice unto the sky, The dusky nimble ones dance in the dkhara^ Down, downward to the nether stone's place go they all, Much Juice receive they from the sun-bright Soma stalk. X. 94,5. With one accord the pressing stones Over the nether ones play the lord. Giving the bull his bull-like strength. X. 175, 3. From these passages we get the following details: The press-stones, like steeds, are held by the hand. They gnaw the branch of the ruddy Soma tree, and so with ruddy mouths cry aloud. Like priests they busy themselves with the pious work, speaking a thousandfold, and getting a taste ^ So Hillebraiidt, VM. I. 163- Oldenberg, (Rv. Noten J[. 317) reje