The Religion of the Veda the Ancient Religion of India

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Ex Libris

THE CANADIAN

Courtesy of The Estate of G.J.L. Bates

FROM-THE-LIBRARYOF TRINITYCOLLEGETORDNTO

THE AMERICAN LECTURES ON THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS.

I.

The History and Literature By T. W. RHYS-DAVIDS, LL.D., Ph.D.

Buddhism.

dhism. II.

of

Bud

Primitive Religions. The Religions of Primitive By D. G. BRINTON, A.M., M.D., LL.D., Sc.D.

Peoples. III.

Israel.

Jewish Religions.

Life after the Exile.

By Rev. T. K. CHEYNE, M.A., D.D. IV. Israel.

Religion of Israel to the Exile.

By KARL

BUDDF,, D.I). V. Ancient Egyptians. The Religion of the Ancient By G. STEINDORFF, Ph.D.

Egyptians.

The Development of Re By GEORGE W. KNOX, D.D. VII. The Veda. The Religion of the Veda. By MAURICE BLOOMFIELD, Ph.D., LL.D. VI. Religion in Japan.

ligion in Japan.

In active preparation VIII.

Islam.

The

:

Religion of Islam.

GOLDZIHER, Ph.D., Litt.D.

G.

P.

PUTNAM S SONS

NEW YORK AND LONDON

By IGUAZ

AMERICAN LECTURES ON THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS SEVENTH SERIES

1906-1907

THE RELIGION OFTHE VEDA THE ANCIENT RELIGION OF INDIA (FROM RIG- VEDA TO UPANISHADS)

BY

MAURICE BLOOMFIELD, Professor of Sanskrit and

Ph.D., LL.D.

Comparative Philology in Johns Hopkins

University,

Baltimore

PUTNAM S SONS NEW YORK AND LONDON

G. P.

Cbe

Ifcnicfcerbocfcer 1908

press

COPYRIGHT, igo8

BY G. P.

PUTNAM S SONS

TTbe ftnfcfcerbocfcer

123139 JAN

2

1987

TDrs, flew

JPort

PREFACE. volume reproduces with some little ampli six lectures on the Religion of the

THISfication Veda

given before various learned institutions of America during the fall and winter of 1906-07.

The

period of time and the

embraced

amount

the term Vedic are large

in

;

of literature

moreover any

name

discussion of this religion that deserves the

must

also include a glance at the prehistoric periods

which preceded the religion of the Veda. sequently my treatment must be selective. not

difficult it

to

make the

selection.

of priestly

me

was

have not

necessary to include a complete account

thought of Vedic mythology and legend to

I

Con It

ritual

and

;

nor did the details

religious folk-practices

seem

to call for elaborate exposition at this time

and under the circumstances of a popular treatment Vedic religion. On the other hand, it seemed

of

both interesting and

markedly ligious

bring out as development of the re

important to

as possible the

thought of the Veda

in

distinction

from

Preface

iv

myth and ceremony. will, I

reader of these pages

how

the religion

prehistoric

foundation

hope, learn to his satisfaction

of the

which

The

Veda

rests

upon a

largely nature

is

how

continues in

myth hymns as hieratic ritual worship of gods how this religion grew more and ;

it

the Rig- Veda polytheistic

;

more formal and mechanical

in the

Yajur-Vedas and

Brahmanas, until it was practically abandoned how and when arose the germs of higher religious thought and, finally, how the motives and prin ;

;

ciples that

underlie this entire chain

of

mental

events landed Hindu thought, at a comparatively early period, in the pantheistic ligion of the Upanishads which

and pessimistic it

abandoned.

MAURICE BLOOMFIELD. JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY, BALTIMORE, April, 1907.

re

has never again

ANNOUNCEMENT.

THE

American

Lectures on

the

History of

Religions are delivered under the auspices of

the American Committee for Lectures on the History of Religions.

This Committee was organised

purpose of instituting

for the

the History of Religions,

"

in 1892,

popular courses in

somewhat

after the style of

the Hibbert Lectures in England, to be delivered

annually by the best scholars of Europe and this country, in various cities, such as Baltimore, Boston,

Brooklyn, Chicago,

New

York, Philadelphia, and

others."

The terms

of association under

tee exist are as follows 1.

The object

which the Commit

:

of this Association shall be to provide

courses of lectures on the history of religions, to

be delivered in various 2.

The

cities.

Association shall be composed of delegates

from Institutions agreeing to co-operate, or from Local Boards organised where such co-operation is

3.

not possible.

These delegates

one from each Institution or

Preface

iv

The

myth and ceremony. will, I

of the

which

reader of these pages

how

the religion

prehistoric

foundation

hope, learn to his satisfaction

Veda

rests

upon a

largely nature

is

the Rig- Veda

hymns how

polytheistic gods

;

myth

;

how

it

continues in

as hieratic ritual worship of

grew more and Yajur-Vedas and

this religion

more formal and mechanical

in the

Brahmanas, until it was practically abandoned how and when arose the germs of higher religious thought and, finally, how the motives and prin ;

;

ciples that

underlie this entire chain

of

mental

events landed Hindu thought, at a comparatively early period, in the pantheistic ligion of the

Upanishads which

and pessimistic it

abandoned.

MAURICE BLOOMFIELD. JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY, BALTIMORE, April, 1907.

re

has never again

ANNOUNCEMENT.

THE

American

Lectures on

the

History of

Religions are delivered under the auspices of

the American Committee for Lectures on the History of Religions.

This Committee was organised

purpose of instituting

for the

"

in 1892,

popular courses in

the History of Religions, somewhat after the style of the Hibbert Lectures in England, to be delivered

annually by the best scholars of Europe and this country, in various cities, such as Baltimore, Boston,

Brooklyn, Chicago,

New

York, Philadelphia, and

others."

The terms

of association under

tee exist are as follows 1.

The object

which the Commit

:

of this Association shall be to provide

courses of lectures on the history of religions, to

be delivered in various 2.

The

cities.

Association shall be composed of delegates

from Institutions agreeing to co-operate, or from Local Boards organised where such co-operation is

3.

not possible.

These delegates

one from each Institution or

Announcement

vi

Board

Local

shall

Council under the

constitute themselves

name

of the

"

American

a

Com

mittee for Lectures on the History of Religions." 4.

The Council

5.

number a Chair

shall elect out of its

man, a Secretary,

and a Treasurer.

All matters of local detail shall be stitutions or

left

to the In

Local Boards, under whose auspices

the lectures are to be delivered. 6.

A course of lectures on some religion, or phase of from an historical point of view, or on

religion,

a subject germane to the study of religions, shall

be delivered annually, or at such intervals as may be found practicable, in the different cities repre sented by this Association. 7.

The

Council (a) shall be charged with the selec

tion of the lecturers, (b) shall have charge of the

funds,

each

(c)

city,

may be 8.

and perform such other functions as

necessary.

Polemical subjects, as well as polemics in the treat

ment 9.

shall assign the time for the lectures in

The

of subjects, shall be positively excluded.

lecturer shall be chosen

least ten

by the Council

at

months before the date fixed for the

course of lectures. 10.

The lectures shall be delivered

11.

between the months of September and June. The copyright of the lectures shall be the prop erty of the Association.

in

the various

cities

Announcement 12.

One-half of the lecturer

s

vii

compensation

shall

be paid at the completion of the entire course and the second half upon the publication of the lectures. 13.

The compensation

to the lecturer shall be fixed

in each case by the Council. 14.

The

not to deliver elsewhere any of the lectures for which he is engaged by the lecturer

is

Committee, except with the sanction of the Committee.

The Committee

as

now

constituted

is

as follows

:

Crawford H. Toy, Chairman, 7 Lowell St., Cambridge, Mass. Rev. Dr. John P. Peters, Treas Prof.

;

urer,

225 West QQth

Jastrow, phia, Pa.

Jr., ;

St.,

New York; South 23d

Secretary, 248

Prof. Francis

St.,

Philadel

Brown, Union Theological

New York Prof. Richard umbia University, New York Prof. Seminary,

Prof. Morris

Gottheil, Col

;

;

R. F. Harper, Prof. Paul

University of

Chicago, Chicago,

Haupt, 2511

Madison Avenue, Baltimore, Md.

111.

;

;

W. Hooper, Brooklyn Institute, Brooklyn, Prof. E. W. Hopkins, New Haven, Conn. Edward Knox Mitchell, Hartford Theologi

Prof. F.

N. Y. Prof.

;

;

Prof. George F. Seminary, Hartford, Conn. Rev. F. K. Sanders, Moore, Cambridge, Mass.

cal

;

;

Boston, Mass.

;

Pres.

F. C. Southworth, Meadville

Theological Seminary, Meadville, Pa. The lecturers in the course of American Lectures

Announcement

viii

on the History of Religions and the volumes are as follows

titles

of their

:

Prof.

1894-1895

T.

W.

Ph. D.

Rhys-Davids,

Buddhism. Prof. Daniel G. Brinton,

1896-1897

M.D., LL.D.

Religion of Primitive Peoples.

Rev. Prof. T. K. Cheyne, D.D.

1897-1898

Jewish

Religious Life after the Exile. Prof.

1898-1899

Karl Budde, D.D.

Religion of

Israel to the Exile.

Prof.

1904-1905

Georg

Steindorff, Ph.D.

The

Religion of the Ancient Egyptians. 1905-1906 Prof George William Knox, D. D., LL. D. .

The Development

The

of Religion in Japan.

present course of lectures, the seventh in the

series, was delivered by Professor Maurice Bloomfield, Ph.D., LL.D., Professor of Sanskrit and Comparative

Philology at the Johns Hopkins University, and one

on Vedic Literature.

of the leading authorities latest

work, a Concordance of the Vedic

prayer formulae, covering of a

life s

1

His

hymns and

100 pages, theembodiment

study, published as Vol. 10 of the Harvard

Oriental Series, will ensure Professor Bloomfield a per

manent place

the history of Vedic studies. Besides this he has edited from the manuscripts the Vedic ritual

book,

in

known

a translation of the

cluded

in

as the Kaucjka-Sutra of the

Hymns Professor Max Muller

;

published

Atharva-Veda, in s Sacred Books of

Announcement

ix

the East (Oxford, 1897); written a volume on the Lit erature and History of the Atharva-Veda, entitled

:

"

Atharva-Veda and the Gopatha-Brahmana (Strassburg, 1889) and edited, in collaboration with "The

;

Professor Richard Garbe of Tubingen, a chromophoto-

manu

graphic reproduction of the unique birch-bark

the Kashmirian Atharva-Veda (3 vols., He has also contributed to the Baltimore, 1901).

script of

and Europe num mythological, and ethno

technical journals of this country

erous papers on linguistic,

logical topics in general, in addition to a large

num

ber of contributions on the interpretation, textual restoration,

The

and

religion of the

Veda

in particular.

lectures in this course were delivered before

the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore

;

Union

Theological Seminary, New York; Brooklyn Institute of Arts

and Sciences, Brooklyn

;

Drexel Institute,

Philadelphia; Meadville Theological Seminary, ville

;

University of Chicago, Chicago

;

Mead-

and Hartford

Theological Seminary, Hartford.

JOHN C.

P.

PETERS,

Committee

)

Publication.

H. TOY,

MORRIS JASTROW, January, 1908.

\

on

CONTENTS. LECTURE THE

FIRST.

INDIA THE LAND OF RELIGIONS.

THE VEDA.

Brahmanism Bud Multiplicity religions dhism Profound hold of religion upon the Hindu mind Hindu life dominated by religious institu tions The four stages of life The institution of caste Caste then and now Symptoms of revulsion of

Hindu

against caste Other pernicious religious institu tions Continuity of India s religious history Date of the conception of rta, or

"cosmic order"

relationship of the religions of India

Close

and Persia

Slight connection between India and Persia in sec ular history The Parsis in India Close relation

between Veda and Avesta The Veda and the IndoEuropean period The Veda as a whole The date of the Veda Its great uncertainty Nature of Vedic tradition

The

rotriyas, or

"Oral

Traditionalists"-

Uncertain character of Vedic life and institutions Origin of the Veda Contents of Vedic literature as a whole The four Vedas The Rig- Veda The books of the Rig- Veda Theme and character of the Rig- Veda A hymn to Goddess Dawn The YajurVeda Character of the ^a/^5-formulas The SamaVeda Origin and purpose of the Sama-Veda The

Atharva-Veda Religious

Contents of

Quality

of

the

the Atharva-Veda Atharva-Veda Two

The Brahmana Texts Some Brahmanas The Aranyakas, or For Treatises" The Upanishads Literary history

Atharvan hymns legends of the est

"

Contents

xii

of the

Upanishads

The Upanishads

Critical estimate of the

in

the West

Upanishads

J

-59

LECTURE THE SECOND.

THE HIERATIC RELIGION. THE PANTHEON OF THE VEDA. Fundamental

traits of early Vedic religion False view of the nature of Vedic poetry The Rig-Veda as sacrificial poetry Difficulty of understanding the

ritual character of the Rig- Veda

Poetry addressed

Dawn A hymn to the sacrifice The Goddess Dawn as the symbol of liberality

to the Goddess

post at the sacrifice Some erroneous estimates of God dess Dawn Agni the son of "Baksheesh" Prac tical

purposes of Vedic poetry

The Rig- Veda con The ritual of

tains the religion of the upper classes

the Rig- Veda The apri-hymns Nature- worship the keynote of the Rig-Veda India s climate and nature- worship Vedic and Hellenic mythology

Arrested anthropomorphism Defini word Pantheon as applied to the Veda Faulty classifications of the Vedic gods Chrono

compared

tion of the

logy of the gods Different degrees of certainty about the origin of the gods Classification of the gods in these lectures 60-98

LECTURE THE THIRD.

THE PREHISTORIC GODS. Two

prehistoric periods bearing upon Hindu religion Scepticism about Comparative Mythology Diffi culties in the way of Comparative Mythology Com

parative Mythology and Ethnology The myth of Cerberus The Indo-European period Prehistoric

words for god Father Sky and Mother Earth The Thunderer The Vedic Agvins, or "Horsemen," the two Sons of Heaven The Dioscuri in Greek

Contents

The

mythology God"

Lettish

myth

xiii

of the

two

"Sons

Common kernel of the myth of the two

of

"Sons

The Aryan, or Indo-Iranian period Important religious ideas common to the two peoples The dual gods Varuna and Mitra Ahura of

Heaven

"

The conception of rta, or Mazda and Varuna The Adityas Aditi, the mother "cosmic order" of the Adityas Mitra, a sun god The sun, the moon, and the planets The Adityas and Amesha Spentas Early ethical concepts among the IndoEuropeans Varuna and Greek Ouranos (Uranus) The origin of man Sundry parents of man "Father Manu"

Yama and YamI,

the

Interlacing of the myths of the first human character of Manu and Yama

god

of the

"Twins"

man Yama,

The the

dead

Soma, the sacrificial drink of the The myth of Soma and the Heavenly Eagle

gods Value of the preceding reconstructions

99-149

LECTURE THE FOURTH.

THE TRANSPARENT, TRANSLUCENT, AND OPAQUE GODS RELIGIOUS CONCEPTIONS AND RELIGIOUS FEELING IN THE VEDA. The transparent gods: their importance for the study of Father Sky and Daughter Dawn Surya, religion a god of the sun Vata and Vayu, gods of wind The most transparent god: Agni, Fire Agni as the sacrifice fire Prehistoric gods of fire Birth and youth of Agni Agni as god of the morning New births of Agni Agni on the altar, the agent of the gods Priesthood and divinity of Agni A hymn to Agni Other myths of the Fire God The trans lucent gods: definition of the term God Vishnu God Pushan God Indra, as an example of an opaque god Traditional explanation of the myth of Indra and Vritra Professor Hillebrandt s inter-

Contents

xiv

PAGES

pretation of the same myth the religion of the Rig-Veda

Renewed Renewed

definition of

definition of

Vedic practicalities Conflicting prayers and sac The conception of faith Faith related to rifices Truth and Wisdom Faith personified Faith and works The reward for faith postponed to heaven Contrast between early faith (jraddha) and later devotion (bhakti) "Gift praises," another sop to the sacrificer The religious feeling of the Rig- Veda. "

"

"

"

The

utilitarian sense

Absence of

real sentiment

The glory

of the gods Poetic

towards the gods

the true religious feeling The com placent master-singers The poets own estimate of The divine quality of devotion. their work 150-207

inspiration

.

.

.

LECTURE THE FIFTH.

THE BEGINNINGS OF HINDU THEOSOPHY. Statement of the problem Time when theosophy origin ated Metempsychosis and pessimism unknown in the earlier Vedic records Place where the higher religion originated

Priest philosophy at the sacrifice

The theosophic charade Specimens of the theosophic charade The riddle hymn of Dirghatamas Interrelation between the sacrifice and theosophy

On

the supposed origin of theosophy with the royal Criticism of this view Transition from rit ualistic polytheism to theosophy Early scepticism Failure of God Varuna Gotterdammerung Monism, or the idea of unity The creation hymn Translation and analysis of the creation hymn At tempts at Monotheism Prajapati, the Lord of Creatures Vicvakarman, creator of the universe, and kindred conceptions Purusha, the world man Brihaspati, the Lord of Devotion Transcendental monotheistic conceptions: "Time," "Love," etc. Defects of the earlier monotheistic and monistic

caste "

attempts

"

208-248

xv

Contents

PAGES

LECTURE THE SIXTH.

THE FINAL PHILOSOPHY OF THE VEDA. Death and future

life

in

paradise

Early notions of

The idea of retribution Limit of reward for good deeds The notion of "death-anew," or How comes the belief in transmigration death Hindu doctrine of transmigration The method of transmigration The doctrine of karma, or spiritual evolution How transmigration and karma appear to Western minds The pessimist theory of life Cause of Hindu pessimism Pessimism and the per Hell

"re-

"

fect

principle

(Brahma)

Dualistic

pessimism

Salvation through realisation of one s own Brahmahood The conception of the alman, "breath," as life principle Atman, the soul of the Universe Brahma, the spiritual essence of the Universe

Atman and Brahma

Maya, or the world unknowableness of Brahma Emerson s poem on the Brahma The fulness of Brahma: a story of Yajnavalkya and his wife MaiTransition from philosophy to piety Hindu treyl Fusion of

an

The

illusion

asceticism

Professor

Huxley

s

critique of

progress under the religion of

asceti-

Brahma

ism

s

householder

and disciplehood The life of the The life of the forest-dweller and

Pilgrim Investiture

wandering ascetic

INDEX

Ultima Thule

249-289 291

LECTURE THE Land

India the Multiplicity of

Hindu

FIRST.

of Religions religions

The Veda.

Brahmanism

Buddhism

Profound hold of religion upon the Hindu mind Hindu The four stages life dominated by religious institutions of life The institution of caste Caste then and now Symptoms of revulsion against caste Other pernicious religious

history order"

Persia

institutions

Continuity

of

Date of the conception of

India rta,

s

religious

or

"cosmic

Close relationship of the religions of India and Slight connection between India and Persia

in secular history

The

Parsis in India

Close relation

The Veda and the IndoThe Veda as a whole The date of

between Veda and Avesta

European period Veda Its great uncertainty Nature of Vedic tra The Qrotriyas or "Oral Traditionalists" Un dition certain character of Vedic life and institutions Origin of the Veda Contents of Vedic literature as a whole The four Vedas The Rig-Veda The books of the Rig- Veda Theme and character of the Rig- Veda A hymn to Goddess Dawn The Yajur-Veda Character The Sama-Veda Origin and of the ya jus-formulas purpose of the Sama-Veda The Atharva-Veda Con tents of the Atharva-Veda Religious quality of the Atharva-Veda Two Atharvan hymns The Brahmana Texts Some legends of the Brahmanas The AranyaThe Upanishads Literary kas, or "Forest Treatises" history of the Upanishads The Upanishads in the West Critical estimate of the Upanishads. the

The

2

It

number

which,

Veda

the land of religions in more than one

is

INDIA sense. a

Religion of the

has produced out of

its

of distinctive systems and

at

least,

are

world-wide

of

own

resources

two

sects,

interest

of

and

importance.

manifold aspects, is to this day the religion of about 200 millions of people in India

Brahmanism,

herself, a

in its

matter of interest on the face of

it.

But

universal importance lies with the Brahmanical

its

systems of religious philosophy, especially the two respectively as Vedanta and Sankhya. These

known

|M V

/

are two religio-philosophical, or theosophical systems which essay to probe the twin riddle of the universe and human life. They do this in so penetrating a way as to place them by the side of the most

profound philosophic endeavors of other nations. The beginnings of this philosophy are found in the Upanishads, a set of treatises which are The Upanishads contain the part of the Veda. higher religion of the Veda. The essence of higher so-called

Brahmanical religion religion of the

is

Upanishad

Upanishads

is

The theme of

religion.

part of the

these lectures.

Buddhism Its

started in the

bosom

radical reforms, concerning

practical

manism.

life,

are directed in

Yet Buddhism

of

Brahmanism.

both doctrine and

good part against Brah is

a religion genuinely

India the

Hindu

Land

in its texture.

dominant

of Religions

It shares

with Brahmanism

its

Transmigration of souls, pessimism, and the all-absorbing desire to be re leased from an endless chain of existences, linked religious ideas.

these are the axioms

together by successive deaths,

Brahmanism and Buddhism.

of both

After spread

ing over the continent of India

Buddhism crossed

over into Ceylon, Farther India,

and the islands of

To

the Asiatic Archipelago.

the north

it

passed

and across the great Himalaya Mountains to Nepaul, Thibet, Turkestan, China, Korea, and Japan.

into

In

various forms

its

world

s

to this day one of the There are no absolutely re-

is

it

great religions.

number

liable statistics as to the

of Buddhists

|

upon

300 millions^ may be re estimate of the number of as a conservative garded the surface of the earth

people

who

;

either are Buddhists, or

whose

has been shaped by Buddhist ideas,

religion

Brahmanism

and Buddhism, both Hindu products, together supply the religious needs of 500 millions of the earth s inhabitants.

In another sense India

Nowhere

else

is

is

the land of religions.

the texture of

life

so

much

im-

pregnated with religious convictions and practices. At a very early time belief in the transmigration of souls (metempsychosis),

India

is

still

something

whose

precise origin in

of a problem, planted itself

A-

The down

Hindu mind

in the

mental axiom future

life.

Religion of the

Veda

as the basis

and funda

of all speculations about the soul

This of

itself is

and

The

merely a theory.

importance of this theory is, that it is almost from the start with a pessimistic view coupled of life. According to this the everlasting round practical

of

existences

is

a nuisance, and release from It

imperative necessity.

would be

it

an

difficult to find

else a purely speculative notion which has taken so firm a hold upon practical life. It pervades the Hindu consciousness in a far more real and

anywhere f

intimate

way than

eternal future

life,

its

great rival, the belief in an

pervades the religious thought

Western world.

of the

From

the beginning of India s history religious institutions control the character and the develop ment of its people to an extent unknown elsewhere.

Hindu

life

from birth to death, and even after death

the fancied

in

heaven,

is

of the

Fathers, or

Manes

in

religious, or sacramental throughout.

surrounded

is

life

by

institutions

and

practices,

It

and

clouded by superstitions which are discarded only by them that have worked their way to the highest philosophical aspects of religion.

The

religious

life

of

the Brahmanical

Hindu

1

is

divided into the four stages of religious disciple god;

1

Called dframa, literally,

"hermitages."

Land

India the

fearing

and

this

Such

contemplative

and wandering, world -abandoning

at least

Even though

law.

householder;

sacrificing

forest -dweller; ascetic.

of Religions

is

the theory of their religious

practice at

all

times

fell

short of

mechanical and exacting arrangement, yet the is allowed that life is an essentially solitary

claim

religious pilgrimage, the goal being personal salva

There

tion.

the interests of the race.

no provision

is

the State

they are corresponding blank this

such a scheme for

and the developmentUnintentionally, but none the less

of

effectively,

Over

in

hovers,

out of account, leaving a in India s national character. left

a

like

black

cloud,

another?

institution, the system, or rather the chaos, of caste.

grotesque inconsistencies and bitter tyranny have gone far to make the Hindu what he is. The corro Its

sive properties of this single institution,

more than

have checked the develop anything ment of India into a nation. They have made else whatsoever,

possible the spectacle of a country of nearly 300 millions of

inhabitants,

governed by the

skill

of

60,000 military and 60,000 civilian foreigners. In olden times there were four castes: the Brah

man, or

the Kshatriya, or warrior priestly caste the Vai$ya, or merchant and farmer caste and the C^udra, or servitor caste. Then came many caste

;

;

cross-castes, the

;

result

of

intermarriages between

|

The members are now

Religion of the

Veda

of the four original castes. strictly taboo.

Such marriages

Gradually, differences of

occupation, trade, and profession, and, to a consider able extent also, difference of geography, established

themselves as the basis of caste distinction, until the

number

At the present time there are nearly 2000 Brahman castes alone. According to an intelligent Hindu observer of our own day the Sarasvata Brahmins of the Panjab alone number 469 tribes the Kshatriyas are split of castes

became

legion.

1

;

up

the Vaigyas and There is a Hindustani

into 590

more.

udras into even

;

Brahmins, nine

kitchens."

proverb,

"eight

In the matter of food

and intermarriage all castes are now completely shut off one from the other. A tailor may not, as is the custom with

other peoples, invite his neighbor, an honest shoemaker, to share his humble fare. The all

son of the shoemaker

blooming daughter

may

not

woo and wed

of the barber.

Even

the

a minor

some new trick of trade, will at once breed new caste. In certain parts of India fisher-folk who knit the meshes of their nets from right to left may not intermarry with them that knit from left to deviation,

a

right.

In Cuttack, the most southerly district of

Rai Bahadur Lala Baij Nath, B.A., of the North-western Province Judicial Service, and Fellow of the University of Allahabad, in his 1

very interesting 1889), p. 9.

little

book, Hinduism, Ancient and Modern (Meerut,

India the

of Religions

no intercourse between potters who wheels a-sitting and make small pots, and

Bengal, there turn their

Land

is

them that stand up

A certain

for the

manufacture of large

dairymen who make butter from unboiled milk have been excluded from the

pots.

class of

and cannot marry the daughters of milkmen who churn upon more orthodox principles. Even caste,

as late a census as that of 1901 reports,

gives

and

in a

way

sanction to the Cimmerian notion that the

its

man

touch of the lower caste

defiles the

higher

:

While a Nayar can pollute a man of a higher cast only by touching him, people of the Kammalan group, includ ing masons, blacksmiths, carpenters, and workers in leather, pollute at a distance of twenty-four feet,

drawers vators

at

at

forty-eight

Paraiyan (Pariahs) is

Palayan or Cheruman

thirty-six feet,

stated to be

no

Thus Hindu

;

than sixty-four

society

is

in

making

plete as possible. rise into

;

to such progress only as fines of his caste. 1

Quoted from

New

its

Members

a higher caste

To

feet.

split into infinitely small!

divisions, each holding itself aloof

each engaged

culti

while in the case of the; eat beef, the range of pollution

feet

who

less

toddy

from the other,

exclusiveness as

of a lower caste cannot

the individual is

com

is

restricted

possible within the con

the Pariah the door of hope

Ideas in India,

Morrison (Edinburgh, 1906), p. 33.

by the

Rev.

Dr. John

1

;

The

8

;

is

shut forever.

Veda

Religion of the

There

is little

chance for national or

/patriotic combination.

Moreover the laws, or rather the vagaries of caste have taken largely the place of practical religion in the

mind

Hindu who has not eman

of the average

cipated himself through higher philosophy.

supreme law which life is,

really concerns

to eat correctly

The

correctly.

;

him

in his daily

to drink correctly

broader,

more

The

;

to marry

usual, dictates

religion, such as worship of the gods

and

of

ethical

conduct, are not ignored, but they take a distinctly secondary place. India has at all times put the

stamp of

upon much that Europe counts as or social institution. There is not, and

religion

social habit,

there seems never to have been, fixed creed in India.

Hinduism has always been inarian

in

matters of

tolerant, liberal, latitud-

abstract belief;

tyrannous,

illiberal, narrow-minded as regards such social prac tices as can be in any way connected with religion.

Fluidity of doctrine, rigidity of practice

regarded as the

unspoken motto of Hindu

may

be

religion

at all times.

Fortunately there are not wanting signs of a revul sion of feeling which bids fair to sweep the entire

system of caste with

all its

the face of the earth.

Raja

Rammohun Roy

incredible foolishness off

The

great

Hindu reformer

declared as early as the year

India the

1

824 that

"caste

Land

of Religions

divisions are as destructiveof national

union as of social

The late SvamI Vive-

enjoyment."

kanancla, the brilliant representative of

the

"Parliament

of

Religions,"

Hinduism

at

held in Chicago in con

nection with the Universal Exposition in 1893, passed

the last years of his too short in a

life

(he died in 1902)

suburb of Calcutta, doing philanthropic work,

denouncing caste and the outcasting of those who had crossed the ocean, and recommending the Hindus

The

to take to the eating of meat.

reformers are

lifting.

voices of other

Especially the two great native

religious reform associations,

the_Brahma Samaj, or

Theistic Association of Bengal, and the

Arya Samaj,

or Vedic Association of the United Provinces and

the Panjab, different as are their aims in other re

on the side of opposition to as an anachronism, anomaly, and bar to social

spects, are marshalled caste,

and national progress.

The

dreadful institution of Suttee, or widow-burn- \

ing abolished in 1829, under the administration of

Lord William Bentinck, by decree

of

government

j

;

the car of Juggernaut; the sect of the Thugs; and

the practice of self-hypnosis to the point of prolonged trance or apparent death, are evidences of the frenzy-

Hindu

and the way it has of overshadowing individual sanity and public in There has been, and there still is, too much terest. ing quality of

1

;

religion,

;

The

io

Religion of the

so-called religion in India

:

Veda

Brahmanical hierarchy,

sacerdotalism, asceticism, caste

;

infinitely diversified

polytheism and idolatry cruel religious practices and bottomless superstition. All this the higher ;

Hindu

;

or rather religious philosophies,

religions,

blow away as the wind does chaff. In their view such religiosity is mere illusion or ignorance, to save from which

is

their profession.

the illumined of mind.

On

But they can save only the real

life

of India the

great philosophies are merely a thin film.

Anyhow

they have not as yet penetrated down to the Hindu people, and we may question whether India s salva

come

tion will

growth of

that way, rather than through the

social

and

political intelligence

which so

gifted a people is sure, in the long run, to obtain. The student of the History of Religions has good reason to think of India as the land of religions in

yet another sense.

out of

its

religions

Not only has India produced

own mental

resources

many important

and theosophic systems, but

it

has carried

on these processes continuously, uninterrupted by The Moghul con distracting outside influences.

Mohammedan and Mohammedanism fused

quests in Northern India introduced

ism to a limited extent,

with Hinduism in the hybrid religion of the Sikhs. small number of Zoroastrian Parsis, driven from

A

Persia during the

Mohammedan

conquest,

found

India the

Land

u

of Religions

a friendly refuge for themselves and the religion of Zarathushtra (Zoroaster) in the West of India.

Aside from that there

is

no record

of

permanent

outside influence on a larger scale, until, in the last

Brahma Samaj,

century, the above-mentioned

a kind

of religious Volapiik, or Esperanto, undertakes, in

the most praiseworthy tic

upon a universal

spirit,

theis-

platform, to blend and harmonise the best in

Hindu

religious thought, with the best that

found

in is

ligion

In this

other religions.

more

strictly native

may be

way Hindu

re

than any of the great

no doubt due mainly to India s geographical isolation, and to her insular It has had the merit of keeping secular history. religions of

This

mankind.

is

her religious development continuous and organic. Every important idea has a traceable past history

;

every important idea future.

of

is

certain to develop in the

We may

organic

open before

say that a body of 3500 years or less religious growth lies more the eyes

religions, to dissect,

of

the

student of

India

s

to study, and to philosophise

upon. This great period of time has of late become definite in a rather important sense.

Within recent

years there were discovered at Tel-el-Amarna, in

Upper Egypt, numerous cuneiform ing

letters

from

tributary

kings

tablets contain of

Babylonia,

1

The

2

Religion of the

Veda

Assyria, Mitani, Phoenicia, and Canaan, addressed to

Egyptian Pharaohs, their liege lords. These tablets have thrown much new light upon the history certain

Western Asia.

of

written

name.

There

is

among them a

of his brother Artashuvara

and his grandfather Arta-

These names are obviously Iranian

tama.

letter

by a king of Mitani in Syria, Dushratta by In this letter figure among others the names (Persian),

"

with the tablets themselves they date back to at least 1600 B. c. The names Artashuvara or

"

Iranoid

;

1

and

Artatama open out with the syllables artOr, Western students of history as part of

familiar to

the numberless Persian names like Artaxerxes, Artaphernes, etc.

This stem arta

identical with arta-

is

Western Iranian, Achemenidan inscriptions, with asha of the Avesta, and with rta of the Veda, of the

i

The word means universe."

of the

We

"

cosmic

shall find

order,"

it

or

"

order of the

later on, figuring as

one

most important religious conceptions of the We have here at any rate a definite

Rig- Veda.

lower date for the idea

;

it is

likely to

a long time before 1600 B.C.

From

have existed the point of

view of the history of religious ideas we may,

we must, begin 1

the history of

Hindu

in fact

religion at

See the author, American Journal of Philology\ xxv., p. 8 in Sitzungsberichte der Koniglich Bohmischen Gesell;

F.

Hommel

schaft der Wissenschaften, 1898,

Number

vi.

India the

Land

of Religions

13

least with the history of this conception. Broad as the ocean, and as uninterrupted in its sweep there lies before us a period of thousands of years of the

thought and practice of the most religious

religious

people

Now

in the history of the world.

this brings us face to face with the tried

and

true fact that the religious history of India does not really begin at the literature,

time when the Veda, the earliest

was composed, but that

earlier.

In the

common

life

in a prehistoric time, 1

Aryan

mon

period.

The

the so-called Indo-Iranian or

is

all

prehistoric studies

counts fairly with the best that

relationship

It

purely prehistoric.

not definite, but more or less hazy.

way.

com

reconstruction of these

religious properties

in this

much

begins

it

partakes of the fate of

is, it

it

shares a fairly clear place, with the ancient religion of Iran (Persia) first

;

it

Yet, such as

may

is it

be achieved

based upon the plainly evident between the Hindu Veda and the It is

Persian Avesta, the most ancient sacred books of

the two peoples.

No

student of either religion questions that they drew largely from a common

source, I

am

ment

and therefore mutually illumine each sure that the

full

meaning

other.

of this last state

appear clearer after a word of explanation. Students of profane history are accustomed to see 1

will

See below page 119.

The

14

Veda

Religion of the

ancient Persia with her face turned westward.

them the Persia that conquers, or

to

is

It

controls

through her satrapies, Assyria and Babylonia, Pales It is to them tine, Egypt, or parts of Asia Minor. the Persia that

falls

down

before Greece.

of her greatest glory Darius

day

into the Behistan rock, 300 feet

In the

Hystaspes carved, above the ground,

I.

the hugh trilingual cuneiform inscription, in which he claims suzerainty over twenty-three countries.

To

all

his

own.

intents and purposes he claims the earth for

Among

the countries mentioned are parts

adjacent to the extreme north-west of India: Dran-

Between 500-330 the Achemenidan Persian dynasty

giana, Arachosia, Gandhara, etc. B.C.,

the rule of

had without doubt sent out

loosely attached

its

satrapies to the land of the Indus River.

But

this

did not result in the permanent attachment of one

country to the other. Again, the so-called GraecoParthian rulers, successors of Alexander the Great in

the Persian countries of Parthia and Baktria, from

about 200 B.C. to 200 in

the north-west of India, notably the Indo-Parthian

kingdoms

of Taxila

cal relation, again,

A 1

of

A.D., established principalities

small

number

and Arachosia.

1

But

proved unstable and transient. of Parsis, after the

Mohammedan

See Vincent Smith, The Indo-Parthian Dynasties, German Oriental Society, vol. Ix. p. 49 ff.

the

this politi

,

in

Journal

Land

India the

conquest of Persia,

of Religions

fled to India

15

with their priests,

fire, and the manuscripts of the Avesta, their holy scriptures. Their descendants, about 80,000 in

sacred

number, still adhere to their ancient religion They form one of the most esteemed, wealthy, and philan thropic communities on the west shores of India, notably in the city of Bombay.

It is

not of record

that they had even the faintest idea that they were fleeing into the hospitable

bosom

of a people related

by blood and language, or that the Hindus who gave them shelter knew that they were receiving their

own

very

Hindus

at

kin.

As

any

rate,

far

as

we know,

the

Aryan

throughout their history, are

unconscious of the important fact that, across the mountains to the north-west of their entirely

country, dwelt at

stock

all

times a branch of their

own

the other half of the so-called Indo-Iranians

or Aryans.

And the

yet, the languages of the

Hindu Veda and

Persian Avesta, the respective

two peoples, are mere

bibles

dialects of the

of

the

same speech.

Students regularly enter upon the study of the Avestan language through the door of the Veda. Entire passages of the Avesta

may be

turned into

good Vedic merely by applying certain regular sound It is said sometimes that there is less dif changes. ference between the

Veda and

the Avesta than be-

j

"I

;

1

The

6

Religion of the

tween the Veda and the Mahabharata.

This

is,

later

my

in

Veda Hindu

Epic, the

opinion, an

exag

geration, but it is significant that the statement could be made at all. The early religions and the religious institutions of the

Hindus and Persians

far greater independence from one another than their languages, but they are, never So it has come theless, at the root much the same.

show, to be sure,

to pass that a not at

mean

all

part of the Vedic

Pantheon and Vedic

religious ideas begin before the

Veda.

even more paradoxically, Indian

Or, to put

it

religion begins before its arrival in India.

Yet

further,

beyond the common period

Hindus and the period which It

is

Persians, there

a

still

remoter

not entirely closed to our view. the common Indo-European time, the time is

when the Hindus and language bers

is

of the

of

Persians

and home with the the same

stock,

still

shared their

remaining

mem

the Hellenes, Italians,

In this altogether pre Celts, Teutons, and Slavs. historic time there also existed certain germs of religion,

and some of these germs grew into import

ant features of the later religions of these peoples.

The

religion of the

Veda

time to an extent that

is

indebted to this early

We

shall not negligible. the two layers of prehis

what way religious matter have contributed

see later on in toric

is

to

and affected

The Veda

1

7

For the present be advantageous to turn to the Vedic

the shaping of Vedic thought. it

will

religion of

some

historic

times, so

and what

new.

is

And

as

may be

there

that

between what

basis for discriminating

old

is

would not be gra

it

much knowledge of. so remote Veda, we must first describe briefly

cious to presume too

a theme as the

the documents of which consists the Veda, the most ancient literary

monument

literary document of the

foundation for

all

of India, the

most ancient the

Indo-European peoples

time of India

s

religious thought.

THE VEDA The word veda means is,

"sacred

know,"

It is

knowledge."

knowledge,"

derived from viJ,

"to

and connected with Greek (F)oida, Gothic

wait, German weiss, English wtt, term Veda is used in two ways :

lective

that

"

literally

designation

literature

of

India,

the

of

or

as

"

to

The

either as the col

entire

the

know."

oldest

specific

sacred

name

of

So books belonging to that literature. of the Veda as the on one we the then, hand, speak bible of ancient India or, on the other hand, we single

;

speak of

Rig-Veda, Atharva-Veda,

etc., as

individual

books of that great collection. The number of books which, in one sense or another, are counted as

Veda 2

is

a hundred

or

more.

The Hindus

|

[

;

l

The

i8

Religion of the

Veda

themselves were never very keen about canonicity; quasi-Vedic books, or, as we should say, Pseudo-

Vedic books were composed at a very late date, when the various and peculiar sources of early in had dried up they kept pouring new, mostly sour wine into the old skins. The huge Concordance

spiration

;

of the Vedas, which

it

has been

this year (1906), absorbs

my

fate to publish

about 120 texts more or

less Vedic. It is truly

humiliating to students of ancient India

have to answer the inevitable question as to the age of the Veda with a meek, We don t know." As "

!to

regards their texture, the books of the

great antiquity with no uncertain voice.

Veda claim One should

like to see this intrinsically archaic quality held

by

actual dates

;

up

those same, almost fabulous, yet per

fectly authentic dates that are being bandied about in

the ancient history of Assyria, Babylonia, and

Egypt. The late Professor William D. Whitney left behind the witty saying that Hindu dates are merely

up to be bowled down again. This is not altogether so. Buddha died 477 B.C. Alexander

ten-pins set

invaded

India in 326 B.C.

In the year 315

B.C.

Candragupta, or Sandrakottos, "Alexander-Killer," as Greek writers ominously mouthed over his name, led a successful revolt against

Alexander

and established the Maurya dynasty

s

prefects

in Pataliputra,

The Veda

19

the Palibothra of the Greeks, the Patna of to-day. The most important date in Hindu secular history

grandson, the famous Buddhist Emperor A^oka or Piyadassi, who ruled India from north to south around about 250 B.C. His

is

that

of

s

Candragupta

carved into rock

over his great empire, show us the singular spectacle of a great ruler who edicts,

all

used his power to propagate his religion peacefully. His inscriptions upon pillars and rocks boast not of victory or heroic deed virtue,

warn against

love of humanity.

they exhort his people to

;

and plead for tolerance and This is an important date in the sin,

history of India, but an even

more important date

good manners. Unquestionably a century or two must have passed between the conclusion of the Vedic period and the in the history of

beginnings of Buddhism.

Buddhist literature pre

supposes Brahmanical literature and religion in a stage of considerable advancement beyond the Vedas.

We

are, therefore,

We

are further

reasonably safe in saying that the real Vedic period was concluded about 700 B.C.

on

safe

ground

much

ber of centuries for the literature,

and religion

in

of the

demanding a num

stratified

Veda.

language,

But how many?

It is as

easy to imagine three as thirteen or twenty-

three.

Only one thing

very

old.

I

is

have noted the

certain.

Vedic ideas are

fact that the

concept

rat,

The

20

"

cosmic or universal

names

Iranian I

Religion of the

my

am, for

order,"

is

found

Western Asia

in

part,

now much more

and

I

think

Veda

I

in cut

and dried

as early as 1600 B.C.

voice

many

scholars,

inclined to listen to an early date,

the beginnings of Vedic literary production, and to a much earlier date for the

say 2000

B.C., for

beginnings of the institutions and religious concepts which the Veda has derived from those prehistoric times which cast their shadows forward into the records that are in our hands.

Anyhow, we must

not be beguiled by that kind of conservatism which merely salves the conscience into thinking that there is better proof for any later date, such as 1500,

1

200,

1000

or

B.C.,

rather than

Once more,

date of 2000 B.C.

frankly,

the earlier

we do

not

know. Vedic tradition

is in

some

respects the most re

From the entire recorded history. one Vedic period we have not single piece of anti not one bit of real or material, archaeological quarian markable

property

in

;

not a building, nor a

coin, jewel, or utensil

;

Even the manuscripts

monument

;

not a

nothing but winged words. of

these

precious

texts,

we know their authority to be on inner evidence are of comparatively recent date. do not know when the Vedas were first committed to splendid as

We

writing.

Even

if

they were written

down during

the

The Veda Vedic period

21

as I think altogether likely, the

itself,

early manuscripts were certain to perish

Indian climate.

They must,

in

the furious

in that case,

have been

The saved by diligent copying and recopying. majority of the manuscripts upon which are based our editions of Vedic texts date from recent cen Manuscripts that date back to the fourteenth (I century of our era are rare only a very few go back turies.

;

ij

to the twelfth.

Here, however, enters one of the curiosities of

Hindu

religious

The adherents

life.

of a certain

Veda

or Vedic school, no matter whether the text of that

school was reduced to writing or not, must, in theory,

know

their texts

(^rotriyas or

"

by

Oral

this day, being, as

These are the

Traditionalists."

it

Veda how he used

Bombay

time

still

tells

scholar, the

us in the pre

edition of the Atharva-

three of these oral reciters of the

Atharva-Veda out of a at that

live to

were, living manuscripts of their

Shankar Pandurang Pandit,

face to his great

so-called

They

The eminent Hindu

respective Vedas. late

heart.

total of only four that

alive in the

their oral authority

Dekkhan

proved to be

;

were

and how

quite as

as the written authority of his manuscripts.

weighty

These

were respectively, Messrs. Bapujl Kegava Bhat bin Dajl Bhat and Ven-

living manuscripts

Jlvanram kan BhatjT, the ;

;

last

"

the most celebrated Atharva

1

The

22

Vaidika

in

the

Religion of the

manner

respectively, as Bp,

now

all

We

Mr. Pandit

Dekkhan."

sigla, quite in the

Veda cites

them by

of inanimate manuscripts,

K, and V.

They

are, I believe,

dead.

are waiting

now

for the

time when the India

Exploration Society shall step out from its existence of the shovel and the spade.

on paper, and take hold

With bated breath we

shall

whether great good fortune

then be watching to see will

make

it

possible to

dig through the thick crust of centuries that are piled upon the Vedic period. If so, it will be some

thing like the revelation of the

was found

that time Vedic

by word

life

of mouth,

The hymns

tity.

Mycenean age that

at the root of Hellenic civilisation.

and

Until

institutions, reported only

must remain an uncertain quan

of the

Veda

are to a considerable

degree cloudy, turgid, and mystic taken by them selves they will never yield a clear picture of human life that fits any time or place. We have from the ;

Vedic period no annals except priestly annals, It or such at least as have been edited by priests. entire

is

as

though we

relied

upon

cloister chronicles alone

our knowledge of the politics and institutions of a certain time. Or, to use an even homelier compari for

son, as

though we had to reconstruct the more modern time from an

conditions of a

cepted boarding-school correspondence.

The

social

inter

poets,

The Veda or priestly writers of the

pied with their

own

Veda

are entirely preoccu

we want anything we must look to a later

interests

like secular records of India

23

;

if

time.

We

do not even know exactly what a term as fam meant in those early days. as raja (rex) King," "

iliar

Was

a Raja a great potentate, or merely a tribal

chieftain

We

?

know

that the early Vedic period

The lowing of kine was ear the Vedic poet. the of to music But lovely there were also workers in metals, chariots, navi was a

cattle-raising age.

some

gation of

This

and to some extent introduces

too vague,

all

is

kind, gold, jewels, and trade.

uncertain quantities into our estimation of Vedic religion.

At an unknown date confess reluctantly,

Aryan

then, as

we have had

tribes or clans (vi$

to

1

}

began

to migrate from the Iranian highlands to the north

Hindu-Kush Mountains

of the

into the north-west

of India, the plains of the river Indus

From

8

word is derived vaicya, the and merchant caste.

this

agricultural

Professor E.

Society,

tribu

W.

later

name

of the third, or

Hopkins, Journal of the American Oriental argues that the majority of the Vedic

vol. xix., pp. 19-28.

hymns were composed of the

its

the Panjab, or the land of the five streams. 8

taries, 1

and

modern

Ghuggar.

city of

farther east than the Panjab, in the region Amballa, between the rivers Sarasouti and

The

24

The

Religion of the

Veda

river Ganges, so essential to a picture of India

and even more bound up with all Western poetic fancies about India, is scarcely mentioned in the Rig- Veda. This same text is full in historical times,

the struggles of the fair-skinned Aryas with the dark-skinned aborigines, the Dasyus. to

allusions

of

The

is

struggle

likely

to have

been

bitter.

The

spread of Aryan civilisation was gradual, and re sulted finally in the up-building of a people whose

was foreign and superior, but whose race quality was determined a good deal by the over civilisation

whelmingly

large,

At

native, dark-skinned,

non-Aryan

the beginning of our knowledge of

population. India we are face to face with an extensive poet] tical literature,

the

This

crude on

is

when compared with

even

whole,

metres.

set

in

Sanskrit literature

later times.

of

Yet,

classical it

shows,

along with uncouth nai vet6 and semi-barbarous turgidity, a good deal of beauty and elevation of thought, and

a degree of

skill

bordering on the

professional, in the handling of language

and metre.

product was not created out of nothing on Indian soil follows from the previously mentioned

That

this

close connection with the earliest product of Persian literature, the Avesta.

Veda and Avesta 1

See above,

p.

13.

1

Even the metric types

are closely related.

of

The Veda Vedic

25

literature, in its first intention, is through-;/

out religjous, or

deals with institutions that haven

it

come under the

control

of

religion.

It

includes

hymns, prayers, and sacred formulas, offered priests to the

charms

gods

by

in behalf of rich lay sacrificers

;

and other homely practices, manipulated by magicians and medicine men, in the main for the plainer people. From a for witchcraft, medicine,

time come expositions of the sacrifice, illus by legends, in the manner of the Jewish

later

trated

Then

Talmud.

the higher sort,

speculations of

philosophic, cosmic, psycho-physical, and theosophic,

gradually growing up in connection with and out of the simpler beliefs.

body life,

of

at

home and abroad,

customs and laws. TheJV"_eda

ably

Finally there

is

a considerable

of set rules for conduct in every-day secular

that

This

consists, as

is

is,

a distinct literature

the

we have

Veda

as a whole.

seen, of consider

more than a hundred books, written in a variety and styles. Some

of slightly differentiated dialects

of the

Vedic books are not yet published, or even

unearthed.

may

so call

At it,

some

^e_bas.e.jQi-.this.-eatke canon,

lie

.if

we

four varieties of metrical composi

solemn prose. These are known as the Four Vedas in the narrower

tion, or in

sense

:

cases, prayers in sacred,

the Rig- Veda, the Yajur-Veda, the Sama-

Veda, and the Atharva-Veda.

These four names

26

The

come from

a

Religion of the

somewhat

Veda

they do not coincide exactly with the earlier names, nor do

Vedic time

later

;

they fully correspond to the contents of the texts

The

themselves.

names

earlier

refer rather to the

different styles of composition, than to canonical col lections. "

shi,

They

are rcah,

"

stanzas of

and formulas

liturgical stanzas

";

praise";

yajun-

sdindni,

"mel

and atharvdngirasah, blessings and curses." The book which goes by the name of Rig- Veda con odies

"

";

tains not only

stanzas of

"

praise,"

but

in its later

parts blessings and curses," as well as most of the stanzas which form the text to the sdman-meloalso

dies of the "

rcah,

"

Sama-Veda. The Atharva-Veda contains

stanzas of

stanzas, "mostly

well as

its

very

praise,"

and yajunshi,

worked over

own

"

liturgical

own purposes, as and curses." The Ya-

for its

"

blessings

jur-Veda also contains materials of the other types in addition to

Sama-Veda of rcah, or

some

"

is

its

main

Vedic

topic, the liturgy.

The

merely a collection of a certain kind

stanzas of

which are derived with

praise,"

variants and additions from the Rig- Veda, and

are here set to music which

is

indicated

by musical

notations.

The as the

Rig- Veda

on the whole, the oldest as well

most important

language speech.

is,

is

of the four collections.

a priestly, very high,

This we

may

call

by

or very

Its

literary

distinction the hieratic

The Veda

27

language of the Veda. It is based upon a very old popular dialect, into which the poets, to serve their

own

needs, have introduced

speech-forms.

many new words and

So, for instance, the great liking of the

from nouns, the so-called denominative or denominal verbs, surrounds hieratic language for verbs derived

the style of the Rig- Veda with an air of turgidity

and stiltedness which

is

far

hieratic poet prefers to say

prtanyati), rather gods"

give battle \prtandyati,

little

"

the

cultivate

"

"fight";

be pious

"

";

show

(sumanasyate), rather than

disposition"

friendly,"

A

from being archaic.

(devayati\ rather than

a kind

A

than

"

"be

etc.

over 1000 hymns, containing about 10,000

stanzas, equal in bulk to

into ten mandalas,

Homer s poems, are divided

"

circles,"

according to a regular

we should

or, as

books. Inside of these books the

scheme:

hymns first,

say,

are arranged

in the order of

number

of hymns addressed to a particular god, the largest number and continuing in with beginning a descending scale. Next, each god s hymns are

the

arranged according to the length of each single hymn, again in a descending scale. Six of these ten books (ii

vii),

the so-called

of the collection.

"family-books,"

Each

of these

form the nucleus is

supposed to

have been composed by a different Rishi, poet or seer, or rather by some family of poets who would

The

28

Veda

Religion of the

The

fondly derive their descent from such a Rishi.

state this repeatedly such and such a poet has seen such and such a hymn the exact value of this claim is not easily estimated.

hymns themselves

1

:

The names

of these traditional Rishis

ring in India at

Books

all

times.

They

have a good

are in the order of

Grtsamada,Vicvamitra,Vamadeva, Atri, and Vasishtha. The eighth book and Bharadvaja, the first fifty hymns of the first book are ascribed ii

vii,

to the family of

Kanva

superficially from the

they are marked off even rest, because they are arranged

strophically in groups of

;

two or three

stanzas.

form the bulk of those stanzas which, reappear in the Sama-Veda.

The

These

set to music,

ninth book, a kind

of Bacchic collection or text-book,

is

addressed to

the deified plant soma, and the liquor pressed from 2 it. This soma drink furnishes by far the most pre cious libation to the gods.

are supposed to

unto great deeds of The remainder of the first book and the

intoxicate themselves with valor.

They

entire tenth

book

are

it

more miscellaneous

acter and problematic as to intention

in char

and arrange

ment. To some extent, though by no means en tirely, they are of later origin and from a different sphere, in part of distinctly popular character, very 1

That

2

See below, p. 145.

is,

has had revealed to him.

The Veda much

29

and often identical with the hymns of the Atharva-Veda.

On

like

the whole and in the main, as

Rig- Veda

is

hymns

is

hymns addressed Vedic Pantheon. The chanting

ghee (ghrtd).

The enduring

the Rig- Veda as literature

lies in

poets* vision of the beauty,

power

by libations soma, and of melted

regularly accompanied

of the intoxicating drink called butter, or

shall see, the

a collection of priestly

to the gods of the of these

we

of the gods,

more

and

in the

interest of

those old priestly

the majesty, and the

myths and legends

told

tion with them.

often, merely alluded to in connec But the paramount importance of

the Rig- Veda

after all not as literature, but as

of them, or,

philosophy.

even

is

Its

mythology represents a

clearer,

not always chronologically earlier stage of thought and religious development than is to be found in any parallel literature. On one side at least

if

it

is

primitive in conception, and constructive

under our very eyes

how

a personal

god develops out of a visible fact in nature b^_rjersonification (anthropomorphosis) no literary document in the :

world teaches as well as the Rig- Veda. The original nature of theVedic gods, however, is not always clear, not as clear as was once fondly thought. The analy sis

of these barely translucent, or altogether

characters

makes up a chapter

of

opaque Vedic science as

30 difficult as

known

The

Religion of the

it is

important.

Veda

In any case enough

is

to justify the statement that thekey-note and

engrossing theme of Rig-Vedic thought the personified powers of nature.

is

worship of

make good this last statement, and at the same time by way of fore-taste of the Rig- Veda, I present here some stanzas of one of its finest hymns. In order to

1

It

fied,

Dawn

person-

the Vedic poets sing with special

warmth

addressed to the goddess Ushas,

is

whom

and liking; the metre imitates the original

:

I

This light hath come, of

The

brilliant brightness

all

the lights the fairest,

hath been born, far-shining,

Urged on to prompt the sun-god s shining power. Night now hath yielded up her place to morning.

The

sisters

pathway

is

the

same unending,

Taught by the gods, alternately they tread it. Fair-shaped, of different forms, and yet one-minded, Night and Morning clash not, nor yet do linger. Bright bringer of delights, Dawn shines effulgent, she hath thrown for us her portals.

Wide open Arousing

Dawn

all

the world, she shows us riches,

hath awakened every living creature.

T is Heaven s Daughter hath appeared before us, The maiden dazzling in her brilliant garments. Thou sovereign mistress of all earthly treasure, Auspicious Dawn, flash thou to-day upon us

!

Rig-Veda 1.113 i n Professor A. A. MacdonelPs translation, in of Sanskrit Literature, p. 83. I have taken the liberty of making a few slight alterations. 1

his History

The Veda On heaven

frame she hath shone forth

s

The goddess hath

her well-yoked chariot

Showering upon She spreads her

it

in

splendor

;

cast off the robe of darkness.

Awakening the world, with ruddy

Upon

31

horses,

Dawn

approacheth.

many bounteous

brilliant lustre

blessings, may see her.

all

Last of the chain of mornings that have passed by, morns to come Dawn hath arisen.

First of bright

Arise

!

the breath of

Dread darkness

I

life

again hath reached us

!

away and light is coming (She hath blazed a pathway for the sun to travel, We have found the place where men prolong existence.

The

slinks

!

Rig- Veda presupposes a tolerably elaborate

and^jnojL uninteresting ritual, or

scheme

practices, in connection with the

How

to the gods.

this

lines of the Rig- Veda s

poetry

hymns addressed

be read between the I

hope to show quite

The Yajur-Veda

on.

clearly later

may

of priestly

represents the

of this ritualism, or sacerdotalism,

exceeding growth as time went by.

Gradually the main object, devotion to the namely, gods, is lost sight of sol emn, pompous performance, garnished with lip

1

:

service, occupies the centre of the stage.

formance of its

is

supposed to have magic or mystic power

own, so that

It regulates

This per-

every detail is all-important. mechanically the relation of man to the

divine powers

by

its

its

own

intrinsic

power, but yet a

*

The

32

Religion of the

Veda

power controlled and guided by the wonderful tech nique of the priests, and their still more wonderful insight into the

meaning

A crowd of priests

of

all

seventeen

is

the technical acts. the largest

conduct an interminable ceremonial bolic

meaning down

its

number of

smallest minutiae.

themselves on the

seat,

priests

to

full

sacrificial

sym The

ground

strewn with blades of sacred dfor^tf -grass, and mark out the altars on which the sacred

fires

are built.

They handle and arrange the utensils and sacrificial substances. And then they proceed to give to the gods of the act has

its

each his proper oblation and

sacrifice,

Even the

his proper share.

least

and most

trivial

stanza or formula, and every utensil

blessed with

its

own

particular blessing.

is

These

stanzas and formulas, to which a description of the rites is

more or

less directly attached,

numerous redactions

The Yajur-Veda though

it

contains

of this

the

a later collection in the main,

is

much

substance that

enough, indeed, to be prehistoric.

Vedic

make up

Veda.

collections, its

But

redaction, at

is

old, old

like all other

any

rate,

pre

A

good many verses of supposes the Rig-Veda. the Rig- Veda reappear in the Yajur-Veda, usually not in the exact form of the Rig-Veda, but taken out of their connection, and altered and adapted to new ends which were foreign to the mind of the

The Veda There are

original composers. in

33

also

many new

verses

the Yajur-Veda which are in the main ritualistic

rather than hymnal, concerned with technical details of the sacrifice rather than with the praise of the gods.

But the

To

rhythmic prose.

They

are,

Veda more or

characteristic element of this

the yajus, or formulas in prose, often these this

Veda owes

its

by the way, unquestionably the

prose on record

in

the literatures of the

are less

name. oldest ||

Indo-

European peoples. These formulas are often brief and concise, mere dedications or swift prayers, ac

companying an

action,

and sometimes hardly ad

dressed to any one in particular. "

Thee

Agni

(agnaye tva), or

agneJi), indicate that

(idam to the

So, for instance,

"

for

"

god Agni.

Or,

"

This to Agni

an object

Thee

is

"

dedicated

for strength

"

is

the

briefest prayer, or rather magically compelling wish,

that the use of a certain article to the sacrificer. ity to

may

give strength

But they swell out from

this brev

long solemn litanies that betray at times such may at best be expected

a measure of good sense as

in these doings. Often, however, they are sunk in the deepest depths of imbecility, mere verbiage in

puns on the names of the things used the sacrifice. When an animal victim is tied to

tent at

upon

silly

the post the priest addresses the rope with the

words,

"

Do

not turn serpent, do not turn

viper!"

\\

The

34

Veda

Religion of the

The Hindus have always had

reason to fear ser

they must have at times been stung by serpents whom they mistook for ropes, because the pents

;

two things are often correlated in their literature. A Hindu figure of speech (or kenning) for serpent "

is

of

1

toothed

As

a rope which is not clearly seen mistaken for a serpent, so the un mistake the character of their own "

:

is

enlightened

That

is

to say, they

divine nature of their

there

self.

do not comprehend the This is sensible, and

sense also in the following: Kings are con

is

ceived

instance, a theosophic text

character establishes the following

Upanishad

comparison in the dark

self."

For

rope."

as

ceremony

rulers

of the earth.

Therefore, at the

of consecration the king looks

the earth, and prays

"

:

O

down upon

mother Earth, do not

But often injure me, nor let me injure thee prayer passes over into litany, here as in other "

!

secondary stages of religious literature. The fol May life prosper lowing is an all too typical case "

:

through the

sacrifice!

through the sacrifice the sacrifice sacrifice 1

!

!

May

See the author in

May

!

May life s breath May the eye prosper

prosper

through

the ear prosper through

the

the back prosper through the sac-

Hymns of the Atharva- Veda

(Sacred Books of

the East, vol. xlii.), pp. 147, 368. 2

Mandukya-Karika,

colubra restem non parit,

2. "

17.

Cf. the

adage in Petronius, 45

a serpent does not beget a

rope."

The Veda And

"

rifice

!

O

finally

35

deepest bathos "

the

!

occur in the Yajur-Veda and are

"May

1

prosper through the sacrifice many thousand formulas of this sort which

sacrifice

The

!

now

for the first

Concordance.

am

I

its

accessory literature

time collected

pression which they leave their partial foolishness,

in

my

Vedic

the enduring im

sure that

upon the mind,

aside from

that of a formalism and

is

mental decay upon the very brink of dissolution. The practices which accompany these formulas,

though they contain much that ous, are also covered

so that

it is

meaning.

up by

is

natural and vigor

silly details of

formalism,

human new life

often difficult to discover their real It

is

remarkable, however, that

springs up on this arid waste.

It is as though this had religion prepared itself by phase its very excesses for a salutary and complacent in the its last In hajra-tciri. outcome, very same

of

Hindu

Brahmanical schools where

all

this folly runs riot,

spring up the Upanishads, those early theosophic treatises of India which pave the way for her endur ing philosophies.

The Upanishads in

reality,

though

not professedly, sweep aside the ritual like cobwebs, and show the Hindu mind, not yet perfectly trained,

but far from choked 1

P-

;

and quite capable of carrying

C/. Winternitz, Geschichte der Indischen Litteratur, Part First,

The

36

on the development of Hindu great results

Veda

Religion of the

religions to the really

which they eventually reach.

The Sama-Veda

is

of

all

the Vedas the least clear

As a literary pro origin and purpose. almost entirely secondary and negative. Sama-Veda is interesting chiefly, because it is the

as regards

its

duction

it is

The Veda of

music.

In addition

it

contains

some original

practices to which tradition has attached a

of legends

unknown

in

the other Vedic

number schools.

There are no connected hymns in this Veda, only more or less detached verses, borrowed in the main from the Rig- Veda. Even the sense of these verses subordinated to the music to which they are set.

is

The

verses are grouped

accompanied by "

melodies."

in strophes

their music, are

which,

known

The saman-stanzas

when

as sdmani,

are preserved

in

First, in the Rig-Veda, as ordinary in the usual way, and not accompan accented poetry ied by melodies. They are contained mostly in the

three forms.

first fifty

hymns

and

Most

ix.

of the

first

book, and

of these stanzas are

in

Books

composed

viii

in the

metre gdyatrl, or in strophes known as pragdtha, which are compounded of gdyatrl &nd jagati verse-

Both the words gdyatrl and pragdtha are and show derived from the verb gai, sing," lines.

"

that the stanzas

and strophes composed

in

these

metres were from the start intended to be sung.

The Veda

37

Secondly, they occur in the Sama-Veda itself in a form called drcika, that is, "collection of stanzas."

This

is

kind of

a

ing the stanzas "

making

which are to be memorised

upon

them,"

sdma7t-melodies.

Here

of

accents,

or text-book contain

libretto,

in

peculiar

Hindus

the

as

also its

for

say, the

a system notation, but appar there

is

with reference to the unsung sdmans. In ently the third sdman-version, the Ganas or song-books, we still

1

find the real

not

sdmans

only the

are given.

as they are to

text but

Still this is

also

the

be sung.

Here

musical

notes

not a complete sdman yet.

In the middle of the sung stanzas certain phantastic

exclamatory syllables are introduced, the so-called stobhaS) such as oin, hau, hai, hoyi, or him ; and at the end of the stanzas certain concluding exclama tions, the so-called nidheQna^

such as

atJia, d,

im, and

They remind us in a way of the Swiss and Tyrolese "yodels" which are introduced into the

sat?

songs of these countries as a sort of intended to heighten the musical effect.

The Sama-Veda

is

cadenzas,

devoted a good deal to the

worship of Indra, a blustering, braggart god, 1

2

who

The word gana, again, is derived from the root^m, sing." The Pancavin9a Brahmana relates that the poet Kanva was for a "

good while puzzled to find a nidhana for his sdman, until he heard a cat sneeze ash I Then he took ash for the nidhana of his

The

38

Veda

Religion of the

has to befuddle himself with soma, in -order to get the necessary courage to slay demons. He, and he alone, has in the is,

"he

the

for

rks"

seems

Rig-Veda the epithet rclshama, that whom the sdmans are composed upon the

or, as

we should

likely that the

"

say,

out of the

Sama-Veda

is

l

rks"

It

built

up out_of remnants of savage Shamanism the resemblance between the words Saman and Shamanism, however, accidental.

is

Shamanism,

as

is

well

known^jattempts to influence the natural order of events by shouts, beating of tam-tams, and frantic exhortation

The Brahmans were in the habit of blending their own priestly practices and concep of the gods.

good deal of rough material which they found current among the people. The sdman melo

tions with a

dies, too,

seem

betray their popular origin in that they

to have

been sung originally

festivals, especially

the

clamations interspersed

at certain

solstitial festivals.

among

2

popular

The ex

the words of the text

are likely to be substitutes for the excited shouts of

the

Shaman

priests of an earlier time.

worth while to note that

in later

It is

perhaps

Vedic times the

my articles, On Rclshama, an Epithet of Indra^ vs\Journal of American Oriental Society, vol. xxi., p. 50 ff. and, The God Indra and the Sdma- Veda, in Vienna Oriental Joiirnal, vol. xvii., p. 1

See

the

156 /-. 2 See A.

\

Hillebrandt, Die Sonnenwendfeste in Alt-Indien, Fest

schrift ftir Konr ad of the reprint.

Hoffmann, (Erlangen

1889), pp. 22.

ff and 34 ff.

The Veda Sama-Veda

is

39

The Brahman-

held in small regard.

law-books prescribe that the recitation of RigVeda and Yajur-Veda must stop whenever the ical

shout of sdmans

is

heard.

One

of these law-books,

counts the barking of dogs, the bray of asses, the howling of wolves, and the sound of the for instance,

sdman

when

noises

as

so

obnoxious

heard, the study

of

or

defiling

that,

the other Vedas must

1

stop.

The interest of the Sama-Veda for the Hindu religion and literature amounts

of

little.

It represents

in

employment

secondary

fact in

little

history to very

more than the

the service of religion

popular music and other quasi-musical noises. These were developed and refined in the course of of

civilisation,

and worked into the formal

Brahmanism

in

and emotion.

ritual

of

order to add an element of beauty In more modern times the sdman-

chants at the sacrifice are said to be quite impressive. 2

The oldest name

of the

Atharva-Veda

is

atharvdn-

compound formed of the names of two semi-mythic families of priests, the Atharvans and

girasah, a

At

Angirases.

was regarded 1

as

a very early time the former term

synonymous with

"

holy

charms,"

or

Compare on this point Professor Ludwig s remark in Der RigVeda, vol. v. p. 8. 2 See the author in the Vienna Oriental Journal, vol. xvii., p. 162. ,

The

4O

the latter with

"

"

blessings

;

Veda

Religion of the "

witchcraft charms/ or

In addition to this name, and the later

"

curses."

more conventional name Atharva-Veda, there are two other names, used only in the ritual texts of One is bhrgvangirasah, that is, Bhrigus this Veda. In this the Bhrigus, another ancient

and Angirases.

family of fire priests, take the place of the Atharvans. of the

The

other

Brahman,"

is

Brahma-Veda, probably

that

is

the

Veda

"

fourth priest at the Vedic ($rauta) sacrifices. latter

Veda

of the supervising

name may, however, be due

to

1

The

some extent

to

the fact that the Atharva-Veda contains a surprising number of theosophic hymns which deal with the

brahma,

the

thought and see later on,

2

pantheistic its

personification

This, as

pious utterance.

becomes

in

of

holy

we

shall

time the ultimate religious

conception of the Veda. The Atharvan is a collection of 730 hymns, con taining some 6000 stanzas. Aside from its theo sophic materials, which look not a collection of

little

strange in a

charms and exorcisms, and some

hieratic

stanzas which were employed by the Brahman or 3 fourth priest, the collection is almost entirely of a

popular character. 1

2

3

It consists of

Cf. Caland, Vienna Oriental Journal, See below, p. 273. See Caland in the article just cited.

hymns and vol. xiv., p.

stanzas

The Veda for the cure of diseases life

charms

;

and

;

41

prayers for health and long

for the prosperity of

home and

children,

expiatory formulas designed to free from sin and guilt; charms to produce harmony in the

cattle

life

fields;

assembly

;

and

the deliberations of the village charms concerned with love and marriage,

of families

in

and, indirectly, with the rivalries and jealousies of

men and women in love; conjurations sorcerers,

war

;

and enemies

;

charms

against demons,

for kings in peace

and charms calculated to promote the

and

interests

of the Brahmans, especially to secure for them the abundant baksheesh for which they clamor with the

most refreshing directness.

The_Atharva-Veda

is

of unrivalled importance for

and popular

the history of superstition, of folk-lore, practices. "

Related

House-books

in

character are

"

(

Grhya-Sutras).

the so-called

These were com

posed as formal treatises at a comparatively late Vedic period, yet they report practices and prayers of great antiquity.

The Hindus, then

tensely religious view of their course, as well as in

its

as

now, took an

in

even daily crucial moments, such as birth, lives.

investiture, disciplehood, marriage,

Hindu was both

In

its

and death, the

and enlivened by a continuous chain of religious formalities, acts, and These were codified in the House-books" festivals.

life

of the

sanctified

"

with nice minuteness.

The Atharva-Veda and

the

The

42 "

House-books"

Religion of the

Veda

togetherlay bare with unrivalled preci

sion of detail the religion of the obscure and the

hum

For many a Hindu, through many centuries, these fond time-honored customs of the fathers, ble.

the schone

was the true

sitte,

religion,

which turned

inward, irradiating and sustaining the spirit of a peo ple

whose masses

live the

life

and do

of dark toil

not see the light revealed to their

own

To

elect.

the

development of the higher and ultimate religion of the Veda these homely practices and superstitions contribute very

little.

Charm

against Jaundice.

1. Up to the sun shall go thy heart-ache and thy jaundice: in the colour of the red bull do we envelop thee!

2.

We

envelop thee in red

tints,

unto long

life.

May

person go unscathed, and be free of yellow colour 3. The cows whose divinity is RohinI, they who, more in their every form over, are themselves red[rMnfs] and every strength we do envelop thee. this

4.

!

Into the parrots, into the ropandkas (thrush) do we into the hdridravas (yellow wagtail)

put thy jaundice

;

do we put thy yellowness. {Atharva-Veda,

i.

22.)

the Atharva-Veda (Sacred Books of For the very interesting symbolic practices that accompany the recital of this charm against jaundice, see p. 263^. of the same work. 1

See the author,

Hymns of

the East, vol. xlii.) p. 7.

The Veda

A Woman I

1.

sit

2.

O

Incantation against her Rival\

have taken unto myself her fortune and her glory, As a broad-based mountain may off a tree.

wreath

as a

she

s

43

a long time with her parents

This

woman

shall

King Yama (Pluto)

:

!

be subjected to thee as thy bride, till then let her be fixed to the

house of her mother, or her brother, or her father be the keeper of thy house, O 3. This woman shall May she King Yama her do we deliver over to thee long sit with her parents, until her hair drops from her !

!

:

head 4.

!

With the incantation

Gaya do within

I

of Asita, of Kacyapa,

cover up thy fortune, as

women

and of

cover things

a chest. 1

(Atharua-Veda,)

The

poetic stanzas of

prose formulas of the

all

sorts,

Veda

and the

collectively

i.

14.)

ritualistic

go by the

name of mantra, pious utterance or hymn." In the texts of one group of Yajur-Vedas, the so-called 2 Black Yajur-Vedas, these stanzas and prose formulas "

"

"

alternate with descriptive prose chapters which tell

how

these mantras are to be used at the sacrifice,

given way. The In the case passages are designated as braJimana. of the so-called White Yajur-Vedas and also all the

and why they are to be used

in a

other Vedas the Brahmanas are compiled into sepSee the same work, pp. 107 and 252 .ff For the distinction between Black and White Yajur-Veda see Mac. donell, History of Sanskrit Literature, p. 177. 1

2

The

44

Religion of the

Veda

works whose object, again, is to expound the combination of prayer and ritual at the sacrifice. arate

The meaning clear.

of the

Either

word brdhmana

means

is

not altogether

holy practice," or religious in distinction from mantra, holy

it

"

"

"

"

performance utterance,"

or

means the

it

"

religious

text."

Or, perhaps rather

theological explanation

by Brahman

priests of the religious ritual as a whole, including

both prayer and performance.

As regards both

contents and literary quality, the Brahmanas are In the closely analogous to the Hebrew Talmud.

main they are bulky prose statements of the details of the great Vedic sacrifices, and their theological Both the performances and their explana tion are treated in such a way, and spun out to such meaning.

length, as to render these

ments of tediousness and

works on the whole monu intrinsic stupidity.

And

yet the Brahmanas compel the student of Hinduism that

comes to

scoff to stay to pray.

In the

first

place they are important because they are written in

connected prose entire field of

the earliest narrative prose in the

Indo-European speech, only

little less

archaic than the prose formulas of the Yajur-Veda.

They

are especially important for syntax

respect they represent the old

:

*

in this

Hindu speech

far

better than the Rig- Veda, whose syntax and style 1

See above, p. 33.

The Veda by the

are distracted

licenses

45

and

restrictions that

go

with poetic form. Secondly, the Brahmanas almost inexhaustible mine for the history of the are an

sacrifice, religious practices,

These

priesthood.

and the

institutions of

institutions in time

systematic and formidable as to

Brahman and Brahmanism

became

so

make the names

typical everywhere for

and priesthood. Thirdly, the Brahmana texts not only describe and expound the sacrifice, but

priest

they

and enliven

illustrate

it

While engaged

and legends.

of

technicalities

the

ritual,

by numerous in

stories

expounding the

they

at

the

same

time unconsciously supplement the poetic Vedas. The Hebrew Talmud interrupts the hair-splitting, expositions of

logic-chopping

its

ritual

Hallacha,

by picking from time to time rare flowers the

of

garden

its

The Brahmanas no

Haggada, less

make

or

from

legendary lore. upon the past

drafts

and present of the great storehouse of myths and stories that India has cherished from the beginning of

her time.

The

poetic value of

many

of these

may judged from the fact that they remain stock themes for the Hindu poets of later stories

be

times.

Here we

find, first

of

all,

the story of the flood,

wonderfully analogous to the flood legends of all Western Asia, and especially the account of the

The

A.6 ~

book

of the Religion o

of Genesis.

1

Many

Veda

echoes are called up by

the story of Cyavana the Bhargava who, old and decrepit as a ghost, is pelted with clods by the

Then he punishes

children of the neighborhood.

by creating discord, so that father with son, and brother with brother." Cyavana fought "

their families

finally,

through the help of the divine physicians,

the Agvins, enters the fountain of youth (queckbronri) 2 Like an oasis in and marries the lovely Sukanya.

the desert comes the ancient tale of Pururavas and

much dis Rig- Veda

UrvacJ, whose mythic meaning has been 3

puted or altogether denied. Already the knows the story, and the Hindu master-poet Kalidasa, perhaps a thousand years later, derives from

one of his loveliest dramas.

same motif

tains the

stories.

Lohengrin

as the

A

It is a story

it

which con

Undine, Melusine, and

heavenly

nymph

(Apsaras),

UrvacJ by name, loves and marries King Pururavas, but she abandons him again because he violates one of 1

the conditions of See Eggeling

s

this

ill-assorted

intrinsically

translation of the version of this legend in the

Val apatha Brahmana, Sacred Books of the East, vol. xii., p. 2i6_y. For the story of the flood in general see Usener, Die Sintflutsagen

(M 1899) (Bonn, ;

Winternitz Hwi

ur Wien, 2

3

;

Andree,

Die

Flutsagen

(Brunswick,

in Mittheilungen der Anthropologischen

1891)

;

and

Gesettschaft in

vol. xxxi (iqoi), p. 305.

(^atapatha Brahmana 4. I. 5. I ff. See, last, the author in Journal of the

vol. xx., p. 1 80.

American Oriental

Society,

The Veda

47

Not, however, through his own

union.

fault,

but on

account of a trick played him by the Gandharvas, a kind of heavenly sports," the natural mates of the "

He must

heavenly nymphs, the Apsarases.

not be

seen in a state of nudity by his wife. But on a certain occasion the Gandharvas

cause lightning

she sees him and vanishes. wailing through the land

to play:

Then Pururavas roams of

the Kurus, until he

which nymphs in the form of swans disport themselves. One of them is UrvacJ. They engage in a poetic dialogue which is preserved

comes to a

lotus

without the

pond

in

rest of the story as

the Rig- Veda (10. 95). intolerable situation. "

Then

This

one of the hymns of finally

The Brahmana

relieves

story

tells

she was sorry for him in her heart.

And

the :

she

A year from to-day thou shalt come then spake thou mayest tarry with me one night. Till then thy son :

whom

;

I

am

bearing shall have been born.

And

that

Behold there was a golden night a year he returned. palace. Then they said to him, Enter here. Then they sent Urvaci to him. And she spake To-morrow the He Gandharvas will grant thee a wish choose one. him She advises Choose thou for me. to said, say, I desire to become one of you. The next morning the Gandharvas grant him a wish. And he says, I :

;

4

*

wish to become one of you.

"

Then the Gandharvas teach him a particular fireoffering, by means of which a mortal may become a Gandharva

;

thus he

becomes a

fitting

mate

for

The

48

Now the

UrvacJ. |

i

that the

is

Religion of the reason

why

Brahmana text

this very fire-offering

which

this sacrifice

;

is,

is

Veda

this story

engaged

is

preserved

in describing

the story proves the magic of aye, powerful enough to turn

a mortal into a demi-god.

Here area couple

of short legends, crisp

They show that,

cut as cameos.

and

clear-

just as the early

gods

of India are nature-gods, so the early legends are.

grossed with problems of nature and the world. first of these snatches may be entitled

en The

1

A "

Yama and

Legend of the First Pair.

Yarn!

(*

the twins

)

are the

first

man and

Yama died. The gods sought to console woman. When they asked her she YamI for the death of Yama. *

said,

To-day he hath died/

They

said

:

In

this

Let us create night way she will never forget him. Day only at that time existed, not night. The gods Then created night. Then morrow came into being. !

she forgot him.

make men

Hence, they

forget sorrow.

say,

Days and nights

"

2

The second legend may be

entitled

The Mountains as Winged Birds. "The

,

mountains are the eldest children of Prajapati

(the Creator). They were winged (birds). They kept At that forth and flying settling wherever they liked. 1

2

174

Maitrayani Sanhita Maitrayani Sanhita ff.

i. i.

5.

12.

10. 13.

cf.

Pischel, Vedische Studien,

i.,

The Veda time this earth was unstable.

49

(God) Indra cut

earth.

clouds ever hover about the mountains. place of

At

off their

By means of the mountains he made firm the Therefore these The wings became clouds.

wings.

For

this is their

origin."

the end of the Brahmanas appears a class of

known

Aranyakas, or "Forest Treatises." The meaning of this name is not altogether clear. It seems probable that these works were recited by texts

as

hermits living in the forest, or, more precisely, those who went to the forest to live, at the time when they entered the third stage of to final emancipation. likely,

Hindu

life,

preparatory

1

According to another, less view they are texts which were taught by

teacher to pupil in the solitude of the forest, rather

than village

profaner surroundings of the town or this because the quiet of the forest

in the :

harmonised better with the sanctity of their con In either view it is difficult to see why so tents.

much ado should have been made about them. The this Aranyakas are later than the Brahmanas follows from the position they occupy at the end ;

of these texts,

and from their contents.

descriptions of sacrificial ceremonies

On

top of here

we have

symbolism of the sacrifice and priestly philosophy of the most fantastic order. The real ritual perform. 1

See below,

p. 288.

(

The

50

Religion of the

Veda

ance seems for the most part to be supplanted by But the themes of the allegorical disquisition.

Aranyakas are by no means

;

on the

heterogeneous and haphazard.

are

contrary they

Thus the

of one sort only

Aranyaka deals in its first book with the Arunaketuka Agni, a particular method of Taittirlya

building the fire-altar;

its

second book makes the

rather astounding leap over to Brahmanical educa

and Veda study its third, fourth, and fifth books deal with parts of the Vedic sacrificial cere tion

monial

;

;

and

its

sixth

book describes the old Vedic

funeral ceremonies (pitrmedha).

Still

more

varie

gated are the contents of the Aitareya Aranyaka.

What

forest themes governs the choice of these In any case escapes our notice almost altogether. "

"

these books are of lesser importance from the point of

view of Vedic literature and

which

is

religion,

except for the

of

paramount importance The Aranyakas are symptomatic and transitional.

following fact,

:

important symptom, if we understand the matter aright, is the subordination of the mere act

The

as we might say, This suppression of the material spiritual meaning. side of the ritual bridges over to the last class of of the sacrifice to

texts which the evolution.

its allegorical, or,

Veda

They

has to offer along this line of famous Upanishads, the

are the

early philosophical or theosophical texts of

India,

The Veda which have become

51

fateful for all

subsequent higher In these the ritual together with

Hindu thought.

every other manifestation of the religion of works is negated, sometimes by cautious and delicate innu endo, always by the inherent antagonism of the Upanishad themes. The older Upanishads are for the

most part either imbedded in the Aranyakas or, more frequently, attached to the end of these texts.

From very early times, therefore, they have the name Vedanta, End of the Veda." End of the Veda they are, as regards their position in the re 1

"

dactions of the long line of the so-called revealed ($rauta) texts, position.

and

as regards the time of their

But they are the end of the Veda

higher sense as well.

Veda

s

They

are the

highest religion and philosophy.

com in a

texts of the

In particu

Brahmanical philosophy which system controls at the present time nearly all the higher

lar that

of

thought of Brahmanical India bears the name Vedanta. And there is no important form of Hindu thought, heterodox Buddhism included, which is not rooted in the Upanishads.

The

philosophic and

Upanishads

will

when we come the 1

fifth

religious

quality

of

the

occupy a good deal of our attention

to the higher religion of the

and sixth lectures of

vet9vatara Upanishad

6.

22

;

this course.

Mundaka Upanishad

Veda

in

For the 3. 2. 6.

The

52

Religion of the

Veda

present we may content ourselves with some facts in the literary history of these extraordinary composi

As

we can say at least this the older Upanishads antedate Buddha much, that

tions.

regards their date

and Buddhism. The production of after-born Upan : flt*.~i-

:

-

ishads

continued,

Buddhism,

centuries

many

however,

into very

modern

times.

Next

after

to the

Rig-Veda the Upanishads are decidedly the most For important literary document of early India. the history of religion they are even more important. In the year 1656 the

Mogul (Mussalman) Prince invited several Hindu

Mohammed Dara Shukoh

Pandits from Benares to Delhi, and induced them to I

translate the Upanishads into Persian. Dara Shukoh was the oldest son of that Mogul Emperor Shah

Jehan,

who

built at

Agra, as a mausoleum for his

favourite Sultana, the Taj Mahal, perhaps the most

beautiful edifice on earth.

He was

afterwards de

posed from the throne by another son of his, the Dara bloody and powerful Emperor Aurengzeb. Shukoh was a man of another sort. He was the spiritual

follower of

the

famous

liberal

Emperor

Akbar, and wrote a book intended to reconcile the religious doctrines of the Hindus and Mohammedans.

Hence

his extraordinary desire to spread the

ledge of

infidel

writings.

Three years

accomplishment of the Upanishad

know

after

the

translation he

was

The Veda

53

put to dccith (1659) by his brother Aurcngzeb, on the ground that he was an infidel, dangerous to the established religion of the empire

;

as a

matter of

fact, because he was the legitimate successor to the throne of Shah Jehan. India, in more than one 1

respect the land of origins,

which came the study

also the country

is

suggestions of a comparative]

first

The Buddhist Emperor Agoka,

of religions.

250 years before Christ, had the religious

Rammohun Roy

1824 a

book

divisions

are

entitled

Idolatry of all Religions; told the "

of perfect

another

The last-named enlightened

trifolium of this sort. in

spirit

Emperor Akbar, Prince Dara

freedom.

Shukoh, and Raja prince wrote

from

Against the

Hindus that caste

are as destructive of national union as of

expressed belief in the divine authority of Christ and yet confidently did regard the Upanishads as the true source of the higher social

enjoyment";

;

religious life of the

study gentile religions and fairness. I

my

would ask you

1

to

in

men are who

modern

scholars

a

of

sympathy

in this

connection

spirit

remember

friend, the late Professor

translators of the

This class of

Hindus.

the advance guard of the

Max

Upanishads

Miiller,

one of the

Mokshamulara,

as

See Elphinstcne, History of India (edited by Cowell), p. 610 Miiller, Sacred Books of the East, vol. i., p. cvii.

Max

The

54

Hindus

the

Religion of the

called

him during

Veda

his latter days.

It

happens that moksha is the Sanskrit word for sal To the Hindus his root." vation," and milla means "

"

name means

Root-of-salvation," or, as

"

with a different turn,

"

Salvation

we might

Miiller."

I

say,

do not

imagine that Miiller believed in the Hindu salvation, which is release from the chain of lives and deaths in

But

the course of transmigration.

mind partakes "

of the flavor of salvation,

Max

he was.

Miiller

and writer

is

well

more than

Muller

known

understood, perhaps, his thought,

if

is

to

s

freedom of "

Salvation

eminence as a scholar

you

;

less generally well

the liberalising quality of

which he exercised untiringly during Among Europeans he

half a century.

was pre-eminent for the spirit of sympathy and fairness which he brought to the study and criticism of

Hindu

The shad

is

religious thought.

Persian

pronunciation It

Oupnekhat.

man Anquetil du

of the

word Upani-

happened that the French

Perron, the famous pioneer in the

study of the Zoroastrian religion of the Parsis, was There he became interested living in India in 1/75. in

the Persian Oupnekhat, and later on

Latin translation of Dara Shukho

was published in 1801

;

vol.

in Strassburg in ii.

in

s

made

version.

two volumes

a

This (vol.

i.

1802).

This translation proved

At

that comparatively recent

eventful in the West.

The Veda

55

time the Upanishads were yet unknown Notwithstanding its double disguise,

in

Europe. the

first

and next the Latin, Anquetil s Latin ren dering proved to be the medium through which Persian,

Schopenhauer became acquainted with the thought of the

hauer,

As

Upanishads.

who

is

well

is

known, Schopen

the father of Western pessimism, was

powerfully impregnated with their pantheistic, or,

more tem

His own sys

precisely, monistic philosophy.

based upon conceptions that coincide in one way or another with the more detached Schopenhauer used teachings of the Upanishads. is

really

to have the

was

his devotions

from

its

open upon

lie

Oupnekhat

in the habit, before

his table,

and

going to bed, of performing

His own estimate of

pages.

the character of the Oupnekhat

preserved to us Next to the original it is

in

the following statement

is

the most rewardful reading possible in the world.

It

"

:

has been the solace of

solace of

my

death."

my

life

;

it

will

Schopenhauer himself

be the tells

the reason for his faith in the Upanishads.

us

The

fundamental thought of the Upanishads, he says, is what has at all times called forth the scoffing of fools

and the unceasing meditation of the wise,

namely, the doctrine of unity plurality this

is

world,

only apparent in whatsoever ;

;

the doctrine that

that in

all

endless

all

individuals of

number they

;

||

The

56

Veda

Religion of the

present themselves, one after another, and one be side another, there is manifested one and the same

Therefore the Upanishads are in his eyes the fruit of the profoundest insight that the world has ever seen almost superhuman thought,

true being.

;

whose authors can scarcely be imagined to have been mere men. Schopenhauer unquestionably caught with lynxlike perspicacity,

through the murky medium of the

Oupnekhat, the spirit of the Upanishads, which are now before us in many editions of their Sanskrit It is

originals.

monism

the

monism

what

is

.most

known

philosophy as

in

uncompromising,

perfervid

Nor

that the world has ever seen.

his

is

estimate of the religious or philosophical quality of

Pro

the Upanishads to be brushed aside lightly. fessor

Deussen,

one

of

the

profoundest

students of

Hindu philosophy, himself a

philosopher,

does not

when

hauer

he

thinkers

the

came,

most

in

else if

behind

far

most

intimate and immediate of s

of

the

;

the

not

behind Schopenhauer

Schopen

the thought

equal in India nor per the world that to these

its

the ultimate mystery

reflect

that

says

Upanishads has not haps anywhere

fall

living

trained

yet

insight

into

This

being.

estimate

scientific,

;

both

is

not

far

estimates

pretty nearly the position of the

Hindus

The Veda who

themselves,

57

regard the Upanishads as divine

revelation.

With

due respect

all

for these great thinkers,

I

believe that Sanskrit scholars in general incline to a

soberer

estimate of

Hindu view

the

of revelation

With the

Upanishads.

we need not

quarrel.

As. t

to the question whether the

we may

Upanishads are inspired, !.

safely intrust its decision to the

broadening

spirit of the conception of inspiration, which at the

present time

More fact

is

everywhere

to the point

no system

is,

of

in

evidence in the world.

that the Upanishads contain in

thought, though they did un

later Hindu systematic phi questionably inspire We are often vexed with their unstable, losophy.

contradictory, and partly foolish statements.

commanding

thought of the

or the doctrine of

the Rig- Veda

in

how many

;

Upanishads

The

monism,

unity precedes the Upanishads

we do not know by Above all, we cannot

unfortunately

years or centuries.

and should not forget that underneath Upanishad thought, as underneath all advanced Hindu thought, found the belief

in transmigration of souls, a notion which to the very end retains picturesque the quality of folk-i-jre, rather than the q .mjity of is

1

philosophy. this belief is 1

But to the Hindus an axiom.

See below, p 254.

After

of the

all,

Upanishads

the prime interest

The

58 of the

Religion of the

historical,

We

by the quality of the endeavor

more

is literary

Upanishads

are captivated

Veda

and

than by the quality of the thing accomplished. From the literary side the Upanishads captivate not because they are finished products

they are

but because they show great originality as a kind of rhapsodic philo

anything but that

power and

From

sophic prose poems. history of

human

enduring respect

mind engaged after truth

carried

on

is

thought, what entitles them to that they show us the human

in the

and

the point of view of the

let

most plucky and earnest search me add that this search is

in the sweetest of spirit,

offending established

interests,

without fear of

and

entirely

free

from the zealotism that goes with a new intellectual era.

But the Upanishads do not contain consummation.

On the contrary, it is the dear, familiar, earnest human fight,

doomed

rather to disappointment, which very

early Hindus here carry on, to find the secret of the world and the secret of self-conscious man in the

hiddenmost folds of their own heart

that

is

what

always holds attention, and that is the endearing quality of these texts. Therefore it is true that,

wherever the spirit of the Upanishads has been carried there has sprung up genuine human sympathy, if not final intellectual

consent.

How this is so

I

shall

hope

The Veda to

show

later, at

59

the proper point in the development

Veda. But for a good while we be occupied with more primitive religious forms, though even through these sounds from time to time, of the religion of the

shall

j

almost in the manner of a Wagnerian leitmotif, the] clarion note of the leading Hindu idea.

LECTURE THE SECOND. The

Hieratic Religion. The of the Veda.

Fundamental

Pantheon

False view of

Vedic religion

traits of early

the nature of Vedic poetry

The Rig- Veda

as sacrificial

understanding the ritual char acter of the Rig-Veda Poetry addressed to the Goddess Dawn A hymn to the sacrifice post The goddess Dawn as the symbol of liberality at the sacrifice Some erroneous estimates of Goddess Dawn Agni the son of Practical purposes of Vedic poetry The "Baksheesh

poetry

Difficulty

of

"

Rig- Veda contains the religion of the upper The ritual of the Rig- Veda The aprl-hymns

classes

Natureworship the keynote of the Rig-Veda India s climate and nature-worship Vedic and Hellenic mythology compared Arrested anthropomorphism Definition of the word Pantheon as applied to the Veda Faulty classifications of the Vedic gods Chronology of the gods Different degrees of certainty about the origin of the gods

Classification of the gods in these lectures.

religion

THEthe

ture, that

which

is

contained "

so-called is

in

"

revealed

the main body

in

the bulk of

Vedic

litera

(^rauta) of the hymns of the

Rig-Veda, the Yajur-Veda, the Sama-Veda, and the

Brahmanas, gards

its

is

a hieratic or priestly religion.

mechanism, or

unmistakably

its

liturgic or ritualistic. 60

As_e-

external practices,

As

ijs

regards^its

The

immediate mirncise, or thoroughly

61

Hieratic Religion

utilitarian

economic aspect,

its

and

it

is

Its purpose, is

practical.

and long life while for man, notably the rich man, living upon the earth to secure to a very talented and thrifty class to secure happiness and success, health

;

of priest-poets abundant rewards in return for their services in procuring for

and so on

;

men

this happiness, success,

to satisfy the divine powers, visible

and

invisible, beneficent and noxious, gods and demons,

that

is,

to establish livable relations

and men

;

between gods

and, finally, to secure after death the right

to share the paradise of the gods in the

company

have gone there before. For a generation or two since the real beginnings of the study of the Veda, say fifty years ago, and endur

of the pious fathers that

ing

more

faintly to the present day, the imagination

of scholars thought

Veda

it

saw

in

the

hymns

of the Rig-

the earliest spontaneous outbursts of the prim

mind, face to face with the phenomena of nature. The poets of the Rig-Veda were supposed to be itive

Awe-struck and reverent, they were supposed to be pondering, without ulterior motive of any kind, the meaning of day and night simple sons of nature.

;

of dawn, sun,

and moon

;

of sky, thunder,

and

light

atmosphere and wind of earth and fire. The Rig-Veda was the Aryan Bible," containing the ning

;

of

;

"

earliest flashes of the religious

thought of awakening

The

62

Veda

Religion of the

humanity. This stately gathering of more than a thousand hymns was viewed as a historical collection.

hymns were composed by poets, so the of the Rig- Veda was sup

Just as the

and redaction

collection

posed to have been undertaken by persons of literary taste and redactorial diligence, apparently in order to save these precious

monuments

for the aesthetic

delight of posterity.

One cannot now

help wondering to what station in life might have belonged these early poets. I can only think of rhapsodists from out of the people, seized on occasion

some

village

ary in the

by the divine frenzy, perchance barber old and semi-religious function

Hindu village

or

some village Hans Sachs, shoe

maker and

we may

as

translate the

German

doggerel.

Vedic

poetry

was the

still

less likely,

the

muse

to

"

a poet too

infinite

some Raja

of

tobacco,"

under

one

enough

to hold a

of

poet

eager,

those

huge

village, to

ject for the delectation of

Delightful as

s

1

as

Unless, child

laureate,

he took

of

"given

the

banyan-trees

air

large

bag some good sub

the court of his patron.

might be some such romantic a view to

the student of a literature that requires the devotion 1

"

Hans Sachs war ein SchuhMacher und Poet dazu,"

The of a lifetime,

it

is

Hieratic Religion

63

My own

not the correct view.

fancy in the earlier days moved along these lines. I am not sure but what some such conception of

Vedic

literature, faulty as I

now

believe

it

to be,

drew me into these studies more enticingly than could have the soberer view of ripening years. on to attach the right value to the poetry of the Vedic hymns in the abstract. I shall also show the way in which these poems ex I shall

endeavor

later

press a high quality of religious feeling on the part of their composers

Rishis, as they are called in the

texts themselves.

My

endeavor

shall

not be to

minimise the quality of these compositions, but rather to show that they contain the rudiments of a far higher species of thought than these early poets could have dreamt of; thought which in its way, and along its particular avenue, has become final for all

time

present

in

we

ter of the

The

are

Rig-Veda

At

epidermis, as

we might

say.

purely utilitarian

prayer-book whose explana not undertaken without reference to to be ought

body 1

its

collection served

It is in fact a

definite occasions

ily

and even outside of India.

engaged with the more external charac

Rig- Veda

purposes. tion

India,

of the

books,

1

and

definite practices.

The main

books of the Rig-Veda, the so-called fam represents in

See above, p. 27.

all

probability the prayers

The

64

Veda

Religion of the

on the same or similar

of different priestly families

occasions, or in connection with the sacrifices.

even a

if

little

we

The Vedic hymns designate them as

more than

than by saying, course

poems

is

are not quite described sacrificial

In other words these

are incidental to the sacrifice. in

It is

poetry.

I

:

treated poetically.

poet rises

similar

cannot express it better the sacrifice to the gods of

that

it

same or

the early morning to a

The Vedic

sacrificial

day.

The very first natural phenomenon he sees with his own eyes, the glorious maiden Dawn, is at once She trumpets

pressed into service.

going to be a day of which shall result in wealth and comforts.

to the world that this fice

forth, so to say, sacri

is

The

day goes on, being a mere scaffolding, or ladder

upon whose rungs are placed offerings to the gods. Morn ing, noon, and evening, tolerably definite gods get their regular allowance of offerings,

rable kind of

hymnal

Rig-Veda.

As

praise,

the gods

and a very admi

namely the hymns of the on, one after another,

come

or in pairs, or in groups, they enter

The

stage

is

the

sacrificial

day.

upon a

They

stage.

are figures in

a drama, more important collectively than singly. Take them singly, and I venture to say that even the

Rig-Veda, as does the later ritual, begins to show most of them in the state of a sort of supernumera ries

on the stage

of the sacrifice.

India

is

nothing

if

The not singular. the earliest

Hieratic Religion

We must not shrink

Hindu poetry

ordinary sense, not

65

from realising that

not epic, nor lyric in the nor didactic, but that it is

is

idyllic,

almost throughout dominated by a single idea, name ly, the praise of the gods in connection with the sacrifice.

The sacrifice is

as far as

life,

The

it is

the dominant note of Vedic

revealed in these ancient documents.

chief acts of the people living this

far as

revealed by the literature are

it is

in so

sacrificial;

thought the praise and conciliation of their

their chief

at the sacrifice.

gods

life,

The

soma, the sacred drink,

intoxicates the gods into heroism, or the rich melted butter, or fire,

ghee (ghrtd), that is poured into the willing them into contentment. Especially the

fattens

ever present, in express statement or by im So much so that in a technical sense at plication.

soma

is

least the Rig- Veda religion

may be

designated as a

religion of ^^^-practices.

But the hymns are dithyrambic, often turgid and intentionally mystic.

sharp sight to see,

It

requires at times pretty

and a clear head to remember,

that this poetry hugs the sacrifice closely

;

that at

the bottom of the golden liquid of inspiration there are always the residual dregs of a supposedly useful

formalism.

In fact the poets, as their fancy

flies

away from their immediate purpose, succeed un commonly well in withdrawing the eye from the 5

The

66

Religion of the

trivial real properties of

gods

whom

Veda

the sacrifice to the luminous

they praise so well.

The most

beautiful

of the Rig- Veda are

hymns

addressed to Ushas or Aurora, the maiden Dawn, the Goddess

Dawn, the daughter of Dyaush Pitar (Zevz 7rarrfp\ Father Heaven Homer s Rose-finger

A

Eos.

poet sings her ecstatically have crossed to the other side of darkness, Gleaming Aurora hath prepared the way. Delightful as the rhythm of poem, she smiles and shines, To happiness her beauteous face aroused :

"We

1

us."

(Rig-Veda

We

feel that

we

i.

92. 6.)

-^e going to be held willing cap

tives of a primitive Shelley or Keats, until

sobered

by

another

stanza of

the same

we

are

hymn

(stanza 5): "

Her

bright sheen hath

snown

itself to us;

She spreads, and strikes the black dire gloom. As one paints the sacrificial post at the sacrifice, So hath Heaven s daughter put on her brilliance."

What (svaru),

a comparison

destined

to

!

The

hold

gaudily ornamented with paint nically as having a knob for

sundry other

barbaric

petty

sacrificial

post

an animal victim, it is described tech

fast

a

beauties

head, along with brings

us

down

with a thud from heaven to the mockeries of the 1

The

so, or

expression chdndo nd here and at 8. 7. 36 is to be rendered like a poem." There is no occasion for an adjectival simply "

stem chdnda in the sense of

and

"singer,"

translators generally assume.

or the like, as the lexicons

The

Hieratic Religion

Our good

sacrifice.

friend the poet

in technical rites

monger

moment Lest we nodded

who

after all a

cannot, even in the

think that just this particular poet has

moment, another hymn repeats

for a

The

is

of his inspiration, quite forget his trade.

to us, offensive comparison "

67

bright

Dawns have

the,

:

risen in the East,

Like sacrifice posts uplifted at the sacrifice. Luminous, pure, and clear, they have unbarred

The

portals of the stable of

darkness."

(Rig- Veda

We may

turn this about the other

the example.

Just as

it

is

4.

51. 2.)

way and prove

possible for a brilliant

poet of the Rig- Veda to institute comparisons be Dawn and the tawdry sacrifice post,

tween glorious so

is

it

possible for another poet to consider the

sacrifice post as a subject

We

ment.

symbolism ritual, but

fit

for high poetic treat

are accustomed to in I

make allowance

for

connection with articles belonging to question whether the poets of any

other land have ever turned their talents to such curious use

:

Rig -Veda 3. "

i.

God-serving men,

O

With heavenly mead 1

That

is,

8.

sovereign of the forest! at sacrifice anoint thee.

the tree from which the sacrifice post

is

made.

The

68

Religion of the

Veda

Grant wealth to us when thou art standing upright, reposing on this Mother s bosom

And when "

2.

"

!

Set up in front of the enkindled fire, Accepting tireless prayer, that brings strong sons, Driving far from us away all noisome sickness, Lift thyself

4.

1

up

to bring us great

Well-robed, enveloped, he

Springing to

life his

is

good fortune!

come, the youthful

;

glory waxeth greater.

in mind and god-adoring, Sages of wise intellect upraise him.

Contemplative

"

9.

Like swans that

Have come

fly in

ordered line

the pillars gay in brilliant colors.

lifted up on high by sages, eastward, forth as gods to the gods dwelling-places.

They,

Go "

10.

These posts upon the

Seem

earth, with ornate knobs,

to the eye like horns of horned cattle.

Upraised by priests with rival invocations, Let them assist us in the rush of battle !

"

11.

Lord of the world, rise with a hundred branches With thousand branches may we rise to greatness an edge well whetted For great felicity hath brought before us

Thou whom

this hatchet with

"

!

am reminded

I

here of the tense struggle

friend the late Professor

my

i

sight.

The same

Mother Earth.

which

Max Miiller was engaged

with an epithet of Ushas, quite startling, first

in

beautiful

I

admit, at

Daughter of Heaven^

The another hymn,

in

means

daksJiimi it is

Hieratic Religion is

fee,"

or, in

s

poetic

a poet might degrade so charming a

a comparison "

plainer words,

the baksheesh of the priests at the sacrifice. But

did not seem tolerable to Miiller

it

Now the word

called Dakshina.

".sacrificial

69

mind that

theme by such

:

the shining strands of Dawn have risen, Like unto glittering waves of water All paths prepareth she that they be easily traversed Liberal goddess, kind, she hath become baksheesh."

Up

!

(Rig- Veda 64.

The word which "

;

6. i.)

liberal have just rendered by magkoni) is the very one that is used con "

I

goddess ( stantly and technically for the patron of the sacrifice (maghavan), the immediate source from which flow all

the fees of the

(maghoni) it Dawn. Here

Ushas

is

is it

sacrifice.

In

its

feminine form

used almost solely as an epithet of cheek by jowl with dakshind. is,

the patroness of the sacrifice

the sacrifice

fee, because 1

;

she

is

herself

she heralds or ushers in the

when day and stingy are asleep. If I could get myself to suspect one of these ancient Rishis of hu mor, I should say that there was a touch of

sacrificial

both

liberal

humor i

after the darkness of the night,

anyhow

See Rig-Veda

Sun, the

sacrifice,

it

is

7. 78. 3,

and Agni

unconscious humor

where the Dawns are said :

ajljanan suryam

in the

to beget the

yajnam agnim.

The

70

Religion of the

following appeal to Ushas

goddess, them that give

unawakened

"

That

!

Veda

"

Arouse,

:

Ushas, liberal

the niggards shall sleep what is the use of

;

is

O

to say,

waking the stingy man, he is not going to give us any thing anyhow. Another stanza states this even more

O

"

liberal

Dawns, ye

god do ye to-day suggest to the rich that they shall Let the stingy, unawakened, sleep in give bounty emphatically

:

shining

desses,

!

the depths of obscure darkness

2 !

The very first hymn in the Rig-Veda that is ad dressed to Ushas presents in its opening strain the economic goddess, in an inextricable with the Almost do we feel poetic divinity. tangle ritual, serving,

that economic advantage and aesthetic delight

much "

the

same thing

to the soul of such a poet

are :

With pleasant things for us, O Ushas, Shine forth, O Daughter of Heaven, With great and brilliant wealth, of which, luminous goddess, thou

art the giver

"

!

(Rig-Veda

And

immediately

significant words,

our

patrons!"

after,

"Arouse

And

in

i.

68.

I.)

the next stanza, the

thou the benevolence of

so another time,

3

"To

these

nobles give thou glory and fine sons, O patroness Dawn, to them that have given us gifts that are not 1

Rig- Veda

I.

2

Rig- Veda

4. 51. 3.

3

Rig- Veda

5.

124. 10.

79. 6.

The

Hieratic Religion

71

And once again, God after god urge shabby thou on to favor us make all pleasant things come our way and, as thou shinest forth, create in us the "

*

"

1

;

;

leads to

inspiration that

make our poetry

gain!"

so clever that

it

That shall

to say,

is

not

fail

to

stimulate the liberality of the patron of the sacrifice

We

can

poet-priest

above

all

!

now understand the tour de force of the who, when he sings of Dawn, is anxious

that the

main

be neglected.

issue shall not

Therefore he blurts out his crassest thought first, afflicts the goddess with the doubtfully honorable baksheesh, and then settles

title

down

appreciation of his poetic opportunity

to a very nice :

Baksheesh s roomy chariot hath been harnessed, And the immortal gods have mounted on it, The friendly Dawn, wide-spread, from out of darkness Has risen up to care for the abode of mortals.

"

The mighty goddess

!<

arose before

all

the creatures,

She wins the booty and always conquers riches; The Dawn looks forth, young and reviving ever, She came the first here to our morning offering." (Rig-Veda I

think

my

i.

123.

hearers will understand that

i,

it

2.) is

not

necessary to regard the word daksliind, with Professor

Max

Miiller, as a

the sense of

in 1

2

Rig-Veda

"

vague honorific adjective of Dawn, 3 Nor need we clever," or the like.

7. 79. 5.

See his Auld

Lang

Syne, Second Series, p.

223^".

1

i

The

72

Religion of the

Veda

go to the school of the late great French interpreter of the Rig- Veda, Abel Bergaigne, in this instance to

own, transports too many the earthly life of the Vedic Hindu

in a fashion quite his

who,

of the events in

He

to heaven.

means that

"

enough that dakshind

and nothing

but opines called dakshind because she is the gift

sacrifice

Dawn

sees clearly

is

fee,"

else,

heaven bestowed upon pious men as a recompense This is all too roundabout, and for their piety.

of

1

unnecessary, and un-Vedic.

Still less

can

we

assent

to the statement of another very sane and enlight

ened

critic of

declares that

"

the Vedas, Professor Oldenberg, who the hymns to Dawn waft to us the

poetry of the early morn the mystic sophistries of that they have a rificial

hymns

;

that they steer clear of

and technique in the sac wanting

sacrifice

charm that

is

;

Professor Oldenberg takes

proper."

the usual view of this interesting goddess.

I

would

advocate precisely the opposite view, namely, that the hymns to Dawn, their many intrinsic beauties to the contrary notwithstanding, represent the

first,

the keenest, so to speak, the least tired sacrificial mood of these poet-priests as they enter upon the

absorbing business of the day and that never _has_ the battledoor and shuttlecock of really fine poetic ;

1

9

La

Religion Vedique, vol.

Die Religion des Veda,

i.,

p.

p. 237.

127 ff

The

Hieratic Religion

73

and plain self-engrossed human neediness been played so frankly and undisguisedly by poet inspiration

who must first live and afterwards compose poetry. Once more I must tax your patience and return to

Dawn

s

Rig- Veda shina

epithet dakshind, or 3.

God What is

the

i

of Fire, really

We

Dawn.

58.

called the

is

becomes

economy

Dawn, under the name of DakDaughter of Heaven, and Agni, is

meant

is,

that

Agni

of

the son of

is

ritual

Dakshina.

touch which

through deep sympathy with the Why should Agni, Fire,"

of the sacrifice.

be the son of

Dawn?

and

fire?

light

Son

called the

have here a double

clear only

is

poetic derivation;

In

baksheesh."

Is

it

"

that

Dawn means

"

light,"

That would be the far-fetched I

wish to accuse no scholar of

having made it. Poetically we think of fire espe cially as an evening phenomenon, not as a phenome non of the sober morning. I doubt whether the farmer, as he splits kindling for the breakfast

a cold

winter morning, cheers himself with

poetic thought that the breakfast

Dawn. Our farmers that way. rificer

fire

But

who must

it

fire is

of

the

the son of

are not temperamentally inclined is

another matter with the sac-

beautify and beatify

all

his acts,

and

throw into them a dash of cajolery. The fact is that the god Agni is also a prized and much extolled divinity of the morning, because the

first

act of the

The

74 sacral

is

day

Religion of the

to kindle the

fire

that shall convey the

This

oblations to the other gods.

truly significant thing

is,

that

the poetic treatment of the

in

so familiar a

is

Vedic religion as to require no

fact of

The

Veda

is

the son of

Agni Goddess Dawn a beautiful

it

illustration.

creates a

sacrifice,

theme

namely

:

Dawn, because immediately after beheld God Fire is kindled. In

is

hymn

to

God

Savitar, the

motive or

promotive power behind the sun, the doings of the early "

morn

:

Weaving Night hath folded up her woof, In the midst of her performance wise Savitar suspends her work.

He

riseth

With ;

are described in real poetry

from

fitting

his

plan

couch and

God

sets the seasons,

Savitar hath

come

hither."

The scattered homes and all life The mighty flame of household fire pervadeth. The largest share the Mother has decreed unto her Son; To do his own desire god Savitar hath sped hither." (Rig- Veda

2.

38. 4, 5.)

Let us not, by any means, imagine that the is the unselfish human mother who sees

Mother here to

it

may

that her

boy Devadatta, or whatever

be, has a substantial breakfast.

Mother Dawn whose Son Agni would fact get the largest share

tions are

poured

into the

No,

his it

name is

the

as a matter of

anyway, because

all

obla

We

I

think,

fire.

must,

The

Hieratic Religion

75

never has _sagrifj eg had su ch genuine poetry to serve it. But the reverse of the coin is, that never has poetic endowment strayed so that

acknowledge

far

from wholesome theme as to

:

,

fritter itself

away upon the ancient hocus-pocus of the fire-priest and medicine-man. Of course, what finally saves this poetry from banality

is

the presence in

same luminous gods whose

brilliance

it

of those

obscured

is

but not extinguished by such childish treatment. We are now better prepared to bear up under the statement that Vedic religion

moment

practical

and

is

utilitarian,

from the very first and that the Vedic [v

people, to

begin with, practise their religion for what there is in it. The Rig-Veda with its worship of the great nature-gods represents

from the

start a

form of worship very similar, though apparently neither as extensive nor as formal and rigid as the later technical

of the Yajur-Vedas

The poetry

Brahmanas.

main

ritual

also really dull

is

its

eyes shut

tions.

We

the

it is

leavened by true beauty and all the

fineness of observation,

circumstances of literary composition which

modern times

in

and mechanical, but we have

seen that, in good part, of conception,

of the Rig- Veda

and the

are accustomed to see at

or half shut

we

of

work with

to practical considera

must not be misled by these mental

defects of the Vedic poets into

an exaggeratedly

The

76

Religion of the

Veda

A

pessimistic view of their entire activity.

great

whom

depends the destiny of his be shrewd, unscrupulous, Machiavel country, may lian, velvet as to glove, iron as to hand, and yet be diplomatist,

upon

Even

a real patriot. trivial as

these works

so a priestly religion of works,

may appear

to our eyes, does

Nor does

not shut out spiritual elevation.

practical

poetry shut out entirely the more silent workings of literary taste

and poetic

poets themselves insist upon "

"well-hewn,"

many pare down .;

[I

if

it,

their

poems

are

well-fashioned as a war-chariot from

the hands of a skilled cases:

The Vedic

inspiration.

we

And

artisan."

so they are in

cut out the foolish sacrifice, and

a pretty thick crust of conventionalism,

is left in the Vedic hymns enough of beauty and character to secure them a place in the world s literature. Forget but the string that ties the

there

thought of the Vedic Rishis to the sacrificial post, and you shall see that thought flit far away to great heights, where birds do not fly. For the time being, 1

at least,

how,

it

it

becomes what we

many The 1

inspired, and,

any

breeds the germs that shall flower out to

great things in future days, finally

call

when Hindu thought

emancipates itself from other trivialities of life. religion of the

Rig- Veda,

I.

155.

5.

Rig-Veda,

sacrifice

much

along with

like the later

The

Hieratic Religion

hieratic religion of

manas, this

is

day

77

the Yajur-Veda and the Brah-

Even

the religion of the upper classes.

only rich

Brahmanical Hindus are

So

position to perform Vedic sacrifices.

was

it

to

in the in

The popular

religion, the religion of the poor, or of the modest householder, with its humble rites, and its even more childish reliance

olden times.

upon sorcery and the medicine-man, runs from the start side

by

side with the hieratic religion.

It is

the religion of the Atharva-Veda and the so-called "

House-books.

"

J

It

happens to

scope of these lectures, though

been drawn on by

its

I

lie

outside of the

have

for

my

part

simple yet tense humanity to

the publication of several volumes.

3

The

religion

Rig-Veda presupposes an established house hold of considerable extent a wealthy and liberal of the

;

householder

and many

;

elaborate

priests not at

and expensive materials all shamefaced about their ;

fees.

In fact the body of the Rig- Veda presupposes the

ordinary form of the soma sacrifice which extends

through an entire day,

in

the

manner

of the so-called

Or, rather, it jyotishtoma of the later ceremonial. is largely a collection of the hymns composed by vari1

2

See above p. 41. For general information

The Atharva- Veda

on

(Strassburg, 1899

this ).

literature

see

my

book

The

78

Religion of the

Veda

ous priest families for this important sacrifice. The soma drink is pressed three times daily morning, :

The gods

noon, and evening. are

all

them.

each has a

;

who

Indra, the god

more frequently than any

other, has part in

but the mid-day pressing belongs Ushas, the Maiden Dawn, and exclusively.

all

three pressings

to

him

God

Agni,

Vedic Pantheon

interested in these ceremonies

fairly definite share in

figures

of the

;

Fire,

part in

play,

as

we have seen, a very The Adityas and 1

the morning.

important Ribhus, the latter a sort of clever-handed elves,

A

host of appear upon the scene injthe evening. to are addressed of whose divinities hymns pairs

coupling

not always based

upon any special between them, but upon purely association Indra and Agni, Indra and is

natural affinity liturgic

:

Varuna, Agni and Soma, and so on.

One important hymns, that

class of "

is,

hymns, the so-called

songs of

invitation,"

dprl-

consist of

individual stanzas which invoke certain divinities

and personifications of acts and

utensils, prelimin

ary to the sacrifice of cattle at the Fire (Agni) 1

See below,

8

See

463 ff\

is

p.

soma

3

rites.

especially called upon under

God

different,

129.

Max

Miiller, History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature, p. Roth, Yaska s Nirukta, p. xxxvi ff\ Weber, Indische

Studien, x. 89 ff\ Grassmann, Translation of the Rig-Veda, vol. p. 6

;

Bergaigne, Journal Asiatique^ 1879, p. 17.

i.,

The partly

Hieratic Religion

mystic designations

of

;

79

sacrificial

articles,

the sacred straw upon which the priests are seated,

the doors of the enclosure within which the offering and the sacrificial post to which the

takes place,

animal ten

is

have a stanza each

tied

These

tf/r-hymns.

in

of

sets

every one of the invocations

are

each set belongs to a different purely liturgical In general, each of the family of Rishis or seers." ;

"

so-called

"

family books

A

aflri-hymn.

of the Rig- Veda has its

"

peculiar odor of sancity, solemnity,

and family pride must have attached In later times,

formulas.

itself to

when the hymns

these

of the

Rig-Veda are taken in lump, and employed at the great sacrifices with but very slight reference to the particular priest family from

which they are sup

posed to have been derived, the choice of the dprl-

hymns

is still

made according

books at that time

to family.

The

ritual

order that the sacrificer must

which was composed in the the Rishi from whom he would fain derive

choose that family of

still

his descent.

<2/rz-hymn

1

seems

It

likely,

therefore and

for

other reasons, that each family book of the RigVeda was intended for essentially the same class of

on according to different family

practices, carried traditions, 1

and

See (^ankhayana

to

the accompaniment of different

rautasutra

Latyayana (^rautasutra

6. 7.

5.

16

;

A9valayana (^rautasutra

3. 2

;

The

8o

Religion of the

hymns, somewhat

manner

in the

Veda of the later

one and the

schools or branches (qdkha] of

dic

Ve-

same Veda. Large numbers of technical, ritualistic words and Its expressions crowd the pages of the Rig- Veda. metres are finished and conventional to a very high degree

among

they are

;

some

also, to

extent, distributed

the gods, so that a given metre

is

associated

For instance, the especially with a certain god. gayatrl is the metre of the god Agni the trishtubh the metre of the god Indra. They are also distributed ;

to

some extent according to the time

of the

day

:

the gayatrl in the morning, the trishtubh at noon,

Above all, the advanced the Rig- Veda s ritual manifests itself number of different designations for

the jagatl at evening. character of

the large

in

These occur not only singly, but in series the names of these priests are largely, though not

priests.

:

entirely,

the

ceremonial.

And

names

of

yet the poetry of the Rig- Veda

sense, original.

the last source of

1

of

its

the

later

is,

in a

deeper

its

poetry, if uninterrupted contact with

inspiration.

character, after

all,

The

final

depends not so

See Hillebrandt, Rituallitteratur, p. on p. 17 of the same work.

cited

of

It is primitive religious

by primitive we mean

ment

the priests

1

n

ff,

and the

judg

much

literature

The

81

Hieratic Religion

upon the economic motives, or the all-around per character of

sonal

its

authors as upon the extent

and quality of their mental vision. To treat sacri ficial themes in the high poetic way seems to most of us hollow mockery. But we must not forget that such performances, to some extent, continue the pious ways of the fathers that the acts in part sym ;

bolise real religious feeling;

and that most

religions

have a trick of throwing a poetic and sentimental glamor around practices that are trivial intrinsically.

Then the

difference

of standards

in

a

semi-bar

barous time, such as the time of the Rig- Veda, must count for something. After all that I have said to forefend what

may be

padded or swollen estimate of Rig-Veda poetry and religion, both the poetry and the religion are of singular interest and importance.

In

its

called

a

essence the Rig- Veda

is

not

lit

urgy but mythology. Its^rjriest-poets L in their heart of hearts, are not mere technicians, but tense ob servers of the great facts

and

acts of nature,

worshippers of the powers

whom

they fancy at

and

work

In fact they are both poets and philoso There is in this matter some real cause for

in nature.

phers.

surprise.

definite shall

ure

We

must not forget the long, almost past of Hindu mythology and religion.

endeavor to make this clear

when we come 6

in the

next

in I

lect

to deal with the reconstructions

The

82

Religion of the

Veda

of comparative mythology. There was plenty of time for all nature-worship to have stiffened into

mere admiration,

fear,

and adulation

gods, accompanied inevitably

of

by a more or

personal less

plete forgetfulness of the forces in nature from

com

which

sprang the gods. That this was not so is due, in my opinion, to the vast impressiveness of India s nature.

Its fiercely

glowing sun, its terrible yet lifegiving monsoons, the snow-mountain giants of the north, and its bewilderingly profuse vegetation could hardly

fail

to keep obtruding themselves as a reve

lation of the

What

powers of the already existing gods.

more important, it could hardly fail to stimulate the creation of new nature-gods to a de gree

is still

unknown

elsewhere.

It

is

this

unforgetting

adherence to nature that has made the Vedic hymns the training-school of the Science of Mythology, and to a large extent also of the Science of Religion.

Deprived of the hymns of the Rig- Veda, we should hardly know to this day that mythology is the first and fundamental adjustment of the individual hu

man

to the outer active, interfering, dynamic which surrounds and influences man from the world, moment when he opens his eyes upon the wonders In this sense Vedic of its unexplained phenomena. life

mythology our day.

is

in its

day what empirical science

is in

The

Hieratic Religion

83

We

can realise this to some extent by calling up another mythology, that of the Greeks. This is also

based upon nature, but nature is soon forgotten, or, if not entirely forgotten, much obscured by M..

-JJ...KM-*

*

after-born

movements.

Owing

a curious

to

slip,

fortunate from the artistic side, unfortunate from

the religious and mythical side, Greek mythology fell

too completely into the hands of the people.

Poets, artists, in their

and even philosophers handle it, each But there is a notable absence

own way.

of those Rishis of the

human

Veda who, with all their too all their Hindu fancifulness

sordidness and

see the great realities of the world with their eyes

wide open, and work their way slowly but with secure touch from the single and separate manifesta tions of nature in the Rig- Veda to the absolute

Being which

is

nature as a whole, that

finest

flower of

Hesiod

all,"

The

Greek mythology, great Zeus, of

or of

"

navra

idoov

ocpOaXpoz uai The eye of Zeus which sees all and

says,

Ttdvra vorjaaz,

knows

One

the idea of

the Upanishads.

unity as finally settled in

whom

is

whom

the old Orphic

hymn

sings,

navra 11

Zeus

all

is

the beginning, Zeus is the middle, on Zeus founded," is at the same time the flippant, is

breezy Jove to

whom

the

and vices barely excusable

poets

in a

ascribe

foibles

modern bon-vivant

The

84

Religion of the

Too

and man about town.

Veda

finished personification

causes the break-down of Greek mythology even

from the

artistic side.

praise above

all

The same poets

in

whom we

aversion to everything excessive or

monstrous, those Greek poets who in general fancy just enough, but not too much, run a close

and say

race with the

most extravagant

fancies of semi-civil

ised peoples in the description

gods.

Uranos was maimed by

of

his

their

own

son,

primeval

Kronos

;

Kronos, the unnatural son, is also an unnatural father. For he swallows his own children, and, after years of tentative but unsuccessful digestion, vomits

whole brood. Fair Phoebus Apollo hangs on a tree and flays him alive. Homicide Marsyas without end, parricide and murder of children are forth the

the stock events of their mythology. that Plato banished even the

No wonder

Homeric poems from

And

The Epicurus had to say as gods are indeed, but they are not many believe them to be. Not he is an infidel who denies the his ideal republic.

"

:

gods of the many, but he that fastens upon the gods the opinions of the

many."

the complete humanisation

paved the way religion,

for the rapid spread of that Shemitic

deeply ethical

Christianity,

Nothing so much as of Greek mythology

among

in

its

teachings,

Judaeo-

the Indo-European peoples.

You may remember how skilfully Kingsley

s

novel,

The

Hieratic Religion

85

Hypatia pictures Greek religion when in final struggle, already in

growing theology with

that

is,

occasional

The

things.

confronts

the throes of death, the

belief of the future, as ;

it

still

the Homeric

crude anthropomorphism, dashed but troubled visions of better

real rivals of Christianity in

turies after Christ

the cen-/?

were Persian forms of religion Of Mithraism Ernest

:>

Mithraism and Manicheism.

Renan once

said that

if

the world had not been;

would have been Mithraised

and

Christianised

it

Manicheism,

dualistic, exhaustively Gnostic, with

;

superb colouring and its appealing asceticism, proved for a time an even more dangerous rival of

\

its

I

Christianity.

We

know from

the history of the later classical Sanskrit literature that India s climate and physio

graphy have kept her poets a degree

unknown

in

touch with nature to

elsewhere, until

we come

to the.

modern nature poets. Evenjso, the _transarency of the Vedic Pantheon as a whole remains surprising. This results

in

what we may

call

arrested personifi

cation, or arrested anthropomorphism, and this

very genius of

Vedic

religion,

is

the

and more especially

Nothing so much Hindu thinkers to think

of the religion of the Rig- Veda. as this has enabled the early

out anew, a second and a third time, what had been

apparently settled to everybody

s final

satisfaction,

The

86

Religion of the

Veda

and was beginning to enter upon a career of rigma

Thus the Rig- Veda

role.

God

of

says

the sun conceived as the promoter of

life

Savitar, "

:

God

Savitar, approaching on the dark blue sky, sustaining mortals and immortals, comes on his golden chariot, 1

It is the fiery ball that beholding all the worlds." rises from the sea or over the hills, nothing more

the

in

first

The

place.

would be to make

ordinary

way

of

mythology

of this Savitar a wonderful chari

oteer, given over, say, to racing or to warlike deeds. this process

Instead,

as

is,

say, arrested.

I

The

phenomenon remains the repository of re

natural

Even in the Rigthe conception of the sun makes great

newed and deepening thought.

Veda

itself

onward

strides as the

the ultimate force at

most prominent symbol of work in the universe. An

other stanza, speaking of Surya, another sun-god,

The sun

"

says,

moves or

is "

stands."

Self or Soul of all

the

And

ous so-called Savitrl, or sacro-sanct at

now by Savitar

1

all

times,

that

yet another, the fam GayatrT, which remains

and

is

recited daily

every orthodox Hindu,

3

again

even

turns to

:

Rig- Veda

I.

35. 2.

8

Rig- Veda i. 115. i. 3 See Monier Williams, Transactions of the Fifth International

Congress of Orientalists, vol.

ii.,

p.

The "

,

I

Hieratic Religion

That lovely glory

87

of Savitar,

The heavenly god, we contemplate Our pious thoughts he shall promote."

/

:

I

Here

almost the

is

ble combination

first

the

of

1

touch of that inimita

Upanishads, the Atman,

Breath/ and the Brahma,

"

holy thought/ that

is

the combination of physical and spiritual force into

one pantheistic *

Savitri

is

"It

:

As

all.

modern Hindu says of the what the

a

of course impossible to say

author of the Savitri had in view, but his Indian

commentators, both ancient and modern, are as one in believing that he rose from nature up to nature

s

which

is

God, and adored that sublime luminary only to the eye of reason, and not

visible

we daily see in its course." Katyayana Index to the Rig- Veda, the so-called Anu-

the planet in his

kramanl, after stating the familiar classification of all the gods of the Veda into three types Agni (fire

and

light

sphere),

on

earth),

Vayu

and Surya (sun

(air or

wind

in the sky)

atmo

in the

proceeds

still

only one deity, namely, the Great Self/ (mahdndtma), and somej say that he is the sun (surya] or that the sun farther

to

assert

that

there

is

"

"

is

he."

4 6

tha,

This

Rig-Veda

is,

of

course, later thought,

Upan-

3. 62. 10.

Rajendralalamitra in the Introduction to his Edition of the Gopa-

Brdhtnana,

p. 24.

The

88

ishad thought,

Religion of the as

it

appears, for instance, "

Upanishad

Taittirlya in

(8.

man and he who

and the

same."

But

Veda

8)

dwells

:

this later

He who

the

in

sun

thought

is

in

the

dwells are

one

founded

on the repeated revision, so to say, of the concep tions of the

engrossing

sun,

nature

fed

anew by the

sight of this

which

not obscured

force,

is

made trivial by personification into an Olympian, human god. But we shall return to this all-important matter when we come to the highest outcome of Vedic reli It is now time to take a look at the individual gion. of the Veda, or what we may call the Vedic gods and

not

Pantheon.

THE PANTHEON OF THE VEDA. At

the outset

we may observe

that this

word ap

Vedic gods only in an analogical sense. no Pantheon in the Veda, if by Pantheon

plies to the

There

is

we mean an Olympus patterned

after a

more or

less

snobbish conception of a royal household, in which every god holds his position and exacts sensitive respect from

all

the others as the price of his

own

observance of court proprieties. The Vedic gods have no acknowledged head. They group them selves to

some extent according

to their characters

for instance, as sun-gods, or storm-gods.

;

As such

The Pantheon

of the

Veda

89

In the they have more or less definite habitations. time of the great Epic, the Mahabharata, no one

knows how many hundreds of years later, they really do manage to foregather in the heaven of one of them, namely, Indra s heaven.

take rank: Indra

first,

They begin to Agni second, and so on. With

that

comes

and

plastic possibilities

a

little,

very

little,

of those roseate poetic

which the poets and

artists

ages have read into the finishedly human Greek Olympus. We have seen enough of our

of all

theme

to

scarcely

know

that

more than

many gods

Veda

of the

half persons, their

are

other half

being an active force of nature. Such material is not yet ripe even for a Hindu Olympus. The mind of the

Vedic poet

is

the rationalistic

mind

of the

ruminating philosopher, rather than the artistic

mind

which reproduces the finished product. It is en gaged too much in reasoning about and constantly altering the

wavering shapes of the gods, so that these remain to the end of Vedic time too uncertain too fluid in substance for the modelling hand of the artist. On a pinch we could imagine a in outline,

statue of the

but

it

Varuna.

is

most material

hard to

As

of the

imagine

a

Vedic gods, Indra

statue

a matter of fact there

Vedic ikons, or Vedic temples. there is no Vedic Pantheon.

In

is

all

of

;

the god

no record of these senses

The

90 It

would seem possible

Veda

to present the

Vedic gods

order of their importance, but

the

in

Religion of the

equally,

or nearly

many

are

We

find

important.

equally,

nearly a dozen of them engaged in creating the world, and rather

more than a dozen engaged

in

pro

ducing the sun, placing it on the sky, or preparing a path for it under these circumstances it is not easy ;

to rank them. into

The gods have

1

existence

at

not

same

the

all

time.

of them come Some belong

others to Indo-Iranian Indo-European times times. Of the rest some come from an earlier,

to

;

some from a all

the dates

later period of the

we might

ment pure and

Veda.

If

we had

try a chronological arrange

simple, but

we do not have

all

the

dates.

A

ancient

celebrated

etymologer

of the

name

Hindu glossographer and Yaska reports three lists,

of

respectively of 32, 36, and 31 gods, or semi-divine 2

The

beings.

last of

these seems to begin to

tell

us

what succession the Vedic gods appear on the

in

stage day

by day,

especially in the morning.

gins well with the Agvins, or 4

Dioscuri), 1

"

Horsemen

z

See Macdonell, Vedic Mythology, p.

Nighantu 5. 4-6. Cf. Nirukta 12. See below,

3

He be

(the Vedic

Ushas, the Goddess Dawn, and Surya, 15.

1

4

"

i.

p. 112.

Brhaddevata

2.

"]

ff.

The Pantheon

of the

Veda

91

1

Soon, however, he grows prob lematic, or dunder-headed, with Vrishakapayl, Sarthe

"

Sun-Maiden."

anyu, Tvashtar, and so on. Many years occupation with the writings of this worthy, whose sense and

much by

erudition are valued

by Western

the Hindus, as well as have not increased my belief scholars,

decreased

in his authority, or

my

faith in the infi

nite possibilities of his ineptitude.

Still this

sion of the gods along the hours of the interest for the

Vedic

ritual

themselves, as

hymns

and the explanation of

Touches

the gods themselves.

when

proces has day great

of

it

appear

the Rig-Veda

very neatly the gods of the morning

in the

2

groups

:

awoke upon the earth, and Surya riseth; Broad gleaming Dawn hath shone in brilliance.

"Agni

The God

Atpvins twain have yoked their car to travel. Savitar hath roused the world in every place."

There

Hindu

is

more permanent traditional the gods which arranges them in

another,

division of

three classes, mostly

of eleven each, according to

their place or habitat in nature or the cosmos, that in

is,

sky, mid-air,

and

Rig- Veda remains good ever after. first

made

in

earth. I.

139.

The

n

:

to

classification is

some extent it

This topography of nature has a strong hold on the early religion times without :

1

See below, p. 112. i.

157-

The

92 end the

later

belongs

to, or is typical of

"Wind, "of

So

Veda

Religion of the

Vedic texts

"

insist that

Agni,

the earth

Vata or Vayu

the mid-air, and Surya,

"

;

"

Sun,

"of

Fire

;

the sky.

1

the philosophy of the obvious. They continue cleverly along that line in the following I state only the more arrangement. important far

it is

members

of each class

Celestial^gods

:

Father Sky

:

Dyaus

or

Dyaush

Pitar

"

("Sky

Varuna, Mitra, Surya and the Adityas, Savitar, Pushan, Vishnu, Ushas, and the or

"

"),

2

Agvins.

Atmospheric gods Vata or Vayu Parjanya, Rudra, and the Maruts. :

Terrestrial gods:

Prithivl

("

("

Wind")

Earth"),

Indra,

Agni, and

Soma. This threefold division, in order to be consistent, would have to be carried on to the end, so as to in clude in

all

many

As

the gods. places,

a matter of fact

even when carried no

are not so certain as are the is

uncertain

farther.

Hindus that Indra, 3

instance,

it is

a god of the mid-air, even though

must admire

this,

on the whole

We for

we

successful, apprecia

tion of the place in nature that belongs to a goodly

proportion of the chief gods. 1

Cf. Brihaddevata

2

See the index at the end of this book for these and most of the

i.

following gods. 3

See below,

p.

173.

t,

ff.

The Pantheon There are yet other

possibilities

be mentioned, because we

Our own will

be

Veda

of the

shall

93

which need not

not follow their lead.

open to some objection, call up the more important

course, doubtless

eclectic.

We shall

Vedic gods under such various points of view as will bring out some one salient quality which does not not have other qualities of great Thus the chronological element must re

say that they interest.

may

main immensely important. The chronology of the gods must influence to some extent our judgment of this ancient religion of the

Veda. The^pld prehistoric

gods that have been imported India,

by the Aryas into no matter how much they have been Hindu-

ised, will necessarily

have characteristics of their own.

Next_come the gods which have been coined in hot haste out of the phenomena of nature in a glow ing subtropical climate, or have been imbued anew

:

with the vitality of India s imposing nature. These have not had time to forget their own origin they are, as I have called them, the gods of arrested per sonification or arrested

They Compara

anthropomorphism.

are the beacon lights of Vedic religion, of

Mythology, and of the Science of Religion. They are the rare guides and philosophers on this tive

labyrinthine and rocky road

Veda

;

they have

made

the

the training-school of the study of religion.

Since they show

in a

given

number

of cases just

what

94

The Religion

of the

has taken place, they point the

Veda

way when

the light

becomes hazy. Again, it is still as true as ever that a large number of the gods, whether early or late, are nature-gods

whose

origin,

we

regret to say, has been

obscured by later processes. for the student of the Veda a

They class,

tant as well as the most difficult tion.

again

make up

the most impor

theme

of investiga

mythology must contain gods They bring with them problems that

Every nation

of this class.

somewhat

s

never be dismissed until they are finally answered and that, paradoxically, may never be. I have in

will

mind gods like Varuna, Indra, and the Acvins. To some Vedic scholars it seems without doubt begging the question to speak of nature-gods in cases

we do not know

for certain

object that was personified.

when

what was the natural

No

one can say

at this

time that the origin of either Varuna, Indra, or the Agvins has been definitely settled. Yet, for my part I

confess to that faith, because

I

remember that such

uncertainty represents in truth the

normal

result of

mythologic development. As a rule, a nature-god does not remain transparent for ever: the opposite

happens far more frequently, as may be seen, again and again, in Hellenic or Teutonic mythology. Really durable myths

/and, therefore, more or

are, as a rule, less

mixed myths,

obscure myths.

A

cei:-

The Pantheon

of the

Veda

95

and entanglements of human life must be imported into mythology be Otherwise it remains fore it becomes mythology.

tain

amount

of the complications

philosophy, primitive cosmic philosophy, or primitive empirical natural science.

Let ago

me

paraphrase a statement

in a learned journal.

made some

years

1

Mythological investigation

between the primary attri butes of a mythic personage which are the cause of the personification, and the attributes and events

must draw a sharp

line

which are assigned to him or to

happen

after

and are supposed the personification had been com

we

her,

know, originally meant and Zeus pater was the personified Father Sky," Mother Earth." But it would be contrasted with

pleted.

Zeus, as

all

"sky,"

"

"

foolish to search for these primary qualities of

or the other Greek gods

in a play of Euripides,

the gods are afflicted with

the passions and

all

Zeus

where

weak

Yet he who refuses to myththe basis of on Euripides treatment need not ologise therefore be sceptical about the naturalistic origin of nesses of mortal men.

most of the Greek gods he may be willing at the right time, and in the right stage of the history of any ;

myth, to point out the physical factors or the phys But to be pres ical events which gave it a start. ent at the right time, that 1

Journal of

the

is

not always so easy.

American Oriental

Society, vol. xv., pp. 185, 186.

The

96

Religion of the

Further, _ there

too

many

in

are

number

Veda

gods in the Veda not about whose origin we

can determine nothing that is either definite or Either these gods have been obscured helpful. totally by later events in their natural history, or

they are derived from aboriginal tribes or other foreign sources about which we know nothing at

all.

Keeping the

divide

translucent,

in

mind

this idea of genesis,

into

three

classes

gods and opaque gods.

And

:

we might

transparent,

being by nature

and occupation philosophically inclined, plagued by an incontinent desire to find last causes, I shall fol low the lead of

my

these

suggestions,

and de

gods from the point of view of their origin and the rationale of their being under five heads scribe the

:

1.

Prehistoric gods, whether their origin be clear

or obscure.

Transparent, half-personified gods, who are at the same time nature objects and mythic persons. 2.

Translucent gods, who impose upon the vestigator the theory of their origin in nature. 3.

4.

Opaque

5.

To

gods,

these

who

may

in

refuse to reveal their origins.

be added, as a

abstract or symbolic gods

fifth

who embody an

wish, or a fear in the shape of a

good or

class,

the

action, a

evil divinity,

The Pantheon Of

god, or demon. furnish

abundant

Fortunately

it

of the

this class

illustration.

does not

Veda

our

97

fifth lecture will

1

fall

within the province of

these lectures to exhaust the long-drawn and

mo

notonous theme of Vedic mythology, or to establish definitely the precise origin of all the gods.

object

is

to sketch the motives

My

and principles that

underlie the remarkable chain of religious ideas that

ieads~from the ritual worship of the great naturegods of the Rig-Veda to the high theosophy of thej

Mythology pervades

Upanishads.

ment

to

a

understand

very great its

principles.

develop

we must But a mythic figure more change the picture, when

extent,

or less cannot materially

this

so

that

how mythic figures in general are and then overlaid with religious feeling fabricated, and advancing religious thought. The particular once we know

character of the individual god soon becomes un

important.

One

of the

the religion of the

imate conclusion,

most remarkable

Veda, when carried to

is,

facts in its legit

that these multiple gods really

vanish in the end, after they have contributed their *

.

individual attributes to the great idea of unity, of oneness at the root of the universe. This is the

very negation of

mythology and

Pantheons;

of

i See also my essay, The Symbolic Gods, in Studies in Honor of B. L. Gilder sleeve, p. 37 ff.

7

The

98

Religion of the

Veda

hocus-pocus and poetic fable. And when the twilight has engulfed these gods, then, and not sacrificial

until then,

and

real

in

India as elsewhere, do real religion

philosophy begin.

LECTURE THE THIRD. The Two

prehistoric

Prehistoric Gods.

periods

bearing

upon Hindu

religion

Scepticism about Comparative Mythology Difficulties in the way of Comparative Mythology Comparative Mythology and Ethnology The myth of Cerberus

The

Indo-European period Prehistoric words for Father Sky and Mother Earth The Thunderer The Vedic Acvins, or "Horsemen," the two Sons of Heaven The Dioscuri in Greek mythology The

god

the two "Sons of God" Common of the two "Sons of Heaven" The Aryan, or Indo-Iranian period Important re The dual ligious ideas common to the two peoples gods Varuna and Mitra Ahura Mazda and Varuna Lettish

myth

kernel of

the

of

myth

The conception of rta, or "cosmic order" The Adityas Mitra, a sun god Aditi, the mother of the Adityas The sun, the moon, and the planets The Adityas and Amesha Spents Early ethical concepts among the Indo-Europeans Varuna and Greek Ouranos (Uranus) The origin of man Sundry parents of man "Father Manu" Yama and Yaml, the "Twins" Interlacing The human character of of the myths of the first man Manu and Yama Yama, the god of the dead Soma, the sacrificial drink of the gods The myth of Soma and the Heavenly Eagle Value of the preceding reconstructions. 99

The

ioo

THEon

Religion of the

treatment of India

Veda

prehistoric gods takes

s

Com

of itself the outer form of a chapter of

parative Mythology.

We

have seen

in

the past that

the events which preceded the migration of the Aryas into India belong to two very different pre historic periods.

the Hindu and called Aryas,

One

1

Iranian

were

still

does not

the periodjwhen (Persian) peoples, the so-

of these

is

one people, a period which behind the Veda itself, just

lie so very far behind the curtain which separates the earliest his torical records of both India and Iran from the very

long past which preceded both of them. This is the Indo-Iranian, or Aryan period. The second is the

remoter period of Indo-European unity

still

languages, institutions,

and

religions

of peoples permit us to

;

the

of this great

assume that there was

group once upon a time one Indo-European people, and that this people possessed religious ideas which were

not altogether obliterated from the minds of their descendants, the Indo-Europeans of historical times

(Hindus, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Celts, Teutons, Slavs, etc.). It

is

my

painful duty to report that there has

been of recent years a great this subject. licists 1

In fact,

some

"

"

slump

in the stock of

scholars, critics,

and pub

have formally declared bankruptcy against the

See above,

p. 13.

The methods and

Prehistoric

results

of

Gods

101

Comparative Mythology.

In the long run prehistoric

reconstructions,

infer

and guesses do not find favor with Of course, it is safer to re certain types of mind. to analyse and describe the history strict one s self ences, analogies,

;

Indo-European people by itself; and to refrain from speculating about their connection in a remote

of each

past.

Is

not better to stay at home, each trained own philology, rather than to ride out

it

scholar in his

towards points on the broad and dim horizon which

bounds the more or community,

less

hypothetical Indo-European

to chase after something that

may

turn

out to be a mirage ? So it has transpired that what bid fair once upon a time to grow into an important branch of historical science is now by some ignored, not pooh-poohed. The writings of many great scholars during the last fifty years or more are now if

declared slate.

who

by some

It is

but

to be ready to be

fair to

are sceptical

wiped

note that the same

off

the

critics

about Comparative Mythology doubt the explanations

are, as a rule, inclined also to

of

myths that

are restricted to a single people.

seems to be a matter of temperament,

It

this dislike to

search after origins, after final explanations, after resolving chords, as to treat a

myth

it

were.

Here

also they prefer

at its face value, as story, fancy,

poem, and nothing more.

Now

all this

sounds very

The

102

Religion of the

virtuous and abstemious of

research

;

Veda

does not the true

mathematic certainty is The difficulties which have beset

Mythology

spirit

the point where rigid at an end ?

a halt at

call

are of various sorts

First,

:

Comparative the unques

tionable delicacy, clear to the point of fragility, of

Next, the imagination of scholars who incline to such studies is prone, by the materials.

prehistoric

very terms of

The

first

its

were so striking and development went on too fast,

results of the science

fascinating that its

existence, to be a little excessive.

conclusions

its

became too

hasty.

May

the shades

Theodor Benfey, Adalbert Kuhn, and Max Muller pardon me if I say that their almost poetic genius did at times take flight from the firm earth of

into sheer cloudland

"

where birds can no longer

Unquestionably they did compare some myth ological names because of the faintest and shakiest

fly."

phonetic resemblances. tions of the

Intuitive fanciful explana

most complicated myths do to some

extent masquerade as scientific results in their writ ings, and in the writings of the school that grew up

A science based upon of both things and and resemblances vague general words could not be otherwise than faulty both as to mushroom-like about them.

its

details

brief,

and

its

philosophic generalizations.

Comparative Mythology

suffered

from

In

the

The

Prehistoric

Gods

103

pardonably excessive zeal of its early friends. Since then the pruning knife has kept busy. At the pres ent time this

is

a subject that should be handled

very gingerly by all those who do not know how to winnow the chaff from the grain. But there still is

Comparative Mythology, and it is here to stay. There is yet another difficulty which should be

rated at

its

right value, not too

The primary

tle.

much and

not too

lit

object of the comparative mythol

Indo-European peoples is to collect, com the religious beliefs of these peoples, so and sift pare, as to determine what they owned as common property

ogy

of the

before their separation.

What now, we

hear

it

fre

quently asked, about the strange peoples, not IndoEuropean, nor Aryan, who share these beliefs with the Indo-Europeans or have similar beliefs ? Without question, in the earlier stages of the science, similari

which were independent products in different quarters, due to the similar endowment of the human

ties

mind, were confused with genetic similarities. By genetic similarities I mean such similarities as trans mitted mythological conceptions which were already in vogue among the prehistoric Indo-Europeans, so that they were continued, with later modifications,

by the separate branches

of the

Indo-European peo Should not, therefore, this entire subject be handed over to those broader students of Ethnology

ples.

I

iO4

The

who

investigate

liefs all

Religion of the

human

over the world

of the origin

Veda

customs, institutions, and be

Does not the

?

entire subject

and development of religions belong to

Ethnology rather than Philology ? For instance, the Indo-Europeans make much of the worship of the sun as a supreme being. But so do the Iroquois Indians, and many other savage or

semi-barbarous peoples. It an important truth, that the it is

essentially alike,

time to incorporate

and

is

is

indeed true, and

human

race,

it is

endowed

as

anywhere and at any most imposing

liable

in its beliefs this

deifiable visible object in all nature, the sun, the

source of light and heat, seasons and vegetation.

This

is

the simple ethnological fact.

The

Indo-European Comparative Mythology ent one of each

:

it is

a historical

fact.

fact

in

a differ

is

In the early period

Indo-European people heaven,

its

agents and

powers, including of course the sun, were, as

on excellent authority, worshipped or

we know

deified.

We are

therefore to-day, as formerly, securely intrenched in

the conviction that the worship of heaven and the

heavenly phenomena, more or less personal did in fact form the common kernel of Indo-

visible ised,

European

religion.

Now

do

beliefs of other peoples, not

the same case,

line,

except to

have to

I fail

to see

what the

Indo-European, along

do with

this

particular

show that the Indo-Europeans were

The

Gods

Prehistoric

105

and that all the rest of the peoples the sun are, from their primitive point

rational beings,

who worship

of view, also rational beings.

have devoted of recent years considerable effort to the statement and explanation of the myth of I

Cerberus, the dog of Hades.

who

Cerberi,

Yama was

the

tice of dying.

are

said

first

royal

He

man might

There he

belong to King Yama.

man who started the prac then went aloft to heaven, and

found there, once for sons of

to

The Veda has two

all,

a choice place where the

disport themselves after death.

Yama, the King The Vedic texts look upon this rules as

variety of ways.

past

them

in

of Paradise.

pair of dogs in a

First, the soul of

man

order to get to heaven.

has to get This is the

Secondly, the two dogs of Yama pick out daily candidates for death. Thirdly, the dogs are entrusted with the care of the souls familiar Cerberus idea.

of the

dead on their way to join

Now we it?"

I

Yama

in

might almost ask with the riddle

wonder whether there

is

"

:

not present

heaven.

What

is

in this

audience some ingenious man or woman who can guess what real pair in nature on the way to heaven, coursing like dogs across the heaven, can harmonise these discrepant points of view. But we are not left to guess.

The Vedic

that they are the sun

texts tell us in plain language

and the moon, or

as they are

The

io6

Religion of the

Veda

with a very ancient poetic touch, the speckled and the dark. Now the word for speckled is Cabalas; it fits in well enough with Greek Kepfispoz, con called,

sidering the susceptibility of mythic proper

names

to the kind of modulation, or sophistication, which

we

But we may disregard the verbal etymology altogether. Other Indo-Eu ropean peoples have more or less definite notions call

popular etymology.

about one or two dogs.

It is

more than probable

that the early notions of future visible heaven with

life

turned to the

sun and moon, rather than

its

the topographically unstable and elusive caves and gullies that lead, in the unquestionably late Greek fancy, to a wide-gated Hades.

I

cannot here afford

the time that would be required to the sition of

this

myth, and would

book, Cerberus, the

of an

Idea, published in 1905,

thology.

Now,

in the

which

we

Obviously, the conception :

History

regard as

my

My

find that other peoples,

not Indo-European, here and there, gets in the way of the soul on its

way

I

study of Comparative

to be sure,

dently in the same

expo you to my

Dog of Hades : The

little

program of method

refer

full

may have

own way

a dog

who

to heaven.

arisen indepen

the dead journeying upward

to heaven, but interfered with

by

a coursing heavenly

body, the sun or the moon, or both. But grant that somewhere or other a dog, pure and simple, has

The

Prehistoric

Gods

107

strayed into this sphere of conceptions without any organic mythological meaning, simply as a baying, hostile,

watchdog

in

heaven or

hell.

We

cannot

therefore ignore the wonderful yet simple Indo-Eu

ropean myth which is begotten of high reason and keen appreciation of myth-making opportunity. Plainly, this myth requires no further explanation from the usually vague and half-understood analo gies that may befound on the broad ground of univer Far be it from me to sal Ethnology and Folk-lore. suggest that mythological evidence, whencesoever obtainable, should be excluded from these delibera tions

:

all I

want

one people,

own

let

is the importation of bad Since the Indo-Europeans are

to prevent

coal into Newcastle.

us

first

study their

own minds

in their

literature or archeological remains, before turn

ing to the Iroquois, the Papuas, or the inhabitants of

the Aleutian Islands for sporadic reports that,

more

often than not, reach our ear out of their proper

connection, or with their point bent.

smoke certain

shall

have cleared there

will

be

When

the

of this I

am

on ethnological quantities Indo-European mathematics. But there

less airy reliance

irrational in

be

left a goodly stock of Indo-European divini and ties simple myths, profoundly interesting, not with the interest of hoary antiquity, but even only

will

more so because they determine and explain the main

The

io8

I

Religion of the

move

along which

lines

European

Veda

the mythologies of the Indo-

peoples of historical times.

The main sub

though by no means the entire substance, of the mythologies and religions of these peoples this stance,

is

days of Benfey, Kuhn the nature myth. If we count Brah-

as true to-day as

and

Miiller

is

it

was

in the

manical theosophy and Buddhism as the two great yields of the study of Hinduism,

we may

safely

add

Comparative Mythology as the third great field of re ligious history that has been opened out by the study of India. *#*. *** *..,...

v

-

-

***-+

Had we but

fuller records of ancient

Indo-

European history and literature, these fuller records would reveal more common myths and religious

The added

ideas.

facts

sketchy picture, but

would

fill

would

it

in

still

the necessarily

be

the same

picture.

We

are

by the

limits of our plan restricted here to

those religious ideas which concern the early religion of India, and even of these we shall select only the

more important. We begin with the remoter of the two periods, the Indo-European period. The universal Indo-European word for "god^jvvas deivos,

gone over into archaic Latin as deivos

Celtic devos in the Gallic proper

Old Scandinavian

"

tivar,

and Sanskrit devas. which connects

this

The

gods,"

(deus),

name Devognata, Lithuanian devas,

irreproachable etymology word with the verb div, dyu,

The

Prehistoric

Gods

109

shows that the_word came from the lumin-v ous manifestations of nature by day and night,

"shine,"

and

determines

authoritatively the

source

from;

which the Indo-Europeans derived their first and most pervasive conception of divine power. On

more

limited

Indo-European territory appears another general term, Slavic bogu, Old Persian baga

Avestan bagha god," Sanskrit bhaga god of for tune." The word is again of clear origin it means "

"

:

"

spender of goods,

or

blessings."

abstract conception of a eternal

the

good god, embodying an

and never slumbering wish of mankind. The

same eastern region has in

It contains

common

attribute

of

of the

Indo-European

territory

another sacred word, used as an

divinity,

namely, Avestan

(Persian)

pure spenta, Lithuanian szventas. Old Slavic svqtti, or "holy." This secures for prehistoric religion an

"

"

important spiritual concept. Two important con ceptions expressing sentiment towards the gods, that of reverence (Sanskrit yaj, Avestan yaz, Greek

ay

in aCo//az,*

revere"),

and that of

belief (Sanskrit

come graddhd, Latin credo, Celtic cretim, believe from old times, though they need not necessarily "

")

have been The

in

vogue

in

every part of the territory

"

Phrygian Zeus Bagaios reported by the Greek glossographer Hesychios is nothing but the Persian Baga see the author in Transactions of the American Philological Association, vol. xxxv., 1

"

;

p. xxxi.

1

The

10

Religion of the

Veda

occupied by the Indo-Europeans prior to historic times.

All Indo-Europeans revered the shining sky of

daytime as a mighty being. The Hindus, Greeks, and Romans call him respectively Dyaush pitar,

The meaning

Zeus pater, and Diespiter or Jupiter. of the

name

dyaus

is

quite transparent in the Veda, where

is

still

both

common and

proper noun. It Latin expression sub Jove

always means sky. The under a cold sky/ frigido, "

"

in a cold

preserves the sense of the word as a slender

myth

that

contained here

is

marital relation between the visible

The

the cosmos.

was

affair "

terra

ren,

1

mater").

known

The

that of a

is

two halves of "

lady, or "correspondent

Mother Earth

"

climate,"

fossil.

in

the

"

(Vedic prithim mdtar, This union was blessed with child

frequently in the Veda, and occasionally

elsewhere, as the children of the Sky.

In the

Veda

Ushas, Dawn," and especially the Fire," Agni, The dual Horsemen," the Agvins, are so named. "

"

"

"

Horsemen,"

as

we

shall

see later, correspond to

the Greek Dioscuri (dioffxovpoi), Heaven,"

God 1

"

"

Sons

of Zeus, or

Castor and Pollux, and to the

in Lettish

Herodotus

iv.

mythology. 59

testifies

In

forthright

"

Sons of

this instance that

the

at

Scythians,

worshipped Earth as the wife of Zeus: Aia. TE Kairf/v, VOILII,OYT$ TTJY Trjv rov AioS eivociyvvcciKa.

closely allied to the Persians,

The least

the

Gods

Prehistoric

"

concept

children

1 1 1

"

Father

of

Sky

prehistoric, and genuinely mythic. The sky has another irrepressible quality

In this aspect also

thunders.

god with

a definite

name

it

became

is

:

it

a personal

in prehistoric times,

who

tends at times, as one might naturally suppose, to encroach on the domain of Father Sky, or to blend

with him. The chief heathen god of the Lithuanians was Perkunas, "Thunderer," from which is derived the word perkunyja, thunder-storm." The identity "

of this

name with

derer,"

the god

the parents of the Norse

"

Thun

Thor (Donar), namely, the male

Fjorgynn and the female Fjorgyn, has never been Here also belongs Parjanya, that most questioned. transparent divinity of the rain-storm in the Vedic hymns, who roars like a lion and thunderous strikes "

the

There

evil-doers."

culty here,

I

would

is

some

modulated euphemistically, so of

"guarding 1

"folk").

the

slight phonetic diffi

suggest that the

folk"

Homer s Zeus

word has been

as to suggest the idea

(pari,

"about,"

and jana,

has absorbed the"Thun;

and therefore appears in a double aspect. \ the one hand he is "far-eyed Sky

derer,"

On

"

on the other he 1

The

" "

is

cloud-gatherer is doubtful see Hirt, Indogermanische Kretschmer, Einleitung in die Geschichte der

original etymology

Forschungen,

i.,

436

;

Griechischen Sprache, p. 81.

;

1 1

The

2

and

in

"rejoices

ning"

or,

lightning,"

paw o$).

(repains

Veda

Religion of the

absorbed the functions

Veda

the light

"twists

The Lithuanian Perkunas has of Zeus and has become chief 1

Parjanya is called Father him for the moment the double of Asura," making Father Sky, the Asura. In another passage he is In the

god.

also

"

even more directly identified with Dyaus. 2

The Veda has a the

"two

called

"

Vedic

Horsemen

pair of twin (aqviii).

Sons of Heaven

divinities

gods,

known

as

"

They

are frequently

"

(divo

napdta).

Of

all

they have the most pronounced

mythical and legendary

character.

They put

in

regularly in the morning, along

their appearance

A

with other divinities of morning light. maiden is of that the name or by Surya, "Sun-Maiden,

daughter of Surya, that

"

is

Daughter of the

Sun,"

is captivated by the youthful beauty of the Agvins, chooses them for her husbands, and ascends their

chariot that

is

lated touch

is

some

drawn by birds. A different yet re added to their character in a riddle-

brief story

3

which furnishes them with an

other female relation, namely, a mother by the 1

2

18, 8

Rig-Veda

5.

name

83. 6.

Divah parjanydd antarikshat prthivyah.

Vajasaneyi Sanhita,

55^
Told

in Rig- Veda 10. 17.

American Oriental

I, 2

;

see the author in

Society, vol. xv., p. \T2. ff.

Journal of the

The of

Prehistoric

Gods

113

And, once more, with considerable

Saranyu.

they figure in a heavenly marriage in which they themselves are not the principals. They deviation,

are the wooers in a marriage which their

own

bride

Surya, according to a later view, enters into with

Soma, the Moon.

The

specific use of the

Agvins

that they are the most reliable helpers in need.

is

The hymns harp persistently upon the fact that all sorts of men and women have in the past appealed them

and have not been disappointed. Even animals are helped or cured by them. In one

to

1

for aid,

make modern

instance they perform a cure calculated to

green with envy even the most skilled of veterinary surgeons, if by any chance he should hear of

it.

When

the racing mare Vicpala breaks a

leg they put an iron one 2 handily wins the race.

Even the most not found of

tion

it

in

in its place

:

with that she

stalwart sceptics in this field have their hearts to

these divinities and

with the Dioscuri, the

"

deny the connec

their female relative

Sons of

Zeus,"

Castor and

Pollux (Poludeukes), and their sister Helena.

name

of the

to a suggestion of Professor E.

two 1

2

The

Acvins mother SaranyQ may, according

syllables contain the

sound

W.

for

Fay, in

its first

sound equivalent

See Macdonell, Vedic Mythology, p. 51 ff. See Pischel, Vedische Studien, vol. i., p. 171

ff.

j

1

The

14

of the

two

first

Religion of the Vecla

The connection name of the Agvins

syllables of Helena.

with horses, expressed in the comes out more strongly with the horse (a$va, Dioscuri, who are celebrated tamers of horses, riders "

"),

of horses,

and

The

charioteers.

Dioscuri also were

revered as helpers in need, and therefore were called

Anaktes,

"

protecting lords." In another quarter, with the Lettish or Baltic

peoples, a strikingly similar

myth

notable addition that the two

mentioned individually

"

appears, with the

Sons of God

"

are

as the

morning or evening This calls up a feature of the Greek myth: star. Zeus rewards the affection of the Dioscuri for one another by placing them

morning and evening 1

j

in the

star, or

heavens either as

the twin stars Gemini.

So, to this day, the gigantic statues of

opposite the Quirinal palace in

U taming Dioscuri

.Rome

A

the horse-

carry stars

on their heads.

Lithuanian folk-song (daina) runs as follows: "

The Moon did wed

the

Maiden Sun,

In an early day of spring-tide. The Maiden Sun arose betimes,

The Moon "

just then did slink away.

He wandered by himself afar, Coquetted with the morning-star. Perkunas hence was greatly wroth He cleft him with his sword in twain ;

:

The "

Prehistoric

Gods

115

*

Why didst thou thus desert the And wander in the night afar ?

Sun,

didst thou flirt with the morning-star? 1 His heart was filled with grief and pain."

Why

In the mythol the god of thunder. ogy of these peoples he has absorbed the character istics of the old god of heaven and become the chief

Perkunas

is

god, just as Zeus, conversely, has taken upon him Thunderer." This folkself the functions of the "

materials of the

story presents the

legend in a new arrangement, not at

Hindu Agvin all

applicable

Hindu myth. But the materials, SunMaiden, Moon, and "Sons of God," are there. In

to

the

another

this

folk-song,

time a Lettish one,

the

morning-star is represented as pursuing amorously SunSaule, the equivalent of Vedic Surya, the "

Maiden

With

"

2

all

the rich

tions of this myth,

and often perplexing modula

we have

the

common

kernel of a

heavenly dual pair of divinities in intimate relation The quality with a female divinity of the heavens. of helpers in need

and saviours

in trouble is

almost

unquestionably begotten of the universal notion that 1

This version of the daina, with slight alterations, is that of Pro Chase in Transactions of the American Philological Associa

fessor

tion , vol. xxxi., p. 191. 2

See Oldenberg, Die Religion des Veda,

p.

212^".

n6 V|the

The divinities of

Religion of the

morning

^powers of darkness. are

some

We

light

Veda

overcome the

hostile

are not quite so certain as

excellent scholars that the heavenly pair

were originally the morning and evening star, nor has any other naturalistic explanation been pro posed which

is finally

In any case, one

1

satisfactory.

of the pair, at least, to which the other has been

subordinated, belongs to the events of nature in the

morning, and the marriage or the

is

with the

Sun Maiden

"

Sun-Maiden

"

"

imagined to be their sister (Helena), or even their mother (Sar2 The myth of which I have given here the anyu).

(Surya, Saule)

;

"

is

about considerably among super It is overlaid with many ficially discrepant notions. of the fancies poet and story-teller. No secondary

merest outline

flits

sane scholar will now, as was once the habit, try to

make each

hymns

"

of the silly

"

stunts

which the Vedic

ascribe to the Agvins part of

the organic

in the myth. They are mostly after even later fancy. deducting the crudities of past interpreters we must not quarrel with certain

matter contained

And

detail.

But

the last outcome no rational historian or

anti-

mental reservations as to this and that j.

in

1 All criticism by explanations have been subjected to searching Professor Hillebrandt in the third volume of his great work on

Vedic Mythology, p.

379^".

In Greek mythology also the Dioscuri are placed in the relation of sons to a mother, namely, Antiope of Bceotia. 2

The quarian will

such

ignore

two

story of the

"

Sons

of

for the

1

1

7

shows the

parallels

as

Heaven

with the Hin

"

1

and the Letts, or be so abstemious from looking for reasonable motives

dus, the Greeks, as to refrain

Gods

Prehistoric

creation of a

that has so

myth

marked a

physiognomy. In brief, once more, there are two luminous sons of heaven, conceived as horsemen, and as helpers of

men

in all

kinds of sore

relation with another,

conceived as a Sun."

Sun-Maiden,"

"

is

Sun-Maiden

They

feminine,

"

This relation

tween the

straits.

or

are in loving

heavenly divinity of the

"

Daughter

crossed by another affair be "

and the Moon. To concep

tions of this sort the Indo-Europeans, before their

separation into the peoples of historical times, had

advanced.

The changes and

are not surprising

;

surprising

additions to the

is,

that the

myth

myth

should

have retained

its

ods of time,

very various surroundings, and under

in

chief features during great peri

the constant pressure of a flood of remodelling ideas poured out upon it by the fertile mind of man, and

tending constantly to obliterate the more primitive

and simple fancies. I have dwelt before upon the almost romantic in terest which attaches itself to the relationship of the i

la

For possible traces of the same myth among the Teutons see De The Religion of the Teutons, pp. 68 and 140 JT.

Saussaye,

t

1 1

The

8

Religion of the

two peoples, the Hindus and the

Veda

Iranians.

1

Separated only by a chain of mountains, they are entirely un conscious of the close relationship of their languages,

and

literatures,

religions.

Nowhere

the Avesta conscious that there

is

is

Veda

in the

there the slightest knowledge of the Avesta

;

is

nowhere

going on across

the Himalaya Mountains in India an intense and char

development which started with a good many of the same primitive beliefs as were ab sorbed by the religion of Zoroaster, As time went by acteristic religious

the religions of the two peoples became about as differ ent as

it is

On

be.

possible for religions of civilised peoples to

the one side, Parsism or Zoroastrianism, mold

ed by the mind of a single prophet, Zarathushtra, or Zoroaster a dualistic religion, believing in God and :

Satan

;

an

ethical, optimistic,

unphilsophical religion

;

but at the bottom really

modern

yet sufficient, as the

Parsis show, to guide a people into a very superior

form of

On

life.

the other side, higher Hinduism,

monistic, pessimistic, and speculative

without real

present in the

own

each individual bent upon finding the

way

leadership, except that which spirit of

;

is

out of a hated round of existences through a keen conviction that there

the

Brahma

in the

is

that, consequently, this 1

See above,

p.

13

only one fundamental truth,

universe

and

in

world of things

one is

s

self;

illusory,

The

Prehistoric

and must be discarded

in

Gods

119

order to release from

existence.

But these two

approximately the same point, and they continue with enough of the same materials to make the study of each in some religions

began

at

measure dependent upon the other. concerned with the Vedic side only. siderable religious

to this

number

We

A

are here

very con

important Vedic divinities, conceptions, and sacred institutions belong of

common Aryan

larged, their

1

period.

Their sphere

meaning better defined, and

is

en

their chro

nology shifted across long periods of time, if we keep our eye on the Avesta. Of course we must not neg lect to allow for the process of recoining

ideas have passed through in India.

which these In a certain

sense every prehistoric religious idea that has man aged to survive and to emerge in India has become

Hindu

not the least fascinating part of these re searches is to show just how the spirit of India na ;

tionalises or individualises the ideas that

on a

different soil.

Two

spheres of Vedic ideas and practices concern

us here in a particular degree. of the great 1

were born

The first is

the sphere

Vedic god Varuna, his dual partner

Die Arise he Periode; Darmestetter, Sacred Books of Die Religion des Veda, pp. 26^"., Hillebrandt, Rituallitteratur p. n, and the bibliographic

See, Spiegel

the East, iv., p. Ivi, ff; Oldenberg,

^ 341 ff; notes there given; Macdonell, Vedic Mythology, p.

7 ff.

The

I2O

Veda

Religion of tne

Mitra, and a set of gods

known

belong both Varunaand Mitra.

as Adityas, to

whom

Varuna, unquestion

ably the most imposing god of the Rig-Veda,

is

in

charge of the moral law or order of the universe, that

we have seen, dates at 1600 B.C. The second sphere is

rta which, as

soma, which

is

man

first

of

is

pair,

"

vant,

that of the plant

accepted joyfully by the Vedic

was pressed first by a mythic the name of Yama, and by his divine It

tipple.

father Vivasvant.

who

back

pressed artfully so as to yield an intox

icating liquor that

gods as their

least as far

Yama

has a sister YamT, the

first

unconventionally people the world. Vivas

the shining

one,"

is

the father of

Yama, the

progenitor who carries this familiar chain of He is, in all probability, either logic to an end. sun or the the or, mixedly, "the sun, final

"

"

;

"fire,"

the divine

fire."

mythology presents

We

shall

In

In each of these spheres Vedic itself in its

deal with

common

god Varuna

them

in

most

order stated.

the

with most scholars

is

brilliant aspects.

to be connected,

believe that the

I

if

not identified,

with the chief good and wise god of the Zoroastrian

namely Ahura Mazda, or Ormazd, that_Js Varuna carries the title Asura, Wise Lord."

faith, "

*

Lord,"

the same word as

;

this,

however,

much, because other the Veda are honoured with the same dis-

must not be held gods of

Ahura

to say too

The

a partnership which

But Varuna

is

in the

expressed

consists of himself

It

however, bination.

a close partner in

dual number.

and the god Mitra, who

more than

little

121

is

title.

tinguishing

Gods

Prehistoric

a silent partner in the

Such partnerships are frequent

Veda, but exceedingly rare

in

in

is,

com the

the Persian Avesta.

Yet the Avesta, in a matter-of-fact manner, joins Ahura and Mithra in the same dual partnership as the

Veda does Varuna and

Mitra.

1

Since

Ahura

is

the paramount divinity of the Avesta his pairing with Mithra has every appearance of a fossil, left

over from a time

when Ahura s supremacy had not

yet become absolute, in other words, from a time

when Ahura and Mithra were on seems to

It

me

an

a par of dignity.

almost unimaginable feat of

scepticism to doubt the original identity of the pairs.

Ahura

figures,

however, by himself

two also.

Again, it seems unlikely that Ahura Mazda, when mentioned by himself, is not the same Ahura that appears in the combination Ahura and Mithra, be cause Ahura Mazda, taken by himself,

Varuna, the Vedic partner of Mitra.

is

so very like

In the Zoroas-

system Ahura Mazda orders the world, and assigns to all good creatures and entities their re Ahura creates the spective places and activities.

trian

divine order 1

(as/ia),

the good

See Spiegel, Die Arische Pcrivde,

p.

waters and plants : 185 ff.

The

122

Religion of the

and

light, earth,

made

a

way

causes the

sleep

;

Ahura

The Veda

the

order.

human

1

overt or covert. 2

deeds,

Varuna

in the

times in almost the same words.

same

He

is

spirit, at

the sup

he has spread the atmosphere has put fleetness into the steed, milk into the cows. He has placed intelligence the heart, fire into the waters, the sun upon the the forests

;

;

the soma-plant upon the mountains. a path for the sun

;

He

As guardian of not to be deceived, does not

is

describes

porter of beings

first

he that

It is

stars.

grow or wane.

to

all

He was

good.

and the

for the sun

he sees

is

father of divine

first

moon

divine order

that

all

progenitor, the

Veda

over

an^ into

sky,

He has opened

the floods of the rivers hasten

obeying the divine order. Even more pointed than Ahura s is the expression of Varuna s omniscience and undeceivableness he sees seaward

3

like racers

:

all

the past and

third wherever

do not

all

the future

two men

secretly

he

is

present as a

scheme

;

his spies

close their eyes.

The hymn Atharva-Veda picture

;

o

r

6 presents a rugged Varuna in his role of omniscient and 4.

1

omnipotent god: Yasna 37. i 44. 3. Yasna 31. 13 43. 6 45. 4 Vendidad 19-20. Cf. Oldenberg Journal of the German Oriental Society, vol. I, p. 48. 3 Rig- Veda 5. 85. 2 87. i 8. 41. 5. 1

;

2

;

;

;

;

;

in

The "

The great guardian among these gods

anear.

He

this the

gods know.

*

Gods

Prehistoric

Whoso

that thinketh he

is

moving

sees as

;

gether and scheme,

King Varuna

is

if

stealthily

stands, walks, or sneaks about, if off, whoso runs to cover

goes slinking

and knows

123 from all

and whoso two sit to

there as the third

it.

here belongs to King Varuna and broad sky, whose bounds are, far away. The yonder two oceans are Varuna s loins yea, in this petty drop of water is he hidden. "

Both

this earth

also

;

Whoso should

beyond the heavens far away from King Varuna. From the sky his spies come hither with a thousand eyes they do watch over the earth. "

would yet not be

flee

free

;

"

All this

King Varuna does behold

what

is

between

the two firmaments, what beyond. Numbered of him are the winkings of men s eyes. As a (winning) gamester puts down the dice, thus does he establish these (laws)."

Another hymn, Rig-Veda 7. 86, depicts Varuna as guardian of moral order, hence angry at the mis deeds of men.

The

contrite attitude of his suppli

ant, a singer of the family of the Vasishthas, the

authors of the seventh book of the Rig- Veda, has a strong

Hebraic

flavor,

and,

hymn, suggests many a passage

like

the

of the

preceding Psalms :

The

124

Religion of the

Veda

i.

and great

truly,

"Wise,

is

own

his

nature,

Who held asunder spacious earth and heaven. He pressed the sky, the broad and lofty, upward, Aye, spread the

stars,

and spread the earth out broadly. 2.

With my own

"

How

self I

hold communion

shall I ever with

Varuna

Will he without a grudge accept

When may

I

:

find refuge?

my

offering

?

joyous look and find him gracious

?

3"

I

Fain to discover

go to those

The 1

this

my

self-same story they

God Varuna

sin, I

who know, and it is

whom

question,

ask of them.

all in

concert

me

tell

;

thou hast angered. 4-

"

What was my

chief offence,

That thou wouldst

O

Varuna,

slay thy friend

who

sings thy praises?

Tell me, infallible Lord, of noble nature,

That

I

may be prompt

to

quench thy wrath with homage 5-

"

Loose us from

From Loose

all

committed by our fathers, which we ourselves committed

sins

those, too,

us, as thieves are loosed that lifted cattle

As from

a calf, take off Vasishtha

s

fetters

!

;

!

!

The

Prehistoric

Gods

125

T

was deception,

6.

T T

was not

my own

sense,

Varuna!

was scant thought, strong drink, or

The

dice, or passion.

old are there to lead astray the younger,

Nay, sleep

itself

provokes unrighteous actions. 7-

"

me do

Let

The

service to the merciful giver,

zealous god, like a slave, but sinless

The

gracious god gave wisdom to the He leads the wise, himself more wise,

!

foolish, to riches.

8. "

May Reach

this

our song,

to thy heart,

O Varuna, we pray thee, O god of lofty nature

On home and work do

!

thou bestow well-being

Protect us, gods, for evermore with blessings

We

are

;

"

!

accustomed to make much allowance

general similarities in the conceptions of the different peoples, but

should reach so

far.

it is

for

gods of

scarcely possible that they

The connection

tween Ahura Mazda and Varuna

is

that exists be

expressed, how-/

ever, not only through their general similarity as I

supreme arbiters of the world and its moral law. That very particular conception, which dignifies alike

Veda and Avesta, namely, Vedic

rta,

Avestan

asha (areta), and Cuneiform Persian arta, is, of course, not entirely put in the keep of those two gods. But

1

1

The

26

it is

One

theirs in an especial degree.

interesting parallels

Varuna

righteousness."

28. 5)

2.

;

Ahura Mazda

The words

most

"

spring of the rta,

as/take khdo,

the rta

(Yasna sound the same.

is

is

khd rtasya (Rig- Veda

is

are sound for

high thought of

of the

between Veda and Avesta

that both gods are described as the

or

Veda

Religion of the

in

many ways

to the Confucian idea of order,

10. 4).

The

similar

harmony, and ab

unquestionably the best conception that has been elaborated by the

sence

disturbance.

of

Aryans. We have seen 1600

B.C.,

and

it

is

reaches back at least to

yet, notwithstanding its early date,

superior to any

is

that

It

remaining Indo-European peoples.

Veda

is

it

of the earlier conceptions of the

concerned,

it

presents

As

itself

far as the

under the

threefold aspect of cosmic order, correct and fitting 2 cult of the gods, and moral conduct of man,

We

have in connection with the rta a pretty complete

System

As

of Ethics, a kind of

Counsel of Perfection.

the basis of cosmic order the rta rules the

world and nature. The established

facts of the visible

world, but especially the events of nature that recur ^"^periodically, 1

Above,

2

The same

are fixed or regulated

by

rta.

Those

p. 12.

threefold

character

is

quite evident in the Avestan

See Mills Journal of the American xx., pp. 31 /., 277

as ha.

/"

Oriental Society vol. ,

The

Gods

Prehistoric

127

daughters of heaven, the Maidens Dawn, shine upon the morning sky in harmony with rta, or when they wake up in the morning they rise from the seat of rta.

The sun

is

He

is

rta.

placed upon the sky in obedience to the called the wheel of rta with twelve spokes.

This means that he courses across the sky as the year of twelve months. Even the shallow mystery that the red, raw of the

cow yields

white, cooked milk

cow guided by the

1

rta"

their acts that

the rta N

The gods them

selves are born of the rta or in the rta

they show by

"

is

(rtajdtd)

they know

;

the rta y

observe the rta, and love the rta?

The religion of the Veda, as we have

observed, rests

upon the material foundation of cult and sacrifice, These performances are not always regarded merely as

merchandise wherewith to

of the gods.

Vedas, as

But even

In a later time, the time of the Yaju

we have

sacrifice are

the blessings

to evolve intrinsic virtues

They begin

and harmonies.

traffic for

3

seen,

:\

the technical acts of the

imbued with magic and divine power.

in the

Rig-Veda the

sacrifice fire is

kindled

under the yoking of the rta" or, as we should say, under the auspices of world order. Agni, the god of "

1

"

O sage mir, wie geht es zu, Giebt weisse milch die rote

2

rtajnd, rtdyu, rtasap, 3

Above,

p. 31.

j

Kuh

and so on.

?"

German nursery rhyme.

The

128

fire, is

"

Religion of the

scion of the

He

his

rta"

or

work with

"

Veda

first-born of the

rta"

rta, carries oblations to

performs on the path of rta" Prayers, lowing like cattle, longing for the soma-drmk" take effect in

the gods

"

"

accordance with rta.

A

1

figure of speech, bold to

the point of grotesqueness, turns prayer into u rta2 fluid, distilled by the tongue." Holy sacrifice, in

from

distinction

rta

"

:

With

I

call

foul

magic,

is

performed with

upon the gods, undefiled by

witchcraft. *

perform my work, carry out my thought. Thus exclaims a poetic mind conscious of its own rta

rectitude.

I

3

Finally in

man

the moral law.

s activity

Here

it

the rta manifests

takes

itselfjas.

by the hand the

closely

Untruth, on the other hand, is anrta, more rarely asatya, the same two words with prefix of negation. The two words satya and kindred idea of truth, satya.

anrta form a close dual compound,

"truth

and

lie,"

watched "sincerity and falsehood," both zealously 4 over by God Varuna. They remain the standard words

for these twin opposites for all

Varuna is the

real trustee of the rta.

struggles towards the rta he

passage to become 1

Rig- Veda

9. 94. 2.

3

Ibid., 7. 34. 8.

5

Ibid., 10. 8. 5.

for the *

is

7.

49. 3.

time.

said in a remarkable

time being

Ibid., 9. 75. 2.

*Ibid.,

Hindu

When God Agni God Varuna.

6

The

Prehistoric

Gods

129

^

vj

Truth and

lie

and wrong-doing.

Q*^

1

Yama (Adam)

invites

k<x

by an easy transition, right In a famous hymn YamI (Eve)

include,

incestuous intercourse.

to

Mythically speaking this is, of course, unavoidable they are the first pair, and there are no other human

:

But the poet conceives of the

beings whatsoever.

own

situation in the spirit of his

time.

When

Yarn!

pretends to justify the act Yama exclaims pithily: In saying the rta we shall really say the anrta" "

which, rendered more broadly, means to say

"

:

we pretend to justify the act as being rta, doing, we really shall knowingly engage in

We may

"

wrong-doing.

Anyhow, don

"

saying:

the

t

let

When right-

anrta,

imagine Yama finally \\ us beat the devil about U

stump!"

Varuna and Mitra, the dual still

pair, are implicated further in a group of divinities of the name

The number

dditya. tain.

Sometimes

Aryaman

it is

as third.

of these

three

:

gods is very uncer Mitra and Varuna, with

This third god, no

less

than the

name of Aryaman s Airyama. The name of this not too determinate god seems to mean comrade accordingly Aryaman figures in the Veda as the first

two,

is

Indo-Iranian

Avestan counterpart

:

the

is

"

";

groomsman at the wedding rites. Beyond triad the name dditya becomes very indefinite,

typical this 1

Rig- Veda 10. 10. 9

./

!

I I

&

1

The

30

Religion of the

Veda

both as to number and the individuals which

it

is

supposed to harbor. As regards number, the god Indra sometimes swells the three to four. Then there

seven, a favourite and vague

is

number

;

to this

1

the legendary Martanda (Indra) is at times added as eighth. In later times the number rises to twelve.

Not more than

mentioned by name out Bhaga, Daksha, and Anga in

six are ever

right in the

Veda:

addition

the three mentioned

to

"

Fortune," is

Bhaga, not only Indo-Iranian, but even Indo-

European, as we have seen. is

portioner,"

Daksha,

Now

above.

"

Anga,

"

Portion,"

a very faint abstraction.

And

Ap-

so

is

"

"Dexterity,"

the

Veda

Cleverness."

conceives of the Adityas as the

descendants of a feminine Aditi

who

cuts a consid

erable figure as a very abstract female, suggesting

the ideas of

"

freedom from

and

"boundlessness,"

guilt,"

finally identified in the

"

fetters,"

freedom from

She

"universe."

Hindu mind with

is

"

earth."

A father who might of this

be responsible for the offspring interesting lady is never mentioned. We are

struck

first

a purely

own

of

*

with the fact that Aditi, the mother,

Hindu product, is obviously younger than her

sons, the best of

Indo-Iranian 1

all

period.

whom I

are at least as old as the

have, for

See Macdonell, Vedic Mythology^ p. 43.

Above, p. 109.

my

part little

The

Prehistoric

doubt but what Aditi

some

of

have suggested that the and that originally yore,"

members are or

of yore

"of

most substantial

prehistoric were thus fitly "

named

"

gods perhaps con the description of Indra as later

gods of

with this

trast

I

antique gods whose

this set of

131

a well-executed abstraction

In the past

kind.

word dditya meant

"

is

Gods

old."

We may

"

"

born

(anujdvara), in a legend told in Taittirlya

Brahmana

From

(2. 2. 10).

the word dditya, conceived

as a metronymic, the feminine Aditi

abstracted.

that the

If this

Veda had

the sense of

in

is

forgotten the meaning of dditya

of

some

case before

the

"

speculative genius might invent

Another explanation, that

Macdonell,"

greater simplicity.

"

nally

has perhaps the advantage of starts from the expression

is

applied several times to the

This, he thinks,

sons of

of

He

aditeh putrdh) which

Adityas.

This was necessarily the

yore."

mother Aditi.

Professor

might be easily well taken we must assume

freedom,"

may have meant

perhaps better

"

origi

sons of

such an expression may have led to the personification of Aditi as a female mother of Adityas. At all events Aditi may be safely re "

guiltlessness

garded as 1

See

;

later

my essay, The

drippings

Symbolic Gods, in Studies in

Gildersleeve, p. 45. 3

from the very sappy

Vedic Mythology, p. 122.

Honor of B

.

L.

The

132

myth

Religion of the

Veda

Varuna and the Adityas.

of

tation of Aditi as

"

The

boundlessness," or

interpre

"

universe,"

very well upon an assumed mother of these great gods. Aditi is later defined as earth," a sits

"

narrowing of her scope, somewhat as

we

of

the

modern languages make synonymous the terms "world"

and

The mythic

earth."

cycle represented

Varuna-Ahura gion, and,

*

"

is

important

more permanently,

by Mitra-Mithra and Vedic reli

for early for the

whole history

religion

There is no chapter of Aryan and mythology that has stimulated the

instinct

of

of Persian religion.

ultimate

interpretation

more

persist

I am of those who can ently than this very one. not imagine any cessation of these attempts for any

The one

great length of time.

these myths

genesis of

the

Aryan

in the

Mitra.

form mihir 2

is

solid point in the the solar character of

In later Persian the word mithra is

the

name

of the sun.

As

pre

Mithras passed, in the centuries after Christ, out of the bounds of Per

viously stated,

this

solar

and started upon a career of conquest which threatened at one time to subject all Western sia

civilisation.

1

See the author in Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenldndischen Vedic Mythology, p. 125. ; Macdonell, Above, p. 85.

Gesellsehaft, xlviii., 552, note

The

Now

what

is

Prehistoric

natural

the

Gods

origin

133 other

that

of

partner in the dual partnership, namely, Vedic Va-

runa the Asura, Avestan Ahura Mazda?

Not very

years ago Professor Oldenberg advanced and defended ingeniously the hypothesis that Varunais

many

Moon, and

the

follow to a

Varuna

are

we have

very

logical

Mitra and

are

members, as

They

group of gods called Adityas.

chooses, perhaps a

larly in the

little

hastily,

the

sum total of this group. Simi Ahura is accompanied by the soAvesta,

number seven

2

as the

Immortal Holy

"

conclusion.

Sun and Moon.

.seen, in a

Oldenberg

called

he did not hesitate to

this theory

Ones,"

the

Amesha

Spents,

the angels of the Puritan Zoroastrian faith.

make up the number

also

is

note,

seven.

Mithra,

They we may

altogether absent from the Avestan arrange

ment.

Now

Oldenberg believes not only that Varuna and Mitra were the Moon and the Sun, but that the

Amesha

Adityas,

identical

essentially

Spents, were the planets.

He

with

assumes

:

the still

further that the whole set, originally, were not Indo-

European divinities at all, but that they were bor rowed by the Aryans from a Shemitic people presumably the Babylonians 1

See his

latest

far

treatment of the matter in Zeitschrift der Deut1., p. 43 ff.

schen Morgenlandischen Gesellschaft, vol. 2

See above,

enough advanced

p. 129.

j

The

134 in

Veda

Religion of

astronomical knowledge to observe the interrela

moon, and the planets. The Adityas and the Amesha Spents have been

tions of sun,

compared

often, perhaps over-confidently.

necessary, in order to feel unconvinced

It is

not

by Professor

Oldenberg s chain of consequences, to deny a certain nebulous cluster of ancillary or subsidiary divinities which hovered about the persons of the supreme Ahura-Mithra, Varunatwin-gods a matter of fact the Amesha Spents are

Indo-Iranian

As

Mitra.

not the Adityas. indefinite in

ment

in

I

do not believe that the Adityas,

number and gradual

India, represent that cluster,

very gradual Hindu

Avesta, but are not listed as

Macdonell

class of

s

or

develop

or even

its

Several Adityas,

substitutes.

notably Mitra, Bhaga, and

of the

in their

Aryaman recur Amesha Spents.

my own hypothesis

in

the

Either

as to the origin

Adityas presupposes that their origin as a gods is gradual and secondary. The Amesha

Spents, on the other hand, are sheer abstractions. confess that there

is

not

in

me

I

the faith to see in

them anything as concrete as personified planets. The mere names of the Immortal Holy Ones "

"

show what

Mind

";

mean. They are Vohu Manah, :

Asha

Khshathra 1

I

"

Vahishta, "

Vairya,

See above, p. 131.

Best

Wished-for

"

Good

Righteousness Kingdom,"

";

or

The "

Good Kingdom

Prehistoric

Gods

Spenta Armaiti,

";

135 "

Holy Har and

"

Haurvatat,

mony";

Ameretat,

Soundness,"

It is

"Immortality."

hierarchy, but

it

to the bone.

If

"Health";

a beautiful, heavenly

unmythological, non-naturalistic anywhere, then here is the place

is

where sprang up purely symbolic gods ner

the

of

Pilgrim

As

creations

symbolic

is

is

s

if

I

understand him

by the striking ethical manifested by the gods of this

in part led thereto

character which

as

Bunyan

Shemitic source of this deified solar

system, Professor Oldenberg,

group

in

man

s Progress.

for the

aright,

in the

is

at so early a period of

the

common

Indo-European history period of Persia and India. He

thinks that the Shemites preceded the Indo-Euro-

peans the

in the evolution of ethical concepts,

ethical

coloring of

came along with the I

have shown, we

the

and that

Ahura-Varuna myth

divinities themselves.

find

the chief

But, as ethical

Aryan

concept, the rta, safely imbedded in the

Persian

dynastic Arta-names that are reported in the Cunei-.

form Tel-el-Amarna

tablets,

1600 years B.C.

Now

back of the period from which Pro fessor Oldenberg would deduce his results. I should prefer to judge that the wide prevalence of this idea

that date

at a all,

lies far

very early date shows rather that some,

Indo-Europeans

had

advanced

in

if

not

ethical

J

The

136

Religion of the

Veda

perception at an earlier date than has hitherto been suspected, at a date when the Shemites had not as yet

evolved any ethical ideas of quite as fine a flavor as the rta. not the only scholar to Varuna has suggested the moon. Yet I think

Professor Oldenbcrg

whom

is

when taken outside

that this interpretation,

of that

hypothesis which involves the entire solar system, has not very

much

dualic connection of

in

its

confess, moreover, that listen to

out

beyond the

favor

Varuna with I

am

close

Mitra, the sun.

I

not quite willing to

god which leaves Ovpavoz. There has been scepticism about the equation

any interpretation

of this

the cold Greek

in

some

phonetic

.ovpo(v<^

which time has not justified. Greek

Indo-European nori^-nnos or uorn-cnos ; Sanskrit varunas is Indo-European norn-nos. The is

two forms

differ

no more than,

nutanas and nutnas,

and ffrcyvos,

"

recent,"

"

covered."

Mere

is

for instance,

Vedic

or Greek ffTtyavoz a situation

met with

kind of inquiry. The interpre tation of the myth is, as usual, not quite certain. quite often

Few

in this

interpretations of advanced

certain.

Next, the etymology,

etymologies of

like that

are quite of

many

proper names, likewise brings

mythic The next step bonded guaranty. that they who do not believe in the intcrprc-

with is,

myths

it

no

The are

tation

there

is

prone to

little

ogy which

will

never be

will

this

gards

Prehistoric

Gods

137

the etymology. But pooh-poohing an etymol

belittle in

gain

The time

not stay pooh-pooned.

when any

interpretation that disre

obvious comparison will

pass

from perplexity and misgivings.

free

current

All settle

ments that do not regard it will be temporary It and doomed in the end to be repudiated. would seem to me that we must accept this im portant etymology, and submit to

its

guidance.

It

shows that Varuna belongs not only to the IndoIranian (Aryan) time, but reaches back to the Indo-European time, and that he represents, on the impeccable testimony of ovpavo$ some aspect of the heavens, probably the encompassing sky, in accordance with the stem uorn which is its essential t

element.

Rig- Veda

8.

distinguished god, embraces the I.

6

50.

Varuna. sun,

is

states that Mitra (the

The dualism

Varuna, the and Rig- Veda

41. 3 states that

of

all,

sun)

is

Heaven and

the eye of its

eye, the

not less well taken than the dualism sun and

moon. Into the gusty discussion which has grown up

in

a particular degree around this point of interpreta tion

I

would lead

my

hearers no farther.

There

is

perhaps not a single point in the comparative study of this

most important sphere of Aryan

religion

which

The

138 is

lifted entirely

Religion of the

Veda

above doubt.

have endeavored

I

to give a conservative estimate of the varying inter pretations, as free from fanciful exaggeration of the

from unwholesome scepticism. now turn to the second great sphere of

probabilities as

We may

it is

Indo-Iranian mythology.

men and

sacrificers,

It

deals with

the

first

and the soma-liquor, the most

distinguished sacrifice to the gods.

One

of the duties of primitive

man

he grows

as

into the irksome habit of looking for the reason of

things

is

He

to find a reason for himself.

does not

take himself for granted, but assumes that he orig inated from something or other. This is as a rule

not as easy as *

it

is

in the

myth

of Deucalion.

All

that he had to do was to throw stones, the bones of

Mother Earth, behind him, and, behold, there

were men. The abstract benevolent Divinity turning himself into a creative Father God is not always at

he does not on the whole represent a very primitive form of thought, certainly not in India.

hand

;

An

important and widespread conception, partly religious in character, is Totemism. This is founded

on the

belief that the

human

race,

or,

more

fre

quently, that given clans and families derive their

descent from animals

and

"

Wolf

our time.

:

totemic names like

"

Bear

"

"

carry traces of this sort of belief into

This particular question

is

a splendid

The theme

Gods

Prehistoric

have never been

of universal ethnology, but I

able to discover that

upon the ancient

it

139

has any considerable bearing

The many

religion of India.

hints

at its possible importance should be substantiated

by a

larger

and clearer body

present available.

We them

seems

of facts than

at

1

have met previously the greatest parents of Heaven and Earth. Their union was con

all

:

ceived in early Indo-European times as the fruitful

source of the heavenly gods. Occasionally they shoulder the additional responsibility for the human In the Indo-Iranian period there was race as well.

a personage, Vedic Vivasvant, Avestan Vlvanhvant, who figures rather paradoxically as the father of the first

men,

Yama and Manu.

He

is,

as the

ceived as the Father of men. occasionally

2

God Agni,

regarded as the

progenitor

Vedic

Sun con

texts state distinctly and intelligently, the "

Fire,"

of

is

men.

3

There is in this some vague symbolic connection with the process of obtaining fire by friction. This is the Vedic process the two sticks which are rubbed :

are conceived as parents

;

Agni

is

progeny, and, next, possibly, the the epithet dyu, 1

2 3

"

living,"

is

their child, the

first

man.

Certainly

used, on a large scale,

Cf. Oldenberg, Die Religion des Veda, p. 68 ff. See Hillebrandt, Vedische Mythologie, vol. i., p. 488^.

Rig-Veda

1.96.2; 10.53.6.

first

The

140

and man

of fire

Religion of the

Veda

It continues, or

alike.

seems to con

tinue, a sense of the relationship of Agni and man. Now the Veda discloses, and all Hindu tradition ;

harps upon, a father of the or

of

Manu, word manu there

man

human "

Pitar,

race

Father

by the name

Manu."

nothing else than our own word

is

good reason to believe that this

is

was

"

Manush

set

as a kind of

up

Adam or Noah

"

The man ":

"

original in

Indo-

2

For a while the primitive mind European times. seems to be well content with this eponymous man: later on, as I shall presently

show,

Manu

is

in his

turn duly furnished with a well-established father,

Vivasvant, about whose origin people have ceased to

worry.

From

a later time, yet still a very early time, namely, the Indo-Iranian period, comes the Vedic

myth

of

Yama, the son

of Vivasvant.

This myth

is

common piece of As to the component

the clearest and best-preserved

property of the two religions. ideas of this

means

myth

"

twin."

twin pair that earnest.

The

I

He

see no is

room

for doubt.

the male of the obligatory

required to people the world in real female YamI, little as is said about her

is

the earlier parts of the myth, plays

in

Yama

1

Eve to Yama

s

See Bergaigne, La Religion Vedique, vol. i., p. 59 ff. 2 They [the Germans] Compare Tacitus, Ger mania, chapter 2 honor Tuisto, a god who has sprung from the earth, and his son Mannus, as the originators and founders of the race." "

:

The Adam.

She

is,

Prehistoric

Yama

however, not

independent, self-poised

Gods

As

sister.

141 bone, but his

s

a truthful histo

have been compelled to record that Yamr, like Eve, was the prime mover in the nefarious but ne-

rian I

[

cessary act of peopling the world.

Both Manu and first

Yama

Yama s

men.

are primarily nothing but

father Vivasvant

is

marily the sun, whose divine character that time quite completely forgotten

probably

is, :

f/

p_ri-

however, at

old as

is

this

probably not original, because the first and Yami, are in reality an attempt to

affiliation it is

Yama

twins,

beg the question of the origin of the human race al together. The descent of man from the sun represents another start towards solving the difficulty of course this conception must and does blend with the Yama ;

In the

pair.

same way Manu begins quite

adopt Vivasvant all

for his father,

The myths begin

time.

early to

and he remains so

for

to interlace very much,

and to sprout shoots in unexpected directions. A famous pair of riddle-stanzas, Rig- Veda 10. I/. I and

expand the theme

2,

cording to 1

posed

:

it is

an interesting fashion, ac interpretation which I have pro worth while to present it as an extreme in

an

example of the blend of real

myth

original

mythic roots into a

:

Tvashtar, the creator, offers his daughter Saranyu 1

Journal of the American Oriental

Society, xv.,

*

The

142

Religion of the

Veda

marriage to the whole world of gods and mortals.

in

The

who

suitor

gains favor

Vivasvant, conceived

is

as a mortal.

Saranyu, barely wedded, is displeased with Vivasvant and flees not, however, until she ;

had given

birth to the twins

Yama

and Yaml.

This

marriage, you perceive, provides the twins with a

mother, whereas they have previously had only a In order to make sure her escape, she father. changes into a mare and flees to the gods, who hide her away from her mortal family, Vivasvant, Yama, and Yaml. The gods, in order to make matters still

more

varna,

affections. "

acter

safe,

who

;

it

is

construct another female, called Sa-

to take Saranyu

place in Vivasvant

s

The word savarnd means of like char trickily states that the new female was at "

one and the same time

and

s

like

Saranyu

in

appearance, Vivas

also suitable in character to the mortal

vant

more

suitable than the divine

Saranyu,

we

may perhaps understand. Vivasvant begets Manu with the Savarna, and thus Manu comes into pos session

both of a father and mother.

Ultimately Vivasvant finds out the deception practised upon him, follows

Saranyu

and thus gaining her "

Agvins,

the

1

favor, begets with her

Horsemen

abandons them

also,

the shape of a horse,

in

1

the

"

just

Cf. the classical Pasiphae myth.

or as

Dioscuri.

she has

Saranyu previously

The

Prehistoric

abandoned the twins

we may

Gods

143

Yama and YamI, and

resumes,

understand, her independent station as a

divinity.

The

final

outcome

of these

mythic entanglements two progenitors of the human race Yama the son of Vivasvant, and Manu the son of Vivasvant. are

:

They remind especially as

us in a

Manu

is

way

of

Adam

and

Noah,j,

Hindu

the hero of the

flood-

legend, which is astonishingly like the account of the book of Genesis. Vivasvant and his double pro

geny

all

purely

of

them

human

are

endowed

qualities.

for a

good while with

According as the profane

or sacred interest preponderates these

first,

and, of

course, great men become kings or great sacrificers of yore. Manu is the typical first sacrificer. The later

time of the Veda, as he performs on place, fancies himself a Manu, doing

sacrificer of the

his sacrificial

Manu (manusvat), in the house of Manu. the Avesta Vlvanhvant is the first mortal

like

haoma (soma)

pressed the drink

continued to do

in

His son Yima and

corporeal world.

so,

but

Yima

In

who

behalf of the his

descendants

turns rather into a

golden age, in which nor heat nor cold there is nor old age nor death nor want nor disease. He becomes the leading Epic

worldly

ruler,

the

king of a

;

;

personality in later Persian times.

he

is

called

"

Ruler

Yima,"

In the Avesta

Yima Khshaeta

;

this ex-

\j

The

144

Religion of the

Veda

pression turns in later Persian into Djemshed, the

well-known hero

of

the

Persian

Epic, the

Shah

Nameh, or Book of Kings the name is now familiar to Western readers as the interlocutor in Omar \

Khayyam s Rub ayat. The myth takes another, even more important turn in the Veda. Yama is the first mortal king who died and found for the race of men a heaven where they may

rejoice in the

company

of the pious

dead, especially those pious archpriests of mythical

He

antiquity, the Angiras.

who

Vivasvant

is

firm

is

the

of mortals

first

died and went forth to this heaven

abode,

me

s

son,

where

the king, where are

1

"

:

is

yonder flowing

Where

heaven

s

waters,

(Yama) went before and found a dwelling from which no power can shut us out. Our fathers of old have travelled

there let

the path:

it

live immortal."

"He

leads every earth-born mortal thither.

There, in the midst of the highest heaven, beams unfading light, and eternal waters flow there every ;

wish "

is

on the

fulfilled

have

These blessed

left

crepitude of their bodies

crooked of 1

2

3

;

3

limb."

Atharva-Veda

18. 3. 13.

Rig-Veda 9. 113. Atharva-Veda 3.

meadows of Yama. behind them the de

"

rich

8.

28. 5; 6. I2O. 3.

they are not lame nor

The

Prehistoric

Gods

145

same Yama, such is the terror of death, becomes in due time the Hindu Pluto, god of hell Yet

this

and judge tant

is

Which shows how impor

of the wicked.

the special and national treatment of myths,

and how constant

is

the disregard of what

may

be called the radical beginnings of myths. From Yama of the golden age of man to dread Yama, the in

the later

Mythology

parative

And

men

he figures Pantheon of the Mahabharata Com

destroyer of the bodies of

now, the

freely given

as such

traces every step.

sacrificial

substance which,

to the gods, secures to

when

mortals the

golden age of the Avesta and the paradise of the Veda is the old Indo-Iranian drink, Vedic soma, Avestan

an accepted fact with each people that this drink was prepared from a plant of the same

haoma.

name

;

It is

that

it

was an intoxicating drink

;

and that

it

was regarded as the tipple of the gods, inspiring them to those valorous deeds which men craved of them.

Physically,

it is

a plant that grows

upon

the mountains, has green shoots, and yields a golden fluid

which insures health and long

death.

No wonder

that

life

Haoma-Soma

is

and averts king of the

plants, and that the pressing and offering of it was an important act. After pressing it was purified

through a sieve of hair and mixed with milk doubtless the earliest milk-punch on record. The

The

146

Religion of the

Veda

Rig-Veda and the Avesta report the names of the same ancient worthies that prepared the fluid for Vedic Vivasvant, Yama, and Trita Aptya |Avestan Vlvanhvant, Yima, Athwya and Thrita. This marks the most intimate, if not the most importthe gods

:

;

;ant, relation

between the two

religious literatures.

Mythically, this wonderful drink was conceived as

coming from heaven, the type on earth enly fluid that

is

hidden

in the clouds.

of the

heav

In the

Veda

a heavenly eagle, doubtless the lightning, breaks

through the brazen the heavenly fluid earth, that

downpour

is

causes

is,

It is the simple

castle, the cloud,

within which

confined, and carries

it

down upon

to pour

phenomenon

of refreshing

and

it

off to

the earth.

of cloud, lightning, life-giving rain

and

which

is

turned into the heavenly prototype of this delightful drink.

1

The

Iranian

a bird,

by

earth

to

haoma

though

is

not

told.

drink finally turns

god, his

also fetched

manner In

both

slays

of

from heaven his

descent

literatures

demons,

wisdom

the

casts mis *

light

for

See the author in Journal of the American Oriental Society,

xvi.,

siles,

1

and gains

is

the

in

perfect

Greek mythology, see Usener in Rheinisches Museum, lx., z^ff. For winged lightning see Jacobsthal, Der Blitz in der Orientalise hen und Griechischeti Kunst, p. 19, 25 i ff.

For analogous conceptions

&/.,

ff, 2

42.

Vedic, sukratu

= Avestan

in

hukhratu.

The men,

"

Prehistoric

Gods

147

the best world of the pious, the luminous

world."

haoma

In the Avesta the

somewhat

fossilised

and symbolic.

:

and worship are

use has become secondary

its

In the

practices

Veda soma

distinguished offering, the

figures as the

most

champagne of the gods, inspires them to valor

which exhilarates them and

ous deeds against demons and the enemies of the liberal sacrificer. Herculean Indra especially stands

need of an especial meed of courage in his demon therefore he is the most insatiable consumer fights

in

;

of

pools of

"

very

soma"

own allowance

He

as the texts say. at

gods, including Indra,

noontide

come

in

;

the rest of the

at the other

ninth book of the Rig- Veda

practice

of

brewing

this

the sacred

Bacchanalian drink

praises the drink itself as a static language.

tells of

nodal

The en

points of the day, morning and evening. tire

has his

god

in poetic

;

it

and ec

We may remember that the hieratic

parts of the Rig- Veda are preoccupied with the dis-

pensal of soma to such an extent that, in a sacral sense of least,

we may speak

rcah as a religion of soma I

of the religion of the

rites.

have tried with as secure a touch as

to sketch

some

of the principal

ideas which the Vedic

in

my power

myths and

religious

Hindus preserved out

of the

long past which preceded their occupation of India.

The

148 I

am

Religion of the

Veda

mindful of the relative insecurity of prehistoric

reconstructions

they must, in the nature of the case, to some extent be prehistoric guesses. Neverthe :

handling these specimens, and remembering others which time forbids me to treat here, my own

less, in

faith at least in the reality of these

very old

fossils of

human thought has grown and not shrunk. When I say human I mean, too, that they are so very human. They are of the logic of mental events. The effect upon the higher grade of primitive mind which the

facts

and events of the

naturally be expected to have

which we have

We

traced.

visible

that

world

may

the effect

is

must, of course, not

imagine either Indo-Europeans or Indo-Iranians as folk, but rather as semi-barbarous nomad and

town

agricultural tribes,

accustomed to look hard, and to be

^strongly interested in the sights that nature offers.

our analyses are not true they are well Father Sky and Mother Earth next, the if

Certainly

found

:

;

inevitable children of Father Sky, namely, the visi

and luminous phenomena on the sky, the or shiners," as the most persistent idea

ble bodies "

demos,

of the early

ness

;

gods

;

their destruction of hostile dark

their character as overseers

cosmic and moral order voice of another

;

little less

and guardians

of

thunder, the

commanding

obvious god

in

heaven

they appear treated with simplicity and directness,

;

we

The may say with after a

s

inevitable logic.

man, a

first

and man

Gods

Prehistoric

first

The perplexed

way

we come

search

man

pair the propagation of

destiny after

;

death

is

more

carried out with clever realism. until

149

;

subjective, yet

There

is

no better

to the clarified, yet intrinsically

impotent philosophies of a much later time. Because all these myths, fancies, poems, and chains of logic are founded on the outer universe and on

no

less

human

consciousness, therefore

This

sure that they are real.

is

we are reasonably an even more valu

able guaranty than philological exactness and his torical sense which, of course,

should strengthen the

hands of the trained investigator in every detail. In my opinion the mental sanity of Comparative

Mythology

its

is

a true science

;

brief to practise the profession of

and

it is

newed emphasis that the

permissible to say with re religion of the

Veda

is

the

child in direct succession of the prehistoric ideas

which

this science calls

out from the dim past.

LECTURE THE FOURTH. The Transparent, Opaque Gods.

Translucent, and

Religious Con ceptions and Religious Feel ing in the Veda.

The transparent gods: their importance for the study of Father Sky and Daughter Dawn Surya, a religion god of the sun Vata and Vayu, gods of wind The most transparent god: Agni, Fire Agni as the sacrifice fire Prehistoric gods of fire Birth and youth of Agni Agni as god of the morning New births of Agni Agni on the altar, the agent of the gods Priesthood and divinity of Agni A hymn to Agni Other myths of the Fire God The translucent gods: definition of the term God Vishnu God Pushan God Indra, as an example of an opaque god Traditional explanation of the myth of Indra and Vritra Professor Hillebrandt s interpretation of the same myth Renewed definition of the religion of the Rig- Veda Renewed definition

of

Vedic practicalities

Conflicting

prayers

and sacrifices The conception of faith Faith related to Truth and Wisdom Faith personified Faith and works The reward for faith postponed to heaven Contrast between early (craddha) and later "faith"

"devotion"

the sacrificer

The

(bhakti)

"Gift-praises,"

The

another sop to

religious feeling of the Rig- Veda utilitarian sense The glory of the gods Absence

150

Transparent and Opaque Gods

151

Poetic inspiration of real sentiment towards the gods the true religious feeling The complacent master-

The poets own estimate

singers

of their

work

The

divine quality of devotion.

FOR

my

spirit

part of

always come to this theme in the

I

scientific

elation.

You know from

preceding statements what I mean by transparent gods. They are the gods who are at one and the

same time nature object and person. In other are formations whose words, they mythic personi fication

vivid

is

arrested

memory

personification.

the chemical

by the continued action and the which lead to

of the very qualities

is

Figuratively speaking, just

when

about to precipitate or to crystalise

something unrecognisable, and far removed from its elements, it is shaken and dissolved anew. into

We

and quanti In the midst of the uncertainties and

are spared the labor of a qualitative

tative analysis.

intricacies of this subject as a

whole the assurance

that these processes be renews the courage of the

There

of discordant opinions,

hope that out of the Babel many of them grown on the

soil of just scepticism,

the gods and the beliefs of

investigator.

is

ethnic religions will reveal their origins. that,

I

believe

next to the Science of Language, the Science is the clearest of mental or historical

of Religion,

sciences, for the very reason that

it

is

possible to

The

152 trace

some

ligious

Veda

Religion of the

most advanced products of

of the

re

thought to simple and tangible beginnings and in human consciousness.

in nature

mythology

Comparative

At

these

influenced

by extending the

studies profoundly

time within which

has

and the

field

we may carry on our observations.

the risk of seeming too insistent, let me point how it has spanned the distance be

out once more,

tween prehistoric

human

"

Father Sky

personality of the

Now

and the strenuous

"

Olympian Zeus

of the

the Vedic Pantheon brings us poets. into the very workshop where the gods are made.

We

a

visit to

have encountered before some transparent Father Sky (Dyaush Pitar), who comes "

"

gods.

from olden times, and does not grow into anything like the Pater, but

is

personality of

there submerged

that have gained ground

and

Greek Zeus

by other formations

at his expense.

seen what his daughter Ushas

Veda

in the

is

:

beautiful, ageless in distinction

We have

Eternally

young

from the wither

ing race of man, she appears as a lovely maiden dis

playing her charms to the world. While doing this she caters at the same time to interests which are the reverse of poetic.

She

starts the

day

of sacrifice, her

face set towards very practical performances.

She

secures rewards for pious men and their agents with the gods, namely the priests. Yet, on the whole, the

Transparent and Opaque Gods

153

poetic possibilities of this loveliest of nature sights

She

gain the day.

releases

from service her

sister

Night as she rises from the darkened East higher and higher to flood heaven and earth with her waves of light.

To

the Sun-God she

him her bosom

s

splendor.

a bride, opens for Or, she loves the two is

Agvins, the Dioscuri, with whom she travels on their Divine and gracious maiden, car drawn by birds.

but yet no more than one of nature s splendors, she is the type of many a heaven-born story, could we but read it aright.

Next Surya(Sol, Helios) appears upon the stage. He is the Sun-God treated as transparently as pos sible.

Sky

;

He is styled the son of Dawn is his bride, or, in

Dawns

On

are said to be his mothers.

by seven tawny

steeds, his course

great gods, the old

Aryaman. Again, he Agni

Dyaus, the Father another mood, the

(Fire).

He

is

is

a car drawn

guided by other

Adityas, Mitra, Varuna and is

the eye of Mitra, Varuna, or

the preserver and soul of

tion, of everything that stands or moves.

by him men pursue

their vocations.

He

all

crea

Enlivened is

far-see

ing, man-beholding, takes note of the good and bad

deeds of mortals.

They

rejoicing in the security

in turn look

up to him, and the inspiration which

his light affords. I

shall

let

speak for

itself

the hymn, Rig- Veda

1

The

54

1.50,

in

Religion of the

the attractive metrical

Veda translation

(with

John Muir see his v., p. 160, and Metrical

slight changes) of the late Dr.

;

Original Sanskrit Texts, vol. Translations from Sanskrit Writers, p. 179:

Hymn

to

Surya

By lustrous heralds led on high, The fire Sun ascends the sky ;

His glory draweth every eye.

The

stars

which gleamed throughout the

Now

scared, like thieves slink fast away, Quenched by the splendor of thy ray.

Thy beams

to

Like blazing

men

fires

thy presence show they seem to glow.

;

Conspicuous, rapid, source of light, Thou makest all the welkin bright. In sight of gods and mortal eyes, In sight of heaven thou scalest the skies.

O

fiery

God, with thy keen eye,

Thou scannest, like God Varuna, The doings of all busy men. Thou stridest o er the sky s broad space, Thy rays do measure out our days ;

Thine eye

all

living things surveys.

Seven tawny steeds thy chariot bear, Self-yoked, athwart the fields of air, Bright Surya, god with flaming hair.

night,

Transparent and Opaque Gods

155

That glow above the darkness we Beholding upward soar to thee, For there among the gods thy light

Supreme

And

is

seen, divinely bright.

there are other gods, not a few,

whose

origin

So the two positively on the surface. of whom, the former wind-gods Vata and Vayu, on the likely evidence of Teutonic Wotan-Odhin, nature

in

is

A

good bit of profound probably prehistoric. is contained in the mere fact that

is

human philosophy Vata

is

described as a real person in language such

as that of the following finally

1

hymn, and that he may

be invited to partake of oblations

Hymn

Now And

to

:

Vata

Vata s chariot s greatness Breaking goes it, thunderous is its noise. To heaven it touches, !

Makes

light

lurid,

and whirls the dust upon the

earth.

Then rush

together

all

the blasts of Vata

women

To him they come With them conjoint, on the same chariot as

Hastes the god, the king of

:

to their trysting

all

;

travelling,

creation.

Sleepless hastes he on his pathway through the air, Companion of the watery flood. First-born and holy,

Rig-Veda 10. 168, reproduced with some changes from Professor Hopkins s translation, The Religions of India, p. 88. 1

The

156

Religion of the

Whence, forsooth, arose created

Veda

and whence was he

he,

?

The breath of gods and source of life is Vata. This god doth journey whithersoe er he listeth, His sound is heard but no one sees his figure. With our oblation

But there

is

let

us this Vata honor

one figure that looms

others in ancient

Hindu

far

religious history

!

above

from Veda

to Mahabharata, as the classical illustration of

phenomenon god

of nature

be

may

one and the same time.

at

how

a

and personal

itself

It is

all

the god Agni

and god at the beginning Fire," who is element and remains so to the end. Richard Wagner adopts in *

the Nibelungen tetralogy the doubtful interpretation of the

upon

Norse god Loge (Loki) as this red-haired,

wishes to hedge with

This

is

impish god to fire

Wotan calls appear when he

fire

;

his erring child Brunhilde.

interesting, because

it

shows how even the

to bridge over, un the great gap that is critically, as behooves the poet, between the reality of nature and the unstable spec

modern poetic fancy may get

ulation of myth-makers. in

their scholastic

mood

itself

Native Hindu theologians find time to worry over

the fact that a god like Agni can be devouring element and intelligent god at one and the same time.

Even the Epic poet

in

the

Mahabharata

Transparent and Opaque Gods There

stops to wonder:

he kindled

is

made

to say

"

:

but one Agni, yet and Agni himself is

is

"

manifold

157

;

Because

can

I

multiply myself

by the power of mental concentration (yoga), there am I present in the bodies (of men, as vital

fore

2 fire)."

Agni

is,

next

to

most prominent

the

Indra,

god of the Rig- Veda, quantitatively speaking. He is the theme of more than two hundred hymns, and owes

prominence to the personifica tion of the sacred fire which is present at all Vedic his special

performances.

In the hieratic of the

the popular)

hymns

few cases

which Agni

in

connected with the take this simple unfold

its

own

is

Rig-Veda there

And

it

the sacrifice

story step

from

will

be

not more or less directly

sacrifice.

article,

(in distinction

by

is

fire,

How

step.

now

well

and

it

to

let it

turns in

the hands of these priestly poets into a person gifted with the thinly disguised qualities of fire into a mes ;

senger mediating between

men and

archpriest typical of holy rites

But to the end, as we

;

and

gods; into an finally

into a

show, the origin god. of all these ideas is never forgotten the god remains a more or less well-assorted bundle of fire qualities shall

;

and 1

2

fire

epithets.

Mahabharata Ibid.,

i.

3.

Therefore, too, he remains to the

134.8

7.6=916.

= 10658.

The

158 last

Religion of the

Veda

an indifferent vehicle for far-reaching specula

tions, or the finer sort of religious feeling.

The

word

Sanskrit

"

agnis,

fire,"

at all events,

is

Indo-European; Latin ignis, Lithuanian ugnis, Old Slavic ognl. Some kind of worship of the sacrifice fire,

and with

likely to

it

some degree

have taken place

in

of personification,

is

Indo-European times.

The Greeks and Romans,

as well as the Aryans,

offered libations to the

when using

fire

offerings to their gods.

we know

it

to

But there was no

convey definite

the chaste figure of Hestia of the Greeks, or Vesta of the Romans, contrasted result that

of

;

with boisterous male Agni, shows that the conception must have been enable

it

faint

initial

and unstable, to

to produce shapes so thoroughly diverse.

In the main

God Agni

is

in

every essential a product

of the poet-priests of the Rig- Veda.

In India, as elsewhere, tion,

and

mode

this

far as the sacrifice fire sticks, or

fire

was produced by fric fire was obligatory as

of starting

was concerned.

The two

drills, called aranl, are therefore

fire-

Agni

s

parents, the upper stick being the male, the lower ,tthe female.

They produce him under "

Ayu wood

"

Living the god

the type of or suggests

;

is

the

name

of

wonderful to narrate, from the dry born living. At once he becomes

human progeny, and faintly figures as, the first man and the originator of the

{\ Transparent and Opaque Gods

,

human

race.

he

born of a mother

is

The

suck.

159

The new-born

1

child

infant

is

hard to catch

who cannot

give

;

him

soon as born devours the

as

;

.

parents.

With

a different touch, because powerful exertion

required to produce

is

quently called

"

Son

of

Agni by

friction,

he

is

fre

Strength."

The pronounced ritualist the Rig- Veda fixes Agni as

quality of the poetry of

ing, rather than of the night.

Interpretations of Rig-

Veda

a divinity of the

morn

passages which involve reference to something

like the cosy family hearth, the tea-kettle

simmering, the wind soughing outside, are generally moonshine. Nor is his definite association with the morning just

what we should expect it to be from our point of view no suggestion, perchance, of the merry dairy maid milking the cows, or the housewife busy with ;

a comfortable breakfast.

Familiar, home-life touches

are not absent altogether even

they are more abundant

But

(Grhya-Sutras).

in

in the

ritualistic,

and

little else.

ness, destroys

the

demons

and

the Rig- Veda

in

the

"

main Agni

He

;

House-books" is

cosmic iv

dispels the dark

of night.

He

throws

open the gates of darkness earth and sky are seen when Agni is born in the morning. He is even ;

1

See above,

p. 139.

,

The

160

.supposed to

lift

Religion of the

Veda

daily the eternally youthful sun to

the sky to furnish light to the people.

Such

his cosmic aspect in the

is

1

means

epithet usharbudh, which

We have

seen before that he

son of Dawn. 2

is

On the

morning.

other hand his ritualistic character betrays

itself in his

at

"waking

dawn."

also regarded as the

All this emphasises the opening of

day, ushered in by the Goddess Dawn, and the gods that wake in the morning Agni, and come in the morning, like the Agvins and

the

sacrificial

God

others.

Every morning Agni sacrifice "

the

;

this secures for

youngest."

old Agni, and

On

produced anew

is

him the appropriate

the other hand he

now comes

born again as a youth. and ancient is called

;

His new births are

having grown old he

Thus

it

the same

"

"

is

happens that he

"

"

epithet

the same

a good deal of playful or

mystic handling of this paradox. contrasted with his old

is

for the

very young

in

the Vedic poets delight in this kind of mental see-saw. The mystery is shallow what is

passage

;

;

meant

is,

that the vigorous

Agni recalls There is no ducted the 1

2

p.

of the present-day

his traditional importance in the past.

first

73-

than Agni, for he con Just as he flames up to-

sacrificer older sacrifice.

Rig- Veda 10. 156. 4.

Above,

life

Transparent and Opaque Gods

dawn

at

day of

161

so he shone forth under the auspices

former dawns at the

forefather: Bharata, or

sacrifice of

Vadhryacva

many

a great

Divodasa, or

;

Trasadasyu. After having been kindled Agni is placed upon the altar or, if we trust the testimony of the ritual

upon three

1

Fagots are now piled on, fat oblations are poured in he waxes big his tongues, three, or seven, shoot up he has four eyes, or a thousand eyes both things mean that texts of the Veda,

altars.

;

;

;

he

is

sharp-sighted

his jaws are sharp

;

;

and

shine golden, or his iron grinders clutch. is

figure

changed

he

:

is

his teeth

Then

the

flame-haired, tawny-haired,

glowing head faces in all direc Ghee, or melted butter, is his food: he

tawny-bearded tions.

;

his

therefore called

is

ghee-backed, ghee-faced, gheeeven more boldly, Agni himself says, Once, ghee is his eye. This is the point where Agni begins to take on a little more of the flesh and blood of per haired.

upon the skeleton of his elemental qualities. For he receives the offerings neither passively nor

sonality

At

selfishly.

as late a time as that of the great

Epic, the Mahabharata

ghee that scribed 1

in

is

poured into

1-

he

is

my

made

mouth,

the Veda, nourishes the

Cf. Rig- Veda 2. 36.

1.7-

2

4

;

5.

n.

2

;

10. 105. 9.

to say: in the

"The

way pre Gods and the

1

The

62

Manes

.

.

Religion of the

called

.

Manes come

my mouth

by

to eat the

Veda the Gods and the

ghee."

In fact the gods cannot subsist without him.

A

very neat story which, as usual, remains one of the stock themes of story-telling India in later times, tells in

two hymns

of the

1

Rig-Veda

how Agni on

Agni has it older brothers have worn

a certain occasion tired of this service.

born

in

upon him that

his

themselves out in their job, and concludes that he

had better dodge a

like fate.

Whereupon he

es

But the god Yama discovers and betrays him, and Varuna, as the spokesman of capes into the waters.

the gods, finally induces

him

for a consideration to

resume the task of expediting the gods. The names which he obtains 2

"

such as

"

oblation-eater

reappear familiarly

in

and

sacrifice to the in this capacity, ;

"

oblation-carrier,"

the Mahabharata and

later.

There they are pigeon-holed, along with numerous other names, to be selected in the manner of the Norse kennings, to vary the diction, to swell its dignity, and to ease the task of the verse-maker.

With 1

a different turn, he brings the gods to the sac-

10. 51 and 52. For other later

tales of Agni lost and found again see the Maha bharata legends in Holtzmann, Agni nach den Vorstellungen des 2

Mahabharata, 3 Huta<;a,

p.

a ff.

hutat;ana, hutabhuj, hazyabhaksha, etc.; hutavaha, havy-

avah, havvavahana,

etc.

Transparent and Opaque Gods and seats them on the strewn

rifice,

He

earth,

thus

heaven

familiar with the roads that connect

becomes and

grass.

163

and becomes the regular messenger be In this capacity he is associated

tween the two.

with the Angiras, a race of mythic semi-divine priests whose name seems to be identical with Greek

ayyskoZ (angel), messenger." They also mediate between gods and men, and naturally Agni is an "

Angiras, the

first

seer Angiras, the ancient Angiras,

the most inspired of the Angiras.

Agni

officiates at the sacrifice

and becomes the

divine counterpart of the earthly priesthood priest, serving-priest,

the very also

:

house-

priest in general, as states

stanza of the Rig-Veda.

first

or invents the

inspires,

thought he frees

and

brilliant

As such he speech and

prayer, and, what is very important, from sin. For the sacrifice, of course, is

of

the staple means of conciliating

the gods

when

The idea of supposed to be angry. blends with that of seer a ad sage. He priesthood is so expert and well-travelled as to assume in a very

they are

pronounced sense the

qualities of omniscience

and

1

omnipresence.

He knows

everything by virtue of his wisdom felly does the wheel.

embraces wisdom as a adjective kavikratu, 1

Cf.

Holtzmann

s

"

;

he

The

possessing the intellect of the

essay, cited above, p. 5.

The

164

sages,"

applies to "

him

Veda

particularly,

and the epithet

having innate

wisdom," is exclusively the function of archpriest and archsage to godhead it is but a step. Agni is the divine

jdtavedas,

own.

his |

Religion of the

From

benefactor of his worshipper fuel

takes across

And

then, finally, he

the other gods

carry

him

iron walls, or

calamities, as in a ship over the sea.

all

mighty heaven and in

who sweats to

him he protects with a hundred

:

is

all

divine monarch, surpassing

the worlds,

who worship

is

superior to

all

him, or takes his place whom the poets

the long line of supreme gods

indifferently, or henotheistically, as

convenient times with

praise at

it,

and

all

Max

the

Miiller

put

all

the fervor

resourceful verbiage which

marks the

diction of the Rig- Veda

:

Then hail to Agni on his brilliant chariot, The shining signal of every holy sacrifice, Of every god

The

in

might divine the equal,

gracious guest of every pious mortal

Dressed out

in all thy

!

ornamented garments,

Thou standest on the very navel of the earth, The hearth of sacrifice. Born of the light, Both

priest

and king,

shalt hither fetch th

immortals

!

For thou hast ever spread both earth and heaven,

Tho being their son thou hast Come hither, youthful god, to And bring, O Son of Strength,

spread out thy parents. us that long for thee, the bright immortals

(Rig-Veda

!

10.

i.

5-7.)

Transparent and Opaque Gods I

have followed the main current of Agni

make

order to

clear the

meaning

165

s life injf*

of arrested person

ification, or arrested anthropomorphism.

The Vedic

poets are far from restricting themselves to this one Fire is not only in the sacral fire-sticks, but

view.

he

everywhere as sun and lightning in as glint on the surface of the waters as

visible

is

the sky

;

:

;

the embryo of plants and trees that willingly give

it

up when in flames as the spark of flint and the rocks and even in the heat of the body, and as ;

;

vital

force latent in

remarkable

all

living things.

Especially

the certainly

Indo-European myth which deals very clearly with a twin descent from heaven the descent of fire, and the descent of the is

:

heavenly fire is

In

fluid.

Agni

its

Vedic treatment the heavenly

of the lightning

soma, the ambrosial drink

;

"

:

the heavenly fluid

is

The one (namely, the

Matarigvan brought from heaven the other (namely, soma) the eagle brought from the heavenly J

fire)

;

have spoken before of the descent of the the descent of Agni from heaven is heavenly fluid doubtless connected with the lightning fire. Ma rock."

I

3

;

tarigvan, however, class of

5

brings Agni, belongs to the

mythic persons for

the attribute 1

who

"

opaque."

Rig-Veda, i. 93. Above, p. 146.

6.

whom

Even

I

have reserved

this dramatic nature

.

1

The

66

act, all

Religion of the

Veda

which the plastic spirit of the Greeks shapes for time into the main motif of the Prometheus

tragedy, appears to

heaven

s

method

sacrifice:

myth. true of

of furnishing

fire

poets merely as and soma for the

does not turn into a real humanised

it

And what of

all

the Vedic

have deduced here

I

the

s traits in

Agni

Veda

;

in detail is

he

is

at

one

moment element and phenomenon, at another person and god, at all times as clear as his own light to teach the nature of the gods. I

have used the term transparent

in

connection

with divine personifications

whose

naturalistic basis

and whose starting point

human

consciousness

absolutely clear. of speech

though

Now

whose

wish to be understood

It refers to

structural outline

may

still

great deal of truth, although

it is

tations of secondary matter.

It

loss of the original

is

the term translucent, figure

it is, I

plain physical sense.

in

in its

mythic formations be traced with a

obscured by incrus is often merely the

simple name which is the cause Dawn Divinities of the name "

of the obscuration.

Sun

"

"

"

Fire

(Agni), bring

credentials that every one can read.

But the quick

"

(Ushas),

(Surya), or

"

substitution of an attractive, or pointed epithet for

the original

name may plague

the investigator for

all

time to come, and deprive him of mathematical cer tainty, even though every instinct draws him in the

Transparent and Opaque Gods right direction. will not find

it

An

unusually unsympathetic sceptic hard to rest his feet upon some pro

jecting ledge of doubt,

we must not

167

and

all

history cries out that

try to dislodge sceptics

by

violence.

Every middle-aged student of Comparative Mythol ogy and Comparative Philology recalls the time when even the most complex myths were blandly ex plained as nature processes

nothing in that line could be too fanciful and far-fetched to find adher ;

No

cock might crow in a fairy-tale without becoming party to an involved and profound sunmyth. We have all sobered much there is now,

ents.

;

perhaps, too

much

insistence

upon the element

uncertainty which goes with the term

of

".probable,"

no matter how closely the probable may approach certainty.

Tho two

Agvins, the Dioscuri, are translucent They harbor some phenomenon of morning gods. The other light as one part of their dual character.

probably the corresponding phenomenon at eve. But just what this duality is we were unable to say. It is something to have limited this brilliant Indo-

is

1

European myth so

far,

rather than idle fancy. seen, belongs

also

worse interpretation 1

See above,

p. 116.

and to

find

behind

The god Varuna,

to this class will turn to

;

as

it

reason

we have

for better or

for

some phenomenon

The

i68

Religion of the

heaven which suggests the god

of

overseer, be

Veda

s salient

encompassing sky, be

it

quality of

moon.

it

I

choose two other gods as the type of translucent gods, Vishnu and Pushan in both cases we shall be ;

This may engaged with variant aspects of the sun. seem to some minds a suspicious monotony of ex the so-called solar theory. But I am nothing daunted the sun is important and ever present with early observers I shall let planation, in fact

it

is

:

;

him

own

fight his

If I

am

not mistaken,

Vishnu a service

"

through the

(tredlid

the

"

8

earth."

The

m and snu,

leading fact in

itself

meaning Vishnu s

that he takes three strides

is

A

name

passage in the Sama-Veda

Vishnu strode through over the back of Here the word for through" is vi ;

the word for

the

two words

Veda

vi krawi).

states that

have done the cause of

I

pointing out that the

back."

the

activity in

in

of the

compounded

is

battles.

"

"

back" is

name Vishnu.

strides lands

Vishnu

sdnu (snu)

The in

the two parts of

third of these

enormous

the highest heaven, in the

bright realm of light, where even the winged birds do not dare to fly. 3 There in the highest stepping 1

2

American Journal of Philology, vol. Sama-Veda 2. 1024, yato vishnur

sdnavi. 3

Rig- Veda

i.

155. 3,

5.

xvii., p. 428.

vi

cakrame prthivya adhi

Transparent and Opaque Gods is

place

Vishnu

fount of

s

1

This place

honey.

identical with the highest place

169

of

Agni

;

Vishnu

guards the highest, or third place of Agni, the

on high, the sun. rejoice.

place

;

is

fire

There the gods and pious men

a

Liberal sacrificers ever look forward to this fixed like an eye in heaven.

it is

3

Later Veda

texts clearly define the three steps as earth, atmos-

phere, and heaven.

Vishnu represents the sun

in

from the horizon of the earth, through

his ascent

the atmosphere to the zenith, considered as the solar His swift climb over the back of the uni paradise. verse through the cosmic triad justly arrested the

fancy of the poets, and they name him accordingly. Instead of holding to the proper name of the sun, or to his life,

more

familiar functions of giver of light

they express in the name Vishnu, and

fancies connected with

it

and

in the

the sufficiently remarkable

from earth to the paradisiacal zenith involves but three stations earth, atmos fact that his ascent

:

phere, and heaven.

records

show the

division of the

From

Rig- Veda

I.

154. 5.

Ibid., 10. i. 3.

3

Ibid., i. 22. 20.

4

See above,

p. 91.

Hindu

greatest interest in this threefold 4

Other notions, such as with his wide steps for his

universe.

that Vishnu marks off

2

the earliest time

The

70

1

Religion of the

Veda

worshippers corresponding breadth or wide scope for success and prosperity, and that he frees them from restraint

and

trouble, follow as an almost inevitable

In a later time Vishnu

consequence.

the highest place }

To

Trinity.

pious.

sectarian

is

elevated to

one of the so-called Hindu

the end he remains the Vishnu of the

solar paradise to

But

he

;

is

whom

go the

spirits of

the departed

same time he represents to his worshippers the pantheistic Brahma, or at the

with which the soul of

"all-soul,"

man

is

ultimately

destined to unite.

choose as the second example of a translucent god, the shepherd god Pushan. His chief claim to I

usefulness

is

that he

knows the roadways

;

protects

from their dangers, such as wolves and robbers guards cattle, so that they be not dashed to pieces ;

in

the ravine

;

brings

them home unhurt when they

have gone astray and, in general, restores lost Pushan personally drives the cows to pas things. ture he weaves the sheeps dresses, and smoothes ;

;

their coats

by

goats.

gruel,

;

he carries a goad, and his car is drawn seeing that he lives on mush or

And

whereas the other gods revel

his bucolic nature is pretty clear.

in

soma or ghee,

His name means

which may, of course, be the epithet of any benevolent god, and therefore veils rather than "

Prospero,"

tells his particular

character.

Transparent and Opaque Gods

The

171

following specimen shows the tone of the not

too numerous

hymns addressed Rig-Veda

Guide

Who,

And

us,

O

6.

to him:

54.

Pushan, to a

man

wise, straightway shall point the way,

say to us

"

:

Lo, here

"

it is!

With Pushan joined

He points And saith

let us go forth our houses out to us,

to us

"

:

;

"

Right here they are

His chariot s wheel doth never break Its seat doth never tumble down Nor doth his wheel s rim ever crack.

!

;

;

Whoso payeth

Him Pushan That man

tribute to the

god

never doth forget

is first

;

to gather wealth.

May Pushan follow our kine, May he protect our horses too, And furnish us with solid wealth

!

naught be lost, nor aught be hurt naught be injured in the pit Our cattle sound bring back to us

May May

;

;

!

May Pushan And

drive our lost

The standard a sun-god.

hand and wide, goods back to us

pass his good right

Around about and

far

!

interpretation of this

This

is

well supported

god

is

again as

by some higher

The

172

mythic

traits in

which

He

lord

wanting.

Veda

Religion of the

is

this

of

not altogether things that stand or

god

all

is

move almost the same words describe Surya (Helios). ;

He

also

the lover or husband of the Sun-Maiden

is

who

Surya, that arch-flirt

carries

on

affairs

with the

male Surya, the Agvins, and Soma. He alone has the very ancient epithet aghrni This glowing." "

the sun, and besides hardly any other article than fire. Now fire Pushan is not. To consider fits

him, under these circumstances, a mere pero,"

or an abstract

Lord

"

of the

particularly

song (daind)

a

good

and restorer of

to an overseeing heavenly body,

we may trust another Lithuanian folk which I may be permitted to quote

if

:

Oh,

at the yester

I lost

my

little

even tide

lamb

Oh, who

shall help

My

little

only

lamb

!

me go and

seek

?

went and asked the morning The morning star replied I have to build the dear sun I

star,

:

"

At morrow I

is

Contrariwise his

path-finder, cattle god,

lost things point

god Pros-

Paths,"

deal like begging the question. abilities as

"

s

morning

went and asked the evening

The evening star I have to make

"

At every even

replied : the dear sun

tide."

s fire

tide."

star,

s

bed

Transparent and Opaque Gods I

"

I

My

replied

I

The

:

have been smitten with a sword, sorry face I

1

hide."

went and asked the lovely sun,

The dear sun gave "

73

went and asked the waning moon,

The waning moon

I

1

Nine days ll

I

11

reply

seek,

not set in the

;

and on the tenth a

sky."

familiar notion that the sun oversees every

3

thing appeals in this instance to the simple reasoning

A more suitable

power of shepherd

folk.

a shepherd god

not easy to imagine.

fore dress

it is

him out

in

shepherd

s

origin for

They

clothes, feed

there

him on

shepherd s food, and turn him into a heavenly bell wether of their flocks. But his real natural history

me

does not seem to

to be very

the simple-minded fable.

much

disguised by

We may safely call Pushan

a translucent god.

The most prominent of the gods of the Rig-Veda About two hundred and fifty hymns are Indra.

is

devoted to his praise, perhaps one-fourth of all the hymns of the collection. No account of Vedic religion can pass by his big personality, and yet his essence and quality are that of lower, rather than higher 1

8

Cf. the Lithuanian folk-song, above, p. 114.

Professor Chase

s

rendering, Transactions of the American Philo

logical Association, vol. xxxi., p. 193. * H\ioc>Tta.voTtTri<->,

Iliad 3. 277

;

yEschylus, Prometheus Bound, 91.

1

The

74

Religion of the

religious conceptions,

even

Veda

we adopt no higher To the growingly finer Veda Indra contributes

if

standard than the Rig-Veda. religious thought of the later

nothing positive. Negatively, the coarse grain and the fleshliness of his character which, taken all in all, are foreign to the gods of the

Vedic Pantheon,

very unfavorable attention. I

i

1

I

anthropomorphic, that the

human

is,

Indra

is

arrest

so grossly

he embodies so completely and bluster, gluttony,

qualities of brag

make him the peg upon which to hang scepticism. In that way he contributes Of negatively to the advance of Hindu thought. drunkenness, and

lust, as to

this later on.

This god has remained opaque to the eye of Vedic study. He is not wanting in superlative cosmic qualities.

biting off

gaged

in

In fact the poets never, unless

come nearer more than they can chew, than when en

except perhaps

in

the case of Varuna,

lauding Indra.

He has nocounterpartamong No one, celestial or ter

those born or to be born. restrial,

has been born, or shall be born, like unto him.

All the gods yield to him in might and strength.

1

He

supports earth and sky, or spreads out the earth.

More

particularly, 4

demiurge 1

2

Rig- Veda

he

is

the

2

Hindu Hercules and

the doer of great deeds for the people. 4. 18. 4; 7. 32. 2; 8. 51. 7.

Ibid., 2. 15. 2.

Transparent and Opaque Gods

He

slays dragons

and monsters

;

he

is

the typical

slayer of the foes of the pious sacrificer.

deeds of heroic valor he

is

175

To

these

stimulated by immense

potations of intoxicating soma.

In order to accom

plish the slaughter of the arch-dragon Vritra

he drank

on one occasion three lakes of that delightful bever age, so that decidedly he had a jag on, which, it has been noted, rhymes well with dragon. Accordingly he has a tremendous body, strong jaws and lips. He tawny-haired and bearded, carries a club in his hand, and fights on a chariot drawn by two bay steeds. is

In general the Vedic poets cannot be accused of coarseness

were

yet

;

it

seems

that, in this instance,

"

this,

Lord

of

Strength,"

they

by the mighty deeds

irresistibly attracted

as they call him.

This

of is

probably owing to the fact that he is felt to be the national hero of the Aryan invaders in their struggles against the dark-skinned aborigines, whom they must

overcome

in

order to hold possession of the land

which they invaded.

And

nations are never coarser

than when they put their own nationality into an tagonism against another nation. In a recent war, familiar to all of us, a

prominent warrior on the side consuming de

of the stronger nation expressed his

make, by his own valorous deeds, the language of the weaker nation the vernacular of Hades. This

sire to

is

the spirit of the worship of Indra.

The

176 But

it

Veda

Religion of the

would be a mistake

to suppose that Indra

is

a mere coarse embodiment of the jingo valor of a superior race exercised against a weak enemy fated

Indra

to subjection. lucent, that

is,

is

not even trans

is

longer define his origin with

no doubt that he originated

The

in visible nature.

To

where.

that Indra

character

we can no

certainty, but there

somewhere

s

begin with, there

is

no

s origin is prehistoric.

difficulty

is

to tell

belittling the fact

His name occurs

Avesta (Andra) where, as is often the case with earlier Aryan divinities, he is degraded to a demon. in the

I

But

Vedic epithet, Vritrahan, Slayer of the same name as that of the abstract

his chief

Vritra,"

is

"

genius of Victory,

Verethraghna

in the Avesta,

the Armenian dragon slayer Vahagn.

hand there then

If

we

is

no

and

the other

real Indra literature outside of India.

are forced to turn to India in order to

explain Indra,

we must not

forget that his origin

outside of India and precedes

The

On

1

Hindu

is

history. 32, is

done

into prose, rather than into metre, in order to

show

following specimen, Rig-Veda

how Indra and

i.

his principal exploit,

namely, the slaughter of the dragon Vritra and the liberation of the waters, really presents itself to the mind of the

clearly

poets 1

:

See Hillebrandt, Vedische Mythologie,

vol.

iii.,

p.

Transparent and Opaque Gods 1.

Let

me now

tell

177

forth the heroic deeds of Indra,

which he that wields the club performed of yore. he slew the dragon, broke the way for the waters ;

He cleft

the belly of the mountains. 2.

God

He slew the dragon who lay upon the mountain. Like Tvashtar forged for him his heavenly club.

roaring cattle, the sea.

down came

Lusty as a

3.

bull,

the waters, flowing swiftly to

Indra demanded soma from three His missile bolt he ;

vats drank he of the pressed drink.

took

in

hand, the generous god, and slew the first-born

of the dragons. 4. When thou didst smite, O Indra, the first-born of the dragons, when thou didst make naught of the wiles of the wily, then, bringing out both sun and heaven and

dawn, thou verily didst not find a foeman worthy of thy steel.

A

drunken weakling, Vritra, did challenge the great 6. hero, the mighty, dashing fighter. He did not withstand the impact of his weapons with broken nose lay shat :

tered he whose foe was Indra.

Over him lying

like a broken reed, the waters Those go (very waters) which Vritra had encompassed with his might, at the feet of them the 7.

so,

flowing at will.

dragon prone lay stretched. nor the 13. Nor thunder, nor lightning did help him hail-storm which he cast about him. When Indra and ;

the dragon fought their battle, then times the liberal god won the battle.

even for future

These stanzas carry us into the very midst of a

The

178

myth whose questions

who

is

:

Veda

Religion of the

them three

three elements bring with

First,

what are the waters

Vritra that shuts

them

in ?

?

Secondly,

Thirdly,

who

is

Indra that liberates them after a struggle that puts him so very much on his mettle ? Hindu tradition,

commentators and

later classical Sanskrit literature,

has always had an unhesitating answer The waters are rain Vritra is the cloud that shuts them off :

;

from the earth

;

Indra, therefore,

is

the storm or

thunder god that rends the clouds with his lightning bolt and frees their waters. This interpretation, at first

sight thoroughly sensible

was

and most

satisfactorily

good while held to be good by most western students of the Veda and Comparative suggestive,

for a

The trouble with it turned out to be the Veda has the real storm and rain god

Mythology. that

Parjanya,

and that the hymns addressed to him

describe thunder-storms in language that

and cannot be mistaken

is

very dif

anything else The than the phenomena of the thunder-storm. sober facts of the Indra- Vritra myth are as follows ferent,

for

:

A god armed with a bolt who

holds the rivers in confinement within the

mountains. ains. sea. 1

fights a dragon or serpent

He

the dragon, cleaves the

kills

mount

The rivers flow from the mountains to the Thus the texts there is nothing to show that

See above, p. in.

:

Transparent and Opaque Gods the mountains

mean

clouds,

and the

i

79

rivers the flow

of rain.

After such and other premonitory symptoms of scepticism and unrest, Professor Hjllebrandt has recently advanced

new theory

a

of

Indra, Vritra,

and the waters, which he expounds with great in He argues that the streams genuity and learning. 1

of India

and the neighboring Iranian countries are

at their lowest level in the winter; that the confiner

of their waters

winter monster

is

the frozen winter, conceived as a

by the name

of Vritra,

"

confiner;"

that Vritra holds captive the rivers on the heights of

the glacier mountains; and that, consequently, Indra

can be no other than the spring or summer sun who frees them from the clutches of the winter dragon: "

Behold,

in

winter

s

chain sleeps the song of the "

waterfall under the

dungeon roof of crystal ice So sings a Swedish poet, Count Snoilsky. And another Swedish poet, Andreas Aabel, rings out the "

antistrophe:

now and now Just

Now winter

We can 1

2

!

Hear the mountains proud cascade

!

check and prison,

it

has broken winter

s

it

courses free along

its road!"

2

true that the emergence of spring from

it

is

is

sometimes treated poetically as a

understand this

much

battle.

better in a north coun-

See Hillebrandt, Vedische Mythologie, See ibid, p. 187.

vol.

iii.,

p.

i^l ff-

1

The

180

Religion of the

Sweden where the

try like

conflict

Veda is

hard and long.

Even there these phenomena seem hardly

to suggest

so fierce and Herculean a contest as that which

supposed to take place between Indra and the giant Vritra

is

frost

:

Released from ice are stream and brook,

By

spring-tide

These words

enchanting, enlivening look.

s

Goethe seem to come so much

of

nearer to what might be expected.

But over and beyond, Indra performs fessional

of other

capacity of Hercules a

He

"

stunts."

stables of the avaricious

in his

pro

large assortment

releases the

cows from the

who

them and

confine

will

not sacrifice them to the gods. He also performs the heavenly analogue of this deed he breaks open :

the stables of darkness, presided over by another

demon !|

of the

name

enly cows, that

is,

of Vala,

and releases the heav-

the light of

dawn and

the sun.

seems impossible to hold aloof this important myth from the classical myths of Heracles and It

three-headed Geryon, and Hercules and three-headed Hercules carries off the cattle which belong Cacus. to the monster, or, in the case of Cacus, which the

monster had stolen from the hero, and had hidden

away

in

his cave.

variety of other 1

1

Indra, moreover, kills a great

demons.

To

the immediate con-

See Oldenberg, Die Religion des Veda,

p.

143

ff.

Transparent and Opaque Gods

Veda he

ception of the

is

181

indeed a sort of Hercules,

the most personal of ajljthe ..gods, so personal that

Who people begin to doubt his existence, and ask, has seen him?" I have brought much sympathy to "

Professor Hillebrandt

may

interpretation which I

s

hope end turn out to be the right one for the has left me in the frame of mind indicated

in the

present

it

;

by the word opaque.

I

confess, I cannot pass over

as lightly as does Hillebrandt the

tradition that Vritra

of Indra with

Vayu

by the

tively

is

unanimous Hindu

The

the cloud.

"Wind"

is

paralleled sugges

association of Parjanya

"

Wind."

Parjanya the thunder-storm.

is

partnership

and Vata,

beyond peradventure a god

of

It is therefore still possible that

and the waters represents a specialised poetic treatment of a myth of thunder storm, cloud, and rain. The myth may have, so to

the

myth

of Indra, Vritra,

been brought down to earth Indra, the storm god, becomes a Hercules, and kills a dragon who hoards in the mountains (formerly, the clouds), speak,

:

the rivers (formerly, the rain of the

clouds).

For

most important theme in seems to me that we must look to the

a final solution of this

mythology future.

theory,

it

The if

it

confirmation of Hillebrandt

comes

Western Asia.

more

at

all,

s

Such confirmation should

definitely Indra s

masterly

must come from Iran or

and Vritra

s

establish

character in the

1

The

82

Veda

Religion of the

Indo-Persian time from which,

if

not from a

earlier time, dates their beginning.

If

still

these earlier

data should by any chance ever show Indra and Vritra in the mutual relation of summer and winter,

then Hillebrandt then,

hypothesis, and

s

I

fear not until

would be triumphantly vindicated.

RELIGIOUS CONCEPTIONS AND RELIGIOUS FEELING IN THE VEDA.

The is

in

religion of the Rig-Veda, as

its

most

we have

seen,

superficial aspect a priestly religion

works designed to propitiate and to barter with The outer form in which it pre personal gods. of

sents itself rifice

with

is

its

as poetry of the sacrifice.

ceremonial formalities

is,

The

sac

as I have

ventured to say, the epidermis of Vedic religion. In its next layer the religion of the Veda is ex pressed in hymnal worship of the same personal

;

|

gods who get the offerings. Whatever we may say about the origin of these gods, one by one, they are to the Hindu conception for the most part related to the visible and audible forces of nature. its

larger aspect, cosmic nature,

of inspiration of the

was the inspiration

European

Nature

in

the prime source

religious bard, just as

of his prehistoric

it

Aryan and Indo-

The conception of nature and notwithstanding many crudities, is

ancestors.

the nature gods,

Vedic

is

Religious Conceptions and Feeling I shall

singularly poetic.

show

ious consciousness, in so far as their admiration

upon

and

183

later that the relig it

praise,

concentrates

marks

itself

the

in fact

highest point in the Vedic Rishis mental and spirit

In the end

ual possibilities.

something more than

it

will

be found to be

religious poetry

it

;

rather

is

religion or religious sense expressing itself as poetic

inspiration.

Anyhow we must

not believe that the

has swamped everything. The delight in the gods, especially the half-personalised nature forces which are treated as gods, is too unstinted and gen ritual

erous to allow us to doubt sure that many, their beautiful

if

not

all,

hymns

its

to the goddess

the sun-god Surya with the poets, delighting in their

am

I

genuineness.

of these poets addressed

full

theme

Dawn,

swing

for the

or to

of creative

theme

s sake,

We

and chiseling their poems for the poems sake.

may

believe that these priest-poets at times,

when

asked the favor of the gods not but as joyously unconscious bene greedy beggars, ficiaries of divinities whose power to reward is in in their best vein,

as

and who, and worthy

cidental to their inherent generous nature,

therefore present themselves as a brilliant

theme

of song.

But the every-day existence of something dreadful

different.

It is

practicalities.

loaded

They

these

men

down with

must

live

by

is

those this

j|

The

184

Veda

Religion of the

very trade of theirs, namely, praise of the gods and purveyance of the sacrifice. When they turn

minds away, as they constantly do and must do, from those well-conceived personifications they tend downward. As middle-men between the gods and their

men they must, above all, take care of men, their own selves not least of all. Men can subsist and prosper only if the gods return in kind. The gods, on the whole, are good they do not beat down the ;

requests of

him that comes with prayer and cup

of

soma.

Reciprocity, frank unconditional reciprocity, thus becomes an accepted motive Give thou to "

:

me,

I

give to

thee,"

is

the formula.

king, or rich householder,

is

priests,

each of

prising habit of becoming as time goes by.

Vedic religion

of

In this is

sacrificing

thereby placed between

the upper and the nether mill-stone

both gods and

The

1

:

he must

whom show

satisfy

a sur

more and more exacting

way

the high poetic quality

crowded and choked by many

conceptions mean from the start, circumstances into a mean shape.

or bent

by these The gods them

notwithstanding their luminous origin, are brought down to the plane of human weakness. Open to adulation, they become vain eager for ad selves,

;

vantage, they become shifty; reflecting human desires, they become sordid, and in some cases even indecent. 1

dehi

me daddmi

le.

Cf. the

Roman

do ut des.

Religious Conceptions and Feeling In the

first

place,

Vedic poets engage

grant

I

suppliants.

in

same time, and cannot wishes of their numerous

at the

the conflicting

all

in a sort

The gods cannot be

of scramble for the gods.

one and the same place

185

have dealt with this theme which

may

interest the broader students of the history of relig ions, in a recent

paper presented to the

XlVth Inter

national Congress of Orientalists, held at Algiers in 1905.

and

The

the paper,

title of

Sacrifices, tells

On

Conflicting Prayers

a good deal of the story.

notion which comes out quite persistently "

requires art to

"

hog

the gods, and

is

The

that

it

not a very

it is

delectable notion either from the aesthetic or the eth

Yet not

less so perhaps than the over the slaughter of enemies, which has been known to be chanted by both sides ical

Te

point of view.

Deum laudamus

at the

same time when each

side claimed victory.

1

See Johns Hopkins University Circulars of 1906, Nr. 10, p.

2

Or consider "

ff.

:

Gieb regen und gieb sonnenschein Fur Reuss und Schleuss und Lobenstein Und wollen andre auch was ha n

So mogen

sie s dir selber sa

;

n."

My colleague, Professor Gildersleeve, proposes the following lish transfusion :

"

I

Give rain and sunshine we implo For us upon the Eastern sho ;

any others want a share Themselves may offer up the If

prayer."

2

Eng

1

The

86

Religion of the

Veda

instance, poets of the ancient family of the bards, Vasishthas, on a certain occasion brag that

So,

for

they made Indra prefer their those of

gone

own soma

libations to

Pagadyumna Vayata, though the

latter

had

to the trouble of fetching Indra from a great

distance.

Frantically emphatic prayer

man who

of the

naughty

is

praying

tricks of various sorts

;

imprecation

same time

;

and

show us under

this

at the

aspect the whole world of praying and sacrificing men engaged in a sort of universal game of tag the :

hindmost

is

The Vedic Hindus have made

"it."

a

I am glad to say that this at the end of the Vedic out particular crudity passes which period with the slow twilight of the gods

sad botch of this matter.

"

"

from polytheism, myth, and

shifts the interest fice to

When

sacri

the theosophic speculations of the Upanishads. the personal gods emerge again in later Hin

duism, they are much clarified question about their presence in

;

at least the risky

many

places at one

and the same time, and the equitable distribution of know, never asked again. There is scarcely any idea which has suffered so much from the utilitarian aspects of Vedic religion their favors

as the

is,

as far as I

Vedic idea of

itself is

of interest

equivalent

of

etymological

;

t

Latin and

meaning

To

begin with, the word qraddha the sound for sound

faith.

it is

of

our this

own word

credo. is

The

absolutely

Religious Conceptions and Feeling

means

It

transparent.

"

to set one

s

heart

187

upon."

This etymology, which is still quite clear to the VeThe dic poets, shows it full of ethical possibilities.

word

starts well in the

Rig-Veda. It means first of and godhead of the gods.

belief in the existence

all

So, a poet

is

anxious to make certain the position of

the god Indra, that blustering, pinchbeck, braggart, Herculean god whose shortcomings have gone far to

Vedic freethinker.

establish a certain position for the

The poets say "

The

of

him

:

one of

terrible

whom

they ask, where

is

he

?

He

makes Nay verily they say of him, he is not at all. shrink the goods of his enemy like a gambler the stakes of his opponent

:

Put your

him

faith in

O

He,

folks, is

Indra."

(Rig- Veda

12. 5.)

2.

As

a strong warrior, he verily fights with might in behalf of the people. Aye, then they have battles great faith in strong Indra, as he hurls down his weapon." "

(Rig-Veda "Who,

them

art,

i.

55, 5.)

what mortal, can overcome him whose treasure

O

Indra

?

Through

faith

in

God, on the decisive day, does he that

thee,

O

liberal

obtain

strives

booty."

(Rig- Veda

So there

is

no doubt that

faith

7.

means the

32

-

*4.)

belief in

the existence of the gods, and their interference in the life of man. It would be doing injustice to those

1

The

88

Religion of the

Veda

early believers to say that they did not develop the

idea beyond this stage of later text of the

and unfaith "

mere primary

is lies

A

utility.

Yajur-Veda says: Faith

is

truth,

:

The

creator (Prajapati) having beheld two qualities He put un separated truth and lie from one another. faith into

lie,

faith

he placed into

truth."

(Vajasaneyi Samhita

Next,

The

faith

is

wisdom

;

faith

fool saith in his heart,

"

order to disprove his folly

is

the sisterof wisdom:

there

it

19. 77.)

is

no

In

god."

becomes needful

to

couple the ideas of Faith and Wisdom. From a later time we have very interesting accounts of the initia tion of disciples,

and

Vedas.

their instruction in the

Teacher and pupil in a kind of dramatic dialogue carry on the solemn action Teach me the revealed books "

:

(of the

thee "

Veda),

my Lord

the revealed

Teach me the Vedic "

I

pupil.

saith the pupil.

books,"

replieth

tradition,

my

teach thee the Vedic

"

I

teach

the teacher. saith the

Lord!"

tradition,"

replieth

Teach me Faith and Wisdom,

the teacher. Lord!"

!"

saith l

Wisdom."

my

I teach thee Faith and the pupil. In another text, as the pupil puts on the "

sacred girdle which he wears during disciplehood, he

addresses 1

it

:

See (^ankhayana Grihyasutra

Grihyasutra

3. 9. I.

2.

7,

and compare

Agvalayana

Religious Conceptions and Feeling "

Daughter of Faith, born of Zeal,

Seers that did create the beings. sign to us Thought and Wisdom

and

sister

Do ;

189

was she of the

O

girdle, as also assign to us Zeal

thou,

Strength."

(Atharva-Veda Faith kindles the turn, the sacred cal religion, "

in

is

fire,

sacrifice-fire

this chief

6. 133. 4.)

and, by

emblem

way

of re

of Brahmani-

charge of both Faith and

Wisdom

:

Through Faith the fire is kindled, Through Faith the oblation is offered. head of fortune,

Faith, that stands at the

Her do we with our song

proclaim."

(Rig- Veda 10. 151.

i.)

On the other hand, the Brahmanical disciple appeals to

Agni Jatavedas

faith

he

(the holy

fire)

and wisdom, to keep intact

may

to preserve for his

memory,

him

so that

not forget the sacred texts, and to secure him

in well-being.

1

Next,_ Faith becomes a person, a goddess. That for the mechanical character

would not be bad but

which she then assumes.

Imagine and in order to one must be imagine pretty well steeped in Hin duism the frame of mind of a poet who skilfully this

exalts the

goddess Faith, but

accept oblations

:

1

C^ankhayana Grihyasutra

2.

10. 6.

finally asks

her to

The

190 "

Veda

Religion of the

Through Faith

the gods obtain their divine quality; is the foundation of the world.

Faith, the goddess,

May she pleased come to our sacrifice, Bring our wish as her child, and grant us immortality! "

Faith, the goddess, is the first-born of divine order, Upholder of all, foundation of the world,

That Faith do we revere with our oblations

May

she create for us an immortal (Taittirlya

"

;

world."

Brahmana3.

12. 3. 1,2.)

Faith dwells within the gods,

Faith dwells upon this world, Faith, the mother of wishes

With oblations do we prosper

her."

(Taittirlya

So

far so

good.

All that

Brahmana

2. 8. 8).

a development of

is still

the idea of faith in harmony with a decent belief in personal gods.

Unfortunately, the Vedic conception

of faith, at least the prominent or average conception

sinks to a

much lower

plane.

In the main and in the^ and the Brahmans

end, faith expresses itself in works,

who it

anything but mealy-mouthed have seen to In that they shall be benefited by these works. are.

other words, he

who

gives baksheesh (dakshina] to^

the Brahmans, he has faith (graddha). In a hymn that is otherwise not badly pitched the poet requests the personified goddess Faith to

make

his poetic

take well with the liberal sacrificer, and to

work

make him

Religious Conceptions and Feeling

with him that giveth, and him that

"

persona grata shall

An exceedingly interesting hymn

*

give."

Atharva- Veda, not at

all

wanting

isaddressed to the demoness

The name

of the lady

is

lovely, rests

she has

:

is

or

it

"

Avarice.",

Of course she

Arati.

in

as a

for

Venus.

coaxed to go away

is

full-

a golden complexion,

is

in fact quite

is

the old

as

"schoene Teufelinne,"

German poetry has charms she

Grudge,"

upon golden cushions;

an Apsaras, or

of the

in poetic inspiration,,

"

Yet she appears

primarily an abstraction. fledged person

191

With

all

her

:

Bring (wealth) to us, do not stand in our way, O do not keep from us the sacrificial fee when it is taken to us! being Homage be to the power of grudge, "

Arati

;

to the

power

of baffling!

whom

Adoration to Arati!

implore with holy word (Vac Sarasvatl), the yoke-fellow of thought, may Faith enter him to-day, aroused by the burnished soma drink! "Him

I

"

(Atharva-Veda

That

is

sparkles

to say,

when the burnished soma drink* when the pious emotion that

in the cup,

comes from the

skilful

hymn

rich sacrificer, then enters into

kind

?

The kind

he gives long for 1

5. 7. i, 5.)

stirs

the heart of the j

him Faith.

But what

Then to the Brahmans. How the Brahmans do baksheesh, especially when they are poor

Rig-Veda

that drives out niggardliness.

!

10. 151. 2, 3.

\ t

The

192

There ulates

"

:

essions

Who

who

the record of one

is

Veda

Religion of the

plaintively ejac

What

gentleman, desirous of more poss get us out of this wretched misery?

will

desireth to

give presents?

sacrifice,

Who

and who

desireth

long

is

life

willing to

from the

1

gods?"

Even

mean and

this

selfish construction of Faith,

on one famous occasion side.

at least turns forth a better

A zealous young Brahman, Naciketas by name,

observes that baksheesh

is

by way

of being freely

given. In fact his father Vajagravasa has performed a desperately pious sacrifice, the All-his-property"

He

luscious morsel for the Brahmans.

"

sacrifice

has given

away

in sacrifice

that he possesses.

Naciketas.

He

and attendant

Then Faith

fees all

enters into the

wishes, so to say,

"

boy

to get into the

band-wagon." He startles his father by asking: whom wilt thou give me ? The father replies "

"To "

:

death"

we can imagine

come from the

lips of

a

To

the formula that would

modern fond

father,

if

his

son were to ask him a question so very awkward. Naciketas takes him

Yama, the God get

the better

hospitality, 1

and goes down to

He

manages, however, to

of Death.

of

Yama, not

but also extracting

Atharva-Veda

283^";

literally

the author,

only enjoying his

from him certain

7. 103. i. Cf. Ludwig, Der Rig- Veda, vol. iii., p. American Journal of Philology, vol. xvii, p. 408 ff.

Religious Conceptions and Feeling information

profound existence.

Now

concerning

the

193

riddle

of

1

not claim that this important concept

I shall

was unmixedly mean and unspiritual. Indeed we have seen that it is not wholly so. This much, how ever,

is

anxious mind of the ritual

clear that the

is

almost entirely fastened upon Faith as the promoter of the sacrifice and its attendant gifts to the BrahIn the end a^raddha, devoid of faith," is the typical epithet of the demons of avarice, the

mans.

"

f

\>.

who

withhold the cows from the gods and the One or two writers have the hardihood Brahmans.

Panis,

to put

up a chain

Sacrifice,

of four links

Baksheesh.

2

Faith, Consecration,

Since consecration (dlksha) in

means

this connection

:

really

nothing but ancient

hocus-pocus preliminary to the sacrifice, where, we may ask, is there a franker avowal of shady motives that ordinarily present themselves elsewhere with a thick coat of whitewash

But what

is

there in

?

it

for the sacrificer,

we may

very well for him to silence those rau cous voices of demand, and keep giving for a while.

ask?

It is all

He must he

in

the long run get something in return, or

will balk.

Our

texts, explicit

leave no doubt in our book

1

See the

2

Atharva-Veda 13

first

of the

15. 16. 4.

minds

if

as to the

nothing

way

Katha Upanishad. Gopatha Brahmana ff. ;

I.

in

1.39.

else,

which

The

194

Religion of the

Veda

the sacrificer was rewarded, or thought he was re

warded, under this otherwise monotonously one We have seen that Faith, sided arrangement. (^raddha, is/it a t

is

personified.

Now

the sacrifice, called

and the baksheesh, called (by another name)

purta, enter into a close compound, the ishtdpurta.

They,

in their turn, get to

reality,

have a kind of personal

and turn into a kind

of beneficent genius, or

perhaps better a kind of solid asset which becomes useful with the gods during life, and, mark you, after death as well. During life, the god helps him who sacrifices

and gives baksheesh he adds to, does not But it is for the most part a ;

rob his property.

1

In a well-known funeral question of future reward. hymn of the Rig- Veda the corpse is addressed most realistically

:

Do

thou join the Fathers, do thou join Yama, join thy ishtdpurta (that which thou hast sacrificed and given to the priests) in the highest heaven "

"

!

(Rig- Veda 10. 14.

And

the following

is

8.)

a particularly realistic treat

Again a dead man blessed as he goes to heaven

ment

of

the same ideas.

is

:

Know him (the pious dead), O ye associated gods in When he shall the highest heaven, recognise his form have arrived by the paths that lead to the gods, disclose "

!

1

Rig-Veda

6. 28. 2.

Religious Conceptions and Feeling to

him

his ishtapurta

accumulated through

195

(that is, the merit which he has sacrifice and liberality to the

"

priests

)

!

(Taittirlya

And

Samhita

i.)

so another poet, in a better vein, says in a

verse that has

become famous

in India:

highest step of Vishnu (that seen by the liberal giver ever dise) in the heavens." eye "

5. 7. 7.

The is

:

is

the solar para

it is

(Rig- Veda

fixed like an

i.

22. 20.)

At a later time when the Hindus in their highest mood turn the ordinary gods into supernumeraries, when metempsychosis takes the place of a journey to heaven, when they have sloughed off priests, sacri The fice fire, spoon, and ghee, all that is changed. degraded (Jraddha or Faith "

Devotion,"

Only

that

Being that

is,

is

is

replaced by Bhakti,

devotion to the Eternal True,

at the root of all things.

The

up in the savings-bank of heaven, and the Fathers are engaged in ever

ishtapurta, piled

where

Yama

lasting feasts,

isrlaiCed^by karma, the accumulated

deeds of a given lifetime and the attendant evolution which these deeds have worked upon the spirit. This so definitely shapes character as to determine the nature of the next rebirth, until a perfect life shall free the mortal

from the

toils of all existence,

The

196

Veda

Religion of the

and replace him in the bosom of the One True Being. Of all this later on.

However, even these saccharine promises about the accumulated credit given in heaven for sacrifice

and baksheesh seem not to have been regarded by the poet priests as a sufficient guarantee that they

might securely count upon that faith which meant works useful to them. They employ another device. Being skilled verse-smiths, they begin to use their craft to forge chains of poetry which shall hold rich patrons willing captives.

They compose the or gdthd

"

ddna-stutis, "

gift-praises,"

stanzas singing the praise of

1

ndragahsyak,

In dithyrambic

on the part of generous mythic kings and patrons, are nar

language exorbitant givers of old,

men."

so-called

gifts

rated, so as to stimulate the potential patron of the

present day.

They

sing these praises so stridently

that the Vedic texts themselves, in their soberer

moments, decry the tion. men"

The poet

" "

gift-praises

of a

"

as lies

and pollu

stanza singing the praise of

and the brandy-drunkard are likened unto one

another: they are polluted, their gifts must not be I question whether the religious litera accepted. ture of any other people

resembles either

in

contains anything that

character or extent the

Cf. Ludwig, Der Rig-Veda, vol. iii., p. 274 ff.; Atharva-Veda {Indo- Aryan Encyclopedia], p. 100. 1

"

gift-

Bloomfield, The

Religious Conceptions and Feeling "

praises

of the

Veda

and

in its naivete

its

;

the type

is

197

thoroughly Hindu

boundlessness.

To

begin with, there is in the Rig- Veda a doubtless late hymn consecrated to Dakshina, or "

It is

Baksheesh."

he

takes, as

only a poetaster who under the broad road of

says, to unfold

"

to show how important it is to keep with Then, refreshing obviousness he claims i.

Baksheesh,"

giving.

e.

:

Those

give daks hind dwell on high in the that give horses dwell with the sun. They that give gold partake of immortality and they that give garments, Soma, prolong their lives."

heavens

;

that

they

;

O

(Rig-Veda

There are forty or more

Veda

alone

10. 107. 2.) "

in the Riggift-praises continue the rest of they throughout I do not mean to dwell upon them

;

the Veda.

"

beyond a

single example.

ever, that

some

We may

of this baksheesh

remark,

how

must have proved

a veritable elephant on the hands of the receiver,

except for the fact that baksheesh

it

was

as a rule imaginary

:

"

Listen, ye folks, to this (a song) in praise of a hero shall be sung Six thousand and ninety cows did we get :

!

(when we were) with Kauruma among the Rueamas Kauruma presented the Seer with a hundred jewels, ten chaplets, three hundred steeds, and ten thousand !

"

cattle."

(Atharva-Veda

20.

127.

i,

3.)

The

198

Veda

Religion of the

Operations on such a scale are calculated to show the magnates of the present day meat-packing trust that they have yet to learn from these arch-flatterers a trick or If is

my

two

in

the

of collecting cattle.

way

hearers shall ask

now

what, after

all

this,

Rig-Vedic religion, I am for my unready to answer in accordance with

the essence

of

part

not

hints

thrown out before.

more

precisely, poetic exaltation, or the pride

joy of poetic creativeness.

It

is

This

poetry, or rather,

is

and

conceived

at first

and promoted by the gods, because they get the fruit of it in the form of praise and The finer the frenzy of the poet and the flattery. to be favored

more

finished

the product of his

art,

the better

Therefore the gods, next, co operate with the poets, promoting their devotion and its expression. Finally, these twin factors of pleased are the gods.

devoted

fervor

hymns and

and

its

utterance

in

stanzas create sensations of satisfaction

which are easily taken the article

successful

is

for sanctification.

not very genuine.

But

it

At

first

goes on being

the receptacle of better thoughts until it grows into what we may consider real religious feeling. To some extent we can test this statement by

showing what the religious feeling of the Veda is The frank system of not, rather than what it is. barter of the sacrificer s soma and ghee for the god s

Religious Conceptions and Feeling

199

and protection, with considerably more than one-eighth of one per cent, brokerage for the t

that, surely,

priest

is

jp.,Q..t,

the religious feeling in

the souls of the composers of the Rig-Veda hymns. I

have taken pains to show how constantly pres.

ent

is

this external side of their religion

religion that

is

free

from

all

the religion

from which

safe-guarding

self,

throw the

The contemplation

the true ring.

God in

after

god

It

wonder

perfunctory

steps into line

the

stone.

first

is

does not seem to

It is

may

absent every form of

of the glory of the

a matter of intellectual

without end.

is

:

external considerations,

;

gods as

expressed times

me it is

and gets

to have quitei

told it.

by

rote..

They each

turn establish the heavens and the earth

they sun on his course, almost indifferently well. Perhaps, as I have hinted before, their rotation in the ritual, rather than forgetfulness of the virtues of ;

start the

the preceding god,

is

the truth at the bottom of this

kathenotheism or henotheism, as it.

It is

nice in

polytheism grown cold its

Max

Miiller called

in service,

and un-

distinctions, leading to an opportunist

monotheism

in which every god takes hold of the and none keeps it. Anyhow it is very me sceptre No one who reads in the hymns the end chanical.

accounts of the wonderful performances of the gods will deny that the poets at times grow truly

less

.

;

200

The

warm and

feel their

really carried

Religion of the theme.

away by

it.

But

Veda

Sometimes they are I do not believe that

and majesty, or the incomprehensibleness of the gods, have produced a permanent either the greatness

impression of their superiority and perfection which should permit us to speak of settled intellectual religious consciousness in the Rig- Veda.

Most conspicuously there tion of

is

no sentimental

rela

any great depth between gods and men, and

therefore no piety in the higher sense of the word. I

mean

piety that

is

not mere emotional self-excite

ment, but reasonable and settled reverence of tried

and true gods.

As

a matter of fact the gods are

good, and, at least in a general way, they are just In India, as we have seen, the gods have in also. charge especially the order of the world, and that is at the proper time, to the advantage of the suppliant mortal.

Conversely, and especially,

stands ready to punish the wrong-doer.

sometimes describe Varuna of their

own unworthiness

s

The poets

power, and the sense

or sinfulness in language

that reminds us of the Psalmist. [is

god Varuna

Varuna, however, the Rig-Veda: he

no longer pre-eminent even no really lasting impression on India

ihas left

in

s relig

If Varuna had prevailed India would have ions. become monotheistic and theocratic, which it never

did.

Religious Conceptions and Feeling Occasionally a start

glowing relation of love

made towards

is

and confidence

201

a warmly the singer

;

need of help trusts that the god will help him. But there is no permanent, clarified, unselfish love., of the gods such as overrides the experience of their

in

instability,

such as

lives

down

what

faith

is

in the

fests itself in

have seen

Veda it is the faith The Vedic poets

are trained

that mani

:

works.

"

master-singers."

trate

the melancholy fact

And we

that they do not always help.

Such poets are not likely to pene man. There is no real

far into the soul of

warmth

or depth, no passionate indistinct feeling, no

unsatisfied longing

which can be made hopefully en

durable, or even pleasurable and exalting, through

the mystery of a relationship with perfect beings, un

derstood by each individual soul in

Anything

like a

fection of the

its

own way.

contemplative, trustful joy in the per

gods comes much

later:

it

of the

is

BhagavadgTta, rather than the Rig- Veda.

But these master-singers do believe in their own art wonderful poetry, and in the exaltation of ;

in their

its composition. The gods both the the and devout mind at the accept poetry

mind which goes with

value put upon

them by the poets

;

the poets are se

renely certain that the gods are well satisfied. 1

"

Like

prayers,"

(a

1

This

cow) her calf so do the poets lick (the gods) with their A

says Rig- Veda 10. 123.

I.

The

2O2 then

is

and

lasting

belief

Religion of the

mind

the state of

religious

the

in

that approaches genuine

and

fitness

Rig-Veda: those

of

rhythmical, and assonant stanzas

tering,

rapture

over

the

upon the

is

The

poet.

"

himself

calls

glit

genuine

;

mind, while

excited, throbbing

the glow of composition

poet

the

in

feeling

beauty

Veda

"

inspired

vipra, "

compositions vipah,

inspirations "

composes, vepate matl,

he

is

";

his

calls

;

and when he

inspired in his

mind."

workmanship and the gods unresisting admiration, the Rig-Veda makes us forget at times that unpleasant economic founda In the poet

s

pride of exquisite

tion of the performance, lery of the gods

for

namely

what there

is

flattery in

*

it.

and cajo Soon both

gods and men are engaged fraternally in promoting devotion and its best possible expression in hymns, as things of intrinsic worth, as beautiful elevated

And

cosmic potencies.

summit

so

we

the

find at

finally

of this thought, the captivating

and impor 2

tant prayer of the poet of the Savitri stanza, that

the god himself shall inspire his devotion. I

have used the word

We may

"master-singers."

The

take this word quite stringently and seriously.

hymns often Rig- Veda

allude to the songs of old that were

We

6 puts this baldly to god Indra hither with this prayer don t bethink yourself a minute. 1

"

8. 21,

:

;

wishes, you have gifts. 2

See above p

86.

Here we

are with our

songs."

com-

cite

We

you have

Religious Conceptions and Feeling

203

first posed by the Rishis of the past. The very hymn in the Rig-Veda strikes this note in its second

Agni, worthy to be adored by the ancient Rishis and the present ones may he conduct the "

stanza:

gods hither

Kanva

sings

dress out

"

Another time a poet

1

"

!

my

In the spirit of the olden times do

:

(Hear),

O

new and

I

songs like (the poet) Kanva, through

which (god) Indra gets "

of the family of

his fiery

Or again

strength."

Indra, him that hath produced

:

for thee a

lovely song, with comprehending

mind a

pious song such as of yore has strengthened the di 2 In more confident or vine order of the universe/ ecstatic

temper, the poets often declare that they

have produced new songs of

praise,

and

One poet recom

opinion, these are first-rate songs.

mends

of praise, that

new, beautiful song heart;" another exclaims

his

from the

"

word, the new, the

my

"

:

fresh-born."

respect

to their

amounts

to saying that the

good

that, in their

this

predecessors

I

With

One

thing

is

sition.

are just as

charm

n

Rig- Veda

8. 6.

2

Rig- Veda

8. 95. 5.

;

cf. 8.

of

:

What comes later in the way of sacred

1

due

we have nothing The Rig- Veda is pretty of its own type of compo

certain

beginnings before us. nearly the final expression

like

all

pretty nearly

new hymns

as the old, in addition to having the

novelty.

comes

bring forward

44. 12

;

8. 76. 6.

poetry

The

204 is

Veda

Religion of the

We

distinctly epigonal, or after-born.

are face to

face with the finished product of this past age. If

we

consider that the theme

clarified polytheistic

gods, but

is

the worship of un-

little

advanced beyond

the point where they originated somewhere in nature, or in a tolerably

primitive consciousness,

we may

say, taking the fat with the lean, that the pride of

these poets in their

work

is

justified.

must not apply the chaster standards

Of course we of a later time,

we expect perfectly even results. Anyhow, poet s own eyes the Rig-Vedic hymn is a thing

nor can in the

of blameless, finished beauty.

war

as a skilled artisan a it is

free

from all

blemish," "

winnowing-basket," fice."

The

chariot.

as

He has fashioned it He has filed it until

as grain

ghee

is

heart of the poets

is

winnowed

clarified for is

in their

in the

the sacri

work, they

are unquestionably giving the best they have.

poems

are their inspirations.

above their are lift

too

The

In so far as they rise

human

interests, in so far as they than blarneying beggars, they something higher themselves up through their own art rather than all

the intrinsic qualities of the gods upon

spend

whom

they

their efforts.

In the end the gods themselves take a hand in these valuable

and delectable poetic performances.

Al

though they cannot directly furnish the metres, alliterations, beautiful words, and bold figures of

Religious Conceptions and Feeling

205

they can perform another service. They furnish the devout mind, the inspiration that is

speech,

may

behind the hymn. In fact the gods themselves per-/ form prayers, and fashion hymns May the go "

:

who perform brahma

(that

is,

their thrice-covering protection

furnish

prayer)

from

"

evil

l

us

"

Sing exhorts a poet of ye a braJnna given by the gods 2 the house of Kanva. Prayer, or devotion, is so !

!"

beautiful as to be imagined dressed out in glowing colors

and bright garments

"

:

May God Agni

lift

up

"

or our devotion that hath glowing color May God Agni place on high our brightly adorned devo "

!

"

3

Heaven and Earth,

tion

!

the

sacrifice,

stable

:

and orderly, guide

4 aglow with shining hymns.

Prayers,

personified^oby the path of the divine order to the gods Indra and Agni they are the messengers be ;

tween the two worlds.

6

Hymnal

beatification

of

prayer can scarcely reach higher than the follow ing:

"

Prayer born of yore in heaven, Eagerly chanted in the holy assembly, Delightfully dressed out in bright array, Ours is that father-inherited prayer of old

(Rig-Veda 1

Rig- Veda 10.66.

3

Ibid., 5

i.

2

5. 4

143. 7; 144. i.

Ibid., 3. 12.

7

and

I.

173.

3.

!"

3. 39. 2.)

Ibid.,

i.

37.

4

Ibid., 4. 56. 2.

;

8. 32. 7.

The

206

The itself

Veda

Religion of the

namely that Prayer or Devotion becomes divine and assumes a tolerably distinct last

step,

The

personality, deserves to hold our attention. "

epithet

Goddess

is

designations of prayer "

numerous

"

to

given

freely

There

and devotion.

is

the

"

Goddess Devotion

Lovely (Dhl) the goddess Holy Thought" (Sushtuti); the goddess "

;

"

Praise"

(Manlsha), and others. tour de force, such

And by

1

as

an almost comical

possible only in

is

India,

Devotion, having become divine, turns into a real personage who might in the company of the other

gods call out a second layer of the same article: Drink the soma, O ye Agvins, in the company of in Agni and Indra, of Varuna and Vishnu "

...

the

company

of

2

all

For the history

pious

of the

Devotions."

human mind

this last out

come, present in the ancient literature of this gifted people, is of unusual importance. The father mystic idea of the divinity of Devotion and

its

expression, the notion that the sacred inspired thought and word can itself be god, will concern us more later

From

the point of view of religious feeJingjt^ the last and best word of the Hindus as to the

on. is

There comes to mind the

nature of the divine. verse of the Gospel of 1

See Rig-Veda 35.

3.

I/".

18.

3

;

"

John 4.

43-

:

i

;

7-

first

In the beginning was 34- i

and 9

;

8.

27. 13.

Religious Conceptions and Feeling

207

Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Here the original Greek for Word is Logos. This is not quite the same as

the

"

"

the Hindu

we

"

Devotion,"

meet again

shall

in

The Logos

Brahma.

or

"

Holy

its

Utterance,"

as,

originated in the philosophy

of the Stoics and the Neo-Platonists tual rather than emotional. in this:

which

finished expression

:

it is

intellec

But the two are

alike

they seek the creative power and the crea. mind or heart of the universe rather

tive plan in the

than

in its

farther on

mechanical manifestations.

how

very peculiar

is

We shall

see

the treatment which

the Hindus gave to this important and original con cept, led on thereto by the melancholy genius that

be supposed to preside over the hot sombre For the present, and in this connection, we land.

may

be satisfied to see the origin of this seemingly mystic idea exposed to our eyes with a degree of

may

clearness that

is

not obscured by

coloring.

Like almost

ideas

the

of

Hindus

all

its

mythological

other important religious

this

idea,

when analysed

patiently with the help of their rich literature, sheds light on the seeming mysteries of other religions.

LECTURE THE FIFTH. The Beginnings

of

Hindu Theosophy.

Statement of the problem Time when theosophy originated Metempsychosis and pessimism unknown in the Place where the higher religion earlier Vedic records originated theosophic

The

charade lation

philosophy at the sacrifice The charade Specimens of the theosophic

Priest

hymn

riddle

between the

of

sacrifice

Dirghatamas and theosophy

Interre

On

the

supposed origin of theosophy with the royal caste Criticism of this view Transition from ritualistic polytheism to theosophy dammerung"

the

idea

of

and analysis

Failure

unity

Early scepticism

God Varuna

of

The

creation

of the creation

hymn

hymn

"Gotter-

Monism,

or

Translation

Attempts at mono

Lord of Creatures Vicvathe Prajapati, karman, creator of the universe, and kindred concep tions Purusha, the world man Brihaspati, the Lord Transcendental monotheistic conceptions: of Devotion Defects of the earlier mono etc. "Time," "Love," theism

theistic

and monistic attempts.

appreciation of the higher forms of Hindu ism has gotten to be one of the foremost

THE

intellectual arts of our time, because the final results

of

Hindu thought count

really

noteworthy achievements of the 208

among the most human mind. In

The Beginnings

of

Hindu Theosophy 209

order to understand the origin and nature of the

higher religion of the Veda it is necessary to twist many threads into a single skein. It is a question of when, where,

by whom, and how

this question,

considered aright, will contribute to

if

;

each phase of

the clearness of the whole.

As

regards the time

appear,

and

I

when higher

would remind

relative

my

religious motives

hearers of the indefinite

character of Vedic chronology.

The

older Upanishads, the Vedic texts which profess

higher religion or theosophy, are written in about the same language and style as the so-called Brah-

mana

These

texts.

are prose

latter, as

works which, quite

mud, define the

sacrifice

illustrative legend.

part of the

And

Brahmanas

;

Upanishads, through the

you may remember, like the

Hebrew Tal

with minute prescript and the older Upanishads are the majority of the older

medium

of the Aranyakas,

join their theosophic speculations right

dead

ritual.

To some

1

on to the

extent the bones of the ritual

skeleton rattle about in early theosophy in quite a

The Upanishads and theosophy are Veda neither Hindu believer nor west

lively fashion.

part of the

ern

critic

of the

Vedic 1

Now

the thought

Upanishads has its forerunners in all parts of back to the Rig- Veda in the

literature clear

See above, p. 43. 14

;

has ever doubted that.

;

The

210

Atharva-Veda

Veda

Religion of the

even shows signs of at least tem We cannot expect the

it

porary going to seed.

family-books of the Rig- Veda, or the ninth, soma book to break out in theosophy. These books are to the

hymns addressed

collections of

definite sacrifice

:

gods at a

to that business they attend.

It

does not follow that what they do not mention does not exist at that time. We must beware of too straight-lined a view of these matters,

one type

fol

lowing another like a row of bricks, or like different troops of the same army. I am not wise enough to say when the following stanza was pronounced :

"

They

call (it)

Indra, Mitra, Varuna, and Agni, or

the heavenly bird Garutmant (the Sun). call

the

Yama,

One Being

in

many ways they ;

The call it

sages

Agni,

Matarigvan."

This verse states that the great gods of the Veda are but One Being therefore it at once takes a high ;

stand in the range of possible human thought. And yet it occurs in a hymn of the Rig- Veda, namely, the famous riddle-hymn of Dlrghatamas, in the

book

of that collection.

tenth book 1

Some

3

is

as

2

Another statement

follows

"

:

For instance,

"

10. 8.

44

:

eternal, self-begotten, full of joy, subject to 2

the

That One breathed

stanzas of the Atharvan occupy the most advanced position

of the Upanishads.

death

in

first

who knows

Rig- Veda

i.

the wise, ageless 164. 46.

Free from desire, true,

none, he no longer fears

Atman." 3

Rig- Veda 10. 129. 2.

The Beginnings

Hindu Theosophy

of

without breath, by inner power; than nothing whatever else existed besides."

Here

two

are

statements in

it,

211

truly,

two Brahmanical

hymns, composed in the trishtubh metre, the same metre in which the Vedic poets love to call upon their fustian god Indra, and yet their intention is

They herald monism they claim but one essence, one true thing: it is but a step from such ideas to the pantheistic, abso lute, without a second, Brahman-Atman of the unmistakable.

that there

;

is

Upanishads and the

On

later

Vedanta philosophy.

the other hand, there are in the earlier religion,

whether

it

be

hymn and

sacrifice

to the gods, or

theosophic thought, no clear signs of belief in the

no pessimistic view of life, and consequently no scheme of salvation, or rather release (mukti) from the eternal round of existences, transmigration of souls

in

which

;

birth, old age, decay,

and death are the

nodal points in the chain of lives. That this phase of the higher religion belongs to a later time, to a different geographical locality,

and

social state different

and to an economic

from that of the

earliest

Vedic time, seems exceedingly likely. So we are led to the conclusion that there was a period of monistic speculation,

vanced

tentative

in

at the time of the

the later hieratic

hymns

character, yet fairly

ad

composition of at least

of the Rig- Veda.

But

this

The

212

Veda

Religion of the

higher religious thought lacked the twin factors of

metempsychosis and pessimism which really deter mine its Hindu character. Pessimist view of trans migration, and release from transmigration are the true signs of

Hinduism

in the broadest sense of that

word: through these twin conceptions the Hindu idea, as we may call it, is marked off from all the rest of

human thought without ;

tions about the divine

these,

Hindu specula

might readily pose as a kind of

the world of religious thought from the Prophets and Plato to Spinoza and Kant. may safely date the entrance of metem Volapiik, or Esperanto, for

all

We

psychosis and pessimism towards the end, rather than

the beginning of Vedic tradition. It seems to mark a most important division of the Veda into two periods.

Other marks, such as more or less advanced

the presence or absence of complica ted witchcraft practices; the sudden and unexpected priestly ritual

;

glint of a brilliant theosophic idea

or the varying forms of Vedic literary tradition involve real distinc tions of time, but they are more gradual, and are easily construed subjectively. rate,

involve

;

They do

not, at

any

anything as vital as the presence or

absence of that pessimist doctrine of transmigration to its cost even at the

which holds India captive present day.

Next, where did the higher religion spring up

The Beginnings There

is

at this

of

Hindu Theosophy 213

time no centre of learning, no stoa,

no monastery, no university. of the

With the beginning

growth of the higher religion there are con

many names, but

nected

not one name.

There

is

no

Buddha who is of a later have no reason to look to some confined

great teacher of genius like

We

time.

space within which this business of world philosophy

was

carried

on exclusively.

Indeed, the sporadic,

tentative nature of the earliest high thought, the in

and

way

was approached from many different sides many different moods, shows that it flitted

which in

it

about from place to place, and was the play-ball of many minds. But, I believe, we can tell pretty defi nitely the kind of

received

its

first

environment from which theosophy impulse, and within which it pros

pered up to goodly

size

and strength.

That, curi

ously enough, was the great Vedic sacrifice with its mock business and endless technicalities, calculated to

deaden the

put the

soul,

lid tight

and apparently the very thing to

on higher religious inspiration and

aspiration.

The rifices,

great Vedic sacrifices, the so-called qrauta sac

such as the rdjasuya (coronation of a king),

or the aqvamedha (horse-sacrifice) were performances

intended to strengthen the temporal power of kings. They were, of course, undertaken either by kings or at least rich Kshatriyas, rather than by the class of

The

214

Veda

Religion of the

smaller house-holders

who could

did not have any use for them.

not afford them, and

They had

in

them

the elements of public, tribal or national festivals. Of course they were expensive. large number of 1

A

priests

were present.

We have seen

these gentlemen were not at (dakshina) for their services.

in the past that

shy about asking fees

all

Now we

are told dis

Vedic Kings, or tribal Rajas, were not only interested in the mechanical perfection and outward success of the sacrifices undertaken under tinctly that the

their patronage,

but that they were even more im

pressed by the speculative, mystic, and theosophic

thoughts which were suggested by various phases of the

Both

sacrifice.

in

the Brahmanas and in the

anishads kings appear as questioners of

Brahmans who

Up-

the great

them some knotty sacrificial some question connected with the Whenever their questions are existence. solve for

problem, or even riddle of

answered to their

satisfaction,

in

the midst of a

continuous discourse, the King again and again is I excited to generosity give thee a thousand "

:

(cows)/

says King Janaka of Videha to the great

theosopher Yajnavalkya, as the latter unfolds his marvellous scheme of salvation in the Great Forest "

2

Upanishad." 1

Cf. 2

Kings were known to give away

Ludwig, Dcr Rig-Veda,

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad

vol. 4. 13.

vi., p. x.

their

The Beginnings

Hindu Theosophy 215

of

kingdoms on such occasions, and kings became them selves glorious

expounders of theosophic

The beginnings

the Upanishads but, as polytheistic and

said before, in the

preceded the connection with the great

the kind just mentioned the Brahmans,

sacrifices of

found

the long run,

in

we have

ritualistic religion that

Especially in

Upanishad.

religion.

of theosophic thought are not in

it

to

their

advantage to

impress the generous givers/ the patrons of the sac rifice, not only with their mastery of sacrificial tech "

nique, but also with their theological profundity.

To

some extent learned theological discussions

in prose,

of a highly scholastic(Talmudic) nature,

this

pose. fice,

This we

such as

is

may

call

fulfil

pur

the philosophy of the sacri

displayed, for instance, in the exposi

tion of {.\\eagnihotra sacrifice in

atapatha Brahmana

But furthermore, they employ a very inter esting form of poetic riddle or charade to enliven the mechanical and technical progress of the sacrifice ii. 6. 2.

intellectual pyrotechnics. I question a of such whether type religious literature is known in any other religion, or whether the riddle has ever

by impressive

elsewhere been drafted into the service of religion one of the stages of its advancement. In other

as

words, religious charades are a part of Hindu re ligious literature. 1

1

See Ilaug, Vedische Rdthselfragen

und Rathselspriiche, Transac-

The

216

Religion of the

The Vedic word as a whole,

"

for higher speculative discussion

and especially for the

poetic, riddle

is

Veda

mostly

religious,

brahrnodya or brahinavadya, that

is,

analysis or speculation about the brakma, or relig

very generally carried on by two priests, asks questions, the other answers them.

ion."

It is

one of

whom

It is a

two

kind of theological

parties

:

"

quiz,"

prearranged by the

questioner and responder know

their

parts to perfection.

At the

horse-sacrifice

two

priests ask

and answer

:

Who, verily, moveth quite alone who, verily, is born again and again what, forsooth, is the remedy for cold and what is the great (greatest) pile ? "

;

;

;

"

The answer "

is

:

The sun moveth

and again

Agni

;

the moon is born again quite alone the remedy for cold the earth ;

(fire) is

the great (greatest)

is

The

called

priest

Adhvaryu

;

1

pile."

Hotar asks the

priest

called

:

What, forsooth, is the sun-like light what sea is there unto the ocean what, verily, is higher than the what is the thing whose measure is not known ? earth "

;

like

;

"

;

The answer "

Brahma

is

is

:

the sun-like light

tions of the Munich Academy, 1875, p. Der Rig-Veda, vol. iii., p. 390 ff. ;

American Oriental 1

*]

;

heaven

ff. of

the

Society, vol. xv., p. 172.

Vajasaneyi Samhita 23. 9 and 10.

is

the sea like

the reprint

author,

Ludwig, Journal of the ;

The Beginnings

of

Hindu Theosophy 217

unto the ocean (the god) Indra is higher than the earth the measure of the cow is (quite) unknown. ;

1

;

Again the following questions and answers

:

I ask thee for the highest summit of the earth I ask thee for the navel of the universe I ask thee for the "

;

;

seed of the lusty steed

I

;

ask thee for the highest

heaven of speech." This altar is the highest summit of the earth this sacrifice is the navel of the universe this soma (the in "

;

;

toxicating sacrificial drink)

(God Indra (that

is

?)

;

this

is

Brahman

to say, the highest

It is interesting to

the seed of the lusty steed priest is the highest heaven

exponent) of speech.

"

2

note that these riddles show us

again the Hindu mind preoccupied with the nature phenomena of the world, at a time when the old nature gods have

become completely

crystallised.

Again, as regards the status of these riddles, the

Kena Upanishad opens with a very

similar pair of

riddle-stanzas, showing that the state of

mind

at the

bottom of nature-worship, brahmodya, and Upani shad marks advancing mental interests, but yet advance along the same line.

The

Rig- Veda

(i.

164) contains a

hymn which

is

nothing but a collection of fifty-two verses of poetry, all of them, except one, riddles whose answers are not given.

There can be

1

The

2

Ibid., 23. 6 1

same

text, 23.

and

62.

little

47 and 48.

doubt that the occa-

2

1

The

8

Veda

Religion of the

upon which these riddles were let off was the same as with those just cited, namely, the sacrifice. sion

The

subjects of these riddles are cosmic, that

taining to the nature

mythological, that

about the gods the

;

per

is,

of the universe

phenomena

;

referring to the accepted legends

is,

psychological, that

human organs and

sensations

;

is,

pertaining to

or, finally,

and tentative philosophy or theosophy. and earth, sun and moon, air, clouds and

crude

Heaven rain

;

the

course of the sun, the year, the seasons, months,

days and nights the human voice, self-conscious the origin of the first creature ness, life and death ;

;

and the originator of the universe such are the abrupt and bold themes. Here figures also (stanza 46) that seemingly precocious statement which con

symptomatic for all future Hindu thought, namely, that above and behind the great multitude of gods there is one supreme person the suggestion,

tains

behind the gods there is that Only Being of whom the gods are but various names

"

"

ality

;

}JLIOL\

call it Indra, Mitra, Varuna, and Agni, or the Garutmant (the sun). The sages call the bird heavenly One Being in many ways they call it Agni, Yama, "

They

;

"

Matarievan.

How

closely attached to the sacrifice theosophic

and speculations remained as they grew in clearness

The Beginnings importance,

of

we cannot

that in time the

two

Hindu Theosophy 219

say

all

;

intrinsically

that

as

we

and

see

in

from the

sacrifice

Given the mind, the thought

But

it

is

the

Hindu

to be, independently

it

lations.

its

is,

that theosophic

thought would not have sprung up mind, endowed

say

uncongenial themes

Nor can we assert

parted company.

we can

perverted scholastic

scintil

will

come.

easy to see that the beginnings of higher

religion started around the sacrifice,

by

calling out

the higher aspirations of the patrons of the sacrifice.

Wisdom-searching Rajas, weary of the world, Janaka and Ajatagatru at an earlier time, Buddha and Bim-

much

bisara at a later time, have as

Hindu

to do with the

the thirst for religion development newer and larger truth on the part of the Brahmans of

themselves.

as

The Rajas were

the Maecenases of the

We

imagine very easily that some of them got a surfeit of the world, and were attracted The beginnings of theosophy to the things beyond. "

poor

clerics."

grew up around the

sacrifice

which was under their

patronage. The Brahmans grew up to their patrons and, we may add, to their own higher needs.

They began

to offer these patrons something

than ritual technicalities.

more

In the long run they must

hold their position and reputation by something better than by handling with ludicrous correctness fire-wood and sacrificial ladle

;

soma drink and

obla-

The

22O

Religion of the

tions of melted butter.

And

in

Veda the long run their

minds, which somehow, the hocus-pocus of the sac rifice had neither deadened nor satisfied, rose to those higher and permanent requirements which led abandonment of the sacrifice and lasting

to practical

devotion to philosophic religion.

The

question, next, as to

who

carried

on the

higher religion has been answered incidentally in what has just been said. If what is stated there is stated correctly, that the

we

shall not

go astray

if

Brahmans were the mainspring

we assume in the

ad

vance of higher thought, just as they were the main factors in the worship of the gods and in ceremonial practices.

But

this

same question requires to be

more precisely for the following reason. A number of distinguished scholars have recently ad vanced the theory that Hindu theosophy is not, as stated

has been tacitly assumed, in the main the product of Brahmanical intellect, but that it was due to the spiritual

insight

of the

Royal or Warrior Caste.

1

Professor Garbe of the University of Tubingen,

an eminent student of Hindu philosophy and at same time a scholar well versed in the early

the

literature of

the Vedas,

is

the most ardent advo-

See Deussen, Allgemeine Geschichte der Philosophie, vol. i., part PP- 354 ff-\ Garbe, Beitrdge zur Indischen Kulturgeschichte, pp. 3 Litter atur, pp. ff.\ Winternitz, Geschichte der Indischen 1

2

The Beginnings cate of this view.

Brahman

of

Garbe

civilisation

he

casion has

Hindu Theosophy 221

of

;

is

not at

on more

poured out

all

an admirer

than

the vials of

one oc his

just

wrath against the intolerable pretensions and cruel ties which the Brahmans have practised during the period of their ascendancy in India through several milleniums. But not content with that, he believes

Brahmans were not only bold bad men, but that they were too stupid to have worked their

that the also

way from

the sandy wastes of ritualism to the green

summits where grows the higher thought of For centuries the Brahmans were engaged

India. in

ex

cogitating sacrifice after sacrifice, and hair-splitting definitions

and explanations of senseless "

hocus-pocus.

All at

once,"

ritualistic

says Professor Garbe,

To be thought appears upon the scene. traditional then the sacrificial even sure, god-lore, lore, and folk-lore are not rejected, but the spirit is "

lofty

no longer

satisfied

surround the

with the cheap mysteries that

sacrificial altar.

A

to solve the riddle of the universe

the

own

self

passionate desire

and

holds the mind captive

its ;

relation to

nothing

less

will satisfy henceforth."

Parts of this observation of Professor Garbe are

nay even familiar. But not every part, it seems to me. Having in mind Yajnavalkya and Uddalaka Aruni of the Upanishads, or ankara and correct,

The

222

Religion of the

Veda

Vedanta Philosophy, one may fairly doubt the unredeemed stupidity of the Brahmans at Kumarila

of the

any period of India question more

once

"

in

s

I

history.

would, for

particularly the expression

my

part,

"all

at

the above statement.

Mental revolutions rarely come

The evidence

of all in India.

continuous

shows

records

Hindu thought has

its

all

at once, least

of India s remarkably

that

every

important

beginning, middle, and final

development. As regards theosophy, its beginnings are found in the Vedic hymns its middle in the ;

and

its final

Upanishads tems of Philosophy, ;

"

of later times.

I

somehow gotten

am

like

development in the Sys the Vedanta and Sankhya "

afraid that Professor

into the state of

Garbe has

mind that there

is

only one kind of good Brahman, namely, a dead Brahman, to paraphrase a saying about that other Indian, the

American Indian.

Selfishness, foolish

the marks of these ness, bigotry, and cruelty galore some Brahmans have left in their compositions, fool

But there were, and there The older Upani are, Brahmans and Brahmans. shads, written in approximately the same language

ishly as

and

behooves knaves.

style as the so-called prose

Brahmana (Talmudic)

texts, figuring largely as parts of these compositions,

were composed by Brahmans who had risen to the lies the the way of works conviction that not "

"

The Beginnings

of

Hindu Theosophy 223

Countless Brahman knowledge. names crowd these texts Naciketas and Qvetaketu,

salvation that

is

:

Even

Gargya and Yajnavalkya, and many others.

the wives or daughters of great Brahmans, Gargi and Maitreyl, take part in spiritual tourneys, and occasionally, as in the case of

Gargi in the Great

Forest-Upanishad (3. 6 and 8), rise to a subtler ap preciation than the Brahman men of the mystery of the world and the riddle of existence.

The

scholars mentioned have

their position

by the

been attracted to

interesting fact that the

anishads narrate several times that

Up-

the ultimate

philosophy was in the keeping of men of royal caste and that these warriors imparted their knowledge to Brahmans. This is put in such a way that the Brah

;

after

man, "

lays

king

having aired his own stock of theosophy

down

is

"

before the king

s

superior insight.

The

then represented as graciously bestowing his

saving knowledge upon the Brahman. Once or twice, however, the king turns braggart, and mars his gen erosity by claiming that the warrior caste are the real thing,

and that they alone

in all

the world are

able to illumine these profound and obscure matters.

Thus the extreme example of this kind is narrated in two Upanishads. The Brahman vetaketu Aruni, 1

ignorant of the doctrine of transmigration, 1

Brihad Aranyaka Upanishad

6. 2

;

is

Chandogya Upanishad

com5. 3.

The

224 pelled

to look for instruction to

Jaivali,

who

to

become

receives

King Pravahana

him graciously and condescends In the course of his preach

his teacher.

ment the King says "

Veda

Religion of the

Brahman

to the

:

Because, as thou hast told me, this doctrine ere this

and up to thy time has not been in vogue among the Brahmans, therefore in all the world sovereignty has re mained in the hands of the warrior caste. As surely as we desire that thou and ail thy ancestors shall remain well-disposed

towards

so

us,

no Brahman ever possessed I

doubt whether

surely has

this

to this

day

knowledge."

statement, and others of

this

a similar nature, justify us in regarding the warrior

As

caste as the spiritual saviors of India.

regards

King Pravahana Jaivali s statement, it is specious on the face of it. For what have royalty and transmi gration to do with one another?

In

doctrine of transmigration has no

its

essence the

more regard

for

royalty than for the lowest caste, because its purpose is release from any form of individual existence (see

the sixth lecture). narrate these

Then

exploits

again, the very texts that

of

the Kshatriyas are un

questionably Brahmanic. Would the arrogance and selfishness of the Brahmans have allowed them to preserve and propagate facts calculated to injure

permanently their own standing?

The

situation

is

somewhat

Surely not. there never

as follows

:

The Beginnings was a time

in

Hindu Theosophy 225

of

when the Aryas,

India

that

is,

the three upper of the four ancient castes, were

excluded from Brahmanical piety. sophy, by

its

very terms, shuts

the special profession at all in

nothing

it

1

Now, as theodown on the ritual,

the Brahmans, there

of

is

to exclude occasional intelligent

and aspiring men from the other noble (Arya) castes. This is true even at the present day Svami Vive:

kananda was no Brahman, but a member Kayastha or clerk shad

(4.

the

The Chandogya Upanihow Satyakama, the son of

caste.

narrates

4)

of

the gadabout servant-maid Jabala, was admitted to

Brahmanic disciplehood by Haridrumata,

for

the

very reason that he did not try to cover up his low birth.

Satyakama,

in

the end, obtains the highest

When

it

comes to higher

knowledge.

bars are consciously let

Mokshadharma (Vanik) caste

of

Brahman

and

In the

"

seller of juices, scents,

teaches righteous In the same text * the

roots,"

Jajali.

Brahmans learned

Rishi Para^ara declares that

Veda

at all times.

Mahabharata 3 the Vaigya

man Tuladhara,

leaves, barks, fruits,

ness to the

down

the

religion the

regard a virtuous Qudra, or

in

the

low caste man,

as

the equal of Brahmans. 1 Compare Pandit Shyamaji Krishnavarma, Transactions of the Fifth International Congress of Orientalists, vol. ii., p. 218 ff.

2

12.

3 261^".

12.

290^".

The

226

Veda

where the good Brahman, of Professor Garbe will not hear, comes in. The

Here,

whom

Religion of the

I

Brahman authors minded Brahmans enough

is

think,

of the Upanishads, just as highof

to permit all

religious activity,

all

ages, were honest

fit

men

in

and

liberal

to participate in higher

wisdom and

they express particular admiration

in in

piety.

Nay,

such participa

them something were carried away by They unexpected it to a certain ecstasy, the kind of ecstasy that goes

tion, because, after

all,

there was to

in all this.

with a paradox, as when the son of a peasant in Europe works his way to a professorship in a uni versity.

must not

As

regards the Rajas, or other nobles,

forget, too, that they were after

source from which

all

blessings flowed.

all

we the

Even

in

I theosophic occupation the Brahman have said before, the poor cleric with the Raja as I think that any one who reads these his Maecenas.

remains, as

statements of royal proficiency

in

the highest wisdom

attentively will acknowledge that they are dashed in the Upanishads, as they are in the Ritual, with a

goodly measure of captatio

benevolentice.

In other

words, the genuine admiration of high-minded nobles is not necessarily divorced from the subconsciousness that

well to admire in high places.

Even

good Brahmans might do that. King Janaka of Videha punctuates the Brahman

really If

it is

The Beginnings

brilliant exposition of

s

Yajnavalkya

repeated gifts

Hindu Theosophy 227

of

theosophy by

we may wonder

of a thousand cows

who counted them, and what Yajnavalkya them as he

did with

King

Ajatacatru of Benares, real intellectual

will

not allow admiring Brahmans to starve.

is,

think that a saying of the modern sage and pious

I

ascetic,

Paramahansa

the

the

essentially

right

Ramakrishna,

upon the

light

throws

1

exceptional

character of the theosophic exploits of kings

"

:

Men

always quote the example of the King Janaka, as that of a man who lived in the world and yet attained

But throughout the whole history of mankind there is only this solitary example. His

perfection.

case

was not the

tone

down

rule but the

this statement,

question as follows

Not

:

and apply

all

tually or morally sound, but

to the present

it

Brahmans were

helpers from the other castes,

Royal

caste,

lent occasional aid,

at

ankara and

Kumarila, the intellectual leaders of India 2

intellec

some Brahmans were

times, as they were in the days of

all

We may

exception."

;

brilliant

more

especially the

and

this aid justly

compelled acknowledgment and admiration. I

am now come

at last to the

higher thought, that

is,

my

task

is

the main or essential thoughts of

Max

1

See

2

See above,

Mtiller, p.

how of Hindu now to show how "

"

Hindu theosophy

Ramakrishna, His Life and Sayings,

219.

p. 127.

The

228

Religion of the

Veda

In the transition from the nature gods, the legends, the ritual, and the folk-lore practices, to the arose.

theosophy of

settled flit

like

phantoms

lators or seers,

time.

The

later times,

many

conceptions

across the vision of these specu

sometimes not to be heard of a second

air is

charged with experimental,

electric

thought. No religious or philosophic literature of ancient times has buried so many lost children as "

"

the

Hindu

the storm and stress period that ends

in

with the Upanishads. started to rear so

No

many

people of thinkers have thought to be

edifices of

abandoned without regret or scruple when found wanting in the end. They have left behind them

many

enough have

a ruin which they might well

finished,

and within which the

many another

nation,

would

exacting,

have

permanent and congenial Reason can Philip Sidney s saying:

cheerfully settled

upon

as

"

habitations.

not show

less

religious thinkers of

itself

more reasonable than

to leave off

reasoning on things above reason," does not hold with the Hindus. They would certainly have stig

matised such sweet reasonableness as the philosophy On the of sloth, if they had ever heard of it. contrary, the

old questions of whence, why, and

whither fascinate and enthrall their thoughts from the time of the Vedic Rishis to the present day.

Remarkable

as this

may

sound,

we have

really

no

The Beginnings

Hindu Theosophy 229

of

Hindu thought

record of any period of

of

which we

can say definitely that it was wanting in the highest and most strenuous thought, from the time of the 1

riddle-hymn of Dirghatamas and the creation-hymn, to the modern Vedantins and Paramahansas of the type of Ramakrishna and Vivekananda.

To

begin with, negatively speaking, there are at a

very early time traces of scepticism. ological gods

in

The

old

myth

strong flesh tints are just the least

There are those who begin to say

bit disconcerting.

and, doubtless, there They are number of those who begin to weaken in that faith ($raddha] which means monotonously The way in sacrifice, and gifts to the Brahmans.

of the gods

"

:

not,"

a growing

is

which the Veda

insists

upon

this faith

shows that

it

could not always be taken for granted. Especially the god Indra who is a good deal of a Bombastes

Furioso must have presented himself to the eye of the more enlightened as a brummagem god, tricky, Indra, like Zeus, braggart, drunken, and immoral. will

have

his fling.

There

is

a story about himself

and a lady by the name of Ahalya in which he assumes the outer form of that lady s august priestly

husband

for

his

own

purposes, and this as well as

other treacherous acts are a fruitful source of moral ising in the later 1

Rig-Veda

i.

Veda.

164 and 10. 129.

Even

in

the Rig-Veda,

if

The

230

we

Religion of the

read between the

there are those

lines,

who

Indra, and those

Veda

apologise for

him

who mock

:

lovely praise to Indra, vying one with the Even truthful praise, if he himself be true.

"Bring

other,

*

Indra is not, who ever though one or another says saw him, who is he that we should praise him? :

(Rig-Veda

Or again

100- 3.)

8.

:

*

whom

they ask, where is he? Nay verily they say of him, he is not at all He makes shrink the goods of his enemy like a gambler

"The

terrible

one of

.

the stakes of his opponent

Put your faith

in

him

O

He,

:

folks, is

Indra."

(Rig-Veda

Hence they "

infidel,"

2.

12 5.)

that have no faith are called a^raddha,

or anindra,

"repudiators

Every onward movement

of

of

Indra."

Hindu thought takes

place at the expense of the old gods of nature

divine attribute

;

the

becomes more important than the

mythological person. The individual natural history In of the gods becomes a thing of minor interest. this sense

the

of

polytheism

Rig- Veda

is

decadent even

themselves.

It

in

the

hymns

shows signs of

going to seed for philosophy. The gods in turn perform about the same feats of creating and up holding the world the interest of the poets in the acts has evidently increased at the expense of the :

1

Rig-Veda

7. 6. 3

and

5. 2.

3.

;

10. 48. 7.

The Beginnings The

agents.

Hindu Theosophy

of

gods, too,

we must not

231

have

forget,

taken, very mechanically, fixed positions in the ritual

devoted to their service.

One

is

thing

in

certain,

the host of figures that crowd the canvass in the transition period from mythology to theosophy the nature gods play no real

role.

They

are,

not ex

if

actly abandoned, at least relegated to a subordinate

position

and treated

Every embodiment

with comparative coldness.

of the divine idea

is

now

abstract

The

higher forms of early Hindu re ligion operate decidedly from the ontological side, from the severely intellectual side. Faith and piety, or symbolic.

sentiment and emotion, right and wrong, invariably take the second place, as long as there is to settle the question of the universe, the great cosmos

the fore,

little

cosmos; time; space; causality.

man, There ;

perhaps, the plastic possibilities of the early

gods through poetry, legend, and the art of repro duction remain in India a coarse-grained exercise of second rate

power

:

one needs but to

call

up

for

comparison the part that Greek mythology plays Greek literature and art. It

is

in

interesting to test this on the person of one

great nature god of the early time.

We have

that in a very early prehistoric time, the

period of the

Hindus and

seen

common

Iranians, there existed a

high view of the gods as moral forces, as the omni-

The

232

Religion of the

scient guardians of the moral law

Veda and order

of the

Avestan Ahura Mazda and Vedic Varuna

universe.

are the guardians-in-chief of the rta, the cosmic

moral order of the universe and man. in his ethical strength

1

Vedic Varuna

has a Hebraic flavor.

side of even the loftiest figure

and the

and

By

the

loftiest traits

of the Hellenic or Teutonic

Pantheon Varuna stands

like a

the side of a priest of

Jewish prophet by Dagon. And yet what permanent moral strength have the Hindus derived from Varuna, and what be

comes

Varuna himself

of

velopment Waters,"

a

?

A second

mere stage

in the course of his

rate

"

Neptune,

Lord

de

of the

In the straight-lined

figure.

advance, looking neither to the right nor to the left, to the recognition of the one Brahma, the universal spirit, as

the one Reality, and the consequent

soriness of really

the entire phenomenal world, there

no more room

than for an idol of that

illu-

Varuna

is

for righteous clay, unless

is

and stern Varuna

you can make out

but a particular manifestation of the

One Brahma, and then he

is

no more important than

any other manifestation.

The absence

of a strong chronological scaffolding

not only for the events of Hindu history, but also for the events of Hindu thought. It is the cus felt

is

tom 1

"

to speak rather glibly of

See above,

p. 126.

"

late

and

" "

early

in

The Beginnings

of

Hindu Theosophy 233 As

these thought movements.

are at the beginning of higher

we

Hindu thought con

most important and most permanent poets of the Vedic time, writing, not

fronted with idea.

a matter of fact

its

Some

badly, in Vedic metre, see

more or

the idea of God, in so far as

it

less clearly that

can be conceived at

presupposes the idea of absolute unity. It is a thought both independent and of leonine boldness.

all,

Independent, because there

is

thinkers, or foreign literature.

no suspicion of foreign Bold, because

soon lead to the conclusion that there

one

real thing, ists

both

in

one ding an

else

we may say

ception, a bolder conception has not

the brain of haps,

sick,

man

come from

;

all

else

of this con

emanated from

a bolder conception cannot, per

the brain of man.

1

of

will

which ex

We have become

acquainted with one expression of this unity

hymn

it

but one

the universe and in man, and that

Whatever

illusion.

is

"That,"

is

in

the

"

Dlrghatamas They call it Indra, Mitra, and or the Varuna, heavenly bird Garutmant Agni, (the sun). The sages call the one being in many ways :

;

they

call

Deussen,

it

Agni, Yama,

in his

Matarigvan."

History of Philosophy,

2

Professor

remarks that

no more epoch-marking word has been uttered in India until we come to the famous tat tvam asi, 1

2

Rig-Veda 1.164.46. Allgemeine Geschichte der Philosophic, vol.

i.,

part

i,

p.

106.

The

234 "

thou

Religion of the

Veda

art the

That," of the Chandogya Upanishad. Lest some one should suspect this to be a mere blundering thought for the nonce, a kind of freak or

sport of mental rumination, the

same Dlrghatamas

contains the idea several times more

hymn

;

for

instance in stanza 6: "

In ignorance do I ask here them that haply know, did support the six regions of the world ?

Who

What

was, forsooth, this one unborn thing

The

tenth book of the Rig-Veda contains the

famous creation

hymn

(10.129).

"

?

This remarkable

production has always interested Sanskritists pro foundly it has also passed over into the general ;

and philosophy. That great and the late Professor William D. Whitney,

literature of religion

sober

critic,

remarked anent

it

in 1882, that

the unlimited praises

which had been bestowed upon it, as philosophy and as poetry, were well-nigh nauseating. And yet, 1

twelve years

later, in 1894,

Deussen, who,

I

am

sure,

not trying to contradict Whitney, breaks out into

is

new

praise,

more

ecstatic than ever:

its

"In

noble

simplicity, in the loftiness of its philosophic vision it is

possibly the most admirable bit of philosophy of

olden

times."

And

"

again,

No

do justice to the beauty of the 1

2

translation can ever 2

original."

Proceedings of the American Oriental Society, vol.

History of Philosophy,

vol.

i.,

part

i,

I

think

xi., p. cxi.

pp. 119 and 126.

The Beginnings we may grant

Hindu Theosophy 235

of

that the composition shows a

good deal of rawness, unevenness, and inconsistency. Yet it is perhaps easier to undervalue such a performance than It occurs in one of to exaggerate its importance. the earliest literatures of the world

;

it

brushes aside

mythology, and it certainly exhibits philosophic depth and caution when it designates the fundamen all

tal

cause of the universe not by a name, but as

(tad\ or

judge

"

for

the one thing

themselves

"

(ekam).

But

let

"

that

"

my hearers

:

FIRST STANZA.

Nor

was there nor non-being ; there was no and no sky beyond. What covered all, atmosphere and where, by what protected ? Was there a fathom "

less

1

being

abyss of the waters ?

The poet

describes

mordial chaos. unconceivable

;

"

deftly as possible a pri

as

There was not non-being, for that is there was not being in the ordinary

What was

experience of the senses.

there

?

The

next stanza carries on his negation and poet then abruptly presses forward to a positive con in the

clusion

:

SECOND STANZA. "

1

Neither death was there nor immortality

Cf.

Chandogya Upanishad

6.

2.

2.

;

there

The

236

Veda

Religion of the

was

not the sheen of night nor light of day.

One

breathed, without breath, by inner power ; than

truly nothing whatever

The poet

It is

and breathes, but out breath material.

That One

"

it

(literally

express a

first

what posi

"

(tad

ekatri)

;

it

exists

breathes in a higher sense, with "wind")

It is difficult to

more

or even a

it

besides."

careful in his thought of

is

tively was.

else existed

That

which

physical and

is

imagine a more cautious,

successful attempt to conceive

and

cause or principle without personality. fail to observe that even so subtle

Yet we must not

a conception as the neuter That One is furnished with the anthropomorphic attribute of breath, be "

"

cause after

some

in

all,

in

the long run,

sort of flesh

takes up

anew the

must be decked out

and blood.

The

description of chaos,

up with a second description

it

it

third stanza

and follows

of the primal force

:

THIRD STANZA. Darkness there was, hidden by darkness at the The beginning- ; an unillumined ocean was this all. "

was enveloped in a shell might of devotional fervor was born"

living force which

by the

,

Unquestionably we have here the in

expressed 1

Prajapati. 1

See below,

the

Brahmana

According to p. 240.

tales

that one

idea, frequently

of

the creator

this the primal

being be-

The Beginnings

of

Hindu Theosophy 237

gins to create through the force of devotion (tapas).

Here an even more primary condition the fundamental force

is

assumed

is

either another start at a primeval cause, or,

may

:

is

This devotional fervor marks

born from, devotion.

ical as this

or

put forth by,

itself

seem,

is

yet uncreated sages.

paradox

the devotional fervor of the

Anyhow

these sages appear

upon the scene as del ex machina in the next stanza, and then,

after this

gap has been spanned, the work

of creation can really proceed.

FOURTH STANZA. "Desire

arose in the beginning in That ;

first seed of mind.

root

of being

Desire, "

Love,"

was

it

the

The sages by devotion found the

in non-being, seeking it in (their)

Kama, the equivalent means here the desire to

heart."

Greek

of live

;

it is

"Epcos

the

possible seed or fruit of the mind, for there

conceivable action of the

mind which

is

first

is

no

not preceded

by life. The second hemistich introduces an even more primordial creative role on the part of the sages,

whose devotion

the act of creation.

come the sages

is

the real promotive force in

The poet does not

at this stage

whence

tell

The

of the drama.

production of this creation, which is here defined as out of non-being," contradicts, being" coming "

the

"

first

stanza where

"

non-being" is

denied

"

:

How

The Religion

238 can

come out

being

Chandogya Upanishad

Veda "

of

non-being?

Moreover

(6. 2. 2).

the previously postulated

terms eliminates

of the

"

That Only

"

non-being."

it

ignores

which by

The poet

"

asks the

its

here un

questionably entangles himself in sham-profundity left out all reference to non-being"

he had better is

it

of

a term handled

deftness which

fondness for

Then

is it

the inverse ratio to their

in

it.

obscure, and

takes a wholly

desire

own

"

That

in

new

philosophic scepticism.

the wake of

any case

:

it

unimportant.

turn into the direction of

This

Only,"

had sprung forth

a mystical fifth stanza

is

in

quite unexpected in

whose mind

ought

to,

creative

aided by

its

or the sages creative fervor, go on to create the

world,

if it

does anything at

all

:

SIXTH STANZA. "

Who

Who can here proclaim it ? whence cometh this creation ? born,

truly knowetJi ?

Whence hither

On this side are the gods from its creating, Who knoweth then from whence it came to being?

SEVENTH STANZA. "

I

by the Hindus with a degree

is

The hymn continues with which

;

"

from whence it came to made itself, or whether not

This creation

Whether

it

being,

He who is its overseer in highest heaven, He surely knoweth or perchance he knoweth

not."

"

The Beginnings

Hindu Theosophy 239

of

The avowed purpose

of all philosophy

the world and

is

to ac

count for the presence of contents, needs to and is not which self-evident, something its

as

be explained beyond the point of mere individual experience, or analysis through empirical knowledge.

The

performs this act not without and with petulance due to scep some unsteadiness In putting forth a fundamental principle ticism. creation

hymn

without personality

it

does not

fall

far

behind the

best thought of later times inside or outside of In dia.

It fails

where

all

fails, in

philosophy

bridging

over to this particular idealistic or phenomenal world, even after the fundamental principle has been ab stracted,

a form.

no matter

We may

how rarefied and non-committal

in

expect, therefore, other starts to

The Veda, as I have hinted number of attempts supreme monotheistic being who is far

wards the same end.

before, contains an astonishing

to establish a

easier to handle than the monistic

monotheistic god who, veniently assumes

all

"

when once

responsibility.

That Only

"

;

a

conceived, con

We

have seen

more than once how supreme divine action makes a show of gradually detaching itself from the persons of the various gods

and

cult,

the mind lar

and how

who

figure in the earlier

this action impresses itself

myth upon

as really more important than the particu divine agent who was at any given time supposed

The

240 to perform

Religion of the

Veda

Creation of the world

production of out and the earth of the spreading sky and lordship over all that moves or stands these the sun

;

;

;

some

are

it.

of the grander acts in world

Even

life.

in

the Rig- Veda these acts are bunched and thrown into the lap of a divinity "

Lord

of

more or

a

by the name

Various

Creatures."

less abstract

and

of Prajapati

earlier divinities of

specialistic

character,

especially Savitar, the inspiring, enlivening principle of the sun, and Tvashtar, a kind of divine carpenter

or artificer of less important objects, are blended in

product it goes as far to realise personal mono theism as was ever possible in India. One hymn this

;

Prajapati

pictures

in

very glowing colors

he

;

a true creator, ruler, and preserver, and yet,

it

1

is

is

very interesting to observe, that the description of not, after all, differ very materially from that

him does

god Indra in the hymn, Rig- Veda 2 may be seen from a comparison of the two.

of the polytheistic 2. 12,

Some

as

of the stanzas of the Prajapati

follows

hymn

are as

:

Rig-Veda

10. 121.

golden germ arose in the beginning, Born he was the one lord of things existing, The earth and yonder sky he did establish

i.

"A

What god 1

2

Rig-Veda

shall

we

revere with our oblation

?

10. 121.

See Deussen, Geschichte der Philosophic,

vol.

i.,

part i,p.

128^".

The Beginnings

of

Hindu Theosophy 241

gives life s breath and is of strength the giver, At whose behest all gods do act obedient, Whose shadow is immortality and likewise death

2. "Who

What god "The

3.

king,

shall

who

we as

revere with our oblation

it

breathes and as

it

?

shuts

its

eyes,

The world

of life alone doth rule with might, Two-footed creatures and four-footed both controls

What god 4.

"Through

shall

we

revere with our oblation

?

whose great might arose these snow-capped

mountains,

Whose are, they say, the sea and heavenly river, Whose arms are these directions of the space What god shall we revere with our oblation ? "

we come to the tenth stanza does this omnipotent god who so far has not betrayed his Golden name, unless we so regard the epithet Germ in the first stanza, reveal himself as Prajapati Not

until

"

"

:

and there s no other Prajapati, thou art the one dost encompass all these born entities

io.

Who

!

Whate

May

er

we wish while

that be ours

!

offering thee oblations, May we be lords of riches

"

!

easy to feel both the inferiority and the of this Creator God who lords convenience greater it over everything, without exactly having estab It is

lished

any particular mental or moral claim to his

prerogatives. "

sophic 16

That

As compared with Only,"

the sheer philo

the one thing without

humanly

The

242

Religion of the

Veda

definable quality, Prajapati cuts a sorry figure, and

marks a backward movement. have

symbolic,

The supreme being

by the way.

fall

conceived as V^vakarman,

is

*

universe

highest ing

as Parameshthin,

;

he

fabricator

who

of

the

occupies the

the self-exist Svayambhu, Skambha, Support"; as Dhatar, Vidhatar, "Arranger"; and others. "

"

as as

"Maker";

"

"

as

summit";

being";

we

and philosophic, which make a

ritualistic,

short spurt and

as

are,

other monotheistic conceptions,

many

said,

There

These are mere symbolism.

move in the direction of mono pantheism is made through the personifica

In another theistic

tion of

all

His head

way

a

nature as a giant

is

heaven, his eye

Ymir

man

is

Veda

called Purusha.

the sun, his breath

the Edda.

The

a microcosm, or small world,

versely, the world

diffused.

widely

in

man,"

is

10.

90 "

1.

notion that

and

that,

con

a huge man (macranthropos) is Here are some stanzas of Rig-

is

:

The Purusha with thousand heads, With thousand eyes and thousand feet, Surrounds the earth on every side, goes ten digits yet beyond.

And "

2.

is

Purusha reminds us of the

the wind, and so on.

cosmic giant,

*

Purusha, aye,

The world

is

that

all this

world,

was and that

will be.

The Beginnings He

3.

of

Hindu Theosophy

243

even rules th immortal world

Which must

sustain itself

"Thus

is

great

this his

Yet even beyond

by food.

majesty he goes.

in strength

A

quarter of him all beings are. Three quarters are immortal beyond."

The most cations

is

significant of all monotheistic personifi

derived from the sphere of worship and

namely the God Brihaspati or Brahmanaspati, Lord of Prayer or Devotion." He presents him

ritual, "

self at first as

a mere personification of the acts of

the poets and priests. We remember a preceding statement that the Vedic poets consciousness is in

vaded by and impressed with the dignity and charm of their

own

poetic devotions.

They go

so far as to 1

very devoutness to the level of divinity. In Brihaspati we have a personification of prayer this

lift

A

beautiful performance both in one. * stanza of the Rig- Veda has it When, O Brihas

and

religious

"

:

pati,

men

first

speech, giving

sent forth the earliest utterance of

names

to things, then

a jewel treasured within pure."

was disclosed

them, most excellent and

In another famous

hymn

of the Rig- Veda

3

Holy Speech," is represented as the companion and upholder of the gods, and as the foundation of

Vac,

1

"

See above, p. 206.

2

10.

71.1

3

10.

125

The

244 all

Religion of the

religious activity

a later time

and

its

attendant boons.

we have the

statement that

Veda

Holy Song

(Dhena)

Weapon

(Sena)

is

the wife of

1

Brihaspati at of the

"

the wife of

is

"

Brihaspati just as Indra.

metaphoric

significant "

"

From

more

first is

placed as an ally by the side

regal gods, like Indra, Agni,

in their fights against

The Vedic gods sacrifice, just as

demons and

and Soma,

stingy unbelievers.

derive strength from prayer and

do Hindu men

conception from the beginning.

this is a familiar

The thought which

underlies Brihaspati has in store for itself a greater

more permanent result in the still more Brahma, which is religious devotion in the Of this in the last lecture. For the pres absolute. future and a

abstract

ent Brihaspati rises from his modest position as aider

and abettor of the war-gods to become father of the gods, upholder of the ends of the earth. Sun and

moon

s

alternate rise

is

Like a blacksmith

his work.

Brihaspati soldered together this world.

That hap

pened before the races of the gods came into being perhaps at the time when being was born of non;

"

"

"

being."

More transcendental are the exploitations in the direction of monotheism of such conceptions 1

See the author, Journal of the German Oriental Society^

xlviii., p. 599.

vol.

The Beginnings "

as Kala, "

Eros

more

;

of Prana

Hindu Theosophy

Father Time

"

Time,"

"

of

"

of

;

Breath of Life

"

245

";

Kama,

"

Love,"

and others even

The conception of Eros the first movement in The

and tentative.

faint

we have met above as One after it had come into

life

;

deification

its

is

never

very pronounced. Prana, or Breath of Life," is an almost universal cosmic principle it will occupy our attention in connection with the final shaping of "

;

Hindu theosophy. The most transcendental personifications "

pati,

is

the lord of

that of

Time"

creatures,"

at first

namely

nature.

Now

this generative

power

:

Praja-

an abstraction,

readily associated with the generative

is

of these

"

is

power

of

revealed par

ticularly in the cycle of the year.

By easy associa with year: next identified Prajapati boldly Prajapati reflected, This verily, I have created as

tion "

is

counterpart, namely, the year.

my

*

say,

Prajapati

is

Therefore they

the year/ for as counterpart of

himself he did create the

year."

Thus

the prose

Brahmana texts naively, yet closely, reason. And out of some such reasoning "Time" itself emerges as a monotheistic conception, in whose praise the Atharva-Veda "Time

sings

two hymns

1

:

runs, a steed with seven reins, thousand-eyed, The seers thinking holy thoughts,

ageless, rich in seed.

mount him 1

19. 53

;

and

all 54.

the beings are his wheels.

The

246

Religion of the

Veda

Time begot yonder heaven, Time That which was and that which shall "

Time, spreads

also these earths. be,

urged forth by

out."

(Atharva-Veda After a survey of these manifold,

19. 53.

all

i

and

5.)

them more

of

or less shaky attempts to account for the universe

and man, one impression, which fore,

grows mightily.

I

I

have spoken of be

mean the presence

lectual subtlety, the absence of sentiment. like

a practical bearing of

all

these earlier

of intel

Anything monothe

and monistic creations upon the Hindu mind and heart seem as yet almost altogether wanting. istic

In a sense they are not religious, but crudely philo sophical.

That

is,

if

we

define religion as the inti

mate, mutual, personal relation between man and the higher powers that surround him. In so far as they

and

are religious in this sense these monotheistic

monistic creations do not advance perceptibly be

yond the stage of the polytheistic nature gods, the ritual, and the sorcery of earlier times. The extrava gant power of Prajapati cause for cajolery "

is still

nothing more than a

:

and there s no other Prajapati thou art the one dost encompass all these born entities!

Who

er we wish, while offering thee oblations, that be ours May we be lords of riches

Whate

May

!

(Rig-Veda All this

is

far

from being the

final

"

!

10. 121.10.)

form of the

The Beginnings higher religion. its

of

Hindu Theosophy

When Hindu

theosophy has reached

growth and has stretched

full

247

its

we

limbs

find

all its various intellectual movements still keep on differing among themselves considerably, to the But they are end, as they did at the beginning.

that

absolutely agreed on one point, namely, their final

Their

purpose.

final

purpose

salvation

is

from the endless chain of existences

in

;

release

which death

marks the passage from link to link. This salvation can be effected in only one way, namely, profound and genuinely religious appreciation of the identity rests

own

self with the One True Being. This the twin of doctrine upon Transmigration and

of one

s

Monism without which India would not be India. The earlier forms of monotheistic and monistic speculation tion.

I

show no

thought

sign of a belief in transmigra

advisable to let this belief

it

mark

the division between the tentative, purely specu lative philosophy of the earlier time, and the thought of the Upanishads, which ious.

is

in its essence truly relig

The Upanishads, with

ments and through

all

move

their fluttering thought, never

lose sight of that great

came the

their curvy

all

purpose of salvation.

How

how it how Brahma, the

belief in transmigration in India;

led to a pessimistic

view of

life

;

One, the Universal, the True, finally shaped himself from out of the mass of conflicting and yet converg-

248

The

Religion of the

Veda

thoughts about the Divine which we have sketched to-day and how release from the chain of

ing

;

Brahma may be ob be the theme of our concluding

existences through union with

tained lecture

that will

on the

religion of the

Veda.

LECTURE THE SIXTH. The

Final Philosophy of the Veda.

Death and future

life

Early notions of Hell

in paradise

The idea of retribution Limit of reward for good deeds The notion of death-anew, or "re-death" How comes the belief in transmigration Hindu doctrine The method of transmigration of transmigration The doctrine of karma, or spiritual evolution How transmigration and karma appear to Western minds The pessimist theory of life Cause of Hindu pessi mism Pessimism and the perfect principle (Brahma) "

"

Dualistic

one

of

s

pessimism

Salvation

through

realisation

own Brahmahood

The conception of the Atman, the soul principle

dtman, "breath," as life of the Universe Brahma, the spiritual essence of the Universe Fusion of Atman and Brahma Maya, or the world an illusion The unknowableness of Brahma Emerson s poem on the Brahma The fulness of Brahma: a story of Yajnavalkya and his wife Maitreyi Transition from philosophy to piety Hindu asceti Professor Huxley s critique of asceticism Pilgrim s

cism

progress

under the

and disciplehood life

religion

The

of the forest-dweller

life

Brahma

of

of

the

Investiture

householder

and wandering

ascetic

The

Ultima

Thule.

THE and

Veda

conception of the polytheistic gods, the relations which the early Hindus have s

established with

them by means J 249

of their songs o of

The

250 praise

Religion of the

and nourishing

simple.

The temper

are

gifts,

Veda a spirit very

of

of these things almost guaran

tees beforehand equally simple notions about death

and future

life.

There

is

a paradise above, conceived

oftenest as a solar paradise, where the gods are hav

Man would

ing a delightful time.

have a share

in this delight, like

be most happy to the gods immortal.

Therefore the gods are implored to let

man

the pious

their behalf.

come

them

to

that has spent his substance freely in

1

Next, this elementary belief is fittingly out with simple rites and ancient legends. padded The bodies of the dead are burned and their ashes are consigned to earth.

But

this

is

viewed, symbolic

ally, merely as an act of preparation

it

is

for that other life of joy.

Arms

utensils, especially sacrificial utensils, are

buried

called forthright

and

cooking

with the corpse. For the occupations and necessi who have gone forth (preta), as the ties of those "

"

dead are called euphemistically, are the same as upon the earth, sacrificing included. fathers of old

who have gone

The

have found another good place. the

first

went

royal man,

righteous fore

forth in the past

they

Especially Yama,

forth as a pioneer to the

distant heights in the skies.

He

searched and found

a way for all his descendants. He went before and found a dwelling from which no power can debar 1

Rig- Veda

i.

31. 7

;

91.

i

;

125.

5,6)5.

55.

4

;

63. 2.

The

Final Philosophy of the

The Fathers

mortal man.

and

this

There

of old have travelled

midst of highest heaven,

in the

in

Dawn, beams unfading

eternal waters flow.

There

of beautiful foliage,

engaged

the

251

it,

path leads every earth-born mortal thither.

the Goddess

in

Veda

of the

company

after death at

Yama

gods

s call

Yama in ;

sits

the lap of

light,

there

under a tree

an everlasting bout

there mortals gather

to behold Varuna.

They

imperfections behind them on returning to their true home, the rich meadows of which no

have

left all

In that place there are no lame

one can rob them. nor crooked of limb to the strong

;

the weak no longer pay tribute

all alike

;

share with

Yama

and the

gods the feast of the gods.

Underneath the coat bitter after

of sugar the pill of death

Fitfully the

all.

is

Vedic Hindu regales

himself with the hope of paradise, but his real crav ing "

is

expressed in Vedic literature countless times

May we

:

hundred autumns, surrounded by On the way to Yama the dead must

live a

lusty sons!

"

pass the two

broad-nosed,

four-eyed dogs,

the

speckled and the dark according to another turn of this myth these same dogs, originally sun and moon, wander among men and pick the daily candidates ;

1

that are to go on their last

Soon we pilgrimage. hear of the foot-snare of Yama. Think or do what 1

See above,

p. 105.

The

252

Religion of the

Veda

death remains uncanny. The prospect of paradise is marred to some extent by visions of hell,

you

will,

the inevitable analogical opposite of paradise, that

deep place of bottomless, blind darkness, which in is fitted out with the usual gruesome

a later time

stage-setting in the style of

wall-paintings in the

From

Dante

Campo Santo

the start there

is

s

Inferno, or the

at Pisa.

the idea of retribution.

To

Yama s blissful seat only they who have done good may aspire. We remember the belief that the things and given the priests (the ishtdpiirta) await highest heaven the faithful as a sort of twin guard

sacrificed in

ian

angels, securing for

them

bliss.

On

the other

hand, the oppressors of the Brahmans, they who spit upon the Brahmana sit in the middle of a pool of blood chewing hair." The tears which did "

"

.

.

roll

.

from the eyes of the oppressed, lamenting Brah

mana, these very ones,

O oppressor of Brahmans, the

In gods did assign to thee as thy share of water." an early version of hell the sage Bhrigu observes some yelling men who are being cut up and devoured

by other men who

also yell

we do

us in yonder world, so this

"

:

So they have done to to them in return in

2

world."

But now the Hindu, subtle and at the same time naive, given over to rigid schematism and mechan1

Atharva-Veda

9

(^atapatha

5.

19. 3.

and

Brahmana n.

13.

16.

I.

The

Final Philosophy of the

ical consistency, as all

Veda

his intellectual history shows,

becomes nervous about the permanence

What

253

of

life

after

the effect even of his good deeds should not last forever? What if, instead of the death.

if

hoped-for immortality in yonder world, there be

death again ity

which

?

One

lasts

text

fancies a limited immortal

only a hundred

years, that

man upon

ideal length of the life of

is,

the

The

earth.

good deeds is after all finite day and night, or, as we should say, time may exhaust the In strict logic that must stock of one s good works.

treasure of

;

mean death anew.

So we read

texts of fervent wishes

and cunning

ensure imperishableness of one cut off

in

the Brahmana rites

potent to

good works, and to 2 the possible recurrence of death. There are s

also performances intended to secure to the deceased

ancestors who, for aught one knows, are in the

same

danger of re-dying, genuine, instead of temporary and 3 This conditional immortality. death-anew," or "

(punarmrtyii) as the Hindus call it, is an exceedingly characteristic idea, but it is not yet transmigration of souls. As long as its scene is loca "

"

re-death

ted entirely in the other world, and as long as

thought possible to avoid or cure expedients of 1

2 3

sacrifice,

it

it is

by the ordinary

so long the essential character

Brahmana 10. I. Brahmana 3. n. atapatha Brahmana 12. 9*

(^atapatha

5. 4.

Taittiriya

8. 5. 3.

12.

The

254

of that belief

is

Veda

Religion of the not yet present.

But the

transition

from one to the other was easy. If men can die in is no way, short of annihilation, to se cure peace for anything that started out by being

heaven there

in the im Next, the notion of re-death agined world beyond was after all too shadowy it lacked the practical data of experience. It was very "

mortal.

"

;

natural to transplant the consequences of to this earth, the

home and

"

re-death

"

hearth of death where

He who men, every wink of the eye. must die again comes on to do it on earth where the trick is so well understood lo and behold, we have like fish, die at

the essential of metempsychosis, namely a succession of lives

and deaths

being.

I

am

in

the career of one and the same

far from believing that

reasoning, taken by

even such smooth

itself, suffices to

account for the

presence of this important doctrine in India. The germs of the belief in transmigration are very likely to have filtered into the Brahmanical consciousness

from below, from popular sources, possibly from

some

of the aboriginal,

non-Aryan tribes of India. has always borrowed immensely

Brahmanical religion from folk beliefs and practices, and has always man aged to impart to these borrowings the look of integral Brahmanical doctrine.

Like a 1

will-o -the-wisp the belief in transmigration

See Alfred Bertholet, See ten-wander ting (Nr.

2 of the

iii.

J

Series

The flares it

up

in

among

Final Philosophy of the

many

parts of the world.

Veda

We

255

hear of

the Egyptians and the Celts, but

it

has

developed most significantly among the Greeks and Hindus. Its wide vogue is due to a fusion of some of the simplest observations

and reasonings about

and death, such as can scarcely fail to come to the mind of primitive man. It is pure folk-lore. life

Three suppositions are required First,

man

for this belief:

has a soul, separate and separable from

the body.

Secondly, animals, plants, and

even inanimate

objects similarly have souls.

Thirdly,

all

these souls can change their habita

tions.

The

man

has a soul depends in the main upon two observations: First, breath of life and its cessation after death. Life s breath is con strued lives

belief that

by primitive observers

as an entity

which

with the living body and leaves it at death. life s breath departs, the soul departs. Sec

When

ondly, intercourse of the living with the dead con tinues in dreams and hallucinations.

that the dead after

all

exist.

This shows

Primitive

man does

not recognise illusions.

The

belief in

animal and plant souls, and even

of Religionsgesehichtliche Volksbucher^ edited

Michael Schiele), Halle

a. S.

1904.

by Professor Friederich

The

256

Religion of the

Veda

souls of inanimate objects (fetish), is based upon the same sort of simple logic. Animals have both life s breath and some measure of reason. Nomads, cattle-raisers, hunters, inhabitants of forest

and

sea-

coast are thrown into intimate intercourse, each with particular classes of animals

whose mental resources

are not only obvious, but often clash with

and

fable

fairy-tale

survives the

folk s very

belief in reasoning, soul-inhabited animals

nard the

man

s

Clear up into the high literature of beast

interests.

Fox and Bre

Rabbit.

r

own

in the search after his

dered into the notion that

:

see

real

Rey

Primitive man, too,

origin has often blun

man

is

descended from

one or the other animal.

This has given rise to the very important religious, political, and economic institutions

As

known

as

Totemism.

regards plants, the

Hindu Law-Book

of

Manu

forbids the chewing of red rosin, doubtless because

looks like coagulated blood, and blood must not

it

supposed to be alive. The weird twilight shapes of trees and plants, the sough be drunk.

of the

The

wind

suggest

As

1

is

in the leaves of

life in

the forest-trees again

the vegetable kingdom.

regards inanimate things,

ber the child

s

we need but remem

relation to its doll, or, that children

punish with their 1

tree

own

oft-tasted penalties the stick

See von Negelein, Archiv fur Religionswisssnschaft^

vi.,

246.

The

Final Philosophy of the

over which they stumble.

remoter analogies of

seem

In

human

brief,

life

Veda

257

the nearer or

which pervade, or

them

to pervade all objects in nature present

man

selves to early

as guarantees or suggestions of

universal animation, of souls present in every shapen thing.

And now the

passage of these souls from one kind

of receptacle to another, from

man

man

to

man, from

to animal, plant, or stock, or stone, follows

The

inevitably.

records of primitive beliefs are

full

of it. I will merely remind you of the belief in wer wolves as one instance of this kind. In the final

outcome

of

all

these notions

account for the destiny of

some

man

peoples, eager to after death,

have

assumed a chain of variegated existences. And with this goes very generally some notion of evolution forward or backward.

The

character of the creature

given existence controls the degree of This last bit of logic has next existence. flowered out in India as the important doctrine of in a certain

the

karma or deed." As far as India "

concerned one thing is certain real metempsychosis does not enter into the higher

thought of India, takably until

however, i

is

:

or, at least, is

we come

to the Upanishads.

this belief has finally

See below p. 259.

not stated unmis

When,

taken shape we find

in

The

258

Veda

Religion of the

the following established items of faith

it

living creature

Every

:

reborn in some organic shape

is

every living creature had a previous existence

every living creature death, until in

some

;

;

and

again and again the prey of

is

life all

desire

and

all

activity as

the outcome of desire shall have been laid aside.

This

is

the

Hindu

nation of the

salvation, namely, absolute resig

finite, futile, illusory

of the will to live,

and the act

world; cessation

of living.

This of

produces union with Brahma. Not until mor man has cast off every desire of his heart does he

itself

tal

enter immortal into Brahma.

We

have now arrived

at the thought or the position of the Upanishads, the

the long line of Vedic texts.

last in

Like

all

Vedic

thought, the thought of the Upanishads is not sys tematic, but tentative, fanciful, and even romantic. It feels

its

misty, wavering, sometimes

way through

The more

conflicting beginnings.

come

later

on

systems of

one or the other of the so-called

Hindu philosophy.

Upanishads so important a doc must be established on reason. There are two

Still

trine

in

even

in the

questions to be asked.

wander from

life

to

tation differ from at

a

rigid conclusions

life

life

;

to

why must the soul secondly, why does its habi First,

life,

liable to reincarnation

one time as an animal high or low

human being

of various degrees

;

;

at

and

:

another as at yet an-

The

Final Philosophy of the

other even as a god

?

Veda

259

For our convenience we may

answer the second question first. The celebrated Law-Book of Manu, at a time when this doctrine has become cut and dried, teaches that a

who

priest

trusted to

steals the substance

him

Brahman

which has been en

for sacrifice to the

gods

will in his

next existence become a vulture or a crow.

Why ?

Because the vulture and the crow make their living by stealing food. Briefly, man is what he does.

Note the superb moral This

is

possibilities of this teaching.

the well-known doctrine of karma, or

"

deed,"

now famous wherever men are interested in evolution of the human mind. Deed and the or

"

desire,"

as the

Hindus

are essentially one and the

man

s

nature

deavors, his

as

is

founded

;

call

it,

same

thing.

of existences

own

is

On

desire

as his desires so are his en

deeds the character of his next birth

of his

regulated, for he

deeds.

If his

will,

back of the deed,

endeavors so are his deeds.

his

the

karma

is

in

himself the

in a

By

the round

given

life

sum has

accumulated for him a good balance, as it were, the next life will be delightful and noble conversely, if ;

the next birth will be, consequently, as a low and degraded being. Life is character char his life

is evil,

and inherent from previous existence, and character modelled and shaped by the deeds of

acter inherited

1

Manu

ii. 25.

The

260

Religion of the

Now we may answer the first

the present existence.

The answer

is

must the soul wander

Why

question, namely,

Veda

at all

?

No

:

to release from

life

deed leads the way to salvation, and union with Brahma. Aye, to

be sure, as the fragrance of a tree in blossom so the fragrance of a good deed is wafted afar, saith the 1

But even the best deed

Chandogya Upanishad. a thing from

the

finite.

It

is

very nature limited and vitiated by rewards itself, it punishes itself, accord its

ing to a process of automatic psychic evolution, but

the fruit of the finite can "Yajnavalkya,"says 3

"

if,

Upanishad,"

speech goes into the sun, his

tions of space, his

be only

Artabhaga

in

finite

man,

his breath into wind, his

into the

body

:

the "Great Forest

after the death of this

fire,

mind

itself

his

eye into

his ear into the direc

moon,

into the earth, his self (atmari)

into ether, the hair of his

body

into plants, the hair

blood and semen into water, Then spake what then becomes of the man?"

of his

head into

Yajnavalkya:

trees, his

"Take

me by

the hand,

my

dear!

Artabhaga, we two must come to an understanding about this privately, not here among people." And they went out and consulted.

was

And what

they said

DEED (karma), and what they praised was DEED

Verily, one becomes good through good deed, evil

through 1

5. 10.

9

deed."

.

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad

3. 2.

13.

:

evil

The Later

Final Philosophy of the

in the

same

Veda

261

1

Yajnavalkya describes the from the body and its conse

tract

departure of the soul

Then his knowledge and his works quences to man and his previous experience take him by the hand. As a caterpillar which has wriggled to the tip of a "

:

blade of grass draws

over to

itself

(a

new

blade), so

does this man, after he has put aside his body, draw himself over to a new existence. Now verily they .

say:

Man

so

his insight

is

is

altogether desire (kratu)

;

as

.

(kdmd) as ,

is

his desire

his insight so is his

is

deed (karma)\ as is his deed so is his destiny." More than one Western reader, when he ponders 1

the doctrine of transmigration as rooted in desire

and deed, is likely to ask the question why the Hindus did not rest content with its outcome. The bulk of their spiritual energy in Brahmanism, as well as in Buddhism and the other Hindu sects, is ex

pended I

gauge him

Why

this so

is

aright,

and flowers

more

and deed, plucking

at the risk of

thorns, or sting from life, fuller life.

?

willing to tarry in the

is

garden of will, desire,

man The Western man, if

break the chain that ties

in the effort to

to existence.

its

life

its fruits

an occasional prick from noxious

insects.

Here are some

its

We want

of the points

connected with transmigration that are naturally

sympathetic to Western minds 1

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad chapter the first.

4. 4.

:

3; see also

Brahma Upanishad,

The

262

Love

1.

of

Religion of the

life,

Veda

and abhorrence of annihilation

transmigration ensures

some form

life in

for ever

:

and

ever.

The twin ghosts of fatalism and predestination are laid. Where will and deed, with character as their 2.

result, rule is

thing

every destiny, nothing

pre-determined.

outside interference, 3.

It

is

Man

is

accidental,

himself, free

the arbiter of his

own

involves the perfection of retribution

no

from

destiny. :

reward

and punishment adjust themselves automatically and It opens wide the organically to virtue and vice. door of hope to the lowly and oppressed, and checks the excesses of the cruel mighty. "

Methinks we have sinned

And

this is

erringly, as

despairing,

some old world

It is

mere

But

justice.

it

is

the

knows how to reward merit just as un it knows how to punish sin inexorably.

no human being so hedged in by calamity, and degradation, but what he or she may start

There vice,

s

Hell,"

loses its sting. justice that

in

Byron

is

on the upward road by some act of determination Grant me my heaven now," If the wish, for good. "

fails

of fulfilment,

fulfilled in

And

who knows

that

the train of heroic effort

it

may

not be

?

yet the deep-seated instinct of life which makes men all over the earth, India included, wail

The

their dead, goes

Hindu

Veda

Final Philosophy of the

hand

in

hand

in all

higher forms of

religion with the apparently sincere expres

sion of a desire to be released from at first negative, in the

life.

Pessimism,

end positive and profound,

becomes the ruling theory of Hindu life. With attractions, fascinations, and beauties of life, felt

263

all

the

life is

to be a fetter, or a knot which ties the heart to

the world of sense

;

and release (moksha) from the

everlasting round of lives (samsdra) salvation (nirvana).

Buddhism

later

is

the Hindu

on expresses

the urgent need of salvation from existence in its well-known fourfold doctrine of suffering. Its first clause establishes the truth of suffering suffering

life

is

is

;

;

loved

is

suffering.

The

woe and and

children,

as the evils

delusion, age

1

),

and vanities of

all

where hunger and

and death, desire

desire for possessions are life,

knowledge has been attained. principal

conviction that

less distinctly in the

futile is

expressed hardly Great Forest Upanishad (3. 5. 2 thirst,

is

age is suffering disease is suffering union is not loved is suffering separation from ;

;

with what

what

Birth

:

1

lumped

for

alike

before the highest

Anyhow,

all

the

Hindu systems of religion and philosophy How many births are past, I cannot tell How many yet to come, no man can say "

;

:

But this alone That pain and

I

know, and know

full well,

grief embitter all the

way."

(South-Indian Folk-song, quoted in the Rev. Dr. John Morrison New Ideas in India, p. 213.)

s

The

264

Religion of the

Veda

out with the assurance that the world

start

suffering,

and that

account for

We

it

is

their particular business

and to remove

must not

is full

of

to

it.

forget that the perpetual decay

and

death and replacement which is the gist of human when looked at purely from the outside is not

life

redeemed

in India

by any theory, or instinctive faith advancement. There is in all Hindu general no of thought expression hope for the race, no in

theory of betterment all along the line. Each in dividual must attend to his own uplifting that is to free

him from a world whose worthlessness

is

con

demned is

to

in unmeasured terms. Admitting that this no small extent mere theory that the average ;

Hindu worries

along, sustained

by

life,

hope, sun

shine, and what not, whence the theory ? The question has frequently been put point blank

How

did

Hindu pessimism

originate

?

I

:

believe that

the answer, or at least a partial answer, may be made India herself, with some degree of certainty, to wit :

through her climate, her nature, and her economic conditions, furnishes reasonable ground for pessim ism.

As

regards economic conditions political eco

nomists say that the value of human life in any country may be estimated by the average wage of its

earners.

gaged

for a

A

low caste servant

wage

of five cents a

may

to-day be en

day out of which he

The

Final Philosophy of the

Veda

265

must, owing to caste laws, find his own keep, and India s nature is possibly that of a family besides.

more malignant than that country.

The

of

any other

civilised

floods of great rivers devastate

times entire districts

;

per contra,

when the

at

rains

are withheld at the time of the capricious monsoons,

famine with plague or cholera in its wake, decimate the population. The tribe of venomous serpents

and the blood-lust of the tiger claim their regular quota of victims.

Our the

first

hymns

acquaintance with the Aryan Hindus in of the Veda shows them to us a sturdy,

life-loving people

on the banks, or

in the region of

the river Indus, the land of the five streams, the

modern Punjab in Northwestern India. That coun try they had conquered, fresh from the highlands that separate India from Iran. tests,

By

successive con

hinted at in a very interesting legend of the

Brahmana

1

they advanced eastward, until they had overrun the plain of the Ganges the hottest texts

civilised land

land of shads,

on the face of the earth.

This

is

the

Hindu theosophy, the land of the Upanithe land where Buddha preached, some

centuries after the earliest Upanishads.

most famous sermon was delivered

at

Buddha

Benares, in

the very centre of the plain of the Ganges. 1

(^atapatha

Brahmana

I.

4.

I.

10-18.

s

There

The

266

in

anywhere on the face of the the doubts and misgivings that beset

the land of Bengal,

civilised earth,

human

life at its

the belief that that

Veda

Religion of the o if

best might permanently harden into

life is

Hindu

a sorry affair.

literature

comes from these lands shows us that the

Aryans did not succumb to this change, for they remain a great and remarkable people. But this unquestionably left an indelible their on The mental subtle character. impression ness of the race did not perish, but their bodies

habitat of theirs

suffered

;

hypochondria,

melancholia,

dyspepsia

what we may conquered the conquering Aryan, whose stock was no doubt the product of a more northerly and invigorating climate. call

it

Now

it is

time to remember once more that the

conception of the it

Brahma

had

One True Being

let

now

us

risen to a considerable height,

call

ap

parently long before the doctrine of transmigration

had taken hold of the Hindu mind, and established

Even aside the theory of despair of the w orld. from such a theory it is natural for the mind of man

in

r

it

every clime and time to evolve some great power that is behind the phenomena of the world, to estab in

lish

to

its

own

principle that

is

satisfaction

underneath

world, and then to long for

some

of

sort

perfect

this obviously imperfect

some kind

with that power or principle.

of association

So teach us

all

higher

The

Final Philosophy of the

and religious philosophies.

religions

Veda

267

Without doubt

the Hindus did this before pessimism and indepen

But when pessimism began to

dently of pessimism.

Hindu view

taint the force,

the root of

of

life,

the

all,

then the eternal

One True and

all-

Perfect

Thing offered the only logical escape from the evils of existence.

The theory

of the

Brahma and the theory

of trans

migration united like the two branches of a river. The wandering of the soul through the realms gov

erned by death must be the consequence of its As long as lasts the will separation from Brahma. to live this

life

finite desires

of death, as long as this will

and

separate from

means

finite

deed, so long the soul remains

Brahma

in the chain of successive lives

and deaths, each new the preceding

life.

shaped by the karma of Escape from this chain can be life

accomplished only by union with the Single True Being, the Brahma.

Hinduism has again able turn,

if

we

Western mind.

test

it

in this

matter taken a remark

by the normal temper

It is a

of the

kind of dualistic pessimism,

which the good that is in the world as well as the evil that is there are both made to emphasise the in

evil.

It

avenues

is

;

a pessimism that

the avenue of

is

evil,

the avenue of good, because

reached through both because it is evil and ;

it

suggests by

its

very

The

268

terms the existence of learned one

world

way

Veda

Religion of the

We

evil.

Westerners have

or another to endure this naughty

But when

fairly well.

it

becomes too bad we

remember that the refuge is with the Omnipotent Power. That is the silver lining to the cloud of human existence. The Hindu mind turns

are apt to

way the silvery sheen of Brahma has cloud lining. The conception of this One True

this the other

a

;

Being, out of which flow all visible things, might have been an anchor of strength and a head-spring A palpably pos of hope and joy for the Hindus.

consequence of their thought is, that all men have the divine or Brahmic spark, that all are micro sible

cosms, flung

off

macrocosm, the

human

for

some reason

Brahma.

If

so,

upon truth and

existence must be based

wholesomeness, no

less

than the Universal Brahma.

Not

so did the Hindus proceed.

the

Brahma

tion,

by that superb then individual

all

They

attributes

imaginable

lavish of

upon

perfec

and then proceed to apply the same standard

to this world

very sorry

home

in

:

of course they find

affair.

The

it

by contrast

a

world ceases to be a desirable

which one may

live,

sustained perhaps

by

the hope of better things to come, because it is measured by the standard of Brahma and found

wanting.

which

is

When lifted

the

Brahma

is

praised, that

above hunger and

thirst,

Brahma

above

grief

The

Veda

Final Philosophy of the

269

and worry, above old age, decay, and death, the per sistent personal

creatures

is

age, decay,

There

is

question

is

application

full of

hunger,

that this world of

is,

thirst, grief,

worry, old

and death. yet one consequence to be drawn. The What is the cure asked, as it must be "

:

for desire, the thirst for life

and

its

contents

How

?

cut the fetter, or the knot of adhesion to the illusory

How

world? answer haps

get rid of the will to

The

live?"

or per

through knowledge. Knowledge, would be better to say intuition, of the the individual self with the great True One

is,

it

unity of

;

and the recognition, ever present, of the divided, tracted, illusory nature of everything finite a mortal has recognised Brahma, feeling, myself,"

bodily

how

life?

"

dis

When He is

can he longer desire and cling to is the culminating thought of the

This

Upanishads and the Veda, expressed to say, the essence of

the solemn

in

Thou art That." That man is itself Brahma. The

three words tat tvam asi, is

:

"

man when once he

has seen That (tad apagyai], becomes That (tad abkavat), because in truth he wise

Thus the final always was and is That (tad dslt). attainment of man is this knowledge it is the works of the Jew, and the faith of the 1

;

"

"

"

"

Christian 1

salvation

by the complete ascendency

See Vajasaneyi Samhita (Tadeva Upanishad), 32.

12.

The

270 the

of

Religion of the

divine in

one

Veda

and the consequent temporal and illusory.

s

self,

submergence of all that is It is time now that we return to the which

I

propounded

last

the brahma, the One, the Universal

question

How

for to-day s lecture.

did

finally

spirit,

shape himself from out of the mass of ideas whose constant drift was in the direction of oneness,

or, as

we may of the

One finally call it, monistic pantheism? main circumstances of the higher religious

thought of the time just preceding the Upanishads was a strong monotheistic tendency which seemed to develop simultaneously

and peacefully along with

the monistic ideas, such as the the

"That,"

the

"

Only,"

"

Being."

In the Upanishads monotheism

is

practically at

an end, whereas the attempts to designate the ab stract conceptions just mentioned emerge from the stage of tremulous venture to confident and familiar

statement. final

Yet they

name

of

the

are not

Universal

Upanishad mind seems tangible and

any one

them the

of

Even the

Being.

to prefer something

suggestive, something that

more

after

all

has attributes. In the seething caldron of the earlier speculation there occur yet two other conceptions which have

become pretty well of the Upanishads.

crystallised even before the time

The

first

of these

is

the con-

The

Final Philosophy of the

ception of the dtman, which means

and then

self."

cerned there

meaning wind,

"

As

"

of

far as

first

271

"

breath,"

the early poetry

is

con

not the least doubt about the primary

is

dtman.

1

It is familiarly correlated

the breath of the

man

Veda

2

with

The dtman

gods."

or

after death returns to

mingle with the wind from which it is supposed to have come. The later Veda abounds in crude and fanciful psychosoul of

3

physical observations in which the parts and func tions of the

human body,

more or

the

little

cosmos, are

with the phenomena of the outer world, the big cosmos. An important of this sort that the human is, body is per thought correlated

less skilfully

vaded by plural breaths, pranas or at mans ; these vivify the body, and are the essential part, the ego, of the living individual.

Several of the older

Upan-

ishads contain a fable, resembling the Latin fable of "

the belly and the

The

among themselves

are quarrelling

They

members."

for

bring their case before Prajapati, Prajapati advises

creatures."

them

1

The

For the meaning

of Philology,

supremacy. "

see the author in

xvi., p. 421.

2

Rig- Veda

3

Ibid., 10. 16. 3

7. 87. 2 ;

;

10. 168. 4.

90. 13

;

92. 13.

body

mind

it

de-

same word in American Journal

of tman, the reduced stem of the "self,"

the lord of

loss affects

voice, the eye, the ear, the

the pronominal sense of

powers

to leave the

one by one and to observe which most.

vital

The

272

Veda

Religion of the

discommoding the body quite a good deal. But when the breath was on the point of departing,

parted,

proud steed from the Indus would pull and tear the pegs of his tether, so it pulled and tore "just

as the

the other vital

powers."

Hence a

to the dtman.

dtman all

members

the

all

things that

come

And

they yielded the palm

text declares:

"

From

the

Of

spring into existence.

dtman

into existence the

is

the

first."

The

dtinans, or breaths, are finally conceived as

coming from a

single dtman, the universal breath,

or

A

self,

or ego.

Brahmana

text declares

"

:

Ten

(kinds of) breath dwell in man the universal dtman is the eleventh all the breaths are contained in ;

:

That

him."

own

the dtman, after

is,

its

supreme place

in

has been permanently fixed, is trans ferred on exactly the same terms to the universe

the

self

outside of man. at the all

The dtman,

same time the

beings

;

all

is

lord of the gods, the creator of

the worlds are an emanation of his

great universal self It is

the lord of breaths,

:

finally

the dtman

easy to see that with

the term dtman in

its final

all

is

the

all.

the refinement of

outcome,

it

certainly has

a strong physical touch, at least in the beginning of its use. The final shaping of the idea consisted in associating, or rather fusing, with this

dtman another

conception, coming from a totally different quarter,

The

Final Philosophy of the

Veda

273

namely, the olden Vedic sphere of devotion, prayer, holy performance, in fact religion in general. Even in the Vedic hymns, as we have seen, the epithet Goddess is freely given to the numerous names "

"

for prayer, devotion, religious emotion,

and kindred

Unquestionably the sdvitrl stanza owes

ideas.

puzzlingly paramount position in

Hindu

its

religion to

the same estimate of devotion as a thing essentially divine.

We

1

have also made acquaintance with a of Prayer," Brihaspati, an important,

"Lord

symbolic but not lasting attempt to pour the sacred function of the poets and priests into the mould of a personal

He

god.

marks one of those

false starts

towards

Veda abounds. More and more the sacred word, the constant com

personal monotheism in which the later

panion of the

sacrifice, is felt to

ing spiritual essence. Starting as prayer, act,

it

2

The

be a kind of

sacred word

is

uplift

brahma.

charm, sacred formula, religious

becomes the symbol of holy thought and holy

utterance (\6yo$\ the outpouring of the soul in highest longings. 1

See above,

2

Professor Oldenberg

It is

its

the best wish of a spiritually

p. 202. "

regards

zauberfluidum

"

as

the

original

But does magic essence really explain, and does it not itself stand in need of explanation ? Anyway it seems to me that this distinguished scholar s present sympathy with what may be called ethnological explanations of religious phenomena, that is the theory that such phenomena must necessarily begin somewhere in the lowest bathos of savage folk belief, is leading him on a trail farther

meaning

of

brahma.

than that trodden by this word.

"

"

The

274

minded and

Veda

Religion of the

becomes

gifted people that

for a while

personal god, and at last the divine essence of the universe.

The conception

subtle and

abstract as the monistic philosophical

conception of

comes

intellectually not as

is

That Only True Being," which from the head. But from the point "

entirely

of view of heart-felt

emotion

the most exalted

is

it

Such is the conception brahma, used in the neuter gender, not yet the mas of gentile

divine

culine

God Brahma who,

tion

placed at the

is

trinity,

folk.

renewed personifica

after a

head of the

Brahma, Vishnu, and

Hindu so-called The brahina is

later

"

:

(Jiva

the word, the truth in the word

is

brahma. Through

brahina heaven and earth are held

together."

The two

conceptions of dtman and brahma, in their origin, respectively, the physical and spiritual essences of the universe, are fused into one concep tion.

there

They is

are used in general as

a tendency to use brahma,

synonyms.

"

Holy

Still

Thought,"

as the designation of the universal principle in the

outer world in the

inner

dtman,

;

life

of

"

Self,"

man.

as the

The

same

principle

conviction that the

braJnna without and the dtman within are one and the real religion of the Upanishads. The power which operates in the universe, creating, sustaining, and destroying, the power behind this

the same, that

is

imperfect world that perchance

moves on

to

some

The final

Veda

Final Philosophy of the

development

the power that manifests

;

275

itself in

this eternal power is identical every living thing with our own innermost and truest self, equally ;

when

imperishable

stripped of

all its

external and

This conviction

accidental

circumstances.

balmed

the famous words, tat tvam

art

in

That,"

Brahma."

aham brahma

or

is

em

asi, "Thou

"

asmi,

I

am

the

These are the slogans of higher religious and they contain the corollary that the

thought world of things which we see in space, as we ideally assume it to be with our eyes and bodies, themselves ;

phenomena, are mere shadows

cast

by the one truth

the innermost Personal Self identical with the outer Universal Self, the brahma-dtman.

1

Now we

have seen that our empirical knowledge which shows us a manifold variegated world where in only brahma, and a body where there in truth only dtman, or the brahma in ourselves,

truth there is

that

all

that

is

is

mere ignorance,

The things that

distraction, or illusion.

are unfolded before our eyes in space,

those things to which

we

ourselves belong with our

ponderable bodies, are not true entities, they are not The Catholic mystic, Johannes Scheffler, called Angelus Silesius (horn 1624), arrives at the same end in a stanza of his collection of poems called Cherubinischer Wandersmann : 1

"

Ich bin so gross wie Gott,

Er

ist

wie ich so klein

;

Ich kann nicht unter ihm,

Er

liber

mich nicht

sein."

The

276

Religion of the

As long

the dtman.

as this

Hindus say there is avidyd literally and philosophically say that there

is

maya

this single truth is

so far as

it

no more

ignorance," "

nescience."

more Or they

or,

All else aside from

"

illusion."

after all

nection with Brahma, have it is

not recognised, the

is "

a mere mirage in the desert, and

is

must

Veda

have some kind of a con

some

reality in

Brahma,

than the reflection of the real

real

moon

which we see trembling on the ripple of the waters.

Even the very conception

of nescience or illusion

of course, not real, because

whatever time-less,

it

is,

can be annihilated, and

temporary is not real. What induced the space-less, and cause-less Brahma to enter

is

upon the escapade of this phenomenal world of time, space, and causality, the Hindu thinkers cannot tell Their mythology

us.

primitive being

s

is

crude ideas of the

full of

loneliness and desire to multiply, but

these ideas belong to the lower forms of their religion

they are not entertained by their philosophers.

;

This

the point where Hinduism like every system of Plato s TO ovrcos idealistic philosophy breaks down. is

or

;

the ens realissimum; Kant

That only True

s

ding an sick; the

all very well, but Upanishads the world of phenomena to explain that aye there s the rub. This pesky world of plural things, full of "

irrational quantities

why does

are

it

exist,

pounding along toward some end that

and will

is it

not

show

a

The

Final Philosophy of the

uniting principle

Hindu

will

?

With that kind

Veda

277

of suggestion the

have nothing to do.

Entranced by the Brahma he wafts away

absolute reality of the one

world of experience as a conjurer an optical

the

delusion.

Into the maze of difficulties and inconsistencies

which opens out here we need not go. The mani fold modifications, adjustments, and the trimming

down

of the

main thought which the Upanishads

are driven to undertake belong to philosophy rather

than religion. According to the Upanishads own definition of the dtman, everything that these works

undertake to say about anything other than the dt

man

is

mere

the dtman

figure of speech,

and every definition of

itself is also figure of

Every defi nition is necessarily stopped by the words: "No, No (na ncti). The Brahma has no attributes speech.

"

(nirguna).

Yea,

the

Hindu when

in

the proper

mood, advancing straight to the last consequence, looking neither to the right nor to the possibility of

dous paradox

knowing Brahma this,

considering

left,

altogether. all

intuition of this very conception.

denies the

Tremen

depends upon the In a conversation

with his wife Maitreyl the great thinker Yajnavalkya asserts that there is no consciousness after death, be cause there must be two in order that one should see 1

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad

2. 4.

12 ff.

The

278

Religion of the

Veda

the other, smell, hear, address, understand, recognise the other. But if one has himself become Atman "

"

(that

is,

by means of what and whom should By means of what and whom should

Self

)

he then see?

he then smell, hear, address, understand, recognise ? In brief and dry language, being himself the subject,

"

and there being no object, there

no cognition nor

is

consciousness.

Emerson

s

keen and terse poem on the Brahma

which the Brahma

itself

of absolute unity.

speaks, approaches

But the

made warm and glowing counted among the best

chilly

in the

if

They know not I

which

may

English language:

he the slain think he

If the red slayer think

Or

sombre theme

in these lines

slays, is

slain,

well the subtle

ways

keep, and pass, and turn again.

Far and forgot to me is near, Shadow and sunlight are the same, The vanished gods to me appear, And one to me are shame and fame.

They reckon I

ill

who

When me

they

am And

hymn

leave

me

out

am

;

the wings the doubter and the doubt.

The

I

the

fly I

the

Brahmin

;

sings.

strong gods pine for my abode pine in vain, the Sacred Seven

And

;

But thou meek lover of the good Find me, and turn thy back on heaven. !

in

this idea is

be

The

Final Philosophy of the

But we are concerned with the value

Veda of the

279

Upani-

shads as religion, in a world which for practical purposes must be admitted to be real, for man who

purposes must be admitted to be real. vetagvatara Upanishad starts out with the

for practical

The

old question

:

we born ? Whereby do we live, and we go ? O ye who know Brahma, tell us at whose command we abide here, whether in pain or in

Whence

are

whither do

pleasure

?

Should Time, or nature, or necessity, or

chance, or the elements be considered as the cause, or he who is called Purusha, that is, the Supreme Spirit ?

The Upanishads answer for practical purposes The Supreme Spirit that is alike in the universe and in man that is the essence of all. It is Being, :

without a second, without beginning and without end, without limitations of any kind. Whatever there

or seems to be,

is,

and man,

is

mind and matter, nature

one substance only, namely, Brahma.

The same Yajnavalkya, whose

desperately ration

answer to his wife Maitreyl we have just heard, takes also a more human view of the Atman. This is told in the frame of a quaint little story, as alistic

follows

:

Yajnavalkya had two wives, Maitreyl and Katyayanl. Of these two Maitreyl knew how to discourse about the 1

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad

2.

4 and

4. 5.

The

280

Religion of the

Veda

brahma ; Katyayani, on the other hand, knew only what women are supposed to understand. Now Yajnavalkya desired to change his life of householder to that of religious hermit. "

"

Maitreyl,"

says he,

I

shall

now

from the

retire

condition of householder, and as a preliminary divide my goods between thee and Katyayanl." Then spake If, O lord, this whole earth with all its Maitreyf wealth belonged to me, would I then become immortal, or not ? By no means," replies Yajnavalkya. Only "

:

"

"

"

would thy life be wealth does the expectation of immortality." Then That through which I do not become replied Maitreyl like the life of the rich

not carry with

;

it

"

:

immortal, what good rather thy

me ? Expound to me Then Yajnavalkya: "Truly dear to us, beloved lady, and now is

that to

knowledge."

thou wast previously

Well then,

thou hast increased our love.

I shall

expound

All things of the attend then, to what I say world, and every relation in the world are dear to us not because of their own value, but because of the dtman, their true essence. Wife, husband, sons, wealth the high it

to thee

:

;

;

and warrior

the worlds, the gods, the the sacrifice are to us not because of and dear Veda, their own value, but because of the dtman, their true stations of priest

;

As one grasps the tones of an instrument with the instrument itself so are grasped all things when the essence.

dtman

is

grasped.

Truly he that hath seen, heard, re

cognised, and understood the dtman he knows the whole world."

We may be

sure that Yajnavalkya does not really

intend to expound to his beloved Maitreyl the ex1

Cf. Rdmakrishna,

His Life and Sayings,

p. 135

(number

161).

The

F inal Philosophy of the

Veda

281

tremes of super-sensual rationalism. In effect he expresses the ideal of union with the supreme being, the ultimate endeavor of

all

that have

religions

At

evolved a supreme being worth uniting with.

a later period there comes out of the permanently untenable, cool

intellectualism

The

of the

Bhaktas or

the religion of the destiny of

Upanishad thought acute and mystic monotheism, very cism of those Christian

friends of

"

Upanishads

"pious

is,

devotees."

after

all,

an

like the

mysti Tauler god/ John

and Thomas a Kempis.

By knowledge they dis cover the Supreme Intelligence and perceive its essence by devotion (bhakti) they feel the sweet ;

Supreme Being and reciprocate its loving So the Bhagavadglta, the Song of the Celes

ness of the intent. tial,"

pious

"

can finally

man

truth,

my

me

not

is

make

Through greatness and

lost."

It

call

Bengali

Supreme Being say

love he recognises

my

essence.

comes to

He

of the

me

in

that loves

this finally, that

know

but a preparation for what Supreme of In love God. the words of the modern

ledge of the

we

the

"

:

is

Saint and Ascetic

Knowledge the Love of

Ramakrishna

"

:

The

God may be likened to a man, while God is like a woman. Knowledge has

of

entry only up to the outer rooms of God, but no one can enter into the inner mysteries of God save a lover, for a

woman

has access even to the privacy

The

282

Religion of the l

of the

Almighty."

And

Veda

arrives at the last possible conclusion

and love

There pure

is

of

God

same thinker

finally the

are ultimately one

"

Knowledge

:

and the same.

no difference between pure knowledge and We might have predicted the same

love."

To a religion which strives with all its might know the truth, truth s sister, love, does not long

result.

to

remain a stranger. Yajnavalkya, as

and

goes to

Hermits"

we have

live

in

(vXofiioi)

seen,

abandons

Such

the forest.

"

Forest-

must have been common

India several centuries before Christ. cises

his wives

Buddha

in

criti

them, and declares himself as against their life and practices as a hindrance rather than

ascetic

a help to a life of perfect desires, a

life

of true

freedom from passions and

emancipation.

advocates moderation in cluded.

He

prefers the

all

He

himself

things, salvation

"middle

both he and we say (the media

of the

via, or

road,"

in

as

madhyama-

Greek by the name of Megasthenes was the ambassador of the Graecomdrga).

About 300

B.C. a clever

Persian king Seleukos at the court of Chandragupta

the city of Pataliputra (31 1-302

in

B.c).

Chandra

gupta Sandrakottos or Sandrokyptos as the Greeks had succeeded, after the death of Alex called him ander the Great, 1

in

founding the great Indian empire

Rdmakrishna, His Life and Sayings,

p.

138 (number 172).

The of the

Veda

Final Philosophy of the

283

empire known India. Megasthenes wrote a work

Maurya dynasty, the

largest

up to that time in called Indica which contains much important

He

formation about the India of his day.

tells

in

that

these ascetics were indifferent to the good or evil that happens to is

man

that

;

dreamlike illusion

;

all

being, in their opinion,

that they regard the world as

created and perishable

;

and believe that God who

has created it pervades it completely. Considering the source, this is an uncommonly good description of

the pessimistic pantheism of the Upanishads.

Alexander the Great himself was much impressed with these Sages of the Forest." He sent one "

Onesikritos to talk with them.

laughed

at

After having been

by the ascetics for his

mantle, hat, and boots, and told to the stones

if

full

lie

dress

of

naked upon

he would learn from them, he was

finally initiated

into the

Hindu

idea, to wit, that

that which removes not only sorrow but also joy from the soul of man. Professor Huxley in his Evolution and Ethics (p.

the best doctrine

is

65) has subjected the

According to him the is

Hindu

ideal to severe criticism.

summum bonum

of the

Hindu

a state of impassive quasi-somnambulism which

but for risk of

acknowledged holiness might run the being confounded with idiocy. It leads to its

the abandonment

of

property, social

ties,

family

The

284 affections,

Religion of the

Veda

common companionship, until all that man is the impassive attenuated men

and

remains of a

dicant monk, self-hypnotised into cataleptic trances which the deluded mystic takes for foretastes of final

union with Brahma.

mind the extreme case

of

Professor

Yogin

Huxley has

in

of the later time,

who confounds hocus-pocus and humbug with re As a matter of fact the Upanishad religion ligion. is

a religion of perfect freedom, and equally as a

matter of fact the religious of the Upanishads do find it advisable as a rule to retire from active life after

having done their duty

in active life.

Yajnavalkya step marks not only the new order of thought but also the new order of life which the s

dtman-brahma imposes upon

religion of the

India.

we may say that henceforth India leads a double life. The first is the life of every day. The fragile human creature enters through the mother s In fact

womb, where

has been protected by the pious prayers and ceremonies of its parents, into the be If it only knew it, wildering sunshine of this world. it

it

would be glad that the karma

ence entitles shelter of a

its

of its former exist

soul in the present existence to the

human body, howsoever

might have happened transmigration.

in

Birth

lowly.

Worse

the hazard of the lottery of

means

that the soul in ques

tion has not yet joined Brahma.

He who

has not

The done

Veda

;

;

;

;

or as something else

any old thing as we

in this place or in that place,

might say

285

born again as worm or as fly as fish as lion or as boar as bull or as tiger, or

so, alas, is

or as fowl

man

Final Philosophy of the

to the quality of his works,

according

and the degree of his

knowledge, that is in accordance with the doctrine of karma. Thanks to the past the present is secure worse might have happened than to pass through 1

:

human mother s body more enduring shelter of the mother s love. The Hindu mother, like any other mother, rejoices the temporary shelter of a into the

her child, especially if he is a boy, and asks no Father questions about his ultimate cosmic destiny. in

and mother now bend every energy to raise the child so that he may become an honored member of the Brahmanical community, beloved alike of god and man. The Hindu books of Rules of Home Life, the so-called Grihyasutras, 2 tell a touching story of the

pious care with which the child infancy.

Indeed the

life

of his life has its

own

piloted through

of the Brahmanical

sacramental throughout.

is

is

Hindu

Every important phase The most im

sacraments.

portant of them are the investiture by his teacher

with the sacred cord, and his marriage. This investiture is looked upon as a spiritual 1

Kaushltaki Upanishad

2

See above,

p. 41.

i.

2.

The

286

Religion of the

The

second birth, or regeneration.

becomes a man

in a

Veda little

mortal

higher sense, because his teacher

teaches him the Veda, syllable

by

syllable,

word by

word, stanza by stanza. disciplehood he

During the period of his the devoted servant of his teacher

is

who, throughout Hindu

tradition, is regarded as

even

own parents. No own family, he now

better entitled to respect than his

how rich and powerful his obedient to his teacher, taking care of his wants

matter lives

to the point of gathering his fire-wood for

him

life.

in

and begging

the village, humble and chaste in his

own

In return he obtains from his teacher the sacred

knowledge, the Veda. Especially, the sacrosanct that famous brief stanza which at an early Savitrl, 1

time carries within

the presentiment of the deep to come, by placing in the relation it

theosophy that is of cause and effect the physical and of the universe "

spiritual essences

:

^hat lovely glory of

Savitar,

The heavenly god, we contemplate Our pious thoughts he shall promote." :

After he has absolved the study of the Veda he

becomes a full-grown man.

The

teacher, according

to the beautiful account of the Taittirlya (i. 1

Upanishad

n), dismisses his pupil with the following last Rig- Veda

3. 62.

10

;

see above, p. 86.

The

Final Philosophy of the "

injunction

:

Tell the truth

neglect the study

of

the

;

Veda

287

do your duty, do not

Veda

After having

!

given to your teacher your gift of love, see to

it

Do not

that

the thread of your race be not cut

off

lect truth, duty, health, property,

and the study of

Veda

the

!

!

Honor your mother as a god Honor your teacher god

your father as a

!

Honor your guest

!

neg

Honor as a

god

!

as a god Live an irreproachable honor your superior give alms in true spirit When in doubt follow the judgment of Brahmans of life

;

!

!

;

"

tried authority

Then he

!

passes into the

life

stage of full-grown

man, husband and householder (gr hast ha). His great now worship and sacrifice to the gods, and

duties are

the begetting of sons. The latter are of great im portance, because they carry on through unbroken generations the cult of the Manes or Fathers who,

vaguely inconsistent way, are still carrying on a happy life in the abodes of the blessed between in a

transmigrations for their

we must

This as reward

suppose. lives.

supposedly very pious the end of this stage that we

It is at

may suppose Yajnavalkya takes leave of his beloved Maitreyl. The curtain now drops on the scene of all temporal interests It is a wife, children, home, and property. :

curious fact that in theory at least the higher religion of the

Upanishad begins where the

religions of other

The

288

Religion of the

Veda

peoples are content to conclude their

young Brahman

ing disciplined the

him how tected

to

life

;

having taught an orderly, god-fearing, god-pro having secured safe continuation of his

his admission to the

;

and having

;

heavenly

what more

is

Not so the Hindu. is

Hav

live

race through pious sons

Fathers

offices.

home

finally

gained

of the blessed

needed?

Over this pigmy

religion

which

engaged only with the needs of the ponderable,

perishable man, towers as a giant the grandiose con ception, than which, in

that the

True

Universe.

man

in

There

is

The

selves are part.

cemented by every

is

way, no higher

its

in fact

the

is

One True

one eternal truth

:

possible, in all

of this

the

we our

distracting, misleading, adhesion,

sense, to a divided individual ex

istence in a world of illusory

phenomena, come no one

knows whence, but none the

less certainly false, re

The Hindu quires time and patience to undo. theory assumes four stages or a^ramas (literally, "

in

hermitages")

the investiture.

the

The

seen, are disciplehood

come the two

life

of

man

after his rebirth at

we have and householdership. Then

first

two

stages,

as

stages of Forest-dweller, or Hermit,

and Wandering Ascetic.

In the hermit stage he

and may yet keep up some simply connection with wife and children, and continue his lives in the forest,

sacred practices.

But

in

the last stage

all

worldly

The interest

passion

is

Final Philosophy of the

Veda

289

abandoned, every fetter of affection, desire, sundered. There is no fixed abode, he

is

happens, subsists as he may, indifferent to but the realisation that he is the brahma. This

lives as it all

realisation of itself means the destruction of nescience:

with

it

the phantom world of sorrow and joy sinks

out of sight.

The

soul

knowing

at last that

it

is

brahma, namely truth, sunders the chain that holds it

captive through

namely

illusion.

transmigration to the

This

is

world,

the salvation of the Hindu,

namely the perfect knowledge that the soul of man him is the unpolluted, not to be pollu

that dwells in

ted, serene, holy, eternal, blissful, divine self

atman, or brahma.

The

realisation of this truth,

the

un

hindered by any other desire, that is all that is needed; than it nothing else whatsoever can have anything

more than temporary importance.

INDEX A Kemp is,

Thomas, 281

Alexander

Spentas, "Holy Im 133 ff. Anca, 130 Andra, 176. See Indra Angiras, semi-divine priests, i44, 163 Anquetil du Perron, 54 mortals,"

Antiope of Bceotia, mother _of Dioscuri, 1 16

Apri-hymns,

91,

92,

Arati, "Demon of 191

"

Fire, 78, 87, 89, no, 127, 156/7.,

244; son of Ushas (Dawn), 73, 1 60; his descent from heaven (lightning), 165;

produced by

friction,

139,

men progenitor of (Ayu), 139, 158; servant of the gods, 162; and his brothers, story of, 162 158;

Agni

Jatavedas

scient"),

229 A ham brahma asmi, the Brahma," 275 of,

am

ff.,

See Rta Artabhaga, a theosopher, 260

Aryaman,

129, 134, 153

Aryan. See Indo-Iranian Aryans, Indian, geographical _ provenience of, 23 Arya Samaj, a reform asso

126, 133, 232.

criticised

Buddha, 282; by fessor Huxley, 283

by Pro

Ascetic wanderer, 288

Ahura Mazda (Ormazd), 120

l6 5

85. 93

Arta.

Asceticism, "I

Grudge,"

Arrested anthropomorphism,

ciation, 9

("Omni

164, 189

Ahalya, story

79

Aranyaka Texts, 49, 50, 209

Agni and Soma, 78

God

78,

Apsaras (nymphs), 46, 191

3 I "

18,

Amesha

213, 216 Acvins, or Dioscuri, 46, 90 ff., 94, no, 112 ff., 141, 160, 167, 172 Aditi, 130 ff. Adityas, 78, 92, 120, 129/7., 153; meaning of the word,

Agni,

Great,

Altar, three altars, 161

dhist Emperor, 19, 53 Afvamedha, "horse-sacrifice"

I

the

282

Aborigines of India, 24, 175 Abstract gods, 96, 109, 131, 135, 191, 242 Afoka or Piyadassi, Bud

See

Asura Airy ama,

As ha. See Rta Asura

= Ahura,

133

Atharvangirasah,

See Aryaman 129. Ajatacatru, 219, 227 Akbar, Emperor, 52 ff. 291

and

curses,

Atharva-Veda, 4

"blessings

"

ff-t

26, 29 17, 25

ff.,

39,

77 its theosophy,2O9 1

Index

2Q2 Atman,

"Supreme

211,

87,

270

Spirit,"

See

280.

ff.,

Brahma and cf. Breath Atmospheric Gods, 92 Aurengzeb, Emperor, 52 Avesta and Veda, mutual relations

of,

24,

15,

13,

_ II8

Ayu,

or Brahmana Texts, 4$ff., 48, 209 Brahmanaspati see Brihaspati Brahmanical philosophies, 2,

Brahmanas,

:

51, 108,

229

Brahmanism, extent

designation 139, 158

"Living,"

of fire

and man,

with Buddhism, 3 Samaj, a

Brahma

association,

194

ff.,

hymn

252; 197

197, 227,

229,

addressed

to,

Behistan rock, cuneiform in scription on, 14

and

"Being

non-being,"

235,

"Belly

name

and the

Brahma-

216

ff.

Breath of Cf.

life,

Atman

Brihaspati,"

as entity, 255.

Lord of

Prayer,"

243, 273 Buddha, 213, 219, 282; date of, 18; his sphere of ac tivity,

268 108

2, 3,

members,"

Bhaga, old word for

"God,"

109, 130, 134

Bhagavadgita, 201, 281 "

"

Cf.

devotion,

195, 281.

Devotion

name

87,

118,

211,

232,

260; meaning of the word, 205, 273; final shap ing of, 273; without at tributes, 277; pessimistic conception of, 267 ff.; erson s poem on, 277; final union with, 266, 289. 248,

Em

Cf.

Atman

106

Candragupta,

or

Chandra -

gupta, 18, 282 ankara, a philosopher, 221, 227 <JCaste,

Bhrigu, a sage, 252 of Bhrigvangirasah, Atharva-Veda, 40 Bimbisara, a Buddhist, 219 Brahma, the ultimate prin ciple,

of

vadya, theosophic riddles,

fable of, 271 Benfey, Theodor, 102, 108 Bentinck, Lord William, 9 Bergaigne, Abel, 72

Bhakti,

;

reform

n

or

Brahmodya,

Buddhism,

238

237

2

Atharva-Veda, 40

Babylonian influence on Ar yan religion, 133, 135 Baksheesh, 69 ff., 71, 190 ff.,

9,

Brahma-Veda,

B

of,

221; contrasted

criticised,

system

of,

5,

6,

7,

8,

264; revulsion against, 8; its

relation to theosophy,

225 Castor and Pollux deukes), no, 113 Celestial gods, 92 Cerberus and Cerberi, of,

105

(Polu-

myth

ff.

Chandogya-Upanishad,

234,

238, 260

Chandragupta. gupta

See Candra

Chase, G. D., Professor, 115.

Index Children of IIO,

I

"Father

Sky,"

Devotional (creative) fervor,

12

2 37

Climate and nature, influence of upon mythology, 82

;

cause of pessimism, 265

Comparative Mythology,

108,

167; criticism of, 100 ff. Conflicting prayers and sacri fices, 185 "Cosmic order." See Rta Counsel of perfection, 126 Creation hymn, 229, 234 ff. Creative fervor, 237

or "Oral rotriyas, ditionalists, "21

Dhatar,

"Maker,"

Dhena,

"Holy

Dirghatamas, author of a riddle-hymn, 210, 217, 229, 2 33

Djemshed (Yima Khshaeta), Persian epic hero, 143 of Yama, dogs of death, 105, 106, 251

Dogs

Dreams and 2

Dyaus, Dyaush Pitar, ther Sky,

66, 92, 95, 110, ff.

E

a god, 130

Economic

conditions pessimism, 264

"Baksheesh,"

Ushas, Dawn, See Baksheesh Ddna-stuti, gift-praises, 196 Dara Shukoh, a Mogul prince, of

Emerson

71.

"

52

"Fa

"

139, 148, 152

name

Eros,

poem on Brahma, personified,

"Love,"

237 245

Vedic

Ethics,

126

Hystaspes, 14 Dawn, mother of Agni, 160. See Ushas Death, early notions of, 249 ff. "Death or "Reanew," death, 253 D e i v 6 s, "Shiners," Indo-

s

and

278

"

ff-

Darius

hallucinations,

55

D Dakshina,

wife

no

46

D aksha,

242

Song,"

of Brihaspati, 244 Diespiter, Jupiter, Dioscuri. See Afvins

Tra

Qvetaketu Aruni, 223 Qvetagvatara Upanishad, 279 Cyavana the Bhargava, story of,

2 93

I.

system

of,

ff.

its

Ethnology, Mythology, 93

relation

to

"

European word "

Faith,

for gods,

108, 148 Kama, personified, Desire, "

2

37 Deucalion, myth of, 138 Deussen, Paul, Professor, 56, 234 Devotion, 195, 202 ff., 281; personified, 206, 273; con trasted with Faith, 193. Cf. Prayer. 233>

"

conception

of, 109, personified, 189; faith and works, 190, 269; related to truth and wis dom, 1 88; reward of, post poned to heaven, 193 Family-books" of Rig- Veda 1

86

ff.;

27, 79, 210 Father God, 138 Fathers in heaven, 250, 251,

287 "

Father Sky.

"

See Dyaus.

Index

294 and

Festivals, public

II

tribal,

214 Fetish, 256

ff.

emblem of Brahmanism,

Fire,

production of, Cf. Agni Fjorgyn and Fjorgynn, 189;

139,

158.

Hindu story

Flood,

1 1 1

of,

Haridrumata, a teacher, 225 See Dy-

Heaven and Earth. aus Helena,

45,

M3 288

282,

Four stages of life, 4, 288 Future life, early notions 149, 249

Dioscuri,

Hell, descriptions of, 252

Henotheism

"Forest-dwellers,"

of

sister

IJ 3

of,

(Kathenothe-

ism), 164, 199

and

Heracles

Geryon

;

three-headed

Hercules and

three-headed Cacus,

ff-

Hermits

(vXoftioi),

180

282, 288

Hestia- Vesta, 158 Hieratic religion of Veda, 60 to the belongs upper classes, 77 Hillebrandt, A., Professor, i79 ff;

Ganges, a river, 23, 265 Garbe, R., Professor, 220

Gargya and GargI,

ff.

theoso-

Hindu and Greek Mythology

phers, 223

Garutmant

sun)

(the

210,

218 Gatha ndrdfansyah, "praises of men, 196 Ghee, food of the gods, 63, "

161

intensely religious, 3, 4 Holiness, conception of, 109 Hopkins, E. W., Professor, 23, 155

"Gift-praises,"

196

Horse-sacrifice, 213, 216

Girdle, sacred, 188

House-Books

Gods, Indo-European words 08; three classes of, 87, 91; chronology of, 90, 93 relative importance of, relative clear 89, 90, 93 ness of their origin, 93-96 daily order of their ap for,

compared, 83 life and institutions

Hindu

1

;

;

(Grihyasu 285

tras), 41, 77, 159,

Huxley cism,

critique of asceti

s

283

Hymns, 75.

artistic

quality

of,

203

;

pearance, 90 ff. character of, 184 ff.; glory of, 199 Gospel of John, beginning of, 206 Grasco-Parthian rulers of In ;

dia, 14

Greek and Hindu mythology compared, 83 Greeks estimate of their own religion, 84

Grihyasutras: Books"

see

"House-

Ignorance, or "nescience," 276 Illusion (maya), 276, 288 Images, absence of in Veda. 89 India and Persia, historical contact between, 14, 118 India, land of religions, 2 geographical isolation of, 1 1 her nature, climate, etc., 85, 265

;

;

Index Indian and Persian religions contrasted, 118 India s exploration, future of, 22

India of,

s

religion,

continuity

10

295

Kanvas, a family of poets, 28, 203,

205

Karma, or spiritual evolution, 195, 257. 259, 284; Western 261 ff. wife of Yajnavalkya, 277 Kennings, 162 Kings, interested in theosophy, 214, 219, 220, 223, 227 Kronos, 84 Kuhn, Adalbert, 102, 108 Kumarila, a philosopher, 222, 227

estimate

of,

Katyayam,

Indo-European period, 100; .of religion, 16, 108 Indo-Iranian period, 100; of religion, 13, 118 Indo-Parthian Kingdoms, 14 Indra, 78, 89, 92, 94, 130, X I3 1 i47 177. l86 187, 217, 244; cause of scepticism, 174, 229 Indra and Agni, 78 Indra and Varuna, 78 Indra- Vritra myth, explana tions of, 178, 179 Indus, a river, 23, 265 Initiation of a young Brah man, 188 Investiture of a young Brah man, 285 sacrifice and Ishtapurta, baksheesh," 194 ff., 252. See Baksheesh .

57>

"

Lithuanian dainos, or songs, 114, 172

Loge (Loki), Norse god of fire, 156 Logos, or "Word" (divine), 207, 273 Lost cattle, Lithuanian poem about, 172

M J

Macdonell, A. A., Professor,

mother

Jabala,

of

Satya-

kama, 225 225 Janaka, king of Videha, 214, 219, 226, 227 "Omniscient," Jatavedas,

Jajali,

name of Agni, 164, 189 aundice, charm against, 42 uggernaut, car of, 9 upiter,

no

"Time,"

"Love,"

237. 245

I

Manu, Manush Pitar, Father Manu, 140, 143 Manu, Law-Book of, 256, "

"

Martanda, 130 Maruts, 92

K Kama,

3

259

yotishtoma-sacrifice, 77

Kala, 245

I

wife of YajnaMaitreyi, valkya, 223, 277 Man, origin of, 138, 149 Manicheism, 85 Mannus, son of Tuisto, 140

personified, personified,

"Master-singers," 201, 202 Matarigvan, 165, 210, 218 Maurya dynasty, 18, 283 Maya, "Illusion," 276, 288 Megasthenes, Greek author, 282

Index

296

Metempsychosis. See Trans migration Metres, 24; belonging to different hours of the day, 80 to individual gods, 80 Mithraism, 85 Mitra (Persian Mithra, Mi thras), 92, 120 ff., 129, i3 2 If-. I 53 210, 218 ;

Moderation

in

asceticism,

Odhin, a Norse god, 155 Oldenberg, H., Professor,

72,

J

33 ff-, 273 Onesikritos, a Greek, 283 Opaque gods, 96, 174 Oupnekhat, Persian trans lation of the Upanishads, 54/7-

282, 284

Mohammedanism 10, 52

in

ff_.

Sanskrit

Mokshamulara,

name

Max

of

India,

Miiller, 53

Monism, idea of unity, 56^., 210,

218,

247,

233,

269.

and

marriage

"Sun-Maiden,"

of,

114

Morning and evening 114

ff.,

star,

172

"Mother

Pantheism, ism

242.

See

Mon

Pantheon

See Pantheism

Moon

Pairs of gods, 78

Earth,"

no,

95,

of the Veda, 78, 88 ff. Paracara, a Rishi, 225 Paradise, 250, 287; solar, 169 ff. Parameshthin, "He who oc cupies the highest place, 242 Parjanya, God of Thunder, 92, in, 178, 181

"

138, 148

Mountains as winged

birds,

legend of, 48 Muir, Dr. John, 154

Max, 53, 71, 102, 164, 199 Mystics, Christian, 275, 281 Mythology, 29; in its relation

Miiller,

to Ethnology, Indo-Iranian,

103.

Cf.

and Indo-

European

N Naciketas, a theosopher, 192, 223

Na

neti,

"no,

no,

Nature myth, 148,

152

nomena

ff.;

"277

29,

81,

108,

nature phe

in legends, 48; in

riddles, 217 Neoplatonism, 207 Nidhanas of the Sama-Veda,

37

of Religions," in Chicago, 9 Parsis in India, 10, 14, 118 Patrons of sacrifice, 193 ff., 215; of theosophy, 219 Perkunas, Lithuanian God of "Parliament

Thunder, in, 115 Persian and Hindu religion contrasted, 118 Persian names in arta, 12 Pessimism, 3, 4, 212, 263; its origin, 264; its final fixation, 267 Philosophy, its relation to practical life, 10. See The

osophy Phcebus Apollo and Marsyas, 84 Pischel, R., Professor, 113 Poetic inspiration, 75.201^. Popular religion, 42, 77

Index Prajapati, tures,"

Crea "Lord of 236, 240, 245, 246,

297

Ritual and theosophy, 213,

218

Royal

271

Prana,

of

"Breath

Life,"

its

influence 214, 223,

227

personified, 245

Pravahana

caste,

upon theosophy,

Jaivali,

a royal

theosopher, 224

Rta

"cosmic arta}, 120, 121, 125 ff., date of the conception,

(asha,

order,"

Prayer beatified and deified, Cf. Devotion 205, 243. Prayer of the gods, 205

232

;

12, 19,

135

Rudra, 92

Prehistoric gods, 90, 96, 99 ff. Priests, various kinds of, 80,

216 Prithivl,

"Earth,"

Cf.

92.

"Mother Earth"

Pururavas and Urvaci, story 46 Purusha,

"

and

man, supreme spirit, 242, 279 Pushan, 92, 170, 171 "cosmic

R Rammohun

former,

life

of,

of 33,

215

of,

Raja

Sacraments in daily Hindus, 4, 285 Sacrifice, philosophy

8,

Sacrifice post, 67, 79 Sacrificers, origin of, 138 Sages as creators, 237 Salvation, 5, 211, 247, 263, 269, 289 ff.; Veda of music, 36; popular origin of, 38; inferior position of, 39; connected with god Indra, 37; related to Sha manism, 38 Sandrakottos, Sandrokyptos (Candragupta), 18, 282 Sankhya philosophy, 2 Saranyu, mother of the Ac-

Sama-Veda, 25 Roy, a re

53

Rajasuya, "coronation" of a king, 213 Ramakrishna, a saint and ascetic, 227, 229, 281 Religion, science of, 151

Religious liberty, 8, 19, 53 Renan, Ernest, 85 Retribution, 252, 262

vins, 91, 113, 141

ff.

Reverence, Indo-European conception of, 109 Ribhus, 78

Satyakama, son of Jabala,

Riddles,

Saule,

210,

theosophic, 215 ff., 218 Rig- Veda, 17, 25 ff.; geo graphy of, 23 language of, 26; character of, 29; er ;

roneous view of

authors and redaction, 61 ff.; qual its

of its ity hymns, utilitarian and ritual

63

;

char

acter of, 31, 67, 75, 182 religious essence of, 198/7.

;

See

Veda

a low-caste 225 en,"

Lettish 115 ff.

theosopher, "Sun-Maid

See

"Sun-

Maiden"

Savarna, wife of Vivasvant, 142 Savitar, 74, 86, 91, 92, 240. See next Savitri, or Gayatri stanza, 286. See 86, 202, 273, preceding Scepticism, 174, 181, 229; philosophic, 238

Index

2g8 Johannes, a

Scheffler, tic,

mys

275

and

Schopenhauer

Symbolic gods, 96, 109, 131, 135, 191, 242

Upan-

ishad philosophy, 55 ff. Seleukos, a Greece-Persian king, 282 Self-hypnosis, 9, 284 Sena, wife of Indra, 244 Sentimental regard of gods,

200

Shah Jehan, a Mogul Empe ror, 52

Shah Nameh, Persian Epic, 144

Shankar Pandurang Pandit,

Talmud, 209, 215, 222 "creative Tapas, fervor," 237 Tat tvam asi, "Thou art the That," 233, 269, 275 lauler, John, a mystic, 281 Teacher and pupil, 188, 286 Tel-elcuneiform arna, tablets of, n, 135

Am

Temples, absence

21 Sikhs, religion of, 10

Terrestrial gods, 92

Skambha,

Theosophy,

"Support," 242 (haoma), plant, and liquor pressed from it, 77,

Soma

78, 120, 122, 138, 143, 145, J I ^s function in 47>

75>

Vedic religion, 65, 147; in Avestan religion, 147; brought from heaven by an eagle, 146, 165; per sonified,

78,

92,

172;

as

the moon, 113 "Sons

of

God,"

myth of, no, 114 Stages of life, four, 4, 288 Stobhas of the Sama-Veda, universal worship of, 104; progenitor of man, 139, 141; as shepherd and finder of lost objects, 172 ff. See Savitar, and Surya Sun and moon as dogs, 105, 251 Sun-Maiden, 90, 91, 112 ff., n5 ff; 172 Surya (Helios) 86, 87, 92, 112, 153, 154, 172

Sun,

"

"

Surya. See "Sun-Maiden" Suttee, or widow-burning, 9

Svayambhu,

"The

"

isting,

242

Self -ex

89

beginnings

of,

208, 215, 219; time of its

appearance, 209

221; ff., place where it originated, 212 ff. its authors, 219, 227: chronology of, 233 Thor (Donar), in Thrita and Athwya, 146 ,

Thugs, sect of, 9 Thunder, god of, in, 148 "Time,"

Lithuanian

of,

"Father

Time,"

personified, 245

Totemism, 138 ff., 256 Transcendental gods, 244 Translucent gods, 96, 166 Transmigration of souls, 57, 211

ff.,

ff.

3,

224, 247; origin

and explanation of, 254 ff. date of, 257; Western es

;

timate of, 261 ff.,; release from, 258 Transparent gods, 93-96, 151 ffTrita Aptya, 146 Truth and untruth, 128 Tuisto, father of Mannus, 140 Tuladhara, a low-caste thcosopher, 225

Tvashtar, 91, 141, 240 "Twilight of the gods," 98, 230

Index u pher, 221 See Monism Unity, idea of. Universe, threefold division of, 91, 169 Upanishads, 2, 52 ff., 209, 215, 222, 257 ff., 274, 287; discovery of, 52; critical estimate of, 57, 58; Hindu estimate of, 57; influence of, on Western philosophy, of to

ritual,

;

66

no,

127, 152

ff.,

;

;

Veda and Avesta,

71 ff; 78, 9 ff.

ff->

Vedanta philosophy,

2,

51,

229 Vedas, Concordance

of,

18,

Vicpala, a racing mare, 113 Vifvakarman, Fabricator of universe, 242 Vidhatar, "Arranger," 242 Vishnu, 92, 168 ff.. 195 "

Vivas vant (Vivanhvant), fa ther of

Yama and Manu,

120, 139, 141

251

t

Utilitarianism, 61, 183, 198

Vac, Vac Sarasvati,

"Holy

personified,

191,

243 Vajacravasa, a zealous Brah man, 192 Vala and the cows, myth of, 180

Varuna,

119, 92, 94, l6 7 i2&ff., 153. l62 200, 250; identical .

Uranos, 232

ff.,

146

Vivekananda, Svami, a reformer,

ligious

Speech,"

mutual

relations of, 13, 15, 24, 118 Veda and Mahabharata, 16

"

identical with Uranos, 84 Varuna, 136 Urva9i, an Apsaras, 46 Ushas, "Dawn," a goddess, 30,

of, 24; character of its literature, 25, 65, 76, 80; its composers, 27, 28, 6 1 its metres, 24, 80 mode of acquiring it in school, See Rig-Veda 188, 286.

ginnings

Uddalaka Aruni, a theoso-

55; relation 35, 209

299

9,

re

225,

229 Vrishakapayi, 91 Vritra, a demon, 175 ff. Vritrahan (Verethraghna, Vahagn), epithet of Indra, 176

W

121, 174,

Wagner, Richard, 59, 156 Warrior caste, its relation to

with

theosophy, 219, 220 ff. Whitney, William D., 18, 234

136; collapse of,

Vasishthas, a family of Vedic authors, 28, 123, 186 Vata, and Vayu, "Wind,"

Woman

s

incantation against

rival, 43

Women

as theosophers, 233,

279

155,

Wotan, a Teutonic god, 155

Veda, 17 ff. date of, 18, 209; canon of, 17; oral tradition unhistorical char of, 2 1

Yajnavalkya, a theosopher,

87,

personified, 181

92,

,

;

acter of its tradition, 20, date of its manu 23; scripts,

21

;

literary

be

214, 261,

221, 277,

223, 227, 287, 284, 290 279, Yajur-Veda, 25 ff., 31 ff., 127

Index

300

of paradise and 140, 144, 145, 10, 250, 251

Yama, king hell,

162,

105, 2

Yama and

the first pair, 48, 120, 129, 140,144 Yaska, author of Nirukta, 90 Yatnl,

Yima, Yima Khshaeta, See

Yama

Ymir, cosmic Edda, 242 "Yodels"

in

man

in

143.

the

Sama-Veda, 37

Zarathushtra

(Zoroaster),

118 Zeus, Zeus Pater, 83, 95, no, See Dyaus 152. Zeus Bagaios, 109 Zoroastrian angels (Amesha Spentas), 133 ff. Zoroastrian (Parsi) religion, n, 13, 118 ff.

.

.26

BLOOMFIELD THE RELIGION OF VEDA

1908 12J139 I