History of Sanskrit Literature -3 (BY ARTHUR A. MACDONELL

History of Sanskrit Literature

(BY

ARTHUR A. MACDONELL, M. A., Ph.D.

BODEN PROFESSOR OF SANSKRIT)

 

A further measure for preserving the sacred text from

alteration with still greater certainty was soon taken in

the form of the Krama-patha, or "step-text." This is

old, for it, like the Pada-patha, is already known to the

author of the Aitareya Aranyaka, Here every word of

the Pada text occurs twice, being connected both with

that which precedes and that which follows. Thus the

first four words, if represented by a, b, e, d, would be read

as ab, be, ed. The Jata-patha, or "

woven-text," in its turn

based on the Krama-patha, states each of its combinations

three times, the second time in reversed order {ab,

baf ab; be, cb, be). The climax of complication is reached

in the Ghana-patha, in which the order is ab, ba, abc, cba,

abc ; be, cb, bed, &c.

The Praticakhyas may also be regarded as safeguards

52 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

of the text, having been composed for the purpose of

exhibiting exactly all the changes necessary for turning

the Pada into the Samhita text.

Finally, the class of supplementary works called

Anukramanls, or "

Indices," aimed at preserving the Rigveda

intact by registering its contents from various points

of view, besides furnishing calculations of the number of

hymns, verses, words, and even syllables, contained in

the sacred book.

The text of the Rigveda has come down to us in a

single recension only ; but is there any evidence that

other recensions of it existed in former times ?

The Charana-vyuha, or "

Exposition of Schools," a supplementary

work of the Sutra period, mentions as the five

cdkhds or " branches "

of the Rigveda, the Cakalas, the

Vashkalas, the Acvalayanas, the (^ankhayanas, and the

Mandukeyas. The third and fourth of these schools,

however, do not represent different recensions of the

text, the sole distinction between them and the Cakalas

having been that the Acvalayanas recognised as canonical

the group of the eleven Vdlakhilya or supplementary

hymns, and the (^ankhayanas admitted the same group,

diminished only by a few verses. Hence the tradition of

the Puranas, or later legendary works, mentions only the

three schools of (Jakalas, Vashkalas, and Mandukas. If

the latter ever possessed a recension of an independent

character, all traces of it were lost at an early period in

ancient India, for no information of any kind about it

has been preserved. Thus only the two schools of the

(Jakalas and the Vashkalas come into consideration. The

subsidiary Vedic writings contain sufficient evidence to

show that the text of the Vashkalas differed from that of

the (Jakalas only in admitting eight additional hymns, and

THE VEDIC ACCENT 53

in assigning another position to a group of the first book.

But in these respects it compares unfavourably with the

extant text. Thus it is evident that the (^akalas not only

possessed the best "radition of the text of the Rigveday

but handed down the only recension, in the true sense,

which, as far as we can tell, ever existed.

The text of the Rigveday like that of the other Samhitas,

as well as of two of the Brahmanas (the Qatapatha

and the Taittirlya, together with its Aranyaka), has come

down to us in an accented form. The peculiarly sacred

character of the text rendered the accent very important

for correct and efficacious recitation. Analogously the

accent was marked by the Greeks in learned and model

editions only. The nature of the Vedic accent was

musical, depending on the pitch of the voice, like that

of the ancient Greeks. This remained the character of

the Sanskrit accent till later than the time of Panini. But

just as the old Greek musical accent, after the beginning

of our ejr^i, was transformed into a stress accent, so by

the seventh century~XDT(afKi probably long before) the

Sanskrit accent had undergone a similar change. While,

however, in modern Greek the stress accent has remained,

owing to the high pitch of the old acute, on the same

syllable as bore the musical accent in the ancient language,

the modern pronunciation of Sanskrit has no

connection with the Vedic accent, but is dependent on

the quantity of the last two or three syllables, much the

same as in Latin. Thus the penultimate, if long, is

accented, e.g. Kdlidasay or the antepenultimate, if long

and followed by a short syllable, e.g. brdhmana or Himalaya

("abode of snow"). This change of accent in

Sanskrit was brought about by the influence of Prakrit,

in which, as there is evidence to show, the stress accent

<&**%c54

SANSKRIT LITERATURE

is very old, going back several centuries before the be*

ginning of our era.

There are three accents in the Rigveda as well as the

other sacred texts. The most important of these is the

rising accent, called ud-dtta ("raised"), which corresponds

to the Greek acute. Comparative philology shows that

in Sanskrit it rests on the same syllable as bore it in the

proto-Aryan language. In Greek it is generally on the

same syllable as in Sanskrit, except when interfered with

by the specifically Greek law restricting the accent to

one of the last three syllables. Thus the Greek heptd

corresponds to the Vedic saptd,

" seven." The lowpitch

accent, which precedes the acute, is called the anuddtta

("not raised"). The third is the falling accent,

which usually follows the acute, and is called svarita

("sounded").

Of the four different systems of marking the accent in

Vedic texts, that of the Rigveda is most commonly employed.

Here the acute is not marked at all, while the

low-pitch anuddtta is indicated by a horizontal stroke

below the syllable bearing it, and the svarita by a vertical

stroke above. Thusyajnasyd (" of sacrifice ") would mean

that the second syllable has the acute and the third the

svarita (yajndsyd). The reason why the acute is not

marked is because it is regarded as the middle tone

between the other two.1

The hymns of the Rigveda consist of stanzas ranging

in number from three to fifty-eight, but usually not

1 The other three systems are : (i) that of the MaitrayanT and Kdihaka

Samhitas (two recensions of the Black Yajurveda), which mark the acute

with a vertical stroke above ; (2) that of the Catapatha Brahmana, which

marks the acute with a horizontal stroke below ; and (3) that of the Samaveda,

which indicates the three accents with the numerals 1, 2, 3, to distinguish

three degrees of pitch, the acute (1) here being the highest.

VEDIC METRES 55

exceeding ten or twelve. These stanzas (often loosely

called verses) are composed in some fifteen different

metres, only seven of which, however, are at all frequent.

Three of them are by far the commonest, claiming

together about four-fifths of the total number of stanzas

in the Rigveda.

There is an essential difference between Greek and

Vedic prosody. Whereas the metrical unit of the forme_r

system is the foot7m~trie~tatteT it is the line (or verse)^

feeFnot being distinguished. Curiously enough, however,

the Vedic metrical unit is also called pdda, or

"foot,

yH5uTfof a very different reason ; for the word has_

here really the figurative sense of "

quarter

"

(from the_

foot of a quadruped), because the most usual kind of

stanza has touT~Iines~Tfie"" ordinary padas consist of

eight, eleven, or twelve syllables. A_ stanza or rich is

"generally formed of three or four lines of the same kind.

Four or five of the rarer types of stanza are, however,

made up of a combination, of different lines. ___

It is to be noted that the Vedic metres have a certain

elasticity to which we are unaccustomed in Greek prosody,

and which recalls the irregularities of the Latin

Saturnian verse. Only the rhythm of the last four or /

five syllables is determined, the first part of the line Xv

not being subject to rule. Regarded in their historical

-

/

^

connection, the Vedic metres, which are the foundation

of the entire prosody of the later literature, occupy a

position midway between the system of the Indo-Iranian

period and that of classical Sanskrit. For the evidence

of the Avesta, with its eight and eleven syllable lines,

which ignore quantity, but are combined Into stanzas

otherwise tne sarneas~lhose of the Rigveda, indicates

that the metricalpractice~of the periocTwhen Persians *

56 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

and Indians were still one people, depended on no other

principle than the counting of syllables. In the Sanskrit

period, on the other hand, the quantity of every syllable

in the line was determined in all metres, with the sole

exception of the loose measure (called cloka) employed

in epic poetry. The metrical regulation of the line,

starting from its end, thus finally extended to the whole.

The fixed rhythm at the end of the Vedic line is called

vritta, literally

" turn

"

(from vrit, Lat. vert-ere), which

corresponds etymologically to the Latin versus.

The eight-syllable line usually ends in two iambics,

the first four syllables, though not exactly determined,

having a tendency to be iambic also. This verse is

therefore the almost exact equivalent of the Greek iambic

dimeter.

Three of these lines combine to form the gdyatrl

metre, in which nearly one-fourth (2450) of the total

number of stanzas in the Rigveda is composed. An

example of it is the first stanza of the Rigveda, which

runs as follows :

Agnim ile purohitam

Yaj?idsya devdm ritvijam

Hotdram ratnadhdtamam.

It may be closely rendered thus in lines imitating the

rhythm of the original :

Ipraise Agni, domestic priest,

God, minister of sacrifice,

Herald, most prodigal of wealth.

Four of these eight-syllable lines combine to form

the anushtubh stanza, in which the first two and the last

two are more closely connected. In the Rigveda the

number of stanzas in this measure amounts to only

THE PREVALENT METRES 57

about one-third of those in the gdyatrl. This relation

is gradually reversed, till we reach the post-Vedic period,

when the gdyatrl is found to have disappeared, and the

anushtubh (now generally called cloka) to have become

the predominant measure of Sanskrit poetry. A development

in the character of this metre may be observed

within the Rigveda itself. All its verses in the oldest

hymns are the same, being iambic in rhythm. In later

hymns, however, a tendency to differentiate the first and

third from the second and fourth lines, by making the

former non-iambic, begins to show itself. Finally, in

the latest hymns of the tenth book the prevalence of the

iambic rhythm disappears in the odd lines. Here every

possible combination of quantity in the last four syllables

is found, but the commonest variation, nearly equalling

the iambic in frequency, is w w. The latter is the

regular ending of the first and third line in the post-

Vedic cloka.

The twelve-syllable line

4

ends thus : ^. Four

of these together form the jagatl stanza. The trishtubh

stanza consists of four lines of eleven syllables, which

are practically catalectic jagatlsy as they end ~ ~.

These two verses being so closely allied and having

the same cadence, are often found mixed in the same

stanza. The trishtubh is by far the commonest metre,

about two-fifths of the Rigveda being composed in it.

Speaking generally, a hymn of the Rigveda consists

entirely of stanzas in the same metre. The regular

and typical deviation from this rule is to conclude a

hymn with a single stanza in a metre different from

that of the rest, this being a natural method of distinctly

marking its close.

A certain number of hymns of the Rigveda consist

58 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

not merely of a succession of single stanzas, but of

equal groups of stanzas. The group consists either of

three stanzas in the same simple metre, generally

gdyatrly or of the combination of two stanzas in different

mixed metres. The latter strophic type goes by the

name of Pragdtha, and is found chiefly in the eighth

book of the Rigveda*

CHAPTER IV

POETRY OF THE RIGVEDA

Before we turn to describe the world of thought

revealed in the hymns of the Rigveda, the question

may naturally be asked, to what extent is it possible

to understand the true meaning of a book occupying

so isolated a position in the remotest age of Indian

literature ? The answer to this question depends on

the recognition of the right method of interpretation

applicable to that ancient body of poetry. When the

Rigveda first became known, European scholars, as

yet only acquainted with the language and literature

of classical Sanskrit, found that the Vedic hymns were

composed in an ancient dialect and embodied a world

of ideas far removed from that with which they had

made themselves familiar. The interpretation of these

hymns was therefore at the outset barred by almost

insurmountable difficulties. Fortunately, however, a

voluminous commentary on the Rigveda, which explains

or paraphrases every word of its hymns, was

found to exist. This was the work of the great Vedic

scholar Sayana, who lived in the latter half of the fourteenth

century A.D. at Vijayanagara ("City of Victory"),

the ruins of which lie near Bellary in Southern India.

As his commentary constantly referred to ancient

authorities, it was thought to have preserved the true

meaning of the Rigveda in a traditional interpretation

60 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

going back to the most ancient times. Nothing further

seemed to be necessary than to ascertain the explanation

of the original text which prevailed in India

five centuries ago, and is laid down in Sayana's work.

I This view is represented by the translation of the

Rigveda begun in 1850 by H. H. Wilson, the first

^professor of Sanskrit at Oxford.

Another line was taken by the late Professor Roth,^

the founder of Vedic philology. This great scholar

propounded the view that the aim of Vedic interpretation

was not to ascertain the meaning which Sayana,

or even Yaska, who lived eighteen centuries earlier,

attributed to the Vedic hymns, but the meaning which

the ancient poets themselves intended. Such an end

could not be attained by simply following the lead of

the commentators. For the latter, though valuable

guides towards the understanding of the later theological

and ritual literature, with the notions and practice

of which they were familiar, showed no continuity

of tradition from the time of the poets ; for

the tradition supplied by them was solely that which

was handed down among interpreters, and only began

when the meaning of the hymns was no longer fully

comprehended. There could, in fact, be no other

tradition ; interpretation only arising when the hymns

had become obscure. The commentators, therefore,

simply preserved attempts at the solution of difficulties,

while showing a distinct tendency towards misinterpreting

the language as well as the religious, mythological,

and cosmical ideas of a vanished age by the scholastic

notions prevalent in their own.

It is clear from what Yaska says that some important

discrepancies in opinion prevailed among the older expoMETHOD

OF INTERPRETATION 61

sitors and the different schools of interpretation which

flourished before his time. He gives the names of no

fewer than seventeen predecessors, whose explanations of

the Veda are often conflicting. Thus one of them interprets

the word Ndsatyau, an epithet of the Vedic Dioskouroi,

as "

true, not false ;

" another takes it to mean

"leaders of truth," while Yaska himself thinks it might

mean " nose-born "

! The gap between the poets and

the early interpreters was indeed so great that one of

Yaska's predecessors, named Kautsa, actually had the

audacity to assert that the science of Vedic exposition

was useless, as the Vedic hymns and formulas were

obscure, unmeaning, or mutually contradictory. Such

criticisms Yaska meets by replying that it was not the

fault of the rafter if the blind man did not see it. Yaska

himself interprets only a very small portion of the hymns

of the Rigveda. In what he does attempt to explain, he

largely depends on etymological considerations for the

sense he assigns. He often gives two or more alternative

or optional senses to the same word. The fact that he

offers a choice of meanings shows that he had no earlier

authority for his guide, and that his renderings are simply

conjectural ; for no one can suppose that the authors of

the hymns had more than one meaning in their minds.

It is, however, highly probable that Yaska, with all the

appliances at his command, was able to ascertain the

sense of many words which scholars who, like Sayana,

lived nearly two thousand years later, had no means of

discovering. Nevertheless Sayana is sometimes found

to depart from Yaska. Thus we arrive at the dilemma

that either the old interpreter is wrong or the later one

does not follow the tradition. There are also many

instances in which Sayana, independently of Yaska, gives

62 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

a variety of inconsistent explanations of a word, both in

interpreting a single passage or in commenting on different

passages. (Thus cdrada,

"

autumnal/' he explains

in one place as " fortified for a year/' in another as

u new or fortified for a year/' and in a third as " belonging

to a demon called (Jarad." One of the defects of

Sayana is, in fact, that he limits his view in most cases

to the single verse he has before him. A detailed examination

of his explanations, as well as those of Yaska,

has shown that there is in the Rigveda a large number

of the most difficult words, about the proper sense

of which neither scholar had any certain information

from either tradition or etymology. We are therefore

justified in saying about them that there is in

the hymns no unusual or difficult word or obscure

text in regard to which the authority of the commentators

should be received as final, unless it is

supported by probability, by the context, or by parallel

passages. Thus no translation of the Rigveda based

exclusively on Sayana's commentary can possibly be

satisfactory. It would, in fact, be as unreasonable to

take him for our sole guide as to make our understanding

of the Hebrew books of the Old Testament

dependent on the Talmud and the Rabbis. It must,

indeed, be admitted that from a large proportion of

Sayana's interpretations most material help can be derived,

and that he has been of the greatest service in

facilitating and accelerating the comprehension of the

Veda. But there is little information of value to be

derived from him, that, with our knowledge of later

Sanskrit, with the other remains of ancient Indian literature,

and with our various philological appliances, we

might not sooner or later have found out for ourselves.

METHOD OF INTERPRETATION 63

Roth, then, rejected the commentators as our chief

guides in interpreting the Rigveday which, as the earliest

literary monument of the Indian, and indeed of the

Aryan race, stands quite by itself, high up on an isolated

peak of remote antiquity. As regards its more peculiar

and difficult portions, it must therefore be interpreted

mainly through itself ; or, to apply in another sense the

words of an Indian commentator, it must shine by its

own light and be self-demonstrating. Roth further expressed

the view that a qualified European is better able

to arrive at the true meaning of the Rigveda than a

Brahman interpreter. The judgment of the former is

unfettered by theological bias ; he possesses the historical

faculty, and he has also a far wider intellectual

horizon, equipped as he is with all the resources of

scientific scholarship. Roth therefore set himself to

compare carefully all passages parallel in form and

matter, with due regard to considerations of context,

grammar, and etymology, while consulting, though, perhaps,

with insufficient attention, the traditional interpretations.

He thus subjected the Rigveda to a historical

treatment within the range of Sanskrit itself. He further

called in the assistance rendered from without by the

comparative method, utilising the help afforded not only

by the Avesta, which is so closely allied to the Rigveda

in language and matter, but also by the results of comparative

philology, resources unknown to the traditional

scholar.

By thus ascertaining the meaning of single words,

the foundations of the scientific interpretation of the

Vedas were laid in the great Sanskrit Dictionary, in

seven volumes, published by Roth in collaboration with

Bohtlingk between 1852 and 1875. Roth's method is

64 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

now accepted by every scientific student of the Veda.

Native tradition is, however, being more fully exploited

than was done by Roth himself, for it is now more clearly

recognised that no aid to be derived from extant Indian

scholarship ought to be neglected. Under the guidance

of such principles the, progress already made in solving

many important problems presented by Vedic literature

has been surprising, when we consider the shortness of

the time and the fewness of the labourers, of whom only

two or three have been natives of this country. As a

general result, the historical sense has succeeded in

grasping the spirit of Indian antiquity, long obscured

by native misinterpretation. Much, of course, still remains

to be done by future generations of scholars,

especially in detailed and minute investigation. This

could not be otherwise when we remember that Vedic

research is only the product of the last fifty years, and

that, notwithstanding the labours of very numerous

Hebrew scholars during several centuries, there are, in

the Psalms and the Prophetic Books of the Old Testament,

still many passages which remain obscure and

disputed. There can be no doubt that many problems

at present insoluble will in the end be solved by that

modern scholarship which has already deciphered the

cuneiform writings of Persia as well as the rock inscriptions

of India, and has discovered the languages which

lay hidden under these mysterious characters.

Having thus arrived at the threshold of the world

of Vedic thought, we may now enter through the portals

opened by the golden key of scholarship. By far the

greater part of the poetry of the Rigveda consists of

religious lyrics, only the tenth book containing some

secular poems.

N

Its hymns are mainly addressed to the

CHARACTER OF THE RIGVEDA 65

various gods of the Vedic pantheon, praising their mighty

deeds, their greatness, and their beneficence, or beseeching

them for wealth in cattle, numerous offspring,

prosperity, long life, and victory. The Rigveda is not a

collection of primitive popular poetry, as it was apt to be

described at an earlier period of Sanskrit studies. It is

rather a body of skilfully composed hymns, produced by

a sacerdotal class and meant' to accompany the Soma

oblation and the fire sacrifice of melted butter, which

were offered according to a ritual by no means so simple

as was at one time supposed, though undoubtedly much

simpler than the elaborate system of the Brahmana

period. Its poetry is consequently marred by frequent

references to the sacrifice, especially when the two

great ritual deities, Agni and Soma, are the objects of

praise. At the same time it is on the whole much more

natural than might under these conditions be expected.

For the gods who are invoked are nearly all personifications

of the phenomena of Nature, and thus give occasion

for the employment of much beautiful and even noble

imagery. The diction of the hymns is, generally speaking,

simple and unaffected. Compound words are

sparingly used, and are limited to two members, in

marked contrast with the frequency and length of compounds

in classical Sanskrit. The thought, too, is usually

artless and direct, except in the hymns to the ritual

deities, where it becomes involved in conceit and mystical

obscurity. THe very limited nature of the theme, in

ffiese cases, Inust have forced the minds of the priestly

singers to strive after variety by giving utterance to the

same idea in enigmatical phraseology.

^Here^itien, we~already find the beginnings of that

fondness for subtlety and difficult modes of expression

66 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

which is so prevalent in the later literature, and which is

betrayed even in the earlier period by the saying in one

of the Brahmanas that the gods love the recondite. In

some hymns, too, there appears that tendency to play

with words which was carried to inordinate lengths in late

Sanskrit poems and romances. The hymns of the Rigveday

of course, vary much in literary merit, as is naturally to

be expected in the productions of many poets extendng

over some centuries. Many display a high order of

poetical excellence, while others consist of commonplace

and mechanical verse. The degree of skill in composition

is on the average remarkably high, especially when

we consider that here we have by far the oldest poetry

of the Aryan race. The art which these early seers feel

is needed to produce a hymn acceptable to the gods

is often alluded to, generally in the closing stanza. The

poet usually compares his work to a car wrought and

put together by a deft craftsman. One Rishi also likens

his prayers to fair and well-woven garments ; another

speaks of having adorned his song of praise like a bride

for her lover. Poets laud the gods according to knowledge

and ability (vi. 21, 6), and give utterance to the

emotions of their hearts (x. 39, 15). Various individual

gods are, it is true, in a general way said to have

granted seers the gift of song, but of the later doctrine

of revelation the Rigvedic poets know nothing.

The remark which has often been made that monotony

prevails in the Vedic hymns contains truth. But

the impression is produced by the hymns to the same

deity being commonly grouped together in each book.

A similar effect would probably arise from reading in

succession twenty or thirty lyrics on Spring, even in an

anthology of the best modern poetry. When we conMYTHOLOGY

OF THE RIGVEDA 67

sider that nearly five hundred hymns of the Rigveda are

addressed to two deities alone, it is surprising that so

many variations of the same theme should be possible.

The hymns of the Rigveda being mainly invocations

of the gods, their contents are largely mythological.

Special interest attaches to this mythology, because it

represents an earlier stage of thought than is to be found

in any other literature. It is sufficiently primitive to

enable us to see clearly the process of personification by

which natural phenomena developed into gods. Never

observing, in his ordinary life, action or movement not

caused by an acting or moving person, the Vedic Indian,

like man in a much less advanced state, still refers

such occurrences in Nature to personal agents, which to

him are inherent in the phenomena. He still looks out

upon the workings of Nature with childlike astonishment.

One poet asks why the sun does not fall from the sky ;

another wonders where the stars go by day ; while a

third marvels that the waters of all rivers constantly

flowing into it never fill the ocean. The unvarying regularity

of sun and moon, and the unfailing recurrence

of the dawn, however, suggested to these ancient singers

the idea of the unchanging order that prevails in Nature,

he notion of this general law, recognised under the

name rita (properly the " course "

of things), we find in

the Rigveda extended first to the fixed rules of the

sacrifice (rite), and then to those of morality (right).

Though the mythological phase presented by the Rigveda

is comparatively primitive, it yet contains many conceptions

inherited from previous ages. The parallels of

the Avesta show that several of the Vedic deities go back

to the time when the ancestors of Persians and Indians

were still one people. Among these may be mentioned

T

63 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

Yama, god of the dead, identical with Yima, ruler of

paradise, and especially Mitra, the cult of whose Persian

counterpart, Mithra, obtained from 200-400 A.D. a worldwide

diffusion in the Roman Empire, and came nearer to

monotheism than the cult of any other god in paganism.

Various religious practices can also be traced back to

that early age, such as the worship of fire and the cult of

the plant Soma (the Avestan Haomd). The veneration

of the cow, too, dates from that time. A religious hymn

poetry must have existed even then, for stanzas of four

eleven-syllable (the Vedic trishtubli) and of four or three

eight-syllable lines (anushtubh and gayatri) were already

known, as is proved by the agreement of the Avesta with

the Rigveda.

From the still earlier Indo-European period had come

down the general conception of "

god

"

(deva-s, Lat. deu-s)

and that of heaven as a divine father (Dyaus pita, Gr. Zeus

pater, Lat. Jupiter). Probably from an even remoter antiquity

is derived the notion of heaven and earth as primeval

and universal parents, as well as many magical beliefs.

The. universe appeared to the poets of the Rigveda to

be divided into the three domains of earth, air, and

heaven, a division perhaps also known to the early Greeks.

This is the favourite triad of the Rigveda, constantly

mentioned expressly or by implication. The solar phenomena

are referred to heaven, while those of lightning,

rain, and wind belong to the air. In the three

worlds the various gods perform their actions, though

they are supposed to dwell only in the third, the home of

light. The air is often called a sea, as the abode of the

celestial waters, while the great rainless clouds are conceived

sometimes as rocks or mountains, sometimes as

the castles of demons who wTar against the gods. The

CHARACTER OF THE GODS 69

thundering rain-clouds become lowing cows, whose milk

is shed and bestows fatness upon the earth.

The higher gods of the Rigveda are almost entirely

personifications of natural phenomena, such as Sun,

Dawni Fire, Wind. Excepting a few deities surviving

from an older period, the gods are, for the most part,

more or less clearly connected with their physical foundation.

The personifications being therefore but slightly

developed, lack definiteness of outline and individuality

of character. Moreover, the phenomena themselves

which are behind the personifications have few distinctive

traits, while they share some attributes with other

phenomena belonging to the same domain. Thus Dawn,

Sun, Fire have the common features of being luminous,

dispelling darkness, appearing in the morning. Hence

the character of each god is made up of only a few

essential qualities combined with many others which are

common to all the gods, such as brilliance, power, beneficence,

and wisdom. These common attributes tend to

obscure those which are distinctive, because in hymns of

prayer and praise the former naturally assume special

importance. Again, gods belonging to different departments

of nature, but having striking features in common,

are apt to grow more like each other. Assimilation of

this kind is encouraged by a peculiar practice of the

Vedic poets the invocation of deities in pairs. Such

combinations result in attributes peculiar to the one god

attaching themselves to the other, even when the latter

appears alone. Thus when the Fire-god, invoked by

himself, is called a slayer of the demon Vritra, he receives

an attribute distinctive of the thunder-god Indra,

with whom he is often coupled. The possibility of

assigning nearly every power to every god rendered the

70 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

identification of one deity with another an easy matter.

Such identifications are frequent enough in the Rigveda.

For example, a poet addressing the fire-god exclaims:

" Thou at thy birth, O Agni, art Varuna ; when kindled

thou becomest Mitra ; in thee, O Son of Might, all gods

are centred ; thou art Indra to the worshipper" (v. 3, 1).

Moreover, mystical speculations on the nature of

Agni, so important a god in the eyes of a priesthood

devoted to a fire-cult, on his many manifestations as individual

fires on earth, and on his other aspects as atmospheric

fire in lightning and as celestial fire in the sun

aspects which the Vedic poets are fond of alluding to in

riddles would suggest the idea that various deities are

but different forms of a single divine being. This idea is

found in more than one passage of the later hymns of the

Rigveda. Thus the composer of a recent hymn (164)

of the first book says :

" The one being priests speak of

in many ways ; they call it Agni, Yama, Mataricvan."

Similarly, a seer of the last book (x. 114) remarks:

" Priests and poets with words make into many the

bird {i.e. the sun) which is but one." Utterances like

these show that by the end of the Rigvedic period the

polytheism of the Rishis had received a monotheistic tinge.

Occasionally we even find shadowed forth the pantheistic

idea of a deity representing not only all the gods,

but Nature as well. Thus the goddess Aditi is identified

with all the deities, with men, with all that has been and

shall be born, with air, and heaven (i. 89) ; and in a cosmogonic

hymn (x. 121) the Creator is not only described

as the one god above all gods, but is said 1 to embrace all

things. This germ of pantheism developed through the

later Vedic literature till it assumed its final shape in the

1 In verse 10, which is a late addition ; see p. 51, footnote.

HENOTHEISM n

Vedanta philosophy, still the most popular system of the

Hindus.

The practice of the poets, even in the older parts

of the Rigveday of invoking different gods as if each

of them were paramount, gave rise to Professor Max

Muller's theory of Henotheism or Kathenotheism, according

to which the seers held "the belief in individual

gods alternately regarded as the highest," and

for the moment treated the god addressed as if he

were an absolutely independent and supreme deity,

alone present to the mind. In reality, however, the

practice of the poets of the Rigveda hardly amounts

to more than the exaggeration to be found in the

Homeric hymns also with which a singer would naturally

magnify the particular god whom he is invoking.

For the Rishis well knew the exact position of each god

in the Soma ritual, in which nearly every member of the

pantheon found a place.

The gods, in the view of the Vedic poets, had a

beginning ; for they are described as the offspring of

"heaven and earth, or sometimes of other gods. This

in itself implies different generations, but earlier gods

are also expressly referred to in several passages. Nor

were the gods regarded as originally immortal ; for immortality

is said to have been bestowed upon them

by individual deities, such as Agni and Savitri, or to

have been acquired by drinking soma. India and

other gods are spoken of as unaging, but whether their

immortality was regarded by the poets as absolute there

is no evidence to show. In the post-Vedic view it was

only relative, being limited to a cosmic age.

The physical aspect of the Vedic gods is anthropomorphic.

Thus head, face, eyes, arms, hands, fee ,

72 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

and other portions of the human frame are ascribed

to them. But their forms are shadowy and their limbs

or parts are often simply meant figuratively to describe

their activities. Thus the tongue and limbs of

the fire-god are merely his flames ; the arms of the

sun-god are simply his rays, while his eye only represents

the solar orb. Since the outward shape of

the gods was thus vaguely conceived, while their connection

with natural phenomena was in many instances

still evident, it is easy to understand why no mention

is made in the Rigveda of images of the gods, still less

of temples, which imply the existence of images. Idols

first begin to be referred to in the Sutras.

Some of the gods appear equipped as warriors,

wearing coats of mail and helmets, and armed with

spears, battle-axes, bows and arrows. They all drive

through the air in luminous cars, generally drawn by

horses, but in some cases by kine, goats, or deer. In

their cars the gods come to seat themselves at the sacrifice,

which, however, is also conveyed to them in heaven by

Agni. They are on the whole conceived as dwelling together

in harmony ; the only one who ever introduces a

note of discord being the warlike and overbearing Indra.

( To the successful and therefore optimistic Vedic

Indian, the gods seemed almost exclusively beneficent

beings, bestowers of long life and prosperity. Indeed,

the only deity in whom injurious features are at all prominent

is Rudra. The lesser evils closely connected with

human life, such as disease, proceed from minor demons,

while the greater evils manifested in Nature, such as

drought and darkness, are produced by powerful demons

like Vritra. The conquest of these demons brings out all

the more strikingly the beneficent nature of the gods.

THE GODS AND THEIR WORSHIPPERS 73

The character of the Vedic gods is also moral.

They are " true

" and " not deceitful/' being throughout

the friends and guardians of honesty and virtue.

But the divine morality only reflects the ethical standard

of an early civilisation. Thus even the alliance of

Varuna, the most moral of the gods, with righteousness

is not such as to prevent him from employing craft

against the hostile and the deceitful man. Moral elevation

is, on the whole, a less prominent characteristic of

the gods than greatness and power.

The relation of the worshipper to the gods in the

Rigveda is in general one of dependence on their will,

prayers and sacrifices being offered to win their favour

or forgiveness. The expectation of something in return

for the offering is, however, frequently apparent, and

the keynote of many a hymn is,

"

I give to thee that

thou mayst give to me." The idea is also often expressed

that the might and valour -of the gods is produced

by hymns, sacrifices, and especially offerings of

soma. Here we find the germs of sacerdotal pretensions

which gradually increased during the Vedic

age. Thus the statement occurs in the White Yajurveda

that the Brahman who possesses correct knowledge

has the gods in his power. The Brahmanas go

a step farther in saying that there are two kinds of

gods, the Devas and the Brahmans, the latter of whom

are to be held as deities among men. In the Brahmanas,

too, the sacrifice is represented as all-powerful, controlling

not only the gods, but the very processes of

nature.

The number of the gods is stated in the Rigveda

itself to be thirty-three, several times expressed as thrice

eleven, when each group is regarded as corresponding

74 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

to one of the divisions of the threefold universe. This

aggregate could not always have been deemed exhaustive,

for sometimes other gods are mentioned in addition

to the thirty-three. Nor can this number, of course,

include various groups, such as the storm-gods.

There are, however, hardly twenty individual deities

important enough in the Rigveda to have at least three

entire hymns addressed to them. The most prominent

of these are Indra, the thunder-god, with at least 250

hymns, Agni with about 200, and Soma with over 100 ;

while Parjanya, god of rain, and Yama, god of the

dead, are invoked in only three each. The rest occupy

various positions between these two extremes. It is

somewhat remarkable that the two great deities of

modern Hinduism, Vishnu and (Jiva, who are equal

in importance, should have been on the same level,

though far below (he leading deities, three thousand

years ago, as Vishnu and Rudra (the earlier form of

(Jiva) in the Rigveda. Even then they show the same

general characteristics as now, Vishnu being specially

benevolent and Rudra terrible.

The oldest among the gods of heaven is Dyaus (identical

with the Greek Zeus). This personification of the sky

as a god never w7ent beyond a rudimentary stage in the

Rigveda, being almost entirely limited to the idea of

paternity. Dyaus is generally coupled with Prithivl,

Earth, the pair being celebrated in six hymns as universal

parents. In a few passages Dyaus is called a bull, ruddy

and bellowing downwards, with reference to the fertilising

power of rain no less than to the lightning and

thundering heavens. He is also once compared with a

black steed decked with pearls, in obvious allusion to the

nocturnal star-spangled sky. One poet describes this god

DYAUS AND VARUNA 75

as furnished with a bolt, while another speaks of him as

"Dyaus smiling through the clouds/' meaning the lightening

sky. In several other passages of the Rigveda the

verb "to smile" (smi) alludes to lightning, just as in

classical Sanskrit a smile is constantly compared with

objects of dazzling whiteness.

A much more important deity of the sky is Varunat in

whom the personification has proceeded so far that the

natural phenomenon which underlies it can only be

inferred from traits in his character. This obscurity of

origin arises partly from his not being a creation of

Indian mythology, but a heritage from an earlier age, and

partly from his name not at the same time designating a

natural phenomenon, like that of Dyaus. The word

varuna-s seems to have originally meant the "encompassing"

sky2 and is probably the same word as the

Greek Ouranos, though the identification presents some

phonetic difficulties. , Varuna is invoked in far fewer

hymns than Indra, Agni, or Soma, but he is undoubtedly

the greatest of the Vedic gods by the side of Indra.

While Indra is the great warrior, Varuna is the great

upholder of physical and moral order {ritd). The hymns

addressed to him are more ethical and devout in tone

than any others. They form the most exalted portion

of the Veda, often resembling in character the Hebrew

psalms. The peaceful sway of Varuna is explained by

his connection with the regularly recurring celestial

phenomena, the course of the heavenly bodies seen in

the sky ; Indra's warlike and occasionally capricious

nature is accounted for by the variable and uncertain

strife of the elements in the thunderstorm. The character

and power of Varuna may be sketched as nearly as

possible in the words of the Vedic poets themselves as

76 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

follows. By the law of Varuna heaven and earth are

held apart. He made the golden swing (the sun) to

shine in heaven. He has made a wide path for the sun.

The wind which resounds through the air is Varuna's

breath. By his ordinances the moon shining brightly

moves at night, and the stars placed up on high are seen

at night but disappear by day. He causes the rivers to

flow ; they stream unceasingly according to his ordinance.

By his occult power the rivers swiftly pouring

into the ocean do not fill it with water. He makes the

inverted cask to pour its waters and to moisten the

ground, while the mountains are wrapt in cloud. It is

chiefly with these aerial waters that he is connected,

very rarely with the sea.

Varuna's omniscience is often dwelt on. He knows

the flight of the birds in the sky, the path of ships in the

ocean, the course of the far-travelling wind. JHe beholds

all the secret things that have been or shall be done. He

witnesses men's truth and falsehood. No creature can

even wink without him. As a moral governor Varuna

stands far above any other deity. His wrath is roused

by sin, which is the infringement of his ordinances, and

which he severely punishes. The fetters with which he

binds sinners are often mentioned. A dispeller, hater,

and punisher of falsehood, he is gracious to the penitent.

He releases men not only from the sins which they

themselves commit, but from those committed by their

fathers. He spares the suppliant who daily transgresses

his laws, and is gracious to those who have broken his

ordinances by thoughtlessness. There is, in fact, no

hymn to Varuna in which the prayer for forgiveness of

guilt does not occur, as in the hymns to other deities

the prayer for worldly goods.

VARUNA MITRA S URYA 77

With the growth of, the conception of the creator,

Prajapati, as a supreme deity, the characteristics of

Varuna as a sovereign god naturally faded away, and the

dominion of waters, only a part of his original sphere,

alone remained. This is already partly the case in the

Atharva-veday and in post-Vedic mythology he is only an

Indian Neptune, god of the sea.

The following stanzas from a hymn to Varuna (vii.

89) will illustrate the spirit of the prayers addressed to

him :

May I notyet, King Varuna,

Go down into the house of day :

Have mercy, spare me, mighty Lord.

Thirst has come on thy worshipper

Though standing in the waterJ midst :

x

Have mercy, spare me, mighty Lord.

O Varuna, whatever the offence may be

That we as men commit against the heavenlyfolk

When through our want of thought we violate thy laws,

Chastise us not, O God, for that iniquity.

There are in the Rigveda five solar deities, differentiated

as representing various aspects of the activity of

the sun. One of the oldest of these, Mitra, the "

Friend,"

seems to have been conceived as the beneficent side of

the sun's power. Going back to the Indo-Iranian period,

he has in the Rigveda almost entirely lost his individuality,

which is practically merged in that of Varuna. With the

latter he is constantly invoked, while only one single

hymn (iii. 59) is addressed to him alone.

Surya (cognate in name to the Greek Helios) is the

most concrete of the solar deities. For as his name also

designates the luminary itself, his connection with the

1 A reference to dropsy, with which Varuna is thought to afflict sinners.

78 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

latter is never lost sight of. The eye of Surya is often

mentioned, and Dawn is said to bring the eye of the

gods. All-seeing, he is the spy of the whole world,

beholding all beings and the good or bad deeds of

mortals. Aroused by Surya, men pursue their objects

and perform their work. He is the soul or guardian of

all that moves and is fixed. He rides in a car, which is

generally described as drawn by seven steeds. These he

unyokes at sunset :

When he has loosed his coursersfrom their station,

Straightway Night over all spreads out her garment (i. 1 1 5, 4).

Surya rolls up the darkness like a skin, and the stars

slink away like thieves. He shines forth from the lap

of the dawns. He is also spoken of as the husband

of Dawn. As a form of Agni, the gods placed him

in heaven. He is often described as a bird or eagle

traversing space. He measures the days and prolongs

life. He drives away disease and evil dreams. At his

rising he is prayed to declare men sinless to Mitra and

Varuna. All beings depend on Surya, and so he is called

"all-creating."

Eleven hymns, or about the same number as to

Surya, are addressed to another solar deity, Savitri, the

"

Stimulates," who represents the quickening activity of

the sun. He is pre-eminently a golden deity, with golden

hands and arms and a golden car. He raises aloft his

strong golden arms, with which he blesses and arouses

all beings, and which extend to the ends of the earth.

He moves in his golden car, seeing all creatures, on a

downward and an upward path. He shines after the

path of the dawn. Beaming with the rays of the sun,

yellow-haired, Savitri raises up his light continually from

SAVITRI PUSHAN 79

the east. He removes evil dreams and drives away

demons and sorcerers. He bestows immortality on the

gods as well as length of life on man. He also -conducts

the departed spirit to where the righteous dwell. The

other gods follow Savitri's lead ; no being, not even the

most powerful gods, Indra and Varuna, can resist his

will and independent sway. Savitri is not infrequently

connected with the evening, being in oq,e hymn (ii. 38)

extolled as the setting sun :

Borne by swift coursers, he will now unyoke them :

The speeding chariot he has stayedfrom going.

He checks the speed of them that glide like serpents :

Night has come on by Savitri's commandment.

The weaver rolls her outstretched web together,

The skilled lay down their work in midst of toiling^

The birds all seek their nests, their shed the cattle :

Each to his lodging Savitri disperses.

To this god is addressed the most famous stanza of

the Rigveda, with which, as the Stimulator, he was in

ancient times invoked at the beginning of Vedic study,

and which is still repeated by every orthodox Hindu in

his morning prayers. From the name of the deity it is

called the Savitri, but it is also often referred to as " the

Gdyatrl" from the metre in which it is composed :

May we attain that excellent

Glory of Savitri the god,

That he may stimulate our thoughts (iii. 62, 10).

A peculiarity of the hymns to Savitri is the perpetual

play on his name with forms of the root sut "to stimulate,"

from which it is derived.

Pushan is invoked in some eight hymns of the

Rigveda. His name means "

Prosperer," and the con80

SANSKRIT LITERATURE

ception underlying his character seems to be the beneficent

power of the sun, manifested chiefly as a pastoral

deity. His car is drawn by goats and he carries a goad.

Knowing the ways of heaven, he conducts the dead

on the far path to the fathers. He is also a guardian

of roads, protecting cattle and guiding them with his

goad. The welfare which he bestows results from the

protection he extends to men and cattle on earth, and

from his guidance of mortals to the abodes of bliss in

the next world.

Judged by a statistical standard, Vishnu is only a deity

of the fourth rank, less frequently invoked than Surya,

Savitri, and Ptishan in the Rigveda, but historically he

is the most important of the solar deities. For he is one

of the two great gods of modern Hinduism. The

essential feature of his character is that he takes three

strides, which doubtless represent the course of the sun

through the three divisions of the universe. His highest

step is heaven, where the gods and the fathers dwell.

For this abode the poet expresses his longing in the

following words (i. 154, 5) :

May I attain to that, his well-loved dwelling,

Where me?i devoted to the gods are blessed:

In Vis/mu's highest step he is our kinsman,

Ofmighty stride there is a spring of nectar.

Vishnu seems to have been originally conceived as

the sun, not in his general character, but as the personified

swiftly moving luminary which with vast strides

traverses the three worlds. He is in several passages

said to have taken his three steps for the benefit of

man.

Om Tat Sat

                                                        

(Continued...) 

(My humble salutations to  Brahmsree Sreeman  Arthur A. Macdonell  and also my humble greatulness to  great Devotees , Philosophic Scholars  for the collection)