A History of Sanskrit Literature Part 4

In a similar strain another Rishi sings:--

Again and again newly born though ancient, Decking her beauty with the self-same colours, The G.o.ddess wastes away the life of mortals, Like wealth diminished by the skilful player (i. 92, 10).

The following stanzas from one of the finest hymns to Dawn (i. 113) furnish a more general picture of this fairest creation of Vedic poetry:--

This light has come, of all the lights the fairest, The brilliant brightness has been born, far-shining.

Urged onward for G.o.d Savitri's uprising, Night now has yielded up her place to Morning.

The sisters' pathway is the same, unending: Taught by the G.o.ds, alternately they tread it.

Fair-shaped, of different forms and yet one-minded, Night and Morning clash not, nor do they linger.

Bright leader of glad sounds, she shines effulgent: Widely she has unclosed for us her portals.

Arousing all the world, she shows us riches: Dawn has awakened every living creature.

There Heaven's Daughter has appeared before us, The maiden flushing in her brilliant garments.

Thou sovran lady of all earthly treasure, Auspicious Dawn, flush here to-day upon us.

In the sky's framework she has shone with splendour; The G.o.ddess has cast off the robe of darkness.

Wakening up the world with ruddy horses, Upon her well-yoked chariot Dawn is coming.

Bringing upon it many bounteous blessings, Brightly shining, she spreads her brilliant l.u.s.tre.

Last of the countless mornings that have gone by, First of bright morns to come has Dawn arisen.

Arise! the breath, the life, again has reached us: Darkness has gone away and light is coming.

She leaves a pathway for the sun to travel: We have arrived where men prolong existence.

Among the deities of celestial light, those most frequently invoked are the twin G.o.ds of morning named Acvins. They are the sons of Heaven, eternally young and handsome. They ride on a car, on which they are accompanied by the sun-maiden Surya. This car is bright and sunlike, and all its parts are golden. The time when these G.o.ds appear is the early dawn, when "darkness still stands among the ruddy cows." At the yoking of their car Ushas is born.

Many myths are told about the Acvins as succouring divinities. They deliver from distress in general, especially rescuing from the ocean in a ship or ships. They are characteristically divine physicians, who give sight to the blind and make the lame to walk. One very curious myth is that of the maiden Vicpala, who having had her leg cut off in some conflict, was at once furnished by the Acvins with an iron limb. They agree in many respects with the two famous hors.e.m.e.n of Greek mythology, the Dioskouroi, sons of Zeus and brothers of Helen. The two most probable theories as to the origin of these twin deities are, that they represent either the twilight, half dark, half light, or the morning and evening star.

In the realm of air Indra is the dominant deity. He is, indeed, the favourite and national G.o.d of the Vedic Indian. His importance is sufficiently indicated by the fact that more than one-fourth of the Rigveda is devoted to his praise. Handed down from a bygone age, Indra has become more anthropomorphic and surrounded by mythological imagery than any other Vedic G.o.d. The significance of his character is nevertheless sufficiently clear. He is primarily the thunder-G.o.d, the conquest of the demon of drought or darkness named Vritra, the "Obstructor," and the consequent liberation of the waters or the winning of light, forming his mythological essence. This myth furnishes the Rishis with an ever-recurring theme. Armed with his thunderbolt, exhilarated by copious draughts of soma, and generally escorted by the Maruts or Storm-G.o.ds, Indra enters upon the fray. The conflict is terrible. Heaven and earth tremble with fear when Indra smites Vritra like a tree with his bolt. He is described as constantly repeating the combat. This obviously corresponds to the perpetual renewal of the natural phenomena underlying the myth. The physical elements in the thunderstorm are seldom directly mentioned by the poets when describing the exploits of Indra. He is rarely said to shed rain, but constantly to release the pent-up waters or rivers. The lightning is regularly the "bolt," while thunder is the lowing of the cows or the roaring of the dragon. The clouds are designated by various names, such as cow, udder, spring, cask, or pail. They are also rocks (adri), which encompa.s.s the cows set free by Indra. They are further mountains from which Indra casts down the demons dwelling upon them. They thus often become fortresses (pur) of the demons, which are ninety, ninety-nine, or a hundred in number, and are variously described as "moving," "autumnal," "made of iron or stone." One stanza (x. 89, 7) thus brings together the various features of the myth: "Indra slew Vritra, broke the castles, made a channel for the rivers, pierced the mountain, and delivered over the cows to his friends." Owing to the importance of the Vritra myth, the chief and specific epithet of Indra is Vritrahan, "slayer of Vritra." The following stanzas are from one of the most graphic of the hymns which celebrate the conflict of Indra with the demon (i. 32):--

I will proclaim the manly deeds of Indra, The first that he performed, the lightning-wielder.

He smote the dragon, then discharged the waters, And cleft the caverns of the lofty mountains.

Impetuous as a bull, he chose the soma, And drank in threefold vessels of its juices.

The Bounteous G.o.d grasped lightning for his missile, He struck down dead that first-born of the dragons.

Him lightning then availed naught, nor thunder, Nor mist nor hailstorm which he spread around him: When Indra and the dragon strove in battle, The Bounteous G.o.d gained victory for ever.

Plunged in the midst of never-ceasing torrents, That stand not still but ever hasten onward, The waters bear off Vritra's hidden body: Indra's fierce foe sank down to lasting darkness.

With the liberation of the waters is connected the winning of light and the sun. Thus we read that when Indra had slain the dragon Vritra with his bolt, releasing the waters for man, he placed the sun visibly in the heavens, or that the sun shone forth when Indra blew the dragon from the air.

Indra naturally became the G.o.d of battle, and is more frequently invoked than any other deity as a helper in conflicts with earthly enemies. In the words of one poet, he protects the Aryan colour (varna) and subjects the black skin; while another extols him for having dispersed 50,000 of the black race and rent their citadels. His combats are frequently called gavishti, "desire of cows," his gifts being considered the result of victories.

The following stanzas (ii. 12, 2 and 13) will serve as a specimen of the way in which the greatness of Indra is celebrated:--

Who made the widespread earth when quaking steadfast, Who brought to rest the agitated mountains.

Who measured out air's intermediate s.p.a.ces, Who gave the sky support: he, men, is Indra.

Heaven and earth themselves bow down before him, Before his might the very mountains tremble.

Who, known as Soma-drinker, armed with lightning, Is wielder of the bolt: he, men, is Indra.

To the more advanced anthropomorphism of Indra's nature are due the occasional immoral traits which appear in his character. Thus he sometimes indulges in acts of capricious violence, such as the slaughter of his father or the destruction of the car of Dawn. He is especially addicted to soma, of which he is described as drinking enormous quant.i.ties to stimulate him in the performance of his warlike exploits. One entire hymn (x. 119) consists of a monologue in which Indra, inebriated with soma, boasts of his greatness and power. Though of little poetic merit, this piece has a special interest as being by far the earliest literary description of the mental effects, braggadocio in particular, produced by intoxication. In estimating the morality of Indra's excesses, it should not be forgotten that the exhilaration of soma partook of a religious character in the eyes of the Vedic poets.

Indra's name is found in the Avesta as that of a demon. His distinctive Vedic epithet, Vritrahan, also occurs there in the form of verethraghna, as a designation of the G.o.d of victory. Hence there was probably in the Indo-Iranian period a G.o.d approaching to the Vedic form of the Vritra-slaying and victorious Indra.

In comparing historically Varuna and Indra, whose importance was about equal in the earlier period of the Rigveda, it seems clear that Varuna was greater in the Indo-Iranian period, but became inferior to Indra in later Vedic times. Indra, on the other hand, became in the Brahmanas and Epics the chief of the Indian heaven, and even maintained this position under the Puranic triad, Brahma-Vishnu-civa, though of course subordinate to them.

At least three of the lesser deities of the air are connected with lightning. One of these is the somewhat obscure G.o.d Trita, who is only mentioned in detached verses of the Rigveda. The name appears to designate the "third" (Greek, trito-s), as the lightning form of fire. His frequent epithet, Aptya, seems to mean the "watery." This G.o.d goes back to the Indo-Iranian period, as both his name and his epithet are found in the Avesta. But he was gradually ousted by Indra as being originally almost identical in character with the latter. Another deity of rare occurrence in the Rigveda, and also dating from the Indo-Iranian period, is Apam napat, the "Son of Waters." He is described as clothed in lightning and shining without fuel in the waters. There can, therefore, be little doubt that he represents fire as produced from the rain-clouds in the form of lightning. Mataricvan, seldom mentioned in the Rigveda, is a divine being described as having, like the Greek Prometheus, brought down the hidden fire from heaven to earth. He most probably represents the personification of a celestial form of Agni, G.o.d of fire, with whom he is in some pa.s.sages actually identified. In the later Vedas, the Brahmanas, and the subsequent literature, the name has become simply a designation of wind.

The position occupied by the G.o.d Rudra in the Rigveda is very different from that of his historical successor in a later age. He is celebrated in only three or four hymns, while his name is mentioned slightly less often than that of Vishnu. He is usually said to be armed with bow and arrows, but a lightning shaft and a thunderbolt are also occasionally a.s.signed to him. He is described as fierce and destructive like a wild beast, and is called "the ruddy boar of heaven." The hymns addressed to him chiefly express fear of his terrible shafts and deprecation of his wrath. His malevolence is still more prominent in the later Vedic literature. The euphemistic epithet civa, "auspicious," already applied to him in the Rigveda, and more frequently, though not exclusively, in the younger Vedas, became his regular name in the post-Vedic period. Rudra is, of course, not purely malevolent like a demon. He is besought not only to preserve from calamity but to bestow blessings and produce welfare for man and beast. His healing powers are mentioned with especial frequency, and he is lauded as the greatest of physicians.

Prominent among the G.o.ds of the Rigveda are the Maruts or Storm-G.o.ds, who form a group of thrice seven or thrice sixty. They are the sons of Rudra and the mottled cloud-cow Pricni. At birth they are compared with fires, and are once addressed as "born from the laughter of lightning." They are a troop of youthful warriors armed with spears or battle-axes and wearing helmets upon their heads. They are decked with golden ornaments, chiefly in the form of armlets or of anklets:--

They gleam with armlets as the heavens are decked with stars; Like cloud-born lightnings shine the torrents of their rain (ii. 34, 2).

They ride on golden cars which gleam with lightning, while they hold fiery lightnings in their hands:--

The lightnings smile upon the earth below them What time the Maruts sprinkle forth their fatness.--(i. 168, 8).

They drive with coursers which are often described as spotted, and they are once said to have yoked the winds as steeds to their pole.

The Maruts are fierce and terrible, like lions or wild boars. With the fellies of their car they rend the hills:--

The Maruts spread the mist abroad, And make the mountains rock and reel, When with the winds they go their way (viii. 7, 4).

They shatter the lords of the forest and like wild elephants devour the woods:--

Before you, fierce ones, even woods bow down in fear, The earth herself, the very mountain trembles (v. 60, 2).