A History of Sanskrit Literature Part 5

One of their main functions is to shed rain. They are clad in a robe of rain, and cover the eye of the sun with showers. They bedew the earth with milk; they shed fatness (ghee); they milk the thundering, the never-failing spring; they wet the earth with mead; they pour out the heavenly pail:--

The rivers echo to their chariot fellies What time they utter forth the voice of rain-clouds.--(i. 168, 8).

In allusion to the sound of the winds the Maruts are often called singers, and as such aid Indra in his fight with the demon. They are, indeed, his constant a.s.sociates in all his celestial conflicts.

The G.o.d of Wind, called Vayu or Vata, is not a prominent deity in the Rigveda, having only three entire hymns addressed to him. The personification is more developed under the name of Vayu, who is mostly a.s.sociated with Indra, while Vata is coupled only with the less anthropomorphic rain-G.o.d, Parjanya. Vayu is swift as thought and has roaring velocity. He has a shining car drawn by a team or a pair of ruddy steeds. On this car, which has a golden seat and touches the sky, Indra is his companion. Vata, as also the ordinary designation of wind, is celebrated in a more concrete manner. His name is often connected with the verb va, "to blow," from which it is derived. Like Rudra, he wafts healing and prolongs life; for he has the treasure of immortality in his house. The poet of a short hymn (x. 168) devoted to his praise thus describes him:--

Of Vata's car I now will praise the greatness: Crashing it speeds along; its noise is thunder.

Touching the sky, it goes on causing lightnings; Scattering the dust of earth it hurries forward.

In air upon his pathways hastening onward, Never on any day he tarries resting.

The first-born order-loving friend of waters, Where, pray, was he born? say, whence came he hither?

The soul of G.o.ds, and of the world the offspring, This G.o.d according to his liking wanders.

His sound is heard, but ne'er is seen his figure.

This Vata let us now with offerings worship.

Another deity of air is Parjanya, G.o.d of rain, who is invoked in but three hymns, and is only mentioned some thirty times in the Rigveda. The name in several pa.s.sages still means simply "rain-cloud." The personification is therefore always closely connected with the phenomenon of the rain-storm, in which the rain-cloud itself becomes an udder, a pail, or a water-skin. Often likened to a bull, Parjanya is characteristically a shedder of rain. His activity is described in very vivid strains (v. 83):--

The trees he strikes to earth and smites the demon crew: The whole world fears the wielder of the mighty bolt.

The guiltless man himself flees from the potent G.o.d, What time Parjanya thund'ring smites the miscreant.

Like a car-driver urging on his steeds with whips, He causes to bound forth the messengers of rain.

From far away the lion's roar reverberates, What time Parjanya fills the atmosphere with rain.

Forth blow the winds, to earth the lightning flashes fall, Up shoot the herbs, the realm of light with moisture streams; Nourishment in abundance springs for all the world, What time Parjanya quickeneth the earth with seed.

Thunder and roar: the vital germ deposit!

With water-bearing chariot fly around us!

Thy water-skin unloosed to earth draw downward: With moisture make the heights and hollows equal!

The Waters are praised as G.o.ddesses in four hymns of the Rigveda. The personification, however, hardly goes beyond representing them as mothers, young wives, and G.o.ddesses who bestow boons and come to the sacrifice. As mothers they produce Agni, whose lightning form is, as we have seen, called Apam Napat, "Son of Waters." The divine waters bear away defilement, and are even invoked to cleanse from moral guilt, the sins of violence, cursing, and lying. They bestow remedies, healing, long life, and immortality. Soma delights in the waters as a young man in lovely maidens; he approaches them as a lover; they are maidens who bow down before the youth.

Several rivers are personified and invoked as deities in the Rigveda. One hymn (x. 75) celebrates the Sindhu or Indus, while another (iii. 33) sings the praises of the sister streams Vipac and cutudri. Sarasvati is, however, the most important river G.o.ddess, being lauded in three entire hymns as well as in many detached verses. The personification here goes much further than in the case of other streams; but the poets never lose sight of the connection of the G.o.ddess with the river. She is the best of mothers, of rivers, and of G.o.ddesses. Her unfailing breast yields riches of every kind, and she bestows wealth, plenty, nourishment, and offspring. One poet prays that he may not be removed from her to fields which are strange. She is invoked to descend from the sky, from the great mountain, to the sacrifice. Such expressions may have suggested the notion of the celestial origin and descent of the Ganges, familiar to post-Vedic mythology. Though simply a river deity in the Rigveda, Sarasvati is in the Brahmanas identified with Vach, G.o.ddess of speech, and has in post-Vedic mythology become the G.o.ddess of eloquence and wisdom, invoked as a muse, and regarded as the wife of Brahma.

Earth, Prithivi, the Broad One, hardly ever dissociated from Dyaus, is celebrated alone in only one short hymn of three stanzas (v. 84). Even here the poet cannot refrain from introducing references to her heavenly spouse as he addresses the G.o.ddess,

Who, firmly fixt, the forest trees With might supportest in the ground: When from the lightning of thy cloud The rain-floods of the sky pour down.

The personification is only rudimentary, the attributes of the G.o.ddess being chiefly those of the physical earth.

The most important of the terrestrial deities is Agni, G.o.d of fire. Next to Indra he is the most prominent of the Vedic G.o.ds, being celebrated in more than 200 hymns. It is only natural that the personification of the sacrificial fire, the centre around which the ritual poetry of the Veda moves, should engross so much of the attention of the Rishis. Agni being also the regular name of the element (Latin, igni-s), the anthropomorphism of the deity is but slight. The bodily parts of the G.o.d have a clear connection with the phenomena of terrestrial fire mainly in its sacrificial aspect. In allusion to the oblation of ghee cast in the fire, Agni is "b.u.t.ter-backed," "b.u.t.ter-faced," or "b.u.t.ter-haired." He is also "flame-haired," and has a tawny beard. He has sharp, shining, golden, or iron teeth and burning jaws. Mention is also often made of his tongue or tongues. He is frequently compared with or directly called a steed, being yoked to the pole of the rite in order to waft the sacrifice to the G.o.ds. He is also often likened to a bird, being winged and darting with rapid flight to the G.o.ds. He eats and chews the forest with sharp tooth. His l.u.s.tre is like the rays of dawn or of the sun, and resembles the lightnings of the rain-cloud; but his track and his fellies are black, and his steeds make black furrows. Driven by the wind, he rushes through the wood. He invades the forests and shears the hairs of the earth, shaving it as a barber a beard. His flames are like the roaring waves of the sea. He bellows like a bull when he invades the forest trees; the birds are terrified at the noise when his gra.s.s-devouring sparks arise. Like the erector of a pillar, he supports the sky with his smoke; and one of his distinctive epithets is "smoke-bannered." He is borne on a brilliant car, drawn by two or more steeds, which are ruddy or tawny and wind-impelled. He yokes them to summon the G.o.ds, for he is the charioteer of the sacrifice.

The poets love to dwell on his various births, forms, and abodes. They often refer to the daily generation of Agni by friction from the two fire-sticks. These are his parents, producing him as a new-born infant who is hard to catch. From the dry wood the G.o.d is born living; the child as soon as born devours his parents. The ten maidens said to produce him are the ten fingers used in twirling the upright fire-drill. Agni is called "Son of strength" because of the powerful friction necessary in kindling a flame. As the fire is lit every morning for the sacrifice, Agni is described as "waking at dawn." Hence, too, he is the "youngest" of the G.o.ds; but he is also old, for he conducted the first sacrifice. Thus he comes to be paradoxically called both "ancient" and "very young"

in the same pa.s.sage.

Agni also springs from the aerial waters, and is often said to have been brought from heaven. Born on earth, in air, in heaven, Agni is frequently regarded as having a triple character. The G.o.ds made him threefold, his births are three, and he has three abodes or dwellings. "From heaven first Agni was born, the second time from us (i.e. men), thirdly in the waters." This earliest Indian trinity is important as the basis of much of the mystical speculation of the Vedic age. It was probably the prototype not only of the later Rigvedic triad, Sun, Wind, Fire, spoken of as distributed in the three worlds, but also of the triad Sun, Indra, Fire, which, though not Rigvedic, is still ancient. It is most likely also the historical progenitor of the later Hindu trinity of Brahma, Vishnu, civa. This triad of fires may have suggested and would explain the division of a single sacrificial fire into the three which form an essential feature of the cult of the Brahmanas.

Owing to the multiplicity of terrestrial fires, Agni is also said to have many births; for he abides in every family, house, or dwelling. Kindled in many spots, he is but one; scattered in many places, he is one and the same king. Other fires are attached to him as branches to a tree. He a.s.sumes various divine forms, and has many names; but in him are comprehended all the G.o.ds, whom he surrounds as a felly the spokes. Thus we find the speculations about Agni's various forms leading to the monotheistic notion of a unity pervading the many manifestations of the divine.

Agni is an immortal who has taken up his abode among mortals; he is constantly called a "guest" in human dwellings; and is the only G.o.d to whom the frequent epithet grihapati, "lord of the house," is applied.

As the conductor of sacrifice, Agni is repeatedly called both a "messenger" who moves between heaven and earth and a priest. He is indeed the great priest, just as Indra is the great warrior.

Agni is, moreover, a mighty benefactor of his worshippers. With a thousand eyes he watches over the man who offers him oblations; but consumes his worshippers' enemies like dry bushes, and strikes down the malevolent like a tree destroyed by lightning. All blessings issue from him as branches from a tree. All treasures are collected in him, and he opens the door of wealth. He gives rain from heaven and is like a spring in the desert. The boons which he confers are, however, chiefly domestic welfare, offspring, and general prosperity, while Indra for the most part grants victory, booty, power, and glory.

Probably the oldest function of fire in regard to its cult is that of burning and dispelling evil spirits and hostile magic. It still survives in the Rigveda from an earlier age, Agni being said to drive away the goblins with his light and receiving the epithet rakshohan, "goblin-slayer." This activity is at any rate more characteristic of Agni than of any other deity, both in the hymns and in the ritual of the Vedas.

Since the soma sacrifice, beside the cult of fire, forms a main feature in the ritual of the Rigveda, the G.o.d Soma is naturally one of its chief deities. The whole of the ninth book, in addition to a few scattered hymns elsewhere, is devoted to his praise. Thus, judged by the standard of frequency of mention, Soma comes third in order of importance among the Vedic G.o.ds. The constant presence of the soma plant and its juice before their eyes set limits to the imagination of the poets who describe its personification. Hence little is said of Soma's human form or action. The ninth book mainly consists of incantations sung over the soma while it is pressed by the stones and flows through the woollen strainer into the wooden vats, in which it is finally offered as a beverage to the G.o.ds on a litter of gra.s.s. The poets are chiefly concerned with these processes, overlaying them with chaotic imagery and mystical fancies of almost infinite variety. When Soma is described as being purified by the ten maidens who are sisters, or by the daughters of Vivasvat (the rising sun), the ten fingers are meant. The stones used in pounding the shoots on a skin "chew him on the hide of a cow." The flowing of the juice into jars or vats after pa.s.sing through the filter of sheep's wool is described in various ways. The streams of soma rush to the forest of the vats like buffaloes. The G.o.d flies like a bird to settle in the vats. The Tawny One settles in the bowls like a bird sitting on a tree. The juice being mixed with water in the vat, Soma is said to rush into the lap of the waters like a roaring bull on the herd. Clothing himself in waters, he rushes around the vat, impelled by the singers. Playing in the wood, he is cleansed by the ten maidens. He is the embryo or child of waters, which are called his mothers. When the priests add milk to soma "they clothe him in cow-garments."

The sound made by the soma juice flowing into the vats or bowls is often referred to in hyperbolical language. Thus a poet says that "the sweet drop flows over the filter like the din of combatants." This sound is constantly described as roaring, bellowing, or occasionally even thundering. In such pa.s.sages Soma is commonly compared with or called a bull, and the waters, with or without milk, are termed cows.

Owing to the yellow colour of the juice, the physical quality of Soma mainly dwelt upon by the poets is his brilliance. His rays are often referred to, and he is frequently a.s.similated to the sun.

The exhilarating and invigorating action of soma led to its being regarded as a divine drink that bestows everlasting life. Hence it is called amrita, the "immortal" draught (allied to the Greek ambrosia). Soma is the stimulant which conferred immortality upon the G.o.ds. Soma also places his worshipper in the imperishable world where there is eternal light and glory, making him immortal where King Yama dwells. Thus soma naturally has medicinal power also. It is medicine for a sick man, and the G.o.d Soma heals whatever is sick, making the blind to see and the lame to walk.

Soma when imbibed stimulates the voice, which it impels as the rower his boat. Soma also awakens eager thought, and the worshippers of the G.o.d exclaim, "We have drunk soma, we have become immortal, we have entered into light, we have known the G.o.ds." The intoxicating power of soma is chiefly, and very frequently, dwelt on in connection with Indra, whom it stimulates in his conflict with the hostile demons of the air.

Being the most important of herbs, soma is spoken of as lord of plants or their king, receiving also the epithet vanaspati, "lord of the forest."

Soma is several times described as dwelling or growing on the mountains, in accordance with the statements of the Avesta about Haoma. Its true origin and abode is regarded as heaven, whence it has been brought down to earth. This belief is most frequently embodied in the myth of the soma-bringing eagle (cyena), which is probably only the mythological account of the simple phenomenon of the descent of lightning and the simultaneous fall of rain.

In some of the latest hymns of the Rigveda Soma begins to be somewhat obscurely identified with the moon. In the Atharva-veda Soma several times means the moon, and in the Yajurveda Soma is spoken of as having the lunar mansions for his wives. The identification is a commonplace in the Brahmanas, which explain the waning of the moon as due to the G.o.ds and fathers eating up the ambrosia of which it consists. In one of the Upanishads, moreover, the statement occurs that the moon is King Soma, the food of the G.o.ds, and is drunk up by them. Finally, in post-Vedic literature Soma is a regular name of the moon, which is regarded as being consumed by the G.o.ds, and consequently waning till it is filled up again by the sun. This somewhat remarkable coalescence of Soma with the moon doubtless sprang from the hyperbolical terms in which the poets of the Rigveda dwell on Soma's celestial nature and brilliance, which they describe as dispelling darkness. They sometimes speak of it as swelling in the waters, and often refer to the sap as a "drop" (indu). Comparisons with the moon would thus easily suggest themselves. In one pa.s.sage of the Rigveda, for instance, Soma in the bowls is said to appear like the moon in the waters. The mystical speculations with which the Soma poetry teems would soon complete the symbolism.

A comparison of the Avesta with the Rigveda shows clearly that soma was already an important feature in the mythology and cult of the Indo-Iranian age. In both it is described as growing on the mountains, whence it is brought by birds; in both it is king of plants; in both a medicine bestowing long life and removing death. In both the sap was pressed and mixed with milk; in both its mythical home is heaven, whence it comes down to earth; in both the draught has become a mighty G.o.d; in both the celestial Soma is distinguished from the terrestrial, the G.o.d from the beverage. The similarity goes so far that Soma and Haoma have even some individual epithets in common.

The evolution of thought in the Rigvedic period shows a tendency to advance from the concrete to the abstract. One result of this tendency is the creation of abstract deities, which, however, are still rare, occurring for the most part in the last book only. A few of them are deifications of abstract nouns, such as craddha "Faith," invoked in one short hymn, and Manyu, "Wrath," in two. These abstractions grow more numerous in the later Vedas. Thus Kama, "Desire," first appears in the Atharva-veda, where the arrows with which he pierces hearts are already referred to; he is the forerunner of the flower-arrowed G.o.d of love, familiar in cla.s.sical literature. More numerous is the cla.s.s of abstractions comprising deities whose names denote an agent, such as Dhatri, "Creator," or an attribute, such as Praj.a.pati, "Lord of Creatures." These do not appear to be direct abstractions, but seem to be derived from epithets designating a particular aspect of activity or character, which at first applying to one or more of the older deities, finally acquired an independent value. Thus Praj.a.pati, originally an epithet of such G.o.ds as Savitri and Soma, occurs in a late verse of the last book as a distinct deity possessing the attribute of a creator. This G.o.d is in the Atharva-veda and the Vajasaneyi-Samhita often, and in the Brahmanas regularly, recognised as the chief deity, the father of the G.o.ds. In the Sutras, Praj.a.pati is identified with Brahma, his successor in the post-Vedic age.

A hymn of the tenth book furnishes an interesting ill.u.s.tration of the curious way in which such abstractions sometimes come into being. Here is one of the stanzas:--

By whom the mighty sky, the earth so steadfast, The realm of light, heaven's vault, has been established, Who in the air the boundless s.p.a.ce traverses: What G.o.d should we with sacrifices worship?

The fourth line here is the refrain of nine successive stanzas, in which the creator is referred to as unknown, with the interrogative p.r.o.noun ka, "what?" This ka in the later Vedic literature came to be employed not only as an epithet of the creator Praj.a.pati, but even as an independent name of the supreme G.o.d.

A deity of an abstract character occurring in the oldest as well as the latest parts of the Rigveda is Brihaspati, "Lord of Prayer." Roth and other distinguished Vedic scholars regard him as a direct personification of devotion. In the opinion of the present writer, however, he is only an indirect deification of the sacrificial activity of Agni, a G.o.d with whom he has undoubtedly much in common. Thus the most prominent feature of his character is his priesthood. Like Agni, he has been drawn into and has obtained a firm footing in the Indra myth. Thus he is often described as driving out the cows after vanquishing the demon Vala. As the divine brahma priest, Brihaspati seems to have been the prototype of the G.o.d Brahma, chief of the later Hindu trinity. But the name Brihaspati itself survived in post-Vedic mythology as the designation of a sage, the teacher of the G.o.ds, and regent of the planet Jupiter.

Another abstraction, and one of a very peculiar kind, is the G.o.ddess Aditi. Though not the subject of any separate hymn, she is often incidentally celebrated. She has two, and only two, prominent characteristics. She is, in the first place, the mother of the small group of G.o.ds called Adityas, of whom Varuna is the chief. Secondly, she has, like her son Varuna, the power of releasing from the bonds of physical suffering and moral guilt. With the latter trait her name, which means "unbinding," "freedom," is clearly connected. The unpersonified sense seems to survive in a few pa.s.sages of the Rigveda. Thus a poet prays for the "secure and unlimited gift of aditi." The origin of the abstraction is probably to be explained as follows. The expression "sons of Aditi," which is several times applied to the Adityas, when first used in all likelihood meant "sons of liberation," to emphasise a salient trait of their character, according to a turn of language common in the Rigveda. The feminine word "liberation" (aditi) used in this connection would then have become personified by a process which has more than one parallel in Sanskrit. Thus Aditi, a G.o.ddess of Indian origin, is historically younger than some at least of her sons, who can be traced back to a pre-Indian age.

G.o.ddesses, as a whole, occupy a very subordinate position in Vedic belief. They play hardly any part as rulers of the world. The only one of any consequence is Ushas. The next in importance, Sarasvati, ranks only with the least prominent of the male G.o.ds. One of the few, besides Prithivi, to whom an entire hymn is addressed, is Ratri, Night. Like her sister Dawn, with whom she is often coupled, she is addressed as a daughter of the sky. She is conceived not as the dark, but as the bright starlit night. Thus, in contrasting the twin G.o.ddesses, a poet says, "One decks herself with stars, with sunlight the other." The following stanzas are from the hymn addressed to Night (x. 127):--