The Religions of India Part 19

is a fair specimen of this innocuous sort of verse.[3] Another example may be seen in this hymn to a king: "Firm is the sky; firm is the earth; firm, all creation; firm, these hills; firm the king of the people (shall be)," etc.[4] In another hymn there is an incantation to release from possible ill coming from a foe and from inherited ill or sin.[5] A free spirit of doubt and atheism, already foreshadowed in the Rig Veda, is implied in the prayer that the G.o.d will be merciful to the cattle of that man "whose creed is 'G.o.ds exist.'"[6]

Serpent-worship is not only known, but prevalent.[7] The old G.o.ds still hold, as always, their nominal places, albeit the system is pantheistic, so that Varuna is G.o.d of waters; and Mitra with Varuna, G.o.ds of rain.[8] As a starting-point of philosophy the dictum of the Rig Veda is repeated: 'Desire is the seed of mind,' and 'love, _i.e._, desire, was born first.' Here Aditi is defined anew as the one in whose lap is the wide atmosphere-- she is parent and child, G.o.ds and men, all in all--'may she extend to us a triple shelter.' As an example of curse against curse may be compared II. 7:

The sin-hated, G.o.d-born plant, that frees from the curse as waters (wash out) the spot, has washed away all curses, the curse of my rival and of my sister; (that) which the Brahman in anger cursed, all this lies under my feet ... With this plant protect this (wife), protect my child, protect our property ... May the curse return to the curser ... We smite even the ribs of the foe with the evil (_mantra_) eye.

A love-charm in the same book (II. 30) will remind the cla.s.sical student of Theocritus' second idyl: 'As the wind twirls around gra.s.s upon the ground, so I twirl thy mind about, that thou mayst become loving, that thou mayst not depart from me,' etc. In the following verses the Hors.e.m.e.n G.o.ds are invoked to unite the lovers.

Characteristic among bucolic pa.s.sages is the cow-song in II. 26, the whole intent of which is to ensure a safe return to the cows on their wanderings: 'Hither may they come, the cattle that have wandered far away,' etc.

The view that there are different conditions of Manes is clearly taught in XVIII. 2. 48-49, where it is said that there are three heavens, in the highest of which reside the Manes; while a distinction is made at the same time between 'fathers' and 'grandfathers,' the fathers' fathers, 'who have entered air, who inhabit earth and heaven.' Here appears nascent the doctrine of 'elevating the Fathers,'

which is expressly taught in the next era. The performance of rites in honor of the Manes causes them to ascend from a low state to a higher one. In fact, if the offerings are not given at all, the spirits do not go to heaven. In general the older generations of Manes go up highest and are happiest. The personal offering is only to the immediate fathers.

If, as was shown in the introductory chapter, the Atharvan represents a geographical advance on the part of the Vedic Aryans, this fact cannot be ignored in estimating the primitiveness of the collection.

Geographical advance, acquaintance with other flora and fauna than those of the Rig Veda, means--although the argument of silence must not be exaggerated--a temporal advance also. And not less significant are the points of view to which one is led in the useful little work of Scherman on the philosophical hymns of the Atharvan. Scherman wishes to show the connection between the Upanishads and Vedas. But the bearing of his collection is toward a closer union of the two bodies of works, and especially of the Atharvan, not to the greater gain in age of the Upanishads so much as to the depreciation in venerableness of the former. If the Atharvan has much more in common with the Br[=a]hmanas and Upanishads than has the Rig Veda, it is because the Atharvan stands, in many respects, midway in time between the era of Vedic hymnology and the thought of the philosophical period. The terminology is that of the Br[=a]hmanas, rather than that of the Rig Veda. The latter knows the great person; the Atharvan, and the former know the original great person, _i.e._., the _tausa movens_ under the _causa efficiens_, etc. In the Atharvan appears first the worship of Time, Love, 'Support' (Skambha), and the 'highest _brahma_.

The cult of the holy cow is fully recognized (XII. 4 and 5). The late ritualistic terms, as well as linguistic evidence, confirm the fact indicated by the geographical advance. The country is known from western Balkh to eastern Beh[=a]r, the latter familiarly.[9] In a word, one may conclude that on its higher side the Atharvan is later than the Rig Veda, while on its lower side of demonology one may recognize the religion of the lower cla.s.ses as compared with that of the two upper cla.s.ses--for the latter the Rig Veda, for the superst.i.tious people at large the Atharvan, a collection of which the origin agrees with its application. For, if it at first was devoted to the unholy side of fire-cult, and if the fire-cult is older than the _soma_-cult, then this is the cult that one would expect to see most affected by the conservative vulgar, who in India hold fast to what the cultured have long dropped as superst.i.tion, or, at least, pretended to drop; though the house-ritual keeps some magic in its fire-cult.

In that case, it may be asked, why not begin the history of Hindu religion with the Atharvan, rather than with the Rig Veda? Because the Atharvan, as a whole, in its language, social conditions, geography, 'remnant' worship, etc., shows that this literary collection is posterior to the Rik collection. As to individual hymns, especially those imbued with the tone of fetishism and witchcraft, any one of them, either in its present or original form, may outrank the whole Rik in antiquity, as do its superst.i.tions the religion of the Rik--if it is right to make a distinction between superst.i.tion and religion, meaning by the former a lower, and by the latter a more elevated form of belief in the supernatural.

The difference between the Rik-worshipper and Atharvan-worshipper is somewhat like that which existed at a later age between the philosophical civaite and Durg[=a]ite. The former revered civa, but did not deny the power of a host of lesser mights, whom he was ashamed to worship too much; the latter granted the all-G.o.d-head of civa, but paid attention almost exclusively to some demoniac divinity.

Superst.i.tion, perhaps, always precedes theology; but as surely does superst.i.tion outlive any one form of its protean rival. And the simple reason is that a theology is the real belief of few, and varies with their changing intellectual point of view; while superst.i.tion is the belief unacknowledged of the few and acknowledged of the many, nor does it materially change from age to age. The rites employed among the clam-diggers on the New York coast, the witch-charms they use, the incantations, cutting of flesh, fire-oblations, meaningless formulae, united with sacrosanct expressions of the church, are all on a par with the religion of the lower cla.s.ses as depicted in Theocritus and the Atharvan. If these mummeries and this hocus-pocus were collected into a volume, and set out with elegant extracts from the Bible, there would be a nineteenth century Atharva Veda. What are the necessary equipment of a Long Island witch? First, "a good hot fire," and then formulae such as this:[10]

"If a man is attacked by wicked people and how to banish them:

"Bedgoblin and all ye evil spirits, I, N.N., forbid you my bedstead, my couch; I, N.N., forbid you in the name of G.o.d my house and home; I forbid you in the name of the Holy Trinity my blood and flesh, my body and soul; I forbid you all the nail-holes in my house and home, till you have travelled over every hill, waded through every water, have counted all the leaves of every tree, and counted all the stars in the sky, until the day arrives when the mother of G.o.d shall bare her second son."

If this formula be repeated three times, with the baptismal name of the person, it will succeed!

"To make one's self invisible:

"Obtain the ear of a black cat, boil it in the milk of a black cow, wear it on the thumb, and no one will see you."

This is the Atharvan, or fire-and witch-craft of to-day--not differing much from the ancient. It is the unchanging foundation of the many lofty buildings of faith that are erected, removed, and rebuilt upon it--the belief in the supernatural at its lowest, a belief which, in its higher stages, is always level with the general intellect of those that abide in it.

The latest book of the Atharvan is especially for the warrior-caste, but the ma.s.s of it is for the folk at large. It was long before it was recognized as a legitimate Veda. It never stands, in the older period of Brahmanism, on a par with the S[=a]man and Rik. In the epic period good and bad magic are carefully differentiated, and even to-day the Atharvan is repudiated by southern Br[=a]hmans. But there is no doubt that _sub rosa_, the silliest practices inculcated and formulated in the Atharvan were the stronghold of a certain cla.s.s of priests, or that such priests were feared and employed by the laity, openly by the low cla.s.ses, secretly by the intelligent.

In respect of the name the magical cult was referred, historically with justice, to the fire-priests, Atharvan and Angiras, though little application to fire, other than in _soma_-worship, is apparent. Yet was this undoubtedly the source of the cult (the fire-cult is still distinctly a.s.sociated with the Atharva Veda in the epic), and the name is due neither to accident nor to a desire to invoke the names of great seers, as will Weber.[11] The other name of Brahmaveda may have connection with the 'false science of Brihaspati,' alluded to in a Upanishad.[12] This seer is not over-orthodox, and later he is the patron of the unorthodox C[=a]rv[=a]kas. It was seen above that the G.o.d Brihaspati is also a novelty not altogether relished by the Vedic Aryans.

From an Aryan point of view how much weight is to be placed on comparisons of the formulae in the Atharvan of India with those of other Aryan nations? Kuhn has compared[13] an old German magic formula of healing with one in the Atharvan, and because each says 'limb to limb' he thinks that they are of the same origin, particularly since the formula is found in Russian. The comparison is interesting, but it is far from convincing. Such formulae spring up independently all over the earth.

Finally, it is to be observed that in this Veda first occurs the implication of the story of the flood (xix. 39. 8), and the saving of Father Manu, who, however, is known by this t.i.tle in the Rik. The supposition that the story of the flood is derived from Babylon, seems, therefore, to be an unnecessary (although a permissible) hypothesis, as the tale is old enough in India to warrant a belief in its indigenous origin.[14]

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 1: XV. 15.]

[Footnote 2: X. 2.]

[Footnote 3: VII. 69. Compare RV. VII. 35, and the epic (below).]

[Footnote 4: X. 173.]

[Footnote 5: V. 30.]

[Footnote 6: XI. 2. 28.]

[Footnote 7: XI. 9; VIII. 6 and 7, with tree-worship.]

[Footnote 8: V. 24. 4-5. On 'the one G.o.d' compare X. 8. 28; XIII. 4. 15. Indra as S[=u]rya, in VII. 11; cf. xiii. 4; XVII. 1. 24. Pantheism in X. 7. 14. 25. Of charms, compare ii. 9, to restore life; III. 6, a curse against 'whom I hate'; III. 23, to obtain offspring. On the stars and night, see hymn at XIX. 8 and 47. In V. 13, a guard against poison; _ib._ a hymn to a drum; _ib._ 31, a charm to dispel evil magic; VI. 133, magic to produce long life; V. 23, against worms, etc., etc. Aditi, VII. 6. 1-4 (partly Rik).]

[Footnote 9: Compare Muir, OST. II. 447 ff.]

[Footnote 10: This old charm is still used among the clam-diggers of Canarsie, N.Y.]

[Footnote 11: _Ind. Lit_^2 p. 164.]

[Footnote 12: _M[=a]it. Up._. vii. 9. He is 'the G.o.ds'

Brahm[=a]' (Rik.)]

[Footnote 13: _Indische und germanische Segensspruche_; KZ.

xiii. 49.]

[Footnote 14: One long hymn, xii. 1, of the Atharvan is to earth and fire (19-20). In the Rik, _atharvan_ is fire-priest and bringer of fire from heaven; while once the word may mean fire itself (viii. 9, 7). The name Brahmaveda is perhaps best referred to _brahma_ as fire (whence 'fervor,' 'prayer,' and again 'energy,' 'force'). In distinction from the great _soma_-sacrifices, the fire-cult always remains the chief thing in the domestic ritual. The present Atharvan formulae have for the most part no visible application to fire, but the name still shows the original connection.]

CHAPTER VIII.

EARLY HINDU DIVINITIES COMPARED WITH THOSE OF OTHER ARYANS.

Nothing is more usual than to attempt a reconstruction of Aryan ideas in manners, customs, laws, and religious conceptions, by placing side by side similar traits of individual Aryan nations, and stating or insinuating that the result of the comparison shows that one is handling primitive characteristics of the whole Aryan body. It is of special importance, therefore, to see in how far the views and practices of peoples not Aryan may be found to be identical with those of Aryans. The division of the army into clans, as in the Iliad and the Veda; the love of gambling, as shown by Greeks, Teutons, and Hindus; the separation of captains and princes, as is ill.u.s.trated by Teuton and Hindu; the belief in a flood, common to Iranian, Greek, and Hindu; in the place of departed spirits, with the journey over a river (Iranian, Hindu, Scandinavian, Greek); in the after-felicity of warriors who die on the field of battle (Scandinavian, Greek, and Hindu); in the reverence paid to the wind-G.o.d (Hindu, Iranian, and Teutonic, V[=a]ta-Wotan); these and many other traits at different times, by various writers, have been united and compared to ill.u.s.trate primitive Aryan belief and religion.

The traits of the Five Nations of the Veda for this reason may be compared very advantageously with the traits of the Five Nations of the Iroquois Indians, the most united and intelligent of American native tribes. Their inst.i.tutions are not yet extinct, and they have been described by missionaries of the 17th century and by some modern writers, to whom can be imputed no hankering after Aryan primitive ideas.[1] It is but a few years back since the last _avat[=a]r_ of the Iroquois' incarnate G.o.d lived in Onondaga, N.Y.

First, as an ill.u.s.tration of the extraordinary development of memory among rhapsodes, Vedic students, and other Aryans; among the Iroquois "memory was tasked to the utmost, and developed to an extraordinary degree," says Parkman, who adds that they could repeat point by point with precision any address made to them.[2] Murder was compromised for by _Wehrgeld_, as among the Vedic, Iranic, and Teutonic peoples. The Iroquois, like all Indians, was a great gambler, staking all his property[3] (like the Teutons and Hindus). In religion "A mysterious and inexplicable power resides in inanimate things ... Lakes, rivers, and waterfalls [as conspicuously in India] are sometimes the dwelling-place of spirits; but more frequently they are themselves living beings, to be propitiated by prayers and offerings."[4] The greatest spirit among the Algonquins is the descendant of the moon, and son of the west-wind (personified). After the deluge (thus the Hindus, etc.) this great spirit (Manabozho, _mana_ is Manu?) restored the world; some a.s.serting that he created the world out of water. But others say that the supreme spirit is the sun (Le Jeune, Relation, 1633). The Algonquins, besides a belief in a good spirit (_manitou_), had also a belief in a malignant _manitou_, in whom the missionaries recognized the devil (why not Ormuzd and Ahriman?). One tribe invokes the 'Maker of Heaven,' the 'G.o.d of waters,' and also the 'seven spirits of the wind' (so, too, seven is a holy number in the Veda, etc.).

The Iroquois, like the Hindu (later), believe that the earth rests on the back of a turtle or tortoise[5], and that this is ruled over by the sun and moon, the first being a good spirit; the second, malignant. The good spirit interposes between the malice of the moon and mankind, and it is he who makes rivers; for when the earth was parched, all the water being held back from earth under the armpit of a monster frog, he pierced the armpit and let out the water (exactly as Indra lets out the water held back by the demon). According to some, this great spirit created mankind, but in the third generation a deluge destroyed his posterity[6]. The good spirit among the Iroquois is the one that gives good luck (perhaps Bhaga). These Indians believe in the immortality of the soul. Skillful hunters, brave warriors, go, after death, to the happy hunting-grounds (as in India and Scandinavia); the cowardly and weak are doomed to live in dreary regions of mist and darkness (compare Niflheim and the Iranian eschatology?). To pa.s.s over other religious correspondences, the sacrifice of animals, use of amulets, love-charms, magic, and sorcery, which are all like those of Aryans (to compare, also, are the burying or exposing of the dead and the Hurons' funeral games), let one take this as a good ill.u.s.tration of the value of 'comparative Aryan mythology':

According to the Aryan belief the soul of the dead pa.s.ses over a stream, across a bridge, past a dog or two, which guard the gate of paradise. The Hindu, Iranian, Greek, and Scandinavian, all have the dog, and much emphasis has been laid on the 'Aryan' character of this creed. The native Iroquois Indians believed that "the spirits on their journey (to heaven) were beset with difficulties and perils. There was a swift river to be crossed on a log that shook beneath the feet, while a ferocious dog opposed their pa.s.sage[7]." Here is the Persians'

narrow bridge, and even Kerberos himself!

It is also interesting to note that, as the Hindus identify with the sun so many of their great G.o.ds, so the Iroquois "sacrifices to some superior spirit, or to the sun, with which the superior spirits were constantly confounded by the primitive Indian[8]."

Weber holds that because Greek and Hindu gave the name 'bear' to a constellation, therefore this is the "primitive Indo-Germanic name of the star[9]." But the Ma.s.sachusetts Indians "gave their own name for bear to the Ursa major" (Williams' 'Key,' cited Palfrey, I. p. 36; so Lafitau, further west).