The Religions of India Part 6

The fourth and sixth books have no separate hymns to Varuna. In the fifth book the position of the one hymn to Varuna is one favorable to spurious additions, but the hymn is not otherwise obnoxious to the criticism of lateness. Of the two hymns in the second book, the first is addressed only indirectly to Varuna, nor is he here very prominent; the second (ii. 28) is the only song which stands on a par with the hymn already translated. There remain the hymns cited above from the first, not a family-book. It is, moreover, noteworthy that in ii. 28, apart from the ascription of general greatness, almost all that is said of Varuna is that he is a priest, that he causes rivers to flow, and loosens the bond of sin.[74] The finest hymn to Varuna, from a literary point of view, is the one translated above, and it is mainly on the basis of this hymn that the lofty character of Varuna has been interpreted by occidental writers. To our mind this hymn belongs to the close of the first epoch of the three which the hymns represent.

That it cannot be very early is evident from the mention of the intercalated month, not to speak of the image of Varuna eating the sweet oblation 'like a priest.' Its elevated language is in sharp contrast to that of almost all the other Varuna hymns. As these are all the hymns where Varuna is praised alone by himself, it becomes of chief importance to study him here, and not where, as in iii. 62, iv.

41, vi. 51, 67, 68, and elsewhere, he is lauded as part of a combination of G.o.ds (Mitra or Indra united with Varuna). In the last book of the Rig Veda there is no hymn to Varuna,[75] a time when pantheistic monotheism was changing into pantheism, so that, in the last stage of the Rig Veda, Varuna is descended from the height.

Thereafter he is G.o.d and husband of waters, and punisher of secret sin (as in ii. 28). Important in contrast to the hymn translated above is v. 85.

TO VARUNA.

"I will sing forth unto the universal king a high deep prayer, dear to renowned Varuna, who, as a butcher a hide, has struck earth apart (from the sky) for the sun. Varuna has extended air in trees, strength in horses, milk in cows, and has laid wisdom in hearts; fire in water; the sun in the sky; _soma_ in the stone. Varuna has inverted his water-barrel and let the two worlds with the s.p.a.ce between flow (with rain). With this (heavenly water-barrel) he, the king of every created thing, wets the whole world, as a rain does a meadow. He wets the world, both earth and heaven, when he, Varuna, chooses to milk out (rain)--and then do the mountains clothe themselves with cloud, and even the strongest men grow weak. Yet another great and marvellous power of the renowned spirit (Asura) will I proclaim, this, that standing in mid-air he has measured earth with the sun, as if with a measuring rod. (It is due to) the marvellous power of the wisest G.o.d, which none ever resisted, that into the one confluence run the rivers, and pour into it, and fill it not. O Varuna, loosen whatever sin we have committed to bosom-friend, comrade, or brother; to our own house, or to the stranger; what (we) have sinned like gamblers at play, real (sin), or what we have not known. Make loose, as it were, all these things, O G.o.d Varuna, and may we be dear to thee hereafter."

In this hymn Varuna is a water-G.o.d, who stands in mid-air and directs the rain; who, after the rain, reinstates the sun; who releases from sin (as water does from dirt?). According to this conception it would seem that Varuna were the 'coverer' rather than the 'encompa.s.ser.' It might seem probable even that Varuna first stood to Dyaus as cloud and rain and night to shining day, and that his counterpart, (Greek: Hohyranhos), stood in the same relation to (Greek: Zehys); that were connecte(Greek: Hohyranhos)d with (Greek: hyrheo) and Varuna with _vari_, river, _v[=a]ri_, water.[76]

It is possible, but it is not provable. But no interpretation of Varuna that ignores his rainy side can be correct. And this is fully recognized by Hillebrandt. On account of his "thousand spies," _i.e.,_ eyes, he has been looked upon by some as exclusively a night-G.o.d. But this is too one-sided an interpretation, and pa.s.ses over the all-important, fact that it is only in conjunction with the sun (Mitra), where there is a strong ant.i.thesis, that the night-side of the G.o.d is exclusively displayed. Wholly a day-G.o.d he cannot be, because he rules night and rain. He is _par excellence_ the Asura, and, like Ahura Mazdao, has the sun for an eye, _i.e.,_ he is heaven.

But there is no Varuna in Iranian worship and Ahura is a sectarian specialization. Without this name may one ascribe to India what is found in Iran?[77] It has been suggested by Bergaigne that Varuna and Vritra, the rain-holding demon, were developments from the same idea, one revered as a G.o.d, the other, a demon; and that the word means 'restrainer,' rather than 'encompa.s.ser.'

From all this it will be evident that to claim an original monotheism as still surviving in the person of Varuna, is impossible; and this is the one point we would make. Every one must admire the fine hymn in which he is praised, but what there is in it does not make it seem very old, and the intercalated month is decisive evidence, for here alone in the Rig Veda is mentioned this month, which implies the five-year cyclus, but this belongs to the Brahmanic period (Weber, _Vedische Beitrage_, p. 38). Every explanation of the original nature of Varuna must take into consideration that he is a rain-G.o.d, a day-G.o.d, and a night-G.o.d in turn, and that where he is praised in the most elevated language the rain-side disappears, although it was fundamental, as may be seen by comparing many pa.s.sages, where Varuna is exhorted to give rain, where his t.i.tle is 'lord of streams,' his position that of 'lord of waters.' The decrease of Varuna worship in favor of Indra results partly from the more peaceful G.o.d of rain appearing less admirable than the monsoon-G.o.d, who overpowers with storm and lightning, as well as 'wets the earth.'

The most valuable contribution to the study of Varuna is Hillebrandt's 'Varuna and Mitra.' This author has succeeded in completely overthrowing the old error that Varuna is exclusively a night-G.o.d.[78]

Quite as definitively he proves that Varuna is not exclusively a day-G.o.d.

Bergaigne, on the other hand, claims an especially tenebrous character for Varuna.[79] Much has been written on luminous deities by scholars that fail to recognize the fact that the Hindus regard the night both as light and as dark. But to the Vedic poet the night, star-illumined, was bright. Even Hillebrandt speaks of "the bright heaven" of day as "opposed to the dark night-heaven in which Varuna also shows himself."[80]

In the Rig Veda, as it stands, with all the different views of Varuna side by side, Varuna is a universal encompa.s.ser, moral as well as physical. As such his physical side is almost gone. But the conception of him as a moral watcher and sole lord of the universe is in so sharp contrast to the figure of the rain-G.o.d, who, like Parjanya, stands in mid-air and upsets a water-barrel, that one must discriminate even between the Vedic views in regard to him.[81]

It is Varuna who lets rivers flow; with Indra he is besought not to let his weapons fall on the sinner; wind is his breath.[82]

On the other hand he is practically identified with the sun.[83] How ill this last agrees with the image of a G.o.d who 'lives by the spring of rivers,' 'covers earth as with a garment,' and 'rises like a secret sea (in fog) to heaven'![84] Even when invoked with the sun, Mitra, Varuna still gives rain: "To whomsoever ye two are kindly disposed comes sweet rain from heaven; we beseech you for rain ... you, the thunderers who go through earth and heaven" (v. 63),--a strange prayer to be addressed to a monotheistic G.o.d of light: "Ye make the lightning flash, ye send the rain; ye hide the sky in cloud and rain" (_ib_.).

In the hymn preceding we read: "Ye make firm heaven and earth, ye give growth to plants, milk to cows; O ye that give rain, pour down rain!"

In the same group another short hymn declares: "They are universal kings, who have _ghee_ (rain) in their laps; they are lords of the rain" (v. 68). In the next hymn: "Your clouds (cows) give nourishment, your streams are sweet." Thus the twain keep the order of the seasons (i. 2. 7-8) and protect men by the regular return of the rainy season.

Their weapons are always lightning (above, i. 152. 2, and elsewhere).

A short invocation in a family-book gives this prayer: "O Mitra-Varuna, wet our meadows with _ghee_; wet all places with the sweet drink" (iii. 62. 16).

The interpretation given above of the office of Varuna as regards the sun's path, is supported by a verse where is made an allusion to the time "when they release the sun's horses," _i.e_., when after two or three months of rain the sun shines again (v. 62. 1). In another verse one reads: "Ye direct the waters, sustenance of earth and heaven, richly let come your rains" (viii. 25. 6).

Now there is nothing startling in this view. In opposition to the unsatisfactory attempts of modern scholars, it is the traditional interpretation of Mitra and Varuna that Mitra was G.o.d of day (_i.e.,_ the sun), and Varuna the G.o.d of night (_i.e.,_ covering),[85] while native belief regularly attributes to him the lordship of water[86].

The 'thousand eyes' of Varuna are the result of this view. The other light-side of Varuna as special lord of day (excluding the all-heaven idea with the sun as his 'eye') is elsewhere scarcely referred to, save in late hymns and VIII. 41.[87] In conjunction with the storm-G.o.d, Indra, the wrath-side of Varuna is further developed. The prayer for release is from 'long darkness,' _i.e._, from death; in other words, may the light of life be restored (II. 27. 14-15; II. 28.

7). Gra.s.smann, who believes that in Varuna there is an early monotheistic deity, enumerates all his offices and omits the giving of rain from the list;[88] while Ludwig derives his name from _var_ (= velle) and defines him as the lofty G.o.d who wills!

Varuna's highest development ushers in the middle period of the Rig Veda; before the rise of the later All-father, and even before the great elevation of Indra. But when S[=u]rya and Dawn were chief, then Varuna was chiefest. There is no monotheism in the worship of a G.o.d who is regularly a.s.sociated as one of a pair with another G.o.d. Nor is there in Varuna any religious grandeur which, so far as it exceeds that of other divinities, is not evolved from his old physical side.

One cannot personify heaven and write a descriptive poem about him without becoming elevated in style, as compared with the tone of one that praises a rain-cloud or even the more confined personality of the sun. There is a stylistic but not a metaphysical descent from this earlier period in the 'lords of the atmosphere,' for, as we shall show, the elevation of Indra and Agni denotes a philosophical conception yet more advanced than the almost monotheistic greatness attained by Varuna. But one must find the background to this earlier period; and in it Varuna is not monotheistic. He is the covering sky united with the sun, or he whose covering is rain and dew. Indra treats Varuna as Savitar treats Mitra, supplants him; and for the same reason, because each represents the same priestly philosophy.

In the one extant hymn to Mitra (who is Indo-Iranian) it is Mitra that 'watches men,' and 'bears earth and heaven.' He is here (iii. 59) the kindly sun, his name (Mitra, 'friend') being frequently punned upon.

The point of view taken by Barth deserves comment. He says:[89] "It has sometimes been maintained that the Varuna of the hymns is a G.o.d in a state of decadence. In this view we can by no means concur; ... an appeal to these few hymns is enough to prove that in the consciousness of their authors the divinity of Varuna stood still intact." If, instead of 'still intact,' the author had said, 'on the increase, till undermined by still later philosophical speculation,' the true position, in our opinion, would have been given. But a distinction must be made between decadence of greatness and decadence of popularity. It has happened in the case of some of the Vedic inherited G.o.ds that exactly in proportion as their popularity decreased their greatness increased; that is to say, as they became more vague and less individual to the folk they were expanded into wider circles of relationship by the theosophist, and absorbed other G.o.ds' majesty.[89]

Varuna is no longer a popular G.o.d in the Rig Veda. He is already a G.o.d of speculation, only the speculation did not go far enough to suit the later seers of Indra-Savitar-hood. Most certainly his worship, when compared in popularity with that of Agni and Indra, is unequal. But this is because he is too remote to be popular.

What made the popular G.o.ds was a union of near physical force to please the vulgar, with philosophical mysticism to please the priest, and Indra and Agni fulfilled the conditions, while awful, but distant, Varuna did not.

In stating that the great hymn to Varuna is not typical of the earliest stage of religious belief among the Vedic Aryans, we should add one word in explanation. Varuna's traits, as shown in other parts of the Rig Veda, are so persistent that they must be characteristic of his original function. It does not follow, however, that any one hymn in which he is lauded is necessarily older than the hymn cited from the first book. The earliest stage of religious development precedes the entrance into the Punj[=a]b. It may even be admitted that at the time when the Vedic Aryans became Hindus, that is, when they settled about the Indus, Varuna was the great G.o.d we see him in the great hymn to his honor. But while the relation of the [=A]dityas to the spirits of Ahura in Zoroaster's system points to this, yet it is absurd to a.s.sume this epoch as the starting point of Vedic belief. Back of this period lies one in which Varuna was by no means a monotheistic deity, nor even the greatest divinity among the G.o.ds. The fact, noticed by Hillebrandt, that the Vasishtha family are the chief praisers of Varuna, may also indicate that his special elevation was due to the theological conceptions of one clan, rather than of the whole people, since in the other family books he is worshipped more as one of a pair, Varuna and Mitra, heaven and sun.

ADITI.

The mother of Varuna and the luminous G.o.ds is the 'mother of kings,'

Boundlessness (_aditi_)[90] a product of priestly theosophy. Aditi makes, perhaps, the first approach to formal pantheism in India, for all G.o.ds, men, and things are identified with her (i. 89. 10). Seven children of Aditi are mentioned, to whom is added an eighth (in one hymn).[91] The chief of these, who is, _par excellence_ the [=A]ditya (son of Aditi), is Varuna. Most of the others are divinities of the sun (x. 72). With Varuna stands Mitra, and besides this pair are found 'the true friend' Aryaman, Savitar, Bhaga, and, later, Indra, as sun (?). Daksha and Anca are also reckoned as [=A]dityas, and S[=u]rya is enumerated among them as a divinity distinct from Savitar. But the word _aditi,_ 'unbound,' is often a mere epithet, of Fire, Sky, etc.

Moreover, in one pa.s.sage, at least, _aditi_ simply means 'freedom' (i.

24. 1), less boundlessness than 'un-bondage'; so, probably, in i. 185.

3, 'the gift of freedom.' Anca seems to have much the same meaning with Bhaga, _viz.,_ the sharer, giver. Daksha may, perhaps, be the 'clever,' 'strong' one ([Greek: dexios]), abstract Strength; as another name of the sun (?). Aditi herself (according to Muller, Infinity; according to Hillebrandt, Eternity) is an abstraction that is born later than her chief sons, Sun and Varuna.[92] Zarathustra (Zoroaster, not earlier than the close of the first Vedic period) took the seven [=A]dityas and reformed them into one monotheistic (dualistic) Spirit (Ahura), with a circle of six moral attendants, thereby dynamically destroying every physical conception of them.

DAWN.

We have devoted considerable s.p.a.ce to Varuna because of the theological importance with which is invested his personality. If one admit that a monotheistic Varuna is the _ur_-Varuna, if one see in him a sign that the Hindus originally worshipped one universally great superior G.o.d, whose image effaced that of all the others,[93] then the attempt to trace any orderly development in Hindu theology may as well be renounced; and one must imagine that this peculiar people, starting with monotheism descended to polytheism, and then leapt again into the conception of that Father-G.o.d whose form, in the end of the Rig Vedic period, out-varunas Varuna as encompa.s.ser and lord of all. If, on the other hand, one see in Varuna a G.o.d who, from the 'covering,' heaven and cloud and rain, from earliest time has been a.s.sociated with the sun as a pair, and recognize in Varuna's loftier form the product of that gradual elevation to which were liable all the G.o.ds at the hands of the Hindu priests; if one see in him at this stage the highest G.o.d which a theology, based on the worship of natural phenomena, was able to evolve; then, for the reception of those G.o.ds who overthrew him from his supremacy, because of their greater freedom from physical restraints, there is opened a logical and historical path--until that G.o.d comes who in turn follows these half-embodied ones, and stands as the first immaterial author of the universe--and so one may walk straight from the physical beginning of the Rig Vedic religion to its spiritual Brahmanic end.

We turn now to one or two phenomena-deities that were never much tampered with by priestly speculation; their forms being still as bright and clear as when the first Vedic worshipper, waiting to salute the rising sun, beheld in all her beauty, and thus praised

THE DAWN.[94]

As comes a bride hath she approached us, gleaming; All things that live she rouses now to action.

A fire is born that shines for human beings; Light hath she made, and driven away the darkness.

Wide-reaching hath she risen, to all approaching, And shone forth clothed in garments white and glistening, Of gold her color, fair to see her look is, Mother of kine,[95] leader of days she gleameth.

Bearing the G.o.ds' eye, she, the gracious maiden, --Leading along the white and sightly charger[96]

--Aurora, now is seen, revealed in glory, With shining guerdons unto all appearing.

O near and dear one, light far off our foes, and Make safe to us our kines' wide pasture-places.

Keep from us hatred; what is good, that bring us, And send the singer wealth, O generous maiden.

With thy best beams for us do thou beam widely, Aurora, G.o.ddess bright, our life extending; And food bestow, O thou all goods possessing, Wealth, too, bestowing, kine and steeds and war-cars

Thou whom Vasistha's[97] sons extol with praises, Fair-born Aurora, daughter of Dyaus, the bright one, On us bestow thou riches high and mighty, --O all ye G.o.ds with weal forever guard us.

In the laudation of Varuna the fancy of the poet exhausts itself in lofty imagery, and reaches the topmost height of Vedic religious lyric. In the praise of Dawn it descends not lower than to interweave beauty with dignity of utterance. Nothing in religious poetry more graceful or delicate than the Vedic Dawn-hymns has ever been written.

In the daily vision of Dawn following her sister Night the poet sees his fairest G.o.ddess, and in his worship of her there is love and admiration, such as is evoked by the sight of no other deity. "She comes like a fair young maiden, awakening all to labor, with an hundred chariots comes she, and brings the shining light; gleam forth, O Dawn, and give us thy blessing this day; for in thee is the life of every living creature. Even as thou hast rewarded the singers of old, so now reward our song" (I. 48).

The kine of Dawn are the bright clouds that, like red cattle, wander in droves upon the horizon. Sometimes the rays of light, which stretch across the heaven, are intended by this image, for the cattle-herding poets employed their flocks as figures for various ends.

The inevitable selfish pessimism of unripe reflection is also woven into the later Dawn-hymns: "How long will it be ere this Dawn, too, shall join the Dawns departed? Vanished are now the men that saw the Dawns of old; we here see her now; there will follow others who will see her hereafter; but, O Dawn, beam here thy fairest; rich in blessings, true art thou to friend and right. Bring hither (to the morning sacrifice) the G.o.ds" (I. 113).

Since the metre (here ignored) of the following hymn is not all of one model, it is probable that after the fourth verse a new hymn began, which was distinct from the first; but the argument from metre is unconvincing, and in any event both songs are worth citing, since they show how varied were the images and fancies of the poets: "The Dawns are like heroes with golden weapons; like red kine of the morning on the field of heaven; shining they weave their webs of light, like women active at work; food they bring to the pious worshipper. Like a dancing girl is the Dawn adorned, and opens freely her bosom; as a cow gives milk, as a cow comes forth from its stall, so opens she her breast, so comes she out of the darkness (verses 1-4) ...She is the ever new, born again and again, adorned always with the same color. As a player conceals the dice, so keeps she concealed the days of a man; daughter of Heaven she wakes and drives away her sister (Night). Like kine, like the waves of a flood, with sunbeams she appears. O rich Dawn, bring us wealth; harness thy red horses, and bring to us success" (I. 92). The homage to Dawn is naturally divided at times with that to the sun: "Fair shines the light of morning; the sun awakens us to toil; along the path of order goes Dawn arrayed in light. She extendeth herself in the east, and gleameth till she fills the sky and earth"; and again: "Dawn is the great work of Varuna and Mitra; through the sun is she awakened" (I. 124; III. 61. 6-7). In the ritualistic period Dawn is still mechanically lauded, and her beams "rise in the east like pillars of sacrifice" (IV. 51. 2); but otherwise the imagery of the selections given above is that which is usually employed. The 'three dawns' occasionally referred to are, as we have shown elsewhere,[98] the three dawn-lights, white, red, and yellow, as they are seen by both the Vedic poet and the Florentine.

Dawn becomes common and trite after awhile, as do all the G.o.ds, and is invoked more to give than to please. 'Wake us,' cries a later poet, 'Wake us to wealth, O Dawn; give to us, give to us; wake up, lest the sun burn thee with his light'--a pa.s.sage (V. 79) which has caused much learned nonsense to be written on the inimical relations of Sun and Dawn as portrayed here. The dull idea is that Dawn is lazy, and had better get up before S[=u]rya catches her asleep. The poet is not in the least worried because his image does not express a suitable relationship between the dawn and the sun, nor need others be disturbed at it. The hymn is late, and only important in showing the new carelessness as regards the old G.o.ds.[99] Some other traits appear in VII. 75. 1 ff., where Dawn is 'queen of the world,' and banishes the _druhs_, or evil spirit. She here is daughter of Heaven, and wife of the sun (4, 5); _ib_. 76. 1, she is the eye of the world; and _ib_ 81. 4, she is invoked as 'mother.'

There is, at times, so close a resemblance between Dawn-hymns and Sun-hymns that the imagery employed in one is used in the other. Thus the hymn VI. 64 begins: "The beams of Dawn have arisen, shining as shine the waters' gleaming waves. She makes good paths, ... she banishes darkness as a warrior drives away a foe (so of the sun, IV.

13. 2; X. 37. 4; 170. 2). Beautiful are thy paths upon the mountains, and across the waters thou shinest, self-gleaming" (also of the sun).

With the last expression may be compared that in VI. 65. 5: "Dawn, whose seat is upon the hills."

Dawn is intimately connected not only with Agni but with the Twin Hors.e.m.e.n, the Acvins (equites)--if not so intimately connected as is Helen with the Dioskouroi, who, _pace_ Pischel, are the Acvins of h.e.l.las. This relationship is more emphasized in the hymns to the latter G.o.ds, but occasionally occurs in Dawn-hymns, of which another is here translated in full.