Ṛgveda

“ The goddesses in the Ṛgveda play but a small part beside the gods, and the only great one is Uṣas, though Sarasvatī is of some slight importance. To Indra, Varuṇa, and Agni are assigned Indrāṇī, Varuṇānī, and Agnāyī respectively, but they are mere names. Pṛthivī ("Earth") , who is rather frequently named with Dyaus, has only one hymn to herself, while Rātrī ("Night") is invoked as the bright starlit night, at whose approach men return home as birds hasten back to their nests, and who is asked to keep the thief and the wolf away. ”

“ Preface The Samaveda, or Veda of Holy Songs, third in the usual order of enumeration of the three Vedas, ranks next in sanctity and liturgical importance to the Rgveda or Veda of Recited praise. Its Sanhita, or metrical portion, consists chiefly of hymns to be chanted by the Udgatar priests at the performance of those important sacrifices in which the juice of the Soma plant, clarified and mixed with milk and other ingredients, was offered in libation to various deities. ”

“ Another deity of the same type is the "Lord of the Field," who is asked to bestow cattle and horses and to fill heaven and earth with sweetness, while the "Furrow" itself, Sītā, is invoked to give rich blessings and crops. It would, of course, be an error to conclude from the meagreness of their mythology that these were not powerful deities, but it is clear that they had won no real place in the pantheon of the tribal priests whose views are presented in the Ṛgveda.
So also the divinities of the mountains, the plants, and the trees are far from important in the Ṛgveda. ”

“ THE mythology of India claims unique interest by virtue of its unparalleled length of life. It is true that not even the discoveries at Boghaz Kyoi render it prudent for us to place the Ṛgveda at an earlier period than 1500 B.C., and in part at least that collection may come from three centuries later, so that as contrasted with the dates of Egyptian and Babylonian records the earliest monument of Aryan mythology is comparatively recent. ”

“ It is now recognized that the religion and mythology contained in this collection are not primitive in character and that they represent the result of a long period of development of sacred poetry. Thus it is that the gods who form the subject of this poetry often appear obscure in character, though in the great majority of cases it is clear that the myths related of them refer to physical happenings. The date of the Ṛgveda is much disputed and admits of no definite determination ”

“ B. With the collection of the hymns of the Rigveda we pass into a new and very different period, the literature of which is altogether priestly. To this age belong the two great sacerdotal manuals, the Sāmaveda [8] or Chant-book, and the Yajurveda [9] or Sacrifice-book, and those extraordinary collections of priestly learning, mythology and mysticism, the Brāhmanas. [10] These books introduce us to changed times and changed men, to new places and a new range of ideas. The fresh poetry of the youth of India has given place to the most prosaic and uninteresting disquisitions in the whole world. ”

“ Besides the higher gods the Rigveda knows a number of mythical beings not regarded as possessing the divine nature to the full extent and from the beginning. The most important of these are the Ṛibhus who form a triad, and are addressed in eleven hymns. Characteristically deft-handed, they are often said to have acquired the rank of deities by their marvellous skill. ”

“ The deities of the Vedic poems, so imposing when regarded as vast natural forces, or as the spiritual beings that master vast natural forces, so sympathetic when looked on as merciful gods conscious of, yet lenient towards, the sins of perishing mortals, have also their mythological aspect and their chronique scandaleuse. It is in the scurrilous or childish tales of the divine adventures that we find one of the points where Vedic touches savage mythology, and where ideas current in the Vedas and Brahmanas may perhaps be explained as survivals from a period of savagery. ”

“ Dhruva said,—"I bow unto Him whose forms are earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intellect, the first element, primæval nature, and the pure, subtle, all-pervading soul that excels nature. Salutation unto that Purusha who is devoid of qualities, pure, subtle, extending all over the earth, and who is separate from Prakriti; who is supreme over all elements, all objects of sense, intellect and who is separate even from Purusha. I seek refuge unto him, who is one with Brahmā, who is the soul of the whole universe, pure, and who is the foremost of all gods. ”

“ The four Vedas are "collections," called saṃhitā, of hymns and prayers made for different ritual purposes. They are of varying age and significance. By far the most important as well as the oldest—for it is the very foundation of all Vedic literature—is the Rigveda, the "Veda of verses" (from ṛich, "a laudatory stanza") , consisting entirely of lyrics, mainly in praise of different gods. It may, therefore, be described as the book of hymns or psalms. ”

“ Do thou ask of me a boon, whatever thou wishest for; whenever I appear before men all their desires are satisfied". Dhruva said "O lord! O sovereign of all creatures, thou dost exist in the hearts of all. How can that be unknown to thee, O lord what I am cherishing in my mind? Yet O lord of celestials, I shall mention unto thee, the object hard to attain, which my presumptuous mind panteth after. But what can there be which cannot be got at, if thou art pleased, O creator of the universe; for it is by thy favour, that Indra enjoyed the sovereignty of three worlds. ”

“ By far the greater part of the poetry of the Rigveda consists of religious lyrics, only the tenth book containing some secular poems. Its hymns are mainly addressed to the [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. ”

“ On the way Yudhisthira, ever anxious for divine help, invoked the goddess Durga in terms which reveal at once the attributes of the goddess and the Hindu poet’s idea of the most suitable expressions to be employed in addressing a female divinity. “Salutations to thee, O giver of boons.... Salutations to thee, O thou of four hands and four faces, O thou of fair round hips and deep bosom, O thou that wearest bangles made of emeralds and sapphires, O thou that bearest excellent braces on thy upper arm.... Thou art the only female in the universe that possessest the attribute of purity. ”

“ Above all, one has to bear in mind the distortion which the Hindu side of the picture has undergone in consequence of the removal of the abode of the dead from the nether world to the most distant heaven. But when it is considered what a far cry it is from the shores of the Baltic to the land of the Five Rivers, how long it must have taken our kindred to reach it, and how largely their blood had by that time been mixed with that of other races, it is a matter of surprise that Sanskrit literature yields so many points of contact between Indra and Gwydion-Woden. ”

“ The Rigveda hymns reveal the religious beliefs and aspirations of the advanced thinkers of their age; the Atharva-veda contains the germs of folk religion—the magical formulas chanted to dispel or invoke the vague spirits who helped or thwarted mankind. It teaches that the Universe is upheld by sacrifice and the spiritual exaltation of Brahmans, and that Brahmanic power may be exercised by the use of appropriate charms. Human beings might also be influenced by the spirits invoked by means of formulas. ”

“ In the Sanhitâ of the Rig-veda, the invocations which it contains are chiefly addressed to the deities of fire, the firmament, the winds, the seasons, the sun, and the moon, who are invited to be present at the sacrifices, or are appealed to for wealth or for their several beneficial qualities. The personified attributes of Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva, signifying respectively creation, preservation, and destruction, are due to a later and more refined era of Hindoo mythology ”

“ The evolution of religious thought in the Rigveda led to the conception of a creator distinct from any of the chief deities and superior to all the gods. He appears under the various names of Purusha, Viçvakarman, Hiraṇyagarbha, or Prajāpati in the cosmogonic hymns. ”

“ When at last not only the texts but the immense Sanskrit commentary also of the most important, the Rig-Veda, had been published, people began to see that there was little of primeval, mysterious wisdom to be found in the Vedic hymns, but only the simplest thoughts that must have passed through the minds of the Rishis when they began to ponder on the great phenomena of nature which every morning and night, every spring and winter were unfolded before their eyes. ”

“ What god 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 pronoun ka, “what?” This ka in [102] the later Vedic literature came to be employed not only as an epithet of the creator Prajāpati, but even as an independent name of the supreme god.
A deity of an abstract character occurring in the oldest as well as the latest parts of the Rigveda is Bṛihaspati, “Lord of Prayer.” Roth and other distinguished Vedic scholars regard him as a direct personification of devotion. ”

“ While the Rigveda deals almost exclusively with the higher gods as conceived by a comparatively advanced and refined sacerdotal class, the Atharva-veda is, in the main, a book of spells and incantations appealing to the demon world, and teems with notions about witchcraft current among the lower grades of the population, and derived from an immemorial antiquity. These two, thus complementary to each other in contents, are obviously the most important of the four Vedas. ”

“ In the later Vedas, the Brāhmaṇas, and the subsequent literature, the name has become simply a designation of wind. [89]
The position occupied by the god 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 Vishṇu. He is usually said to be armed with bow and arrows, but a lightning shaft and a thunderbolt are also occasionally assigned to him. He is described as fierce and destructive like a wild beast, and is called “the ruddy boar of heaven.” ”

“ The possibility of assigning nearly every power to every god rendered the [70] 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 Varuṇa; when kindled thou becomest Mitra; in thee, O Son of Might, all gods are centred; thou art Indra to the worshipper” (v. 3, 1) . ”

“ Their number in two passages of the Rigveda is stated as seven or eight, while in the Brāhmaṇas and later it is regularly twelve. Some eight or ten hymns of the Rigveda are addressed to them collectively. The following lines are taken from one (viii. 47) in which their aid and protection is specially invoked:—
As birds extend their sheltering wings, Spread your protection over us. As charioteers avoid ill roads, May dangers always pass us by. Resting in you, O gods, we are Like men that fight in coats of mail. ”

“ It is to be noted that the Dṛishadvatī, the “stony” (now Ghogra or Ghugger) , in the only passage in which the name occurs in the Rigveda, is associated with the Sarasvatī, Agni being invoked to flame on the banks of these rivers. This is perhaps an indication that even in the age of the Rigveda the most easterly limit of the Indus river system had already acquired a certain sanctity as the region in which the sacrificial ritual and the art of sacred poetry were practised in the greatest perfection. ”

“ The heretics of Vedic religion, the opponents of the orthodox commentators in ages comparatively recent, used to complain that the Vedas were simply nonsense, and their authors "knaves and buffoons." There are moments when the modern student of Vedic myths is inclined to echo this petulant complaint. For example, it is difficult enough to find in the Rig-Veda anything like a categoric account of the gods, and a description of their personal appearance. But in Rig-Veda viii. 29, 1, we read of one god, "a youth, brown, now hostile, now friendly; a golden lustre invests him." Who is this youth? ”

“ 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. ”

“ Siva, the Aryan god, for example, took for his wife the Dravidian goddess Kali. In many ways like this, the Aryan and the Dravidian united to form the Hindu. The Hindu religion is a composite—a corruption of the nature-worship of the earlier Vedas by its union with the more cruel and debasing features of the Dravidian idolatry. The renowned temples of Southern India best represent this mongrel form of Hinduism, and show Hinduism in its most corrupt development under Dravidian influences. ”

“ The comparison of the various readings supplied by the later Vedas leads to the conclusion that the text of the Rigveda existed, with comparatively few exceptions, in its present form, and not in a possibly different recension, at the time when the text of the Sāma-veda, the oldest form of the Yajur-veda, and the Atharva-veda was constituted. The number of cases is infinitesimal in which the Rigveda shows a corruption from which the others are free. ”