Insight Editions · No. 185
The Rig Veda
An Anthology of One Hundred and Eight Hymns
Various Vedic poets · Translated by Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty
The anthology presents Rig Vedic hymns on creation, sacrifice, death, deities, cosmic forces, women, and ritual practices, preserving competing accounts and interpretations.
A study guide to The Rig Veda by Various Vedic poets, translated by Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty. Shared free for personal reading; not for sale and not endorsed by the authors or publishers. Please read and buy the original.
The Book in Brief
Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty (tr.)'s The Rig Veda: An Anthology of Selected Hymns. A reader's anthology of Rig Veda hymns arranged by theme, keeping conflicting cosmologies side by side rather than forcing one system.
Primary-source anthology: theories kept side by side
| Ch | Title | Gist |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Introduction | ~3694 source words |
| 2 | THE RIG VEDA | ~5377 source words |
| 3 | DEATH | ~5681 source words |
| 4 | THE ELEMENTS OF SACRIFICE | ~8047 source words |
| 5 | THE HORSE SACRIFICE | ~3241 source words |
| 6 | GODS OF THE SACRIFICE: AGNI AND SOMA | ~7369 source words |
| 7 | SOMA | ~6126 source words |
| 8 | INDRA | ~8067 source words |
| 9 | GODS OF THE STORM | ~3900 source words |
| 10 | SOLAR GODS | ~7558 source words |
| 11 | SKY AND EARTH | ~1449 source words |
| 12 | VARUNA | ~2821 source words |
| 13 | RUDRA AND VISNU | ~2479 source words |
| 14 | REALIA | ~4327 source words |
| 15 | WOMEN | ~13105 source words |
| 16 | INCANTATIONS AND SPELLS | ~3799 source words |
Introduction
Introduction THIS is a book for people, not for scholars. Real scholars will read the Rig Veda in Sanskrit; would-be scholars, or scholars from other fields, will fight their way through the translations of Geldner (German), Renou (French), Elizarenkova (Russian) and others;* they will search the journals for articles on each verse, and on each word;† they will pore over the dictionaries and the concordances.‡ But there is so much in the Rig Veda to interest and excite non-Vedists; it seems a shame to let it go on being the treasure of a tiny, exclusive group, hidden as it is behind the thorny wall of an ancient and cryptic language.
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The Rig Veda
Introduction THIS is a book for people, not for scholars. Real scholars will read the Rig Veda in Sanskrit; would-be scholars, or scholars from other fields, will fight their way through the translations of Geldner (German), Renou (French), Elizarenkova (Russian) and others;* they will search the journals for articles on each verse, and on each word;† they will pore over the dictionaries and the concordances.‡ But there is so much in the Rig Veda to interest and excite non-Vedists; it seems a shame to let it go on being the treasure of a tiny, exclusive group, hidden as it is behind the thorny wall of an ancient and cryptic language.
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There are several good reasons why it has remained hidden for so many years: it is so long (1, 028 hymns, each averaging about ten verses) that a complete translation is a daunting prospect ;§ and it is so complex that most serious translations have been rendered unreadable by critical apparatus. Yet, this need not be so. One need not read all of the Rig Veda to enjoy its beauty and wisdom; and since the text is itself an anthology of separate, individually complete hymns, a selection destroys no continuity of the original.
Moreover, despite its awesome and venerable reputation, the Rig Veda proves surprisingly accessible when one has a little help from one's friends. By standing upon the shoulders of the many giants (and pygmies) in the long academic procession of Vedists, I have tried to construct a translation that is sound but readable;* by using the available scholarship, I have tried to make the best educated guess on the many problematic points; and by citing this scholarship in the bibliographies, I invite the would-be scholar to make a better guess.
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For although this is not a book for scholars, it is a book from scholars, from the many painstaking Indian commentators (Yäska, Saunaka, Säyana and lesser figures) and European interpreters (beginning with Max Müller) who were driven by a sharp need to fathom this fascinating work. Having resolved upon a working method, it was necessary to rationalize a selection. My field was automatically limited by the realization that I would be forced to exclude all the hymns that I could not decipher (or that I could only render intelligible by means of a commentary too complex for the present purpose) and that I would indulge myself by excluding all those that I found boring.
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This is certainly not a 'representative' anthology of the Rig Veda except in the sense that it is representative of my taste and of the taste of those scholars whose works I have so shamelessly plundered; it is the product of serendipity and hot tips from my friends and colleagues, living and long dead. It is a selection of what I have found to be beautiful, interesting, and profound in the Rig Veda, following the leads of my elders and betters.
In number, these 108 (a holy number in India)† hymns are ten per cent of the whole collection, roughly the size of one of the ten books. These are the hymns that I have come across and loved, that scholars whom I respect have found most worthy of study, that later Hindus have made use of in building their religious ideas. Idiosyncratic and eclectic, it may yet serve as an introduction to a significant number of hymns in many diverse veins.
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Many of these centre upon mythology, which interests me most; many examine into philosophy (and therefore come from the latest books of the Rig Veda, the first and last), which has interested students of Indian thought most; many explore the symbolism and mechanism of Vedic ritual, which has interested historians of religion most; many are included for the sake of the light they shed on details of daily life, which interests historians and sociologists most, and many for the sake of their poetry. I have kept the notes to a minimum, and avoided the tautological type entirely ('This is the name of a sage', 'Here the hymn switches from the singular to the plural'), for these seem to me mere automatic reflexes and conventions into which translators often lapse, like hosts showing their guests a new house ('This is the kitchen, ' 'This is the bedroom').
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I have also resisted, often with great difficulty, the powerful temptation to explain the Rig Veda by looking backward or forward, to draw upon the ancient Indo-European civilization out of which it grew or to show how Vedic ideas developed in post-Vedic India. Such explanations are fascinating and often useful, but they would have doubled the length of my notes and would, in any case, have distracted the reader from the particular moment in time when these hymns were composed, the moment that I strove to capture in my translations.
The skeletal nature of the critical apparatus is also intended to spare the reader a painful and confusing glimpse behind the curtain into the translator's messy workshop, to gloss over a number of the agonized (and often unsatisfying) decisions that were necessary in rendering the Sanskrit into a comprehensible form of English. The magnitude of the problem faced by the translator of the Rig Veda is immediately evident from the disgruntled mumblings, apologies, and cris de cæur that slip out of the notes in the extant translations - 'This hymn is one of the most obscure in the whole Rigveda'; 'I can make no sense at all of the second line'; 'mot inconnu'; 'Ein dunkles Lied'; 'Nicht ganz klar'.
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Translation should be exempt from fault-finding, but it is hard to resist the temptation to wonder where the obscurity comes into play along the long, fragile thread that connects the original with the translation. Is it an obscure transmission, or an obscure reception? In many places, a difficult idea is couched in simple language; in others, a simple idea is obscured by difficult language.
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Every translator has encountered the latter problem, and such instances occur frequently in the Rig Veda, but so do instances of the opposite type: several hymns are simple enough to translate, but impossible to understand. The linguistic problem in both cases is intriguing, if we try to separate idea from language, structure from vocabulary. In the first instance, the language may be intrinsically difficult (dense, complex, and esoteric even for the people of its own time), difficult to people of another time (because of archaisms, bapax legomena, discontinued usages), or difficult because we have lost the thread of the underlying idiom.
In the second instance, how can we know that we are in fact translating correctly and not merely unconsciously simplifying complex ideas?* Almost a century ago, Abel Bergaigne pointed out that one must make a choice between simplifying the Vedic lexicon and thereby dealing with more complex ideas, or complicating the lexicon in order to simplify Vedic ideas.† Although Bergaigne inclined to the former method (and many Vedists today still follow him), my own feeling is that Vedic words are more complex than Vedic contexts; that to seek various English equivalents for single words along a broad spectrum of linked concepts is ultimately more productive than to seek to boil down such a term into a single neutral word that can be plugged into any context. Poetic applications even of basic terms always retain a certain measure of ambiguity, but this cannot be captured by a compromise gloss.
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How can we understand the words if we do not understand the meaning behind them? Here one is reminded of Samuel Johnson's criticism of a colleague: 'He has too little Latin; he takes the Latin from the meaning, not the meaning from the Latin.' To some degree, we all do take the Sanskrit from the meaning, especially where the words themselves are difficult. And to this extent, we cannot translate a hymn in 'simple language', either, if we do not understand it.
Nor can we write something that we know to be obscure; if what we write is obscure by accident, that is another matter, but we must think we understand an obscure poem in order to translate it. In some cases, a linguistically simple phrase contains a thought that might be explained by a long footnote, but often such a note cannot be written with any confidence. The phrase, 'We have become immortal', for example, is linguistically straightforward; few would challenge the plain English rendering.
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What did they mean by immortality? Surely not eternal life, but what kind of afterlife? Questions of this sort may begin to be answered when one undertakes a thorough study of Vedic religion and philosophy (a subject on which far too many books have been written, and one to which this volume will not add);* but even then the hymn remains tantalizingly obscure.
This is a book of questions, not a book of answers; and, to paraphrase Gertrude Stein, 'What is the question?' must always be our starting-point - and often our finishing-point as well. The notes, therefore, provide only enough glosses to allay the reader's suspicion that something important may be missing or that something is wrong with the verse; scholarly material ('This also occurs in the Avesta') has been used only when the verse makes no sense at all without it. This austerity in commentary may often puzzle the reader.
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The hymns are meant to puzzle, to surprise, to trouble the mind; they are often just as puzzling in Sanskrit as they are in English. When the reader finds himself at a point where the sense is unclear (as long as the language is clear), let him use his head, as the Indian commentators used theirs; the gods love riddles, as the ancient sages knew, and those who would converse with the gods must learn to live with and thrive upon paradox and enigma.
The riddles in the Rig Veda are particularly maddening because many of them are Looking Glass riddles ('Why is a raven like a writing desk?'): they do not have, nor are they meant to have, answers. They are not merely rhetorical, but are designed to present one half of a Socratic dialogue through which the reader becomes aware of the inadequacy of his certain knowledge. This deliberate obfuscation of issues that are in any case intrinsically unfathomable sometimes seems to add insult to injury; one feels that the hymns themselves are mischievous translations into a 'foreign' language.
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Like the Englishman who announced that he preferred English to all other languages because it was the only language in which one said the words in the order that one thought of them, one feels that the Rig Veda poets are not saying the words in the order that they thought of them, let alone the order that we would think of them. An example of this is the complexity of tenses and references to past and present. Sometimes the poet slips from the present to the past in the traditional way, collapsing the mythical past and the ritual present together: Indra, do now what you did in the past.
But sometimes the poet deliberately invokes or highlights a paradox of time: Aditi gave birth to Daksa, and Daksa gave birth to Aditi. These cognitive paradoxes, item by grammatical inconsistencies in tense, draw the reader into the timeless world of the myth and ritual. Another, related, form of deliberate confusion is the use of mutually illuminating metaphors.
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8.30 To All the Gods
1 Not one of you, gods, is small, not one a little child; all of you are truly great. 2 Therefore you are worthy of praise and of sacrifice, you thirty-three gods of Manu, arrogant and powerful. 3 Protect us, help us and speak for us; do not lead us into the distance far away from the path of our father Manu.
4 You gods who are all here and who belong to all men, give far-reaching shelter to us and to our cows and horses.
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THE RIG VEDA
The Rig Veda CREATION THE Rig Veda refers glancingly to many different theories of creation. Several of these regard creation as the result - often apparently a mere by-product - of a cosmic battle, such as those mentioned in the hymns to Indra, or as a result of the apparently unmotivated act of separating heaven and earth, an act attributed to several different gods.
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THE RIG VEDA
The Rig Veda CREATION THE Rig Veda refers glancingly to many different theories of creation. Several of these regard creation as the result - often apparently a mere by-product - of a cosmic battle, such as those mentioned in the hymns to Indra, or as a result of the apparently unmotivated act of separating heaven and earth, an act attributed to several different gods. These aspects of creation are woven in and out of the hymns in the older parts of the Rig Veda, books 2 through 9.
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But in the subsequent tenth book we encounter for the first time hymns that are entirely devoted to speculations on the origins of the cosmos. Some of these hymns seek the origins of the existence of existence itself (10.129) or of the creator himself (10.121). Others speculate upon the sacrifice as the origin of the earth and the people in it (10.90), or upon the origins of the sacrifice (10.130, 10.190).
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1 There was neither non-existence nor existence then; there was neither the field of space nor the sky which is beyond. 2 There was neither death nor immortality then. There was no distinguishing sign2 of night nor of day.
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That one breathed, windless, by its own impulse. Other than that there was nothing beyond. 3 Darkness was hidden by darkness in the beginning; with no distinguishing sign,2 all this was water.
The life force that was covered with emptiness, that one arose through the power of heat.3 4 Desire came upon that one in the beginning ; that was the first seed of mind. Poets 4 seeking in their heart with wisdom found the bond of existence in non-existence. 5 Their cord 5 was extended across.
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The verb is often used to describe the motion of breath. The verse implies that the action precedes the actor. That is, the difference between night and day, light or dark- ness, or possibly sun and moon.
Tapas designates heat, in particular the heat generated by ritual activity and by physical mortification of the body. Kavi designates a poet or saint. Possibly a reference to the 'bond' mentioned in verse 4, or a kind of measuring cord by which the poets delimit - and hence create - the elements.
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Sāyana suggests that the compound may be interpreted possessively even here, making it possible to include several levels of meaning at once - 'he in whose belly the golden seed or egg exists like an embryo'. This seed of fire is placed in the waters of the womb; it is also the embryo with which the waters become pregnant (v. So, too, Agni is the child of the waters but also the god who spills his seed in the waters.
These are interlocking rather than contradictory concepts; in the late Vedas, the father is specifically identified with the son. Furthermore, the egg is both a female image (that which is fertilized by seed and which contains the embryo that is like the yolk) and a male image (the testicles containing seed). Thus the range of meanings may be seen as a continuum of androgynous birth images : seed (male egg), womb (female egg), embryo, child.
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1 In the beginning the Golden Embryo arose. Once he was born, he was the one lord of creation. He held in place the earth and this sky.4 Who is the god whom we should worship with the oblation?
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5 He by whom the awesome sky and the earth were made firm, by whom the dome of the sky was propped up, and the sun, who measured out the middle field of space8 -who is the god whom we should worship with the oblation? 6 He to whom the two opposed masses looked with trembling in their hearts, supported by his help,9 on whom the rising sun shines down - who is the god whom we should worship with the oblation?
7 When the high waters came, pregnant with the embryo that is everything, bringing forth fire, he arose from that as the one life's breath of the gods. Who is the god whom we should worship with the oblation? 8 He who in his greatness looked over the waters, which were pregnant with Dakṣa,10 bringing forth the sacrifice, he who was the one god among all the gods - who is the god whom we should worship with the oblation?
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9 Let him not harm us, he11 who fathered the earth and created the sky, whose laws are true, who created the high, shining waters. Who is the god whom we should worship with the oblation? 10 Prajāpati, lord of progeny, no one but you embraces all these creatures.
Grant us the desires for which we offer you oblation. Let us be lords of riches. Here and throughout these notes, numbers with out a designated text refer to Rig Vedic hymns translated in this volume.
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DEATH
DEATH EVEN as the Rig Veda speculates in various contrasting, even conflicting ways about the process of creation, so too there is much variation in the speculations about death, and in the questions asked about death. There is evidence of different rituals - cremation (10.16) or burial (10.18), the latter also underlying the image of the ' house of clay' in a hymn to Varuṇa (see 7.89).
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The Rig Veda
DEATH EVEN as the Rig Veda speculates in various contrasting, even conflicting ways about the process of creation, so too there is much variation in the speculations about death, and in the questions asked about death. There is evidence of different rituals - cremation (10.16) or burial (10.18), the latter also underlying the image of the ' house of clay' in a hymn to Varuṇa (see 7.89). Several fates are suggested for the dead man: heaven (10.14), a new body (10.16), revival (10.58), reincarnation (10.16), and dispersal among various elements (10.16.3, 10.58).
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It is also evident that there is a wide range of people that the dead man may hope to join, wherever he goes (10.154), and so it is not surprising that different groups of people are addressed, even within a single hymn: the fathers or dead ancestors in heaven (10.14), the gods (10.16), particularly Yama (10.14, 10.135), the dead man (10.14, 10.135), the mourners (10.14.12 and 10.14.14, 10.18), mother earth and Death himself (10.18). Together, these hymns reveal a world in which death is regarded with great sadness but without terror, and life on earth is preciously clung to, but heaven is regarded as a gentle place, rich in friends and ritual nourishment, a world of light and renewal.
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10.14 Yama and the Fathers
This funeral hymn centres upon Yama, king of the dead, the first mortal to have reached the other world and the path-maker for all who came after him. Verses 1 and 2 address the mourners and describe this ancient path; 4 and 5 invoke Yama to come to the funeral in order that he may lead the dead man to heaven. Verses 3 and 6 invoke famous ancestors already in the world beyond; 7, 8 and 10 speed the dead man on his way, and 9 speeds the evil spirits on their way.
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Yama and his two dogs are addressed in 11 and 12; these dogs are regarded (like many Vedic gods) as dangerous because they kill you (verses 10 and 12) but also as potentially benevolent, because they lead you to heaven (verse 11). Verses 13-15 call upon the priests to offer Soma1 to Yama, and the final verse recapitulates the two main themes : the farewell to the dead man on the path of Yama, and the offerings of Soma and praise to Yama.
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4 Sit upon this strewn grass, O Yama, together with the Angirases, the fathers. Let the verses chanted by the poets carry you here. O King, rejoice in this oblation.
5 Come, Yama, with the Angirases worthy of sacrifice: rejoice here with the Vairūpas,7 sitting on the sacred grass at this sacrifice. I will invoke Vivasvan, who is your father. 6 Our fathers, the Angirases, and the Navagvas, Atharvans, and Brhgus,7 all worthy of Soma - let us remain in favour with them, as they are worthy of sacrifice, and let them be helpful and kind.
7 [To the dead man :] Go forth, go forth on those ancient paths on which our ancient fathers passed beyond. There you shall see the two kings, Yama and Varuṇa, rejoicing in the sacrificial drink.6 8 Unite with the fathers, with Yama, with the rewards of your sacrifices and good deeds,8 in the highest heaven. Leaving behind all imperfections, go back home again;9 merge with a glorious body.
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O king, grant him happiness and health. 12 The two dark messengers of Yama with flaring nostrils wander among men, thirsting for the breath of life. Let them give back to us13 a life of happiness here and today, so that we may see the sun.
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16 All through the three Soma days,16 he17 flies to the six broad spaces18 and the one great one. Triṣṭubh, Gāyatrï, the metres - all these are placed in Yama. Soma is the sacrificial drink pressed from the Soma plant; it is the ambrosial food offered to the gods to make them immortal.
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These are the paths leading to the highest heaven, where Yama dwells ; they may be the watercourses at the end of the world. A name of the sun, father of Yama. The meaning is either that everyone gets to heaven or that, once there, you never leave (i.e.
A name of a god or demi-god who appears only here in the Rig Veda. This verse contrasts two groups of individuals to be encoun tered in the world beyond (an expansion of the 'ancient fathers' mentioned in the previous verse). Mātalī, Yama, and Bṛhaspati are here regarded as semi-divine figures, who are made strong by other gods and by the sacrificial drink, the Svadhā, here - and elsewhere - a name for Soma.
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10.16 The Funeral Fire
Agni appears here in various roles: he is the cremation fire, who carries the oblation as well as the dead man to the fathers. 1-8), Agni is asked to burn the corpse gently but not too much, to temper it to perfection (à point, as Renou puts it) and to send it to the fathers, but not to destroy it. 9-12), a new fire is lit to carry the oblation to the gods and to lead the dead man to Yama.
Thus the first fire is associated with the corpse and the fathers, and the second fire is associated with the oblation and the gods. 13-14), the funeral fire is extinguished. The recurrent epithet 'Knower of creatures' (Jātavedas) is usually said to apply only to the auspicious, oblation-bearing form of Agni; but here it is also used to invoke, perhaps euphemistically, the corpse-eating Agni as well (vv.
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The two fires interact in other ways, too: in verse 9, when the corpse is sufficiently 'cooked' and has undergone purification after its funeral pollution, the first, corpse-burning fire is dismissed to serve the gods and to carry the body to the fathers; at this time, a new, pure fire is summoned (kindled) to carry the oblation to the fathers and to carry to the gods whatever is laid upon it. But the first fire, now purified, is also sent to the sacrifice of the fathers, thus taking on a function similar to that of the second, pristine fire (participation in sacrifice) while retaining its original association with the fathers (in contrast with the gods, the masters of the second fire).
This is a transformation, rather than a confusion, for in verse 9 the one fire becomes the other; as both are forms of Agni, he is merely asked to stop burning the corpse and to start carrying the oblation (a role prefigured by the reference to the 'gentle forms' in verse 4). In verse 11, both forms of Agni unite, and in verse 5 the corpse itself becomes the oblation. The ambiguous nature of Agni in this hymn finds a parallel in the ambiguities surrounding the body of the dead man.
Verse 3 states that the body will disperse into sky, earth, and water, while the eye, breath, and limbs go to their cosmic equivalences: sun, wind, and plants. The waters are often identified with the air, the middle field of space between sky and other ; this would mean that the body disintegrates into the three worlds. But it is not clear whether the body is dispersed into all three places or whether one may choose one or the other; parts of the body (eye, breath, limbs) are specifically distributed, while the dead man himself is said to go into the three worlds.
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This might imply that the soul of the dead man goes to these worlds, while his physical parts are distributed elsewhere. But the verse says that the limbs go to the plants, the place to which the soul is consigned in the Upanisads, where the doctrine of transmigration is first expounded. Moreover, the breath (often identified with the soul in the Upanisads, and here called the ātman, the word that came to designate the transmigrating soul) is here said to disperse separately into the wind.
Indeed, it seems to be the body, not the soul, of the dead man that Agni is asked to lead to heaven, to Yama, to the fathers, and to the gods, the body that is the focus of the entire hymn. It would thus appear that here, as in several of the more speculative creation hymns, the poet has tried out various, perhaps conflicting, views of the afterlife. These views overlap in the liminal figures of the hymn, for Yama and the fathers are both mortals and immortals, both pure and impure, the ones who receive the corpse but also the ones who receive the oblation and the Soma; moreover, the dead man himself begins as an impure corpse but becomes, by the end of the hymn, himself one of the fathers to whom the oblation is sent.
These problems are compounded by verse 5, which states that the dead man will get a new body (cf. 10.14.8) in order to reach his descendants. This latter word, literally 'remaining' (śeṣa), has provoked several interpretations that attempt to circumvent the paradox.
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Sāyana suggests that it refers to the body that remains after cremation (i.e. the bones); or it may refer to the survivors of the dead man, i.e. the mourners, or to those who have been buried before, i.e.
the ancestors whom the dead man will join. But it more likely means the posterity of the dead man, i.e. the people that he has begotten or will beget with his new life and his new body.
Is this body to exist in heaven or on earth? A few verses of the Rig Veda (and more detailed passages in the Brāhmanas) give ample evidence for the concept of the new body in heaven, depicting the afterlife as an improved replica of life on earth, a place where one raises children and watches them grow up. But the idea of a new body on earth is supported by the Brāhmana funeral ceremonies, the śraddha offerings in which a man's descendants create for him, ritually, a new body in which he is reborn on earth.
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10.14.8, where apparently natural 'imperfections' of the body are to be removed)? It would appear that Agni cooks the corpse, a function regarded as the opposite of eating it (as he usually does); cooking raises it to a higher state (fit for heaven), while eating reduces it to a lower state (fit for animals). The wild beasts who would eat the corpse are kept away, as is the omnivorous Agni; instead, the corpse is to be cooked to prepare it for the gods, like the prepared Soma.
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And Soma, the healer, is asked to assist Agni in cleansing and healing the body (v. 1 Do not burn him entirely, Agni, or engulf him in your flames. Do not consume his skin or his flesh.
When you have cooked him perfectly, O knower of creatures, only then send him forth to the fathers. 2 When you cook him perfectly, O knower of creatures, then give him over to the fathers. When he goes on the path that leads away the breath of life, then he will be led by the will of the gods.
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3 [To the dead man:] May your eye go to the sun, your life's breath to the wind. Go to the sky or to earth, as is your nature;1 or go to the waters, if that is your fate. Take root in the plants with your limbs.
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6 [To the dead man :] Whatever the black bird has pecked out of you, or the ant, the snake, or even a beast of prey, may Agni who eats all things make it whole, and Soma who has entered the Brahmins.5 7 Gird yourself with the limbs of the cow as an armour against Agni,6 and cover yourself with fat and suet, so that he will not embrace you with his impetuous heat in his passionate desire to burn you up. 8 [To Agni:] O Agni, do not overturn this cup7 that is dear to the gods and to those who love Soma, fit for the gods to drink from, a cup in which the immortal gods carouse.
9 I send the flesh-eating fire far away. Let him go to those whose king is Yama,8 carrying away all impurities. But let that other, the knower of creatures, come here and carry the oblation to the gods, since he knows the way in advance.
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10.135 The Boy and the Chariot
Though this hymn is traditionally dedicated to Yama, Yama appears only in the first and last verses (which are closely related), framing an allegory of the secret of death. The plot, though obscure, seems to be something like this: The father of a young boy has died, and the boy mentally follows the journey of his father to the field of Yama, grieving and trying to get him to return; the hymn does not necessarily imply that the boy himself dies or even wants to die.
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And unseeing,6 you climbed into it. 4 'My son, when you made the chariot roll forth from the priests,7 there rolled after it a chant that was placed from there upon a ship.' 5 Who gave birth to the boy? Who made the chariot roll out?
Who could tell us today how the gift for the journey8 was made? 6 How was the gift for the journey made? The beginning arose from it: first they made the bottom, and then they made the way out.9 7 This is the dwelling-place of Yama, that is called the home of the gods.
This is his reed-pipe that is blown, and he is the one adorned with songs. 1.164 for the mystic symbolism of the chariot that is the sacrifice, with no wheels and one shaft (10.135.3); and cf. In later Sanskrit, the 'chariot of the mind' (mạnoratha) is a word for 'wish'.
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10.85.12 for a chariot made of thought. This hymn may be the kernel of the famous myth of Naciketas, in which a boy travels to the field of death and converses with Death and with his father. But the present hymn cannot be interpreted as if it were already an expression of that complex myth.
The dead ancestors in the field of Yama. The path of death; probably not Hell, but cf. Literally, not seeing the chariot that you are mounting; symbolically, not understanding the power of the sacrifice.
The priests compose the funerary hymns which accompany the corpse and which are thus 'carried' by the chariot and by a ship (both metaphors for the sacrifice and the oblation) that the priests send away from them. Probably equipment with which the deceased was supplied for the journey to Yama's abode (cf. 10.16.8), here identified with the chant placed on the sacrificial chariot.
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The word here translated 'gift for the journey' (anudeyï) occurs only once more in the Rig Veda, to describe the woman who accompanies the bride on her journey to the groom's house (10.85.6). This verse is simultaneously a literal description of the chariot and a figurative reference to the chant, with its opening and closing phrases.
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10.58 A Spell to Turn Back the Departing Spirit
This imprecation to the mafias - heart, mind, and life-spirit -may have been spoken over a dead man or to a man on the brink of death, to keep the spirit within the body. The central verses refer alternately to earth (3, 5, 7, 9) and sky (4, 6, 8). 1 If your spirit has gone to Yama the son of Vivasvan far away, we turn it back to you here to dwell and to live.
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2 If your spirit has gone to the sky or to the earth far away, we turn it back to you here to dwell and to live. 3 If your spirit has gone to the four-cornered earth far away, we turn it back to you here to dwell and to live. 4 If your spirit has gone to the four quarters of the sky far away, we turn it back to you here to dwell and to live.
5 If your spirit has gone to the billowy ocean far away, we turn it back to you here to dwell and to live. 6 If your spirit has gone to the flowing streams of light far away, we turn it back to you here to dwell and to live. 7 If your spirit has gone to the waters, or to the plants, far away, we turn it back to you here to dwell and to live.
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8 If your spirit has gone to the sun, or to the dawns far away, we turn it back to you here to dwell and to live. 9 If your spirit has gone to the high mountains far away, we turn it back to you here to dwell and to live. 10 If your spirit has gone to this whole moving universe far away, we turn it back to you to dwell and to live.
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11 If your spirit has gone to distances beyond the beyond, far away, we turn it back to you to dwell and to live. 12 If your spirit has gone to what has been and what is to be, far away, we turn it back to you to dwell and to live.
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THE ELEMENTS OF SACRIFICE
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THE ELEMENTS OF SACRIFICE
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The social nature of speech is emphasized, the birth of speech in friendship and its use by all of the assembly (v. 10) and by the four priests with their individual functions (v. The enemy of true speech is represented as the rival of the author of this hymn (vv.
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1 Brhaspati1 When they2 set in motion the first beginning of speech, giving names, their most pure and perfectly guarded secret was revealed through love. 2 When the wise ones2 fashioned speech with their thought, sifting it as grain is sifted through a sieve,3 then friends recognized their friendships. A good sign was placed on their speech.
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3 Through the sacrifice they traced the path of speech and found it inside the sages. They held it and portioned it out to many; together the seven singers2 praised it. 4 One who looked did not see speech, and another who listens does not hear it.
It reveals itself to someone as a loving wife, beautifully dressed, reveals her body to her husband. 5 One person, they said, has grown awkward and heavy in this friendship; they no longer urge him forward in the contests. He lives with falsehood like a milkless cow, for the speech that he has heard has no fruit no flower.
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6 A man that abandons a friend who has learned with him no longer has a share in speech. What he does hear he hears in vain, for he does not know the path of good action. 7 Friends have eyes and ears, but their flashes of insight are not equal.
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Some are like ponds that reach only to the mouth or shoulder; others are like ponds that one could bathe in. 8 When the intuitions of the mind are shaped in the heart, when Brahmins perform sacrifices together as friends, some are left behind for lack of knowledge, while others surpass them with the power to praise. 9 Those who move neither near nor far, who are not real Brahmins nor pressers of the Soma; using speech in a bad way, they weave on a weft of rags, without understanding.
10 All his friends rejoice in the friend who emerges with fame and victory in the contest. He saves them from error and gives them food. He is worthy to be pushed forward to win the prize.
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11 One4 sits bringing to blossom the flower of the verses. Another sings a song in the Sakvari metre. One, the Brahmin, proclaims the knowledge of the ancient ways.
Another lays out the measure of the sacrifice. This epithet, that literally means 'lord of sacred speech', is particularly appropriate here as Bṛhaspati is the patron of speakers and inspired poets. The Soma juice is purified by being filtered through a sieve.
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4), the latter enabling Speech to become identified with the creator (v. 7) and the absolute godhead, encompassing all gods (vv. Speech is never mentioned by name in the hymn, never actually spoken herself.
1 I move with the Rudras, with the Vasus, with the Ādityas and all the gods. I carry both Mitra and Varuṇa, both Indra and Agni, and both of the Aśvins. 2 I carry the swelling Soma, and Tvaṣṭṛ, and Pūsan and Bhaga.
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I bestow wealth on the pious sacrificer who presses the Soma and offers the oblation. 3 I am the queen, the confluence of riches, the skilful one who is first among those worthy of sacrifice. The gods divided me up into various parts, for I dwell in many places and enter into many forms.
4 The one who eats food, who truly sees, who breathes, who hears what is said, does so through me. Though they do not realize it, they dwell in me. Listen, you whom they have heard:1 what I tell you should be heeded.
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5 I am the one who says, by myself, what gives joy to gods and men. Whom I love I make awesome; I make him a sage, a wise man, a Brahmin. I stretch the bow for Rudra so that his arrow will strike down the hater of prayer.
I incite the contest2 among the people. I have pervaded sky and earth. I gave birth to the father on the head of this world.
My womb is in the waters, within the ocean. From there I spread out over all creatures and touch the very sky with the crown of my head. I am the one who blows like the wind, embracing all creatures.
Beyond the sky, beyond this earth, so much have I become in my greatness. Literally, one who is heard or who is famous; a triple pun on the root 'hear' in 'listen', 'they have heard', and 'heeded'. Perhaps a verbal contest rather than an actual battle, though the first part of the verse makes the second meaning possible also.
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THE HORSE SACRIFICE
As the supreme symbol of the victorious Indo-Europeans, the horse looms large in the Rig Veda, and many gods are called horses - Indra, Dadhikrā, Sūrya, Agni, Soma, the Dawn, and others. In addition to its role as signifier, however, the horse also appears as signified in a group of hymns about the sacrifice of the consecrated stallion, a ceremony that was to become the subject of far more detailed and lengthy discussion in the texts of the Brāhmanas a few centuries later.
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THE HORSE SACRIFICE
As the supreme symbol of the victorious Indo-Europeans, the horse looms large in the Rig Veda, and many gods are called horses - Indra, Dadhikrā, Sūrya, Agni, Soma, the Dawn, and others. In addition to its role as signifier, however, the horse also appears as signified in a group of hymns about the sacrifice of the consecrated stallion, a ceremony that was to become the subject of far more detailed and lengthy discussion in the texts of the Brāhmanas a few centuries later.
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1 When you whinnied for the first time, as you were born coming forth from the ocean or from the celestial source,1 with the wings of an eagle and the forelegs of an antelope - that, Swift Runner, was your great and awesome birth. 2 Yama gave him and Trita harnessed him; Indra was the first to mount him, and the Gandharva grasped his reins. You gods2 fashioned the horse out of the sun.
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The troops follow your friendship.11 The gods entrusted virile power to you. 9 His mane is golden;12 his feet are bronze. He is swift as thought, faster than Indra.
The gods have come to eat the oblation of the one who was the first to mount the swift runner.13 10 The celestial coursers, revelling in their strength, fly in a line like wild geese, the ends held back while the middle surges forward, when the horses reach the racecourse of the sky. 11 Your body flies, Swift Runner; your spirit rushes like wind. Your mane,12 spread in many directions, flickers and jumps about in the forests.14 12 The racehorse has come to the slaughter, pondering with his heart turned to the gods.
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The goat, his kin,15 is led in front; behind come the poets, the singers. 13 The swift runner has come to the highest dwelling-place, to his father and mother. May he go to the gods today and be most welcome, and then ask for the things that the worshipper wishes for.
A possible reference to the sun born in the ocean and also born from the waters in the sky. The Vasus are a group of gods associated with the sun. Perhaps the magic power of the sacrifice, or the secret power associated with the mysterious Trita, or simply the "Vedic power of secret equivalences.
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As Agni, he is both likened to and contrasted with Soma through the mechanism of parallel oppositions and the Vedic concept of liquid fire or the fiery liquid; as a sacrificial animal, he is joined with Soma in the ritual dimension. The bonds are the three gods named in the first sentence of this verse. The three bonds are multiples of the bond in.
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each of three places named: the sky (v. 3, and the 'highest birth' in Varuṇa), the waters (v. 5, where the gods bathed the celestial horse), and the ocean (v.
1, and also implicit in the birth from Varuṇa, god of the ocean). The paths that lead to the sun. the cows won by the victorious racehorse ; and as the cattle won in raids on horseback.
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Agni, who devours plants (in forest fires), awakens man every morning (as the sun); the herbivorous horse also devours plants, and is awakened every morning to be fed. The worshipper who 'feeds' the sacrificial fire (or offers oblations to the sun) is 'awakened' when he arrives in heaven. All of these are possible (as the final 'him' must be supplied and has no clear referent).
A martial procession behind the war-horse; a sacrificial procession behind the consecrated stallion; a triumphant procession behind the racehorse. The mane (literally, the 'horns') of the horse as a metaphor for the rays of the sun. 'The one' would be Indra, rider of the solar horse according to verse 2, but here it would seem to designate the earthly king, the owner of the earthly horse.
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Here the rays are scattered by the foliage. Either a scapegoat for the sacrificial horse (cf. 1.162.2-3), or just a companion for the racehorse (as racehorses often have goats, to this day).
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3 This goat for all the gods is leds forward with the racehorseas the share for Pūsan. When they lead forth the welcome offering5 with the charger, Tvaṣṭṛurges him on to great fame. 4 When, as the ritual law ordains, the men circle three times, leading the horse that is to be the oblation on the path to the gods, the goat who is the share for Pūsan goes first, announcing the sacrifice to the gods.
5 The Invoker,6 the officiating priest, the atoner,7 the fire-kindler, the holder of the pressing-stones, the reciter, the priest who prays - fill your bellies with this well-prepared, well-sacrificed sacrifice. 6 The hewers of the sacrificial stake and those who carry it, and those who carve the knob 8 for the horse's sacrificial stake, and those who gather together the things9 to cook the charger - let their approval encourage us. 7 The horse with his smooth back went forth into the fields of the gods, just when I made my prayer.
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The inspired sages exult in him. We have made him a welcome companion at the banquet of the gods. 8 The charger's rope and halter, the reins and bridle on his head, and even the grass that has been brought up to his mouth - let all of that stay with you10 even among the gods.
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GODS OF THE SACRIFICE: AGNI AND SOMA
AGNI and Soma are linked in many ways. As fire and liquid, they are complementary oppositions that unite in the Indo-European concept of the fiery liquid, the elixir of immortality (the ambrosia).
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GODS OF THE SACRIFICE: AGNI AND SOMA
AGNI and Soma are linked in many ways. As fire and liquid, they are complementary oppositions that unite in the Indo-European concept of the fiery liquid, the elixir of immortality (the ambrosia). As ritual elements, they are invoked more often than any other gods of the Rig Veda, as the embodiments of the sacrificial fire and the sacrificial drink.
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As metaphorical symbols, they are the centre of a complex set of speculations about the nature of the cosmos, taking the form of riddles about something that is lost and then found. The mythologies differ in that the mystery of Agni is the mystery of his birth as well as of his rebirth when he leaves the gods and must be brought back, while the mystery of Soma is the mystery of his descent from heaven. These mythologies join in the image of the sun-bird, a form of Agni (the Indo-European fire-bird), who brings the Soma to earth (cf.
10.123 and 10.177)' The mysteries are questions posed and answered, for Agni and Soma are the two sources of the inspiration that enabels the Vedic poet to find and understand the meaning of the sacrifice and of his life. They are different sorts of inspiration: Agni is Apollonian, explaining the sacrifice; he represents the cultivated, cooked, cultured aspects of ritual. Soma is Dionysian, explaining the vision of life; he represents the wild, raw, disruptive aspects of ritual.
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The Vedic sacrifice embraces them both. Agni Agni is the subject of many straightforward hymns about the kindling of and offering into the fire; he is invoked to bring all the gods to the sacrifice (1.1) and to mediate between gods and men (1.26). But several of the hymns to Agni are more enigmatic than paradigmatic.
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His birth (5.2) is described in purposely elliptic references similar to those used to refer to Agni in the Riddle of the Sacrifice (1.164; cf. This first appearance of Agni is then linked to subsequent appearances after he has been lost, occasions when he hides (10.5), usually in the waters (10.51), the place of his birth (2.35), or in the body of the arch-enemy of the gods (10.124). The birth and recovery of Agni are two aspects of a great mystery (4.5) that Agni himself inspires the poet to solve(6-9).
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3 Through Agni one may win wealth, and growth from day to day, glorious and most abounding in heroic sons. 4 Agni, the sacrificial ritual that you encompass on all sides - only that one goes to the gods. 5 Agni, the priest with the sharp sight of a poet, the true and most brilliant, the god will come with the gods.
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6 Whatever good you wish to do for the one who worships you, Agni, through you, O Angiras,1 that comes true. 7 To you, Agni, who shine upon darkness, we come day after day, bringing our thoughts and homage 8 to you, the king over sacrifices, the shining guardian of the Order, growing in your own house. 9 Be easy for us to reach, like a father to his son.
Abide with us, Agni, for our happiness. The Angirases were an ancient family of priests, often identified with Vedic gods such as Agni and India. 1.26 Agni and the Gods This hymn emphasizes the close symbiosis between the sacrificer and Agni, on the one hand, and the sacrificer and the gods, on the other.
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Agni is asked to intercede as a father would sacrifice for his son, implying a cooperation among worshippers as well as between worshippers and gods. When Agni is pleased, the sacrificer has a 'good fire', and when the sacrificer has a good fire, the gods have a good fire (i.e. they rejoice in a good sacrifice), and so they become generous.
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The mortal praises Agni and hopes that he will praise (i.e. speak on behalf of) the mortal in turn, even as the mortal praises the gods and hopes that they will praise (i.e. 1 Now get dressed in your robes,1 lord of powers and master of the sacrificial food, and offer this sacrifice for us.
2 Young Agni, take your place as our favourite priest with inspirations and shining speech. 3 The father sacrifices for his son, the comrade for his comrade, the favourite friend for his friend.2 4 May Varuṇa, Mitra and Aryaman, proud of their powers, sit upon our sacred grass, as upon Manu's.3 5 You who were the first to invoke, rejoice in our friendship and hear only these songs. 6 When we offer sacrifice to this god or that god, in the full line of order, it is to you alone that the oblation is offered.
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7 Let him be a beloved lord of tribes for us, a favourite, kindly invoker; let us have a good fire and be beloved. 8 For when the gods have a good fire, they bring us what we wish for. Let us pray with a good fire.
9 So let praises flow back and forth between the two, between us who are mortals and you, the immortal.4 10 Agni, young spawn of strength, with all the fires take pleasure in this sacrifice and in this speech. When Agni becomes the priest, his robes are both the flames and the prayers. Many gods are asked to behave like friends or fathers ; here, it is also suggested that one person might sacrifice on behalf of another, and Agni is asked to do this on behalf of the worshipper.
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The sacrificial fire or the domestic fire has suddenly been extinguished. This crisis is then generalized into a vague danger from which Agni is implored to rescue the worshipper, as well as specific dangers such as emotional conflict between parents and children (centring upon the vanishing mother) and the theological problem of the vanishing or otiose god (identified with Varuṇa in v. The appearance of Agni in the first place is the occasion for speculation on the mystery of creation ex nihilo, the kindling of the spark of fire out of thin air (cf.
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SOMA
SOMA THE Soma plant is visualized in the Rig Veda as a god and as a liquid, pressed by stones in wooden bowls and filtered through a woollen sieve. These processes are described in some detail (9.74, 10.94) and are the inspiration for a rich cloth of imagery woven by the Vedic poet, an imagery also applied to the flowing of the sacrificial butter (4.58): women uniting with lovers, wild animals attacking, rivers flowing to the sea.
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The Rig Veda
SOMA THE Soma plant is visualized in the Rig Veda as a god and as a liquid, pressed by stones in wooden bowls and filtered through a woollen sieve. These processes are described in some detail (9.74, 10.94) and are the inspiration for a rich cloth of imagery woven by the Vedic poet, an imagery also applied to the flowing of the sacrificial butter (4.58): women uniting with lovers, wild animals attacking, rivers flowing to the sea. Soma can be dangerous (8.79.7-8; 8.48.10) but the effects of drinking Soma are usually admired, or at least sought after: a sense of immense personal power (10.119, particularly valuable in the god Indra), intimations of immortality (9.113), the assurance of immortality (8.48), and the hallucinations of trance (10.136).
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Soma's form and activities are referred to in several other hymns in this collection: 8.91, 9.112, 10.85, 10.94, 10.109; the story of his descent from heaven (4.26-7) is the only episode in his mythology narrated in any detail.
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8.79 This Restless Soma
1 This restless Soma - you try to grab him but he breaks away and overpowers everything. He is a sage and a seer inspired by poetry. 2 He covers the naked and heals all who are sick.
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The blind man sees; the lame man steps forth. 3 Soma, you are a broad defence against those who hate us, both enemies we have made ourselves and those made by others. 4 Through your knowledge and skills, rushing forward you drive out of the sky and the earth the evil deed of the enemy.
5 Let those who seek find what they seek: let them receive the treasure given by the generous and stop the greedy from getting what they want. 6 Let him1 find what was lost before; let him push for- ward the man of truth. Let him stretch out the life- span that has not yet crossed its span.
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Soma or the man inspired by Soma. Soma is asked to intercede for the worshipper among the other gods, as Agni often does.
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9.74 Soma Pressed in the Bowls
This hymn describes in metaphors the pressing of Soma in the Soma-bowls and the pouring of the juices through a filter made of wool. The processes are likened to the milking of rain out of the clouds and the downpouring of the torrents upon the earth; to the pouring of seed into a womb to produce children; and to the winning of a race. In addition to their function as metaphors, these images serve also to express the goals of life that the poet hopes will be achieved by the Soma sacrifice: rain, fertility, and wealth.
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Cows appear in all of these metaphors : as symbols of the milk or water with which the Soma is mixed; as clouds from which rain is milked; as women who bear children; and as the prize to be won by the racehorse. Soma appears sometimes as a male animal (calf, horse, bull), sometimes as a female (identified with the cows), like Parjanya and Agni in other hymns; he is further identified with more abstract and general forms such as the navel of Order, the pillar of the sky (here identified with the stalk of the Soma plant), and the pasture or lap of Aditi - the highest heaven (here identified with the Soma bowl).
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2 He who is the pillar of the sky, the well-adorned support, the full stalk that encircles all around, he is the one who by tradition sacrifices to these two great world-halves. The poet3 holds together the conjoined pair, and the refreshing foods. 3 The honey of Soma is a great feast; the wide pasture of Aditi is for the man who follows the right way.
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Child of dawn, the bull who rules over the rain here, leader of the waters, worthy of hymns, he is the one who brings help here. 4 Butter and milk are milked from the living cloud; the navel of Order, the ambrosia is born. Together those who bring fine gifts satisfy him; the swollen men4 piss down the fluid set in motion.
5 The stalk roared as it united with the wave;5 for man he swells the skin that attracts the gods. He places in the lap of Aditi the seed by which we win sons and grandsons. 6 Relentlessly they6 flow down into the filter of a thousand streams; let them have offspring in the third field of the world.
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Four hidden springs pouring forth butter carry down from the sky the ambrosia that is the oblation. 7 He takes on a white colour when he strains to win; Soma, the generous Asura, knows the whole world. He clings to inspired thought and ritual action as he goes forth; let him hurl down from the sky the cask full of water.
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Soma as a new-born calf or horse wanders in the 'forest' of the wooden pressing-bowls. The seed of heaven is the rain that mixes with the milk of the clouds, as Soma mixes with the milk in the bowls. Soma is identified with the sun, who is called a poet, propping apart and holding together the pair of sky and earth, his parents.
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The Maruts are the swollen men (clouds) who urinate the Soma (a male image) after it has been milked from the clouds (a female image). Soma is the living, androgynous cloud from which milk and rain are pressed. Soma is the stalk; the wave is the water that mixes with it.
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The skin of the plant swells like the leather water-skin likened to the fain-clouds (cf. 1.85.5, 5.83.7) or the overturned cask (v. The streams of Soma likened to rains are to have their 'offspring' in the third field, for the floods of rain renew themselves in heaven.
Kakṣīvat, said to have been saved by the Aśvins (1.116.7), may have regained his youth, as did many others helped by the Aśvins. The Soma juices, or the priests. 10.94 The Pressing-Stones A hymn to the stones that press the Soma juice.
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The noise that they make while grinding the stalks of the plant, and their action in devouring (i.e. destroying) the fibres while releasing the juices, suggest the actions of animals (cows, bulls, horses) that growl or bellow and swallow the liquid. 1 Let them1 raise their voices, and let us raise our voices.
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They growl and gnaw on the cooked meat.4 As they snap at the branch of the red tree,5 the bulls who have grazed well begin to bellow. 4 They speak loudly, excited by the exhilarating drink. They shout to Indra: they have found the honey.
Artfully they danced with the sisters that embrace them,6 making the earth echo with their stampings. 5 The eagles have sent their cry up to the sky. Ardently the dark hinds danced in the meadow.
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4.26-7 Soma and Indra and the Eagle
These two closely related hymns centre upon the myth of the theft of the elixir of immortality. This Indo-European theme appears in Russia as the fire-bird and in Greece as the myth of Prometheus - for Soma is the 'fiery juice', simultaneously fire and water (Agni-Ṣomau), that gives immortality. Soma is born in heaven (or in the mountains) and closely guarded by demonic powers; an eagle carries Indra to heaven to bring the Soma to men and gods (or an eagle brings the Soma to Indra - cf.
4.18.13), escaping with merely the loss of a single feather from the one shot loosed by the guardian archer. The first hymn begins with a song of drunken self-praise by Indra (vv. 10.119) and then tells the story of the eagle (vv.
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2 'I gave the earth to the Āryan; I gave rain to the mortal who made an offering. I led forth the roaring water;5 the gods followed after my wish. 3 'Ecstatic with Soma I shattered the nine and ninety fortresses of Śambara6 all at once, finishing off the inhabitant as the hundredth, as I gave aid to Divodäsa Atithigva.
4 'O Maruts, the bird shall be supreme above all birds, the swift-flying eagle above all eagles, since by his own driving power that needs no chariot wheels, with his powerful wings he brought to man the oblation loved by the gods.' 5 Fluttering7 as he brought it8 down, the bird swift as thought shot forth on the wide path; swiftly the eagle came with the honey of Soma and won fame for that. 6 Stretching out in flight, holding the stem, the eagle brought the exhilarating and intoxicating drink from the distance.
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Accompanied by the gods,9 the bird clutched the Soma tightly after he took it from that highest heaven. 7 When the eagle had taken the Soma, he brought it for a thousand and ten thousand pressings at once. The bringer of abundance10 left his enemies behind there; ecstatic with Soma, the wise one left the fools.
4.27 1 [The eagle:] 'While still in the womb, I knew all the generations of these gods. A hundred iron fortresses guarded me,11 but I, the eagle,12 swiftly flew away.' 2 [Soma:] 'He]13 did not drag me out against my will, for I surpassed him in energy and manly strength. In a flash, the bringer of abundance left his enemies behind as he outran the winds, swelling with power.' 3 As the eagle came shrieking down from heaven, and as they 14 led the bringer of abundance down from there like the wind, as the archer Kṛśānu,15 reacting quickly, aimed down at hi and let loose his bowstring, 4 the eagle bearing Indra brought him down like Bhujyu16 from the summits of heaven, stretching out in swift flight.
Then a wing feather17 fell in mid-air18 from the bird as he swooped on the path of flight. 5 The white goblet overflowing with cows' milk, the finest honey, the clear juice offered by the priests19 -now let the generous Indra raise it to drink until ecstatic with Soma; let the hero raise it to drink until ecstatic with Soma. In his ecstatic sense of self-importance and omnipotence, Indra identifies himself with various mythic personages; the sun is another form of the prize won by the celestial fire-bird (or, in other variants, the sun is the fire-bird himself), and Manu, the eponymous ancestor of mankind, is the one to whom the Soma is brought (v.4).
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Indra identifies himself with the sage whom he inspires. Indra and Kutsa are sometimes enemies in the Rig Veda, sometimes allies in feats such as fighting with the serpent Susna and stealing the solar disc. Uśanas is an inspired sage and priest.
By destroying the fortresses of the demons, Indra releases the waters; cf. A demon, the enemy of Indra and of Divodāsa; with Indra's help, Divodāsa destroys the demon's fortresses that imprison the eagle with the Soma. In fear of the archer shooting at him (4.27.3).
The gods as the attendants of Indra. Indra, perhaps riding on the eagle. 1.116.13), the bringer of abundance (Purandhi) is a female divinity.
Again an allusion to the demon's fortresses (cf. 4.26.3), in which the eagle is kept; perhaps the Soma was guarded there and the eagle was kept there after the theft, though Soma may have been imprisoned alone earlier in order to forestall the theft. The eagle boasts in response to Indra's praise of him (4.26.4).
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10.119 The Soma-Drinker Praises Himself
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2 Like impetuous winds, the drinks have lifted me up. 3 The drinks have lifted me up, like swift horses bolting with a chariot. 4 The prayer has come to me 3 as a lowing cow comes to her beloved son.
5 I turn the prayer around in my3 heart, as a wheelwright turns a chariot seat. 6 The five tribes 4 are no more to me than a mote in the eye.5 Have I not drunk Soma? 7 The two world halves 6 cannot be set against7 a single wing of mine.8 Have I not drunk Soma?
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8 In my vastness, I surpassed the sky and this vast earth. I will place the earth here, or perhaps there. 10 I will thrash the earth soundly, here, or perhaps there.
11 One of my wings is in the sky; I have trailed the other below.9 Have I not drunk Soma? 13 I am going10 - a well-stocked house, carrying the oblation to the gods.11 Have I not drunk Soma? The verb can mean to win for oneself or for someone else.
If India is speaking, he wants them for himself; if Agni, to transmit to the other gods or to give to the poet; if the poet, to give to the gods. Since the poet imagines that he has become a god, all of these meanings are simultaneously present. As a god, he receives the prayer and 'turns it around' to decide whether or not to accept it; as a poet, he receives the inspiration of the prayer and 'turns it around' to perfect it.
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The whole of the Vedic tribal world. Alternatively, worth no more than a glance. 'Set against' both in the sense of set in opposition to and set up as equal to.
Agni takes the form of a bird or a winged horse, but the poet may simply feel that he is flying, a frequent symptom of drug-induced ecstasy. He imagines himself to have grown so large that he touches heaven and earth at the same time. A salutation of farewell, as he heads for heaven and the gods.
A compound image, of a house full of Soma (his stomach being the larder), a flying palace (common in later Indian mythology), and the god Agni carrying the oblation - the Soma - to the gods.
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9.113 The Ecstasy of Soma
The poet begins by inviting Indra to drink Soma with him and then invokes Soma for himself, praising him. He then asks Soma to make him immortal, as he becomes inspired under the hallucinogenic influence of the drug (v. 1 Let Indra the killer of Vṛtradrink Soma in Saryanāvat,1 gathering his strength within himself, to do a great heroic deed.
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O drop of Soma, flow for Indra. 2 Purify yourself, generous Soma from Ārjīka,1 master of the quarters of the sky. Pressed with sacred words, with truth and faith and ardour,2 O drop of Soma, flow for Indra.
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O drop of Soma, flow for Indra. 5 The floods of the high one, the truly awesome one, flow together. The juices of him so full of juice mingle together as you, the tawny one, purify yourself with prayer.
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O drop of Soma, flow for Indra. 6 Where the high priest speaks rhythmic words, O Purifier, holding the pressing-stone, feeling that he has become great with the Soma, giving birth to joy through the Soma, O drop of Soma, flow for Indra. 7 Where the inextinguishable light shines, the world where the sun was placed, in that immortal, unfading world, O Purifier, place me.
O drop of Soma, flow for Indra. 8 Where Vivasvan's son is king,5 where heaven is enclosed, where those young waters are6 - there make me immortal. O drop of Soma, flow for Indra.
9 Where they move as they will, in the triple dome, in the third heaven of heaven, where the worlds are made of light, there make me immortal. O drop of Soma, flow for Indra. 10 Where there are desires and longings, at the sun's zenith, where the dead are fed and satisfied,6 there make me immortal.
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O drop of Soma, flow for Indra. 11 Where there are joys and pleasures, gladness and delight, where the desires of desire are fulfilled, there make me immortal. O drop of Soma, flow for Indra.
NOTES 1 The mountains where Soma is found. 2 Tapas, the heat generated by sacrificial activity (and, later, by asceticism). 3 The daughter of the sun is the wife of Soma; Soma is some times called a buffalo (or a bull or stallion) ; Parjanya, god of fructifying rain, makes Soma and other plants grow (cf.
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8.48 We Have Drunk the Soma
This hymn celebrates the effects of Soma, particularly the feeling of being set free and released into boundless open space, and the belief that the drinker is immortal. 1 I have tasted the sweet drink of life, knowing that it inspires good thoughts and joyous expansiveness to the extreme, that all the gods and mortals seek it together, calling it honey.1 2 When you penetrate inside, you will know no limits,2 and you will avert the wrath of the gods. Enjoying Indra's friendship, O drop of Soma, bring riches as a docile cow3 brings the yoke.
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3 We have drunk the Soma; we have become immortal; 4 we have gone to the light; we have found the gods. What can hatred and the malice of a mortal do to us now, O immortal one? 4 When we have drunk you, O drop of Soma, be good to our heart, kind as a father to his son, thoughtful as a friend to a friend.
Far-famed Soma, stretch out5 our life-span so that we may live. 5 The glorious drops that I have drunk set me free in wide space. You have bound me together in my limbs as thongs bind a chariot.
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Let the drops protect me from the foot that stumbles 6 and keep lameness away from me. 6 Inflame me like a fire kindled by friction; make us see far; make us richer, better. For when I am intoxicated with you, Soma, I think myself rich.
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Draw near and make us thrive. 7 We would enjoy you, pressed with a fervent heart, like riches from a father. King Soma, stretch out our life- spans as the sun stretches the spring days.
8 King Soma, have mercy on us for our well-being. Know that we are devoted to your laws. Passion and fury are stirred up.7 O drop of Soma, do not hand us over to the pleasure of the enemy.
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9 For you, Soma, are the guardian of our body; watching over men, you have settled down in every limb. If we break your laws, O god, have mercy on us like a good friend, to make us better. 10 Let me join closely with my compassionate friend8 so that he will not injure me when I have drunk him.
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O lord of bay horses,9 for the Soma that is lodged in us I approach Indra to stretch out our life-span. 11 Weaknesses and diseases have gone; the forces of darkness10 have fled in terror. Soma has climbed up in us, expanding.
We have come to the place where they stretch out life-spans. 12 The drop that we have drunk has entered our hearts, an immortal inside mortals. O fathers,11 let us serve that Soma with the oblations and abide in his mercy and kindness.
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13 Uniting in agreement with the fathers, O drop of Soma, you have extended yourself through sky and earth. Let us serve him with an oblation; let us be masters of riches. 14 You protecting gods, speak out for us.
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Do not let sleep or harmful speech12 seize us. Let us, always dear to Soma, speak as men of power in the sacrificial gathering. 15 Soma, you give us the force of life on every side.
Enter into us, finding the sunlight, watching over men. O drop of Soma, summon your helpers and protect us before and after.13 NOTES 1. Here, as elsewhere in the hymns to Soma, honey is not a reference to the product of bees or the Indo-European mead made from it, but refers to the essence and sweetness of the ambrosia.
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10.136 The Long-haired Ascetic
The long-haired ascetic (Keśin), an early precursor of the Upaniṣadic yogi, drinks a drug (probably some hallucinogen other than Soma) in the company of Rudra, the master of poison and a god who is excluded from the Soma sacrifice. The hallucinations described in the hymn are related to but not the same as those attributed to Soma-drinkers in 9.112, 10.119, etc. 1 Long-hair holds fire, holds the drug, holds sky and earth.
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5 The stallion of the wind, friend of gales, lashed on by gods - the ascetic lives in the two seas, on the east and on the west. 6 He moves with the motion of heavenly girls 6 and youths, of wild beasts. Long-hair, reading their minds, is their sweet, their most exciting friend.
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7 The wind has churned it7 up; Kunamnamā8 prepared it for him. Long-hair drinks from the cup, sharing the drug 9 with Rudra. This act is attributed to other Vedic gods, too.
That is, they are naked; but the connection with the wind is also literally important, as in verses 3, 5, and 7. Some are naked, some wear red (later saffron) rags. The ascetic rides the wind as if it were a horse; cf.
The ascetic controls the wind by controlling his own breath. This act is often attributed to the sun. The ecstatic ascetic takes on the characteristics of several gods.
The verse also describes the sensation of flying outside of one's own body, observed below (cf. The Apsarases or nymphs of heaven, with their companions the Gandharvas. A female deity who appears only here; her name may indicate a witch or a hunchback.
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INDRA
INDRA INDRA, the king of the gods, is frequently mentioned in hymns to other gods. As the great Soma-drinker, he appears often in the Soma hymns (cf.
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The Rig Veda
INDRA INDRA, the king of the gods, is frequently mentioned in hymns to other gods. As the great Soma-drinker, he appears often in the Soma hymns (cf. 10.119), and it is he who lures Agni away from the waters or the demons (10.51, 10.124).
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He is central to hymns about the Maruts (1.165, 1.170-71), Atri (5.40), Apālā (8.91), and Vṛṣākapi (10.86), and appears as a very important bit player in many others. Indra's family life is troubled in ways that remain unclear. His birth, like that of many great warriors and heroes, is unnatural; there are also strong hints that he may have killed his father (4.18).
So, too, he is in turn challenged by his own son, whom he apparently overcomes (10.28). The incestuous implications in these relationships may have led the Vedic poet to append to one of the Indra hymns the tale of another incestuous birth and infancy, apparently that of Agni (3.31.1-3; cf. But the hymns return again and again to clearer and more straightforward stories: the heroic deeds of Indra.
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The killing of Vṛtra(1.32) is frequently alluded to in other hymns, as is the freeing of the cows in the cave (3.31, 10.108), which shares much of the symbolism and significance of the battle with Vṛtra. Other deeds, such as the beheading of the sacrifice (10.171), are mentioned without being fully explained in the Rig Veda, though later mythological texts often expand upon them. Indra's famous generosity - particularly when he is exultant from copious draughts of Soma - and his endearing anthropomorphism embolden the poet to imagine himself in Indra's place (8.14).
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These same qualities, however, may have led worshippers even in Vedic times to devalue Indra, the beginning of a process that culminates in his total loss of worship in the Hindu period; in answer to these implicit expressions of doubt, the poet reaffirms his faith in Indra as the greatest of the Vedic warrior gods (2.12).
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4.18 The Birth and Childhood Deeds of Indra
This obscure dialogue is partially illuminated by the recognition of its place in Indo-European mythology: it refers, in purposely mysterious tones, to the story of a male god concealed by his mother from a father who threatens to kill him, a father whom he himself then kills. The hymn alternates between narrative and direct discourse, the latter spoken by Indra and his mother, the former by the poet who questions them and elicits answers that attempt to vindicate and justify the actions of the two protagonists.
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None of the principals in the drama is named except Indra; later commentary identifies the mother with Aditi and the father with Tvaṣṭṛ(who appears in the hymn, though not explicitly as the father). The hymn begins with the story of Indra's birth: his mother kept him in the womb for many years (v. 4), not, she insists, in absence of maternal feeling but for Indra's sake - i.e.
to protect him; the hymn does not tell us why this was necessary, but it may well be because his father was jealous of Indra's great powers (v. 5), a suspicion ultimately proved valid when Indra kills his father (v. As the dialogue begins, Indra is still inside the womb and wishes to break out through her side; she attempts to dissuade him (v.
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1), but he insists on being born (v. 3), presumably still in fear of his father. Again Indra refuses to be protected, but follows her to Tvaṣṭṛ's house, where he drinks the Soma (v.
In response to the narrator's accusations (vv. 4-5), she calls upon the waters to witness her good motives in treating Indra as she did (vv. 6-7), and speaks of being guiltless of the wounds Indra incurred in fighting the demon Vṛtra(vv.
8-9), who is analogized with Indra's father. The narrator then recapitulates the story of Indra's birth (v. 10) and the slaying of Vṛtra, in which Viṣṇu came to Indra's aid (v.
Upon being questioned about killing his father (v. 12), Indra protests that he had no choice, being in terrible danger until the eagle brought him the Soma (v. 1 [Indra's mother:] 'This1 is the ancient, proven path by which all the gods were born and moved upward.
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By this very path he should be born when he has grown great. He should not make his mother perish in that way.'2 2 [Indra:] 'I cannot come out by that path; these are bad places to go through. I will come out cross-wise, through the side.
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Then he stood up and put his garment on by himself; as he was born he filled the two world-halves. 6 [Indra's mother:] 'These waters9 flow happily, shouting " Alalā! ", waters that were screaming together like righteous women.10 Ask them what they are saying, what encircling mountain11 the waters burst apart.
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7 'Are they speaking words of praise and invitation12 to him? Do the waters wish to take on themselves the flaw of Indra?13 With his great weapon my son killed Vṛtra and set these rivers free. 8 ' Still a young woman, I did not throw you away for my sake; nor did Evil-childbirth14 swallow you up for my sake.
But for my sake the waters were kind to the child,15 and for my sake Indra stood up at once. 9 'Not for my sake did the shoulderless one16 wound you, generous Indra, and strike away your two jaws;17 though wounded, you overpowered him, and with your weapon you crushed the head of the Dāsa.'18 10 [Narrator:] The heifer19 gave birth to the firm, strong, unassailable bull, the stout Indra. The mother let her calf wander unlicked,20 to seek his own ways by himself.
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The conventional birth passage through the womb; Indra, like so many folk heroes, refuses to be born in this way. Soma talking in the womb, 4.27.1. She argues that he will kill her if he bursts out through her side.
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In fact, several Indian mythological heroes (including the Buddha) are conceived and/or born through the side without injury to the parent (as is about to be the case with Indra now), but some do indeed kill their mothers (or androgynous fathers) in this way. Vṛtra, who is alluded to several times in this hymn. The verb 'to question' here contrasts with the verb 'to fight', and indicates that Indra will either speak to make a treaty (with Viṣṇu) or speak before killing (Tvaṣṭṛ).
The former seems more likely; the question that he asks of Viṣṇu is the request to have him stride forward (v. The commentator says that she died, but the hymn makes this unlikely; she merely abandons him, as the true mother of the Indo- European hero usually does. 5.2.1-2, where Agni's mother hides him from his father for many years in her womb.
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10.28 Indra Chastises His Son
This dialogue begins in medias res, but the situation can be sketchily reconstructed from what follows : A son of Indra gave a sacrifice and invited the gods; all but Indra came to it, for Indra was angry with the son's pretensions to be another Indra. The son's wife worried about Indra's absence, and Indra then appeared, responding to his son's hasty offerings with a series of riddles intended to humble him. The son at first pretends to be too naïve to understand, but when Indra speaks more directly about the consequences of challenging the gods, the son asserts himself, and finally, overcome by the violence of Indra's increasingly patent fables, praises the god his father.
1 [Sacrificer's wife:] 'All the rest of the band of my friends has come, but my husband's father has not come. He would have eaten barley meal and drunk Soma and gone back home well fed.' 2 [Indra:] ' The sharp-horned bull bellowed as he stood over the height and breadth of the earth. In all combats I protect the man who presses Soma and fills my two bellies.'1 3 [Sacrificer:] 'They are pressing out the impetuous, exhilarating Soma juices with the pressing-stone, for you, Indra.
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'4 6 [Indra:] 'They truly praise me as the powerful one; my chariot shaft is going straight up to the lofty sky. I crush down many thousands at once, for my begetter begot me to have no enemy to conquer me.' 7 [Sacrificer:] 'The gods truly know me as the powerful one, a fierce bull in one action after another, Indra. Exhilarated by Soma, I killed Vṛtrawith my thunderbolt, and I opened up the cow-pen by force for the devout worshipper.'5 8 [Indra :] ' The gods went out and took their axes ; they cut down trees and came there with their servants.
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As they all eat the bulls that have been set free, they themselves destroy the powers of their body.9 12 [Sacrificer :] 'Those who hastened in person to Soma with hymns of praise have become supreme in their sacrificial acts and devout rituals. Speaking like a man, measure out prizes for us. In heaven you have earned fame and the name of hero.' NOTES 1.
The imagery of the first two verses, including the references to Indra's two bellies and the role of the sacrificer's wife, is similar to that of the Vṛṣākapi hymn, 10.86.14-15. Indra implies that the son, like a fox or jackal, by trying to be 2. Indra, who is like a lion or wild boar, is both creating a topsy-turvy world (in which the rivers flow the wrong way and the cowardly animals attack the fierce) and foolishly taking on more than he can handle.
the young man who challenges his father in 4.5.2 and 6.9.2. That is, are you on the side of simple mortals or wise immortals? The answer in the next verse seems to be that Indra is on his own side, or the side of the gods.
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The son here explicitly claims credit for the deeds of Indra (1.32, 3.31), as other gods do from time to time; in offering the Soma that enables Indra to perform these deeds, the sacrificer to a certain extent participates in them. Indra implies that the gods are able to distinguish the good (wood or Indras) from the worthless ; the former they take home in boxes on wagons, the latter they destroy - a thinly veiled threat to the pretender. Another allusion to Indra's splitting of the mountain in which the cows were trapped.
Indra's warning to anyone who takes on too great an opponent or becomes careless. Indra threatens those who take to themselves praise due to the gods, Soma due to the gods, or food due to the gods or priests.
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1.32 The Killing of Vṛtra
The greatest of Indra's heroic deeds was the slaying of the dragon Vṛtra, an act which also symbolizes the releasing of the waters or rains which Vṛtrahad held back, the conquest of the enemies of the Āryans, and the creation of the world out of the body of the dragon.The thunderbolt of Indra is a club which, as a phallic symbol, is also a symbol of fertility, the source of seed as well as rain; sexual imagery also underlies the contrast between the castrated steer and the bull bursting with seed. Rain imagery is also prominent; Vṛtrais a cloud pierced in his loins or in his bellies, for elsewhere he is said to have swallowed all the universe, which Indra must free from him; the cows to which the waters are compared are also rain-clouds.
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Vṛtramay be imagined as a shoulderless serpent or as a dragon whose arms and legs Indra has just cut off; he is primarily a symbol of danger, constriction, and loss. The battle is waged with magic as well as with weapons; Indra uses magic to make himself as thin as a horse's hair, and Vṛtrauses magic to create lightning and fog. Indra wins, of course, and verse 14 refers to a similar feat of rescue performed by the eagle,1 but only as a simile in the context of another myth: Indra is said to have fled after killing Vṛtraand to have been punished for the crime of murder.
This hymn, however, ends on a note of affirmation for Indra's victory. 1 Let me now sing the heroic deeds of Indra, the first that the thunderbolt-wielder performed. He killed the dragon and pierced an opening for the waters ; he split open the bellies of mountains.
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4 Indra, when you killed the first-born of dragons and overcame by your own magic the magic of the magicians, at that very moment you brought forth the sun, the sky, and dawn. Since then you have found no enemy to conquer you. 5 With his great weapon , the thunderbolt, Indra killed the shoulderless Vṛtra, his greatest enemy.
Like the trunk of a tree whose branches have been lopped off by an axe, the dragon lies flat upon the ground. 6 For, muddled by drunkenness like one who is no soldier, Vṛtrachallenged the great hero who had overcome the mighty and who drank Soma to the dregs. Unable to withstand the onslaught of his weapons, he found Indra an enemy to conquer him and was shattered, his nose crushed.
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9 The key energy of Vṛtra's mother ebbed away, for Indra had hurled his deadly weapon at her. Above was the mother, below was the son; Dānu5 lay down like a cow with her calf. 10 In the midst of the channels of the waters which never stood still or rested, the body was hidden.
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You, the one god, the brave one, you won the cows; you won the Soma; you released the seven streams so that they could flow. 13 No use was the lightning and thunder, fog and hail that he6 had scattered about, when the dragon and Indra fought. Indra the Generous remained victorious for all time to come.
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Tvaṣṭṛ is the artisan of the gods, sometimes an enemy of Indra (cf. Manu was the eponymous ancestor of mankind; the verse may refer to the waters that flowed at the time of the great flood, when Manu alone was saved, or to the waters that flowed for the sake of mankind at the time of the piercing of Vṛtra(cf. The latter seems more likely - or both at once.
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3.31 The Cows in the Cave
Indra split open the cave where the cows were pent up, releasing them and winning them. This myth expresses simultaneously the successful cattle raids of the Indo-Aryans against the people they conquered, the process of birth out of the womb, the releasing of the waters (symbolized by cows) pent up by the demons of drought, the finding (and hence creating) of the dawn rays of the sun (also symbolized by cows), and the poet's discovery and release of his own inspirations.
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The martial level of the myth is fleshed out by references to Indra's assistants, simultaneously the Angiras priests (who thus tie the myth to the fourth level, the poet's inspiration) and the Maruts or storm-clouds (tying it to the second level, the end of the drought). The theme of finding and creating the sun is expanded in the first three verses of the hymn, which describe the birth of fire in an obscure allegory of incest that also alludes to the winning of treasure (the wealth of cattle again).
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The dawns recognized him and came to meet him; Indra became the only lord of cows. 5 The wise ones 9 struck a path for those10 who were in the cave; the seven priests drove them oh with thoughts pressing forward. They found all the paths of the right way; the one who knew was the one who entered them, bowing low.
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Standing in the forefront, he killed Susna.16 Knowing the path of the sky, longing for cows, he went before us, singing. The friend freed his friends from dishonour. 9 With a heart longing for cows they sat down while with their songs they made the road to immortality.
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12 They made a seat for him as for a father,20 for these great deeds revealed a great, shining seat. They propped their two parents apart with a pillar; sitting down, they raised the wild one21 high up. 13 When the abundant female22 determined to crush down the one who had grown great in a single day23 and had pervaded the two world-halves, all irresistible powers came to Indra, in whom flawless praises come together.
14 I long for your great friendship, for your powerful help.24 Many gifts go to the killer of Vrtra. Great is praise; we have come to the kindness of the lord. Generous Indra, be good to us as our shepherd.
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15 He won great land and much wealth, and he sent the booty to his friends. Radiant with his men, Indra gave birth to the sun, the dawn, motion,25 and fire. 16 This house-friend has loosed into a single channel even the wide dispersed waters that shine with many colours, the honeyed waters made clear by the inspired filters.
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Rushing along by day and night, they drive forward.26 17 The two dark bearers of treasure, worthy of sacrifice,27 follow the sun with his consent, when your beloved, impetuous friends28 embrace your splendour to draw it to them. 18 Killer of Vṛtra, be the lord of lovely gifts, the bull who gives life to songs of praise for a whole life-span. Come to us with kind and friendly favours, with great help, quickly, O great one.
19 Like Angiras I honour him and bow to him, making new for the ancient one a song that was born long ago.29 Thwart the many godless lies, and let us win the sun, generous Indra. 20 The mists that were spread about have become transparent;30 guide us safely across them. You, our charioteer, must protect us from injury.
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Agni is here and in verse 2 referred to as the driver or transporter, the one who carries the oblation to the gods in his chariot. The extended metaphor of the first three verses may represent the priest as the father, his daughter as the sacrificial butter held in the spoon, and the son as the fire ' begotten' (kindled) by the priest. The priest pours butter into the spoon, and the father pours seed into his daughter.
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The winner is the son or brother, who apparently marries his sister so that her inheritance (the treasure) passes back through him to his heirs. For incest with brother and father, cf. Püṣan with his mother and sister (6.55).
In the ritual metaphor, the inheritance is the butter which falls from the spoon (her 'womb') into the fire. The mothers of Agni are the kindling-sticks or the hands that hold them; the two who do good deeds, also regarded as the mothers of Agni, are the priest who 'makes' the fire and the sacrificer who derives the gain from it. The Angiras priests, who tend Agni and own cows, are born of the rosy sky.
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10.108 Saramā and the Pants
Reaching the hiding-place, she engaged in the conversation recorded in this hymn, one in which the Paṇis appear at first secure and sarcastic but soon become worried and attempt, unsuccessfully, to bribe Saramā. 1 [The Paṇis:] 'With what desire has Saramā come to this place? The road stretches far into distant lands.
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What is your mission to us? How did you find your way here? And how did you cross the waters of the Rasa?' 2 [Saramā:] 'I have journeyed here, sent as the messenger of Indra, and I desire your great treasures, O Panis.
Because they feared being jumped across, they2 helped me to do it; thus I crossed the waters of the Rasa.' 3 [Paṇis: 'What is Indra like, Saramā? What is the appearance of him who sent you here as his messenger from afar? If he comes here, we will make friends with him, and he will be the herdsman of our cattle.' 4 [Saramā] 'I know him as one who cannot be tricked; he tricks others, he who sent me here as his messenger from afar.
The deep streams do not hide him; 3 you Paṇis will lie there slain by Indra.' 5 [Paṇis:] 'These are the cows which you desire, lovely Saramā, having flown beyond the ends of the sky. Who would release them to you without a fight? And we have sharp weapons.' 6 [Saramā] 'Your words, O Paṇis, are no armies.
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Your evil bodies may be proof against arrows, the path that goes to you may be impregnable, but Brhaspati will not spare you in either case.' 7 [Paṇ] ' Saramā, this treasure-room full of cows, horses, and riches is set firm in cliffs of rock. Panis who are good sentinels guard it. You have come in vain on this empty path.' 8 [Saramā:] 'The sages - Ayāsyas, Angirases, and Navagvas4 - roused by Soma will share this enclosed cave of cattle among them.
Then the Panis will spit back these words.' 9 [Paṇis:] 'Saramā, since you have come here, compelled by the force of the gods, we will make you our sister. Do not go back, fair one; we will give you a share of the cattle.' 10 [Saramā:] 'I know no brotherhood, nor sisterhood; Indra and the Angirases, who inspire terror, know them. When I left them, they seemed to me to be desirous of cattle.
Paṇis, run far away from here. 11 'Run far into the distance, Paṇis. Let the cattle come out by the right path and disappear, the cattle which Bṛhaspati, the inspired sages, the pressing-stones and Soma found when they had been hidden.' NOTES 1.
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At the critical moment of the journey, the river Rasā was worried about losing her reputation as a great river if a dog could jump across her; so she helped Saramā by building a ford. A possible reference to Vṛtralying under the water, killed by Indra.
10.171 Indra Beheads the Sacrifice
An allusion to the myth, later expanded, that Indra in anger beheaded the sacrifice when it threatened the gods and became in carnate in human form. Venya is known to the Rig Veda, but all else in this verse is obscure. The sun was thought to travel from west to east by night, under the earth.
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3 For the one who sacrifices and presses Soma your opulence is a cow milked of the cattle and horses with which she swells to overflowing. 4 There is no one, neither god nor mortal, who obstructs your generosity, Indra, when you are praised and you wish to give rich gifts. 5 The sacrifice made Indra grow greater when he rolled back the earth and made the sky his own diadem.
6 We ask help from you Indra, you who have grown great and have won all treasures. 7 In the ecstasy of Soma, Indra spread out the middle field of space and the lights, when he shattered Vala.1 8 He drove out the cows for the Angirases, making visible those that had been hidden, and he hurled Vala down headlong. 9 The lights of the sky were made firm and fast by Indra, so that they cannot be pushed away from their fixed place.
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10 Like the exhilarating wave of the waters, your praise, Indra, hastens along; your ecstasies have shone forth. 11 For the hymns of praise and the songs of praise make you grow great, Indra, and you bring happiness to the singer of praises.. 12 Let the two long-maned bay horses bring Indra to drink Soma here at the sacrifice of the giver of rich gifts.
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1 The god who had insight the moment he was born, the first who protected the gods with his power of thought, before whose hot breath the two world-halves tremble at the greatness of his manly powers - he, my people, is Indra. 2 He who made fast the tottering earth, who made still the quaking mountains, who measured out and extended the expanse of the air, who propped up the sky - he, my people, is Indra 3 He who killed the serpent and loosed the seven rivers, who drove out the cows that had been pent up by Vala,1 who gave birth to fire between two stones,2 the winner of booty in combats - he, my people, is Indra.
4 He by whom all these changes were rung, who drove the race of Dāsas3 down into obscurity, who took away the flourishing wealth of the enemy as a winning gambler takes the stake - he, my people, is Indra. 5 He about whom they ask, ' Where is he? ', or they say of him, the terrible one, 'He does not exist', he who diminishes the flourishing wealth of the enemy as gambling does - believe in him!
6 He who encourages the weary and the sick, and the poor priest who is in need, who helps the man who harnesses the stones to press Soma, he who has lips fine for drinking - he, my people, is Indra. 7 He under whose command are horses and cows and villages and all chariots, who gave birth to the sun and the dawn and led out the waters, he, my people, is Indra. 8 He who is invoked by both of two armies, enemies locked in combat, on this side and that side, he who is even invoked separately by each of two men standing on the very same chariot,4 he, my people, is Indra.
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9 He without whom people do not conquer, he whom they call on for help when they are fighting, who became the image of everything, who shakes the unshakeable - he, my people, is Indra. 10 He who killed with his weapon all those who had committed a great sin, even when they did not know it, he who does not pardon the arrogant man for his arrogance, who is the slayer of the Dasyus, he, my people, is Indra. 11 He who in the fortieth autumn discovered Sambara living in the mountains,5 who killed the violent serpent, the Dānu,6 as he lay there, he, my people, is Indra.
GODS OF THE STORM
CLOSELY associated with Indra in his capacity as god of the thunderstorm, the Maruts are also linked to Rudra (1.85 ; cf. 2.33 and 1.114).
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GODS OF THE STORM
CLOSELY associated with Indra in his capacity as god of the thunderstorm, the Maruts are also linked to Rudra (1.85 ; cf. It is precisely the overlapping of their functions with those of Indra that underlies a series of hymns debating their several rights to the sacrificial offering (1.165, 1.170, 1.171); ultimately, Indra is affirmed to be supreme. Indra is also intimately connected with Parjanya the rain-cloud, who is, like Indra, called a bull (5.83) but is also called a cow (7.101).
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This androgyny appears elsewhere in the Rig Veda associated with sky and earth, and Soma and Agni, but in later mythology it becomes an important characteristic of Prajäpati and Siva. Vâta, the Gale, a less important but equally vivid aspect of the storm, is said to drive a chariot (10.168), like the sun and the sacrifice (1.164). Parjanya and Vâta differ from the Maruts in being relatively straightforward personifications of natural phenomena; the Maruts, like Indra, are multivalent, symbolizing warriors and acting as aids to mankind as well as bringing fertilizing storms.
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Trembling, the heroes drink to ecstasy in the rites. 2 They have grown to greatness; the Rudras have made a mansion in heaven. Singing their song and creating the power of Indra,1 they whose mother is the dappled cow have put on glory.
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6 Let your swift-gliding teams bring you here. Flying swiftly with your arms,7 come forward. Sit down on the sacred grass; a wide seat has been made for you Maruts.
Drink in ecstasy from the sweet juice. 7 They grew great by their own power; they climbed up to the dome of the sky and made for themselves a broad seat. When Viṣṇu helped the bull excited by Soma- drinking, they sat down like birds on the beloved sacred grass.8 8 Striding briskly like heroes ready to fight, like men eager for fame, they array themselves for battles.
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All creatures fear the Maruts; these men with terrible faces are like kings. 9 When the artful Tvaṣṭṛ had turned 9 the well-made golden thunderbolt with its thousand spikes, Indra took it to do heroic deeds. He killed Vṛtra and set free the flood of waters.
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They fulfilled the desire of the sage in their own ways. 12 The shelters that you have for the devout man - extend them threefold to the man who believes in you.12 Give them to us, O Maruts, bulls. Give us the wealth of fine heroes.13 NOTES 1.
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As the poet gives power to Indra by singing the hymn, so the .Maruts give themselves Indra's powers by singing their howling storm songs. Butter is here symbolic of rain and the sap of life, as well as the ritual offering and the Soma that the Maruts love. Unspecified female dappled animals pull the Maruts' chariots; they could be mates, but other Rig Vedic evidence makes it more likely that they are gazelles.
The winds compete in hurling rocks and crushing boulders, as men compete in bowling or shot-put. The rain is the sperm or urine of the horse of heaven - the cloud or heaven itself. The image is that of a wineskin bag pouring out the rain (cf.this simile in the hymn to Parjanya, 5.83.7); a secondary connotation might be the pouring down of water on to the earth likened to a skin being tanned with fluids.
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That is, flapping your arms like wings to speed you faster. When Viṣṇu helped Indra in the fight against Vrtra, the Maruts came and helped, too. A reference to a story told by the commentator: The sage Gotama was afflicted with thirst and prayed to the Maruts for water.
They made a fountain in the distance, brought it near him, gave it to him to drink from, and bathed him in it. As Indra pierced the mountain to release the waters in the fight with Vrtra. That is, the poet singing the present hymn.
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The Maruts became angry and went to Agastya, who sang these hymns to conciliate them. (b) Indra took away the cows intended for the Maruts; the Maruts grabbed his thunderbolt. Then Agastya and Indra conciliated the Maruts with these hymns, (c) Agastya took an offering that had been dedicated to Indra and wanted to give it to the Maruts.
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Despite the variations, the underlying conflict is consistent and forms a thread through all the hymns in the series, a thread that conforms most closely to the second of the three variant glosses. 165), Indra wishes to go to Agastya's sacrifice and encounters the Maruts in heaven; as their conversation progresses, Indra becomes more and more confident, the Maruts more and more subdued; finally they refer to their former praise of him and allayhis anger, and they all go together to the sacrifice.
In an intervening hymn not translated here (1.169), the reconciliation is further developed. Then (1.170) Agastya is faced with the problem of choosing between the mighty Indra and the now somewhat chastened Maruts. Finally (1.171), Agastya apologizes to both Indra and the Maruts and prays to all of them.
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1.165 Indra and the Maruts 1. [Indra:] 'With what shared finery have the Maruts, who are of the same youth, from the same nest, mingled together? With what intention, and from what place have they come?
These bulls sing their breathless song in their desire to win riches. 'Whose chants have the young men taken pleasure in? Who has turned the Maruts to his sacrifice?
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SOLAR GODS
IN the nineteenth century, Max Müller conceived and popularized the theory that all the gods of the Rig Veda were aspects of the sun. Solar mythology has now been eclipsed, but it is certainly true that many of the Vedic gods have some connection with the sun, that many of the creation hymns involve the discovery of the sun, and that many of the closing benedictions include a plea that the worshipper may continue to see the sun.
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SOLAR GODS
IN the nineteenth century, Max Müller conceived and popularized the theory that all the gods of the Rig Veda were aspects of the sun. Solar mythology has now been eclipsed, but it is certainly true that many of the Vedic gods have some connection with the sun, that many of the creation hymns involve the discovery of the sun, and that many of the closing benedictions include a plea that the worshipper may continue to see the sun. Viṣṇuu is a particularly solar god (cf.
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1.154), and Agni and Soma have strong solar characteristics; other gods are more vaguely solar, being described as shining or golden and dwelling in the sky. There is, in addition, a group of gods connected with the sun in various concrete ways. Dawn is incarnate as a goddess closely associated with the Aśvins (1.92), who are themselves the sons of Vivasvan, the sun.
The Aśvins are given credit for accomplishing many acts of benefit to mankind, particularly the rescue of people in danger (1.116); many of these remain obscure, but one, the rescue of Atri, is described at length (5.78). Atri, in turn, is said to have found the lost sun (5.40), an act that may be seen as a variant of the original act of creation itself, the making or finding of the sun (usually attributed to Indra), or merely surviving the danger of an eclipse.
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The sun is personified primarily as Sūrya (1.50); metaphorically, he is associated with the sun-bird (10.177), who is in turn personified in a mysterious sage named Vena (10.123). Püṣan is the charioteer of the sun and is therefore associated with journeys and travellers (1.42); he is also the god who presides over the unharnessing of chariots at the end of the day (6.55). Savitṛ is the 'Driver' who inspires and impels men to action; he, too, is invoked not only by day but at sunset (2.38) and at night (1.35).
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The metaphor is complicated and enriched by the fact that the lights of dawn themselves are regarded as cows or mothers, who come of their own accord to be milked at dawn. 1 See how the dawns have set up their banner1 in the eastern half of the sky, adorning and anointing2 themselves with sunlight for balm. Unleashing themselves like impetuous heroes unsheathing their weapons, the tawny cows, the mothers, return.
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2 The red-gold lights have flown up freely; they have yoked the tawny cows who let themselves be yoked. The dawns have spread their webs in the ancient way; the tawny ones have set forth the glowing light. 3 They sing like women busy at their tasks, coming from a distant place with a single harnessed team,3 bringing refreshing food day after day to the man of good actions, the man of generosity, the man who sacrifices and presses the Soma.
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4 Like a dancing girl, she puts on bright ornaments; she uncovers her breast as a cow reveals her swollen udder. Creating light for the whole universe, Dawn has opened up the darkness as cows break out from their-enclosed pen. 5 Her brilliant flame has become visible once more; she spreads herself out, driving back the formless black abyss.
As one4 sets up the stake in the sacrifice, anointing5 and adorning it with coloured ornaments, so the daughter of the sky sets up her many-coloured light. 6 We have crossed to the farther bank of this darkness; radiant Dawn spreads her webs. Smiling like a lover who wishes to win his way, she shines forth and with her lovely face awakens us to happiness.
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The fortunate goddess does not break the laws of the gods but becomes visible, appearing by the rays of the sun. 13 Dawn, you who hold the victory prize, bring us that brightly coloured power by which we establish children and grandchildren. 14 Dawn, rich in cows, rich in horses, resplendent giver of gifts, shine your riches upon us here and now.
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15 Harness your red-gold horses now, O prize-giving Dawn, and bring all good fortunes to us. 16 O Aśvins10 who work wonders, turn your chariot that brings cattle, that brings gold, and with one mind come back to us. 17 You Aśvins who gave a shout from heaven11 and made light for mankind, bring us strength.
18 May those who wake at dawn12 bring here to drink the Soma the two gods who work wonders and give joy, moving on paths of gold. The banner that the dawns plant in the sky, as if to stake out a territory, may be a streak of dawn light revealing the darkened universe, or it may be the sun ; it is also a battle banner, as the verse goes on to liken the dawns to warriors. The verb means both to anoint and to adorn; in verse 1, the dawns adorn themselves with the sun and anoint themselves with light; in verse 5 the priest anoints the stake with clarified butter and adorns it with coloured ornaments, a metaphor which also recalls the setting up of the banner in verse 1.
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The phrase indicates that the team has travelled a yojana, the distance one can traverse with a single 'yoking', without having to change the team. Here Dawn is likened to a man, as she is in verse 1 (a warrior) and verse 10 (a gambler). She is a potent, sinister figure.
The family of sages to whom this hymn is attributed. 'Found' both in the sense that she finds it for him (inspires him) and finds it in him (accepts his praise). Here, and in the next verse, Dawn steals away the life-span (cf.
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1.179.1) of mortals, while remaining young herself and acting for the benefit of the gods. She steals our youth as a gambler (per haps by deception) takes away someone else's stakes (cf. Her lover, as the next verse makes clear, is the sun, whose love is reflected in her.
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Your donkey, Näsatyas, won a thousand in the prize race with Yama.3 3 Tugra had left Bhujyu in the cloud of water as a dead man leaves behind his wealth. You brought him back, Aśvins, in ships that were alive, that swam through the field of air far from the water. 4 With birds that flew on for three nights and three days you Näsatyas brought Bhujyu to the far shore of the ocean, to the edge of the wetness, in three chariots with six horses and a hundred feet.4 5 You did the deeds of heroes in that ocean that has no beginning, no support, no handhold, when you Aśvins carried Bhujyu home after he had climbed on board your ship that has a hundred oars.
6 The white horse that you Aśvins gave to the man who had poor horses, to be a joy to him for ever, this great gift of yours has become famous, and the racehorse of Pedu can still be summoned by his master.5 7 You lords of men granted the wish of Pajriya Kaksivat when he praised you: you poured forth from the hoof of your potent stallion a hundred pots of wine as if from a sieve. 8 With snow you warded off the red-hot fire; you brought him6 sustaining nourishment.
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SKY AND EARTH
THE Sky (Dyaus) was an important god in Indo-European mythology and remained so in Greece, in the figure of Zeus. In India, his scope is greatly reduced, most aspects of his mythology being taken over by Indra, but he remains enshrined in several hymns as one half of the androgynous pair, Sky-and-Earth (often expressed as a single noun in the dual).
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SKY AND EARTH
THE Sky (Dyaus) was an important god in Indo-European mythology and remained so in Greece, in the figure of Zeus. In India, his scope is greatly reduced, most aspects of his mythology being taken over by Indra, but he remains enshrined in several hymns as one half of the androgynous pair, Sky-and-Earth (often expressed as a single noun in the dual). This pair is essential not only to the cosmogony (1.160) but to the safety and well-being of mortals on earth, who invoke their help as one would ask parents for comfort (1.185).
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4 Most artful of the artful gods, he8 gave birth to the two world-halves that are good for everyone. He measured apart the two item of space9 with his power of inspiration and fixed them in place with undecaying pillars. 5 Sky and earth, you mighty pair whose praises we have sung, grant us great fame and high sovereignty, by which we may extend our rule over the peoples for ever.
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The sun, in the space between sky and earth. These are the two goddesses of the previous verse, sky and earth as two bowls. The sun, child of sky and earth as parents again.
The sun's magic dispels darkness, thus both clarifying and purifying the world. The dappled cow (Pṛšni) is the earth, the bull the sky. The milker is the child, the sun; 'his' seed refers probably not merely to the bull but to the joint, androgynous creature that gives a fluid simultaneously milk (from her) and seed (from him).
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If it is the sun, he is giving birth to his own parents, an idea not without precedent in the Rig Veda. The sun is the subject of the second half of the verse. 1.185 Guard Us from the Monstrous Abyss1 1 Which of these two was first, and which came later?
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They themselves bear whatever has a name. The two halves of the day2 roll past one another like two wheels. 2 These two3 who do not move, who have no feet, receive the teeming embryo4 that moves and has feet, like a natural son in the parents' lap.
Sky and earth, guard us from the monstrous abyss. 3 I call upon Aditi's gift5 that dispels evil and repels assault, the celestial, awe-inspiring gift that saves us from violent death. Sky and earth, guard us from the monstrous abyss.
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6 With truth I call upon the two wide and high mansions9 who give birth10 with the help of the gods, the two whose faces are lovely and who have received immortality. Sky and earth, guard us from the monstrous abyss. 7 With reverence in this sacrifice I speak in prayer to the two who are wide, vast, and massive, whose boundaries are far distant, who having received immortality bring good fortune and dispel evil.
Sky and earth, guard us from the monstrous abyss.
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VARUNA
VARUṆA ALTHOUGH Varuṇa's original function was that of a sky god (like Ouranos, with whom his name is cognate), by the time of the Rig Veda he had developed into a god whose primary role was watching over the deeds of men (as a sky god is well placed to do) and punishing those who violated the sacred law (ṛta) of which Varuṇa was the most impoṛtant custodian. He is also, like several other Vedic gods, credited with the archetypal acts of creation - finding the sun, propping apart the sky and earth, and so forth (5.85).
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The Rig Veda
VARUṆA ALTHOUGH Varuṇa's original function was that of a sky god (like Ouranos, with whom his name is cognate), by the time of the Rig Veda he had developed into a god whose primary role was watching over the deeds of men (as a sky god is well placed to do) and punishing those who violated the sacred law (ṛta) of which Varuṇa was the most impoṛtant custodian. He is also, like several other Vedic gods, credited with the archetypal acts of creation - finding the sun, propping apart the sky and earth, and so forth (5.85).
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His friendship, disaffection, and ultimate reconciliation with the sage Vasiṣṭha (7.86, 7.88, 7.89) form a paradigm for his stern but loving relationship with mankind in general. He is asked to protect the worshipper not only from his own avenging wrath but also from all dangers and hatreds (2.28), an all-encompassing role that was transferred to the gods Viṣṇu and Siva in later Hinduism, when Varuṇa ceased to be worshipped any more.
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5.85 The Deeds of Varuṇa
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Varuṇa placed the sun in the sky and Soma on the mountain. 3 Over the two world-halves and the field of space between them Varuṇa has poured out the cask,4 turning its mouth downward. With it the king of the whole universe waters the soil as the rain waters the grain.
4 He waters the soil, the earth,5 and the sky. Whenever Varuṇa wishes for milk, the mountains dress them selves in cloud and the heroes,6 brandishing their power, let them loose.7 5 I will proclaim the great magic8 of Varuṇa the famous Asura,9 who stood up in the middle field of space and measured apart the earth with the sun as with a measuring-stick.10 6 No one has dared this great magic of the most inspired god: that these shimmering torrents, pouring down, do not fill the one single ocean with their water.11 7 If we have committed an offence against a hospitable friend like Aryaman or a close friend like Mitra,12 or against one who has always been a comrade, or a brother, or a neighbour - one of our own or a stranger - loosen that offence from us, Varuṇa.
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8 If we have cheated like gamblers in a game, whether we know it or really do not know it,13 O god, cast all these offences away like loosened bonds.14 Let us be dear to you, Varuṇa. Varuṇa who is the king over all kings. That is, struck it and made it part from the sky.
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The sacrificial priest (Śamitṛ) spreads the skin and places the limbs of the animal upon it. The overturned cask or leather bottle is a frequent metaphor for a torrent of rain. The earth here designates the whole world, in contrast with the surface (soil).
The Maruts let loose the cloud - that is, the waters. The metaphor may also refer to other things loosed by the Maruts - their own horses or powers - or to the explicit simile, the garments. Magic here in the sense of a miracle rather than an illusion.
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Asura not in its later sense of 'demon' but in its early Vedic sense of sky god. That is, although there are many rivers and rains, the ocean, though alone, contains them. No one dares this - no one dares to challenge it or to attempt it.
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Aryaman is the god of formal hospitality to strangers, Mitra the god of intimate friendship among one's own kind. 2.12.10 for a sin of which one is unaware. The bonds are both the offences themselves and the bonds with which Varuṇa punishes those who offend.
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2 And I ask my own heart, 'When shall I be close to Varuṇa? Will he enjoy my offering and not be provoked to anger? When shall I see his mercy and rejoice?' 3 I ask myself what that transgression was, Varuṇa, for I wish to understand.
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7.88 Varuṇa the Friend of Vasiṣṭha
After an introductory verse spoken by the poet, Vasiṣṭha speaks of his bygone friendship with Varuṇa, a friendship now threatened by the possibility that Vasiṣṭha has committed some offence, which he does not know of, and incurred the punishing wrath of Varuṇa. 1 Vasiṣṭha, bring a pure and most desirable poem to the bountiful Varuṇa, who draws toward us the great bull1 who is worthy of sacrifice and thousands of gifts. 2 'Now that I have come into his2 presence, I think the face of Varuṇa is Agni's.
Let the Lord on High3 lead me to the sun that is in the rock4 and the darkness, so that I may see the marvel. 3 'When we two, Varuṇa, board the boat and sail forth to the middle of the ocean, when we skim along the crests of the waters, we will swing in the swing5 and glitter.' 4 Varuṇa set Vasiṣṭha right in the boat. The inspired master made him a seer, a poet, by his great powers, so that his days would be good days, so that his skies and dawns would stretch out.
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5 'Where have those friendships of us two gone, when in the old times we could live together without becoming enemies? I went into your high palace, self-ruling Varuṇa, into your house with a thousand doors.6 6 'If your old friend and dear ally has committed sins against you, Varuṇa, do not make us who have offended you pay for that. Avenger, inspired one, give protection to the singer of praises.
7 'As we dwell in these solid dwelling-places, let Varuṇa set us free from the noose and help us win aid from the lap of Aditi. Protect us always with blessings.' NOTES 1. The sun, brought forth each day by Varuṇa.
Probably Varuṇa's presence, but perhaps that of the sun. The sun tests in the rock of darkness all night; it is, moreover, trapped in the cliff until Indra sets it free (3.31), a feat also attributed to Varuṇa. Varuṇa, as god of the waters, has a boat that glitters as it swings.
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Vasiṣṭha's entry into Varuṇa's house is alluded to elsewhere in the Rig Veda; cf. 7.89.1 and the introduction to 7.86.
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7.89 The House of Clay
Varuṇa casts his snares upon the offending worshipper in the form of dropsy; but he satisfies by the grace of his own nature the thirst of the man who suffers from physical or spiritual fever. Thus the waters in verse 4 refer to the feverish thirst and 'waters' of the dropsy and to the waters of Varuṇa himself. The concept of unconscious sin is implicit in verse 3 and clearly expressed in verse 5, which juxtaposes various levels of evil: offence, sin, and a violation of the cosmic law (dharma, Varuṇa's law, the 'true current' of verse 3).
The house of clay is a metaphor for death on various planes: it is the urn used to store the ashes of the dead after cremation or to store their bones in burial; it is the earth, the house of the dead man; and it is the home of Varuṇa, to which Vasiṣṭha went one night.2 1 Let me not go to the house of clay, O King Varuṇa, not yet.
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Have mercy, great ruler; be merciful. 2 If I seem to stumble and tremble like a puffed up goatskin,3 O master of stones,4 have mercy; great ruler, be merciful. 3 If through weakness of will-power I have somehow gone against the true current, O pure one, have mercy; great ruler, be merciful.
4 Thirst has come upon the one who sings to you as he stands in the midst of waters; have mercy, great ruler, be merciful. 5 If we humans have committed some offence g inst the race of gods, O Varuṇa, or through c relessness have violated your laws, do not injure us, O god, for that sin. The worshipper is palsied and swollen from dropsy, like a leather wine-bottle filled with air; and he trembles in fear of Varun.
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2 Let us be happy in your command, having praised you, Varuṇa, with good intentions, awakening like kindled fires day after day at the approach of the dawns rich in cattle. 3 Let us be under your protection, for you have many heroes, Varuṇa our leader, and your word reaches far. You sons of Aditi, gods who cannot be deceived, consent to join us.
4 The son of Aditi set them free to flow and ordered them; the rivers go by the Order of Varuṇa. They do not tire, nor do they unharness themselves. They fly swiftly like birds in their orbit.
5 Loosen me from sin as from sash; let us find the fountainhead of your Order, Varuṇa. Do not let the thread break while I am still weaving this thought, nor let the measuring-stick of the workman shatter before its time. 6 Keep fear far way from me, Varuṇa, and hold fast to me, O emperor of Order.
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Set me free from anguish as one would free a calf from rope; I cannot bear to live apart from you even for the blink of an eye. 7 Varuṇa the Asura, do not wound us with your weapons that wound the man you seek when he has committed sin. Let us not be exiled from the light.
Loosen clean way from us our failures, so that we may live. 8 O Varuṇa born of strength, the hom ge to you that was made in the past long go we would speak now, and in the time yet to come. Upon you who cannot be deceived our vows are set, unshakeable, as if upon mountain.
So many more dawns have not yet risen, Varuṇa; make sure that we will live through them. 10 If someone I have met, O king, or friend has spoken of danger to me in a dream to frighten me, or if a thief should waylay us, or wolf - protect us from that, Varuṇa.
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11 Do not let me know the loss of dear, generous, open-handed friend, Varuṇa, nor let me lack the wealth that makes good reign, O king. Let us speak great words as men of power in the sacrificial gathering.
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RUDRA AND VISNU
The Rig Veda RUDRA AND VIṢṆU RUDRA is a liminal figure in the Rig Veda, invoked with Vedic hymns but not invited to partake in the regular Vedic sacrifice; as the embodiment of wildness and unpredictable danger, he is addressed more with the hope of keeping him at bay than with the wish to bring him near (a form of worship that persists in Hinduism not in the cult of Rudra's successor, Śiva, but in the cult of the Goddess, who does not appear in the Rig Veda at all). Viṣṇu is a far more typically Vedic god, vaguely solar, benevolent, and procreative (cf.
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RUDRA AND VISNU
The Rig Veda RUDRA AND VIṢṆU RUDRA is a liminal figure in the Rig Veda, invoked with Vedic hymns but not invited to partake in the regular Vedic sacrifice; as the embodiment of wildness and unpredictable danger, he is addressed more with the hope of keeping him at bay than with the wish to bring him near (a form of worship that persists in Hinduism not in the cult of Rudra's successor, Śiva, but in the cult of the Goddess, who does not appear in the Rig Veda at all). Viṣṇu is a far more typically Vedic god, vaguely solar, benevolent, and procreative (cf.
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Rudra is fierce and destructive like a terrible beast, like a wild storm; the sage begs him to turn his malevolence elsewhere. Yet Rudra is not merely demonic, for he is the healer and cooler as well as the bringer of disease and destructive fever. 1 Father of the Maruts,1 send your kindness here.
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Do not cut us off from the sight of the sun. Let the hero spare our horses.2 O Rudra, let us be born again through our children. 2 By those most healing medicines that you give, Rudra, I would attain a hundred winters.
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5 If someone should call him with invocations and oblations, thinking, 'I will appease Rudra with songs of praise' - may the soft-hearted6 god who is easy to invoke, the tawny god whose lips are full7 - may he not suspect us of that and give us over into the power of his anger.8 6 The bull1 with the Maruts inspired me with his key energy when I was in need of help. I long to win the kindness of Rudra, as I would long to reach the shade unharmed in the heat of the sun.
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7 Where is your merciful hand, Rudra, so healing and cooling, that removes the injury that comes from the gods? Have mercy on me, O bull. 8 I send high praise to the high bull, tawny and white.
I bow low in homage to the radiant one. We praise the dreaded name of Rudra. 9 The fierce, tawny god of many forms has adorned his firm limbs with shimmering gold.
O Rudra, have mercy on the singer, now that you have been praised. Let your armies strike down someone other than us. 12 As a son bows to his father who greets him, so I bow to you, Rudra, as you approach.
I sing to the giver of plenty, the true lord; being praised, give us healing medicines. 13 Your healing medicines, O Maruts, so pure, so strengthening, so comforting, that our father Manu12 chose -I desire these, O bulls, and happiness and health from Rudra. 14 Let the weapon of Rudra veer from us; let the great malevolence of the dreaded god go past us.
Loosen the taut bows for the sake of our generous patrons; O bountiful one, have mercy on our children and grandchildren. 15 O tawny and amazing bull, O God, do not become incensed or kill us. Be here for us, Rudra, and hear our call.
Let us speak great words as men of power in the sacrificial gathering. This hymn transfers to Rudra several attributes usually associated with Indra, such as the companionship of the Maruts, the thunderbolt, and the bull. This verse may also imply a wish that Rudra will spare the worshipper when he is.
Elsewhere in the Rig Veda (1.114.8), Rudra is asked not to harm horses. For the image of crossing over danger, cf. The implication is that the worship may be given in an un satisfactory way.
Many gods are invoked in pairs or groups in the Rig Veda, but never Rudra, who is given offerings separately from all other gods. The worshipper may also fear that he might offend Rudra by pairing him with an inferior god. A vain hope or an optimistic euphemism, like calling the Greek Furies the Eumenides or 'well-disposed'.
The adjective, also applied to Indra, particularly indicates that his lips are ready to drink Soma. The verse implies that the wrong-minded worshipper might think he could bribe Rudra and that such a man's thought might provoke Rudra to anger. The poet asks Rudra not to suspect him of such blasphemy.
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REALIA
REALIA THE Rig Veda is a sacred book, but it is a very worldly sacred book. Nowhere can we find the tiniest suspicion of a wish to renounce the material world in favour of some spiritual quest; religion is the handmaiden of worldly life.
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The Rig Veda
REALIA THE Rig Veda is a sacred book, but it is a very worldly sacred book. Nowhere can we find the tiniest suspicion of a wish to renounce the material world in favour of some spiritual quest; religion is the handmaiden of worldly life. The gods are invoked to give the worshipper the things he wants - health, wealth, long life, and progeny.
This is not to say that there is anything superficial about Vedic religious concerns, but merely that these meditations stem from a life-affirming, joyous celebration of human existence. Almost every hymn in the Rig Veda expresses at some point a wish for the good things in life, but some are primarily devoted to a celebration of these things, with relatively little attention to the gods who are supposed to provide them, and in others such worldly concerns eclipse what leaven of theistic devotion remains in them.
Several of these hymns are devoted to the waters, the fluid element or Dionysian element that looms so large throughout the Rig Veda; the waters give renewal of life (10.9) and are invoked as goddesses (7.49). Water is at the heart of another hymn that combines the profane appreciation of the rains with a satirical fondness for priests (7.103); the sacrificial arena also provides the setting for another paean to the things that make life worth living (9.112). It thus becomes evident that, rather than characterizing the ritual world of the Rig Veda as worldly, one might do better to characterize the non-ritual Vedic world as sacred: religion extends out into every aspect of life, not merely the official religious moments.
Thus blessings are sought for the warriors' arms (6.75) and for the gambler's wish to break away from his compulsion (10.34), as well as for the benighted traveller in the forest (10.146).
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10.9 The Waters of Life
1 Waters, you are the ones who bring us the life force. Help us to find nourishment so that we may look upon great joy. 2 Let us share in the most delicious sap that you have, as if you were loving mothers.1 3 Let us go straight to the house of the one for whom you waters give us life2 and give us birth.
4 For our well-being let the goddesses be an aid to us, the waters be for us to drink. Let them cause well-being and health to flow over us. 5 Mistresses of all the things that are chosen, rulers over all peoples, the waters are the ones I beg for a cure.
O Agni full of moisture, come and flood me with splendour. That is, as mothers give milk to their children. The travelling singer asks to be sent to a house whose owner has been blessed, so that by sacrificing for him the singer may be renewed.
2 The waters of the sky or those that flow,3 those that are dug out or those that arise by themselves, those pure and clear waters that seek the ocean as their goal - let the waters, who are goddesses, help me here and now. 3 Those in whose midst King Varuṇa moves, looking down upon the truth and falsehood of people,4 those pure and clear waters that drip honey - let the waters, who are goddesses, help me here and now.
4 Those among whom King Varuṇa, and Soma, and all the gods drink in ecstasy the exhilarating nourishment, those into whom Agni Of-all-men entered5 - let the waters, who are goddesses, help me here and now. A reference to the cosmic ocean that is their source, in contrast with the earthly ocean that is their resting-point. Indra opened a way for the waters when he killed Vṛtra.
For years scholars have argued about whether or not the comparison is meant to satirize the Brahmins (a possibility probably first suggested by the analogue with Aristophanes). But although the mood of the hymn is indeed cheerful, it is unlikely that the Rig Veda would contain material in actual criticism of priests in general. On the other hand, it may well be satirizing some priests (as, for example, the priests on the 'other side' of the agonistic sacrifice).
What makes the poem a tour de force is that every verse applies simultaneously to both frogs and Brahmins, a most elaborate and playful pun. 1 After lying still for a year, Brahmins keeping their vow,1 the frogs have raised their voice that Parjanya2 has inspired. 2 When the heavenly waters came upon him3 dried out like a leather bag,4 lying in the pool, then the cries of the frogs joined in chorus like the lowing of cows with calves.
3 As soon as the season of rains has come, and it rains upon them who are longing, thirsting for it, one approaches another who calls to him, 'Akhkhala',5 as a son approaches his father.6 4 One of the two greets the other as they revel in the waters that, burst forth, and the frog leaps about under the falling rain, the speckled mingling his voice with the green. 5 When one of them repeats the speech of the other, as a pupil that of the teacher, every piece7 of them is in unison, as with fine voices you chant over the waters.
6 One lows like a cow, one bleats like a goat; one is speckled, one is green. They have the same name but they differ in form, and as they speak they ornament their voices in many ways. 7 Like Brahmins at the over-night sacrifice8 who speak around the full bowl of Soma, so you frogs around a pool celebrate the day of the year when the rains come.
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9.112 Human Diversity : A Hymn to Soma
A humorous, ironic, and worldly hymn, whose straightforward message seems to be that we are all after the same thing: wealth. This thought recurs in more lofty tones throughout the Rig Veda (as in the references to wealth in the hymns to Varuṇa, Uṣas, and Viṣṇu). The hymn is loosely linked to Soma through the refrain; it may be a work-song, to be sung during the pressing of the Soma ('to divert the mind', says Sāyaṇa).
With diverse thoughts we all strive for wealth, going after it like cattle. O drop of Soma, flow for Indra. 4 The harnessed horse longs for a light cart; seducers long for a woman's smile; the penis for the two hairy lips, and the frog for water.4 O drop of Soma, flow for Indra.
All three seek patrons or customers. The Brahmin priest is the one who rectifies any errors that may have been committed in the course of the sacrifice; he is therefore a sacerdotal 'fixer' (or sacrificial physician) like the other two. 'Diverse callings' may also imply conflicting interests : it is to the physician's advantage when the patient sustains a fracture.
The plants, wings, and stones may be used for kindling, fanning the flames, and whetstones, or as sticks to make the shafts of arrows, feathers for their fletches, and stones for their arrowheads. Highly vernacular words for father and mother are used here. Sāyaṇa points out one more unexpressed longing implicit in the verse : the poet longs for Soma and for gold, for a generous patron, like all the others in the hymn.
Conquer with an unwounded body; let the power of armour1 keep you safe. 2 With the bow let us win cows, with the bow let us win the contest and violent battles with the bow. The bow ruins the enemy's pleasure; with the bow let us conquer all the corners of the world.
3 She comes all the way up to your ear like a woman who wishes to say something, embracing her dear friend; humming like a woman, the bowstring stretched tight on the bow carries you safely across in the battle. 4 These two who go forward like a woman going to an encounter2 hold the arrow in their lap as a mother holds a son. Let the two bow-tips, working together, pierce our enemies and scatter our foes.
Praise the power of the reins: the guides follow the mind that is behind them. 7 Neighing violently, the horses with their showering hoofs outstrip everyone with their chariots. Trampling down the foes with the tips of their hoofs, they destroy their enemies without veering away.
8 The wagon of transport - oblation is its name 4 - on which the weapons and armour are placed, on it let us place the working chariot and be of good heart all our days. 9 The fathers5 have assembled around the sweet one,6 giving power, a refuge in time of need, powerful and deep. With wondrous armies and the strength of arrows, unfading and all with equal manly powers, they loom immense as they storm the massed armies.
10 Fathers, Brahmins worthy of Soma, let the faultless sky and earth be kind to us. Let Püṣan keep us from going the wrong way. O you who thrive on Order, guard us so that no one who plots evil will have power over us.
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10.34 The Gambler’s Lament
Tradition regards dice as the divinity to which this hymn is addressed, for the dice are praised in it, though they are also reviled: this is a monologue in which a gambler wrestles with his compulsive attraction to the dice. First, the dice are 'born' during a storm in which the brown nuts from which they are made cease to hang like pendant earrings from the nut tree and fall, to be made into dice. When the gambler loses his money, his wife is first alienated (v.
2) and then mistreated ('They touch her, pulling at her garments, hair, et cetera', says the commentator, perhaps thinking of the famous scene in the Mahābhārata where Draupadī, the wife of the brothers who have lost her at dice, is abused); she is ashamed and angry, rejected by him (probably when she tries to stop him from gambling) and in turn rejecting him (probably when he tries to get money from her). He enters houses at night to steal or to borrow money, but when he finally abjures the dice, he is advised to be happy with what he has and perhaps even to hope to win back his estranged wife and his lost cattle.
Although this is basically a secular hymn (and in the monologue-dialogue form associated with non-liturgical hymns), one must bear in mind the religious significance of dice-playing in ancient India: the essential role played by the dice-game in the royal ceremony of consecration and the use of throws of the dice to represent the four Ages (or Yugas). Moreover, the hymn ends with a vow of repentance and a 'firm purpose of amendment' that express a fervent religious faith. 1 The trembling hazelnut eardrops of the great tree, born in a hurricane, intoxicate me as they roll on the furrowed board.
The dice seem to me like a drink of Soma from Mount Mūjavant,1 keeping me awake and excited. 2 She did not quarrel with me or get angry; she was kind to my friends and to me. Because of a losing throw of the dice I have driven away a devoted wife.
3 My wife's mother hates me, and my wife pushes me away; the man in trouble finds no one with sympathy. They all say, 'I find a gambler as useless as an old horse that someone wants to sell.' 4 Other men fondle the wife of a man whose possessions have been coveted by the plundering dice. His father, mother, and brothers all say of him, 'We do not know him.
But the dice cross him and counter his desire, giving the winning throws to his opponent. 7 The dice goad like hooks and prick like whips; they enslave, deceive, and torment. They give presents as children do,3 striking back at the winners.
They are coated with honey - an irresistible power over the gambler. 8 Their army, three bands of fifty, plays by rules as immutable as those of the god Savitṛ.4 They do not bow even to the wrath of those whose power is terrifying; the king himself bows down before them. 9 Down they roll, and up they spring.
Handless, they master him that has hands. Unearthly coals thrown down on the gaming board, though they are cold they burn out the heart. 10 The deserted wife of the gambler grieves, and the mother grieves for her son who wanders anywhere, nowhere.
In debt and in need of money, frightened, he goes at night to the houses of other men. 11 It torments the gambler to see his wife the woman of other men, in their comfortable rooms. But he yoked the brown horses5 in the early morning, and at evening he fell down by the fire, no longer a man.
12 [To the dice:] To the general6 of your great army, the first king of your band, to him I hold out my ten fingers7 and swear this to be the truth: 'I am holding back no money.' 13 This is what the noble Savitṛ shows me: 'Play no longer with the dice, but till your field; enjoy what you possess, and value it highly. There are your cattle, and there is your wife, O gambler.' 14 [To the dice:] Grant us your friendship; have pity on us.
Do not bewitch us with the force of your terrible sorcery. Lay to rest your anger, your hatred. Let someone else fall into the trap of the brown dice.
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10.146 Lost in the Forest
The poet (the traveller lost in the forest) imagines that the spirit of the forest camouflages herself among the trees because she is afraid. He projects his fears upon her. That is, why do you not ask where a village is, so that you can go there?
People would return in the evening with a cart laden with wood (v. 4); the small sounds of the forest imitate the creaking of such a cart. A tiger or a robber might kill you, but this is not blamed upon the forest deity.
The spirit of the forest, being vegetarian, is harmless; she rests at night, in contrast with the demons and beasts who roam about.
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WOMEN
WOMEN The Rig Veda is a book by men about male concerns in a world dominated by men; one of these concerns is women, who appear throughout the hymns as objects, though seldom as subjects. Though Aditi is the only Vedic goddess of true stature, many female nouns (often abstractions) are personified as female divinities: Dawn (1.92), Night (10.127), the Waters (10.9, 7.49), and the Forest (10.146); so, too, Destruction (Nirṛti) makes a sinister appearance quite often, and the bitch Saramā assists Indra (10.108).
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The Rig Veda
WOMEN The Rig Veda is a book by men about male concerns in a world dominated by men; one of these concerns is women, who appear throughout the hymns as objects, though seldom as subjects. Though Aditi is the only Vedic goddess of true stature, many female nouns (often abstractions) are personified as female divinities: Dawn (1.92), Night (10.127), the Waters (10.9, 7.49), and the Forest (10.146); so, too, Destruction (Nirṛti) makes a sinister appearance quite often, and the bitch Saramā assists Indra (10.108).
In addition, the Rig Veda presents several women who, if not goddesses, are at least immortal or quasi-immortal: Yamī (10.10), Urvaśī (10.95), Sūryā (10.85), and the wives of Indra and the monkey (10.86). Moreover, several immortal or semi-mortal women appear in the Rig Veda in two groups of hymns that explore with surprisingly consistent detail and concept the relationships between men and women, mortal and immortal. The first is a group of conversation hymns (ākhyānas) and the second is a group of narratives centring around marriage: courtship, marriage, adultery, and estrangement.
The conversation hymns are a genre that is scattered throughout the Rig Veda (cf. 10.135, 10.51, 10.124, 4.26-7, 10.108, 10.28, etc.); it is particularly associated with hymns that relate to fertility, and may have been part of a special ritual performance involving actors and dancers. The dialogues with women all represent situations in which one member of the pair attempts to persuade the other to engage in some sort of sexual activity; sometimes it is the woman who takes the role of persuader (10.10, 1.179, 8.91), sometimes the man (10.95, 10.86); the mortal woman is successful (1.179, 8.91), while the immortal woman is not (10.10); the immortal man succeeds (10.86), while the mortal fails (10.95).
The conversations between mortal men and immortal women (10.10, 10.95) end in the separation of the couple; between mortal men and women (1.179) or immortal men and mortal women (8.91), the result is union. The complex Vṛṣākapi hymn, involving two couples, seems to end in union (10.86). The marriage hymns, like the conversation hymns, return again to the problem of sexual rejection: Yamī is rejected by Yama, Lopāmudrā by Agastya, Purūravas by Urvaśī.
Apālā fears that she will be rejected by her husband because she is not beautiful, and this is a theme which haunts the marriage hymns; the woman wishes to be subhagā: beautiful, hence loved by her husband, hence fortunate. Ghoṣā invokes the Ásvins to help her find a husband because they are the most helpful of the gods, but also because they appreciate beauty and are known to restore impotent men; so, too, Mudgala's wife hopes that Indra will turn her husband from a steer to a bull.
The woman is rejected, therefore, either because she lacks beauty or because her husband lacks virility, and the two reasons are causally intertwined in the hymns. The woman is also rejected because she is dangerous; the defloration of the bride endangers the groom, and the abducted wife is a source of danger to the abductor. This danger is, like the woman's ugliness, causally related to the problem of the husband's virility.
subhagā then assumes the further connotation of 'fortunate' in having a virile husband who lives long, so that the woman does not become a widow. Despite these dangers, the marriage hymns - unlike the conversation hymns - all have happy endings.
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10.10 Yama and Yamī
Yama, the first son of the sun, is regarded in later mythology as the first mortal man and king of the dead, while Manu, the sun's other son, is regarded as the ancestor of the human race. In Avestan mythology, the primeval incest of the twins, Yama and Yamī, remains an important episode in the procreation of the human race; in India, Yama rejects the erotic solicitations of his sister in the Rig Veda and is never again exposed to them, for later Indian mythology is significantly silent about the affair.
The hymn is not, however, a commentary on a social charter ('Thou shalt not commit incest'), but rather a speculation - ultimately negative - on a possible cosmogony, the male and female twins functioning as a variant of the androgyne. The hymn begins, as is usual with those of the 'conversation' genre, in medias res. Yamī invokes gods of procreation and argues that the human race must be preserved; Yama counters by invoking moral gods and their laws.
No one disobeys his commands; earth and sky are our witnesses for this.'11 6 [Yama:] 'Who was witness of that first day? The law of Mitra and Varuṇa is high. Yet what will you say to men, wanton woman, to seduce them?' 7 [Yamī:] 'Desire for Yama has come upon me, Yamī, the desire to lie with him upon the same bed.
Let me open my body to him as a wife to her husband. Let us roll about together like the two wheels of a chariot.' 8 [Yama:] 'These spies of the gods, who wander about here below, do not stand still, nor do they bunk their eyes. Wanton woman, go away fast with another man, not with me.
Roll about with him like the two wheels of a chariot.' 9 [Yamī:] ' She would do what he wished in the nights and in the days; she would deceive the eye of the sun for the instant of the blink of an eye. We twins are related in the same way as sky and earth. Let Yamī behave toward Yama as if she were not his sister.' 10 [Yama:] 'Later ages will come, indeed, when blood relatives will act as if they were not related.
Your brother does not want this.' 13 [Yamī:] 'Dammit, Yama, how feeble you are. I have not been able to find any mind or heart in you. Some other woman will surely embrace you like a girth embracing a harnessed stallion or a creeper embracing a tree.' 14 [Yama:] 'You too, Yamī, will surely embrace another man, and he will embrace you, as a creeper embraces a tree.
Seek his mind, and let him seek yours. Join with him in proper harmony.' NOTES 1. The ocean may be the metaphorical ocean separating mortals (like Yama) from immortals (as Yamī may be), in which case 'he' is Yama.
But 'he' may be the avenging god whom Yama fears (vv. 2, 6, and 8), or the sun in the water (v. 4), in which case Yamī is assuring her brother that he need not fear, as the spy is absent across the ocean.
This may mean that Yama does not wish the woman of his kind (his sister) to act like a stranger (like a woman with whom sexual contact is allowed); in caste terms, he avoids marriage within the subgroup (gotra). Less likely, but possible, is the inter pretation that Yama fears that a woman not like him (an immortal) will behave like one of his kind (a mortal woman, one who may have sexual contact with him). In caste terms, he avoids marriage outside the group (varṇa).
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1.179 Agastya and Lopāmudrā
In this conversation, Lopāmudrā seeks to turn her husband Agastya, who has undertaken a vow of chastity, away from his asceticism so that he will beget a child upon her. Although he argues that there are two ways to achieve happiness (or immortality), she overpowers him (v. 4), and afterwards he wishes to atone for his lapse by drinking Soma (ingesting the divine form of the protean fluid that, in its human form, has just been 'sucked' from him).
Finally the poet affirms that the two of them, by uniting after each had perfected a power (she eroticism, he asceticism), achieved both forms of immortality, spiritual and corporeal (through children). 1 [ Lopāmudrā:] 'For many autumns past I have toiled,1 night and day, and each dawn has brought old age closer, age that distorts the glory of bodies. Virile men2 should go to their wives.
5 [Agastya:] 'By this Soma which I have drunk, in my innermost heart I say: Let him forgive us if we have sinned, for a mortal is full of many desires.' 6 Agastya, digging with spades,7 wishing for children, progeny, and strength, nourished both ways, for he was a powerful sage. He found fulfilment of his real hopes among the gods. This word often refers to the exertion of religious activity.
When she uses it, she may refer to her work as his wife or to her own asceticism (the commentator suggests that both of them prac tise asceticism), and when he uses it (v. 3) he refers to his asceticism. This word (vṛṣan) recurs throughout this hymn (and elsewhere in the Rig Veda: cf.
Its basic meaning is one who sheds rain or seed; it comes to mean a potent male animal, parti cularly a bull or a stallion. The end of their asceticism; that is, they died childless and unsuccessful. He argues that each of them should go his own way, as various strategies are needed to win the race for happiness and immortality, but he implies that he will ultimately accede to her importunities.
By 'striving together' they will engage in the agonistic Vedic sacrifice, like two rival priests. If this verse is placed in Agastya's mouth, it would mean: 'The desire of my swelling teed [phallus], which is held back, overwhelms me ...' 6. He pants either with desire (before) or exhaustion (after); the verb merely indicates heavy breathing.
This verse may follow an episode of mimed sexual intercourse. A metaphor rare in the Rig Veda but widespread elsewhere, and obvious.
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10.95 Purūravas and Urvaśī
This famous hymn takes the form of a conversation at a moment near the end of a complex myth. The myth is told in a later Brāhmaṇa text, with several details that may not be true to the original Vedic version but that provide a good background to the hymn: The water-nymph Urvaśī loved Purūravas; when she married him, she made him promise never to let her see him naked. She lived with him for a long time, and became pregnant by him, but the Gandharvas carried off the two lambs that were tied to her bed, and she cried out, 'They are taking away my son as if there were no hero or man here.' Then Purūravas, thinking, 'How can there be no hero here, when I am here?', sprang out of bed without taking the time to put anything on.
The Gandharvas produced a flash of lightning, and she saw him naked in the light as clear as day. She vanished, and he wandered in sorrow until he came to a lake where there were nymphs swimming about in the shape of water-birds, Urvaśī and the other nymphs. They appeared to him at her request, and the conversation between Purūravas and Urvaśī took place, as in the Vedic hymn.
The Brāhmaṇa goes on to say that Urvaśī took pity on Purūravas and lay with him for one night in a golden palace; after that the Gandharvas gave him a magic fire and taught him to kindle it in a special way and to make a special pot of rice with it, and in that way he became one of the Gandharvas. The present hymn presents a rather different view of the myth, implying that Urvaśī was not as happy with Purūravas as he was with her (and as he thought she was with him).
She refuses to return to him, nor does she promise to make him immortal (though this might be read into the final verse). 1 [Purūravas:] 'My wife, turn your heart and mind to me. Stay here, dangerous woman, and let us exchange words.
If we do not speak out these thoughts of ours they will bring us no joy, even on the most distant day.' 2 [Urvaśī:] 'What use to me are these words of yours? I have left you, like the first of the dawns. I am hard to catch and hold, like the wind...' 3 [Purūravas:] '...
or like an arrow shot from the quiver for a prize, or like a racehorse that wins cattle, that wins hundreds. As if there was no man with power there, they1 made the lightning flash and in their frenzy thought to bleat like sheep. 4 'She2 brought to her husband's father nourishing riches, and whenever her lover desired her she came to his home across from her dwelling-place and took her pleasure in him, pierced by his rod day and night.'3 5 [Urvaśī:] 'Indeed, you pierced me with your rod three times a day, and filled me even when I had no desire.
I followed your will, Purūravas; you were my man, king of my body.' 6 [Purūravas:] 'Sujūrṇi, Śreṇi, Sumnaāpi, and Hradecakṣus, Granthinī, Caraṇyu4 - they have, all slipped away like the red colours of dawn, lowing one louder than the other, like milk cows.' 7 [Urvaśī:] 'When he5 was born, the goddesses6 encircled him and the rivers that sing their own praises raised him, since the gods raised you, Purūravas, for the great battle, for the killing of enemies.'7 8 [Purūravas:] 'When I, a mortal man, courted these im mortal women who had laid aside their veils,8 they shied away from me like excited9 gazelles, like horses grazed by the chariot.' 9 [Urvaśī:] 'When a mortal man, wooing these immortal women, unites with their group as they wish, make your bodies beautiful,10 like water birds, like horses biting in their love-play.' 10 [Purūravas :] 'She of the waters flashed lightning like a falling lightning-bolt and brought me the pleasures of love. From the water was born a noble, manly son.
There are no friendships with women; they have the hearts of jackals.15 16 'When I wandered among mortals in another form, and spent the nights with you for four years, once each day I swallowed a drop of butter,16 and even now I am sated with that.' 17 [Purūravas:] 'I, the lover of Urvaśī, long to draw her to me, though she fills the air and measures the middle field of space. Return and reap the reward for a good deed.
Fire consumes my heart.' 18 [The poet:] This is what these gods say to you, son of Iḷā 17' Since you are a kinsman of death, your descendants will sacrifice to the gods with the oblation,18 but you shall taste joy in heaven.' NOTES 1. The Gandharvas, anxious to have her back in heaven, tricked Purūravas. Purūravas speaks of Urvaśī in the third person, referring to a long time ago.
The Śakspath Brāhmaṇa says that part of Urvaśī contract with Purūravas included the stipulation that he must 'strike her with his rod' three times a day. Here he seems to boast of it, hut she then complains that be did it against her will. The nymphs apparently were with her during the marriage and vanished with her; they have reappeared now with her but apparently wish to vanish right away again.
Verses 6-7, 10, and 12-13 refer to a son of Purūravas and Urvaśī; Purūravas seems not to have known of him until this moment (a common motif in myths of the mortal lover of an immortal woman). Urvaśī implies that she and Purūravas united merely to produce the child, so that there is no longer any reason for them to remain together. The Apsarases (water-nymphs, like the river goddesses).
Urvaśī implies that they had to flee with her in order to care for the expected child of such a great father. Kālidāsa's play based on this myth tells that Purūravas first met Urvaśī when he rescued her from demons; later, Indra allowed Purūravas to keep Urvaśī for ever in return for his services in arms against Indra's demonic enemies.
The adjective may imply that they are in heat, and hence especially nervous. She seems to be advising the Apsarases not to run away (as Purūravas has complained in the previous verse) if he approaches them properly (i.e. She accuses him of taking hex against her will, and also reminds him of royal duties that he is neglecting in his pursuit of her.
The implication is that his parents are still alive, and will be saddened and ashamed to see them apart after so short a time. She implies that the child will weep because he misses her, not him, when she has sent the boy to Purūravas; or else that he will weep for what he has missed when at last he finds his father. Here she merely advises him not to kill himself as he threatens; in the Brāhmaṇa text, she actually gets the Gandharvas to teach him how to become immortal.
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8.91 Apālā and Indra
The first and last verses of this hymn narrate the story of Apālā; in between are verses spoken by her. The story is known from later commentaries : Apālā was a young woman hated by her husband (v. 4) because she had a skin disease (v.
1), pressed it in her mouth and offered it to Indra (v. Indra made love to her, which she at first resisted (v. 3) and then consented to (v.
She asked him to cure her and also to restore fertility to her father and to his fields (vv. This triple boon is accomplished by an obscure triple ritual. Later tradition states that being drawn through three chariot holes caused her to slough her skin three times; the first skin became a hedgehog, the second an alligator, the third a chameleon.
The Vedic verse merely states that her skin became sun-like (i.e. fair), and the ritual has obvious sexual symbolism. This symbolism provides a parallel to the motif of the cure: for while her skin is purified she is also given pubic hair, either because she had been hairless as a result of the skin disease or because she was an adolescent maiden (v.
1) who is made a woman by Indra. 1 A maiden going for water found Soma by the way. She brought it home and said, 'I will press it for you, Indra; I will press it for you, mighty one.
2 'Dear man, you who go watchfully into house after house, drink this that I have pressed with my teeth, together with grain and gruel, cakes and praises. 3 'We do not wish to understand you, and yet we do not misunderstand you. Slowly and gently, ever more gently, flow for Indra, O drop of Soma.
The adjective has three closely linked meanings: beautiful, therefore loved by one's husband, therefore fortunate. the three naves of the chariot wheel in 1.164.2 and 1.164.48.
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10.86 Indra and the Monkey
This hymn, which Renou has called 'the strangest poem in the Rig Veda', deals with conflict and resolution on at least four levels, alluded to in a conversation between four people: Indra and his wife, and Vṛṣākapi (whose name means 'the monkey bursting with seed') and his wife. On the household level, there are crude arguments in which Indrāṇī accuses the monkey, a favourite of Indra, of having taken sexual liberties with her; Indra tries to calm her with flattery, and Vṛṣākapi's wife alternately flatters her, engages her in sexual banter about their husbands ' powers, and insists either that Vṛṣākapi never touched Indrāṇī or that now, at least, he has ceased to do so; finally, Indrāṇī relents and asks the monkey couple to resume the ménage à quatre.
This aspect of the myth places it among other bawdy and worldly hymns, usually set in the form of conversations. The myth also suggests a chain of events involving sacrifice. At a time before the conversation in the hymn takes place, Indra has ceased to be worshipped or to be given the Soma; in the course of the hymn, he is then given in place of Soma another kind of offering, which he accepts, an offering of bulls (vv.
13 and 15), an oblation mixed with water (v. 12), or a 'pleasing mixture' (v. Substitutes for Soma were common in Vedic and post-Vedic India, and any of these might have been used.
11 - while simultaneously transferring Indra's sins to the monkey -v. This aspect of the hymn suggests that it might be viewed in the context of a Vedic fertility ritual separate from the orthodox Soma tradition. A fourth level, a variant of the second, is the agonistic banter between poets/priests sacrificing on behalf of two different gods (Indra and the demi-god Vṛṣākapi); each side mocks the god of the other faction.
Indra supreme above all!' 4 [Indrāṇī:] 'That beloved Vṛṣākapi whom you protect, Indra - let the dog who.
pants after the wild sow5 bite him in the ear! 5 'The ape has defiled the precious, well-made, anointed things6 that are mine. I will cut off his "head", and I will not be good to that evil-doer.
Indra supreme above all!' 6 'No woman has finer loins than I, or is better at making love. No woman thrusts against a man better than I, or raises and spreads her thighs more. Indra supreme above all!' 7 [Vṛṣākapi:] 'O little mother,7 so easily won, as it will surely be,8 my loins, my thigh, my "head" seem to thrill and stiffen,9 little mother.
Indra supreme above all!' 13 [Vṛṣākapi:] 'Wife of Vṛṣākapi, you are rich in wealth and in good sons and in your sons' wives. Let Indra eat your bulls and the oblation that is so pleasing and so powerful in effect. Indra supreme above all!' 14 [Indra:] 'They have cooked for me fifteen bulls, and twenty, so that I may eat the fat as well.
23 The daughter of Manu, named Parsu,21 brought forth twenty children at once. Great happiness came to her whose womb felt the pains. This hypothesis, based rather loosely on the present hymn, is supported by correspondences between it and two important Vedic rituals.
10.40 The Courtship of Ghoṣā
The hymn begins and ends with an invocation to the Aśvins. The central verses are set in the mouth of a woman, one of two instances in the entire Rig Veda where this occurs;1 and according to Indian tradition, Ghoṣā is actually the author of this hymn. Though women do speak in some of the dialogue hymns,2 they do not invoke the gods, and even here it is unlikely that Ghoṣā was in fact the author.
In the hymn, Ghoṣā reminds the Aśvins of the many people they have helped in the past, including at least one (Siñjara) who has regained his virility. In this context it is relevant to note that the word for 'widow' is also interpreted by the commentaries, here and elsewhere, as referring to the wife of an impotent man. The hymn continues with Ghoṣā's image of a happy marriage (v.
9), at which the bride's parents weep and reminisce, and people wear wedding clothes rather than funeral clothes (v. She asks them to bless her future husband (vv. 11-13), and the hymn ends, as it begins, with a question about where the Aśvins may be found, and the implied hope that they are going to the poet's house.
1 Where is your brilliant chariot going, O Heroes, and who has adorned it for its good journey as it comes, glorious at dawn, brought by thought and care morning after morning into house after house? 2 Where are the Aśvins in the evening, where in the morning, where do they stop and where have they spent the night? Who invites you as a widow takes her husband's brother to her bed, as a young woman takes a young man to a room?
3 Early in the morning you are awakened, like two old men praised by a bard, and worthy of sacrifice you go into house after house. For whom do you remain in shadow, O Heroes, and to whose Soma offerings do you come like two sons of kings? 4 Like hunters tracking wild elephants we summon you with the oblation at dawn and at dusk.
To the man who offers the oblation at the right time, you who are heroes and husbands of beauty bring nourishment. 5 Ghoṣā, the daughter of a king, came to you, Aśvins, and said, 'I beg you, O Heroes; be with me by day and by night, as you give power to the racehorse to win the prize of horses and chariots. 6 'You wise Aśvins move about on your chariot, driving it like Kutsa3 to the houses of the singers.
Your bees bring raw honey by mouth, as a woman brings honey in a pot. 7 'You came to the aid of Bhujyu, you came to Vaśa, you came to Siñjara4 and Uśanas. The sacrificer enjoys your friendship; I beg for a favour, with your help.
8 'You Aśvins rescue Kṛśa and Śaya, you rescue the worshipper and the widow. You Aśvins throw open the thundering cow-pen with seven mouths5 to give rewards. 9 'She has become a young woman; the young man has run away to her.
Plants wafting magic powers have sprouted and flow to him as rivers flow to a valley. On that day he becomes a husband. 10 'They mourn the living; they are transformed at the sacrifice.
Men have pondered deeply the long span. It is a blessing for the fathers who have arranged this; the wives are a joy for the husbands to embrace. 11 'We have not learned this - tell it to us - how a young man rests in the lap of a young woman.
Let us go to the house of a bull full of seed and fond of cows. 12 'Your favour has come, O Aśvins rich in prizes. Desires are becoming firmly rooted in hearts.6 As a pair, you husbands of beauty have become our protectors; let us go as loved ones to the home of a good friend.
13 'Grant to the eloquent wealth and strong sons, as you rejoice in the house of a man. Husbands of beauty, make a ford where one can drink well; clear away the hatred7 that stands like a post in the path.' 14 Where, and in whose houses, will they rejoice today, the wondrous Aśvins, husbands of beauty? To the house of what inspired priest or sacrificer have they gone?
10.85 The Marriage of Sūryā
The divine prototype for human marriages is the hierogamy of Sūryā (daughter of Sūrya, the sun) and Soma (here, for the only time in the Rig Veda, regarded as the moon, as well as the sacred plant and its expressed juice). Later marriages are modelled upon this one, and the bride is called Sūryā. The first nineteen verses refer to the myth of the marriage of Sūryā and Soma; subsequent verses also refer back to Sūryā (vv.
20, 35 and 38) and to Soma (40-41), though the former seems merely to designate the bride and the latter is a reference to Soma in his other aspect, his droit de seigneur over all brides. Verses 20-47 present formulaic verses, some of a highly magical nature, to be recited at a wedding. 1 The earth is propped up by truth; the sky is propped up by the sun.
Through the Law the Ādityas stand firm and Soma is placed in the sky. 2 Through Soma the Ādityas are mighty; through Soma the earth is great. And in the lap of these constellations Soma has been set.1 3 One thinks he has drunk Soma when they press the plant.
But the Soma that the Brahmins know - no one ever eats that.2 4 Hidden by those charged with veiling you,3 protected by those who live on high, O Soma, you stand listening to the pressing-stones. 5 When they drink you who are a god, then you are filled up again. Vāyu is the guardian of Soma; the moon is the one that shapes the years.
The Aśvins7 were the suitors of Sūryā, and Agni was the one who went in front.8 9 Soma became the bridegroom and the two Aśvins were the suitors, as Savitṛ9 gave Sūryā to her husband and she said 'Yes' in her heart. 10 Thought was her chariot and the sky was its canopy. The two luminaries10 were the two carriage animals when Sūryā went to the house.
11 Your two cattle, yoked with the verse and the chant, went with the same accord. You had hearing for your two wheels. In the sky the path stretched on and on.
12 The two luminaries were your wheels as you journeyed; the outward breath was made into the axle. Sūryā mounted a chariot made of thought as she went to her husband. 13 The wedding procession of Sūryā went forward as Savitṛ sent it off.
But the one wheel that is hidden, only the inspired know that. 17 To Sūryā, to the gods, to Mitra and Varuṇa, who are provident for all creation, to them I have bowed down. 18 These two16 change places through their power of illusion, now forward, now backward.
Like two children at play they circle the sacrificial ground. The one gazes upon all creatures, and the other is born again and again marking the order of the seasons. 19 He17 becomes new and again new as he is born, going in front of the dawns as the banner of the days.
As he arrives he apportions to the gods their share. The moon stretches out the long span of life.18 20 Mount the world of immortality, O Sūryā,19 that is adorned with red flowers20 and made of fragrant wood,20 carved with many forms and painted with gold, rolling smoothly on its fine wheels. Prepare an exquisite wedding voyage for your husband.
For this woman has a husband.' Thus I implore Viśvāvasu21 with words of praise as I bow to him. 'Look for another girl who is ripe and still lives in her father's house. That is your birthright; find it.
22 'Go away from here, .Viśvāvasu, we implore you as we bow. Look for another girl, willing and ready. Leave the wife to unite with her husband.' 23 May the roads be straight and thornless on which our friends go courting.22 May Aryaman and Bhaga united lead us together.
O Gods, may the united household be easy to manage. 24 I free you from Varuṇa's snare, with which the gentle Savitṛ23 bound you. In the seat of the Law, in the world of good action, I place you unharmed with your husband.
10.109 The Rape and Return of the Brahmin’s Wife
This hymn exhorts the king to restore the Brahmin's abducted wife; it alludes to the parallel instance of the myth of Soma's abduction and return of the wife of Bṛhaspati. The two parallels are closely intertwined: Soma is called a king (an epithet that he has even when he is regarded as the incarnation of the sacred Soma plant and Soma drink, an aspect of the god not immediately relevant to this hymn), and so he is said to 'give back' the wife of Bṛhaspati both as the culprit (the adulterer returning the woman to her husband) and as the king (v.
Moreover, Soma 'gives back' all brides after he has exercised his droit de seigneur (see 10.8 5).
Verse 2 is thus an extended pun: Soma returns the wife of Bṛhaspati as the king returns the wife of a human Brahmin. An equivalent ambiguity may be seen in the question of the sin or offence for which the hymn seeks expiation. When the poet refers to such expiation, one assumes that it is meant to apply to Soma's offence.
But later Hindu tradition regards the offence, and the expiation, as that of the husband or even of the wife. As Sāyaṇa tells the story: 'Speech was the wife of Bṛhaspati. One day she offended him because she was so ugly, and so he abandoned her.
Then the gods, deliberating among themselves, made her free from offence [i.e. ugliness] and gave her back to Bṛhaspati.' The hymn allows of either interpretation, since the phrase 'Brahmin-offence' in the first verse could be either an offence by a Brahmin or one against him, and verse 7 does not say whose expiation is being performed. But the hymn itself does not blame the Brahmin or his wife, and one is inclined to think that the poet wishes to expiate the sin of the adulterer - and to purify the adulterous god Soma.
1 These were the first to speak about the sin against the Brahmin: the boundless ocean, Mātariśvan,1 the fierce-flowing heat,2 strong fire3 that brings the force of life, and the divine waters who are first-born in the sacred order. 2 King Soma was the first who gave the Brahmin's wife back again, without a grudge; Varuṇa and Mitra agreed to go with her, and Agni, the summoning priest, took her by the hand and led her back.4 3 He5 must be grasped by her own hand, as a token, when they have said, 'She is the Brahmin's wife.' She did not stay for a messenger to be sent.
Kings, keeping their promises, should give back the Brahmin's wife. 7 When they gave back the Brahmin's wife and with the gods' aid erased the sin, they enjoyed the rich essence of the earth and then went on to the wide-striding field.8 NOTES 1. An assistant of Agni, sometimes identified with the wind.
Tapas, ritual or ascetic heat (cf. Soma, the Gandharva, and Agni are the three immortal husbands of the bride before she marries a mortal (10.85.40). This verse seems to say that Bṛhaspati himself must take her by the hand, and not a messenger.
But Sāyaṇa suggests that the gods ate here speaking to Bṛhaspati, and it may be that 'he' is her son, a token of their union. Later myths tell us that a son, Budha, was born to Soma and restored to his father in a similar way. 'He' is probably Bṛhaspati, who lives in chastity because he lacks a wife; by serving the gods zealously, he obtains their aid in winning her back.
There is an elaborate pun in this verse. Juhú designates a special spoon used in the Soma sacrifice; it is therefore 'taken by Soma' (cf. It also comes to mean 'speech', personified as the goddess of Speech who often leaves the gods and must be brought back again, like Bṛhaspati's wife.
Sāyaṇa says that Juhú is the name of the wife of Bṛhaspati, but this renders the metaphor pointless. Heaven, the field of Viṣṇu who strides across it.
10.102 Mudgala’s Wife and the Bull in the Chariot
This mysterious dialogue hymn conceals an erotic and pro-creative myth in the tale of a strange chariot race. Sāyaṇa tells two versions of the story in his introduction: 'Thieves stole away all of Mudgala's cattle but one old bull; yoking this remaining one to his cart, he yoked a wooden club [or, perhaps, a horse or bull named 'wooden club']1 to the other side and went after the thieves, taking back his own cows.' The second version is shorter: 'Mudgala yoked a bull and a wooden club, went into battle, and won the combat.' These commentaries do not mention the central role of Mudgala's wife, nor do they tell us anything of the nature of this mysterious wooden club or how it could be harnessed to a chariot,2 points which are somewhat (but not entirely) clarified by the hymn itself.
The story as a whole, particularly the woman charioteer and the unusual chariot-animal, bears a striking resemblance to an old Irish myth;3 this, together with notable parallels with Greek myths and Roman rituals, suggests an Indo-European origin for this strange tale. The hymn opens with Mudgala's blessing on the race (vv. 1-3), and a description of the beginning of the race (v.
The opponents try in vain to stop the bull (v. 5), but he races all the faster (v. The wooden club is attached (vv.
For Mudgala's wife was the charioteer in the contest for cattle; becoming the very army of Indra, she gambled and won the spoils. 3 [Mudgala:] 'Hold back the thunderbolt6 of the enemy who rushes against me to kill me, O generous Indra. Drive aside the missile of the Dāsa or the Ārya.'7 4 The bull who was inspired to fight drank a lake of water.
With a horn like a club he rushed against the enemy attack and crushed it. The animal with heavy testicles stretched forth his forefeet briskly, eager to win the race, longing for fame. 5 The attackers excited the bull to bellow and to stale8 tight in the middle of the battle.
Through him, Mudgala won as spoils of war a thousand and a hundred well-grazed cows. 6 The bull rumbled9 as he was yoked; his long-haired charioteer10 shouted. The droppings of the headstrong bull, who was running yoked to the wagon, struck Mudgala's wife.11 7 Cleverly he12 struck off the rim of the chariot wheel and yoked the steer to it,13 using all his force and skill.
Indra aided the husband of cows; the humpbacked bull galloped with great leaps. 8 The man with a whip and braided hair14 was successful in binding the wood to the rope. The bull performed the deeds of a hero for the great crowd, increasing in vigour as he looked at the cows.15 9 [Bystanders:] 'See over there the yoke-mate of the bull, the wooden club, lying in the middle of the racecourse.
116.18 for two strange and unmatched chariot animals, and 1.164 for a mysterious chariot. The tale of the goddess Mácha harnessed to a chariot when she is pregnant. The adjective 'perversely transformed' implies that it is perverted from its normal haulage function to that of a war chariot, for which it is unsuited.
These spoils are the cows taken by the thieves, Sāyaṇa suggests. Indra is asked to repel the thunderbolt that is usually his own weapon but here apparently designates a missile hurled by the enemy. It may also stand for a club (a doublet of the club used by Mudgala) thrown by the enemy, perhaps to jam the spokes of the chariot wheel.
The Dāsa is the enemy who is a native inhabitant of the invaded country, the Ārya the enemy who is another member of the invading force. Apparently the attackers try to make the bull roar and urinate because he must stand still to do this and so will be delayed. Since the bull has just drunk a lake of water in the previous verse, he might stale of his own accord anyway.
He may rumble as he stales; the verse is unclear, and it may be the cart or the wooden club that rumbles. The long hair here indicates that the charioteer is a woman, in contrast with the charioteer with braided hair in verse 8. Apparently the droppings strike the charioteer because the bull is running so fast.
The bull is excreting, as he staled in the previous verse, because he is furious, and since he does not have to stop to do this (as he must do to stale), Mudgala's wife is in the direct line of fire. One might see connotations of fertility in the manure, but it is certainly a most peculiar verse. Through parallel constructions, the verse describes the castrated bull (the steer) as a metaphor for the wooden club that is yoked by Mudgala, and contrasts him with the galloping bull (the husband of cows) who is aided by Indra and whose deeds are further described in verse 8.
INCANTATIONS AND SPELLS
The Atharva Veda is the locus classions for magic spells, but the later parts of the Rig Veda also contain many imprecations and chants. Some deal with white magic or medicine (10.97), some with bad dreams (10.164) or sleep (7.5 5), and some with the problem of black magic or sorcery (7.104).
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INCANTATIONS AND SPELLS
The Atharva Veda is the locus classions for magic spells, but the later parts of the Rig Veda also contain many imprecations and chants. Some deal with white magic or medicine (10.97), some with bad dreams (10.164) or sleep (7.5 5), and some with the problem of black magic or sorcery (7.104). Many deal with the rites de passage: the wife hopes to overcome her rivals (10.145), succeeds in overcoming her rivals (10.159), wishes to become pṛegnant (10.184) and to have a healthy child (10.162).
You who have a hundred ways of working, make this man whole for me. 3 Be joyful, you plants that bear flowers and those that bear fruit. Like mares that win the race together, the growing plants will carry us across.
4 You mothers who are called plants, I say to you who are goddesses : let me win a horse, a cow, a robe - and your very life, O man.2 5 In the sacred fig-tree is your home ; in the tree of leaves3 your dwelling-place has been made. You will surely win a cow as your share if you win a man.4 6 He in whom the plants gather like kings in the assembly, that priest is called a healer, a slayer of demons,5 an expeller of disease.
10 They have stepped over all barriers like a thief into a cow-pen. The plants have driven out whatever wound was in the body. 11 When I take these plants in my hand, yearning for the victory prize, the life of the disease7 vanishes as if before a hunter grasping at his life.
12 He through whom you plants creep limb by limb, joint by joint, you banish disease from him like a huge man coming between fighters.8 13 Fly away, disease, along with the blue jay and the jay; disappear with the howl of the wind, with the rain storm. 14 Let one of you help the other; let one stand by the other. All of you working together, help this speech of mine to succeed.
15 Those that bear fruit and those without fruit, those without flower and those that bear flowers, sent by Bṛhaspati9 let them free us from anguish. 16 Let them free me from the effects of a curse, and also from what comes from Varuṇa,10 and from the fetter sent by Yama and from every offence of the gods.11 17 Flying down from the sky, the plants spoke: that man shall not be harmed whose life we join. 18 Of all the many plants in hundreds of forms, whose king is Soma, you12 are supreme, a remedy for need and a blessing for the heart.
19 You plants whose king is Soma, spread out over the earth as you were sent by Bṛhaspati: unite your power in this plant. 20 Do not harm the man who digs you up, nor him for whom I dig you up; let all our two-footed and four- footed creatures be without sickness. 21 You growing plants who hear this, and those who have gone far away, all coming together unite your power in this plant.
22 The plants speak together with King Soma: 'Whom ever the Brahmin priest treats, we will carry him across, O king.' 23 Plant, you are supreme; the trees are your subjects. Let the man who seeks to injure us be our subjects. That is, the 107 types or species of healing herbs.
This, as in verse 8, is a direct address to the patient whose life is in danger. The sacred fig is the Aśvattha; the tree of leaves is the Parṇa. That is, if you win back the life of this man.
Rakṣases, local demons, not the grand Asuras of heaven. A pun on Iṣkṛti and Niṣkṛti. The curer is depicted as killing the disease to save the patient.
The particular disease named here (yakṣa) is a kind of consumption. The 'mediator' is a powerful king who remains neutral and intervenes between two warring kings. Bṛhaspati is the deity who presides over spells.
Varuṇa sends a noose that consists in the disease of dropsy or other diseases. Offences committed by men against the gods, bringing diseases down upon the offender, and offences committed by the gods against men, offences themselves consisting in diseases. The particular plant about to be used in the healing of the patient.
The waking dream, the evil intent -let it fall upon the one we hate; let it fall upon the one who hates us. The goddess Nirṛti, chaos and death. 7.55 Sleeping Spell Several different suggestions have been made for the context of this hymn.
2 White and tawny son of Saramā,5 when you bare your teeth they gleam like spears in your snapping jaws. 3 Bark at the thief or at the marauder, as you run up and back again, O son of Saramä. But you are barking at those who sing Indra's praises; why do you threaten us?
4 Tear apart the wild boar, for he would tear you apart. But you are barking at those who sing Indra's praises; why do you threaten us? 5 Let the mother sleep; let the father sleep; let the dog sleep; let the master of the house sleep.
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Main Points
Frameworks
| Name | What it says | Use when |
|---|---|---|
| Side-by-side cosmologies | RV offers plural origin stories | You want a single RV doctrine |
| Ritual machine | Sacrifice links poem, fire, patron | A hymn seems only literary |
| Anthology frame | Doniger selects and glosses for readers | Using this as the whole Veda |
About this book
The Rig Veda: An Anthology of One Hundred and Eight Hymns by Various Vedic poets, 1981. This is a chapter-by-chapter study of the book, with summaries, maps, tables and diagrams; short quotations keep their page references. It is shared free for personal study, is not for sale, and is not endorsed by the author or publisher. Please read and buy the original.
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