THE RIG VEDA (CONTINUED).--THE LOWER GODS.
AGNI.
Great are the heavenly gods, but greater is Indra, god of the
atmosphere. Greatest are Agni and Soma, the gods of earth.
Agni is the altar-fire. Originally fire, Agni, in distinction from sun
and lightning, is the fire of sacrifice; and as such is he great. One
reads in v. 3. 1-2, that this Agni is Varuna, Indra; that in him are
all the gods. This is, indeed, formally a late view, and can be
paralleled only by a few passages of a comparatively recent period.
Thus, in the late hymn i. 164. 46: "Indra, Mitra, Varuna, Agni, they
say; he is the sun (the bird in the sky); that which is but one they
call variously," etc. So x. 114. 5 and the late passage iii. 38. 7,
have reference to various forms of Agni.
Indra had a twofold nature in producing the union of lightning and
Agni; and this made him mysteriously great. But in Agni is found the
first triality, which, philosophically, is interpreted as a trinity.
The fire of the altar is one with the lightning, and, again, one with
the sun. This is Agni's threefold birth; and all the holy character of
three is exhausted in application where he is concerned. It is the
highest mystery until the very end of the Vedic age. This Agni it is
that is the real Agni of the Rig Veda--the new Agni; for there was
probably an Agni cult (as simple fire) long before the _soma_ cult.
Indra and Agni are one, and both are called the slayers of the
demons[1]. They are both united as an indissoluble pair (iii. 12,
etc.). Agni, with, perhaps, the exception of Soma, is the most
important god in the Rig Veda; and it is no chance that gives him the
first place in each family hymn-book; for in him are found, only in
more fortunate circumstances, exactly the same conditions as obtain in
the case of Indra. He appealed to man as the best friend among divine
beings; he was not far off, to be wondered at; if terrible, to be
propitiated. He was near and kind to friends. And as he seemed to the
vulgar so he appealed to the theosophy which permeates the spirit of
the poets; for he is mysterious; a mediator between god and man (in
carrying to heaven the offerings); a threefold unity, typical of
earth, atmosphere, and heaven. From this point of view, as in the case
of Indra, so in the case of Agni, only to a greater extent, it becomes
impossible to interpret Agni as one element, one phenomenon. There is,
when a distinction is made, an _agni_ which is single, the altar-fire,
separate from other fires; but it is seldom that Agni is not felt as
the threefold one.
And now for the interpretation of the modern ritualists. The Hindu
ritual had 'the three fires,' which every orthodox believer was taught
to keep up. The later literature of the Hindus themselves very
correctly took these three fires as types of the three forms of Agni
known in the Rig Veda. But to the ritualists the historical precedence
is inverted, and they would show that the whole Vedic mythological
view of an Agni triad is the result of identifying Agni with the three
fires of the ritual. From this crass method of interpretation it would
result that all Vedic mythology was the child of the liturgy[2].
As earthly fire Agni is first ignis:[3] "Driven by the wind, he
hastens through the forest with roaring tongues.... black is thy path,
O bright immortal!" "He mows down, as no herd can do, the green
fields; bright his tooth, and golden his beard." "He devours like a
steer that one has tied up." This is common fire, divine, but not of
the altar. The latter Agni is of every hymn. For instance, the first
stanza of the Rig Veda: "Agni, the family priest, I worship; the
divine priest of sacrifice; the oblation priest, who bestows riches,"
where he is invoked under the names of different priests. But Agni is
even more than this; he is the fire (heat) that causes production and
reproduction, visibly manifest in the sun. This dual Agni, it is to be
noticed, is at times the only Agni recognized. The third form is then
added, lightning, and therewith Agni is begotten of Indra, and is,
therefore, one with Indra: "There is only one fire lighted in many
places" (V[=a]l. 10. 2). As a poetical expression, Agni in the last
form is the 'Son of Waters,' an epithet not without significance in
philosophical speculation; for water, through all periods, was
regarded as the material origin of the universe.
Agni is one with the sun, with lightning (and thunder), and descends
into the plants.[4] To man he is house-priest and friend. It is he
that has "grouped men in dwelling-places" (iii. 1. 17) like
Prometheus, in whose dialectic name, Promantheus, lingers still the
fire-creator, the twirling (_math_) sticks which make fire in the
wood. He is man's guest and best friend (Mitra, iv. 1. 9; above).
An hymn or two entire will show what was Agni to the Vedic poet. In
the following, the Rig Veda's first hymn, he is addressed, in the
opening stanza, under the names of house-priest, the chief sacrificial
priest, and the priest that pours oblations. In the second stanza he
is extolled as the messenger who brings the gods to the sacrifice,
himself rising up in sacrificial flames, and forming a link between
earth and heaven. In a later stanza he is called the Messenger
(Angiras =[Greek: aggelos]),--one of his ordinary titles:
To AGNI (i. 1).
I worship Agni; house-priest, he,
And priest divine of sacrifice,
Th' oblation priest, who giveth wealth.
Agni, by seers of old adored,
To be adored by those to-day--
May he the gods bring here to us.
Through Agni can one wealth acquire,
Prosperity from day to day,
And fame of heroes excellent.
O, Agni! whatsoe'er the rite
That thou surround'st on every side,
That sacrifice attains the gods.
May Agni, who oblation gives--
The wisest, true, most famous priest--
This god with (all) the gods approach I
Thou doest good to every man
That serves thee, Agni; even this
Is thy true virtue, Angiras.
To thee, O Agni, day by day,
Do we with prayer at eve and dawn,
Come, bringing lowly reverence;
To thee, the lord of sacrifice,
And shining guardian of the rite,[5]
In thine own dwelling magnified.
As if a father to his son,
Be easy of access to us,
And lead us onward to our weal.
This is mechanical enough to have been made for an established ritual,
as doubtless it was. But it is significant that the ritualistic gods
are such that to give their true character hymns of this sort must be
cited. Such is not the case with the older gods of the pantheon.
Ritualistic as it is, however, it is simple. Over against it may be
set the following (vi. 8): "Now will I praise the strength of the
variegated red bull (Agni), the feasts of the Knower-of-beings[6]
(Agni); to Agni, the friend of all men, is poured out a new song,
sweet to him as clear _soma_. As soon as he was born in highest
heaven, Agni began to protect laws, for he is a guardian of law (or
order). Great in strength, he, the friend of all men, measured out the
space between heaven and earth, and in greatness touched the zenith;
he, the marvellous friend, placed apart heaven and earth; with light
removed darkness; separated the two worlds like skins. Friend of all
men, he took all might to himself.... In the waters' lap the mighty
ones (gods) took him, and people established him king. M[=a]tariçvan,
messenger of the all-shining one, bore him from afar, friend of all
men. Age by age, O Agni, give to poets new glorious wealth for feasts.
O ever-youthful king, as if with a ploughshare, rend the sinner;
destroy him with thy flame, like a tree! But among our lords bring, O
Agni, power unbent, endless strength of heroes; and may we, through
thy assistance, conquer wealth an hundredfold, a thousandfold, O Agni,
thou friend of all; with thy sure protection protect our royal lords,
O helper, thou who hast three habitations; guard for us the host of
them that have been generous, and let them live on, friend of all, now
that thou art lauded."
Aryan, as Kuhn[7] has shown, is at least the conception if not the
particular form of the legend alluded to in this hymn, of fire brought
from the sky to earth, which Promethean act is attributed elsewhere to
the fire-priest.[8] Agni is here Mitra, the friend, as sun-god, and as
such takes all the celestials' activities on himself. Like Indra he
also gives personal strength: "Fair is thy face, O Agni, to the mortal
that desires strength;--they whom thou dost assist overcome their
enemies all their lives" (vi. 16. 25, 27). Agni is drawn down to earth
by means of the twirling-sticks, one the father, one the mother[9].
"The bountiful wood bore the fair variegated son of waters and
plants;[10] the gods united in mind, and payed homage to the glorious
mighty child when he was born" (iii. 1. 13). As the son of waters,
Agni loves wood but retreats to water, and he is so identified with
Indra that he 'thunders' and 'gives rain' (as lightning; ii. 6. 5;
iii. 9. 2).
The deeper significance of Agni-worship is found not alone in the fact
that he is the god in whom are the other gods, nor in that he is the
sun alone, but that "I am Agni, immortality is in my mouth; threefold
my light, eternal fire, my name the oblation (fire)," iii. 26. 7. He
is felt as a mysterious trinity. As a sun he lights earth; and gives
life, sustenance, children, and wealth (iii. 3. 7); as lightning he
destroys, as fire he befriends; like Indra he gives victory (iii. 16.
1); like Varuna he releases the bonds of sin; he is Varuna's brother
(v. 2. 7; vi. 3. 1; iv. 1. 2); his 'many names' are often alluded to
(iii. 20. 3, and above). The ritualistic interpretation of the priest
is that the sun is only a sacrificial fire above lighted by the gods
as soon as the corresponding fire is lighted on earth by men (vi. 2.
3). He is all threefold; three his tongues, his births, his places;
thrice led about the sacrifice given thrice a day (iii. 2. 9; 17. 1;
20. 2; iv, 15. 2; 1. 7; 12. 1). He is the upholder of the religious
order, the guest of mortals, found by the gods in the heavenly waters;
he is near and dear; but he also becomes dreadful to the foe (iii. 1.
3-6; 6. 5; vi. 7. 1; 8. 2; iii. 1. 23; 22. 5; vi. 3. 7; iii. 18. 1;
iv. 4. 4; 1. 6).
It is easy to see that in such a conception of a triune god, who is
fearful yet kind, whose real name is unknown, while his visible
manifestations are in earth, air, and heaven, whose being contains all
the gods, there is an idea destined to overthrow, as it surpasses, the
simpler conceptions of the naturalism that precedes it. Agni as the
one divine power of creation is in fact the origin of the human race:
"From thee come singers and heroes" (vi. 7. 3). The less weight is,
therefore, to be laid on Bergaigne's 'fire origin of man'; it is not
as simple fire, but as universal creator that Agni creates man; it is
not the 'fire-principle'[11] philosophically elicited from connection
of fire and water, but as god-principle, all-creative, that Agni gets
this praise.
Several hymns are dedicated to _Indr[=a]gni_, Indra united with Agni;
and the latter even is identified with Dyaus (iv. 1. 10), this
obsolescent god reviving merely to be absorbed into Agni. As water
purifies from dirt and sin (Varuna), so fire purifies (iv. 12. 4). It
has been suggested on account of v. 12. 5: 'Those that were yours have
spoken lies and left thee,' that there is a decrease in Agni worship.
As this never really happened, and as the words are merely those of a
penitent who has lied and seeks forgiveness at the hands of the god of
truth, the suggestion is not very acceptable. Agni comprehends not
only all naturalistic gods, but such later femininities as Reverence,
Mercy, and other abstractions, including Boundlessness.
Of how great importance was the triune god Agni may be seen by
comparing his three lights with the later sectarian trinity, where
Vishnu, originally the sun, and (Rudra) Çiva, the lightning, are the
preserver and destroyer.
We fear the reader may have thought that we were developing rather a
system of mythology than a history of religion. With the close of the
Vedic period we shall have less to say from a mythological point of
view, but we think that it will have become patent now for what
purpose was intended the mythological basis of our study. Without this
it would have been impossible to trace the gradual growth in the
higher metaphysical interpretation of nature which goes hand in hand
with the deeper religious sense. With this object we have proceeded
from the simpler to the more complex divinities. We have now to take
up a side of religion which lies more apart from speculation, but it
is concerned very closely with man's religious instincts--the worship
of Bacchic character, the reverence for and fear of the death-god, and
the eschatological fancies of the poets, together with those first
attempts at creating a new theosophy which close the period of the Rig
Veda.
SOMA.
Inseparably connected with the worship of Indra and Agni is that of
the 'moon-plant,' _soma_, the intoxicating personified drink to whose
deification must be assigned a date earlier than that of the Vedas
themselves. For the _soma_ of the Hindus is etymologically identified
with the _haoma_ of the Persians (the [Greek: omomi] of Plutarch[12]),
and the cultus at least was begun before the separation of the two
nations, since in each the plant is regarded as a god. The inspiring
effect of intoxication seemed to be due to the inherent divinity of
the plant that produced it; the plant was, therefore, regarded as
divine, and the preparation of the draught was looked upon as a sacred
ceremony[13].
This offering of the juice of the _soma_-plant in India was performed
thrice daily. It is said in the Rig Veda that _soma_ grows upon the
mountain M[=u]javat, that its or his father is Parjanya, the rain-god,
and that the waters are his sisters[14]. From this mountain, or from
the sky, accounts differ, _soma_ was brought by a hawk[15]. He is
himself represented in other places as a bird; and as a divinity he
shares in the praise given to Indra, "who helped Indra to slay
Vritra," the demon that keeps back the rain. Indra, intoxicated by
_soma_, does his great deeds, and indeed all the gods depend on _soma_
for immortality. Divine, a weapon-bearing god, he often simply takes
the place of Indra and other gods in Vedic eulogy. It is the god Soma
himself who slays Vritra, Soma who overthrows cities, Soma who begets
the gods, creates the sun, upholds the sky, prolongs life, sees all
things, and is the one best friend of god and man, the divine drop
(_índu_), the friend of Indra[16].
As a god he is associated not only with Indra, but also with Agni,
Rudra, and P[=u]shan. A few passages in the later portion of the Rig
Veda show that _soma_ already was identified with the moon before the
end of this period. After this the lunar yellow god regularly was
regarded as the visible and divine Soma of heaven, represented on
earth by the plant[17].
From the fact that Soma is the moon in later literature, and
undoubtedly is recognized as such in a small number of the latest
passages of the Rig Veda, the not unnatural inference has been drawn
by some Vedic scholars that Soma, in hymns still earlier, means the
moon; wherever, in fact, epithets hitherto supposed to refer to the
plant may be looked upon as not incompatible with a description of the
moon, there these epithets are to be referred directly to Soma as the
moon-god, not to _soma_, the mere plant. Thus, with Rig Veda, X. 85 (a
late hymn, which speaks of Soma as the moon "in the lap of the stars,"
and as "the days' banner") is to be compared VI. 39. 3, where it is
said that the drop (_soma_) lights up the dark nights, and is the
day's banner. Although this expression, at first view, would seem to
refer to the moon alone, yet it may possibly be regarded as on a par
with the extravagant praise given elsewhere to the _soma_-plant, and
not be so significant of the moon as it appears to be. Thus, in
another passage of the same book, the _soma_, in similar language, is
said to "lay light in the sun," a phrase scarcely compatible with the
moon's sphere of activity[18].
The decision in regard to this question of interpretation is not to be
reached so easily as one might suppose, considering that a whole book,
the ninth, of the Rig Veda is dedicated to Soma, and that in addition
to this there are many hymns addressed to him in the other books. For
in the greater number of passages which may be cited for and against
this theory the objector may argue that the generally extravagant
praise bestowed upon Soma through the Veda is in any one case
merely particularized, and that it is not incongruous to say of the
divine _soma_-plant, "he lights the dark nights," when one reads in
general that he creates all things, including the gods. On the other
hand, the advocate of the theory may reply that everything which does
not apply to the moon-god Soma may be used metaphorically of him.
Thus, where it is said, "Soma goes through the purifying sieve," by
analogy with the drink of the plant _soma_ passing through the sieve
the poet may be supposed to imagine the moon passing through the
sieve-like clouds; and even when this sieve is expressly called the
'sheep's-tail sieve' and 'wool-sieve,' this may still be,
metaphorically, the cloud-sieve (as, without the analogy, one speaks
to-day of woolly clouds and the 'mare's tail').
So it happens that, with an hundred hymns addressed to Soma, it
remains still a matter of discussion whether the _soma_ addressed be
the plant or the moon. Alfred Hillebrandt, to whom is due the problem
in its present form, declares that everywhere[19] in the Rig Veda Soma
means the moon. No better hymn can be found to illustrate the
difficulty under which labors the _soma_-exegete than IX. 15, from
which Hillebrandt takes the fourth verse as conclusive evidence that
by _soma_ only the moon is meant. In that case, as will be seen from
the 'pails,' it must be supposed that the poet leaps from Soma to
_soma_ without warning. Hillebrandt does not include the mention of
the pails in his citation; but in this, as in other doubtful cases, it
seems to us better to give a whole passage than to argue on one or two
verses torn from their proper position:
HYMN TO SOMA (IX. 15).
QUERY: Is the hymn addressed to the plant as it is pressed
out into the pails, or to the moon?
1. This one, by means of prayer (or intelligence), comes
through the fine (sieve), the hero, with swift car, going to
the meeting with Indra.
2. This one thinks much for the sublime assembly of gods,
where sit immortals.
3. This one is despatched and led upon a shining path, when
the active ones urge (him).[20]
4. This one, shaking his horns, sharpens (them), the bull of
the herd, doing heroic deeds forcibly.
5. This one hastens, the strong steed, with bright golden
beams, becoming of streams the lord.
6. This one, pressing surely through the knotty (sieve?) to
good things, comes down into the vessels.
7. This one, fit to be prepared, the active ones prepare in
the pails, as he creates great food.
8. Him, this one, who has good weapons, who is most
intoxicating, ten fingers and seven (or many) prayers
prepare.
Here, as in IX. 70, Hillebrandt assumes that the poet turns suddenly
from the moon to the plant. Against this might be urged the use of the
same pronoun throughout the hymn. It must be confessed that at first
sight it is almost as difficult to have the plant, undoubtedly meant
in verses 7 and 8, represented by the moon in the preceding verses, as
it is not to see the moon in the expression 'shaking his horns.' This
phrase occurs in another hymn, where Hillebrandt, with the same
certainty as he does here, claims it for the moon, though the first
part of this hymn as plainly refers to the plant, IX. 70. 1, 4. Here
the plant is a steer roaring like the noise of the Maruts (5-6), and
then (as above, after the term steer is applied to the plant), it is
said that he 'sharpens his horns,' and is 'sightly,' and further, 'he
sits down in the fair place ... on the wooly back,' etc., which bring
one to still another hymn where are to be found like expressions,
used, evidently, not of the moon, but of the plant, _viz._ to IX. 37,
a hymn not cited by Hillebrandt:
This strong (virile) _soma_, pressed for drink, flows into
the purifying vessel; this sightly (as above, where
Hillebrandt says it is epithet of the moon), yellow, fiery
one, is flowing into the purifying vessel; roaring into its
own place (as above). This strong one, clear, shining (or
purifying itself), runs through the shining places of the
sky, slaying evil demons, through the sheep-hair-sieve. On
the back of Trita this one shining (or purifying itself)
made bright the sun with (his) sisters.[21] This one,
slaying Vritra, strong, pressed out, finding good things (as
above), uninjured, _soma_, went as if for booty. This god,
sent forth by seers, runs into the vessels, the drop
(_indu_) for Indra, quickly (or willingly).
So far as we can judge, after comparing these and the other passages
that are cited by Hillebrandt as decisive for a lunar interpretation
of _soma_, it seems quite as probable that the epithets and
expressions used are employed of the plant metaphorically as that the
poet leaps thus lightly from plant to moon. And there is a number of
cases which plainly enough are indicative of the plant alone to make
it improbable that Hillebrandt is correct in taking Soma as the moon
'everywhere in the Rig Veda.' It may be that the moon-cult is somewhat
older than has been supposed, and that the language is consciously
veiled in the ninth book to cover the worship of a deity as yet only
partly acknowledged as such. But it is almost inconceivable that an
hundred hymns should praise the moon; and all the native commentators,
bred as they were in the belief of their day that _soma_ and the moon
were one, should not know that _soma_ in the Rig Veda (as well as
later) means the lunar deity. It seems, therefore, safer to abide by
the belief that _soma_ usually means what it was understood to mean,
and what the general descriptions in the _soma_-hymns more or less
clearly indicate, _viz._, the intoxicating plant, conceived of as
itself divine, stimulating Indra, and, therefore, the _causa movens_
of the demon's death, Indra being the _causa efficiens_. Even the
allusions to _soma_ being in the sky is not incompatible with this.
For he is carried thence from the place of sacrifice. Thus too in 83.
1-2: "O lord of prayer[22], thy purifier (the sieve) is extended.
Prevailing thou enterest its limbs on all sides. Raw (_soma_), that
has not been cooked (with milk) does not enter into it. Only the
cooked (_soma_), going through, enters it. The sieve of the hot drink
is extended in the place of the sky. Its gleaming threads extend on
all sides. This (_soma_'s) swift (streams) preserve the man that
purifies them, and wisely ascend to the back of the sky." In this, as
in many hymns, the drink _soma_ is clearly addressed; yet expressions
are used which, if detached, easily might be thought to imply the moon
(or the sun, as with Bergaigne)--a fact that should make one employ
other expressions of the same sort with great circumspection.
Or, let one compare, with the preparation by the ten fingers, 85. 7:
"Ten fingers rub clean (prepare) the steed in the vessels; uprise the
songs of the priests. The intoxicating drops, as they purify
themselves, meet the song of praise and enter Indra." Exactly the same
images as are found above may be noted in IX. 87, where not the moon,
but the plant, is conspicuously the subject of the hymn: "Run into the
pail, purified by men go unto booty. They lead thee like a swift horse
with reins to the sacrificial straw, preparing (or rubbing) thee. With
good weapons shines the divine (shining) drop (_Indu_), slaying
evil-doers, guarding the assembly; the father of the gods, the clever
begetter, the support of the sky, the holder of earth.... This one,
the _soma_ (plant) on being pressed out, ran swiftly into the purifier
like a stream let out, sharpening his two sharp horns like a buffalo;
like a true hero hunting for cows; he is come from the highest
press-stone," etc. It is the noise of _soma_ dropping that is compared
with 'roaring.' The strength given by (him) the drink, makes
him appear as the 'virile one,' of which force is the activity, and
the bull the type. Given, therefore, the image of the bull, the rest
follows easily to elaborate the metaphor. If one add that _soma_ is
luminous (yellow), and that all luminous divinities are 'horned
bulls[23],' then it will be unnecessary to see the crescent moon in
_soma_. Moreover, if _soma_ be the same with Brihaspati, as thinks
Hillebrandt, why are there three horns in V. 43. 13? Again, that the
expression 'sharpening his horns' does not refer necessarily to the
moon may be concluded from x. 86. 15, where it is stated expressly
that the _drink_ is a sharp-horned steer: "Like a sharp-horned steer
is thy brewed drink, O Indra," probably referring to the taste. The
sun, Agni, and Indra are all, to the Vedic poet, 'sharp-horned
steers[24],' and the _soma_ plant, being luminous and strong
(bull-like), gets the same epithet.
The identity is rather with Indra than with the moon, if one be
content to give up brilliant theorizing, and simply follow the poets:
"The one that purifies himself yoked the sun's swift steed over man
that he might go through the atmosphere, and these ten steeds of the
sun he yoked to go, saying Indra is the drop (_Indu_)." When had ever
the moon the power to start the sun? What part in the pantheon is
played by the moon when it is called by its natural name (not by the
priestly name, _soma_)? Is _m[=a]s_ or _candramas_ (moon) a power of
strength, a great god? The words scarcely occur, except in late hymns,
and the moon, by his own folk-name, is hardly praised except in
mechanical conjunction with the sun. The floods of which _soma_ is
lord are explained in IX. 86. 24-25: "The hawk (or eagle) brought thee
from the sky, O drop (_Indu_[25]), ... seven milk-streams sing to the
yellow one as he purifies himself with the wave in the sieve of
sheep's wool. The active strong ones have sent forth the wise seer in
the lap of the waters." If one wishes to clear his mind in respect of
what the Hindu attributes to the divine drink (expressly drink, and
not moon), let him read IX. 104, where he will find that "the twice
powerful god-rejoicing intoxicating drink" finds goods, finds a path
for his friends, puts away every harmful spirit and every devouring
spirit, averts the false godless one and all oppression; and read also
ix. 21. I-4: "These _soma_-drops for Indra flow rejoicing, maddening,
light-(or heaven-) finding, averting attackers, finding desirable
things for the presser, making life for the singer. Like waves the
drops flow into one vessel, playing as they will. These _soma_-drops,
let out like steeds (attached) to a car, as they purify themselves,
attain all desirable things." According to IX. 97. 41^2 and _ib._ 37.
4 (and other like passages, too lightly explained, p. 387, by
Hillebrandt), it is _soma_ that "produced the light in the sun" and
"makes the sun rise," statements incompatible with the (lunar) Soma's
functions, but quite in accordance with the magic power which the
poets attribute to the divine drink. Soma is 'king over treasure.'
Soma is brought by the eagle that all may "see light" (IX. 48. 3-4).
He traverses the sky, and guards order--but not necessarily is he here
the moon, for _soma_, the drink, as a "galloping steed," "a brilliant
steer," a "stream of pressed _soma_," "a dear sweet," "a helper of
gods," is here poured forth; after him "flow great water-floods"; and
he "purifies himself in the sieve, he the supporter, holder of the
sky"; he "shines with the sun," "roars," and "looks like Mitra"; being
here both "the intoxicating draught," and at the same time "the giver
of kine, giver of men, giver of horses, giver of strength, the soul of
sacrifice" (IX. 2).
Soma is even older than the Vedic Indra as slayer of Vritra and
snakes. Several Indo-Iranian epithets survive (of _soma_ and _haoma_,
respectively), and among those of Iran is the title 'Vritra-slayer,'
applied to _haoma_, the others being 'strong' and 'heaven-winning,'
just as in the Veda[26]. All three of them are contained in one of the
most lunar-like of the hymns to Soma, which, for this reason, and
because it is one of the few to this deity that seem to be not
entirely mechanical, is given here nearly in full, with the original
shift of metre in the middle of the hymn (which may possibly indicate
that two hymns have been united).
To SOMA (I. 91).
Thou, Soma, wisest art in understanding;
Thou guidest (us) along the straightest pathway;
'Tis through thy guidance that our pious[27] fathers
Among the gods got happiness, O Indu.
Thou, Soma, didst become in wisdom wisest;
In skill[28] most skilful, thou, obtaining all things.
A bull in virile strength, thou, and in greatness;
In splendor wast thou splendid, man-beholder.
Thine, now, the laws of kingly Varuna[29];
Both high and deep the place of thee, O Soma.
Thou brilliant art as Mitra, the belovèd[30],
Like Aryaman, deserving service, art thou.
Whate'er thy places be in earth or heaven,
Whate'er in mountains, or in plants and waters,
In all of these, well-minded, not injurious,
King Soma, our oblations meeting, take thou.
Thou, Soma, art the real lord,
Thou king and Vritra-slayer, too;
Thou art the strength that gives success.
And, Soma, let it be thy will
For us to live, nor let us die[31];
Thou lord of plants[32], who lovest praise.
Thou, Soma, bliss upon the old,
And on the young and pious man
Ability to live, bestowest.
Do thou, O Soma, on all sides
Protect us, king, from him that sins,
No harm touch friend of such as thou.
Whatever the enjoyments be
Thou hast, to help thy worshipper,
With these our benefactor be.
This sacrifice, this song, do thou,
Well-pleased, accept; come unto us;
Make for our weal, O Soma, thou.
In songs we, conversant with words,
O Soma, thee do magnify;
Be merciful and come to us.
* * *[33]
All saps unite in thee and all strong powers,
All virile force that overcomes detraction;
Filled full, for immortality, O Soma,
Take to thyself the highest praise in heaven.
The sacrifice shall all embrace--whatever
Places thou hast, revered with poured oblations.
Home-aider, Soma, furtherer with good heroes,
Not hurting heroes, to our houses come thou.
Soma the cow gives; Soma, the swift charger;
Soma, the hero that can much accomplish
(Useful at home, in feast, and in assembly
His father's glory)--gives, to him that worships.
In war unharmed; in battle still a saviour;
Winner of heaven and waters, town-defender,
Born mid loud joy, and fair of home and glory,
A conqueror, thou; in thee may we be happy.
Thou hast, O Soma, every plant begotten;
The waters, thou; and thou, the cows; and thou hast
Woven the wide space 'twixt the earth and heaven;
Thou hast with light put far away the darkness.
With mind divine, O Soma, thou divine[34] one,
A share of riches win for us, O hero;
Let none restrain thee, thou art lord of valor;
Show thyself foremost to both sides in battle[35].
Of more popular songs, Hillebrandt cites as sung to Soma (!) VIII. 69.
8-10:
Sing loud to him, sing loud to him;
Priyamedhas, oh, sing to him,
And sing to him the children, too;
Extol him as a sure defence....
To _Indra_ is the prayer up-raised.
The three daily _soma_-oblations are made chiefly to Indra and
V[=a]yu; to Indra at mid-day; to the Ribhus, artisans of the gods, at
evening; and to Agni in the morning.
Unmistakable references to Soma as the moon, as, for instance, in X.
85. 3: "No one eats of that _soma_ which the priests know," seem
rather to indicate that the identification of moon and Soma was
something esoteric and new rather than the received belief of
pre-Vedic times, as will Hillebrandt. This moon-_soma_ is
distinguished from the "_soma_-plant which they crush."
The floods of _soma_ are likened to, or, rather, identified with, the
rain-floods which the lightning frees, and, as it were, brings to
earth with him. A whole series of myths depending on this natural
phenomenon has been evolved, wherein the lightning-fire
as an eagle brings down _soma_ to man, that is, the heavenly drink.
Since Agni is threefold and the G[=a]yatri metre is threefold, they
interchange, and in the legends it is again the metre which brings the
_soma_, or an archer, as is stated in one doubtful passage[36].
What stands out most clearly in _soma_-laudations is that the
_soma_-hymns are not only quite mechanical, but that they presuppose a
very complete and elaborate ritual, with the employment of a number of
priests, of whom the _hotars_ (one of the various sets of priests)
alone number five in the early and seven in the late books; with a
complicated service; with certain divinities honored at certain hours;
and other paraphernalia of sacerdotal ceremony; while Indra, most
honored with Soma, and Agni, most closely connected with the execution
of sacrifice, not only receive the most hymns, but these hymns are,
for the most part, palpably made for ritualistic purposes. It is this
truth that the ritualists have seized upon and too sweepingly applied.
For in every family book, besides this baksheesh verse, occur the
older, purer hymns that have been retained after the worship for which
they were composed had become changed into a trite making of phrases.
Hillebrandt has failed to show that the Iranian _haoma_ is the moon,
so that as a starting-point there still is plant and drink-worship,
not moon-worship. At what precise time, therefore, the _soma_ was
referred to the moon is not so important. Since drink-worship stands
at one end of the series, and moon-worship at the other, it is
antecedently probable that here and there there may be a doubt as to
which of the two was intended. Some of the examples cited by
Hillebrandt may indeed be referable to the latter end of the series
rather than to the former; but that the author, despite the learning
and ingenuity of his work, has proved his point definitively, we are
far from believing. It is just like the later Hindu speculation to
think out a subtle connection between moon and _soma_-plant because
each was yellow, and swelled, and went through a sieve (cloud), etc.
But there is a further connecting link in that the divinity ascribed
to the intoxicant led to a supposition that it was brought from the
sky, the home of the gods; above all, of the luminous gods, which the
yellow _soma_ resembled. Such was the Hindu belief, and from this as a
starting-point appears to have come the gradual identification of
_soma_ with the moon, now called Soma. For the moon, even under the
name of Gandharva, is not the object of especial worship.
The question so ably discussed by Hillebrandt is, however, one of
considerable importance from the point of view of the religious
development. If _soma_ from the beginning was the moon, then there is
only one more god of nature to add to the pantheon. But if, as we
believe in the light of the Avesta and Veda itself, _soma_ like
_haoma_, was originally the drink-plant (the root _su_ press, from
which comes _soma_, implies the plant), then two important facts
follow. First, in the identification of yellow _soma_-plant with
yellow moon in the latter stage of the Rig Veda (which coincides with
the beginning of the Brahmanic period) there is a striking
illustration of the gradual mystical elevation of religion at the
hands of the priests, to whom it appeared indecent that mere drink
should be exalted thus; and secondly, there is the significant fact
that in the Indic and Iranian cult there was a direct worship of
deified liquor, analogous to Dionysiac rites, a worship which is not
unparalleled in other communities. Again, the surprising identity of
worship in Avesta and Veda, and the fact that hymns to the earlier
deities, Dawn, Parjanya, etc, are frequently devoid of any relation to
the _soma_-cult not only show that Bergaigne's opinion that the whole
Rig Veda is but a collection of hymns for _soma_-worship as handed
down in different families must be modified; but also that, as we have
explained _apropos_ of Varuna, the Iranian cult must have branched off
from the Vedic cult (whether, as Haug thought, on account of a
religious schism or not); that the hymns to the less popular deities
(as we have defined the word) make the first period of Vedic cult; and
that the special liquor-cult, common to Iran and India, arose after
the first period of Vedic worship, when, for example, Wind, Parjanya,
and Varuna were at their height, and before the priests had exalted
mystically Agni or Soma, and even Indra was as yet undeveloped.
* * * * *
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 1: viii. 38. 4; i. 108. 3; Bergaigne, ii. 293.]
[Footnote 2: On this point Bergaigne deprecates the
application of the ritualistic method, and says in words
that cannot be too emphasized: "Mais qui ne voit que de
telles exptications n'expliquent rien, ou plutôt que le
détail du rituel ne peut trouver son explication que dans le
mythe, bien loin de pouvoir servir lui-mêmes à expliquer le
mythe?... Ni le ciel seul ni la terre seule, mais la terre
et le ciel étroitement unis et presque confondus, voilà le
vrai domaine de la mythologie védique, mythologie dont le
rituel n'est que la reproduction" (i. p. 24).]
[Footnote 3: i. 58. 4; v. 7. 7; vi. 3. 4.]
[Footnote 4: iii. 14. 4; i. 71. 9; vi. 3. 7; 6. 2; iv. 1.
9.]
[Footnote 5: Or of time or order.]
[Footnote 6: Or 'Finder-of-beings.']
[Footnote 7: _Herabkunft des Feuers und des Göttertrankes_.]
[Footnote 8: RV. vi. 16. 13: "Thee, Agni, from out the sky
Atharvan twirled," _nir amanthata_ (cf. Promantheus). In x.
462 the Bhrigus, [Greek: phleghyai], discover fire.]
[Footnote 9: Compare v. 2. 1. Sometimes Agni is "born with
the fingers," which twirl the sticks (iii. 26. 3; iv. 6.
8).]
[Footnote 10: Compare ii. 1: "born in flame from water,
cloud, and plants ... thou art the creator."]
[Footnote 11: Bergaigne, i. p. 32 ff. The question of
priestly names (loc. cit. pp. 47-50), should start with
Bharata as [Greek: purphoros], a common title of Agni (ii.
7; vi. 16. 19-21). So Bhrigu is the 'shining' one; and
Vasishtha is the 'most shining' (compare Vasus, not good but
shining gods). The priests got their names from their god,
like Jesuits. Compare Gritsamada in the Bhrigu family (book
ii.); Viçv[=a]-mitra, 'friend of all,' in the Bharata family
(book iii.); Gautama V[=a]madeva belonging to Angirasas
(book iv.); Atri 'Eater,' epithet of Agni in RV. (book v.);
Bharadv[=a]ja 'bearing food' (book vi.); Vasishtha (book
vii.); and besides these Jamadagni and Kaçyapa,
black-toothed (Agni).']
[Footnote 12: De Isid. et Osir. 46. Compare Windischmann,
_Ueber den Somacultus der Arier_ (1846), and Muir, _Original
Sanskrit Texts_, vol. ii. p. 471. Hillebrandt, _Vedische
Mythologie_, i. p. 450, believes _haoma_ to mean the moon,
as does _soma_ in some hymns of the Rig Veda (see below).]
[Footnote 13: Compare Kuhn, _Herabkunft des Feuers und des
Göttertrankes_ (1859); Bergaigne, _La Religion Védique_, i.
148 ff.; Haug's _[=A]itareya Br[=a]hmana_, Introduction, p.
62; Whitney in _Jour. Am. Or. Soc_. III. 299; Muir,
_Original Sanskrit Texts_, vol. V. p. 258 ff., where other
literature is cited.]
[Footnote 14: RV. X. 34. 1; IX. 98. 9; 82.3. The Vedic plant
is unknown (not the _sarcostemma viminale_).]
[Footnote 15: RV. III. 43. 7; IV. 26.6 (other references in
Muir, _loc. cit._ p. 262.) Perhaps rain as _soma_ released by
lightning as a hawk (Bloomfield).]
[Footnote 16: See the passages cited in Muir, _loc. cit_.]
[Footnote 17: A complete account of _soma_ was given by the
Vedic texts will be found in Hillebrandt's _Vedische
Mythologie_, vol. I., where are described the different ways
of fermenting the juice of the plant.]
[Footnote 18: Although so interpreted by Hillebrandt, _loc.
cit._ p. 312. The passage is found in RV. VI. 44. 23.]
[Footnote 19: _Loc. cit._ pp. 340, 450.]
[Footnote 20: Compare IX. 79. 5, where the same verb is used
of striking, urging out the _soma_-juice, _r[=a]sa_.]
[Footnote 21: Compare IX. 32. 2, where "Trita's maidens urge
on the golden steed with the press-stones, _índu_ as a drink
for Indra."]
[Footnote 22: On account of the position and content of this
hymn, Hillebrandt regards it as addressed to
Soma-Brihaspati.]
[Footnote 23: So the sun in I. 163. 9, II. 'Sharpening his
horns' is used of fire in i. 140. 6; v. 2. 9.]
[Footnote 24: VI. 16. 39; vii. 19. I; VIII. 60. 13.]
[Footnote 25 3: IX. 63. 8-9; 5. 9. Soma is identified with
lightning in ix. 47. 3.]
[Footnote 26: _Hukhratus, verethrajao, hvaresa_.]
[Footnote 27: Or: wise.]
[Footnote 28 3: Or: strength. Above, 'shared riches,'
perhaps, for 'got happiness.']
[Footnote 29: Or: thine, indeed, are the laws of King
Varuna.]
[Footnote 30: Or: brilliant and beloved as Mitra (Mitra
means friend); Aryaman is translated 'bosom-friend'--both
are [=A]dityas.]
[Footnote 31: Or: an thou willest for us to live we shall
not die.]
[Footnote 32: Or: lordly plant, but not the moon.]
[Footnote 33: Some unessential verses in the above metre are
here omitted.]
[Footnote 34: Or: shining.]
[Footnote 35: The same ideas are prominent in viii. 48,
where Soma is invoked as '_soma_ that has been drunk,'
_i.e.,_ the juice of the ('three days fermented') plant.]
[Footnote 36: In the fourth book, iv. 27. 3. On this myth,
with its reasonable explanation as deduced from the ritual,
see Bloomfield, JAOS. xvi. I ff. Compare also Muir and
Hillebrandt, loc. cit.]
* * * * *