The word _Veda_ is explained by Sanskrit scholars as meaning _knowing_
or _knowledge_, and as being related to the Greek oἵδα. The works
comprised under this designation are manifold, and appertain to
widely different epochs. In the first place they fall into two main
classes, the _Sanhitâ_ and the _Brâhmana_. The Sanhitâ portion of
the Veda consists of hymns or metrical compositions addressed to the
several deities worshiped by their authors, and expressing religious
sentiment; the Brâhmana portion, of theological treatises in prose
of an expository, ritualistic and didactic character. Across this
subdivision into two classes there runs another of the whole Veda into
four so-called Vedas, the Rig-Veda, the Yajur-Veda, the Sâma-Veda,
and the Atharva-Veda. Each of these has its own Sanhitâs, and its own
Brâhmanas; but the Sanhitâ, or hymns, of the three other Vedas are
not materially different from those of the Rig-Veda. On the Rig-Veda
they are all founded; this is the fundamental Veda, or great Veda; and
in knowing this one we should know all. The other three, according to
Max Müller, contain "chiefly extracts from the Rig-Veda, together with
sacrificial formulas, charms, and incantations" (Chips, vol. i. p. 9).
It must not therefore be imagined that we have in these four Vedas four
different collections of hymns. They are rather four different versions
of the same collection, the Sâma-Veda, for instance, containing but
seventy-one verses which are wanting in the Rig-Veda (S. V., p.
xxviii), and being otherwise "little more than a repetition of the Soma
Mandala of the Rich" (Wilson, vol. i. p. xxxvii), or of that book of
the Rig-Veda which is devoted to the god Soma. The Atharva-Veda-Sanhitâ
is indeed to a certain extent an exception; belonging to a later age,
it has some hymns altogether peculiar to itself, and its fifteenth
book "has something of the nature of a Brâhmana" (O. S. T., vol. i. p.
2). It must be noted, moreover, that of the Yajur-Veda there are two
different versions, the Black and the White Yajur-Veda, said to have
descended from two rival schools. The hymns of the first are termed the
Taittiriya-Sanhitâ, those of the second the Vâjasaneyi-Sanhitâ.
The origin of those four distinct, yet not different Vedas, is thus
explained. In certain sacrifices, formerly celebrated in India, four
classes of priests were required, each class being destined for the
performance of distinct offices. To such of these classes was assigned
one of the Vedas, which contained the hymns required by that class.
Thus the Sâma-Veda was the prayer-book of the Udgâtri priests, or
choristers, who chant the hymns. The Yajur-Veda was the prayer-book
of the Adhvaryu priests, or attendant ministers, who prepare the
ground, slay the victims, and so forth. The Atharva-Veda was said to be
intended for the Brahman who was, according to one of the Brâhmanas,
the "physician of the sacrifice;" the general superintendent who was to
tell if any mistake had been committed in it (A. B., 5. 5.—vol. ii. p.
376). For the fourth class, the Hotri priests, or reciters of hymns,
no special collection was made in the form of a liturgy. They used the
Rig-Veda, a collection of the hymns in general without any special
object, and they were supposed to know the sacred poetry without the
help of a prayer-book (A. S. L., pp. 175, 473, and Chips, vol. i. p. 9).
Originally preserved by scattered individuals (for the Mantra part of
the Vedas, [or their Sanhitâ] was composed in an age when writing was
not in use), the hymns were subsequently collected and arranged in
their present form: a task which Indian tradition assigns to Vyâsa, the
Arranger, but which was probably the work of many different scholars,
possibly during many generations. The same tradition asserts that each
Veda was collected, under Vyâsa's superintendence, by a different
editor; and that the collections, transmitted from these primary
compilers to their disciples, were, in the course of transmission,
rearranged in various ways, until the number of Sanhitâs of each Veda
in circulation was very considerable. Each school had its own version,
but the differences are supposed by Wilson to have concerned only the
order, not the matter of the Sûktas.
The extreme antiquity of our extant Veda is guaranteed by the amplest
testimony. In the indexes compiled by native scholars 500 or 600
years before Christ, "we find every hymn, every verse, every word and
syllable of the Veda accurately counted" (Chips, vol. i. p. 11). Before
this was done, not only was the whole vast collection complete, but it
was ancient; for had it been a recent composition it would not have
enjoyed the preëminent sanctity which rendered it the object of this
minute attention. And not only is the Veda ancient, but it has been
shown that, from the variety of its component strata, it must have been
the growth of no small period of time, its earliest elements being
of an almost unfathomable antiquity. Max Müller, who has elaborately
treated this question, divides the Vaidik age—the age during which
the Veda was in process of formation—into four great epochs. The most
primitive hymns of the Rig-Veda he attributes to what he terms _the
Chhandas period_ (from Chhandas, or metre), the limits of which cannot
be fixed in the ascending direction, but which descends no later than
1000 B.C. And he thinks that "we cannot well assign a date more recent
than 1200 to 1500 before our era" (Ibid., vol. i. p. 13) for the
composition of these hymns. The ten books of the Rig-Veda, however,
comprise the poetry of two different ages. Some of the hymns betray a
more recent origin, and must be assigned to the second, or _Mantra
period_. These comparatively modern compositions belong to a time
which may have extended from about 1000 to about 800 B.C. After this
we enter on the _Brâhmana period_, in which the Rig-Veda-Sanhitâ not
only existed, but had reached the stage of being misinterpreted, its
original sense having been forgotten. During this period—which we may
place from B.C. 800 to 600—the national thought took the form of prose,
and the Brâhmanas were written. Here the age of actually-inspired
literature terminates, and we arrive at the _Sûtra period_, which may
have lasted till 200 B.C. Works of high authority, but not in the
strict sense revealed works, were produced during these four hundred
years (A. S. L., _passim_). An equal, or greater antiquity is usually
claimed by other Sanskritists for these several classes of sacred
literature. Wilson would place Manu (who belongs to the Sûtra period)
not lower than the fifth or sixth century; the Brâhmana literature in
the seventh or eighth; and would allow at least four or five centuries
before this for the composition and currency of the hymns, thus
reaching the date of 1200 or 1300 before the Christian era (Wilson,
vol. i. p. xlvii).
Haug, who believes that "a strict distinction between a Chhandas and
Mantra period is hardly admissible," and that certain sacrificial
formulas, considered by Max Müller to be more recent, are in fact some
centuries older than the finished hymns ascribed by that scholar to the
Chhandas age, carries back the composition of both Sanhitâ and Brâhmana
to a much earlier date. "The bulk of the Brâhmanas" he assigns to B.C.
1400-1200; and "the bulk of the Sanhitâs" to B.C. 2000-1400; while "the
oldest hymns and sacrificial formulas may be a few hundred years more
ancient still," and thus "the very commencement of Vedic literature"
might be between B.C. 2400 and 2000 (A. B., vol. i. pp. 47, 48). While
Benfey, considering that the Prâtisâkhyas (a branch of the Sûtras) must
have been composed from B.C. 800 to 600, observes that the text of the
Sâma-Veda must extend beyond this epoch (S. V., p. xxix).
Of the several Sanhitâs, that of the Rig-Veda (whose name is derived
from a word _rich_, praise) is usually considered the most ancient,
though Benfey expresses the opinion that the text of the Sâma-Veda may
possibly be borrowed from an older version of the Rig-Veda than before
us (Ibid., p. xxix). Max Müller, on the other hand, conceives the Sâma
and Yajur-Vedas to have been probably the production of the Brâhmana
period (A. S. L., p. 457). He even denies to any but the Rich the right
to be called Veda at all (Chips, vol. i. p. 9). Whatever claim, or want
of claim, they may possess to the honor, it is certain that they have
for more than 2,000 years invariably received it at the hands of the
Hindus themselves. So far from admitting the preëminence of the Rich,
the ancient Hindus, according to one of their descendants, held the
Sâma in the highest veneration (Chhand. Up., introduction, p. 1). If a
doubt can exist as to the canonicity of any one of them, it can only
apply to the Atharva-Veda; for in certain texts we find mention made
of three Vedas only, the Atharva, from its comparatively late origin,
having apparently been long denied the privilege of admission to an
equal rank with its compeers.
Whatever their antiquity, the sanctity of these works in Indian opinion
is of the highest order. Never has the theory of inspiration been
pushed to such an extreme. The Veda was the direct creation of Brahma;
and the Rishis, or Sages, who are the nominal authors of the hymns,
did not compose them, but simply "saw" them. Although, therefore, the
name of one of these seers is coupled with each hymn, it must not be
supposed that he did more than perceive the divine poem which was
revealed to his privileged vision. And the Veda is distinguished as
_Sruti_, Revelation, from the _Smriti_, Tradition, under which term
is included a great variety of works enjoying a high, but not an
independent, authority. They are to be accepted, in theory at least,
only when they agree with the Veda, and to be set aside if they happen
to differ from it; while no such thing as a contradiction within the
body of the Veda is for a moment to be thought of as possible, apparent
inconsistencies being only due to our imperfect interpretations. The
Sruti class comprises only the Mantra of each Veda and its Brâhmanas;
the Smriti consists of the great national epics, namely the Râmâyana
and Mahâbhârata; the Mânava-Dharma-Sastra, or Menu; the Purânas; the
Sûtras, or aphorisms; and the so-called six Vedângas, a term indicating
six branches of study carried on by the help of treatises on the
pronunciation, grammar, metre, explanation of words, astronomy, and
ceremonial of the Veda. How thoroughly the Veda was analyzed, how
minutely every word of it was investigated, is shown by the fact that
these Vedângas all have direct reference to it, and were intended to
assist in its comprehension. And in ancient times it was the duty of
Brahmans to be well acquainted both with the Sûktas (hymns), and with
their application to ritual. A Brahman, indeed, who wanted to marry was
not obliged to devote more than twelve years to learning the Veda, but
an unmarrying Brahman might spend forty-eight years upon it (A. S. L.,
p. 503).
SUBDIVISION 1.—_The Sanhitâ._
Passing now to a more detailed consideration of the Mantra division, we
find that the Rig-Veda-Sanhitâ—the most comprehensive specimen of this
division—comprises more than a thousand short poems, of which the vast
majority are addressed to one or more of the Indian gods. A few only,
and those believed to be of later origin, are of a different character.
This collection is divided in two ways; into ten Mandalas, or eight
Ashtakas, the two divisions being quite independent of one another.
Under each of these greater heads are several lesser ones, which it is
needless to enumerate. The deities to whom the hymns are devoted are
exceedingly various and numerous, but as this is not an essay specially
intended to elucidate the Veda, but aiming only at a general comparison
of this with other sacred books, it would be going beyond our scope to
attempt a full account of their several names, attributes, and honors.
A few only of the more conspicuous gods need be noticed.
Of these, Agni, as the one with whose praises the Rig-Veda opens, and
who, next to Indra, is the principal character in the Vedic hymnology,
claims our attention first. He is the god of fire, or more literally,
he is the fire itself, and a god at the same time. His name is almost
identical with the Latin _Ignis_. He is frequently spoken of as
generated by the rubbing of sticks, for in this manner did the Rishis
kindle the fire required for their sacrifices. The sudden birth of the
fiery element in consequence of this process must have impressed them
as profoundly mysterious. They allude to it under various images.
Thus, the upper stick is said to impregnate the lower, which brings
forth Agni. He is the bearer of human sacrifices to the gods; a kind of
telegraph from earth to heaven. Many are the blessings asked of him.
But let the Rishis speak for themselves. Here is the first Sûkta of the
Rig-Veda-Sanhitâ:—
1. "I praise Agni, the household priest, the divine offerer of the
sacrifice, the inviter who keeps all treasures. 2. Agni, worthy of the
praises of the ancient Rishis, and also of ours, do thou bring hither
the gods. 3. By Agni, _the sacrificer_ enjoys wealth, that grows from
day to day, confers renown, and surrounds him with heroes. 4. Agni,
the sacrifice which thou keepest from all sides uninvaded, approaches
surely the gods. 5. Agni, inviter, performer of gracious deeds,
thou who art truthful, and who shinest with various glories, come
thou, O God, with the gods. 6. The prosperity, which thou, O Agni,
bestowest upon the worshiper, will be in truth _a prosperity_ to thee,
O Angiras. 7. We approach thee in our minds, O Agni, day after day,
by night and day, to offer thee our adoration. 8. Thee the radiant
guardian of the meet _reward_ of the sacrifices, who is resplendent
and increasing in his sacred house. 9. Be thou, O Agni, accessible to
us, as a father is to the son; be near us for our welfare" (Roer, p.
1).
Even more important than Agni is Indra, the great national god of
the Hindus. He is above all things a combative god. His strength is
immense, and his worshipers implore him to give them victory and power.
He slays the demon Vrittra, a myth symbolizing the dispersion of clouds
by the sun. Above all, he loves the juice of the Soma plant (_Asclepias
acida_), which is poured out to him abundantly in sacrifice, which he
consumes with avidity, and from which he derives renewed force and
energy. These two stanzas, taken from the Sâma-Veda, express some of
his attributes:—
"Thou, O Indra, art glorious, thou art victorious, thou art the lord
of strength; thou conquerest the strong enemies singly and alone, thou
unconquered refuge of men. To thee, living One, we pray; to thee now
the very wise, for treasures, as for our share; may thy blessing be
granted us" (S. V., ii. 6. 2. 12).
The following hymn brings into especial prominence the more warlike
functions of Indra, and may be regarded as a prayer "in the time of war
and tumults:"—
8. "May Indra be the leader of these (our armies); may Brihaspati,
Largess, Sacrifice and Soma march in front; may the host of Maruts
precede the crushing, victorious armies of the gods. May the fierce
host of the vigorous Indra, of King Varuna, of the Adityas, and the
Maruts (go before us); the shout of the great-souled, conquering,
world-shaking gods, has ascended.... 10. Rouse, O opulent god, the
weapons, rouse the souls of our warriors, stimulate the power of the
mighty men; may shouts arise from the conquering chariots. 11. May
Indra be ours when the standards clash; may our arrows be victorious:
may our strong men gain the upper-hand; preserve us, O gods, in the
fray. 12. Bewildering the hearts of our enemies, O Apvâ (Apvâ is
explained as a disease or fear), take possession of their limbs and
pass onward; come near, burn them with fires in their hearts; may our
enemies fall into blind darkness" (O. S. T., vol. v. p. 110.—Rig-Veda,
x. 103).
Indra's Soma-drinking propensities are not particularly alluded to in
these verses: elsewhere they form the ever-recurring burden of the
chants of which he is the hero. Thus, to take but one specimen, which,
by its resemblance to others, may fitly stand for all, he is thus
lauded:—
1. "May the Somas delight thee! bestow grace, O hurler of lightning!
destroy him who hates the priest. 2. Thou who art praiseworthy, drink
our drink! thou art sprinkled with streams of honey! from thee, O
Indra, glory is derived.... 4. The Indus (the Somas) stream into thee,
like rivers, Indra! into the sea, and never overfill thee" (S. V., i.
1. 1).
Indra is, in fact, the Zeus of Indian mythology; the thunderer, the
god of the sky, the all-powerful protector of men and destroyer of
the demons of darkness. His functions are easily understood, but it
is curious that the Soma, which is offered to him in sacrifice, and
which he drinks with all the avidity of a confirmed toper, is itself
celebrated as a god of very considerable powers. Soma appears to be
regarded as a sort of mediator between the greatest gods and men,
especially between man and Indra. He is repeatedly entreated to go
to Indra, to flow around him, and thus to conciliate and delight him.
But Soma can confer benefits independently. One poet implores him to
stream forth blessing "on the ox, the man, and the horse; and, O king,
blessings on plants" (S. V., ii. 1. 1. 1). In the hymns devoted to him
he is raised to an exalted station among the celestial beings, while
the sacrifice in which he is drunk by the priests is the capital right
in the Brahmanical liturgy (A. B., vol. i. p. 59). The most eminent
virtues are inherent in this divine beverage, when taken with all the
ceremonies prescribed by traditional law. The Soma juice has, in the
opinion of Hindu theologians, "the power of uniting the sacrificer on
this earth with the celestial King Soma," and making him "an associate
of the gods, and an inhabitant of the celestial world" (Ibid., vol.
i. pp. 40, 80). Such was the excellence of this juice, that none
but Brahmans were permitted to imbibe it. Kings, at their inaugural
ceremonies, received a goblet which was nominally Soma, but on account
of their inferior caste they were in fact put off with some kind of
spirituous liquor which was supposed, by a mystical transformation,
to receive the properties of that most holy divinity (Ibid., vol. ii.
p. 522). Agreeably to this theory of Soma's extensive powers, he is
invoked in such terms, for instance, as these:—
7. "Place me, O purified god, in that everlasting and imperishable
world where there is eternal light and glory. O Indu (Soma), flow for
Indra. 8. Make me immortal in the world where king Vaivasvata (Yama,
the son of Vivasvat) lives, where is the innermost sphere of the sky,
where those great waters flow" (O. S. T., vol. v. p. 266.—Rig-Veda,
ix. 113).
Singular as it may seem that the juice of the Soma-plant should be at
once an object sacrificed on the altar to other gods and a god himself,
such a confusion of attributes will be less surprising to those who
are familiar with the Christian theory of the Atonement, in which the
same God is at once the person who decrees the sacrifice, the person
who accepts it, and the victim. At least the double function of Soma is
less perplexing than the triple function of Christ.
Considerable among Vedic deities are the Maruts, or gods of tempest.
They are in intimate alliance with Indra, to whom their violent nature
is closely akin. Their attributes are simple. A notion of them may
perhaps be gained from these verses:—
1. "What then now? When will you take (us) as a dear father takes
his son by both hands, O ye gods, for whom the sacred grass has been
trimmed? 2. Whither now? On what errand of yours are you going, in
heaven, not on earth? Where are your cows sporting? 3. Where are your
newest favors, O Maruts? Where the blessings? Where all delights?...
6. Let not one sin after another, difficult to be conquered, overcome
us; may it depart together with lust. 7. Truly they are furious
and powerful; even to the desert the Rudriyas bring rain that is
never dried up. 8. The lightning lows like a cow, it follows as a
mother follows after her young, that the shower (of the Maruts)
may be let loose. 9. Even by day the Maruts create darkness with
the water-bearing cloud, when they drench the earth. 10. From the
shout of the Maruts over the whole space of the earth, men reeled
forward. 11. Maruts on your strong-hoofed steeds go on easy roads
after those bright ones (the clouds) which are still locked up. 12.
May your felloes be strong, the chariots, and their horses; may your
reins be well fashioned. 13. Speak out forever with thy voice to
praise the Lord of prayer, Agni, who is like a friend, the bright
one. 14. Fashion a hymn in thy mouth! Expand like a cloud! Sing a
song of praise. 15. Worship the host of the Maruts, the brisk, the
praiseworthy, the singers. May the strong ones stay here among us" (R.
V. S., vol. i. p. 65.—Rig-Veda, i. 38).
The most charming member of the Vedic pantheon, and the one who seems
to have called forth from the Rishis the deepest poetical feeling,
is Ushas (Ἔως), the Dawn. Her continual reappearance, or birth,
morning after morning, seems to have filled them with delight and
tenderness. The hymn now to be quoted—too long to be extracted in
full—gives expression to the feelings with which they gazed upon this
ever-recurring mystery:—
2. "The fair and bright Ushas, with her bright child (the Sun), has
arrived; to her the dark (night) has relinquished her abodes; kindred
to one another, immortal, alternating Day and Night go on changing
color. 3. The same is the never-ending path of the two sisters, which
they travel, commanded by the gods. They strive not, they rest
not, the prolific Night and Dawn, concordant, though unlike. 4. The
shining Ushas, leader of joyful voices (or hymns) has been perceived;
she has opened for us the doors (of the sky); setting in motion all
moving things, she has revealed to us riches. Ushas has awakened all
creatures.... 6. (Arousing) one to seek royal power, another to follow
after fame, another for grand efforts, another to pursue as it were
his particular object,—Ushas awakes all creatures to consider their
different modes of life. 7. She, the daughter of the sky, has been
beheld breaking forth, youthful clad in shining attire: mistress of
all earthly treasures. Auspicious Ushas, shine here to-day. 8. Ushas
follows the track of the Dawns that are past, and is the first of the
unnumbered Dawns that are to come, breaking forth, arousing life and
awaking every one that was dead.... 10. How great is the interval that
lies between the Dawns which have arisen, and those which are yet to
arise! Ushas yearns longingly after the former Dawns, and gladly goes
on shining with the others (that are to come). 11. Those mortals are
gone who saw the earliest Ushas dawning; we shall gaze upon her now;
and the men are coming who are to behold her on future morns.... 13.
Perpetually in former days did the divine Ushas dawn; and now to-day
the magnificent goddess beams upon this world: undecaying, immortal,
she marches on by her own will" (O. S. T., vol. v. p. 188.—Rig-Veda,
i. 113).
Hardly a trace of a moral element is to be found in those productions
of the Rishis which have hitherto been quoted. And such as these are is
the general character of the Rig-Veda-Sanhitâ. It consists in petitions
for purely material advantages, coupled with unbounded celebrations of
the power of the god invoked, often under the coarsest anthropomorphic
images. But while it must be admitted that the sentiment expressed is
rarely of a high order, it must not be supposed that the old Hindu
gods are altogether destitute of ethical attributes. Marked exceptions
to the general tenor of the supplications offered to them certainly
occur. There are passages which betray a decided consciousness of
sin, a desire to be forgiven and a conviction that certain kinds of
conduct entail divine disapprobation, while other kinds bring divine
approbation. Thus, in the hymns addressed to the Adityas, a class of
gods generally reckoned as twelve in number, and to Mitra and Varuna,
two of these Adityas, such feelings are plainly expressed (O. S. T.,
vol. v. p. 56 ff). Of these two, Mitra is sometimes explained as the
Sun, or the god of Day, Varuna as the god of Night. Varuna—whose name
corresponds to that of Ouranos—is a very great and powerful divinity,
who is endowed by his adorers with the very highest attributes. He is
said to have meted out heaven and earth, and to dwell in all worlds as
their sovereign, embracing them within him (Ibid., vol. v. p. 61). He
is said to witness sin, and is entreated to have mercy on sinners. One
penitent poet implores Varuna to tell him for what offense he seeks to
kill his worshiper and friend, for all the sages tell him that it is
Varuna who is angry with him. And he pleadingly contends that he was
not an intentional culprit; he has been seduced by "wine, anger, dice,
or thoughtlessness." Another begs the god that, in whatever way mortals
may have broken his laws, he will be gracious. A third admits that
he, who was Varuna's friend, has offended against him, but asks that
they who are guilty may not reap the fruits of their sin; concluding
with this amicable hint: "Do thou, a wise god, grant protection to
him who praises thee" (O. S. T., vol. v. pp. 66, 67). "The attributes
and functions ascribed to Varuna," observes Dr. Muir, "impart to his
character a moral elevation and sanctity far surpassing that attributed
to any other Vedic deity" (Ibid., vol. v. p. 66). And while even in the
earlier portion of the Rig-Veda—from which the above expressions have
been collected by Dr. Muir—such qualities are ascribed to Varuna, we
shall find a still higher conception of his character in a later work,
the Atharva-Veda. Here is the description of the Lord of Heaven from
the mouth of the Indian Psalmist:—
1. "The great lord of these worlds sees as if he were near. If a man
thinks he is walking by stealth, the gods know it all. 2. If a man
stands or walks or hides, if he goes to lie down or to get up, what
two people sitting together whisper, King Varuna knows it, he is there
as the third. 3. This earth, too, belongs to Varuna, the king, and
this wide sky with its ends far apart. The two seas (the sky and the
ocean) are Varuna's loins; he is also contained in this small drop of
water. 4. He who should flee far beyond the sky, even he would not be
rid of Varuna, the king. His spies proceed from heaven towards this
world; with thousand eyes they overlook this earth. 5. King Varuna
sees all this that is between heaven and earth, and what is beyond. He
has counted the twinklings of the eyes of men. As a player throws the
dice he settles all things. 6. May all thy fatal nooses, which stand
spread out seven by seven and threefold, catch the man who tells a
lie; may they pass by him who tells the truth" (A. S. L.—Atharva-Veda,
iv. 16).
A consciousness of the unity of Deity, under whatever form he may be
worshiped, adumbrated here and there in earlier hymns, becomes very
prominent in the later portions of the Veda. From the most ancient
times, possibly, occasional sages may have attained the conception so
familiar to the Hindu thinkers of a later age, that a single mysterious
essence of divinity pervaded the universe. And in the tenth book of the
Rig-Veda, which is generally admitted to belong to a more recent age
than the other nine books, as also in the Atharva-Veda, this essence
is celebrated under various names; as Purusha, as Brahma, as Prajapati
(Lord), or Skambha (Support). The hymns in which this consciousness
appears are extremely mystical, but a notice of the Veda, however
slight, would be very imperfect without a due recognition of their
presence. They form the speculative element partly in the midst of,
partly succeeding to, the simple, practical, naked presentation of
the commonplace daily wants and physical desires of the early Rishis.
Take the following texts from the first book of the Rig-Veda. They
give utterance to an incipient sentiment of divine unity. The first
celebrates a goddess Aditi: "Aditi is the sky, Aditi is the air, Aditi
is the mother and father and son. Aditi is all the gods and the five
classes of men. Aditi is whatever has been born. Aditi is whatever
shall be born" (O. S. T., vol. v. p. 354.—Rig-Veda, i. 89. 10). More
remarkable than this—for we may suspect here a sectarian desire to
glorify a favorite goddess—is this assertion: "They call him Indra,
Mitra, Varuna, Agni; and he is the celestial (well-winged) Garutmat.
Sages name variously that which is but one: they call it Agni, Yama,
Mâtarisvan" (O. S. T., vol. v. p. 353.—Rig-Veda, i. 164. 46). In the
tenth book of the Rig-Veda, the presence of the speculative element in
the theology of the Rishis,—their longing to find a universal Being
whom they could adore,—is much more marked. Thus do they express this
sentiment:—"Wise poets make the beautiful-winged, though he is one,
manifold by words" (Chips, vol. i. p. 29.—Rig-Veda, x. 114. 5). Or more
elaborately thus:—
1. "In the beginning there arose the golden Child—He was the one born
lord of all that is. He established the earth and this sky;—Who is
the God to whom we shall offer our sacrifice? 2. He who gives life,
He who gives strength; whose command all the bright gods revere;
whose shadow is immortality, whose shadow is death;—Who is the God
to whom we shall offer our sacrifice? 3. He who through his power is
the one King of the breathing and awakening world; He who governs all
man and beast; Who is the God to whom we shall offer our sacrifice?
4. He whose greatness these snowy mountains, whose greatness the
sea proclaims, with the distant river—He whose these regions are,
as it were his two arms;—Who is the God to whom we shall offer our
sacrifice? 5. He through whom the sky is bright and the earth firm—He
through whom the heaven was established,—nay, the highest heaven;—He
who measured out the light in the air;—Who is the God to whom we shall
offer our sacrifice? 6. He to whom heaven and earth, standing firm
by His will, took up, trembling inwardly—He over whom the rising sun
shines forth;—Who is the God to whom we shall offer our sacrifice?
7. Wherever the mighty water-clouds went, where they placed the seed
and lit the fire, thence arose He who is the sole life of the bright
gods;—Who is the God to whom we shall offer our sacrifice? 8. He who
by his might looked even over the water-clouds, the clouds which
gave strength and lit the sacrifice; He who alone is God above all
gods;—Who is the God to whom we shall offer our sacrifice? 9. May He
not destroy us—He the creator of the earth; or He, the righteous, who
created the heaven; He also created the bright and mighty waters;—Who
is the God to whom we shall offer our sacrifice?" (Chips, vol. i. p.
29, or A. S. L., p. 569.—Rig-Veda, x. 121).
The same book contains a very important hymn, entitled the Purusha
Sûkta. In it we find ourselves transported from the transparent
elemental worship of the ancient Aryas into the misty region of
Brahmanical subtleties. Purusha appears to be conceived as the
universal essence of the world, all existences being but one-quarter
of him. The theory of sacrifice occupies, as in the later Indian
literature generally, a prominent position. Purusha's sacrifice
involved the momentous consequences of the creation of the several
Vedas and of living creatures. The four castes sprang from different
parts of his person, the parts corresponding to their relative
dignity. The purpose of this portion is obvious, namely, to give
greater sanctity to the system of caste, a system to which the earlier
hymn makes no allusion, and which we may suppose to have grown up
subsequently to the era of their composition. Tedious as it is, the
Purusha Sûkta is too weighty to be quite passed over.
1. "Purusha has a thousand heads, a thousand eyes, a thousand feet.
On every side enveloping the earth, he overpassed (it) by a space of
ten fingers. 2. Purusha himself is this whole (universe), whatever
has been and whatever shall be. He is also the lord of immortality,
since (or when) by food he expands. 3. Such is his greatness, and
Purusha is superior to this. All existences are a quarter of him; and
three-fourths of him are that which is immortal in the sky. 4. With
three-quarters Purusha mounted upwards. A quarter of him was again
produced here. He was then diffused everywhere over things which eat
and things which do not eat. 5. From him was born Virāj, and from
Virāj, Purusha. When born, he extended beyond the earth, both behind
and before. 6. When the gods performed a sacrifice with Purusha as
the oblation, the spring was its butter, the summer its fuel, and the
autumn its (accompanying) offering. 7. This victim, Purusha, born in
the beginning, they immolated on the sacrificial grass. With him the
gods, the Sādhyas, and the Rishis sacrificed. 9. From that universal
sacrifice sprang the rich and sāman verses, the metres and the yajush.
10. From it sprang horses, and all animals with two rows of teeth;
kine sprang from it; from it goats and sheep. 11. When (the gods)
divided Purusha, into how many parts did they cut him up? what was his
mouth? what arms (had he)? what (two objects) are said (to have been)
his thighs and feet? 12. The Brahman was his mouth; the Râjanya was
made his arms; the being (called) the Vaisya, he was his thighs; the
Sûdra sprang from his feet. 13. The moon sprang from his soul (manas),
the sun from his eye, Indra and Agni from his mouth, and Vāyu from his
breath. 14. From his navel arose the air, from his head the sky, from
his feet the earth, from his ear the (four) quarters; in this manner
(the gods) formed the worlds. 15. When the gods, performing sacrifice,
bound Purusha as a victim, there were seven sticks (stuck up) for it
(around the fire), and thrice seven pieces of fuel were made. 16. With
sacrifice the gods performed the sacrifice. These were the earliest
rites. These great powers have sought the sky, where are the former
Sādhyas, gods" (O. S. T., vol. i. p. 9.—Rig-Veda, x. 90).
The wide interval which separates theological theories of this kind
from the primitive hymns to the old polytheistic gods, is also marked
by a tendency to personify abstract intellectual conceptions, and to
confer exalted attributes upon them. Skambha, or Support, mentioned
above; Kâla, Time, celebrated in the Atharva-Veda; Speech, endowed
with personal powers in the tenth book of the Rig-Veda; Wisdom, to
whom prayer is offered in the Atharva-Veda, are instances of this
generalizing tendency. As a specimen, the hymn to Wisdom may be taken,
and readers may console themselves with the reflection that it is our
last quotation from the Mantra part of the Veda:—
1. "Come to us, wisdom, the first, with cows and horses; (come)
thou with the rays of the sun; thou art to us an object of worship.
2. To (obtain) the succor of the gods, I invoke wisdom the first,
full of prayer, inspired by prayer, praised by rishis, imbibed by
Brahmachārins. 3. We introduce within me that wisdom which Ribhus
know, that wisdom which divine beings (asurāh) know, that excellent
wisdom which rishis know. 4. Make me, O Agni, wise to-day with that
wisdom which the wise rishis—the makers of things existing—know. 5.
We introduce wisdom in the evening, wisdom in the morning, wisdom at
noon, wisdom with the rays of the sun, and with speech" (O. S. T.,
vol. i. p. 255 note.—Atharva-Veda, vi. 108).
Interesting as the Mantra of the Vedas is from the fact of its being
the oldest Bible of the Aryan race, it is impossible for modern
readers to feel much enthusiasm for its contents. The patient labor of
these scholars who have engaged in translations of some parts of it
for the benefit of European readers is highly commendable, but it is
probable that few who have read any considerable number of these hymns
will be desirous of a further acquaintance with them, unless for the
purpose of some special researches. Indeed, it may be said that the
devoted industry of Benfey, Muir, Max Müller, and others, has placed
more than a sufficient number of them within reach of the general
public to enable us all to judge of their literary value and their
religious teaching. With regard to the former, it would be difficult to
concede to them anything but a very modest place. In beauty of style,
expression, or ideas, they appear to me to be almost totally deficient.
Assuming, as we are entitled to do, that all the best specimens have
been already culled by scholars eager to find something attractive in
the Veda, it must be confessed that the general run of the hymns is
singularly monotonous, and their language by no means conspicuous for
poetical coloring. No doubt, poetry always loses in translation; but
Isaiah and Homer are still beautiful in a German or English dress; the
Sûktas of the Rig-Veda are not. A few exceptions no doubt occur, as in
the stanzas to Ushas, or Dawn, quoted above, but the ordinary level is
not a high one.
Although, however, the literary merit of the Veda cannot be ranked
high, its value to the religious history of humanity at large, and of
our race in particular, can hardly be overrated. To the comparative
mythologist, above all, it possesses illimitable interest, from the
new light it sheds upon the origin and significance of many of those
world-wide tales which, in their metamorphosed Hellenic shape, could
not be effectually brought under the process of dissection by which
their primitive elements have now been laid bare. Mythology is beyond
the province of this work, and therefore I purposely refrain from
entering upon any explanation of the physical meaning of the old Aryan
gods, or of the stories in which they figure.[57] All that I have to do
with here is the grade attained in the development of religious feeling
among those who worshiped them. And this, it is plain, was at first a
very elementary one. The more striking phenomena of nature—the sun, the
moon, the sky, the storms, the dawn, the fire—at first attracted their
attention, and absorbed their adoration. To these personal beings, as
they seemed to the awe-struck Rishis, petitions of the rudest type were
confidently addressed. Very little allusion, if any, was made to the
necessities of the moral nature; the craving for spiritual knowledge
was scarcely felt; but great stress was laid on temporal prosperity.
Boons of the most material kind were looked for at the hands of the
gods. Plenty of offspring, plenty of physical strength, plenty of
property, especially in cattle, and victory over enemies; such are the
requests most commonly poured into the ears of Indra, or Agni, or the
Maruts. These gods are regarded as the sympathizing friends of men, and
if they should fail to do what may reasonably be expected of a god, are
almost upbraided for their negligence. The conception of their power
is a high one, though that of their moral nature is still rudimentary.
Their greatness and their glory, their victories, their splendor,
are described in vigorous and high-sounding phrases. The changes are
rung upon their peculiar attributes or their famous exploits. Each
god in his turn is a great god; but all are separate individuals;
there appears in the crude Aryan mind to be as yet no dawning of the
perplexing questions on the unity of the Divine which troubled its
later development. For as it progresses, the Hindu religion gradually
changes. External calm, succeeding the wars of the first settlers,
promotes internal activity. The great problem of the Universe is
no longer solved, five or six centuries after the older Rishis had
passed away, in the simple fashion which satisfied their curiosity.
Multiplicity is now resolved into unity; mystical abstractions take
the place of the elementary powers of nature. Speech is a goddess; the
Vedas themselves—as in the Purusha hymn—acquire a quasi-divinity; the
Brahmachârin, or student of theology, is endowed with supernatural
attributes, due to the sacred character of his pursuits. Sacrifice,
fixed and regulated down to the smallest minutiæ, has a peculiar
efficacy, and becomes something of far deeper meaning than a merely
acceptable present to the gods. Every posture, every word, every
tone acquires importance. There are charms, there are curses, there
are incantations for good and evil purposes, for the acquisition of
wealth or the destruction of an enemy. It is by its collection of such
magical formulæ that the Atharva-Veda is distinguished from its three
predecessors. It forms the last stone laid upon the edifice of the
genuine Veda, an edifice built up by the labor of many centuries, and
including the whole of that original revelation to which the centuries
that succeeded it bowed down in reverence and in faith.
SUBDIVISION 2.—_The Brâhmanas._
Attached to this edifice as an outgrowth rather than an integral part,
the treatises known as Brâhmanas took their place as appendages of
the Sanhitâ. Although they are reckoned by the Hindus as belonging
to the Sruti, although their nominal rank is thus not inferior to
that of the true Veda, yet it must have taken them many generations
to acquire a position of honor to which nothing but tradition could
possibly entitle them. For any gleams of poetical inspiration, of
imaginative religious feeling, of naturalness or simple earnestness
that had shone athwart the minds of devout authors in preceding ages,
had apparently passed away when the Brâhmanas were composed. They are
the elaborate disquisitions of scholars, not the outpourings of men of
feeling. Religion was cut and dried when they were written; every part
of it has become a matter of definition, of theory, of classification.
If in the Vedic hymns we are placed before a stage where religious
faith is a living body, whose movements, perhaps uncouth, are still
energetic and genuine, the Brâmhanas, on the other hand, take us into
the dissecting-room, where the constituent elements of its corpse are
exposed to our observation. Not indeed that a true or deep faith had
ceased in the Brâhmana period; such an assertion would no doubt be
extravagant; but the Brâhmanas themselves are the products of minds
more given to analysis than to sentiment, and of an age in which the
predominant tendency, at least among cultivated Brahmans, was not so
much to feel religion as to think about it. It is so everywhere. The
Hebrew Bible, once fixed and completed, gives rise to the Mishnah.
The Apostles and Fathers of the Christian Church are followed by
a race of schoolmen. The simple Sûtras of Buddhism, replete with
plain, world-wide lessons of moral truth, give place to the abstruse
developments of incomprehensible theology. Thus the Brâhmanas mark the
epoch when the Veda had finally ceased to grow, and its every word
and letter had become the object of an unquestioning adoration as the
immediate emanation of God.
But among a people so subtle and so inquisitive in all matters of
religious belief as the Hindus, opinion could not rest unmoved upon
the original foundation. Their minds did not, like those of the Jews,
stop short for ever in their intellectual progression, chained to the
unshakeable rock of a god-given Revelation. Ever active, ever attracted
to the enigmas of life, the Brahmans pushed their speculations into
new regions of thought, pondered upon new problems, and invented new
solutions. Not that we are to expect to find in the literature of
this period any valuable discoveries or any very striking philosophy.
The true philosophical systems came later. But still we do find a
restless spirit of inquiry, ever prompting fresh efforts to conceive
the significance of the gods or to penetrate the mysteries of nature,
though the questions discussed are often trifling, and the results
arrived at frivolous.
Every Veda has, as already stated, its own Brâhmana or Brâhmanas.
Thus, two of these treatises appertain to the Rig-Veda; three to the
Sâma-Veda, one to the Black and one to the White Yajur-Veda, and one to
the Atharva-Veda (O. S. T., vol. i. p. 5). Appended to the Brâhmanas,
and forming, according to Dr. Muir, their "most recent portions," are
the Âranyakas and Upanishads, a kind of supplementary works devoted
to the elucidation of the highest points of theology. The Brâhmanas
present an example of Ritualism in all its glory. They fix the exact
nature of every part of every ceremony; describe minutely the mode
in which each sacrifice is to be offered; mention the Mantras to be
recited on each occasion; declare the benefits to be expected from the
several rites, and explain the reasons—drawn from the history of the
gods—why they are all to be performed in this particular way and order,
and in no other. They are in fact liturgies, accompanied by exposition.
Hence they are totally unfit for quotation in a general work, for
they would be incomprehensible without an accompanying essay on the
Vedic sacrifices, entering into details which would interest none but
professional students of the subject.
Thus, the Aitareya Brâhmana occupies itself entirely with the duties of
the Hotri priests; for the recitation of the Rig-Veda, to which this
Brâhmana belonged, was their province. Occasionally, however, the
Brâhmanas, Upanishads, and Âranyakas are enlivened by the introduction
of apologues, intended to illustrate the point of theological dogma
to which the author is addressing himself. Some of these apologues
are curious, though the style in which they are related is generally
so prolix as to preclude extraction. A notion of them may be gathered
from condensed statements. Thus, in the Brihad Âranyaka Upanishad a
story is told of a dispute among the vital organs as to which of them
was "best founded," _i. e._, most essential to life. To obtain the
decision of this controversy they repaired to Brahma, who said, "He
amongst you is best founded by whose departure the body is found to
suffer most." Hereupon Speech departed, and returning after a year's
absence, inquired how the others had lived without it. "They said, 'As
dumb people who do not speak by speech, breathing by the vital breath,
seeing by the eye, hearing by the ear, thinking by the mind, and
begetting children, so have we lived.'" The eye, the ear, the mind, the
organ of generation, each departed for a year, and, _mutatis mutandis_,
with similar results; blindness, deafness, idiocy, impotence, were all
compatible with life. Lastly, "the vital breath being about to depart,
as a great, noble horse from the Sindhu country raises its hoofs, so it
shook these vital organs from their places. They said, 'Do not depart,
O Venerable. We cannot live without thee.' 'If I am such, then offer
sacrifice to me.' (They answered)—'Be it so.'" All the other organs
hereupon admitted that their own existence depended on that of the
vital breath (B. A. U., ch. vi. p. 259).
Several narratives in various Brâhmanas point to the fact that
theological knowledge was not in these early days confined to the
single caste by which it was afterwards monopolized, for they speak
of well-read kings by whom Brahmans were instructed. In the Chândogya
Upanishad, for example, five members of the Brahmanical caste engaged
in a debate upon the question "Which is our soul, and which is Brahma?"
Unable to satisfy themselves, they repaired, accompanied by another
theologian who had been unable to answer them, to a monarch named
Asvapati, and declining his proffered gifts, requested him to impart to
them the knowledge he possessed of the Universal Soul. He accordingly
asked each of them in turn which soul he adored. The first replied
that he adored the heaven; the second, the sun; the third, the winds;
the fourth, the sky; the fifth, water; the sixth, the earth. To
each of them in turn the king admitted that it was indeed a partial
manifestation of the Universal Soul which he worshiped, and that its
adoration would confer some advantages. But, he finally added, "You
consume food, knowing the Universal Soul to be many; but he who adoreth
that Universal Soul which pervadeth the heaven and the earth, and is
the principal object indicated by (the pronoun) _I_, consumeth food
everywhere and in all regions, in every form and in every faculty." Of
that all-pervading Soul the several phenomena of the visible Universe
worshiped by the Brahmans in their ignorance are but parts (Chhand.
Up., ch. v. section 11-18, p. 92-97). Other Brâhmanas tell similar
stories of the occasional preëminence of the Kshattriya caste in the
rivalry of learning. Thus, the Satapatha Brâhmana, the Brihad Âranyaka
Upanishad, and the Kaushîtaki Brâhmana Upanishad, all refer to a
certain king Ajâtasatru, who proved himself superior in theological
disputation to a Brahman named Bālāki, "renowned as a man well-read in
the Veda." Let us take the version of the last-named Upanishad. Bālāki
proposed to "declare divine knowledge" to the king, who offered to give
him a thousand cows for his tuition. But after he had propounded his
views on the Deity, and had been put to shame by the king's answers,
the latter said, "Thou hast vainly proposed to me; let me teach
thee divine knowledge. He, son of Balaka, who is the maker of these
souls, whose work that is,—he is the object of knowledge." Convinced
of his ignorance, Bālāki proposed to become the king's pupil. "The
king replied, 'I regard it as an inversion of the proper rule that a
Kshattriya should initiate a Brahman. But come, I will instruct thee'"
(O. S. T., vol. i. p. 431).
Both these stories illustrate the striving towards conceptions of the
unity of the divine essence which is characteristic of this speculative
age. The next, from the Satapatha Brâhmana, has reference to another
important point,—the future of the soul. A young Brahman, called
Svetaketu, came to a monarch who inquired whether he had received a
suitable education from his father. The youth replied that he had.
Hereupon the king proceeded to put him through an examination, in
which he completely broke down. One of the questions was this:—"Dost
thou know the means of attaining the path which leads to the gods, or
that which leads to the Pitris (Ancestors (_patres_)); by what act
the one or the other is gained?" In other words did he know the way
to heaven? The student did not. Vexed at his failure, the young man
hastened to his father, reproached him with having declared that he
was instructed, and complained that the Râjanya had asked him five
questions, of which he knew not even one. Gautama inquired what they
were, and on hearing them, assured his son that he had taught him all
he himself knew. "But come, let us proceed thither, and become his
pupils." Receiving his guest with due respect, the king offered Gautama
a boon. Gautama begged for an explanation of the five questions.
"That," said the king, "is one of the divine boons; ask one of those
that are human." But Gautama protested that he had wealth enough of all
kinds, and added, "Be not illiberal towards us in respect to that which
is immense, infinite, boundless." The king accordingly accepted them as
his pupils, saying, "Do not attach any blame to me, as your ancestors
(did not). This knowledge has never heretofore dwelt in any Brahman;
but I shall declare it to thee. For who should refuse thee when thou so
speakest?" (O. S. T., vol. i. p. 434.)
Unhistorical as they probably are in their details, these traditions
are curious both as illustrating the predominant inclination to
speculative inquiries, and the fact that in those inquiries the
priestly caste was sometimes outshone by their more secular rivals. The
following quotation bears upon another doctrine, the transcendent merit
of patience under trials, even of the severest kind. Manu, the typical
ancestor of mankind, is represented as resigning his most precious
possessions to enable impious priests to perform a sacrifice:—
"Manu had a bull. Into it an Asura-slaying, enemy-slaying voice had
entered. In consequence of this (bull's) snorting and bellowing,
Asuras and Râkshasas (these are species of demons) were continually
destroyed. Then the Asuras said, 'This bull, alas! does us mischief;
how shall we overcome him?' Now there were two priests of the Asuras
called Kilâta and Akuli. They said, 'Manu is a devout believer: let
us make trial of him.' They went and said to him, 'Let us sacrifice
for thee.' 'With what victim?' he asked. 'With this bull,' they
replied. 'Be it so,' he answered. When it had been slaughtered,
the voice departed out of it, and entered into Manu's wife Mânavî.
Wherever they hear her speaking, the Asuras and Râkshasas continue to
be destroyed in consequence of her voice. The Asuras said, 'She does
us yet more mischief; for the human voice speaks more.' Kilâta and
Akuli said, 'Manu is a devout believer: let us make trial of him.'
They came and said to him, 'Manu, let us sacrifice for thee.' 'With
what victim?' he asked. 'With this (thy) wife,' they replied. 'Be it
so,' he answered" (O. S. T., vol. i. p. 188).
Sometimes, though not often, the Brâhmanas contain references to
moral conduct. A very theological definition of Duty is given in the
Chândogya Upanishad, where it is stated, "Threefold is the division of
Duty. Sacrifice, study, and charity constitute the first; penance is
the second; and residence by a Brahmachârin (a student of theology)
exclusively in the house of a tutor is the third. All those [who attend
to these duties] attain virtuous regions; the believer in Brahma alone
attains to immortality" (A. B., vii. 2. 10). In another Brâhmana it is
asserted that "the marriage of Faith and Truth is a most happy one. For
by Faith and Truth joined they conquer the celestial world" (Chhand.
Up., ch. ii. sec. 23). And the the story of Sunahsepa, which contains
an emphatic repudiation of human sacrifice, has a moral bearing. As a
rule, however, the Brâhmanas do not concern themselves with ethical
questions. The rules of sacrifice, and the doctrines of a complicated
theology, are their main business; and the topics they are thus led to
debate in elaborate detail must frequently impress the European reader
as not only uninteresting, but unmeaning.