Social and Religious Developments of the Vedic Age
Aryan Civilization—Tribes and Clans—Villages and Trade—Divisions of
Society—Origin of Castes—Rise of the Priestly Cult—Brahmanic Ideals
of Life—Brahmanic Students—The Source of Algebra—Samaveda and
Yajurveda—Atharva-veda Charms and Invocations—The “Middle Country”
the Centre of Brahmanic Culture—Sacred Prose Books—Bold Pantheism
of the Upanishads—Human Sacrifice and its Symbolism—Chaos Giant
Myth in India, Babylonia, and China, and in Teutonic Mythology—Horse
Sacrifices in India, Siberia, Greece, Rome, &c.—Creation the Result
of Sacrifice—Death as the Creator and Devourer.
During the Vedic Age, which came to a close in the eighth century
B.C., the Aryan settlers spread gradually eastward and southward. At
first they occupied the Punjab, but ere the Rigvedic period was ended
they had reached the banks of the Jumna and the Ganges in the “Middle
Country”. In the early hymns the great Himalayan mountains dominate
fertile river valleys, but the greater part of northern India is
covered by vast and dense forests. No mention is made of the sea.
The Aryans were a pastoral and hunting people, with some knowledge of
agriculture. They possessed large herds of cattle, and had also sheep,
goats, and asses; they were, besides, famous breeders and tamers of
horses; the faithful dog, man's earliest friend, followed both herdsman
and hunter. The plough was in use, and bullocks were yoked to it; grain
was thrashed in primitive manner and ground between “pounding stones”.
Barley and wheaten cakes, milk, curds, butter, and cheese, and wild
fruits were the chief articles of diet; the products of the chase were
also eaten, but there appears to have been at the earliest period a
restriction in the consumption of certain foods. Beef was not eaten at
meals. Bulls were sacrificed to the gods. Two kinds of intoxicating
liquors were brewed—the mysterious Soma, beloved by deities, and a
mead or ale called “sura”, the Avestan “hura”, prepared probably from
grain, which had ever an evil reputation as a cause of peace-breaking,
like dice, and of wrongdoing generally.
Metals were in use, for the earliest Aryan invasion took place in the
Bronze Age, during which there were great race movements and invasions
and conquests in Asia and in Europe. It is doubtful whether or not iron
was known by the earliest Aryan settlers in India; it was probably not
worked, but may have been utilized for charms, as in those countries
in which meteoric iron was called “the metal of heaven”. The knowledge
of the mechanical arts had advanced beyond the primitive stage.
Warriors fought not only on foot but also in chariots, and they wore
breastplates; their chief weapons were bows and horn or metal-tipped
arrows, maces, battleaxes, swords, and spears. Smiths roused their
fires with feather fans; carpenters are mentioned in the hymns, and
even barbers who used razors.
The father was the head of the family, and the family was the tribal
unit. War was waged by a loose federation of small clans, each of which
was distinguished by the name of a patriarch. The necessity of having
to conduct frequent campaigns in a new country, peopled by hostile
aliens, no doubt tended to weld tribal units into small kingdoms and
to promote the monarchic system. But intertribal feuds were frequent
and bitter. The Aryans of the Punjab, like the Gauls who settled in
northern Italy, and the clans of the Scottish Highlands in the Middle
Ages, were continually divided among themselves, and greatly occupied
in subduing rivals and in harrying their cattle.
Villages were protected by stockades or earthworks against the attacks
of enemies and wild beasts, or they contained strongholds. They were
governed by headsmen, who were, no doubt, military leaders also;
disputes were settled by a judge. Land, especially grazing land,
appears to have been held in common by communities, but there are
indications that cultivated plots and houses were owned by families and
ultimately by individuals, the father in such cases being the supreme
authority. Village communities, however, might be migratory, and
certain of them may have had seasonal areas of settlement.
Permanent villages existed in groups and also at some distance from
one another, and were connected by roads, and one clan might embrace
several separate communities. Trade was conducted by barter, the cow
being the standard of value, but in time jewels and gold ornaments
were used like money for purchases; “nishka”, a necklet, afterwards
signified a coin. Foreign traders were not unknown at an early period.
The use of alphabetic signs appears to have been introduced by Semites
before the close of the Vedic period; from these evolved ultimately the
scientific Sanskrit alphabet and grammar.
In the Iranian period[128] there were social divisions of the people,
but the hereditary system does not appear to have obtained until
the close of Rigvedic times. Kings might be elected, or a military
aristocracy might impose its sway over an area; a priest was originally
a poet or leader of thought, or a man of elevated character, like the
Scottish Highland _duine-usual_, the “upwardly man”, who might be the
son of a chief or of the humblest member of a community.
[128] A convenient term as explained in our Introduction.
The earliest Aryan divisions of society were apparently marked by
occupations. At first there were three grades: warriors, priests, and
traders, but all classes might engage in agricultural pursuits; even
in the Epic period princes counted and branded cattle. In the later
Vedic age, however, a rigid system of castes came into existence,
the result, apparently, of having to distinguish between Aryans and
aborigines at first, and subsequently between the various degrees
of Aryans who had intermarried with aliens. Caste (Varna) signifies
colour, and its relation to occupation is apparent in the four
divisions—Brahmans, priests; Kshatriyas, the military aristocracy;
Vaisyas, commoners, workers, and traders, who were freemen; and Sudras,
slaves and aborigines. In the _Yajurveda_, the third Veda, the caste
system is found established on a hereditary basis. The three upper
castes, which were composed of Aryans only, partook in all religious
ceremonials, but the members of the Sudra caste were hedged about by
severe restrictions. The knowledge of the Vedas was denied to them, and
they were not allowed to partake of Soma offerings, and although in the
process of time their position improved somewhat in the religious life
of the mingled people, their social inferiority was ever emphasized;
they might become traders, but never Kshatriyas or Brahmans.
The most renowned of early Brahmans were the Rishis, the poets[129]
who composed the “new songs” to the gods. They were regarded as
divinely inspired men and their fame was perpetuated after death.
Several renowned poets are referred to in sacred literature and
invested with great sanctity. The hymns or mantras were committed to
memory and then handed down from generation to generation. At religious
ceremonies these were chanted by reciters, the Hotri priests. There
were also priests who were skilled in the correct performance of
sacrificial rites, and family priests, the Purohitas, who were the
guides, philosophers, and friends of kings and noblemen. A Rishi might
be a Purohita and a seer, who ensured by the performance of mystic
ceremonies a monarch's success in battle and afterwards celebrated his
achievements in song.
[129] “A Rishi, ‘seer’, is primarily a composer of hymns.... The Rishis
ultimately become the representatives of a sacred past.” _Vedic Index
of Names and Subjects_ vol. i, pp. 115-117 (1912).
In the process of time an organized priesthood came into existence, and
a clan or kingdom had its chief priest. The production of new hymns
came to an end; those which existed were considered sufficient for all
purposes; religious beliefs were systematized, and an arbitrary ritual
became more and more complicated.
There are indications that at an early period a chief or king might
offer up a sacrifice, but when the profession of the Brahman became
hereditary, no rite could be performed unless presided over by
holy men. A sacrifice might be rendered futile by an error in the
construction of an altar, or in the order of ceremonial practices,
or by failure to select appropriate chants. The Asuras and Rakshasas
and other demons were ever hovering round the altar, endeavouring to
obstruct ceremonies and to take advantage of ritualistic errors to
intercept offerings intended for the gods. It was by making sacrifices
that man was believed to obtain power over the gods, or magical control
over the forces of nature.
[Illustration: GROUP OF PRESENT-DAY BRAHMANS
15 Photo. Frith]
For the performance of some sacrifices a day of preparation might be
required. Altars had to be erected with mathematical exactness; the
stones were blessed and anointed; offerings were made at every stage
of the work so that the various deities might give protection in their
various spheres. The following extract from one of the Brahmanas
affords a glimpse of the preparatory rites:—
Thrice he (the priest) perambulates it (the altar); for thrice he
walks round it (whilst sprinkling); thus as many times as he walks
round it, so many times does he perambulate it....
Having thereupon put that stone into the water pitcher, (he) throws it
in that (south-westerly) direction, for that is Nirriti's region; he
thus consigns pain to Nirriti's region....
Outside the fire altars he throws it, &c.[130]
[130] _Satapatha Brahmana_, trans. by Prof. Eggeling (_Sacred Books of
the East_, No. XLIII, p. 170).
Human failings may be imputed to Brahmans, but it must be recognized
that the ideals of their caste were of a high order. They were supposed
to be born with “spiritual lustre”, and their lives were consecrated
to the instruction and uplifting of mankind and the attainment of
salvation. A Brahman's life was divided into four periods. The
first was the period of childhood, and the second was the period
of probation, when he went to live in a forest hermitage, where he
acted as the servant of a revered old sage, his spiritual father, and
received instruction in Brahmanic knowledge for a number of years.
During the third period the Brahman lived the worldly life; he married
and reared a family and performed the duties pertaining to his caste.
Hospitality was one of the chief worldly duties; if a stranger, even
although he might be an enemy, came and asked for food he received it,
although the Brahman family should have to fast to supply him. In the
fourth period the Brahman, having proved himself a faithful husband and
exemplary father, divided his worldly possessions between his grown-up
sons and daughters; then he abandoned his comfortable home and,
assuming the deerskin clothing of hermits, went to live in a lonely
forest, or among the Himalayan mountains, to prepare for the coming of
death, far away from the shadows cast by sin and sorrow. In solitude
he performed rigid penances and addressed himself with single-minded
devotion to the contemplation of spiritual problems. Subduing the five
senses, he attained to the state of Yoga (concentration). Placing his
mind entirely upon the contemplation of the soul, he became united
ultimately with the World Soul (God), thus obtaining the release which
was Salvation. Some Brahmans were teachers who instructed pupils
and composed the sacred writings. The forest hermitages were the
universities of ancient India.
The profession of the priesthood had certainly its mercenary aspect;
sacrificial fees were fixed as well as sacrificial rites, and a not
unimportant part of a ceremony was the offering of generous gifts to
the Brahmans, who presided at the altar. But on the whole the riches
thus expended were not given in vain. As in Egypt, the rise and
endowment of the priestly cult was due to the accumulation of wealth
which enabled a section of society to find leisure for study and the
promotion of culture. Aryan civilization in India owed much to the
Brahmans. They introduced and elaborated alphabetic signs; the devoted
scholars among them compiled the first Sanskrit grammar and studied the
art of composition. Among the hermits there were great and original
thinkers who laid the basis of Indian metaphysical thought, and rose
from the materialism of the early Vedic hymns to the idealism of the
speculative prose works, which included the _Forest Books_, a name
redolent of leafy solitude and of simple and contemplative lives on the
banks of sweetly-flowing waters. Even their devotion to the mysteries
of sacrificial ritual, which became more and more complicated, was not
unproductive of permanent benefits to mankind. The necessity for the
exact construction of altars, and the observance of ceremonies in due
season, promoted the study of mathematical science. These Brahmans
invented the numerical figures which have attained universal usage, and
in time they gave the world Algebra. The influence of their culture may
be traced in other directions. At the present day it has indirectly
brought into existence the science of Comparative Religion.
[Illustration: SADHUS (RELIGIOUS MENDICANTS) AT BENARES
16]
At the close of the Rigvedic period the Aryans had extended their sway
to the district known as Madhyadesa, the “middle country”, between the
“Five Rivers” of the Punjab and the upper reaches of the Jumna and
Ganges. Pioneers were meantime pressing southward and eastward towards
the sea. Migrations were, no doubt, due to propulsion as well as
attraction; fresh folk-waves probably poured in periodically from the
north-west, while the settled population must have increased rapidly
in the fertile land controlled by the invaders, to whom the aborigines
offered but slight resistance.
The second Vedic book, the _Samaveda_, does not contain much fresh
material: it is mainly a compilation of the Rigvedic hymns which the
priests chanted at the Soma sacrifice. Its sole interest, from a
historical point of view, is the evidence it affords of the steady
growth of ritualistic tendencies. A new era of Aryan civilization is
revealed, however, by the third Veda, the _Yajurveda_. In this book the
tribes are found to have extended their area of control down the Ganges
valley, and southward along the banks of the Indus. It is of interest
to note here that the word “Samudra”, first applied to the broadening
Indus where it receives its tributaries, and signifying “collected
waters”, became in the _Brahmanas_ the name of the world-encircling
ocean, across which in due time loomed the ships which “once in
three years” carried to Solomon's order “gold, and silver, ivory (or
elephants' tusks), and apes, and peacocks”.[131]
[131] 1 _Kings_, x, 22.
In the _Yajurveda_ we find that Aryan civilization has developed
greatly in the course of three or four centuries. Powerful tribes have
established kingdoms, and small states are being subjected to the
larger. The hardened system of social organization is reflected by the
references to the four distinct castes. Hitherto the Kshatriyas have
controlled the destinies of the people, but now the Brahmans achieve an
intellectual conquest and impose their sway over kings and nobles. The
holy men are no longer the humble servants of generous patrons; they
are the human representatives of the all-controlling deities. “Verily,
there are two kinds of gods; for the gods themselves, assuredly, are
gods, and those priests who have studied and teach Vedic lore, are the
human gods.”
The offerings to the deities are “consecrated by the feeding of
priests”.[132]
[132] _Satapatha Brahmana_, translated by Professor Eggeling, Part I,
p. 374 (_Sacred Books of the East_).
Even the gods become dependent upon the priests, who provided them by
offering sacrifices with the “food” they required, and also with the
Soma which gave them length of years. Indra could not combat against
the Asuras without the assistance of the priests who chanted formulas
to ensure victory; it was, therefore, due to the power exercised, in
the first place, by the priests that the drought demon was overcome and
rain fell in abundance.
[Illustration: A YOGI ON A BED OF SPIKES
_An example of present-day austerities_
17]
Priests might also accumulate in heaven credit balances of Celestial
power by undergoing penances for long periods. A heavy debt was also
due to them by the gods for their sacrificial offerings. When a Brahman
desired to exercise his accumulated power, he might even depose the
deities, who were therefore placed under compulsion to fulfil his
demands; his Celestial credit might exceed the “paying” possibilities
of the supreme Powers. In the sacred tales Brahmans were credited with
performing rigid penances for centuries.
In the fourth Veda, the _Atharva-veda_, the revival of belief in
formulas is emphasized. This book, which did not receive recognition
as an inspired work at first, is in the main a collection of metrical
charms of great antiquity. Many resemble closely those which have been
collected by folk-lorists during late years in the Scottish Highlands
and elsewhere throughout Europe. The Rigveda hymns reveal the religious
beliefs and aspirations of the advanced thinkers of their age; the
_Atharva-veda_ contains the germs of folk religion—the magical
formulas chanted to dispel or invoke the vague spirits who helped or
thwarted mankind. It teaches that the Universe is upheld by sacrifice
and the spiritual exaltation of Brahmans, and that Brahmanic power may
be exercised by the use of appropriate charms. Human beings might also
be influenced by the spirits invoked by means of formulas.
Primitive man believed that all emotions were caused by spirits. When
the poet sang, he was “inspired”—he drew in a spirit; ecstasy was “a
standing outside of oneself”, the soul having escaped temporarily from
the body. Wrath was caused by a demon, and “battle fury” by the spirit
of war which possessed the warrior. When a human being was “seized” by
a fit, his convulsions were believed to be caused by the demon who had
entered his body. Love was inspiration in the literal sense, and an
Indian lover might compel a heedless lady to regard him with favour
by reciting an Atharva-vedic spell. Apparently the love spirit had a
weakness for honey. The lover chanted:
Honey be mine at the tip of my tongue,
May sweetness of honey pervade my speech,
So that my love may come under my spell—
So that my lady may yield to my will.
_Atharva-veda_, i, 34.
As the grass is shorn from earth by the wind,
So may thy soul be shorn to my will,
And then, O lady, thou'lt give me thy love,
Nor be averse to me as thou wert.
_Atharva-veda_, ii, 30.
A lover, we find, can invoke the lady to embrace him “as the creeper
embraces a tree”; if she clings to his arm he can cause her to cling
to his heart; his influence over her mind is like the influence of a
wing-beating eagle over the wind. It may be, too, that a neglected girl
finds it necessary to prepare a love potion with “salve, sweet wood,
and spikenard”, and to cause the heart of an ungallant swain to suffer
from “a parching heart”, which “languishes for love”, and experiences
the “yearning of the Apsaras”.
Warriors were charmed against spells, cattle and sheep were charmed
against wild beasts, a house was charmed against evil spirits and
demons.[133] Greedy demons of disease, who devoured the flesh of
patients, were greatly feared: Brahmans performed ceremonies of
riddance and “plagued them as the tiger plagues the cattle owners”.
The following is a charm against cough:
[133] There are formulas in Gaelic for blessing a house, &c. The
customs of nailing horse-shoes upon doors and hanging up holly at
Christmas for protection against evil spirits indicate the persistence
of ceremonial practices long after ancient beliefs have been forgotten.
As the soul with the soul's desires swiftly to a distance flies,
Thus do thou, O cough, fly forth along the soul's course of flight.
As a well-sharpened arrow swiftly to a distance flies,
Thus do thou, O cough, fly forth along the expanse of the earth.
As the rays of the sun swiftly to a distance fly,
Thus do thou, O cough, fly forth along the flood of the sea.
_Atharva-veda_, vi, 105.[134]
[134] Bloomfield's _Atharva-veda_ (_Sacred Books of the East_, vol.
xlii).
A Scottish Highland charm similarly invokes the Powers, or the “King of
the Elements”:
To cause the wrath of men to ebb,
Like to a wave from the sea to the floodtide,
And a wave from the floodtide to the ebb.
Occasionally a mantra is infused with high religious fervour. A Brahman
might pray:
From the sins which knowingly or unknowingly we have committed, do ye,
all gods, of one accord release us.
If awake or asleep, to sin inclined, I have committed a sin, may what
has been, and what shall be, as if from a wooden post, release me.
_Atharva-veda_, vi, 115. 1-2.[135]
[135] Bloomfield's translation.
Another hymn of this character concludes:
In heaven, where our righteous friends are blessed,
Having cast off diseases from their bodies,
From lameness free and not deformed in members,
There may we see our parents and our children.
_Atharva-veda_, vi, 120.[136]
[136] _A History of Sanskrit Literature_, Professor Macdonell, p. 199.
While the tribes were spreading southward and eastward, Madhyadesa,
the “middle country”, remained the centre of Brahmanic culture. In that
district came into existence the earliest sacred prose works which
constitute the basis of classic Hinduism. The first were the oldest
_Brahmanas_; these comment on and expound the doctrines of the Vedic
hymns, especially in their relation to the ritual of sacrifices. To
the _Brahmanas_ were added the _Aran´yakas_, “forest books”, which
are more speculative in tendency. The expository appendices to the
_Aran´yakas_ are called the _Upanishads_, “the sittings down”, or “the
sessions”—the pupil sat at his master's feet—and in these a high
level of thought is attained. “For the first time”, says Professor
Macdonell, “we find the Absolute grasped and proclaimed.”
All the tribes were not infused with the same degree of culture. In the
_Yajur-veda_ period there were various schools of thought, and these
continued to exercise their influence into historic times, even after
Upanishadic doctrines became widespread.
Ere we deal, however, with the new theological doctrines of the
Brahmanic teachers, we should follow the development of sacrificial
practices, because from these evolved the bold Pantheism which
characterized the conception of the World Soul, Brahmă.
The two greatest sacrifices were the _purusha-medha_, the human
sacrifice, and _aswa-medha_, the sacrifice of the horse. Both were
prevalent in early times, and in simpler form than they survive to us
in the doctrinal works and the Epics. A human sacrifice was believed
to be of highest potency, but it became extremely rare, as in Egypt,
among the ruling and cultured classes. It was perpetuated in India,
however, until about half a century ago, by the Dravidian Khonds in
Bengal and Madras, and had to be suppressed by British officers. Human
sacrifices, in historic times, were “offered to the earth goddess,
Tari Pennu or Bera Pennu, and were believed to ensure good crops, and
immunity from all diseases and accidents”. One official record states
that the victim, after being stabbed by the priest, was “literally cut
to pieces”. Each person who was “so fortunate as to procure it carried
away a morsel of the flesh, and presented it to the idol of his own
village”.[137]
[137] _Omens and Superstitions of Southern India_, by Edgar Thurston,
p. 799 _et seq._, 1912.
From the practice of sacrificing human beings arose the conception that
the first act of Creation was, if not human sacrifice, at least the
sacrifice of the first being with human attributes. The Universe is the
giant Purusha (“man”); he is “all that hath been and shall be”. In a
Rigvedic hymn, which is regarded as being of later composition than the
Rigvedic period, it is set forth:
“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. This victim, Purusha, born in the beginning,
they immolated on the sacrificial grass.”
From this universal sacrifice issued forth all that exists. The Brahman
rose from Purusha's mouth, the Rajanya (Kshatriya) from his arms, the
Vaisya from his thighs, and the Sudra sprang from his feet. Indra and
Agni came from his mouth, and Vayu from his breath.
“When the gods, performing sacrifice, bound Purusha as a victim,
there were seven sticks (stuck up) for it (around the fire).... With
sacrifice the gods performed the sacrifice. These were the earliest
rites.”[138]
[138] Muir's _Original Sanskrit Texts_, vol. i, pp. 9-10.
“From his (Purusha's) navel arose the air, from his head the sky,
from his ears the four quarters; in this manner (the gods) formed
the worlds.” This conception resembles closely the story in Teutonic
mythology of the cutting up by the gods of the body of the chaos giant
Ymer; his skull became the sky, his bones the rocks, his blood the
sea, and so on. One of the Chinese P'an Ku[139] myths is of similar
character; the world is composed of different parts of his body. The
Babylonian Merodach also divided the body of the chaos demon, Tiawath
or Tiamat; her head became the sky, her body the earth, and her blood
the rivers which fill the sea. Purusha, the chaos giant of India, had
“a thousand heads, a thousand eyes, and a thousand feet”; the earth was
equal to the space covered by ten of his fingers; he was “the whole
universe”.
[139] P'an Ku in his giant form. Like the Egyptian Ptah, he is now a
dwarf and anon a giant.
The horse sacrifice was also infused, like the human sacrifice, with
symbolic significance. It was probably practised in the early Iranian
period by the Aryan horse tamers, who may have substituted man's
fleet-footed friend for human beings. The Mongolian Buriats in the
vicinity of Lake Baikal, Siberia, are the latest surviving sacrificers
of the domesticated animal. Their horse sacrifice (Tailgan) was held on
2 August on a sacred hill inhabited by their gods, the Burkans, “the
masters”. The horse was bound, thrown upon its back and held tightly
by ropes, while the officiating person cut open its breast and pulled
out the pulsating heart like the sacrificers of human beings in Ancient
Mexico. The animal's bones were burned on the altars, and the flesh was
cooked and devoured by the worshippers. Portions of the flesh, and some
of the broth prepared, were given to the flames, which also received
libations of the liquor called _tarasun_, distilled from sour milk.
_Tarasun_ was the Soma of the Buriats, and their fire spirit was, like
the Indian Agni, a ready drinker of it. Bits of food were also flung
to aerial spirits, while oblations were poured on the hill, the belief
prevailing that these offerings multiplied sufficiently to permit of
the gods feeding sumptuously. As each of the worshippers of the spirits
of nature accepted a portion of sacrificial food, a prayer was chanted,
entreating the gods to cause increase of all things.
“Let our villages be one verst longer,” they said; “create cattle in
our enclosures; under our blankets create a son; send down rain from
high heaven to us; cause much grass to grow; create so much grain that
the sickle cannot raise it, and so much grass that the scythe cannot
cut it.”
After the sacrifice, the food was divided and the fragments that
remained were carefully burned, “for none of it must be eaten by
dogs; that would be desecration, and misfortune would follow in its
wake”.[140]
[140] _A Journey in Southern Siberia_, by Jeremiah Curtin, pp. 44-8.
The purpose of this annual sacrifice was evidently to secure fertility
and prosperity generally, and we refer to it here so fully because of
the light it throws on the Indian ceremonial which it resembles closely
in some of its details.
There are two direct references to the horse sacrifice in the
_Rigveda_.[141] The animal is “covered with rich trappings” and led
thrice round the altar. It is accompanied by a goat, which is killed
first to “announce the sacrifice to the gods”. A goat was also slain at
a burial to inform the gods that the soul was about to enter Heaven.
[141] _Rigveda_, i, 162, and i, 163.
In the _Story of Nala_ and in the _Ramáyana_, the horse sacrifice
is performed to secure human offspring. A second _Ramáyana_ horse
sacrifice is offered as an atonement after the slaying of the demon
Ravana. An elaborate account of this great ceremonial is also given in
the _Mahábhárata_. It was performed after “the great war” on the advice
of the sage Vyasa to atone for the slaying of kinsmen. The horse was
let loose and an army followed it. Whichever country the animal entered
had to be conquered for the owner of the horse, so that only a powerful
monarch could fulfil the conditions of the sacrifice. A hundred such
sacrifices might enable a king to depose Indra.
It is significant, however, that the animal was released to wander from
kingdom to kingdom on the night of the full moon in the spring month
of Choitro, and that it returned in the following year at the close
of the winter season. When the ground was prepared by being ploughed
by the king, the queen followed him, sowing the seeds of every kind
of vegetable and curative herb which grew in the kingdom. A countless
number of representative animals were sacrificed before the sacred
horse was slain, the rain drum and trumpet were sounded, and the king
and queen were drenched with holy water.
The flesh of the horse was cooked and eaten, and Indra and the other
gods appeared and partook of their portions. Pieces were also flung
in the fire, and the fire received also its meed of Soma. When the
sacrifice was completed, the king divided the herb offerings among the
people; what remained over was burned.
In the _Mahábhárata_ a white horse is sacrificed, but in the _Ramáyana_
a black victim is offered up. White horses were sacrificed to Mars by
the Romans; the Greeks sacrificed white horses to the sun by throwing
them in the sea; the Spartans offered up their horses, like the
Buriats, on a hilltop.
There can be little doubt that the Greek and Roman horse sacrifices
were also intended to ensure fertility. A horse was offered up to Diana
at the August harvest festival, and we know that that popular goddess
gave plentiful crops and was the guardian of flocks and herds and wild
animals of the chase; she also presided at birth, and women invoked her
aid. Virgins and youths took a prominent part at this harvest festival.
The Roman horse sacrifice took place on 15 October. The animal was
offered to Mars; the head was conveyed to the king's house[142] and
decorated with loaves, and the blood was preserved until April, when it
was mixed by virgins with the blood of calves; this mixture was given
to shepherds to ensure the increase of flocks which were fumigated.
In the _Mahábhárata_ the king and the princes stand for a time in the
smoke belching from the altar, to be cleansed of their sins.
[142] That is, the so-called “royal house”, or house of the “king of
the sacred rites”.
The Persians, and other peoples of Aryan speech and custom, sacrificed
horses regularly. But the custom was not confined to Indo-Europeans.
The Scythians,[143] who were probably Mongols, not only offered horses
to the Spirit of Fertility, but also, like the Buriats, to the dead.
The Patagonians sacrificed horses to tree spirits. In this connection
it may be noted that some European horse sacrifices took place in
sacred groves; the Buriats tied their horse to a birch tree, which
was carried to the mountain top and fixed to a stake; the Indian
sacrificial posts were probably substitutes for trees.
[143] A broad-headed people.
In the _Upanishads_ the sacrifice of the horse is infused, as we have
indicated, with mystic symbolism. We read: “The dawn in truth is the
head of the sacrificial horse. The sun is the eye; the wind the
breath ... the year the body, the heaven is the back ... the
constellations the bones; the sky the muscles; the rivers, arteries and
veins; the liver and spleen, the mountains; the herbs and trees, the
various kinds of hair.” The horse is also identified with the sun: “The
sun, as long as he rises is the fore part of the body; the sun, as long
as he descends is the hind part of the body, &c.” The horse is also day
and night in turn, and its birthplace is the sea; it carries the gods
and the Asuras; it is the symbol of Death, “who is voracity”, from whom
all things came. “There was not anything here before.” Death first
“created this mind, desiring, _May I have a soul_. He went forth
worshipping. From him, when worshipping, the waters were produced....
The froth of the waters which was there became consistent. This became
the earth.... He made himself threefold. His eastern quarter is the
head ... his western quarter is the tail, &c.”
The work of Creation proceeds, and then “he (Death as the Creator)
resolved to devour all that he had created; for he eats all.... He is
the eater of the whole universe; this whole universe is his food.”
After a year of purification the Creator slaughtered his horse body.
“He gave up the animal to the gods. Therefore they (the gods) slaughter
the purified animal, representing in its nature, as Prajápati, all
deities. He (the Creator) is the Ashwameda[144] who shines.”
[144] Horse sacrifice.
The gods performed the sacrifice to overcome the demons, the
representatives of sin. Therefore the horse sacrifice removes all sin.
After much fantastic symbolism the following lesson in the form of a
mantra is extracted from the parable of Creation:—
“From the unreal lead me to the real, from darkness lead me to light,
from death lead me to immortality.”
The Upanishadic treatment of the Purusha myth differs somewhat from
the Vedic, and is intended to strengthen the Monotheistic tendencies
displayed in some of the hymns.
When the Universal soul, according to this later doctrine, took at the
beginning “the shape of a man” ... he “beheld nothing but himself”.
“He said first _This, I am_. Hence the name of ‘I’ was produced.
Therefore, even now a man, when called, says first, ‘It is I’, and
tells afterwards any other name that belongs to him. And, because He,
as the first of all of them consumed by fire all the sins, therefore
he is called Purusha....
He was afraid; therefore man, when alone, is afraid. He then looked
round. Since nothing but myself exists, of whom should I be afraid?
Hence his fear departed; for whom should he fear, since fear arises
from another.
He did not feel delight. Therefore nobody, when alone, feels delight.
He was desirous of a second. He was in the same state as husband
(Pati) and wife (Patni).... He divided this self twofold. Hence were
husband and wife produced. Therefore was this only a half of himself,
as a split pea is of the whole.... This void is thus completed by
woman. He approached her. Hence men were born.”
The first two “mortals” then assumed the forms of all creatures, male
and female in turn. They were, in order, the first cattle, the first
horses, the first asses, the first goats, the first sheep, and so on.
“In this manner He created every living pair whatsoever down to the
ants.” Then he reflected and said: “I am verily this creation, for I
created this all.”
The lesson then follows. Men say, “Sacrifice to this, sacrifice to
this, sacrifice to one or the other god?” But these words are “not
proper”, because “He is really this creation; for he verily is all the
gods”.
Thus the first Being, as a commentator remarked, “whose nature
comprehended all elements, who is eternal, who is not conceived by
thought, sprang forth by himself.... He consumed all sins, for unless
one is in a worldly state he cannot consume sins.... Being mortal he
created immortals.”[145]
[145] _The Brihad Aranyaka Upanishad._
From the myth of the chaos-giant Purusha we pass to the higher
pantheistic conception of Brahmă, the soul of the Universe.