The Religion of the Veda the Ancient Religion of India

Ex Libris

THE CANADIAN

Courtesy of The Estate of G.J.L. Bates

FROM-THE-LIBRARYOF TRINITYCOLLEGETORDNTO

THE AMERICAN LECTURES ON THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS.

I.

The History and Literature By T. W. RHYS-DAVIDS, LL.D., Ph.D.

Buddhism.

dhism. II.

of

Bud

Primitive Religions. The Religions of Primitive By D. G. BRINTON, A.M., M.D., LL.D., Sc.D.

Peoples. III.

Israel.

Jewish Religions.

Life after the Exile.

By Rev. T. K. CHEYNE, M.A., D.D. IV. Israel.

Religion of Israel to the Exile.

By KARL

BUDDF,, D.I). V. Ancient Egyptians. The Religion of the Ancient By G. STEINDORFF, Ph.D.

Egyptians.

The Development of Re By GEORGE W. KNOX, D.D. VII. The Veda. The Religion of the Veda. By MAURICE BLOOMFIELD, Ph.D., LL.D. VI. Religion in Japan.

ligion in Japan.

In active preparation VIII.

Islam.

The

:

Religion of Islam.

GOLDZIHER, Ph.D., Litt.D.

G.

P.

PUTNAM S SONS

NEW YORK AND LONDON

By IGUAZ

AMERICAN LECTURES ON THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS SEVENTH SERIES

1906-1907

THE RELIGION OFTHE VEDA THE ANCIENT RELIGION OF INDIA (FROM RIG- VEDA TO UPANISHADS)

BY

MAURICE BLOOMFIELD, Professor of Sanskrit and

Ph.D., LL.D.

Comparative Philology in Johns Hopkins

University,

Baltimore

PUTNAM S SONS NEW YORK AND LONDON

G. P.

Cbe

Ifcnicfcerbocfcer 1908

press

COPYRIGHT, igo8

BY G. P.

PUTNAM S SONS

TTbe ftnfcfcerbocfcer

123139 JAN

2

1987

TDrs, flew

JPort

PREFACE. volume reproduces with some little ampli six lectures on the Religion of the

THISfication Veda

given before various learned institutions of America during the fall and winter of 1906-07.

The

period of time and the

embraced

amount

the term Vedic are large

in

;

of literature

moreover any

name

discussion of this religion that deserves the

must

also include a glance at the prehistoric periods

which preceded the religion of the Veda. sequently my treatment must be selective. not

difficult it

to

make the

selection.

of priestly

me

was

have not

necessary to include a complete account

thought of Vedic mythology and legend to

I

Con It

ritual

and

;

nor did the details

religious folk-practices

seem

to call for elaborate exposition at this time

and under the circumstances of a popular treatment Vedic religion. On the other hand, it seemed

of

both interesting and

markedly ligious

bring out as development of the re

important to

as possible the

thought of the Veda

in

distinction

from

Preface

iv

myth and ceremony. will, I

reader of these pages

how

the religion

prehistoric

foundation

hope, learn to his satisfaction

of the

which

The

Veda

rests

upon a

largely nature

is

how

continues in

myth hymns as hieratic ritual worship of gods how this religion grew more and ;

it

the Rig- Veda polytheistic

;

more formal and mechanical

in the

Yajur-Vedas and

Brahmanas, until it was practically abandoned how and when arose the germs of higher religious thought and, finally, how the motives and prin ;

;

ciples that

underlie this entire chain

of

mental

events landed Hindu thought, at a comparatively early period, in the pantheistic ligion of the Upanishads which

and pessimistic it

abandoned.

MAURICE BLOOMFIELD. JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY, BALTIMORE, April, 1907.

re

has never again

ANNOUNCEMENT.

THE

American

Lectures on

the

History of

Religions are delivered under the auspices of

the American Committee for Lectures on the History of Religions.

This Committee was organised

purpose of instituting

for the

the History of Religions,

"

in 1892,

popular courses in

somewhat

after the style of

the Hibbert Lectures in England, to be delivered

annually by the best scholars of Europe and this country, in various cities, such as Baltimore, Boston,

Brooklyn, Chicago,

New

York, Philadelphia, and

others."

The terms

of association under

tee exist are as follows 1.

The object

which the Commit

:

of this Association shall be to provide

courses of lectures on the history of religions, to

be delivered in various 2.

The

cities.

Association shall be composed of delegates

from Institutions agreeing to co-operate, or from Local Boards organised where such co-operation is

3.

not possible.

These delegates

one from each Institution or

Preface

iv

The

myth and ceremony. will, I

of the

which

reader of these pages

how

the religion

prehistoric

foundation

hope, learn to his satisfaction

Veda

rests

upon a

largely nature

is

the Rig- Veda

hymns how

polytheistic gods

;

myth

;

how

it

continues in

as hieratic ritual worship of

grew more and Yajur-Vedas and

this religion

more formal and mechanical

in the

Brahmanas, until it was practically abandoned how and when arose the germs of higher religious thought and, finally, how the motives and prin ;

;

ciples that

underlie this entire chain

of

mental

events landed Hindu thought, at a comparatively early period, in the pantheistic ligion of the

Upanishads which

and pessimistic it

abandoned.

MAURICE BLOOMFIELD. JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY, BALTIMORE, April, 1907.

re

has never again

ANNOUNCEMENT.

THE

American

Lectures on

the

History of

Religions are delivered under the auspices of

the American Committee for Lectures on the History of Religions.

This Committee was organised

purpose of instituting

for the

"

in 1892,

popular courses in

the History of Religions, somewhat after the style of the Hibbert Lectures in England, to be delivered

annually by the best scholars of Europe and this country, in various cities, such as Baltimore, Boston,

Brooklyn, Chicago,

New

York, Philadelphia, and

others."

The terms

of association under

tee exist are as follows 1.

The object

which the Commit

:

of this Association shall be to provide

courses of lectures on the history of religions, to

be delivered in various 2.

The

cities.

Association shall be composed of delegates

from Institutions agreeing to co-operate, or from Local Boards organised where such co-operation is

3.

not possible.

These delegates

one from each Institution or

Announcement

vi

Board

Local

shall

Council under the

constitute themselves

name

of the

"

American

a

Com

mittee for Lectures on the History of Religions." 4.

The Council

5.

number a Chair

shall elect out of its

man, a Secretary,

and a Treasurer.

All matters of local detail shall be stitutions or

left

to the In

Local Boards, under whose auspices

the lectures are to be delivered. 6.

A course of lectures on some religion, or phase of from an historical point of view, or on

religion,

a subject germane to the study of religions, shall

be delivered annually, or at such intervals as may be found practicable, in the different cities repre sented by this Association. 7.

The

Council (a) shall be charged with the selec

tion of the lecturers, (b) shall have charge of the

funds,

each

(c)

city,

may be 8.

and perform such other functions as

necessary.

Polemical subjects, as well as polemics in the treat

ment 9.

shall assign the time for the lectures in

The

of subjects, shall be positively excluded.

lecturer shall be chosen

least ten

by the Council

at

months before the date fixed for the

course of lectures. 10.

The lectures shall be delivered

11.

between the months of September and June. The copyright of the lectures shall be the prop erty of the Association.

in

the various

cities

Announcement 12.

One-half of the lecturer

s

vii

compensation

shall

be paid at the completion of the entire course and the second half upon the publication of the lectures. 13.

The compensation

to the lecturer shall be fixed

in each case by the Council. 14.

The

not to deliver elsewhere any of the lectures for which he is engaged by the lecturer

is

Committee, except with the sanction of the Committee.

The Committee

as

now

constituted

is

as follows

:

Crawford H. Toy, Chairman, 7 Lowell St., Cambridge, Mass. Rev. Dr. John P. Peters, Treas Prof.

;

urer,

225 West QQth

Jastrow, phia, Pa.

Jr., ;

St.,

New York; South 23d

Secretary, 248

Prof. Francis

St.,

Philadel

Brown, Union Theological

New York Prof. Richard umbia University, New York Prof. Seminary,

Prof. Morris

Gottheil, Col

;

;

R. F. Harper, Prof. Paul

University of

Chicago, Chicago,

Haupt, 2511

Madison Avenue, Baltimore, Md.

111.

;

;

W. Hooper, Brooklyn Institute, Brooklyn, Prof. E. W. Hopkins, New Haven, Conn. Edward Knox Mitchell, Hartford Theologi

Prof. F.

N. Y. Prof.

;

;

Prof. George F. Seminary, Hartford, Conn. Rev. F. K. Sanders, Moore, Cambridge, Mass.

cal

;

;

Boston, Mass.

;

Pres.

F. C. Southworth, Meadville

Theological Seminary, Meadville, Pa. The lecturers in the course of American Lectures

Announcement

viii

on the History of Religions and the volumes are as follows

titles

of their

:

Prof.

1894-1895

T.

W.

Ph. D.

Rhys-Davids,

Buddhism. Prof. Daniel G. Brinton,

1896-1897

M.D., LL.D.

Religion of Primitive Peoples.

Rev. Prof. T. K. Cheyne, D.D.

1897-1898

Jewish

Religious Life after the Exile. Prof.

1898-1899

Karl Budde, D.D.

Religion of

Israel to the Exile.

Prof.

1904-1905

Georg

Steindorff, Ph.D.

The

Religion of the Ancient Egyptians. 1905-1906 Prof George William Knox, D. D., LL. D. .

The Development

The

of Religion in Japan.

present course of lectures, the seventh in the

series, was delivered by Professor Maurice Bloomfield, Ph.D., LL.D., Professor of Sanskrit and Comparative

Philology at the Johns Hopkins University, and one

on Vedic Literature.

of the leading authorities latest

work, a Concordance of the Vedic

prayer formulae, covering of a

life s

1

His

hymns and

100 pages, theembodiment

study, published as Vol. 10 of the Harvard

Oriental Series, will ensure Professor Bloomfield a per

manent place

the history of Vedic studies. Besides this he has edited from the manuscripts the Vedic ritual

book,

in

known

a translation of the

cluded

in

as the Kaucjka-Sutra of the

Hymns Professor Max Muller

;

published

Atharva-Veda, in s Sacred Books of

Announcement

ix

the East (Oxford, 1897); written a volume on the Lit erature and History of the Atharva-Veda, entitled

:

"

Atharva-Veda and the Gopatha-Brahmana (Strassburg, 1889) and edited, in collaboration with "The

;

Professor Richard Garbe of Tubingen, a chromophoto-

manu

graphic reproduction of the unique birch-bark

the Kashmirian Atharva-Veda (3 vols., He has also contributed to the Baltimore, 1901).

script of

and Europe num mythological, and ethno

technical journals of this country

erous papers on linguistic,

logical topics in general, in addition to a large

num

ber of contributions on the interpretation, textual restoration,

The

and

religion of the

Veda

in particular.

lectures in this course were delivered before

the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore

;

Union

Theological Seminary, New York; Brooklyn Institute of Arts

and Sciences, Brooklyn

;

Drexel Institute,

Philadelphia; Meadville Theological Seminary, ville

;

University of Chicago, Chicago

;

Mead-

and Hartford

Theological Seminary, Hartford.

JOHN C.

P.

PETERS,

Committee

)

Publication.

H. TOY,

MORRIS JASTROW, January, 1908.

\

on

CONTENTS. LECTURE THE

FIRST.

INDIA THE LAND OF RELIGIONS.

THE VEDA.

Brahmanism Bud Multiplicity religions dhism Profound hold of religion upon the Hindu mind Hindu life dominated by religious institu tions The four stages of life The institution of caste Caste then and now Symptoms of revulsion of

Hindu

against caste Other pernicious religious institu tions Continuity of India s religious history Date of the conception of rta, or

"cosmic order"

relationship of the religions of India

Close

and Persia

Slight connection between India and Persia in sec ular history The Parsis in India Close relation

between Veda and Avesta The Veda and the IndoEuropean period The Veda as a whole The date of the Veda Its great uncertainty Nature of Vedic tradition

The

rotriyas, or

"Oral

Traditionalists"-

Uncertain character of Vedic life and institutions Origin of the Veda Contents of Vedic literature as a whole The four Vedas The Rig- Veda The books of the Rig- Veda Theme and character of the Rig- Veda A hymn to Goddess Dawn The YajurVeda Character of the ^a/^5-formulas The SamaVeda Origin and purpose of the Sama-Veda The

Atharva-Veda Religious

Contents of

Quality

of

the

the Atharva-Veda Atharva-Veda Two

The Brahmana Texts Some Brahmanas The Aranyakas, or For Treatises" The Upanishads Literary history

Atharvan hymns legends of the est

"

Contents

xii

of the

Upanishads

The Upanishads

Critical estimate of the

in

the West

Upanishads

J

-59

LECTURE THE SECOND.

THE HIERATIC RELIGION. THE PANTHEON OF THE VEDA. Fundamental

traits of early Vedic religion False view of the nature of Vedic poetry The Rig-Veda as sacrificial poetry Difficulty of understanding the

ritual character of the Rig- Veda

Poetry addressed

Dawn A hymn to the sacrifice The Goddess Dawn as the symbol of liberality

to the Goddess

post at the sacrifice Some erroneous estimates of God dess Dawn Agni the son of "Baksheesh" Prac tical

purposes of Vedic poetry

The Rig- Veda con The ritual of

tains the religion of the upper classes

the Rig- Veda The apri-hymns Nature- worship the keynote of the Rig-Veda India s climate and nature- worship Vedic and Hellenic mythology

Arrested anthropomorphism Defini word Pantheon as applied to the Veda Faulty classifications of the Vedic gods Chrono

compared

tion of the

logy of the gods Different degrees of certainty about the origin of the gods Classification of the gods in these lectures 60-98

LECTURE THE THIRD.

THE PREHISTORIC GODS. Two

prehistoric periods bearing upon Hindu religion Scepticism about Comparative Mythology Diffi culties in the way of Comparative Mythology Com

parative Mythology and Ethnology The myth of Cerberus The Indo-European period Prehistoric

words for god Father Sky and Mother Earth The Thunderer The Vedic Agvins, or "Horsemen," the two Sons of Heaven The Dioscuri in Greek

Contents

The

mythology God"

Lettish

myth

xiii

of the

two

"Sons

Common kernel of the myth of the two

of

"Sons

The Aryan, or Indo-Iranian period Important religious ideas common to the two peoples The dual gods Varuna and Mitra Ahura of

Heaven

"

The conception of rta, or Mazda and Varuna The Adityas Aditi, the mother "cosmic order" of the Adityas Mitra, a sun god The sun, the moon, and the planets The Adityas and Amesha Spentas Early ethical concepts among the IndoEuropeans Varuna and Greek Ouranos (Uranus) The origin of man Sundry parents of man "Father Manu"

Yama and YamI,

the

Interlacing of the myths of the first human character of Manu and Yama

god

of the

"Twins"

man Yama,

The the

dead

Soma, the sacrificial drink of the The myth of Soma and the Heavenly Eagle

gods Value of the preceding reconstructions

99-149

LECTURE THE FOURTH.

THE TRANSPARENT, TRANSLUCENT, AND OPAQUE GODS RELIGIOUS CONCEPTIONS AND RELIGIOUS FEELING IN THE VEDA. The transparent gods: their importance for the study of Father Sky and Daughter Dawn Surya, religion a god of the sun Vata and Vayu, gods of wind The most transparent god: Agni, Fire Agni as the sacrifice fire Prehistoric gods of fire Birth and youth of Agni Agni as god of the morning New births of Agni Agni on the altar, the agent of the gods Priesthood and divinity of Agni A hymn to Agni Other myths of the Fire God The trans lucent gods: definition of the term God Vishnu God Pushan God Indra, as an example of an opaque god Traditional explanation of the myth of Indra and Vritra Professor Hillebrandt s inter-

Contents

xiv

PAGES

pretation of the same myth the religion of the Rig-Veda

Renewed Renewed

definition of

definition of

Vedic practicalities Conflicting prayers and sac The conception of faith Faith related to rifices Truth and Wisdom Faith personified Faith and works The reward for faith postponed to heaven Contrast between early faith (jraddha) and later devotion (bhakti) "Gift praises," another sop to the sacrificer The religious feeling of the Rig- Veda. "

"

"

"

The

utilitarian sense

Absence of

real sentiment

The glory

of the gods Poetic

towards the gods

the true religious feeling The com placent master-singers The poets own estimate of The divine quality of devotion. their work 150-207

inspiration

.

.

.

LECTURE THE FIFTH.

THE BEGINNINGS OF HINDU THEOSOPHY. Statement of the problem Time when theosophy origin ated Metempsychosis and pessimism unknown in the earlier Vedic records Place where the higher religion originated

Priest philosophy at the sacrifice

The theosophic charade Specimens of the theosophic charade The riddle hymn of Dirghatamas Interrelation between the sacrifice and theosophy

On

the supposed origin of theosophy with the royal Criticism of this view Transition from rit ualistic polytheism to theosophy Early scepticism Failure of God Varuna Gotterdammerung Monism, or the idea of unity The creation hymn Translation and analysis of the creation hymn At tempts at Monotheism Prajapati, the Lord of Creatures Vicvakarman, creator of the universe, and kindred conceptions Purusha, the world man Brihaspati, the Lord of Devotion Transcendental monotheistic conceptions: "Time," "Love," etc. Defects of the earlier monotheistic and monistic

caste "

attempts

"

208-248

xv

Contents

PAGES

LECTURE THE SIXTH.

THE FINAL PHILOSOPHY OF THE VEDA. Death and future

life

in

paradise

Early notions of

The idea of retribution Limit of reward for good deeds The notion of "death-anew," or How comes the belief in transmigration death Hindu doctrine of transmigration The method of transmigration The doctrine of karma, or spiritual evolution How transmigration and karma appear to Western minds The pessimist theory of life Cause of Hindu pessimism Pessimism and the per Hell

"re-

"

fect

principle

(Brahma)

Dualistic

pessimism

Salvation through realisation of one s own Brahmahood The conception of the alman, "breath," as life principle Atman, the soul of the Universe Brahma, the spiritual essence of the Universe

Atman and Brahma

Maya, or the world unknowableness of Brahma Emerson s poem on the Brahma The fulness of Brahma: a story of Yajnavalkya and his wife MaiTransition from philosophy to piety Hindu treyl Fusion of

an

The

illusion

asceticism

Professor

Huxley

s

critique of

progress under the religion of

asceti-

Brahma

ism

s

householder

and disciplehood The life of the The life of the forest-dweller and

Pilgrim Investiture

wandering ascetic

INDEX

Ultima Thule

249-289 291

LECTURE THE Land

India the Multiplicity of

Hindu

FIRST.

of Religions religions

The Veda.

Brahmanism

Buddhism

Profound hold of religion upon the Hindu mind Hindu The four stages life dominated by religious institutions of life The institution of caste Caste then and now Symptoms of revulsion against caste Other pernicious religious

history order"

Persia

institutions

Continuity

of

Date of the conception of

India rta,

s

religious

or

"cosmic

Close relationship of the religions of India and Slight connection between India and Persia

in secular history

The

Parsis in India

Close relation

The Veda and the IndoThe Veda as a whole The date of

between Veda and Avesta

European period Veda Its great uncertainty Nature of Vedic tra The Qrotriyas or "Oral Traditionalists" Un dition certain character of Vedic life and institutions Origin of the Veda Contents of Vedic literature as a whole The four Vedas The Rig-Veda The books of the Rig- Veda Theme and character of the Rig- Veda A hymn to Goddess Dawn The Yajur-Veda Character The Sama-Veda Origin and of the ya jus-formulas purpose of the Sama-Veda The Atharva-Veda Con tents of the Atharva-Veda Religious quality of the Atharva-Veda Two Atharvan hymns The Brahmana Texts Some legends of the Brahmanas The AranyaThe Upanishads Literary kas, or "Forest Treatises" history of the Upanishads The Upanishads in the West Critical estimate of the Upanishads. the

The

2

It

number

which,

Veda

the land of religions in more than one

is

INDIA sense. a

Religion of the

has produced out of

its

of distinctive systems and

at

least,

are

world-wide

of

own

resources

two

sects,

interest

of

and

importance.

manifold aspects, is to this day the religion of about 200 millions of people in India

Brahmanism,

herself, a

in its

matter of interest on the face of

it.

But

universal importance lies with the Brahmanical

its

systems of religious philosophy, especially the two respectively as Vedanta and Sankhya. These

known

|M V

/

are two religio-philosophical, or theosophical systems which essay to probe the twin riddle of the universe and human life. They do this in so penetrating a way as to place them by the side of the most

profound philosophic endeavors of other nations. The beginnings of this philosophy are found in the Upanishads, a set of treatises which are The Upanishads contain the part of the Veda. higher religion of the Veda. The essence of higher so-called

Brahmanical religion religion of the

is

Upanishad

Upanishads

is

The theme of

religion.

part of the

these lectures.

Buddhism Its

started in the

bosom

radical reforms, concerning

practical

manism.

life,

are directed in

Yet Buddhism

of

Brahmanism.

both doctrine and

good part against Brah is

a religion genuinely

India the

Hindu

Land

in its texture.

dominant

of Religions

It shares

with Brahmanism

its

Transmigration of souls, pessimism, and the all-absorbing desire to be re leased from an endless chain of existences, linked religious ideas.

these are the axioms

together by successive deaths,

Brahmanism and Buddhism.

of both

After spread

ing over the continent of India

Buddhism crossed

over into Ceylon, Farther India,

and the islands of

To

the Asiatic Archipelago.

the north

it

passed

and across the great Himalaya Mountains to Nepaul, Thibet, Turkestan, China, Korea, and Japan.

into

In

various forms

its

world

s

to this day one of the There are no absolutely re-

is

it

great religions.

number

liable statistics as to the

of Buddhists

|

upon

300 millions^ may be re estimate of the number of as a conservative garded the surface of the earth

people

who

;

either are Buddhists, or

whose

has been shaped by Buddhist ideas,

religion

Brahmanism

and Buddhism, both Hindu products, together supply the religious needs of 500 millions of the earth s inhabitants.

In another sense India

Nowhere

else

is

is

the land of religions.

the texture of

life

so

much

im-

pregnated with religious convictions and practices. At a very early time belief in the transmigration of souls (metempsychosis),

India

is

still

something

whose

precise origin in

of a problem, planted itself

A-

The down

Hindu mind

in the

mental axiom future

life.

Religion of the

Veda

as the basis

and funda

of all speculations about the soul

This of

itself is

and

The

merely a theory.

importance of this theory is, that it is almost from the start with a pessimistic view coupled of life. According to this the everlasting round practical

of

existences

is

a nuisance, and release from It

imperative necessity.

would be

it

an

difficult to find

else a purely speculative notion which has taken so firm a hold upon practical life. It pervades the Hindu consciousness in a far more real and

anywhere f

intimate

way than

eternal future

life,

its

great rival, the belief in an

pervades the religious thought

Western world.

of the

From

the beginning of India s history religious institutions control the character and the develop ment of its people to an extent unknown elsewhere.

Hindu

life

from birth to death, and even after death

the fancied

in

heaven,

is

of the

Fathers, or

Manes

in

religious, or sacramental throughout.

surrounded

is

life

by

institutions

and

practices,

It

and

clouded by superstitions which are discarded only by them that have worked their way to the highest philosophical aspects of religion.

The

religious

life

of

the Brahmanical

Hindu

1

is

divided into the four stages of religious disciple god;

1

Called dframa, literally,

"hermitages."

Land

India the

fearing

and

this

Such

contemplative

and wandering, world -abandoning

at least

Even though

law.

householder;

sacrificing

forest -dweller; ascetic.

of Religions

is

the theory of their religious

practice at

all

times

fell

short of

mechanical and exacting arrangement, yet the is allowed that life is an essentially solitary

claim

religious pilgrimage, the goal being personal salva

There

tion.

the interests of the race.

no provision

is

the State

they are corresponding blank this

such a scheme for

and the developmentUnintentionally, but none the less

of

effectively,

Over

in

hovers,

out of account, leaving a in India s national character. left

a

like

black

cloud,

another?

institution, the system, or rather the chaos, of caste.

grotesque inconsistencies and bitter tyranny have gone far to make the Hindu what he is. The corro Its

sive properties of this single institution,

more than

have checked the develop anything ment of India into a nation. They have made else whatsoever,

possible the spectacle of a country of nearly 300 millions of

inhabitants,

governed by the

skill

of

60,000 military and 60,000 civilian foreigners. In olden times there were four castes: the Brah

man, or

the Kshatriya, or warrior priestly caste the Vai$ya, or merchant and farmer caste and the C^udra, or servitor caste. Then came many caste

;

;

cross-castes, the

;

result

of

intermarriages between

|

The members are now

Religion of the

Veda

of the four original castes. strictly taboo.

Such marriages

Gradually, differences of

occupation, trade, and profession, and, to a consider able extent also, difference of geography, established

themselves as the basis of caste distinction, until the

number

At the present time there are nearly 2000 Brahman castes alone. According to an intelligent Hindu observer of our own day the Sarasvata Brahmins of the Panjab alone number 469 tribes the Kshatriyas are split of castes

became

legion.

1

;

up

the Vaigyas and There is a Hindustani

into 590

more.

udras into even

;

Brahmins, nine

kitchens."

proverb,

"eight

In the matter of food

and intermarriage all castes are now completely shut off one from the other. A tailor may not, as is the custom with

other peoples, invite his neighbor, an honest shoemaker, to share his humble fare. The all

son of the shoemaker

blooming daughter

may

not

woo and wed

of the barber.

Even

the

a minor

some new trick of trade, will at once breed new caste. In certain parts of India fisher-folk who knit the meshes of their nets from right to left may not intermarry with them that knit from left to deviation,

a

right.

In Cuttack, the most southerly district of

Rai Bahadur Lala Baij Nath, B.A., of the North-western Province Judicial Service, and Fellow of the University of Allahabad, in his 1

very interesting 1889), p. 9.

little

book, Hinduism, Ancient and Modern (Meerut,

India the

of Religions

no intercourse between potters who wheels a-sitting and make small pots, and

Bengal, there turn their

Land

is

them that stand up

A certain

for the

manufacture of large

dairymen who make butter from unboiled milk have been excluded from the

pots.

class of

and cannot marry the daughters of milkmen who churn upon more orthodox principles. Even caste,

as late a census as that of 1901 reports,

gives

and

in a

way

sanction to the Cimmerian notion that the

its

man

touch of the lower caste

defiles the

higher

:

While a Nayar can pollute a man of a higher cast only by touching him, people of the Kammalan group, includ ing masons, blacksmiths, carpenters, and workers in leather, pollute at a distance of twenty-four feet,

drawers vators

at

at

forty-eight

Paraiyan (Pariahs) is

Palayan or Cheruman

thirty-six feet,

stated to be

no

Thus Hindu

;

than sixty-four

society

is

in

making

plete as possible. rise into

;

to such progress only as fines of his caste. 1

Quoted from

New

its

Members

a higher caste

To

feet.

split into infinitely small!

divisions, each holding itself aloof

each engaged

culti

while in the case of the; eat beef, the range of pollution

feet

who

less

toddy

from the other,

exclusiveness as

of a lower caste cannot

the individual is

com

is

restricted

possible within the con

the Pariah the door of hope

Ideas in India,

Morrison (Edinburgh, 1906), p. 33.

by the

Rev.

Dr. John

1

;

The

8

;

is

shut forever.

Veda

Religion of the

There

is little

chance for national or

/patriotic combination.

Moreover the laws, or rather the vagaries of caste have taken largely the place of practical religion in the

mind

Hindu who has not eman

of the average

cipated himself through higher philosophy.

supreme law which life is,

really concerns

to eat correctly

The

correctly.

;

him

in his daily

to drink correctly

broader,

more

The

;

to marry

usual, dictates

religion, such as worship of the gods

and

of

ethical

conduct, are not ignored, but they take a distinctly secondary place. India has at all times put the

stamp of

upon much that Europe counts as or social institution. There is not, and

religion

social habit,

there seems never to have been, fixed creed in India.

Hinduism has always been inarian

in

matters of

tolerant, liberal, latitud-

abstract belief;

tyrannous,

illiberal, narrow-minded as regards such social prac tices as can be in any way connected with religion.

Fluidity of doctrine, rigidity of practice

regarded as the

unspoken motto of Hindu

may

be

religion

at all times.

Fortunately there are not wanting signs of a revul sion of feeling which bids fair to sweep the entire

system of caste with

all its

the face of the earth.

Raja

Rammohun Roy

incredible foolishness off

The

great

Hindu reformer

declared as early as the year

India the

1

824 that

"caste

Land

of Religions

divisions are as destructiveof national

union as of social

The late SvamI Vive-

enjoyment."

kanancla, the brilliant representative of

the

"Parliament

of

Religions,"

Hinduism

at

held in Chicago in con

nection with the Universal Exposition in 1893, passed

the last years of his too short in a

life

(he died in 1902)

suburb of Calcutta, doing philanthropic work,

denouncing caste and the outcasting of those who had crossed the ocean, and recommending the Hindus

The

to take to the eating of meat.

reformers are

lifting.

voices of other

Especially the two great native

religious reform associations,

the_Brahma Samaj, or

Theistic Association of Bengal, and the

Arya Samaj,

or Vedic Association of the United Provinces and

the Panjab, different as are their aims in other re

on the side of opposition to as an anachronism, anomaly, and bar to social

spects, are marshalled caste,

and national progress.

The

dreadful institution of Suttee, or widow-burn- \

ing abolished in 1829, under the administration of

Lord William Bentinck, by decree

of

government

j

;

the car of Juggernaut; the sect of the Thugs; and

the practice of self-hypnosis to the point of prolonged trance or apparent death, are evidences of the frenzy-

Hindu

and the way it has of overshadowing individual sanity and public in There has been, and there still is, too much terest. ing quality of

1

;

religion,

;

The

io

Religion of the

so-called religion in India

:

Veda

Brahmanical hierarchy,

sacerdotalism, asceticism, caste

;

infinitely diversified

polytheism and idolatry cruel religious practices and bottomless superstition. All this the higher ;

Hindu

;

or rather religious philosophies,

religions,

blow away as the wind does chaff. In their view such religiosity is mere illusion or ignorance, to save from which

is

their profession.

the illumined of mind.

On

But they can save only the real

life

of India the

great philosophies are merely a thin film.

Anyhow

they have not as yet penetrated down to the Hindu people, and we may question whether India s salva

come

tion will

growth of

that way, rather than through the

social

and

political intelligence

which so

gifted a people is sure, in the long run, to obtain. The student of the History of Religions has good reason to think of India as the land of religions in

yet another sense.

out of

its

religions

Not only has India produced

own mental

resources

many important

and theosophic systems, but

it

has carried

on these processes continuously, uninterrupted by The Moghul con distracting outside influences.

Mohammedan and Mohammedanism fused

quests in Northern India introduced

ism to a limited extent,

with Hinduism in the hybrid religion of the Sikhs. small number of Zoroastrian Parsis, driven from

A

Persia during the

Mohammedan

conquest,

found

India the

Land

u

of Religions

a friendly refuge for themselves and the religion of Zarathushtra (Zoroaster) in the West of India.

Aside from that there

is

no record

of

permanent

outside influence on a larger scale, until, in the last

Brahma Samaj,

century, the above-mentioned

a kind

of religious Volapiik, or Esperanto, undertakes, in

the most praiseworthy tic

upon a universal

spirit,

theis-

platform, to blend and harmonise the best in

Hindu

religious thought, with the best that

found

in is

ligion

In this

other religions.

more

strictly native

may be

way Hindu

re

than any of the great

no doubt due mainly to India s geographical isolation, and to her insular It has had the merit of keeping secular history. religions of

This

mankind.

is

her religious development continuous and organic. Every important idea has a traceable past history

;

every important idea future.

of

is

certain to develop in the

We may

organic

open before

say that a body of 3500 years or less religious growth lies more the eyes

religions, to dissect,

of

the

student of

India

s

to study, and to philosophise

upon. This great period of time has of late become definite in a rather important sense.

Within recent

years there were discovered at Tel-el-Amarna, in

Upper Egypt, numerous cuneiform ing

letters

from

tributary

kings

tablets contain of

Babylonia,

1

The

2

Religion of the

Veda

Assyria, Mitani, Phoenicia, and Canaan, addressed to

Egyptian Pharaohs, their liege lords. These tablets have thrown much new light upon the history certain

Western Asia.

of

written

name.

There

is

among them a

of his brother Artashuvara

and his grandfather Arta-

These names are obviously Iranian

tama.

letter

by a king of Mitani in Syria, Dushratta by In this letter figure among others the names (Persian),

"

with the tablets themselves they date back to at least 1600 B. c. The names Artashuvara or

"

Iranoid

;

1

and

Artatama open out with the syllables artOr, Western students of history as part of

familiar to

the numberless Persian names like Artaxerxes, Artaphernes, etc.

This stem arta

identical with arta-

is

Western Iranian, Achemenidan inscriptions, with asha of the Avesta, and with rta of the Veda, of the

i

The word means universe."

of the

We

"

cosmic

shall find

order,"

it

or

"

order of the

later on, figuring as

one

most important religious conceptions of the We have here at any rate a definite

Rig- Veda.

lower date for the idea

;

it is

likely to

a long time before 1600 B.C.

From

have existed the point of

view of the history of religious ideas we may,

we must, begin 1

the history of

Hindu

in fact

religion at

See the author, American Journal of Philology\ xxv., p. 8 in Sitzungsberichte der Koniglich Bohmischen Gesell;

F.

Hommel

schaft der Wissenschaften, 1898,

Number

vi.

India the

Land

of Religions

13

least with the history of this conception. Broad as the ocean, and as uninterrupted in its sweep there lies before us a period of thousands of years of the

thought and practice of the most religious

religious

people

Now

in the history of the world.

this brings us face to face with the tried

and

true fact that the religious history of India does not really begin at the literature,

time when the Veda, the earliest

was composed, but that

earlier.

In the

common

life

in a prehistoric time, 1

Aryan

mon

period.

The

the so-called Indo-Iranian or

is

all

prehistoric studies

counts fairly with the best that

relationship

It

purely prehistoric.

not definite, but more or less hazy.

way.

com

reconstruction of these

religious properties

in this

much

begins

it

partakes of the fate of

is, it

it

shares a fairly clear place, with the ancient religion of Iran (Persia) first

;

it

Yet, such as

may

is it

be achieved

based upon the plainly evident between the Hindu Veda and the It is

Persian Avesta, the most ancient sacred books of

the two peoples.

No

student of either religion questions that they drew largely from a common

source, I

am

ment

and therefore mutually illumine each sure that the

full

meaning

other.

of this last state

appear clearer after a word of explanation. Students of profane history are accustomed to see 1

will

See below page 119.

The

14

Veda

Religion of the

ancient Persia with her face turned westward.

them the Persia that conquers, or

to

is

It

controls

through her satrapies, Assyria and Babylonia, Pales It is to them tine, Egypt, or parts of Asia Minor. the Persia that

falls

down

before Greece.

of her greatest glory Darius

day

into the Behistan rock, 300 feet

In the

Hystaspes carved, above the ground,

I.

the hugh trilingual cuneiform inscription, in which he claims suzerainty over twenty-three countries.

To

all

his

own.

intents and purposes he claims the earth for

Among

the countries mentioned are parts

adjacent to the extreme north-west of India: Dran-

Between 500-330 the Achemenidan Persian dynasty

giana, Arachosia, Gandhara, etc. B.C.,

the rule of

had without doubt sent out

loosely attached

its

satrapies to the land of the Indus River.

But

this

did not result in the permanent attachment of one

country to the other. Again, the so-called GraecoParthian rulers, successors of Alexander the Great in

the Persian countries of Parthia and Baktria, from

about 200 B.C. to 200 in

the north-west of India, notably the Indo-Parthian

kingdoms

of Taxila

cal relation, again,

A 1

of

A.D., established principalities

small

number

and Arachosia.

1

But

proved unstable and transient. of Parsis, after the

Mohammedan

See Vincent Smith, The Indo-Parthian Dynasties, German Oriental Society, vol. Ix. p. 49 ff.

the

this politi

,

in

Journal

Land

India the

conquest of Persia,

of Religions

fled to India

15

with their priests,

fire, and the manuscripts of the Avesta, their holy scriptures. Their descendants, about 80,000 in

sacred

number, still adhere to their ancient religion They form one of the most esteemed, wealthy, and philan thropic communities on the west shores of India, notably in the city of Bombay.

It is

not of record

that they had even the faintest idea that they were fleeing into the hospitable

bosom

of a people related

by blood and language, or that the Hindus who gave them shelter knew that they were receiving their

own

very

Hindus

at

kin.

As

any

rate,

far

as

we know,

the

Aryan

throughout their history, are

unconscious of the important fact that, across the mountains to the north-west of their entirely

country, dwelt at

stock

all

times a branch of their

own

the other half of the so-called Indo-Iranians

or Aryans.

And the

yet, the languages of the

Hindu Veda and

Persian Avesta, the respective

two peoples, are mere

bibles

dialects of the

of

the

same speech.

Students regularly enter upon the study of the Avestan language through the door of the Veda. Entire passages of the Avesta

may be

turned into

good Vedic merely by applying certain regular sound It is said sometimes that there is less dif changes. ference between the

Veda and

the Avesta than be-

j

"I

;

1

The

6

Religion of the

tween the Veda and the Mahabharata.

This

is,

later

my

in

Veda Hindu

Epic, the

opinion, an

exag

geration, but it is significant that the statement could be made at all. The early religions and the religious institutions of the

Hindus and Persians

far greater independence from one another than their languages, but they are, never So it has come theless, at the root much the same.

show, to be sure,

to pass that a not at

mean

all

part of the Vedic

Pantheon and Vedic

religious ideas begin before the

Veda.

even more paradoxically, Indian

Or, to put

it

religion begins before its arrival in India.

Yet

further,

beyond the common period

Hindus and the period which It

is

Persians, there

a

still

remoter

not entirely closed to our view. the common Indo-European time, the time is

when the Hindus and language bers

is

of the

of

Persians

and home with the the same

stock,

still

shared their

remaining

mem

the Hellenes, Italians,

In this altogether pre Celts, Teutons, and Slavs. historic time there also existed certain germs of religion,

and some of these germs grew into import

ant features of the later religions of these peoples.

The

religion of the

Veda

time to an extent that

is

indebted to this early

We

shall not negligible. the two layers of prehis

what way religious matter have contributed

see later on in toric

is

to

and affected

The Veda

1

7

For the present be advantageous to turn to the Vedic

the shaping of Vedic thought. it

will

religion of

some

historic

times, so

and what

new.

is

And

as

may be

there

that

between what

basis for discriminating

old

is

would not be gra

it

much knowledge of. so remote Veda, we must first describe briefly

cious to presume too

a theme as the

the documents of which consists the Veda, the most ancient literary

monument

literary document of the

foundation for

all

of India, the

most ancient the

Indo-European peoples

time of India

s

religious thought.

THE VEDA The word veda means is,

"sacred

know,"

It is

knowledge."

knowledge,"

derived from viJ,

"to

and connected with Greek (F)oida, Gothic

wait, German weiss, English wtt, term Veda is used in two ways :

lective

that

"

literally

designation

literature

of

India,

the

of

or

as

"

to

The

either as the col

entire

the

know."

oldest

specific

sacred

name

of

So books belonging to that literature. of the Veda as the on one we the then, hand, speak bible of ancient India or, on the other hand, we single

;

speak of

Rig-Veda, Atharva-Veda,

etc., as

individual

books of that great collection. The number of books which, in one sense or another, are counted as

Veda 2

is

a hundred

or

more.

The Hindus

|

[

;

l

The

i8

Religion of the

Veda

themselves were never very keen about canonicity; quasi-Vedic books, or, as we should say, Pseudo-

Vedic books were composed at a very late date, when the various and peculiar sources of early in had dried up they kept pouring new, mostly sour wine into the old skins. The huge Concordance

spiration

;

of the Vedas, which

it

has been

this year (1906), absorbs

my

fate to publish

about 120 texts more or

less Vedic. It is truly

humiliating to students of ancient India

have to answer the inevitable question as to the age of the Veda with a meek, We don t know." As "

!to

regards their texture, the books of the

great antiquity with no uncertain voice.

Veda claim One should

like to see this intrinsically archaic quality held

by

actual dates

;

up

those same, almost fabulous, yet per

fectly authentic dates that are being bandied about in

the ancient history of Assyria, Babylonia, and

Egypt. The late Professor William D. Whitney left behind the witty saying that Hindu dates are merely

up to be bowled down again. This is not altogether so. Buddha died 477 B.C. Alexander

ten-pins set

invaded

India in 326 B.C.

In the year 315

B.C.

Candragupta, or Sandrakottos, "Alexander-Killer," as Greek writers ominously mouthed over his name, led a successful revolt against

Alexander

and established the Maurya dynasty

s

prefects

in Pataliputra,

The Veda

19

the Palibothra of the Greeks, the Patna of to-day. The most important date in Hindu secular history

grandson, the famous Buddhist Emperor A^oka or Piyadassi, who ruled India from north to south around about 250 B.C. His

is

that

of

s

Candragupta

carved into rock

over his great empire, show us the singular spectacle of a great ruler who edicts,

all

used his power to propagate his religion peacefully. His inscriptions upon pillars and rocks boast not of victory or heroic deed virtue,

warn against

love of humanity.

they exhort his people to

;

and plead for tolerance and This is an important date in the sin,

history of India, but an even

more important date

good manners. Unquestionably a century or two must have passed between the conclusion of the Vedic period and the in the history of

beginnings of Buddhism.

Buddhist literature pre

supposes Brahmanical literature and religion in a stage of considerable advancement beyond the Vedas.

We

are, therefore,

We

are further

reasonably safe in saying that the real Vedic period was concluded about 700 B.C.

on

safe

ground

much

ber of centuries for the literature,

and religion

in

of the

demanding a num

stratified

Veda.

language,

But how many?

It is as

easy to imagine three as thirteen or twenty-

three.

Only one thing

very

old.

I

is

have noted the

certain.

Vedic ideas are

fact that the

concept

rat,

The

20

"

cosmic or universal

names

Iranian I

Religion of the

my

am, for

order,"

is

found

Western Asia

in

part,

now much more

and

I

think

Veda

I

in cut

and dried

as early as 1600 B.C.

voice

many

scholars,

inclined to listen to an early date,

the beginnings of Vedic literary production, and to a much earlier date for the

say 2000

B.C., for

beginnings of the institutions and religious concepts which the Veda has derived from those prehistoric times which cast their shadows forward into the records that are in our hands.

Anyhow, we must

not be beguiled by that kind of conservatism which merely salves the conscience into thinking that there is better proof for any later date, such as 1500,

1

200,

1000

or

B.C.,

rather than

Once more,

date of 2000 B.C.

frankly,

the earlier

we do

not

know. Vedic tradition

is in

some

respects the most re

From the entire recorded history. one Vedic period we have not single piece of anti not one bit of real or material, archaeological quarian markable

property

in

;

not a building, nor a

coin, jewel, or utensil

;

Even the manuscripts

monument

;

not a

nothing but winged words. of

these

precious

texts,

we know their authority to be on inner evidence are of comparatively recent date. do not know when the Vedas were first committed to splendid as

We

writing.

Even

if

they were written

down during

the

The Veda Vedic period

21

as I think altogether likely, the

itself,

early manuscripts were certain to perish

Indian climate.

They must,

in

the furious

in that case,

have been

The saved by diligent copying and recopying. majority of the manuscripts upon which are based our editions of Vedic texts date from recent cen Manuscripts that date back to the fourteenth (I century of our era are rare only a very few go back turies.

;

ij

to the twelfth.

Here, however, enters one of the curiosities of

Hindu

religious

The adherents

life.

of a certain

Veda

or Vedic school, no matter whether the text of that

school was reduced to writing or not, must, in theory,

know

their texts

(^rotriyas or

"

by

Oral

this day, being, as

These are the

Traditionalists."

it

Veda how he used

Bombay

time

still

tells

scholar, the

us in the pre

edition of the Atharva-

three of these oral reciters of the

Atharva-Veda out of a at that

live to

were, living manuscripts of their

Shankar Pandurang Pandit,

face to his great

so-called

They

The eminent Hindu

respective Vedas. late

heart.

total of only four that

alive in the

their oral authority

Dekkhan

proved to be

;

were

and how

quite as

as the written authority of his manuscripts.

weighty

These

were respectively, Messrs. Bapujl Kegava Bhat bin Dajl Bhat and Ven-

living manuscripts

Jlvanram kan BhatjT, the ;

;

last

"

the most celebrated Atharva

1

The

22

Vaidika

in

the

Religion of the

manner

respectively, as Bp,

now

all

We

Mr. Pandit

Dekkhan."

sigla, quite in the

Veda cites

them by

of inanimate manuscripts,

K, and V.

They

are, I believe,

dead.

are waiting

now

for the

time when the India

Exploration Society shall step out from its existence of the shovel and the spade.

on paper, and take hold

With bated breath we

shall

whether great good fortune

then be watching to see will

make

it

possible to

dig through the thick crust of centuries that are piled upon the Vedic period. If so, it will be some

thing like the revelation of the

was found

that time Vedic

by word

life

of mouth,

The hymns

tity.

Mycenean age that

at the root of Hellenic civilisation.

and

Until

institutions, reported only

must remain an uncertain quan

of the

Veda

are to a considerable

degree cloudy, turgid, and mystic taken by them selves they will never yield a clear picture of human life that fits any time or place. We have from the ;

Vedic period no annals except priestly annals, It or such at least as have been edited by priests. entire

is

as

though we

relied

upon

cloister chronicles alone

our knowledge of the politics and institutions of a certain time. Or, to use an even homelier compari for

son, as

though we had to reconstruct the more modern time from an

conditions of a

cepted boarding-school correspondence.

The

social

inter

poets,

The Veda or priestly writers of the

pied with their

own

Veda

are entirely preoccu

we want anything we must look to a later

interests

like secular records of India

23

;

if

time.

We

do not even know exactly what a term as fam meant in those early days. as raja (rex) King," "

iliar

Was

a Raja a great potentate, or merely a tribal

chieftain

We

?

know

that the early Vedic period

The lowing of kine was ear the Vedic poet. the of to music But lovely there were also workers in metals, chariots, navi was a

cattle-raising age.

some

gation of

This

and to some extent introduces

too vague,

all

is

kind, gold, jewels, and trade.

uncertain quantities into our estimation of Vedic religion.

At an unknown date confess reluctantly,

Aryan

then, as

we have had

tribes or clans (vi$

to

1

}

began

to migrate from the Iranian highlands to the north

Hindu-Kush Mountains

of the

into the north-west

of India, the plains of the river Indus

From

8

word is derived vaicya, the and merchant caste.

this

agricultural

Professor E.

Society,

tribu

W.

later

name

of the third, or

Hopkins, Journal of the American Oriental argues that the majority of the Vedic

vol. xix., pp. 19-28.

hymns were composed of the

its

the Panjab, or the land of the five streams. 8

taries, 1

and

modern

Ghuggar.

city of

farther east than the Panjab, in the region Amballa, between the rivers Sarasouti and

The

24

The

Religion of the

Veda

river Ganges, so essential to a picture of India

and even more bound up with all Western poetic fancies about India, is scarcely mentioned in the Rig- Veda. This same text is full in historical times,

the struggles of the fair-skinned Aryas with the dark-skinned aborigines, the Dasyus. to

allusions

of

The

is

struggle

likely

to have

been

bitter.

The

spread of Aryan civilisation was gradual, and re sulted finally in the up-building of a people whose

was foreign and superior, but whose race quality was determined a good deal by the over civilisation

whelmingly

large,

At

native, dark-skinned,

non-Aryan

the beginning of our knowledge of

population. India we are face to face with an extensive poet] tical literature,

the

This

crude on

is

when compared with

even

whole,

metres.

set

in

Sanskrit literature

later times.

of

Yet,

classical it

shows,

along with uncouth nai vet6 and semi-barbarous turgidity, a good deal of beauty and elevation of thought, and

a degree of

skill

bordering on the

professional, in the handling of language

and metre.

product was not created out of nothing on Indian soil follows from the previously mentioned

That

this

close connection with the earliest product of Persian literature, the Avesta.

Veda and Avesta 1

See above,

p.

13.

1

Even the metric types

are closely related.

of

The Veda Vedic

25

literature, in its first intention, is through-;/

out religjous, or

deals with institutions that haven

it

come under the

control

of

religion.

It

includes

hymns, prayers, and sacred formulas, offered priests to the

charms

gods

by

in behalf of rich lay sacrificers

;

and other homely practices, manipulated by magicians and medicine men, in the main for the plainer people. From a for witchcraft, medicine,

time come expositions of the sacrifice, illus by legends, in the manner of the Jewish

later

trated

Then

Talmud.

the higher sort,

speculations of

philosophic, cosmic, psycho-physical, and theosophic,

gradually growing up in connection with and out of the simpler beliefs.

body life,

of

at

home and abroad,

customs and laws. TheJV"_eda

ably

Finally there

is

a considerable

of set rules for conduct in every-day secular

that

This

consists, as

is

is,

a distinct literature

the

we have

Veda

as a whole.

seen, of consider

more than a hundred books, written in a variety and styles. Some

of slightly differentiated dialects

of the

Vedic books are not yet published, or even

unearthed.

may

so call

At it,

some

^e_bas.e.jQi-.this.-eatke canon,

lie

.if

we

four varieties of metrical composi

solemn prose. These are known as the Four Vedas in the narrower

tion, or in

sense

:

cases, prayers in sacred,

the Rig- Veda, the Yajur-Veda, the Sama-

Veda, and the Atharva-Veda.

These four names

26

The

come from

a

Religion of the

somewhat

Veda

they do not coincide exactly with the earlier names, nor do

Vedic time

later

;

they fully correspond to the contents of the texts

The

themselves.

names

earlier

refer rather to the

different styles of composition, than to canonical col lections. "

shi,

They

are rcah,

"

stanzas of

and formulas

liturgical stanzas

";

praise";

yajun-

sdindni,

"mel

and atharvdngirasah, blessings and curses." The book which goes by the name of Rig- Veda con odies

"

";

tains not only

stanzas of

"

praise,"

but

in its later

parts blessings and curses," as well as most of the stanzas which form the text to the sdman-meloalso

dies of the "

rcah,

"

Sama-Veda. The Atharva-Veda contains

stanzas of

stanzas, "mostly

well as

its

very

praise,"

and yajunshi,

worked over

own

"

liturgical

own purposes, as and curses." The Ya-

for its

"

blessings

jur-Veda also contains materials of the other types in addition to

Sama-Veda of rcah, or

some

"

is

its

main

Vedic

topic, the liturgy.

The

merely a collection of a certain kind

stanzas of

which are derived with

praise,"

variants and additions from the Rig- Veda, and

are here set to music which

is

indicated

by musical

notations.

The as the

Rig- Veda

on the whole, the oldest as well

most important

language speech.

is,

is

of the four collections.

a priestly, very high,

This we

may

call

by

or very

Its

literary

distinction the hieratic

The Veda

27

language of the Veda. It is based upon a very old popular dialect, into which the poets, to serve their

own

needs, have introduced

speech-forms.

many new words and

So, for instance, the great liking of the

from nouns, the so-called denominative or denominal verbs, surrounds hieratic language for verbs derived

the style of the Rig- Veda with an air of turgidity

and stiltedness which

is

far

hieratic poet prefers to say

prtanyati), rather gods"

give battle \prtandyati,

little

"

the

cultivate

"

"fight";

be pious

"

";

show

(sumanasyate), rather than

disposition"

friendly,"

A

from being archaic.

(devayati\ rather than

a kind

A

than

"

"be

etc.

over 1000 hymns, containing about 10,000

stanzas, equal in bulk to

into ten mandalas,

Homer s poems, are divided

"

circles,"

according to a regular

we should

or, as

books. Inside of these books the

scheme:

hymns first,

say,

are arranged

in the order of

number

of hymns addressed to a particular god, the largest number and continuing in with beginning a descending scale. Next, each god s hymns are

the

arranged according to the length of each single hymn, again in a descending scale. Six of these ten books (ii

vii),

the so-called

of the collection.

"family-books,"

Each

of these

form the nucleus is

supposed to

have been composed by a different Rishi, poet or seer, or rather by some family of poets who would

The

28

Veda

Religion of the

The

fondly derive their descent from such a Rishi.

state this repeatedly such and such a poet has seen such and such a hymn the exact value of this claim is not easily estimated.

hymns themselves

1

:

The names

of these traditional Rishis

ring in India at

Books

all

times.

They

have a good

are in the order of

Grtsamada,Vicvamitra,Vamadeva, Atri, and Vasishtha. The eighth book and Bharadvaja, the first fifty hymns of the first book are ascribed ii

vii,

to the family of

Kanva

superficially from the

they are marked off even rest, because they are arranged

strophically in groups of

;

two or three

stanzas.

form the bulk of those stanzas which, reappear in the Sama-Veda.

The

These

set to music,

ninth book, a kind

of Bacchic collection or text-book,

is

addressed to

the deified plant soma, and the liquor pressed from 2 it. This soma drink furnishes by far the most pre cious libation to the gods.

are supposed to

unto great deeds of The remainder of the first book and the

intoxicate themselves with valor.

They

entire tenth

book

are

it

more miscellaneous

acter and problematic as to intention

in char

and arrange

ment. To some extent, though by no means en tirely, they are of later origin and from a different sphere, in part of distinctly popular character, very 1

That

2

See below, p. 145.

is,

has had revealed to him.

The Veda much

29

and often identical with the hymns of the Atharva-Veda.

On

like

the whole and in the main, as

Rig- Veda

is

hymns

is

hymns addressed Vedic Pantheon. The chanting

ghee (ghrtd).

The enduring

the Rig- Veda as literature

lies in

poets* vision of the beauty,

power

by libations soma, and of melted

regularly accompanied

of the intoxicating drink called butter, or

shall see, the

a collection of priestly

to the gods of the of these

we

of the gods,

more

and

in the

interest of

those old priestly

the majesty, and the

myths and legends

told

tion with them.

often, merely alluded to in connec But the paramount importance of

the Rig- Veda

after all not as literature, but as

of them, or,

philosophy.

even

is

Its

mythology represents a

clearer,

not always chronologically earlier stage of thought and religious development than is to be found in any parallel literature. On one side at least

if

it

is

primitive in conception, and constructive

under our very eyes

how

a personal

god develops out of a visible fact in nature b^_rjersonification (anthropomorphosis) no literary document in the :

world teaches as well as the Rig- Veda. The original nature of theVedic gods, however, is not always clear, not as clear as was once fondly thought. The analy sis

of these barely translucent, or altogether

characters

makes up a chapter

of

opaque Vedic science as

30 difficult as

known

The

Religion of the

it is

important.

Veda

In any case enough

is

to justify the statement that thekey-note and

engrossing theme of Rig-Vedic thought the personified powers of nature.

is

worship of

make good this last statement, and at the same time by way of fore-taste of the Rig- Veda, I present here some stanzas of one of its finest hymns. In order to

1

It

fied,

Dawn

person-

the Vedic poets sing with special

warmth

addressed to the goddess Ushas,

is

whom

and liking; the metre imitates the original

:

I

This light hath come, of

The

brilliant brightness

all

the lights the fairest,

hath been born, far-shining,

Urged on to prompt the sun-god s shining power. Night now hath yielded up her place to morning.

The

sisters

pathway

is

the

same unending,

Taught by the gods, alternately they tread it. Fair-shaped, of different forms, and yet one-minded, Night and Morning clash not, nor yet do linger. Bright bringer of delights, Dawn shines effulgent, she hath thrown for us her portals.

Wide open Arousing

Dawn

all

the world, she shows us riches,

hath awakened every living creature.

T is Heaven s Daughter hath appeared before us, The maiden dazzling in her brilliant garments. Thou sovereign mistress of all earthly treasure, Auspicious Dawn, flash thou to-day upon us

!

Rig-Veda 1.113 i n Professor A. A. MacdonelPs translation, in of Sanskrit Literature, p. 83. I have taken the liberty of making a few slight alterations. 1

his History

The Veda On heaven

frame she hath shone forth

s

The goddess hath

her well-yoked chariot

Showering upon She spreads her

it

in

splendor

;

cast off the robe of darkness.

Awakening the world, with ruddy

Upon

31

horses,

Dawn

approacheth.

many bounteous

brilliant lustre

blessings, may see her.

all

Last of the chain of mornings that have passed by, morns to come Dawn hath arisen.

First of bright

Arise

!

the breath of

Dread darkness

I

life

again hath reached us

!

away and light is coming (She hath blazed a pathway for the sun to travel, We have found the place where men prolong existence.

The

slinks

!

Rig- Veda presupposes a tolerably elaborate

and^jnojL uninteresting ritual, or

scheme

practices, in connection with the

How

to the gods.

this

lines of the Rig- Veda s

poetry

hymns addressed

be read between the I

hope to show quite

The Yajur-Veda

on.

clearly later

may

of priestly

represents the

of this ritualism, or sacerdotalism,

exceeding growth as time went by.

Gradually the main object, devotion to the namely, gods, is lost sight of sol emn, pompous performance, garnished with lip

1

:

service, occupies the centre of the stage.

formance of its

is

supposed to have magic or mystic power

own, so that

It regulates

This per-

every detail is all-important. mechanically the relation of man to the

divine powers

by

its

its

own

intrinsic

power, but yet a

*

The

32

Religion of the

Veda

power controlled and guided by the wonderful tech nique of the priests, and their still more wonderful insight into the

meaning

A crowd of priests

of

all

seventeen

is

the technical acts. the largest

conduct an interminable ceremonial bolic

meaning down

its

number of

smallest minutiae.

themselves on the

seat,

priests

to

full

sacrificial

sym The

ground

strewn with blades of sacred dfor^tf -grass, and mark out the altars on which the sacred

fires

are built.

They handle and arrange the utensils and sacrificial substances. And then they proceed to give to the gods of the act has

its

each his proper oblation and

sacrifice,

Even the

his proper share.

least

and most

trivial

stanza or formula, and every utensil

blessed with

its

own

particular blessing.

is

These

stanzas and formulas, to which a description of the rites is

more or

less directly attached,

numerous redactions

The Yajur-Veda though

it

contains

of this

the

a later collection in the main,

is

much

substance that

enough, indeed, to be prehistoric.

Vedic

make up

Veda.

collections, its

But

redaction, at

is

old, old

like all other

any

rate,

pre

A

good many verses of supposes the Rig-Veda. the Rig- Veda reappear in the Yajur-Veda, usually not in the exact form of the Rig-Veda, but taken out of their connection, and altered and adapted to new ends which were foreign to the mind of the

The Veda There are

original composers. in

33

also

many new

verses

the Yajur-Veda which are in the main ritualistic

rather than hymnal, concerned with technical details of the sacrifice rather than with the praise of the gods.

But the

To

rhythmic prose.

They

are,

Veda more or

characteristic element of this

the yajus, or formulas in prose, often these this

Veda owes

its

by the way, unquestionably the

prose on record

in

the literatures of the

are less

name. oldest ||

Indo-

European peoples. These formulas are often brief and concise, mere dedications or swift prayers, ac

companying an

action,

and sometimes hardly ad

dressed to any one in particular. "

Thee

Agni

(agnaye tva), or

agneJi), indicate that

(idam to the

So, for instance,

"

for

"

god Agni.

Or,

"

This to Agni

an object

Thee

is

"

dedicated

for strength

"

is

the

briefest prayer, or rather magically compelling wish,

that the use of a certain article to the sacrificer. ity to

may

give strength

But they swell out from

this brev

long solemn litanies that betray at times such may at best be expected

a measure of good sense as

in these doings. Often, however, they are sunk in the deepest depths of imbecility, mere verbiage in

puns on the names of the things used the sacrifice. When an animal victim is tied to

tent at

upon

silly

the post the priest addresses the rope with the

words,

"

Do

not turn serpent, do not turn

viper!"

\\

The

34

Veda

Religion of the

The Hindus have always had

reason to fear ser

they must have at times been stung by serpents whom they mistook for ropes, because the pents

;

two things are often correlated in their literature. A Hindu figure of speech (or kenning) for serpent "

is

of

1

toothed

As

a rope which is not clearly seen mistaken for a serpent, so the un mistake the character of their own "

:

is

enlightened

That

is

to say, they

divine nature of their

there

self.

do not comprehend the This is sensible, and

sense also in the following: Kings are con

is

ceived

instance, a theosophic text

character establishes the following

Upanishad

comparison in the dark

self."

For

rope."

as

ceremony

rulers

of the earth.

Therefore, at the

of consecration the king looks

the earth, and prays

"

:

O

down upon

mother Earth, do not

But often injure me, nor let me injure thee prayer passes over into litany, here as in other "

!

secondary stages of religious literature. The fol May life prosper lowing is an all too typical case "

:

through the

sacrifice!

through the sacrifice the sacrifice sacrifice 1

!

!

May

See the author in

May

!

May life s breath May the eye prosper

prosper

through

the ear prosper through

the

the back prosper through the sac-

Hymns of the Atharva- Veda

(Sacred Books of

the East, vol. xlii.), pp. 147, 368. 2

Mandukya-Karika,

colubra restem non parit,

2. "

17.

Cf. the

adage in Petronius, 45

a serpent does not beget a

rope."

The Veda And

"

rifice

!

O

finally

35

deepest bathos "

the

!

occur in the Yajur-Veda and are

"May

1

prosper through the sacrifice many thousand formulas of this sort which

sacrifice

The

!

now

for the first

Concordance.

am

I

its

accessory literature

time collected

pression which they leave their partial foolishness,

in

my

Vedic

the enduring im

sure that

upon the mind,

aside from

that of a formalism and

is

mental decay upon the very brink of dissolution. The practices which accompany these formulas,

though they contain much that ous, are also covered

so that

it is

meaning.

up by

is

natural and vigor

silly details of

formalism,

human new life

often difficult to discover their real It

is

remarkable, however, that

springs up on this arid waste.

It is as though this had religion prepared itself by phase its very excesses for a salutary and complacent in the its last In hajra-tciri. outcome, very same

of

Hindu

Brahmanical schools where

all

this folly runs riot,

spring up the Upanishads, those early theosophic treatises of India which pave the way for her endur ing philosophies.

The Upanishads in

reality,

though

not professedly, sweep aside the ritual like cobwebs, and show the Hindu mind, not yet perfectly trained,

but far from choked 1

P-

;

and quite capable of carrying

C/. Winternitz, Geschichte der Indischen Litteratur, Part First,

The

36

on the development of Hindu great results

Veda

Religion of the

religions to the really

which they eventually reach.

The Sama-Veda

is

of

all

the Vedas the least clear

As a literary pro origin and purpose. almost entirely secondary and negative. Sama-Veda is interesting chiefly, because it is the

as regards

its

duction

it is

The Veda of

music.

In addition

it

contains

some original

practices to which tradition has attached a

of legends

unknown

in

the other Vedic

number schools.

There are no connected hymns in this Veda, only more or less detached verses, borrowed in the main from the Rig- Veda. Even the sense of these verses subordinated to the music to which they are set.

is

The

verses are grouped

accompanied by "

melodies."

in strophes

their music, are

which,

known

The saman-stanzas

when

as sdmani,

are preserved

in

First, in the Rig-Veda, as ordinary in the usual way, and not accompan accented poetry ied by melodies. They are contained mostly in the

three forms.

first fifty

hymns

and

Most

ix.

of the

first

book, and

of these stanzas are

in

Books

composed

viii

in the

metre gdyatrl, or in strophes known as pragdtha, which are compounded of gdyatrl &nd jagati verse-

Both the words gdyatrl and pragdtha are and show derived from the verb gai, sing," lines.

"

that the stanzas

and strophes composed

in

these

metres were from the start intended to be sung.

The Veda

37

Secondly, they occur in the Sama-Veda itself in a form called drcika, that is, "collection of stanzas."

This

is

kind of

a

ing the stanzas "

making

which are to be memorised

upon

them,"

sdma7t-melodies.

Here

of

accents,

or text-book contain

libretto,

in

peculiar

Hindus

the

as

also its

for

say, the

a system notation, but appar there

is

with reference to the unsung sdmans. In ently the third sdman-version, the Ganas or song-books, we still

1

find the real

not

sdmans

only the

are given.

as they are to

text but

Still this is

also

the

be sung.

Here

musical

notes

not a complete sdman yet.

In the middle of the sung stanzas certain phantastic

exclamatory syllables are introduced, the so-called stobhaS) such as oin, hau, hai, hoyi, or him ; and at the end of the stanzas certain concluding exclama tions, the so-called nidheQna^

such as

atJia, d,

im, and

They remind us in a way of the Swiss and Tyrolese "yodels" which are introduced into the

sat?

songs of these countries as a sort of intended to heighten the musical effect.

The Sama-Veda

is

cadenzas,

devoted a good deal to the

worship of Indra, a blustering, braggart god, 1

2

who

The word gana, again, is derived from the root^m, sing." The Pancavin9a Brahmana relates that the poet Kanva was for a "

good while puzzled to find a nidhana for his sdman, until he heard a cat sneeze ash I Then he took ash for the nidhana of his

The

38

Veda

Religion of the

has to befuddle himself with soma, in -order to get the necessary courage to slay demons. He, and he alone, has in the is,

"he

the

for

rks"

seems

Rig-Veda the epithet rclshama, that whom the sdmans are composed upon the

or, as

we should

likely that the

"

say,

out of the

Sama-Veda

is

l

rks"

It

built

up out_of remnants of savage Shamanism the resemblance between the words Saman and Shamanism, however, accidental.

is

Shamanism,

as

is

well

known^jattempts to influence the natural order of events by shouts, beating of tam-tams, and frantic exhortation

The Brahmans were in the habit of blending their own priestly practices and concep of the gods.

good deal of rough material which they found current among the people. The sdman melo

tions with a

dies, too,

seem

betray their popular origin in that they

to have

been sung originally

festivals, especially

the

clamations interspersed

at certain

solstitial festivals.

among

2

popular

The ex

the words of the text

are likely to be substitutes for the excited shouts of

the

Shaman

priests of an earlier time.

worth while to note that

in later

It is

perhaps

Vedic times the

my articles, On Rclshama, an Epithet of Indra^ vs\Journal of American Oriental Society, vol. xxi., p. 50 ff. and, The God Indra and the Sdma- Veda, in Vienna Oriental Joiirnal, vol. xvii., p. 1

See

the

156 /-. 2 See A.

\

Hillebrandt, Die Sonnenwendfeste in Alt-Indien, Fest

schrift ftir Konr ad of the reprint.

Hoffmann, (Erlangen

1889), pp. 22.

ff and 34 ff.

The Veda Sama-Veda

is

39

The Brahman-

held in small regard.

law-books prescribe that the recitation of RigVeda and Yajur-Veda must stop whenever the ical

shout of sdmans

is

heard.

One

of these law-books,

counts the barking of dogs, the bray of asses, the howling of wolves, and the sound of the for instance,

sdman

when

noises

as

so

obnoxious

heard, the study

of

or

defiling

that,

the other Vedas must

1

stop.

The interest of the Sama-Veda for the Hindu religion and literature amounts

of

little.

It represents

in

employment

secondary

fact in

little

history to very

more than the

the service of religion

popular music and other quasi-musical noises. These were developed and refined in the course of of

civilisation,

and worked into the formal

Brahmanism

in

and emotion.

ritual

of

order to add an element of beauty In more modern times the sdman-

chants at the sacrifice are said to be quite impressive. 2

The oldest name

of the

Atharva-Veda

is

atharvdn-

compound formed of the names of two semi-mythic families of priests, the Atharvans and

girasah, a

At

Angirases.

was regarded 1

as

a very early time the former term

synonymous with

"

holy

charms,"

or

Compare on this point Professor Ludwig s remark in Der RigVeda, vol. v. p. 8. 2 See the author in the Vienna Oriental Journal, vol. xvii., p. 162. ,

The

4O

the latter with

"

"

blessings

;

Veda

Religion of the "

witchcraft charms/ or

In addition to this name, and the later

"

curses."

more conventional name Atharva-Veda, there are two other names, used only in the ritual texts of One is bhrgvangirasah, that is, Bhrigus this Veda. In this the Bhrigus, another ancient

and Angirases.

family of fire priests, take the place of the Atharvans. of the

The

other

Brahman,"

is

Brahma-Veda, probably

that

is

the

Veda

"

fourth priest at the Vedic ($rauta) sacrifices. latter

Veda

of the supervising

name may, however, be due

to

1

The

some extent

to

the fact that the Atharva-Veda contains a surprising number of theosophic hymns which deal with the

brahma,

the

thought and see later on,

2

pantheistic its

personification

This, as

pious utterance.

becomes

in

of

holy

we

shall

time the ultimate religious

conception of the Veda. The Atharvan is a collection of 730 hymns, con taining some 6000 stanzas. Aside from its theo sophic materials, which look not a collection of

little

strange in a

charms and exorcisms, and some

hieratic

stanzas which were employed by the Brahman or 3 fourth priest, the collection is almost entirely of a

popular character. 1

2

3

It consists of

Cf. Caland, Vienna Oriental Journal, See below, p. 273. See Caland in the article just cited.

hymns and vol. xiv., p.

stanzas

The Veda for the cure of diseases life

charms

;

and

;

41

prayers for health and long

for the prosperity of

home and

children,

expiatory formulas designed to free from sin and guilt; charms to produce harmony in the

cattle

life

fields;

assembly

;

and

the deliberations of the village charms concerned with love and marriage,

of families

in

and, indirectly, with the rivalries and jealousies of

men and women in love; conjurations sorcerers,

war

;

and enemies

;

charms

against demons,

for kings in peace

and charms calculated to promote the

and

interests

of the Brahmans, especially to secure for them the abundant baksheesh for which they clamor with the

most refreshing directness.

The_Atharva-Veda

is

of unrivalled importance for

and popular

the history of superstition, of folk-lore, practices. "

Related

House-books

in

character are

"

(

Grhya-Sutras).

the so-called

These were com

posed as formal treatises at a comparatively late Vedic period, yet they report practices and prayers of great antiquity.

The Hindus, then

tensely religious view of their course, as well as in

its

as

now, took an

in

even daily crucial moments, such as birth, lives.

investiture, disciplehood, marriage,

Hindu was both

In

its

and death, the

and enlivened by a continuous chain of religious formalities, acts, and These were codified in the House-books" festivals.

life

of the

sanctified

"

with nice minuteness.

The Atharva-Veda and

the

The

42 "

House-books"

Religion of the

Veda

togetherlay bare with unrivalled preci

sion of detail the religion of the obscure and the

hum

For many a Hindu, through many centuries, these fond time-honored customs of the fathers, ble.

the schone

was the true

sitte,

religion,

which turned

inward, irradiating and sustaining the spirit of a peo ple

whose masses

live the

life

and do

of dark toil

not see the light revealed to their

own

To

elect.

the

development of the higher and ultimate religion of the Veda these homely practices and superstitions contribute very

little.

Charm

against Jaundice.

1. Up to the sun shall go thy heart-ache and thy jaundice: in the colour of the red bull do we envelop thee!

2.

We

envelop thee in red

tints,

unto long

life.

May

person go unscathed, and be free of yellow colour 3. The cows whose divinity is RohinI, they who, more in their every form over, are themselves red[rMnfs] and every strength we do envelop thee. this

4.

!

Into the parrots, into the ropandkas (thrush) do we into the hdridravas (yellow wagtail)

put thy jaundice

;

do we put thy yellowness. {Atharva-Veda,

i.

22.)

the Atharva-Veda (Sacred Books of For the very interesting symbolic practices that accompany the recital of this charm against jaundice, see p. 263^. of the same work. 1

See the author,

Hymns of

the East, vol. xlii.) p. 7.

The Veda

A Woman I

1.

sit

2.

O

Incantation against her Rival\

have taken unto myself her fortune and her glory, As a broad-based mountain may off a tree.

wreath

as a

she

s

43

a long time with her parents

This

woman

shall

King Yama (Pluto)

:

!

be subjected to thee as thy bride, till then let her be fixed to the

house of her mother, or her brother, or her father be the keeper of thy house, O 3. This woman shall May she King Yama her do we deliver over to thee long sit with her parents, until her hair drops from her !

!

:

head 4.

!

With the incantation

Gaya do within

I

of Asita, of Kacyapa,

cover up thy fortune, as

women

and of

cover things

a chest. 1

(Atharua-Veda,)

The

poetic stanzas of

prose formulas of the

all

sorts,

Veda

and the

collectively

i.

14.)

ritualistic

go by the

name of mantra, pious utterance or hymn." In the texts of one group of Yajur-Vedas, the so-called 2 Black Yajur-Vedas, these stanzas and prose formulas "

"

"

alternate with descriptive prose chapters which tell

how

these mantras are to be used at the sacrifice,

given way. The In the case passages are designated as braJimana. of the so-called White Yajur-Vedas and also all the

and why they are to be used

in a

other Vedas the Brahmanas are compiled into sepSee the same work, pp. 107 and 252 .ff For the distinction between Black and White Yajur-Veda see Mac. donell, History of Sanskrit Literature, p. 177. 1

2

The

44

Religion of the

Veda

works whose object, again, is to expound the combination of prayer and ritual at the sacrifice. arate

The meaning clear.

of the

Either

word brdhmana

means

is

not altogether

holy practice," or religious in distinction from mantra, holy

it

"

"

"

"

performance utterance,"

or

means the

it

"

religious

text."

Or, perhaps rather

theological explanation

by Brahman

priests of the religious ritual as a whole, including

both prayer and performance.

As regards both

contents and literary quality, the Brahmanas are In the closely analogous to the Hebrew Talmud.

main they are bulky prose statements of the details of the great Vedic sacrifices, and their theological Both the performances and their explana tion are treated in such a way, and spun out to such meaning.

length, as to render these

ments of tediousness and

works on the whole monu intrinsic stupidity.

And

yet the Brahmanas compel the student of Hinduism that

comes to

scoff to stay to pray.

In the

first

place they are important because they are written in

connected prose entire field of

the earliest narrative prose in the

Indo-European speech, only

little less

archaic than the prose formulas of the Yajur-Veda.

They

are especially important for syntax

respect they represent the old

:

*

in this

Hindu speech

far

better than the Rig- Veda, whose syntax and style 1

See above, p. 33.

The Veda by the

are distracted

licenses

45

and

restrictions that

go

with poetic form. Secondly, the Brahmanas almost inexhaustible mine for the history of the are an

sacrifice, religious practices,

These

priesthood.

and the

institutions of

institutions in time

systematic and formidable as to

Brahman and Brahmanism

became

so

make the names

typical everywhere for

and priesthood. Thirdly, the Brahmana texts not only describe and expound the sacrifice, but

priest

they

and enliven

illustrate

it

While engaged

and legends.

of

technicalities

the

ritual,

by numerous in

stories

expounding the

they

at

the

same

time unconsciously supplement the poetic Vedas. The Hebrew Talmud interrupts the hair-splitting, expositions of

logic-chopping

its

ritual

Hallacha,

by picking from time to time rare flowers the

of

garden

its

The Brahmanas no

Haggada, less

make

or

from

legendary lore. upon the past

drafts

and present of the great storehouse of myths and stories that India has cherished from the beginning of

her time.

The

poetic value of

many

of these

may judged from the fact that they remain stock themes for the Hindu poets of later stories

be

times.

Here we

find, first

of

all,

the story of the flood,

wonderfully analogous to the flood legends of all Western Asia, and especially the account of the

The

A.6 ~

book

of the Religion o

of Genesis.

1

Many

Veda

echoes are called up by

the story of Cyavana the Bhargava who, old and decrepit as a ghost, is pelted with clods by the

Then he punishes

children of the neighborhood.

by creating discord, so that father with son, and brother with brother." Cyavana fought "

their families

finally,

through the help of the divine physicians,

the Agvins, enters the fountain of youth (queckbronri) 2 Like an oasis in and marries the lovely Sukanya.

the desert comes the ancient tale of Pururavas and

much dis Rig- Veda

UrvacJ, whose mythic meaning has been 3

puted or altogether denied. Already the knows the story, and the Hindu master-poet Kalidasa, perhaps a thousand years later, derives from

one of his loveliest dramas.

same motif

tains the

stories.

Lohengrin

as the

A

It is a story

it

which con

Undine, Melusine, and

heavenly

nymph

(Apsaras),

UrvacJ by name, loves and marries King Pururavas, but she abandons him again because he violates one of 1

the conditions of See Eggeling

s

this

ill-assorted

intrinsically

translation of the version of this legend in the

Val apatha Brahmana, Sacred Books of the East, vol. xii., p. 2i6_y. For the story of the flood in general see Usener, Die Sintflutsagen

(M 1899) (Bonn, ;

Winternitz Hwi

ur Wien, 2

3

;

Andree,

Die

Flutsagen

(Brunswick,

in Mittheilungen der Anthropologischen

1891)

;

and

Gesettschaft in

vol. xxxi (iqoi), p. 305.

(^atapatha Brahmana 4. I. 5. I ff. See, last, the author in Journal of the

vol. xx., p. 1 80.

American Oriental

Society,

The Veda

47

Not, however, through his own

union.

fault,

but on

account of a trick played him by the Gandharvas, a kind of heavenly sports," the natural mates of the "

He must

heavenly nymphs, the Apsarases.

not be

seen in a state of nudity by his wife. But on a certain occasion the Gandharvas

cause lightning

she sees him and vanishes. wailing through the land

to play:

Then Pururavas roams of

the Kurus, until he

which nymphs in the form of swans disport themselves. One of them is UrvacJ. They engage in a poetic dialogue which is preserved

comes to a

lotus

without the

pond

in

rest of the story as

the Rig- Veda (10. 95). intolerable situation. "

Then

This

one of the hymns of finally

The Brahmana

relieves

story

tells

she was sorry for him in her heart.

And

the :

she

A year from to-day thou shalt come then spake thou mayest tarry with me one night. Till then thy son :

whom

;

I

am

bearing shall have been born.

And

that

Behold there was a golden night a year he returned. palace. Then they said to him, Enter here. Then they sent Urvaci to him. And she spake To-morrow the He Gandharvas will grant thee a wish choose one. him She advises Choose thou for me. to said, say, I desire to become one of you. The next morning the Gandharvas grant him a wish. And he says, I :

;

4

*

wish to become one of you.

"

Then the Gandharvas teach him a particular fireoffering, by means of which a mortal may become a Gandharva

;

thus he

becomes a

fitting

mate

for

The

48

Now the

UrvacJ. |

i

that the

is

Religion of the reason

why

Brahmana text

this very fire-offering

which

this sacrifice

;

is,

is

Veda

this story

engaged

is

preserved

in describing

the story proves the magic of aye, powerful enough to turn

a mortal into a demi-god.

Here area couple

of short legends, crisp

They show that,

cut as cameos.

and

clear-

just as the early

gods

of India are nature-gods, so the early legends are.

grossed with problems of nature and the world. first of these snatches may be entitled

en The

1

A "

Yama and

Legend of the First Pair.

Yarn!

(*

the twins

)

are the

first

man and

Yama died. The gods sought to console woman. When they asked her she YamI for the death of Yama. *

said,

To-day he hath died/

They

said

:

In

this

Let us create night way she will never forget him. Day only at that time existed, not night. The gods Then created night. Then morrow came into being. !

she forgot him.

make men

Hence, they

forget sorrow.

say,

Days and nights

"

2

The second legend may be

entitled

The Mountains as Winged Birds. "The

,

mountains are the eldest children of Prajapati

(the Creator). They were winged (birds). They kept At that forth and flying settling wherever they liked. 1

2

174

Maitrayani Sanhita Maitrayani Sanhita ff.

i. i.

5.

12.

10. 13.

cf.

Pischel, Vedische Studien,

i.,

The Veda time this earth was unstable.

49

(God) Indra cut

earth.

clouds ever hover about the mountains. place of

At

off their

By means of the mountains he made firm the Therefore these The wings became clouds.

wings.

For

this is their

origin."

the end of the Brahmanas appears a class of

known

Aranyakas, or "Forest Treatises." The meaning of this name is not altogether clear. It seems probable that these works were recited by texts

as

hermits living in the forest, or, more precisely, those who went to the forest to live, at the time when they entered the third stage of to final emancipation. likely,

Hindu

life,

preparatory

1

According to another, less view they are texts which were taught by

teacher to pupil in the solitude of the forest, rather

than village

profaner surroundings of the town or this because the quiet of the forest

in the :

harmonised better with the sanctity of their con In either view it is difficult to see why so tents.

much ado should have been made about them. The this Aranyakas are later than the Brahmanas follows from the position they occupy at the end ;

of these texts,

and from their contents.

descriptions of sacrificial ceremonies

On

top of here

we have

symbolism of the sacrifice and priestly philosophy of the most fantastic order. The real ritual perform. 1

See below,

p. 288.

(

The

50

Religion of the

Veda

ance seems for the most part to be supplanted by But the themes of the allegorical disquisition.

Aranyakas are by no means

;

on the

heterogeneous and haphazard.

are

contrary they

Thus the

of one sort only

Aranyaka deals in its first book with the Arunaketuka Agni, a particular method of Taittirlya

building the fire-altar;

its

second book makes the

rather astounding leap over to Brahmanical educa

and Veda study its third, fourth, and fifth books deal with parts of the Vedic sacrificial cere tion

monial

;

;

and

its

sixth

book describes the old Vedic

funeral ceremonies (pitrmedha).

Still

more

varie

gated are the contents of the Aitareya Aranyaka.

What

forest themes governs the choice of these In any case escapes our notice almost altogether. "

"

these books are of lesser importance from the point of

view of Vedic literature and

which

is

religion,

except for the

of

paramount importance The Aranyakas are symptomatic and transitional.

following fact,

:

important symptom, if we understand the matter aright, is the subordination of the mere act

The

as we might say, This suppression of the material spiritual meaning. side of the ritual bridges over to the last class of of the sacrifice to

texts which the evolution.

its allegorical, or,

Veda

They

has to offer along this line of famous Upanishads, the

are the

early philosophical or theosophical texts of

India,

The Veda which have become

51

fateful for all

subsequent higher In these the ritual together with

Hindu thought.

every other manifestation of the religion of works is negated, sometimes by cautious and delicate innu endo, always by the inherent antagonism of the Upanishad themes. The older Upanishads are for the

most part either imbedded in the Aranyakas or, more frequently, attached to the end of these texts.

From very early times, therefore, they have the name Vedanta, End of the Veda." End of the Veda they are, as regards their position in the re 1

"

dactions of the long line of the so-called revealed ($rauta) texts, position.

and

as regards the time of their

But they are the end of the Veda

higher sense as well.

Veda

s

They

are the

highest religion and philosophy.

com in a

texts of the

In particu

Brahmanical philosophy which system controls at the present time nearly all the higher

lar that

of

thought of Brahmanical India bears the name Vedanta. And there is no important form of Hindu thought, heterodox Buddhism included, which is not rooted in the Upanishads.

The

philosophic and

Upanishads

will

when we come the 1

fifth

religious

quality

of

the

occupy a good deal of our attention

to the higher religion of the

and sixth lectures of

vet9vatara Upanishad

6.

22

;

this course.

Mundaka Upanishad

Veda

in

For the 3. 2. 6.

The

52

Religion of the

Veda

present we may content ourselves with some facts in the literary history of these extraordinary composi

As

we can say at least this the older Upanishads antedate Buddha much, that

tions.

regards their date

and Buddhism. The production of after-born Upan : flt*.~i-

:

-

ishads

continued,

Buddhism,

centuries

many

however,

into very

modern

times.

Next

after

to the

Rig-Veda the Upanishads are decidedly the most For important literary document of early India. the history of religion they are even more important. In the year 1656 the

Mogul (Mussalman) Prince invited several Hindu

Mohammed Dara Shukoh

Pandits from Benares to Delhi, and induced them to I

translate the Upanishads into Persian. Dara Shukoh was the oldest son of that Mogul Emperor Shah

Jehan,

who

built at

Agra, as a mausoleum for his

favourite Sultana, the Taj Mahal, perhaps the most

beautiful edifice on earth.

He was

afterwards de

posed from the throne by another son of his, the Dara bloody and powerful Emperor Aurengzeb. Shukoh was a man of another sort. He was the spiritual

follower of

the

famous

liberal

Emperor

Akbar, and wrote a book intended to reconcile the religious doctrines of the Hindus and Mohammedans.

Hence

his extraordinary desire to spread the

ledge of

infidel

writings.

Three years

accomplishment of the Upanishad

know

after

the

translation he

was

The Veda

53

put to dccith (1659) by his brother Aurcngzeb, on the ground that he was an infidel, dangerous to the established religion of the empire

;

as a

matter of

fact, because he was the legitimate successor to the throne of Shah Jehan. India, in more than one 1

respect the land of origins,

which came the study

also the country

is

suggestions of a comparative]

first

The Buddhist Emperor Agoka,

of religions.

250 years before Christ, had the religious

Rammohun Roy

1824 a

book

divisions

are

entitled

Idolatry of all Religions; told the "

of perfect

another

The last-named enlightened

trifolium of this sort. in

spirit

Emperor Akbar, Prince Dara

freedom.

Shukoh, and Raja prince wrote

from

Against the

Hindus that caste

are as destructive of national union as of

expressed belief in the divine authority of Christ and yet confidently did regard the Upanishads as the true source of the higher social

enjoyment";

;

religious life of the

study gentile religions and fairness. I

my

would ask you

1

to

in

men are who

modern

scholars

a

of

sympathy

in this

connection

spirit

remember

friend, the late Professor

translators of the

This class of

Hindus.

the advance guard of the

Max

Upanishads

Miiller,

one of the

Mokshamulara,

as

See Elphinstcne, History of India (edited by Cowell), p. 610 Miiller, Sacred Books of the East, vol. i., p. cvii.

Max

The

54

Hindus

the

Religion of the

called

him during

Veda

his latter days.

It

happens that moksha is the Sanskrit word for sal To the Hindus his root." vation," and milla means "

"

name means

Root-of-salvation," or, as

"

with a different turn,

"

Salvation

we might

Miiller."

I

say,

do not

imagine that Miiller believed in the Hindu salvation, which is release from the chain of lives and deaths in

But

the course of transmigration.

mind partakes "

of the flavor of salvation,

Max

he was.

Miiller

and writer

is

well

more than

Muller

known

understood, perhaps, his thought,

if

is

to

s

freedom of "

Salvation

eminence as a scholar

you

;

less generally well

the liberalising quality of

which he exercised untiringly during Among Europeans he

half a century.

was pre-eminent for the spirit of sympathy and fairness which he brought to the study and criticism of

Hindu

The shad

is

religious thought.

Persian

pronunciation It

Oupnekhat.

man Anquetil du

of the

word Upani-

happened that the French

Perron, the famous pioneer in the

study of the Zoroastrian religion of the Parsis, was There he became interested living in India in 1/75. in

the Persian Oupnekhat, and later on

Latin translation of Dara Shukho

was published in 1801

;

vol.

in Strassburg in ii.

in

s

made

version.

two volumes

a

This (vol.

i.

1802).

This translation proved

At

that comparatively recent

eventful in the West.

The Veda

55

time the Upanishads were yet unknown Notwithstanding its double disguise,

in

Europe. the

first

and next the Latin, Anquetil s Latin ren dering proved to be the medium through which Persian,

Schopenhauer became acquainted with the thought of the

hauer,

As

Upanishads.

who

is

well

is

known, Schopen

the father of Western pessimism, was

powerfully impregnated with their pantheistic, or,

more tem

His own sys

precisely, monistic philosophy.

based upon conceptions that coincide in one way or another with the more detached Schopenhauer used teachings of the Upanishads. is

really

to have the

was

his devotions

from

its

open upon

lie

Oupnekhat

in the habit, before

his table,

and

going to bed, of performing

His own estimate of

pages.

the character of the Oupnekhat

preserved to us Next to the original it is

in

the following statement

is

the most rewardful reading possible in the world.

It

"

:

has been the solace of

solace of

my

death."

my

life

;

it

will

Schopenhauer himself

be the tells

the reason for his faith in the Upanishads.

us

The

fundamental thought of the Upanishads, he says, is what has at all times called forth the scoffing of fools

and the unceasing meditation of the wise,

namely, the doctrine of unity plurality this

is

world,

only apparent in whatsoever ;

;

the doctrine that

that in

all

endless

all

individuals of

number they

;

||

The

56

Veda

Religion of the

present themselves, one after another, and one be side another, there is manifested one and the same

Therefore the Upanishads are in his eyes the fruit of the profoundest insight that the world has ever seen almost superhuman thought,

true being.

;

whose authors can scarcely be imagined to have been mere men. Schopenhauer unquestionably caught with lynxlike perspicacity,

through the murky medium of the

Oupnekhat, the spirit of the Upanishads, which are now before us in many editions of their Sanskrit It is

originals.

monism

the

monism

what

is

.most

known

philosophy as

in

uncompromising,

perfervid

Nor

that the world has ever seen.

his

is

estimate of the religious or philosophical quality of

Pro

the Upanishads to be brushed aside lightly. fessor

Deussen,

one

of

the

profoundest

students of

Hindu philosophy, himself a

philosopher,

does not

when

hauer

he

thinkers

the

came,

most

in

else if

behind

far

most

intimate and immediate of s

of

the

;

the

not

behind Schopenhauer

Schopen

the thought

equal in India nor per the world that to these

its

the ultimate mystery

reflect

that

says

Upanishads has not haps anywhere

fall

living

trained

yet

insight

into

This

being.

estimate

scientific,

;

both

is

not

far

estimates

pretty nearly the position of the

Hindus

The Veda who

themselves,

57

regard the Upanishads as divine

revelation.

With

due respect

all

for these great thinkers,

I

believe that Sanskrit scholars in general incline to a

soberer

estimate of

Hindu view

the

of revelation

With the

Upanishads.

we need not

quarrel.

As. t

to the question whether the

we may

Upanishads are inspired, !.

safely intrust its decision to the

broadening

spirit of the conception of inspiration, which at the

present time

More fact

is

everywhere

to the point

no system

is,

of

in

evidence in the world.

that the Upanishads contain in

thought, though they did un

later Hindu systematic phi questionably inspire We are often vexed with their unstable, losophy.

contradictory, and partly foolish statements.

commanding

thought of the

or the doctrine of

the Rig- Veda

in

how many

;

Upanishads

The

monism,

unity precedes the Upanishads

we do not know by Above all, we cannot

unfortunately

years or centuries.

and should not forget that underneath Upanishad thought, as underneath all advanced Hindu thought, found the belief

in transmigration of souls, a notion which to the very end retains picturesque the quality of folk-i-jre, rather than the q .mjity of is

1

philosophy. this belief is 1

But to the Hindus an axiom.

See below, p 254.

After

of the

all,

Upanishads

the prime interest

The

58 of the

Religion of the

historical,

We

by the quality of the endeavor

more

is literary

Upanishads

are captivated

Veda

and

than by the quality of the thing accomplished. From the literary side the Upanishads captivate not because they are finished products

they are

but because they show great originality as a kind of rhapsodic philo

anything but that

power and

From

sophic prose poems. history of

human

enduring respect

mind engaged after truth

carried

on

is

thought, what entitles them to that they show us the human

in the

and

the point of view of the

let

most plucky and earnest search me add that this search is

in the sweetest of spirit,

offending established

interests,

without fear of

and

entirely

free

from the zealotism that goes with a new intellectual era.

But the Upanishads do not contain consummation.

On the contrary, it is the dear, familiar, earnest human fight,

doomed

rather to disappointment, which very

early Hindus here carry on, to find the secret of the world and the secret of self-conscious man in the

hiddenmost folds of their own heart

that

is

what

always holds attention, and that is the endearing quality of these texts. Therefore it is true that,

wherever the spirit of the Upanishads has been carried there has sprung up genuine human sympathy, if not final intellectual

consent.

How this is so

I

shall

hope

The Veda to

show

later, at

59

the proper point in the development

Veda. But for a good while we be occupied with more primitive religious forms, though even through these sounds from time to time, of the religion of the

shall

j

almost in the manner of a Wagnerian leitmotif, the] clarion note of the leading Hindu idea.

LECTURE THE SECOND. The

Hieratic Religion. The of the Veda.

Fundamental

Pantheon

False view of

Vedic religion

traits of early

the nature of Vedic poetry

The Rig- Veda

as sacrificial

understanding the ritual char acter of the Rig-Veda Poetry addressed to the Goddess Dawn A hymn to the sacrifice post The goddess Dawn as the symbol of liberality at the sacrifice Some erroneous estimates of Goddess Dawn Agni the son of Practical purposes of Vedic poetry The "Baksheesh

poetry

Difficulty

of

"

Rig- Veda contains the religion of the upper The ritual of the Rig- Veda The aprl-hymns

classes

Natureworship the keynote of the Rig-Veda India s climate and nature-worship Vedic and Hellenic mythology compared Arrested anthropomorphism Definition of the word Pantheon as applied to the Veda Faulty classifications of the Vedic gods Chronology of the gods Different degrees of certainty about the origin of the gods

Classification of the gods in these lectures.

religion

THEthe

ture, that

which

is

contained "

so-called is

in

"

revealed

the main body

in

the bulk of

Vedic

litera

(^rauta) of the hymns of the

Rig-Veda, the Yajur-Veda, the Sama-Veda, and the

Brahmanas, gards

its

is

a hieratic or priestly religion.

mechanism, or

unmistakably

its

liturgic or ritualistic. 60

As_e-

external practices,

As

ijs

regards^its

The

immediate mirncise, or thoroughly

61

Hieratic Religion

utilitarian

economic aspect,

its

and

it

is

Its purpose, is

practical.

and long life while for man, notably the rich man, living upon the earth to secure to a very talented and thrifty class to secure happiness and success, health

;

of priest-poets abundant rewards in return for their services in procuring for

and so on

;

men

this happiness, success,

to satisfy the divine powers, visible

and

invisible, beneficent and noxious, gods and demons,

that

is,

to establish livable relations

and men

;

between gods

and, finally, to secure after death the right

to share the paradise of the gods in the

company

have gone there before. For a generation or two since the real beginnings of the study of the Veda, say fifty years ago, and endur

of the pious fathers that

ing

more

faintly to the present day, the imagination

of scholars thought

Veda

it

saw

in

the

hymns

of the Rig-

the earliest spontaneous outbursts of the prim

mind, face to face with the phenomena of nature. The poets of the Rig-Veda were supposed to be itive

Awe-struck and reverent, they were supposed to be pondering, without ulterior motive of any kind, the meaning of day and night simple sons of nature.

;

of dawn, sun,

and moon

;

of sky, thunder,

and

light

atmosphere and wind of earth and fire. The Rig-Veda was the Aryan Bible," containing the ning

;

of

;

"

earliest flashes of the religious

thought of awakening

The

62

Veda

Religion of the

humanity. This stately gathering of more than a thousand hymns was viewed as a historical collection.

hymns were composed by poets, so the of the Rig- Veda was sup

Just as the

and redaction

collection

posed to have been undertaken by persons of literary taste and redactorial diligence, apparently in order to save these precious

monuments

for the aesthetic

delight of posterity.

One cannot now

help wondering to what station in life might have belonged these early poets. I can only think of rhapsodists from out of the people, seized on occasion

some

village

ary in the

by the divine frenzy, perchance barber old and semi-religious function

Hindu village

or

some village Hans Sachs, shoe

maker and

we may

as

translate the

German

doggerel.

Vedic

poetry

was the

still

less likely,

the

muse

to

"

a poet too

infinite

some Raja

of

tobacco,"

under

one

enough

to hold a

of

poet

eager,

those

huge

village, to

ject for the delectation of

Delightful as

s

1

as

Unless, child

laureate,

he took

of

"given

the

banyan-trees

air

large

bag some good sub

the court of his patron.

might be some such romantic a view to

the student of a literature that requires the devotion 1

"

Hans Sachs war ein SchuhMacher und Poet dazu,"

The of a lifetime,

it

is

Hieratic Religion

63

My own

not the correct view.

fancy in the earlier days moved along these lines. I am not sure but what some such conception of

Vedic

literature, faulty as I

now

believe

it

to be,

drew me into these studies more enticingly than could have the soberer view of ripening years. on to attach the right value to the poetry of the Vedic hymns in the abstract. I shall also show the way in which these poems ex I shall

endeavor

later

press a high quality of religious feeling on the part of their composers

Rishis, as they are called in the

texts themselves.

My

endeavor

shall

not be to

minimise the quality of these compositions, but rather to show that they contain the rudiments of a far higher species of thought than these early poets could have dreamt of; thought which in its way, and along its particular avenue, has become final for all

time

present

in

we

ter of the

The

are

Rig-Veda

At

epidermis, as

we might

say.

purely utilitarian

prayer-book whose explana not undertaken without reference to to be ought

body 1

its

collection served

It is in fact a

definite occasions

ily

and even outside of India.

engaged with the more external charac

Rig- Veda

purposes. tion

India,

of the

books,

1

and

definite practices.

The main

books of the Rig-Veda, the so-called fam represents in

See above, p. 27.

all

probability the prayers

The

64

Veda

Religion of the

on the same or similar

of different priestly families

occasions, or in connection with the sacrifices.

even a

if

little

we

The Vedic hymns designate them as

more than

than by saying, course

poems

is

are not quite described sacrificial

In other words these

are incidental to the sacrifice. in

It is

poetry.

I

:

treated poetically.

poet rises

similar

cannot express it better the sacrifice to the gods of

that

it

same or

the early morning to a

The Vedic

sacrificial

day.

The very first natural phenomenon he sees with his own eyes, the glorious maiden Dawn, is at once She trumpets

pressed into service.

going to be a day of which shall result in wealth and comforts.

to the world that this fice

forth, so to say, sacri

is

The

day goes on, being a mere scaffolding, or ladder

upon whose rungs are placed offerings to the gods. Morn ing, noon, and evening, tolerably definite gods get their regular allowance of offerings,

rable kind of

hymnal

Rig-Veda.

As

praise,

the gods

and a very admi

namely the hymns of the on, one after another,

come

or in pairs, or in groups, they enter

The

stage

is

the

sacrificial

day.

upon a

They

stage.

are figures in

a drama, more important collectively than singly. Take them singly, and I venture to say that even the

Rig-Veda, as does the later ritual, begins to show most of them in the state of a sort of supernumera ries

on the stage

of the sacrifice.

India

is

nothing

if

The not singular. the earliest

Hieratic Religion

We must not shrink

Hindu poetry

ordinary sense, not

65

from realising that

not epic, nor lyric in the nor didactic, but that it is

is

idyllic,

almost throughout dominated by a single idea, name ly, the praise of the gods in connection with the sacrifice.

The sacrifice is

as far as

life,

The

it is

the dominant note of Vedic

revealed in these ancient documents.

chief acts of the people living this

far as

revealed by the literature are

it is

in so

sacrificial;

thought the praise and conciliation of their

their chief

at the sacrifice.

gods

life,

The

soma, the sacred drink,

intoxicates the gods into heroism, or the rich melted butter, or fire,

ghee (ghrtd), that is poured into the willing them into contentment. Especially the

fattens

ever present, in express statement or by im So much so that in a technical sense at plication.

soma

is

least the Rig- Veda religion

may be

designated as a

religion of ^^^-practices.

But the hymns are dithyrambic, often turgid and intentionally mystic.

sharp sight to see,

It

requires at times pretty

and a clear head to remember,

that this poetry hugs the sacrifice closely

;

that at

the bottom of the golden liquid of inspiration there are always the residual dregs of a supposedly useful

formalism.

In fact the poets, as their fancy

flies

away from their immediate purpose, succeed un commonly well in withdrawing the eye from the 5

The

66

Religion of the

trivial real properties of

gods

whom

Veda

the sacrifice to the luminous

they praise so well.

The most

beautiful

of the Rig- Veda are

hymns

addressed to Ushas or Aurora, the maiden Dawn, the Goddess

Dawn, the daughter of Dyaush Pitar (Zevz 7rarrfp\ Father Heaven Homer s Rose-finger

A

Eos.

poet sings her ecstatically have crossed to the other side of darkness, Gleaming Aurora hath prepared the way. Delightful as the rhythm of poem, she smiles and shines, To happiness her beauteous face aroused :

"We

1

us."

(Rig-Veda

We

feel that

we

i.

92. 6.)

-^e going to be held willing cap

tives of a primitive Shelley or Keats, until

sobered

by

another

stanza of

the same

we

are

hymn

(stanza 5): "

Her

bright sheen hath

snown

itself to us;

She spreads, and strikes the black dire gloom. As one paints the sacrificial post at the sacrifice, So hath Heaven s daughter put on her brilliance."

What (svaru),

a comparison

destined

to

!

The

hold

gaudily ornamented with paint nically as having a knob for

sundry other

barbaric

petty

sacrificial

post

an animal victim, it is described tech

fast

a

beauties

head, along with brings

us

down

with a thud from heaven to the mockeries of the 1

The

so, or

expression chdndo nd here and at 8. 7. 36 is to be rendered like a poem." There is no occasion for an adjectival simply "

stem chdnda in the sense of

and

"singer,"

translators generally assume.

or the like, as the lexicons

The

Hieratic Religion

Our good

sacrifice.

friend the poet

in technical rites

monger

moment Lest we nodded

who

after all a

cannot, even in the

think that just this particular poet has

moment, another hymn repeats

for a

The

is

of his inspiration, quite forget his trade.

to us, offensive comparison "

67

bright

Dawns have

the,

:

risen in the East,

Like sacrifice posts uplifted at the sacrifice. Luminous, pure, and clear, they have unbarred

The

portals of the stable of

darkness."

(Rig- Veda

We may

turn this about the other

the example.

Just as

it

is

4.

51. 2.)

way and prove

possible for a brilliant

poet of the Rig- Veda to institute comparisons be Dawn and the tawdry sacrifice post,

tween glorious so

is

it

possible for another poet to consider the

sacrifice post as a subject

We

ment.

symbolism ritual, but

fit

for high poetic treat

are accustomed to in I

make allowance

for

connection with articles belonging to question whether the poets of any

other land have ever turned their talents to such curious use

:

Rig -Veda 3. "

i.

God-serving men,

O

With heavenly mead 1

That

is,

8.

sovereign of the forest! at sacrifice anoint thee.

the tree from which the sacrifice post

is

made.

The

68

Religion of the

Veda

Grant wealth to us when thou art standing upright, reposing on this Mother s bosom

And when "

2.

"

!

Set up in front of the enkindled fire, Accepting tireless prayer, that brings strong sons, Driving far from us away all noisome sickness, Lift thyself

4.

1

up

to bring us great

Well-robed, enveloped, he

Springing to

life his

is

good fortune!

come, the youthful

;

glory waxeth greater.

in mind and god-adoring, Sages of wise intellect upraise him.

Contemplative

"

9.

Like swans that

Have come

fly in

ordered line

the pillars gay in brilliant colors.

lifted up on high by sages, eastward, forth as gods to the gods dwelling-places.

They,

Go "

10.

These posts upon the

Seem

earth, with ornate knobs,

to the eye like horns of horned cattle.

Upraised by priests with rival invocations, Let them assist us in the rush of battle !

"

11.

Lord of the world, rise with a hundred branches With thousand branches may we rise to greatness an edge well whetted For great felicity hath brought before us

Thou whom

this hatchet with

"

!

am reminded

I

here of the tense struggle

friend the late Professor

my

i

sight.

The same

Mother Earth.

which

Max Miiller was engaged

with an epithet of Ushas, quite startling, first

in

beautiful

I

admit, at

Daughter of Heaven^

The another hymn,

in

means

daksJiimi it is

Hieratic Religion is

fee,"

or, in

s

poetic

a poet might degrade so charming a

a comparison "

plainer words,

the baksheesh of the priests at the sacrifice. But

did not seem tolerable to Miiller

it

Now the word

called Dakshina.

".sacrificial

69

mind that

theme by such

:

the shining strands of Dawn have risen, Like unto glittering waves of water All paths prepareth she that they be easily traversed Liberal goddess, kind, she hath become baksheesh."

Up

!

(Rig- Veda 64.

The word which "

;

6. i.)

liberal have just rendered by magkoni) is the very one that is used con "

I

goddess ( stantly and technically for the patron of the sacrifice (maghavan), the immediate source from which flow all

the fees of the

(maghoni) it Dawn. Here

Ushas

is

is it

sacrifice.

In

its

feminine form

used almost solely as an epithet of cheek by jowl with dakshind. is,

the patroness of the sacrifice

the sacrifice

fee, because 1

;

she

is

herself

she heralds or ushers in the

when day and stingy are asleep. If I could get myself to suspect one of these ancient Rishis of hu mor, I should say that there was a touch of

sacrificial

both

liberal

humor i

after the darkness of the night,

anyhow

See Rig-Veda

Sun, the

sacrifice,

it

is

7. 78. 3,

and Agni

unconscious humor

where the Dawns are said :

ajljanan suryam

in the

to beget the

yajnam agnim.

The

70

Religion of the

following appeal to Ushas

goddess, them that give

unawakened

"

That

!

Veda

"

Arouse,

:

Ushas, liberal

the niggards shall sleep what is the use of

;

is

O

to say,

waking the stingy man, he is not going to give us any thing anyhow. Another stanza states this even more

O

"

liberal

Dawns, ye

god do ye to-day suggest to the rich that they shall Let the stingy, unawakened, sleep in give bounty emphatically

:

shining

desses,

!

the depths of obscure darkness

2 !

The very first hymn in the Rig-Veda that is ad dressed to Ushas presents in its opening strain the economic goddess, in an inextricable with the Almost do we feel poetic divinity. tangle ritual, serving,

that economic advantage and aesthetic delight

much "

the

same thing

to the soul of such a poet

are :

With pleasant things for us, O Ushas, Shine forth, O Daughter of Heaven, With great and brilliant wealth, of which, luminous goddess, thou

art the giver

"

!

(Rig-Veda

And

immediately

significant words,

our

patrons!"

after,

"Arouse

And

in

i.

68.

I.)

the next stanza, the

thou the benevolence of

so another time,

3

"To

these

nobles give thou glory and fine sons, O patroness Dawn, to them that have given us gifts that are not 1

Rig- Veda

I.

2

Rig- Veda

4. 51. 3.

3

Rig- Veda

5.

124. 10.

79. 6.

The

Hieratic Religion

71

And once again, God after god urge shabby thou on to favor us make all pleasant things come our way and, as thou shinest forth, create in us the "

*

"

1

;

;

leads to

inspiration that

make our poetry

gain!"

so clever that

it

That shall

to say,

is

not

fail

to

stimulate the liberality of the patron of the sacrifice

We

can

poet-priest

above

all

!

now understand the tour de force of the who, when he sings of Dawn, is anxious

that the

main

be neglected.

issue shall not

Therefore he blurts out his crassest thought first, afflicts the goddess with the doubtfully honorable baksheesh, and then settles

title

down

appreciation of his poetic opportunity

to a very nice :

Baksheesh s roomy chariot hath been harnessed, And the immortal gods have mounted on it, The friendly Dawn, wide-spread, from out of darkness Has risen up to care for the abode of mortals.

"

The mighty goddess

!

"

conception

of, 109, personified, 189; faith and works, 190, 269; related to truth and wis dom, 1 88; reward of, post poned to heaven, 193 Family-books" of Rig- Veda 1

86

ff.;

27, 79, 210 Father God, 138 Fathers in heaven, 250, 251,

287 "

Father Sky.

"

See Dyaus.

Index

294 and

Festivals, public

II

tribal,

214 Fetish, 256

ff.

emblem of Brahmanism,

Fire,

production of, Cf. Agni Fjorgyn and Fjorgynn, 189;

139,

158.

Hindu story

Flood,

1 1 1

of,

Haridrumata, a teacher, 225 See Dy-

Heaven and Earth. aus Helena,

45,

M3 288

282,

Four stages of life, 4, 288 Future life, early notions 149, 249

Dioscuri,

Hell, descriptions of, 252

Henotheism

"Forest-dwellers,"

of

sister

IJ 3

of,

(Kathenothe-

ism), 164, 199

and

Heracles

Geryon

;

three-headed

Hercules and

three-headed Cacus,

ff-

Hermits

(vXoftioi),

180

282, 288

Hestia- Vesta, 158 Hieratic religion of Veda, 60 to the belongs upper classes, 77 Hillebrandt, A., Professor, i79 ff;

Ganges, a river, 23, 265 Garbe, R., Professor, 220

Gargya and GargI,

ff.

theoso-

Hindu and Greek Mythology

phers, 223

Garutmant

sun)

(the

210,

218 Gatha ndrdfansyah, "praises of men, 196 Ghee, food of the gods, 63, "

161

intensely religious, 3, 4 Holiness, conception of, 109 Hopkins, E. W., Professor, 23, 155

"Gift-praises,"

196

Horse-sacrifice, 213, 216

Girdle, sacred, 188

House-Books

Gods, Indo-European words 08; three classes of, 87, 91; chronology of, 90, 93 relative importance of, relative clear 89, 90, 93 ness of their origin, 93-96 daily order of their ap for,

compared, 83 life and institutions

Hindu

1

;

;

(Grihyasu 285

tras), 41, 77, 159,

Huxley cism,

critique of asceti

s

283

Hymns, 75.

artistic

quality

of,

203

;

pearance, 90 ff. character of, 184 ff.; glory of, 199 Gospel of John, beginning of, 206 Grasco-Parthian rulers of In ;

dia, 14

Greek and Hindu mythology compared, 83 Greeks estimate of their own religion, 84

Grihyasutras: Books"

see

"House-

Ignorance, or "nescience," 276 Illusion (maya), 276, 288 Images, absence of in Veda. 89 India and Persia, historical contact between, 14, 118 India, land of religions, 2 geographical isolation of, 1 1 her nature, climate, etc., 85, 265

;

;

Index Indian and Persian religions contrasted, 118 India s exploration, future of, 22

India of,

s

religion,

continuity

10

295

Kanvas, a family of poets, 28, 203,

205

Karma, or spiritual evolution, 195, 257. 259, 284; Western 261 ff. wife of Yajnavalkya, 277 Kennings, 162 Kings, interested in theosophy, 214, 219, 220, 223, 227 Kronos, 84 Kuhn, Adalbert, 102, 108 Kumarila, a philosopher, 222, 227

estimate

of,

Katyayam,

Indo-European period, 100; .of religion, 16, 108 Indo-Iranian period, 100; of religion, 13, 118 Indo-Parthian Kingdoms, 14 Indra, 78, 89, 92, 94, 130, X I3 1 i47 177. l86 187, 217, 244; cause of scepticism, 174, 229 Indra and Agni, 78 Indra and Varuna, 78 Indra- Vritra myth, explana tions of, 178, 179 Indus, a river, 23, 265 Initiation of a young Brah man, 188 Investiture of a young Brah man, 285 sacrifice and Ishtapurta, baksheesh," 194 ff., 252. See Baksheesh .

57>

"

Lithuanian dainos, or songs, 114, 172

Loge (Loki), Norse god of fire, 156 Logos, or "Word" (divine), 207, 273 Lost cattle, Lithuanian poem about, 172

M J

Macdonell, A. A., Professor,

mother

Jabala,

of

Satya-

kama, 225 225 Janaka, king of Videha, 214, 219, 226, 227 "Omniscient," Jatavedas,

Jajali,

name of Agni, 164, 189 aundice, charm against, 42 uggernaut, car of, 9 upiter,

no

"Time,"

"Love,"

237. 245

I

Manu, Manush Pitar, Father Manu, 140, 143 Manu, Law-Book of, 256, "

"

Martanda, 130 Maruts, 92

K Kama,

3

259

yotishtoma-sacrifice, 77

Kala, 245

I

wife of YajnaMaitreyi, valkya, 223, 277 Man, origin of, 138, 149 Manicheism, 85 Mannus, son of Tuisto, 140

personified, personified,

"Master-singers," 201, 202 Matarigvan, 165, 210, 218 Maurya dynasty, 18, 283 Maya, "Illusion," 276, 288 Megasthenes, Greek author, 282

Index

296

Metempsychosis. See Trans migration Metres, 24; belonging to different hours of the day, 80 to individual gods, 80 Mithraism, 85 Mitra (Persian Mithra, Mi thras), 92, 120 ff., 129, i3 2 If-. I 53 210, 218 ;

Moderation

in

asceticism,

Odhin, a Norse god, 155 Oldenberg, H., Professor,

72,

J

33 ff-, 273 Onesikritos, a Greek, 283 Opaque gods, 96, 174 Oupnekhat, Persian trans lation of the Upanishads, 54/7-

282, 284

Mohammedanism 10, 52

in

ff_.

Sanskrit

Mokshamulara,

name

Max

of

India,

Miiller, 53

Monism, idea of unity, 56^., 210,

218,

247,

233,

269.

and

marriage

"Sun-Maiden,"

of,

114

Morning and evening 114

ff.,

star,

172

"Mother

Pantheism, ism

242.

See

Mon

Pantheon

See Pantheism

Moon

Pairs of gods, 78

Earth,"

no,

95,

of the Veda, 78, 88 ff. Paracara, a Rishi, 225 Paradise, 250, 287; solar, 169 ff. Parameshthin, "He who oc cupies the highest place, 242 Parjanya, God of Thunder, 92, in, 178, 181

"

138, 148

Mountains as winged

birds,

legend of, 48 Muir, Dr. John, 154

Max, 53, 71, 102, 164, 199 Mystics, Christian, 275, 281 Mythology, 29; in its relation

Miiller,

to Ethnology, Indo-Iranian,

103.

Cf.

and Indo-

European

N Naciketas, a theosopher, 192, 223

Na

neti,

"no,

no,

Nature myth, 148,

152

nomena

ff.;

"277

29,

81,

108,

nature phe

in legends, 48; in

riddles, 217 Neoplatonism, 207 Nidhanas of the Sama-Veda,

37

of Religions," in Chicago, 9 Parsis in India, 10, 14, 118 Patrons of sacrifice, 193 ff., 215; of theosophy, 219 Perkunas, Lithuanian God of "Parliament

Thunder, in, 115 Persian and Hindu religion contrasted, 118 Persian names in arta, 12 Pessimism, 3, 4, 212, 263; its origin, 264; its final fixation, 267 Philosophy, its relation to practical life, 10. See The

osophy Phcebus Apollo and Marsyas, 84 Pischel, R., Professor, 113 Poetic inspiration, 75.201^. Popular religion, 42, 77

Index Prajapati, tures,"

Crea "Lord of 236, 240, 245, 246,

297

Ritual and theosophy, 213,

218

Royal

271

Prana,

of

"Breath

Life,"

its

influence 214, 223,

227

personified, 245

Pravahana

caste,

upon theosophy,

Jaivali,

a royal

theosopher, 224

Rta

"cosmic arta}, 120, 121, 125 ff., date of the conception,

(asha,

order,"

Prayer beatified and deified, Cf. Devotion 205, 243. Prayer of the gods, 205

232

;

12, 19,

135

Rudra, 92

Prehistoric gods, 90, 96, 99 ff. Priests, various kinds of, 80,

216 Prithivl,

"Earth,"

Cf.

92.

"Mother Earth"

Pururavas and Urvaci, story 46 Purusha,

"

and

man, supreme spirit, 242, 279 Pushan, 92, 170, 171 "cosmic

R Rammohun

former,

life

of,

of 33,

215

of,

Raja

Sacraments in daily Hindus, 4, 285 Sacrifice, philosophy

8,

Sacrifice post, 67, 79 Sacrificers, origin of, 138 Sages as creators, 237 Salvation, 5, 211, 247, 263, 269, 289 ff.; Veda of music, 36; popular origin of, 38; inferior position of, 39; connected with god Indra, 37; related to Sha manism, 38 Sandrakottos, Sandrokyptos (Candragupta), 18, 282 Sankhya philosophy, 2 Saranyu, mother of the Ac-

Sama-Veda, 25 Roy, a re

53

Rajasuya, "coronation" of a king, 213 Ramakrishna, a saint and ascetic, 227, 229, 281 Religion, science of, 151

Religious liberty, 8, 19, 53 Renan, Ernest, 85 Retribution, 252, 262

vins, 91, 113, 141

ff.

Reverence, Indo-European conception of, 109 Ribhus, 78

Satyakama, son of Jabala,

Riddles,

Saule,

210,

theosophic, 215 ff., 218 Rig- Veda, 17, 25 ff.; geo graphy of, 23 language of, 26; character of, 29; er ;

roneous view of

authors and redaction, 61 ff.; qual its

of its ity hymns, utilitarian and ritual

63

;

char

acter of, 31, 67, 75, 182 religious essence of, 198/7.

;

See

Veda

a low-caste 225 en,"

Lettish 115 ff.

theosopher, "Sun-Maid

See

"Sun-

Maiden"

Savarna, wife of Vivasvant, 142 Savitar, 74, 86, 91, 92, 240. See next Savitri, or Gayatri stanza, 286. See 86, 202, 273, preceding Scepticism, 174, 181, 229; philosophic, 238

Index

2g8 Johannes, a

Scheffler, tic,

mys

275

and

Schopenhauer

Symbolic gods, 96, 109, 131, 135, 191, 242

Upan-

ishad philosophy, 55 ff. Seleukos, a Greece-Persian king, 282 Self-hypnosis, 9, 284 Sena, wife of Indra, 244 Sentimental regard of gods,

200

Shah Jehan, a Mogul Empe ror, 52

Shah Nameh, Persian Epic, 144

Shankar Pandurang Pandit,

Talmud, 209, 215, 222 "creative Tapas, fervor," 237 Tat tvam asi, "Thou art the That," 233, 269, 275 lauler, John, a mystic, 281 Teacher and pupil, 188, 286 Tel-elcuneiform arna, tablets of, n, 135

Am

Temples, absence

21 Sikhs, religion of, 10

Terrestrial gods, 92

Skambha,

Theosophy,

"Support," 242 (haoma), plant, and liquor pressed from it, 77,

Soma

78, 120, 122, 138, 143, 145, J I ^s function in 47>

75>

Vedic religion, 65, 147; in Avestan religion, 147; brought from heaven by an eagle, 146, 165; per sonified,

78,

92,

172;

as

the moon, 113 "Sons

of

God,"

myth of, no, 114 Stages of life, four, 4, 288 Stobhas of the Sama-Veda, universal worship of, 104; progenitor of man, 139, 141; as shepherd and finder of lost objects, 172 ff. See Savitar, and Surya Sun and moon as dogs, 105, 251 Sun-Maiden, 90, 91, 112 ff., n5 ff; 172 Surya (Helios) 86, 87, 92, 112, 153, 154, 172

Sun,

"

"

Surya. See "Sun-Maiden" Suttee, or widow-burning, 9

Svayambhu,

"The

"

isting,

242

Self -ex

89

beginnings

of,

208, 215, 219; time of its

appearance, 209

221; ff., place where it originated, 212 ff. its authors, 219, 227: chronology of, 233 Thor (Donar), in Thrita and Athwya, 146 ,

Thugs, sect of, 9 Thunder, god of, in, 148 "Time,"

Lithuanian

of,

"Father

Time,"

personified, 245

Totemism, 138 ff., 256 Transcendental gods, 244 Translucent gods, 96, 166 Transmigration of souls, 57, 211

ff.,

ff.

3,

224, 247; origin

and explanation of, 254 ff. date of, 257; Western es

;

timate of, 261 ff.,; release from, 258 Transparent gods, 93-96, 151 ffTrita Aptya, 146 Truth and untruth, 128 Tuisto, father of Mannus, 140 Tuladhara, a low-caste thcosopher, 225

Tvashtar, 91, 141, 240 "Twilight of the gods," 98, 230

Index u pher, 221 See Monism Unity, idea of. Universe, threefold division of, 91, 169 Upanishads, 2, 52 ff., 209, 215, 222, 257 ff., 274, 287; discovery of, 52; critical estimate of, 57, 58; Hindu estimate of, 57; influence of, on Western philosophy, of to

ritual,

;

66

no,

127, 152

ff.,

;

;

Veda and Avesta,

71 ff; 78, 9 ff.

ff->

Vedanta philosophy,

2,

51,

229 Vedas, Concordance

of,

18,

Vicpala, a racing mare, 113 Vifvakarman, Fabricator of universe, 242 Vidhatar, "Arranger," 242 Vishnu, 92, 168 ff.. 195 "

Vivas vant (Vivanhvant), fa ther of

Yama and Manu,

120, 139, 141

251

t

Utilitarianism, 61, 183, 198

Vac, Vac Sarasvati,

"Holy

personified,

191,

243 Vajacravasa, a zealous Brah man, 192 Vala and the cows, myth of, 180

Varuna,

119, 92, 94, l6 7 i2&ff., 153. l62 200, 250; identical .

Uranos, 232

ff.,

146

Vivekananda, Svami, a reformer,

ligious

Speech,"

mutual

relations of, 13, 15, 24, 118 Veda and Mahabharata, 16

"

identical with Uranos, 84 Varuna, 136 Urva9i, an Apsaras, 46 Ushas, "Dawn," a goddess, 30,

of, 24; character of its literature, 25, 65, 76, 80; its composers, 27, 28, 6 1 its metres, 24, 80 mode of acquiring it in school, See Rig-Veda 188, 286.

ginnings

Uddalaka Aruni, a theoso-

55; relation 35, 209

299

9,

re

225,

229 Vrishakapayi, 91 Vritra, a demon, 175 ff. Vritrahan (Verethraghna, Vahagn), epithet of Indra, 176

W

121, 174,

Wagner, Richard, 59, 156 Warrior caste, its relation to

with

theosophy, 219, 220 ff. Whitney, William D., 18, 234

136; collapse of,

Vasishthas, a family of Vedic authors, 28, 123, 186 Vata, and Vayu, "Wind,"

Woman

s

incantation against

rival, 43

Women

as theosophers, 233,

279

155,

Wotan, a Teutonic god, 155

Veda, 17 ff. date of, 18, 209; canon of, 17; oral tradition unhistorical char of, 2 1

Yajnavalkya, a theosopher,

87,

personified, 181

92,

,

;

acter of its tradition, 20, date of its manu 23; scripts,

21

;

literary

be

214, 261,

221, 277,

223, 227, 287, 284, 290 279, Yajur-Veda, 25 ff., 31 ff., 127

Index

300

of paradise and 140, 144, 145, 10, 250, 251

Yama, king hell,

162,

105, 2

Yama and

the first pair, 48, 120, 129, 140,144 Yaska, author of Nirukta, 90 Yatnl,

Yima, Yima Khshaeta, See

Yama

Ymir, cosmic Edda, 242 "Yodels"

in

man

in

143.

the

Sama-Veda, 37

Zarathushtra

(Zoroaster),

118 Zeus, Zeus Pater, 83, 95, no, See Dyaus 152. Zeus Bagaios, 109 Zoroastrian angels (Amesha Spentas), 133 ff. Zoroastrian (Parsi) religion, n, 13, 118 ff.

.

.26

BLOOMFIELD THE RELIGION OF VEDA

1908 12J139 I