वेदे विश्वासटिप्पन्यः

THE CULTURAL BACKGROUND OF THE VEDA It is generally believed - and, to a large extent, rightly believed that a proper understanding of the Veda affords the master-key which can uprave many a problem relating to ancient Indian culture and civilization. Every serious student of ancient Indian civilization, therefore, begins, naturally enough, by asking himself the question: What is the Veda? Let me also then, by way of a general introduction to my lectures, today begin by posing such broad questions as : What exactly is connoted by the term, Veda? What is its real nature? What is its extent and what its cultural background? When we speak, in more or less general terms, of Sanskrit language and of Sanskrit literature, we are actually speaking of two languages and of two literatures. In other words, there are, strictly speaking, two Sanskrit languages, the Vedic Sanskrit and the Classical Sanskrit, the one being distinct from the other in respect of several essential linguistic characteristics. Corres pondingly, there are two Sanskrit literatures, the Vedic literature and the classical Sanskrit literature, the one being distinct from the other in respect of nature, extent, and cultural background. I shall try briefly to elaborate this point. In what way is the Vedic language distinct from the classical Sanskrit? It is well known that the science of comparative philology has established the position of Sanskrit as a very important member of the family of Indo-European languages. It is, however, not so very well known that by “Sanskrit’ is here meant principally the Vedic language and not so much the classical Sanskrit. The implica tions, from the linguistic point of view, of what I have just now said are indeed manifold. Without, however, going into the details of this question, I shall only emphasize what is pertinent to our present purpose, namely that, so far as the study of Indo

The present paper represents the text of the first of the four lectures delivered at the Ceylon University, Peradeniya, 10 August 1953. THE CULTURAL BACKGROUND OF THE VEDA (1 69 European linguistics is concerned, the Vedic language has all along been distinguished from the classical Sanskrit. The second point of distinction, to which I shall now refer, is perhaps more tangible. I shall put it like this: The classical Sanskrit, as we know it, is essentially a static language. It is completely tied down by the rules of grammar - the grammar of Pānini and, to a certain extent, of his immediate successors. Accordingly, there is in that language absolutely no scope for dialectical develop ments and no possibility of dialectical differences. For instance, the Sanskrit, as spoken and written in Kashmir, bas been quite the same as the Sanskrit as spoken and written in the southern most parts of India. Similarly the Sanskrit, as it was spoken and written in the days of Kālıdāsa or Samkarācārya, was not in any way different from the Sanskrit as it is today spoken and written by a Pandit of Banaras. To resort to a mathematical metaphor, Sanskrit has remained an invariable in the time-space-context, As against this, the Vedic language had been growing and changing throughout its career. It had, indeed, been a ’living’ entity. The Vedic language as represented in the Rgvedic mantras, for instance, shows certain linguistic peculiarities which are absent in the Vedic language as represented in the Satapatha brālmana. Again, the occurrence, in the Vedic language, of what are technically called ‘prakritisms would justify our positing the existence of several Vedic dialects. Such a language, with its proneness to change and growth, could not have failed to evoke significant psychological reactions from the speakers of that language. Another distinctive feature of the Vedic language, as against the classical Sanskrit, is the important role played in it by accent or siara. Apart from ensuring the rhythmic, musical character of the Vedic language, accent also governs the sense of a Vedic word. A story is told in the Vedic literature of how an incorrectly accented word yielded a sense redically different from the one which was intended by the speaker and thus brought disaster on him, when he was, naturally, most unprepared for it. Tvastr had a three-headed, six-eyed son; he was called Visvarūpa. Indra EXERCISES IN INDOLOGY hated Visvarupa and cut off those heads of his Tvastf was furious and exclaimed, “Has he indeed slain my son?’ He thereupon performed a Soma sacrifice excluding Indra from a share in the Soma But Indra disturbed Tvasti’s sacrifice and forcibly drank the Soma The remains of the Soma Tyaṣlı offered upon the Ahavaniya fire, saying, “Hail, wax great Indraśatru ” The moment the Soma reached the fire, it developed into human shape as Tvasts’s son And, since it so developed whilst rolling onwards ( vrt ), the person born from it came to bi called Vstra But because Tvastsaid, “Grow thou, Indraśatru’ accenting indra, the first member of the compound indrasatru Indra slew Vr̥tra. Had Tvasti said. “Grow thou, Indraśatru’, accepting satru, the second member of the compound indraśatru Výtra would certainly have forthwith slain Indra The word, indra fatru, is a compound, and can be interpreted either as a genetive tatpurusa compound, that is to say, as indrasja sarruh, mean ing one who is the slayer of Indra, or as a bahusrihi compound, that is to say, as indrah satruh jasya, meaning one whose slayer is Indra Tvasts, of course, wanted his son to be indraśatru in the tatpurusa sense - he wanted him to be the slayer of Indra Now, according to the rules governing the accent of Vedic compounds in a tatpurusa compound, the second member of the compound is accented, while in the bahuvrihi, the first member is accented As it happened, in his great excitement, Tvastr pronounced the word, indraśatru, in the formula, indraśatrur varuhasia, with an accent on the first member and thus made that word yield the bahuvrihi sense The sacrifice performed by Tyastr was otherwise perfect As the result of it Tvastę did obtain a son, namely, Vr̥tra, who did indeed become indrasatru - but in the bahuvrihi sense, and not in the tatpurusa sense as Tvastr had desired Accordingly, Vstra, instead of becoming the slayer of Indra, became one whose slayer was Indra I have recounted this interesting story in order to underline the important role of accent in the Vedic language and the scrupulous care which 2 Cf Salapatha br I 6 3 1-10 Taittiriya san to this episode are found also in later literature II 4 12 1 Resercaces THE CULTURAL BACKGROUND OF THE VEDA 71 people were expected to take in respect of it. In the classical Sanskrit, on the other hand, accept hardly plays any significant role. It will now become clear, from what I have said so far, why, from the linguistic point of view, the Vedic language has to be regarded as distinct from the classical Sanskrit. far more striking, however, than the points mentioned above in connection with the two languages, are the points which distinguish the Vedic literature from the classical Sanskrit litera ture. The most distinctive claim made on behalf of the Veda is that it is apauruṣeya. Let us, for the time being, stick to the traditional view in this regard. According to that view, no human agency has been responsible for the creation of the Veda. The Veda is not man-made; it is god-given. There are, no doubt, frequent references in the Vedic literature itself to several rșis who are said to have been respoasible for the various Vedic mantras. But we have to understand this their responsibility in a limited sense. In order to make this point clear, the Vedic rșis may well be compared to Columbus, Columbus did not create America; he only discovered that land. Similarly, the Vedic rsis did not create or compose the Vedic mantras; they only saw’ or dis covered the mantras which had been in existence from times immemorial. Arṣi, indeed, is one who sees’: rṣır darśanai. What the rsis were able to see through their intuitive ‘vision’ is the Veda - the word, veda, being linguistically connected with Lat. video (=to see ). That is, really speaking, why the Veda is also called darsana - that is to say, the object of immediate vision and not of mediate knowledge. There is another imagery employed to bring out this character of apauruseyaiva. The Veda is not infrequentiy called the sruri that is, what is heard’. The music of the infinite, which is the Veda, had been going on since eternity. The ancient sages heard it and transmitted it to posterity as their richest heritage. The Veda is sruri in the sense that it is the rhythm of the infinite heard by the soul.3 Obviously no such claim can be made on behalf of the classical Sanskrit literature,
RADHAKRISHNAN, Indian Philosophy I, p. 128. EXERCISES IN INDOLOGY This traditionally accepted apauruṣeyatva of the Veda led to some very important consequences It was argued that, being apauruseya, the Veda represents the most complete and the most perfect expression of truth For, it is only what is created by man, which is most likely to be characterised, in one way or another, by defects and imperfection. The apauruseya Veda, which is naturally free from such defects and imperfections, must then be regarded as the most infallible authority in every walk of life The apaurusejatia of the Veda thus logically led to veda pramanya, that is, to the concept of the unimpeachable validity of the Veda. Indian logic usually speaks of three main pramānas or means of knowledge - pratyaksa or direct perception, anumāna or inference, and sabda or the Vedic authority of these three the first two, namely, pratyaksa and anumana, are likely to be vitiated by the natural deficiencies and imperfections of human sense organs and intellect Accordingly, their vilidity is only relative, The third pramāna, namely, Sabda or the Veda, on the other hand, being apauruseya, is free from such deficiencies and imperfections and must, therefore, command absolute validity. Such faith in the absolute validity of the Veda is, indeed, one of the main planks of the Brahmanic ideoloagy Verily it is this criterion which demarcates the two main currents of thought – the astıka and the nastika - which have flown side by side throughout the cultural history of ancient India The āstikas (usually called the orthodox) are not, as popularly understood, the theists - those who believe in the existence of god : they are those who have perfect faith in the absolute validity of the Veda, while the nāstikas (the hetero dox) are those who challenge this claim of absolute validity made on behalf of the Veda, 34 THE CULTURAL BACKGROUND OF THE VEDA 73 Another distinctive claim pade on behalf of the Veda - a claim, which, in a sense, originates from its apaurnseyatva - is that the Veda is the fountain-head of all knowledge. Religion and philosophy, law and history (itiläsapurana ), fine arts and natural and technical sciences - the beginnings of all these branches of knowledge are traditionally traced back to Vedic sources. This fact would not surprise us if we took into account the vastness of the extent of the Veda. Setting aside the traditional view regard ing the apauruṣeyatra and looking at things from a strictly histo rical point of view, one would easily realise that the Veda could not have been produced by one author - not even by one genera tion of authors; it must have been the outcome of the intellectual labours of generations of authors through centuries. What is true in the context of time and authorship is also true in the context of space. It is not possible to assign the produc tion of the Veda to any restricted geographical locality. In deed, without being guilty of exaggeration, one may say that the activity which gave rise to the Veda did, in a sense, extend from the Oxus to the Gangā.* All this vastaess of extent, from the point of view of chronology, authorship, and geographical locality, naturally resulted in the manifold character of the form and the contents of the Veda. Though, therefore, the Veda is popularly regarded as the sacred scripture of Hinduism, ia the sense in which the Koran is regarded as the sacred scripture of Islam and the Bible of Christianity, we have necessarily to distin guish the Veda from the other two works. It is well and truly (Continued from last page) regarded as peremptory-complcte freedom having been allowed in that regard. la actuality, the doctrinc of seda-prumtaja was gencrally made applicable only in an academic sense, that is to say, mosty as a convcnicnt cpistemological device rather than as a prescriptive dictum. The fact that classical Hinduism accepted veda-prantijd as one of its basic tcnels was mainly due to a bistorical accesuty. It ser cd mcrcly as a thin thread which kept together the diverse popular religious cults which had federated themseles to form what subscquc. atly came to be taown as Ilinduism.
Sce “The antecedents of the Vedic period”, published elsewhere in ths Volume 19 EXERCISES IN INDOLOGY said that the Veda is not one single book, it is verily a whole library and literature And this brings us to perhaps the most characteristic feature of the Veda - a feature, which clearly distinguishes it from the classical Sanskrit literature In spite of its great complexity and diversity in the matter of form and contents the Veda, as a whole is actually found to be characterised by a remarkable unity As will be shown in the sequel, this unity is a kind of logical unity- that is to say, a unity brought about by the logical development of thought from one period of Vedic history to another Of perhaps no other ancient literature than the Veda can it be said that it so faithfully reflects and is so deeply influ enced by contemporary life Throughout the cultural history of the Vedic age Vedic literature and Vedic life have vitally acted and reacted on each other The thread of historical development which runs through Vedic life also binds together in a unified whole the various literary works which are collectively called the Veda Consequently, the importance of the Veda as a valid source of ancient Indian cultural history is far far greater than that of the classical Sanskrit literature A reference may be made in passing to two other peculiari ties of the Vedic literature The first is that the major portion of the literature which is known as the Veda has been handed down, from generation to generation, through oral tradition The Veda was not written and read it was recited and heard This is another reason why the Veda is known as Srut: The fact that such an extensive literature has been preserved intact through the ages without having been reduced to writing must indeed, be regarded as one of the marvels in the literary history of the world It may, however, be added that perhaps it was the oral tradition itself which helped the Vedic texts having been prescrved perfectly intact For, as the students of textual criticism know, it is in the written out texts that corruptions omissions and interpolations creep in and, in course of time, become rampantAnd how wonderful are the devices which bedTHE CULTURAL BACKGROUND OF THE VEDA 75 been developed since fairly early times to facilitate the memoris ing and the perfect preservation of the Vedic texts! A single mantra from the Rgveda, for instance, was studied in five principal modes of recitation. Various kinds of permutations and combi pations of the words in a mantra were ingeniously thought out and marshalled into service. There is the normal mode of recita tion, governed by the rules of metre and rhytbm, which is called the sanhita patha. Then there are the pada-pãtha, where each word in a mantra is pronounced separately without coalescence or samdhi and with its own specific accent; the krama-pāíha, where the words are recited in the order : ab, bc, cd, de…, the jasa pātha (ab, ba, ab; bc, cb, bc; …); and the ghana-pātha (ab, ba, abc, cba, abc; bc, cb, bod, dcb, bed..). And all such compli cated labours did yield marvellous results. For, to take an exam ple, the entire Rgreda, which consists of 1,028 hymns (about 10,560 mantras or about 74,000 words), bas, through over three millenia, remained perfectly free from veriae lectiones - except in one passage (= VII. 44. 3), where the reading is either bradhnam mamścator varunasya babhrum or bradhnam māścator…. But there is also another side to this peculiarity, namely, the oral transmission of the Veda. It is more than probable that, owing to the fact that the Veda had not been reduced to writing, a considerable amount of literature produced by the Vedic poet priests was lost in course of time. Again, there are clear indica tions that there did exist, in those early days, certain literary traditions wbich had not been given a fixed literary form, which, in other words, continued to remain in a fluid and floating condition, and a major portion of which must have, accordingly, become lost to us. In other words, the Vedic literature, which is available to us today, does not represent the entire literary output of the Vedic age. I am often tempted to compare the literature of the Vedic age - indeed, the entire Sanskrit literature - with an iceberg. Just
Thc Ailarga drag yaka I. 3. 3 refers to the sanhila , the pada, and the krama päthas mentioned below.
Traditionally eight rillis arc mentioned : pada, krama, jali, ratha, danda doaja, mala, and ghana. EXERCISES IN INDOLOGY as a major portion of the iceberg is submerged under waters, only a small portion of it being visible to us, even so, perhaps a major part of the literature of the Vedic age is buried in the abyss of time and only a small part of it has become known to us. A historian of the Vedic age can ill afford to ignore this fact. Though what I have said so far relates mostly to the exter nals of the Veda, I believe that it has helped to prepare the ground for my main task today, which is to analyse the cultural background of the Veda For such an analysis, it would be of the Vedic age into certain distinct periods. These periods may either be chronological or they may be logical. As it is, in the case of the Veda, as I shall endeavour to demonstrate presently, the chronological periods correspond surprisingly well with the logical periods. The history of the antecedents of the Vedic Aryans? shows that certain tribes from the common Indo-European stock mi grated from their primary Utheimat in North Kirghiz towards the south-east and, in course of time, settled down in the region round about Balkh Here they seem to have lived for quite a long stretch of time - indeed, for so long a time that they soon began to regard that region itself as their original home. These people, who are generally known as the proto-Aryans, were the ancestors of the Vedic Aryans and the ancient Iranians. It was in the region round about Balkh that these proto-Aryans developed the Aryan language, which must be regarded as the parent of the Vedic language and the ancient Iranian language, and the Aryan religio-mythological thought, which eventually gave rise to the religions and the mytliologies of the Veda and the Avesta. In course of time there occurred further migrations of these proto Aryans - some warlike, adventurous tribes from among them left the region of Balkh and advanced towards the land of the seven rivers in their quest for fresh fields and pastures new, while other tribes of a more quiet and peaceful temperament gradually moved
Sec “The antecedents of the Vedic period”, published elsewhere in this Volunc, THE CULTURAL BACKGROUND OF THE VEDA 77 westwasds and finally settled down in a land, which later came to be called Iran, that is, āryānām (of the Aryans), the land of the Aryans. We are of course here concerned with the warlike tribes who advanced - often aggressively- towards the land of the seven rivers - the tribes who were the immediate forefathers of the early Vedic Indiabs. One of the main features of the Aryan religio-mythological thought which constituted the common heritage both of the early Vedic Aryans and the ancient Iranians, was its cosmic character. The Aryans, like their other Indo-European brethern, always lived close to nature. Their early religious thought was, therefore, conditioned by the peculiar way in which they reacted to the vastness, bounty, and brilliance of nature. Like their other Indo-European brethrea, the Aryans also gave expression to their sense of awe, occasioned by the vastness, bounty, and brilliance of nature, through the mythologi cal concept of the Father Sky – Vedic Dyauh or Greek Zeus, Vedic djauh pitar or Roman Jupiter. What must, however, be regarded as a unique contribution of the Aryans to mythological ideology is the striking advance which they made over this ancient Indo-European concept. The Aryans seem to have realised - and this realisation on their part, indeed, marks a distinctive stage in the development of human thought-that the universe or nature, vast as it is, is not an unregulated, haphazard entity but that it is governed by some definite law. In other words, the universe is not chaos; it is cosmos. The concepts of this cosmic law (the Vedic șta and the Avestan aśa) and of the dispenser of this law (the cosmic magician Asura Varuṇa or Ahura Mazda ) are essen tially Aryan and, to a large extent, constitute the main theme of the common mythological heritage of the early Vedic Aryans and the ancient Iranian Aryans. The mantras relating to this, what may be called, cosmic religion, in both its aspects, the Dyauh aspect and the Rta-Varuṇa-aspect - which were produced by the ancestors of the early Vedic poet-priests may be said to represent the beginnings of the Veda. Another important feature of the Aryan religion was the fire-cult A comparative study of the Indo-European religions would show that the fire-cult, as such, is found only in the Vedic and the Avestan religions. Ignis, the EXERCISES IN INDOLOGY Latin counterpart of Agni, has no religious significance whatso. cver, and the worship of Roman Vestn ( the goddess of the hearth) and Greek Hestia can hardly be said to correspond with the fire-cult as it had been developed among the Aryans A mod tion must also be made in this context of the peculiar Soma Haoma-cult which had become a characteristic feature of the Aryan religio-mythological ideology. The Vedic poct-priests, like their Iranian compcers, must have produced several mantras relating to the fire-cult and the Soma-cult In addition to these two types of mantras, namely, the mantras relating to the cosmic religion and those relating to the firc-cult and the Soma-cult, which owe their origin to the common religio-mythological ideology developed by the Aryans, the direct ancestors of the Vedic Indians produced mantras relating to a religio-mythological idcology which was essentially their own. The ancestors of the early Vedic Indians were an aggressive, warlike people. Trom their secon. dary Urheimat in the region round about Ballh they set out on an adventurous campaign in the south-eastern direction. This their onward march was by no means smooth or uneventful They had to face, on the way, many natural impediments as also strong opposition from various antagonistic tribes, whom they collectivelly called the dāsas or the viras. But under the aegis 8 There is no doubt that the Soma cult as a religious cultus specifically proto Aryan in origin It is not attested in the religious idcology and practice of any other branch of the IE family The provenance of the original Soma plant, which played the central role in that cult, must, therefore, be sought in the region of Balkh The Mujarat mountain, which is mcrtioned in the Vedic literature (and in the desta ) as the home of Soma, can actually be shown to have been situated in that region It is, however, now difficult to As certain the identity of the original Soma plant The various identifications which have been suggested are, to my mind, not wholly convincing In course of time, the Vedic Aryans developed out of the Soma cult a highly complex and sophisticated Soma ritual In that connection, it may be pointed out that when they moved way from the Balkh Majavat region they found it difficult to oblain or cultivate the original Coma plant They, therefore, used, at different times and in different climes different substitutes for Soma which were presumably as near to the original Soma as possible from the points of view of the botanical character and effect However, to all such substitutes they gave the name Soma’. THE CULTURAL BACKGROUND OF THE VEDA 79 of their heroic leader, Indra, whom, incidentally, they later trans formed into their chief god, they successfully overcame all that opposition and eventually entered the Saptasindhu country. To suit this new phase in their cultural life, the Vedic Aryans evolved, in the course of their victorious campaign, a new type of religion. It was what may be called the hero-religion. Broadly speaking, therefore, while living in the region of Balkh and during the course of their progress towards Sapta sindhu, the Vedic poet-priests produced mantras or prayers mainly relating to the three aspects of their religion - the cosmic religion, the fire-cult and the Soma.cuit, and the hero-religion. But this three-fold religio-mythological ideology cannot certainly be said to have covered the entire domain of religion of the Vedic Aryan community. By its very nature this ideology must have been rest ricted to the classes of poets, priests and warriors.10 Side by side with it, there must have been in existence, as among other primi tive peoples su too among the Vedic Aryans, the usual religion of the masses - the religion, that is to say, which comprised magic, witchcraft, superstition, etc. Naturally enough, there were pro duced mantras relating to this religion of magic as well. The word, mantra, is, indeed, a very remarkable word. It can be employed with reference to both the above-mentioned currents of the Vedic religious thought and practice. In relation to the ideo logy of the cosmic religion, the fire-cult and the Soma-cult, and the hero-religion, mantra may denote a prayer, while, in relation to the religion of magic, it may denote a magical formula or in cantation. These two types of mantras, relating to the two currents of religious thought and practice, which the Vedic Aryans produced in the region of Balkh and in the course of their victorious march towards Saptasındhu, constitute the beginnings of what, in later times, came to be called the Veda. In a sense,
For details, sce : DANDEKAR, " Asura Varuṇa” and “Vpiraha Indra”, Vedic Mythological Tracts. 10 Obviously there must have been cvolved several other minor features withio, as also allied to, this ideology; but in order that the main argument should not become diffuse, they are not taken into account here. EXERCISES IN INDOLOGY therefore, the Veda must be said to have been born outside India These mantras thus represent the first period of the literature of the Vedic age As I have tried to indicate, the character of the contents of the literature of the Vedic Aryans, during this period, was directly influenced by the peculiar way of their life and thought Not only this The form of that literature also was conditioned by their way of life. During this long stretch of time, the Vedic Aryans lived, as should be quite obvious, a no madıc, unsettled life Their literary creation, namely, the various mantras, also were correspondingly more or less unsettled and fluid in form They were not then given a fixed literary form They were being continually revised and modified These mantras, again, were all scattered about in an unorganised form In other words, the unsettled, unstable way of the life of the Vedic Aryans was reflected in the fluid and scattered condition of these mantras As the culmination of a series of victorious battles which they fought on their way from Balkh to Saptasındhu under the sponsorship of Indra, who, as indicated earlier, had by this time been transformed from a heratc leader into the national war god, the Vedic Aryans entered the land of seven rivers (which, incidentally, must have included the present Afghanistan, the N. WF, and the major part of Panjab) ayowedly in order further to conquer, to colonise and to civilize It may be presumed that they were greatly impressed by the natural richness of Sapta sindhu Fertility of the soil, abundance of water, regularity of seasons, invigorating sunshine - all these environmental factors must have been responsible for the decision of the Vedic Aryans to settle down in that country Accordingly, in course of time, there arose in Saptasındhu various settlements and colonies of the Vedic Aryans Now they began to lead a more or less settled life And this change in their way of life had its inevit ablc effcct on their religious thought, practices, and literature The old mantras, produced by their immedinte ancestors were already there, though in a scattered condition Many of these were being revised and refined and generally given a fixed literary form New mantras also were being produced But what was THE CULTURAL BACKGROUND OF THE VEDA 81 perhaps most significant in this connection was that the Vedic poet-priests Bow thought of collecting together all the old and Dew mantra material and organise and arrange it properly. This tendency to collect and arrange the large mass of scattered mantras only reflects the comparatively stable, settled, organised way of life which the Vedic Indians had developed by this time. All the old and new mantras were first brought together into two collec tions according to the character of the mantras - the mantras relating to the cosmic religion, the fire-cult and the Soma-cult, and the hero-religion (as also to the various other religio-mythological features which must have been evolved as a matter of coursell ) formed one collection or samhitä, and the mantras relating to magic, witchcraft, etc., formed the other collection or samhitā. It is needless to add here that we can speak of such classification of the mantras only in a very broad sense and mainly for the sake of the convenience of understanding. It must be emphasized that the characterisation of the mantras, included in the two collec tions, as belonging to one kind of religion or the other is by no means exclusive; it is necessarily representative. locidentally, it may also be pointed out that even the term * religion employed in this context is, strictly speaking, not quite apposite. A critical student of the history of human thought particularly in so far as it pertains to man and his place in the universe - knows very well that that thought bas, broadly, deve loped through three distinct stages – the stage of magic, when man regarded himself essentially as a part of and not apart from the universe; the stage of religion in which man and universe (that is, spirit and matter) came to be differentiated from each other and both made subservient to a third entity, namely, god; and, finally the stage of science, which has again emphasized the peculiar kind of identity of the differentiated entities, namely, spirit and matter, Howsoever tantalizing this subject might be, I would hardly be justified in allowing myself such digression. I shall, therefore, only say this much, namely, that the early Vedic thought seems to
See the preceding foor-notc. 11 - 82 EXERCISES IN INDOLOGY oscillate between magic and religion?? - and now revert to my main theme. The bringing into being of the two collections of mantras - this process is technically known as the samhitikarana - must be said to represent the second period of the history of the Vedic literature. This sanihuta-period followed the mantra-period both logically and chronologically. The samhıtā, which was mainly a collection of mantras relating to the cosmic religion, etc.- in other words, relating to the religious ideology and practice which had developed among the classes of poets, priests, and warriors - was called the Rgieda (RV); and the sarhitā which was mainly a collection of mantras relating to magic, etc. – in other words, relating to the religious ideology and practice of the masses - was called the Atharvaveda( AV). It was, of course, natural as also inevitable that some mantras of one kind should have found their way in the collection of the mantras of the other kind-that the so called Rgvedic prayers should have come to be included in the AV and the Atharvanic magical formulas in the RV. It is, therefore, only in a representative and not an exclusive sense that the RV can be characterised as the Veda of the classes and the AV as the Veda of the masses. Within these samhırās also, the mantras were not collected in a haphazard manner. A definite scheme was evolved and more or less scrupulosly stuck to. The mantras in the RV, which were grouped together to form various hymns, were first classified according to their authorship. It is interest ing to note how, in this respect also, a feature of the life of the Vedic Indians has significantly influenced their literary activity The scattered mantras in the mantra-period were regarded as essentially belonging to the community as a whole. This was just as it should be when people lived a truly communal life. After their early settlements in Saptasindhu, and, perhaps, as a result of these, however, the Vedic Indians seem to have developed a new pattern of social life in which family, in a larger sense, became
See in this connection : DANDEKAR, “Vedic atudies : retrospect and prospect”, PAIOC (14th Session), Part II, pp 1-22. THE CULTURAL BACKGROUND OF THE VEDA 83 the recognised social unit. It was, therefore, the authorship of a particular family which served as the criterion for classifying the hymns of the Rgveda. These hymns were no longer regarded as belonging to the community as a whole; they now came to be recognised as the literary production of specific families of Vedic poet-priests. The RV-samhita, accordingly, came to be divided into ten family books (which are called mandalas ) 13 Within these mandalas, again, there was further a fixed order in the arrangement of the hymns which was governed by the considera tion of the devatāsl4 and the extent of the hymns. We can speak of such samhitiharana, which implies the collection and the arran. gement of the scattered mantras according to certain fixed criteria, only in respect of the RV or the Veda of the classes. It is well known that what is known as the family-consciousness is not so very predominant among the masses. The principle of family-authorship has, therefore, not been applied to the AV or the Veda of the masses. The names of two ancient seers, Bhrgu and Angiras, are, no doubt, closely associated with that Veda. But a careful study will show that it is not so much to assert the authorship of their families that the names of Bhfgu and Angiras are originally connected with the AV; it is rather to emphasize the fact that the AV embodies the two types of magic which had been traditionally associated with the names of Bhrgu and Angi ras - the wholesome (that is, bhaiṣaja, santa, and pauṣsika) magic of the Bhrgus and the black or exorcistic (that is ghora or ābhicārika) magic of the Angirasas. It is, indeed, on account of
Actually only mandalas II to VII are regular family-books belonging respectively to the families of Grtsamada, Visvimitra, Vāmadeva, Atri, Bhāra dvāja, and Vasiṣṭha. Afondala VIII is a collection of hymns the authorship of many of which is traditionally attributed to the Kanvas Afandala IX is not governed by the principle of the lionngeneity of authorship, it is governed by the principle of the homogeneity of subject-matter, all the hymns in it being related to Soma. Ajandalas I and X are made up of what may be called minuiture family-books.
Cf, for instance, thc rule given by the Sarvanukramapi (I, 12.12 ): mandalıdıru dgncyzm aindrat; also Sāyana in the introduction to his commentary on RV’ II. 1, 1 : mandals diparibhasaja Agnesam, EXERCISES IN INDOLOGY this twofold magic that the mantras of the AV can claim to possess the power to bless, to appease, and to cursc’. The saṁhita-period saw the growing stability and prosperity of the Vedic Indians - both in political and social spheres, Theit original tribal settlements assumed, in course of time, the form of territorial states and monarchical kingdoms. Prominent among these latter were the kingdoms of the five tribal leaders - Pīru, Anu, Druhyu, Turvaśa, and Yadu. The political prestige of these five kingdoms, indeed, became so great that the entire Vedic Indian community as against the original inhabitants of Sapta sindhu - came to be broadly characterised as pañca janäh-the five peoples-that is to say, the peoples coming under the political domination of the above-mentioned five states. At the same time, new and more adventurous tribes of immigrants were still pouring into the land of the seven rivers. One such tribe was the tribe of the Bharatas, who were making rapid progress under the military leadersbip of Sudās and the priestly guidance of Visvamitra. Sudās was a very ambitious person. It was his ambition to bring all the earlier Vedic Aryan kingdoms and settlements, including the five ones of Pūru, Anu, etc., under the political supremacy of the Bharatas. Between the pewly founded settlement of the Bharatas and the earlier five kingdoms of Püru, Anu, etc. there lay the powerful principality of the Trtsus, who presumably, were once closely connected with the Bharatas, Sudās, who was a great military leader, was also a shrewd statesman. He soon realised that, if he could win over the Titsus to his side as bis military and political allies, his campaign against the five states would be considerably facilitated and the chances of his dream of political supremacy coming true would be brighter. He, there. fore, started taking steps in that direction. The most influential personality among the Tytsus was their purohita, Vasistha Sudas offered Vasistha the office of the purohita of the valiant tribe of the Bharatas and in return demanded the political and military alliance of the Titsus. To cut a long story short, Sudās eventu ally disengaged his original purohita, Viśvā mitra, and appointed Vasistha in his place As the result of this strategy the BharatasTHE CULTURAL BACKGROUND OF THE VEDA 85 and the Tětsus came to form a single political and military unit with Sudās as their leader and Vasistha as their purohita. The germs of the notorious antagonism between the families of Vasi stha and Viśvāmitra are, perhaps, to be found in this ancient episode. Viśvāmitra was naturally enraged at this summary treatment given to him. He was certainly not a man to take things lying down. He, accordingly, went over to the five older kings and prepared them stroogly to resist the aggressive plans of Sudās. A military confederation of ten prominent kings was eventually formed for this purpose - a confederation, which com prised Vedic India as well as non-Aryan Indian elements. The battle between the Bharatas and the Trtsus on the one side and the confederation of ten kings on the other is traditionally known as the dāśarajña-yuddha (or, the battle of ten kings ). In this battle, which constitutes an important landmark in the early political history of the Vedic Indiaos, Sudās was ultimately victo rious and the Bharatas attained political domination - a domina tion, which, incidentally, they continued to enjoy for a long time afterwards and which, perhaps, gave India her name, Bhārata varsa. It was claimed that it was not only the military might of Sudās that was responsible for this victory. Far more efficaci ous, perhaps, in this connection was the magical potency of the mantras of Vasiṣṭha ( sarjā irtsünám abharat purohiih-RV VII. 83. 4). All these and allied details regarding the battle of ten kings have found their rightful place in the RV.18 Far more significant, from our present point of view, than these political developments was the marked change in the social and economic life of the Vedic Iodians. Agriculture and cattle breeding were vigorously practised and these eventually paid good dividends. People as a whole were becoming generally rich and contented and their way of life also was becoming more complex, The new economy created in them a sense of security and, what is more pertinent, afforded them enough leisure. As is well known, it is this sense of security and leisure which helps to make a simplc religion complex. That is exactly what happened in 15, Scc “Thc Dasargjña “, published elsсwhere in this Volume. 86 EXERCISES IN INDOLOGY respect of the Vedic religion. The religion of the samhita-period - both of the classes and of the masses - must indeed be said to have been comparatively simple, particularly so far as its practices were concerned. But the changed conditions in the life of the Vedic Indians did not fail to react on the character of their religion. The character of the religion of a people is determined by the way of life of that people. Accordingly, the sense of prosperity and security newly achieved by the Vedic Indians and the ample leisure which they had now at their command encouraged them to make their older simple religion more elaborate and compli cated. As a matter of fact, quite a new religious cuit came to be evolved - the cult of Vedic sacrifice, which gradually superseded the ideology of cosmic religion, hero-religion, etc. It must be emphasized, at this stage, that the concept of sacrifice as such was not new to the Vedic Indians. Like all other primitive peoples they too had their own kind of sacrifice. What, how. ever, they did in the latter part of the samhita-period was to load the institution of sacrifice with innumerable and exceedingly como plicated details relating to such items as the number of sacred fires, the number of officiating priests, time and place of the per formance, formulas to be recited, oblations to be offered, utensils and other material to be used, etc. - details, which were, indeed, quite unheard of in connection with the primitive Aryan sacrifice and which were governed more by the rules of magic than of logic. They thus transformed the ancient cultish rites into a kind of systematized sacerdotalism. This new, complex institution of Vedic sacrifice naturally demanded a literature of its owo - a literature, that is to say, which would be devoted more or less exclusively to the discussion of the theory and practice of Vedic ritual. And such literature had, indeed, been in the making and it soon dominated the literary world of the Vedic Indians. It comprised the Yajurveda and the Samaveda, which, though tradı tionally characterised as sanihıtās, are, so far as the main trends and tendencies of their contents are concerned, actually subser vient to Vedic ritual, and more particularly the brahmanas. It is after these latter texts that I propose to call the third period of the history of the Veda as the brahmana-period, THE CULTURAL BACKGROUND OF THE VEDA 87 The brālimaņas, as literary works, are as complex and com plicated in character as the theme with which they deal, namely sacrifice. In them, all the minute details of sacrifice were marshalled and discussed thread-bare–and this with such egre gious earnestness as to imply that nothing else mattered in the world Aod, in a sepse, nothing else but sacrifice did, indeed, matter so far as the Vedic Indians in that period were concerned For, sacrifice had become almost the centre of their entire religious life. It was no longer regarded as a means to an end; it became the end in itself. The authors of the brālnianas seem to wax eloquent when they have to debate even a petty point relating to the sacrificial procedure. Indeed, the pettier the point the more eloquent and earnest was the discussion about it. But, as a matter of fact, in the way of thinking of the Vedic poet-priests of this period, nothing relating to sacrifice could at all be petty or trifling. For, according to them, a sacrificc could either be per fect and blameless in all its minutest details and thus become completely efficacious or it could be deficient in one single minor detail and thereby become not only a failure, negatively, but posi tively operate as a source of danger and disaster. There was, in this respect, no half measure. It was because they failed to appreciate this peculiar ideology of the Vedic poet-priests that scholars like MAX MULLER were tempted to remark that the brāhmaṇas were “simply twaddle” and, what was worse, they were “theological twaddle”. 18 And does such a remark not ignore several other significant features of the brâhmana texts, such as, for instance, those which pertain to the literary history of ancient India ? It seems to have been the claim of the authors of the brāhmanas-a claim, which, incidentally, it is impossible to uphold - that almost every Vedic mantra was primarily intended for being employed in connection with some or the other item of sacrifice. While, therefore, discussing the ritualistic purpose which the various mantras were expected to serve, the authors of the brāhmaṇas have incidentally given their own interpretations of those mantras. Tendentious though these interpretations may
CO. MAX MUELLER, Chip, from a German florkshop, I, p. 116, 88 EXERCISES IN INDOLOGY have often been, the fact cannot be gainsaid that, in a sense, the brahmanas constitute the earliest commentaries on the samlittås. Another significant feature of the brāhmaṇas is that, with the Krsna Yajurveda, they represent the first specimens of Sanskrit prose, The fact that the brahmanas have been written in prose is easily understandable; for, prose is often found to be more suitable for complex hair-splitting. The importance of the brahmanas as a repository of ancient legends must also not be overlooked in this context. For our present purpose, however, it is the consideration of the social repercussions of the institution of sacrifice and of the brahmana texts that is more important. Sacrifice had beca loaded with so many details and its procedure had become so very complex and elaborate that it became absolutely impossible for an ordinary person to master those intricacies of ritual and adopt it as a form of worship on his own. The natural conse quence of this was that an independent class of priests gradually came into being. The character and functions of these new ritual-priests were obviously different from those of the poet priests of the mantra- and the samhita-periods. These new ritual-priests now assumed the position of the inevitable inter mediaries between man and his socio-religious objectives. A worshipper (or, to be more precise, a sacrificer) was now more or less a passive factor in the entire sacrificial procedure. Preparations for the sacrifice were made, formulas were recited, and oblations were offered by the various officiating priests, while the sacrificer himself was there only in name, for, all this was apparently being done in his name. As has been already pointed out, sacrifice had become almost the sole object of the socio religious interests of the Vedic Indians in that period. Io some ways, it may have also promoted various other activities subservient to it. But all that was only incidental. The more serious repercussions of this all-pervading power of sacrifice are indeed to be seen elsewhere. The master-key to the whole sacrificial system was in the exclusive keeping of the newly arisen class of priests, who indulged vociferously in the intricate details of that cult and THE CULTURAL BACKGROUND OF THE VEDA 89 who must have, in their own interest, continued to multiply those details. It was, therefore, but natural that, in course of time, this class should have dominated and, to a certain extent, exploited the credulity of the other classes in the Vedic society. People were not entitled to ask questions regarding the validity or significance of the various sacrificial details. For, as the priests claimed, every one of those details was duly prescribed and sanctioned by the scriptures. And the correct interpretation of those scriptures was, of course, the one which the priests themselves offered. This state of things engendered among the people at large a sort of intellectual slavery-an attitude of blind acceptance. The brâhmaņa-period thus saw the social and intellectual domination of the priestly class over the other classes of society. The next period, namely, the upanısad-period, is essentially a logical consequence of the brāhmana-period. History has shown us that the domination of one class of people over the other classes cannot continue for a long time. Sooner or later a violent reaction against that domination is bound to make itself felt. There did, accordjogly, arise, in the upaniṣad-period, a band of new thin kers who boldly challenged the spiritual validity of the sacri ficial system and even the authority of the scriptures on which that system was claimed to have been based. The attitude of in quiry now arose gandually to replace the attitude of acceptance. The banner of free thinking was raised and people were encouraged to think for themselves and to ask questions. And questions they did ask with an exuberance which was but natural after a long period of intellectual confioement. Their questions extended from such naive one as if the cow is red, why should her milk be white?’ to such profoupd opes as those relating to the pature of man, universe, and the ultimate reality. Though the upanisads deal with these latter questions more or less exclusively and thus mark, in a sense, the beginnings of the philosophical literature of India, they cannot be said to embody any system of philosophy in the strictest sense of the term. They indeed constitute but • the songs before sunrise’. The teachers of the upani ṣads brought 12.. 90 EXERCISES IN INDOLOGY about the shifting of emphasis from the mere form of religion to the true spirit of religion Brahmanical ritualism made place for upanısadıc spiritualism The teachers of this new spiritualism did not come necessarily from the older priestly class Indeed, there were instances where the members of the priestly class went over to the members of the non priestly classes and the members of the socially higher classes went over to the members of the socially lower classes for instruction and enlightenment This certainly helped to counteract, at least to a certain extent. the exclusiveness of the earlier period In view of what has been said so far, and only to the extent indicated, the upanısads may be charac terised as the harbingers of a social and intellectual revolt The upanısadıc teachers threw open to all classes, witbout any distinc tion, the doors of philosophical knowledge and religious practice lo a sense, they may be said to have promoted what may be called a spiritual democracy So far, however as the history of Vedic life and thought, as such, is concerned, all this achievemept of the upanısads, remark able as it is, seems to have been outweighed by certain pecuhar weaknesses of their teachings For one thing, the teachings of the upanı sads cannot be said to have been quite suitable to the common man For, the proper understanding and realisation of those teachings demanded a high intellectual level and an austere spiritual discipline The absence in the upanısads of any consistent system of thought and the generally mystic character of their doctrines were hardly likely to appeal to the people Again, the upadisadıc teachings were far too individualistic to be able to hold people together even in a spiritual brotherhood The upanısadıc period did not produce any one single leader of thought upder whose banner people could muster aod forge ahead in their spiritual quest A multiplicity of teachers and thinkers - all equally great-, more often than not, proves a disadvantage Similarly the emphasis put by the upanısadıc teachers on abstract metaphysical thought and the ideal of renunciation made them entirely neglect the practical aspect of the spiritual life of the people In other words, THE CULTURAL BACKGROUND OF THE VEDA 91 the upanisads gave to the people some philosophy but no religion. Though, therefore, what the upanıṣads aimed at and what they actually achieved was really great, their influence as a whole seems to have been short-lived. Consequently, from the point of view of the evolution of Vedic thought and life, the upaniṣadic period was followed by a break in the continuity - by an interregnum. This interregnum saw the growth of what are usually called the heterodox systems of thought-particularly of Jainism and Buddhism. It is possible to trace the beginnings of many of the essential tenets of these systems to pre-Vedic proto-Indian thou ght-complex This latter, as we saw, was, in the meantime, superseded - though superficially - by the Vedic Aryan thought, Now, however, in the peculiar circumstances created by the upa niṣadic period, that thought began to assert itself in various ways and forms. The upaniṣads had already inaugurated an era of free thinking. They had challenged the traditionally accepted authority of the Vedic scriptures. They had also helped to liberalise, to some extent, the exclusive social order sponsored by Brahmanism. This was, indeed, a most propitious background for the promo tion of the heterodox systems of thought. These systems not only took advantage of that background but considerably streng thened their own position by avoiding the weak points from which the upanisads suffered. For instance, in contrast with the upa nisads, they offered a more or less consistent teaching By laying perhaps a greater emphasis on ethical conduct than on mere abstract contemplation they made their appeal truly all-compre hensive. They had realised the importance of missionary activity in the field of spiritual life and, through their sanghas, they approached the people at large with the message that religion and philosophy, in their broadest sense, did not constitute a preserve intended only for a select few but that every one, who possessed the necessary carnestness and faith, could avail himself of them. And, above all, these heterodox movements of thought had the unique advantage of the inspiring leadership of outstandiag per. sonalities like Buddha and Mahīvira. The Vedic way of life and thought, which had, by thea, developed up to the upaniṣadıc 92 EXERCISES IN INDOLOGY stage, suffered greatly on account of these new forces. Though it cannot be said to have been completely overwhelmed by them, it did receive a set-back. Apart from the growing strength of the heterodox systems of thought, this period of set-back also saw the reaction to the ideal of complete renunciation of this-worldly life, sponsored by the upanısads, in the form of the enunciation of of new ideals in polity and social regeneration. But, after all, this period proved to be only an interregnum. There had still remained many enthusiastic adherents of the Vedic way of life and thought though they had become temporarily dormant. They now consolidated their forces with a view to resuscitating their ancient heritage. They had learnt from expe rience that, in order to accomplish this resuscitation, it would be necessary to reorganise, systematize, simplify, and popularise the entire Vedic way of life and thought. Fresh literary efforts were, accordingly, made in this direction - efforts, which must be be said to have inaugurated the fifth and the last period of Vedic literary history. The principal literary works of this period, which are obviously meant to be ancillary to the Veda, are characterised by the unique literary form which had been developed about this time, namely the sutra-form. This period may, therefore, be called the sūtra-vedānga period. The Vedic teachers started by producing three kinds of sūtras - the Srauta-sūtra, the grhya-sutra, and the dharma-sutra, wlich may, broadly speaking, be said to relate respectively to the religious aspect, the personal and domes tic aspect, and the social and political aspect of the life of the Vedic Indians. They also produced several other works which served as efficient aids to the study and understanding of the Veda, The history of ancient India shows that this comprehen sive cultural movement, which was started with a view to reorga Dising, consolidating, and popularising the Vedic way of life and thought, yielded fairly striking results. Such then are the extent, the nature, and the cultural back ground of the Veda. I have so far spoken of the various periods of the history of the Veda. Let me, however, hasten to add that these periods can by no means be demarcated in a hard and fast THE CULTURAL BACKGROUND OF THE VEDA 93 manner. I am, indeed, often tempted to compare the Veda with a rainbow. Just as it is not possible precisely to mark out where one colour of the rainbow ends and the other begins - one colour almost imperceptibly fades out into the other - even so it is not possible to say where one Vedic period ends and the other begins, for, the trends and tendencies of one period, not infrequently, pass on to the next and then gradually become extinct. There is also another significant aspect of this metaphor. Does the Veda, like a rajobow, not constitute one of the most remarkable exam ples of unity in diversity ?17 [First published : UCR 11, 1953, 135-151.]
The views expressed in this lecture have been further developed in DANDEKAR, Vedadarfana (Marathi), New Delbi, 1966, Some Aspects of the History of Hnduism, Poona, 1967.