the rg veda as land nama book ananda coormaswamy

8/3/2019 The Rg Veda as Land Nama Book Ananda Coormaswamy

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/the-rg-veda-as-land-nama-book-ananda-coormaswamy 1/46



THE RG VEDA AS

LAND-NAMA-BOK

By

ANAND A K COO~fARASWAMY

1980

BHARATIYA PUBLISHING HOUSE

DELHI INDIA VARANASI



BHARATIYA PUBLISHING HOUSE"MOHAN BHAWAN', Flrst Floor

4:1-4:3U B Jawaharnagar

Dellu-114 )()07

HOB 9/4:5Prlakharra, Sonarpur,V'arnriasr (lJ P)

Printed In Inds«

Published by Shra Rameshwar Singh For Bharatlya Publishing HOUS4

42 43 U B Jawaha, Nagar

Delh.-110oo7



DEDICATED TO

WALTER ANDRAE

AUTHOR OF

DM sonasche Saule, Ha-uform: oder Symbol?

AND TO

CARL ANDERS SCHARBAU

AUTHOR OF

Dse Idee der Sch.opfsong <tn.der oedsschen. Lsteratar



FIG 1 Sn Siiryodaya, the •Holy Sunrise From a srxceerrt'hcentury 1\:1Sof the Kaip a SutYa Museum of FIDeArts, Boston seeBrown Mvmature pamt~ngs of the Jazna Kal-pasatra 1934, fIg 38The Dawn depic'ted 15 that of the day followrngTnsala S announce-

ment of her pregnancy dreams to Slddhfu:-thaand IS therefore that ofthe day of Mahavaras conception Mahavtra being no less than theBuddha the Solar Messrah the Sunnse on the mornmg of hrs con-cept.ionIS vrrtually and rlwe Ignore the pseudo-historrcal preseazataonof the nuraculous' elements 10 the ]ma Shfe IS actually the CommgForth of the HIdden LIght m the BegmnmgThe desrgnatronSn Suryodaya appears as a legendInNagar! charac-

ters beside the rlluatrataon on the manuscript page The text, § 59.describes the rrsmg of the Sun as follows • Early In the wane of nIghtthe Sun arose intensely rep He. the thousand-rayedDay-maker, glowing In fiery-energy, awakened the clusters of lotuses

by the blows of hrs hands the darkness was dispelled ..

VI



INTRODUCTION

IN the Rg Veda, the Five Aryan kmdreds are spoken of

as rmrmgrants , they have come from another place

across the waters, and have settled and tilled the lands

on the ruther shore TIns process of Iand-takmg has

generally been mterpreted as referrmg to an historical

immigration of an Aryan speaking people who, fair In

colour and sharply distinguished from the dusky paganDasyus, crossed the Sarasvati m the Panjab and made

their home m Bharatavarsa That IS an euhemeristic

mterpretation of a traditional hterature which IS stnctIy

speaking devoid of any lustoncal content whatever We

do not mean to say by this that there may not have

taken place historical events analogous to those alluded

to In the Vedic Umyths .. , on the contrary, we assume

that history IS always enacted In the pattern of the

ultimate reality enunciated inhe metaphysical tradition,

or In Biblical phraseology, "that It might be fulfilled

which was spoken by the prophets" (rsayah) ,It may

therefore be true that the metaphysical tradrtion Itself

can by a process ofmversion be employedby the historian

as source matenal, Just as an Icon may be used by the

sesthete as a piece of bric-a-brac, or by the anthropologist

for his own ends In this sense, for example, we may be

sure that the people who performed the Vedic ntual and

chanted the mantras In their recorded form, actually

possessed horses and chariots, had .experience of the

crossing of seas and nvers, and tillea the sou Itdoes

not follow that the COSIruC myth rtself->-"origmale

Geistesschopfung alierersten Ranges" l-had been un-

known preVIOUSto that late stage of neohtluc culturethat 15 reflected m the symbohsm of the mantras zn

V1l



INTRODUCTION

which It 15expressed Certain of the symbols are by nomeans .. dated ", the Sun may have been referred to as

a bird at any time, nor can It be doubted that a cult of

the One Madonna existed already In the Paleolithic ageThe symbols that Imply a specific cultural rnveau may.

simultaneously WIthactual mvention, have been developed

from earlier prototypes, before the pillar. the tree,

before the wheel. the swasttka , before the plough, theplantmg-stick 2 It ISIn this sense that the myth Itself,

apart from the manner of ItS formulation (and fhrs will

apply even to ItS late recension In the two great pseudo-

historical epICS),may not be properly regarded as an hrstor-ical relation (zt1hasa),nor as concernedwith events In time,

but as a metaphysical formulation In accordance with aIogical order of thought Other versions of the <t single

and unanimous tradition," GeneSISfor example, are tobe understood and have been understood Inthe same way

In like manner, the miraculous elements In the hves ofthe Messiahs are not to be regarded as later accretions

unposed upon an historical nucleus, but much rather asparts of the essential theme to which an aspect ofhistoricrty has been superadded byway of accommodatron

(upaya)To some students, these will seem to be self-evident

theses, needing no demonstration To others, merely afantastic theory WIth the latter In VIewIt IS proposedto discuss the matter In greater detarl, by an analysis

of the meamngs and content of certain constantlyrecurnng and characteristic terms, VIZ, iirya, carsans andkrst«, panca Jana, sarasuati , setu, viipa-111,angala, tn.sa andv~spat~, yaJiia, and Yama If the proper Interpretationof some of these terms IS still a matter of controversy,

It may nevertheless appear that some further Iight can beshed on the problems by a choice of vahd rnterpre tatrons

of such sort that all the terms can be understood consist-

ently In relation to one another or Inone and the samecontext a

VIU



THE RG VEDA AS LAND-NAMA-BOK

ARYA,ARYA

Arya, It noble" or Hgentle" (as In II gentleman ") IS

from 1', to go, nse up, reach. obtam , cognate forms are

artya, atrya, Iran, Erm, and Germ Ehre, for the root,

cf Zend 11',LIth 1r-t1 (to row, cf Skr arura, U oar U ) ,

Greek 'or-nu-ms, •aro-o, etc, and Lat 01'-10t', Dr-lens

Any connection with Lat ar, to plough, may be doubted

The root meamngs give the sense of going forward and

taking possession The root meamng of iirya IS that of

It pioneer," In the Amencan sense, where the first settlers

are most highly honoured (one might almost speak of anff ancestral cult" In this connection}, and where It

represents the height of social distinction to be descended

from these 'first-comers from the other SIde From tills

pomt of VIewthere develops the secondary meamng of

Hnoble" and that of "nght," cf rta II law" and ar1,

,. loyal ", the procedure of the first settlers being

thought of as an establishment of law and order where

savagery (anrta) had previously prevailed s Thus he,Agm, who purvam iirta (RV. IV, I, I2) ISnot only rlaJlj

and rtdyus, but also rtaudn. and rtvtJ, or In short and mevery sense of the word, iirya or arya I>Itneed hardly be pomted out that the term iirya 15

applied by the Aryans themselves to themselves In this

laudatory sense, and by way of distmctron from others

whose descent and behaviour are relatrvely abominated,

and of whose point of view we hear httle •

I




CARSANI AND KRSTI

Carsan~ and kTst~, "ploughman" and rt ploughing,"

or<I

tillmg " and Htilth," are both secondanly Ufolk"or It people," as ryprcally agricultural In the same way

Pah kassaka, "ploughman." and kas~ or kasi, .. plough-

mg," It talth;" are secondarily .. farmer" and "folk"

In many passages panca caT~anayah or krstayah replaces

the more usual panca Jattah, for example R V , V, 86,2.

VII. I5. 2. and IX, IOI, 9, the first of these references

grvmg us It Let us make oblation to Indragni for sake of

the FIve Kmdreds " (panca carsan~r-ab}r.1,) Agrn orIndra 18TllJaor pat~ krstiniim or car~aninam, IV. I7. 5, and

V, 39, 4. etc. 7 and these expressions amount to the same

things as v~spat~elsewhere, Varuna IS raja carsam-dhrta,

king and supporter of the folk, IV, I,2. Agm takes hIS

seat m homes as gThapat~ It for the sake of the FIve Kin-

dreds," panca carsaner-abh«, VII, I5, 2 Agru IS himself

vf.Sva-carsan~,V, 23. 4, the Buddha speaks of himself

as kassaka, S N , text I, p I72Ithas often been observed that no trace of a caste

system can be recognized In the Rg Veda For example,

the Creator peT artem (Visvakarma, Tvastr) IS what

would now be called a sudra. and although the four

characteristac functions of priest, ruler. farmer. and

craftsman are distinguished, one and all of these are

rt ploughmen II What this rmphes IS a state of affairs

In which the mdrvidual of a grven type IS still in fullpossessIOn of all the possibilrties of bemg In the mode

of that type A caste system on the other hand reflects

a postenor condrtion In which the mdrvidual realises

In himself only a part of the potentialrties that are proper

to the type genencally, ~'pnest,"" kmg," etc, are now

speafio determmations, the names alludmg to the one

and only function wluch the indrvidual can properly

fulfil, and which IS hIS It vocation " As the process ofcontraction and rdermfication Into variety proceeds, the

2



THE RG VEDA AS LAND-NAMA-B6K

capacrties of the mdrvidual are more and more con-

stricted , and fhrs IS outwardly reflected In our contem-

porary SOCIalorder (an mdustnal order representmg thenotion of .. caste" m Its fullest possible development),where none takes all knowledge for his province, and the

workman IS specifically conformed to the makmg of

small parts of fhmgs and can make nothmg whole

ThIS excessive drvisron of labour can result In the pro-

duction only of goods that are useful, not of those that

are beautiful , for mtegratron, co-ordmation, and Iucidrty

are essentaal to beauty, and wrth these the Iabourer hasnothing to do, he who makes only parts of thmgs cannot

be an artrst (arttfex) but only a cooly Only those

modern productions can be beautiful illwhich the products

of the work of many men are umted If for example

a bridge ISbeautrful, thIs ISpossible Inasmuch as all those

(engineer, and skilled and unskilled workers), who are

collectrvely Its maker, amount to one SIngle proper man,one brrdge-builder Where a «« tradrtion .. has survived

(as In "Campagnonage ") It still remams wrthm the

power of the mrtrated mdrvidual to rise above the srtuation

rn whrch he finds himself, and by successrve apperceptionsto achieve a repossessIOn of the lost powers, but this

conception of the meamng of tmrtiatron Into the mystery

of a craft" has no longer any place In European con-

sciousness These consrderatrons he m part outside the

natural hrmts of the present tract, but the fact that the

Rg Veda recogmses a state of affairs In which a divisionof labour 15 apparent only In act and not In the essence

of the mdrvidual (the dual Tndragnf, for example, repre-

sents the union of sprrrtual and temporal powers In one

person, of WhIChtraces have survived In human SOCIal

order wherever the bnks of tradrtion have not beenbroken) shows that we are here dealing WIth a ct tune ,.

antecedent to ., history "

3




NAU

Itw111be seen below, (s v Sarasvati) that the floor ofthe Chariot of LIght (Jyotl,-ratha apphed to Agm, Soma,

Visvedevah, R V , I, I4o~ I, IX, 86~44, X, 63, 4)~ that

IS of Intellectual substance (manas-maya, X, 85, 2) anddrawn by steeds not born of horses (anaSvoJato, IV~ 36, I)

but intellectually fashioned (tataksur manasd, I, 20, 2),

15 Itself a Ground (budhna, X, I35, 6) restmg upon the

Waters, and Inhis respect hke any other Earth (Prth'tvi =

dyava-prthl,vi = dyava) or platform of being Accordingto another farmhar Image any Ground may be represented

by the lotus, flower or Ieaf, and It IS In thrs sense (T S ~

IV, I, 4, IV, 2, 8, V~2, 6, 5 SB, VII, 4, I, 7-II) that

Agm is said to have been churned from the lotus (pu$karat,

VI, I6, I3) and Vascstha, cluld of Mrtravarunau and

Urvasi, ISborn In the lotus (jatah puskare, VII, 33,

II) where also the Visvedevah are revealed

Any Ground thus supported In and by the primordialocean of mfinrte possibilrty may In the same way be

thought of as a ship or ark (nau) or SWIngor rocking-boat

(prenkha) of hfe, cf k$aunf-nau In the mvocatory stanzas

of the Das"'kumaracanta So Vasistha, In R V , VII, 88,

when he feels himself estranged from Varuna-s-" My God,

why hast thou forsaken me ? "-looks back to the begmnmg

WItha fond yearmng, as of Adam's for Paradise .. "Where

I With Varuna embarked (a 1'uhava), drave out our ShIP(niivam irayava) Into mid-ocean, rode on the crests of the

waves, would that we yet swung there In the smooth-

ghdmg SWIng(prenkha) for gladness, where-aboard (navl,)

Varuna set Vasistha, In the clear-slung of the days, when

Heaven and Earth, rhe.Dawns and Dusks were warped"

(tatanan) "WIse Kmg Varuna, Indeed, made In Heaven

this Golden Swing smooth-ghding for delight;" VII, 87. 5 ,

It15

the Sun's reflection In the Sea, theIl

sun-boat" ofthe mamfold tradrtion

4




The ShIP of LIfe may equally as well be spoken of as

launched and guided by all or any of the premIer Angels,

thus, X, 63, IO, <C Let us embark (a rultema) m the angehc

vessel (dawim niivam) unto weal" Agatn," The ShIpSof Truth (satyasya niivah) have borne the goodly-made

across (sukrlam apiparan, IX, 73. I) • «Bear us across the

Sea as Ina ship, thou Comprehensor n (niiva na sindhum.

atz parsa v1,dvan.IX. 70, IO, addressed to Soma. It As In

a ship convey us o'er the flood" (I, 97, 8, addressed to

Agm, cf I, 99, 1, tI through pen! as m a boat across a

rIver"). <t May we ascend the vessel of safe passage,

whereby we may pass over mamfold and grievousdangers" (VIII, 4z, 3, addressed to the Angels collec-

tively). <C Transport us safely o'er marufold perils, ye

Chanoteers of the Law, as It were In slnps across the

Waters" (VIII, 83, 3), and "As In a ship o'er billows, so

through divers states of bemg (prad1,sahprthvyiih, Irt ,

,. earthly regions," where as usual H earth ., ISany ground

or platform of bemg), o'er mamfold and grievous penIs

hath the MIghty Laud (brhaduktha, r e , Agru) set (aadadhiit) hrs cluldren (praJiim), by these and farther

shores" (avansu, paresu, X, 56, 7) In JB , I. IZ5 (seeJ A 0 S , XXVIII, I, p 84) the boat 15 a <t ship-crty "

(nau-nagara), VIZ, that of the three-headed Gandharva

(the Sun, cf IX, 85, IZ) that SWImS In the midst of the

Waters, or as we should say m modern parlance. a great

lmer

Often enough, according to another formulation, It ISthe Asvmss-s-twms diversely born (R V • I, I8I, 4, and

V, 73, 4). thus representing a prmcrpial dualrty essentral

to eXIstence, and therefore naturally dehverers of things

not yet m act, healers of all Imperfect thIngs9-who take

up from the Waters Into rheir Irving ships those that are

not good swimmers, but are strugghng In the Sea that IS

.. without begmmng or platform or any hold II (anaram-

bhiine anasthiine agrabhanesamudre,

I,II6,

5)10

The Asvms are the healers In particular of the aged

5



FIG 2 -THE SHIPOFLIFE ORSUN-BoAT ANDRIVERor LrrL WITHITSTVVOHORES From an TvIS of the Kaipa SzUra belonging to MrN M Heeramaneck New York see Brown, Mzmature pazntmg;, of thekalpasutra 1934 FIg 30

The mimatrure Illustrates one of the Fourteen Dreams of Tnsala.,all of WhIChdreams prefigurmg the advent of Mahavrra, are essentnllythethemesoftheCreattonasde<;cnbedlntheRg Vt.-da "Every mother(mava =miUr) of a Tirthamkara sees these Fourteen Dreams m thatmght Inwhrch the most olorrous Arhat enters her womb (KalpaSatra ~ 46b) For a descrrptron of the RIver or Sea of LIfe as heredepicted see Kaipo. Stttr« rc.xt 43 or t.rarisla.tion InSB:C, XXIIpp 236-7..where the srgrnficarrt desrgnatrons gant;dvarta uccalat andpratv-avanzvtta, k~'[.ra-<;1i<.:ara and salilam are employedThe lookout at the top of the mast IS the Sun "1Sthe survcvor

of all thmgs (vMvam abha caste, R V I 164, 4 ~ abhrcaks uta II 40,5 etc) the mast hIS foot as AJa Ekapad and at the s-irne tame the

AXISof the Unrverse as porrrted out exphci cly In the Trasalnsmiiracarrta,mvocatory verse cf my Elements of Buddliist Iconographv Note 139

6



THE RG VEDA AS LAND-NAMA-B<lK

Cyavana, who IS or 15 In the hkeness of Prajapatr, when

overcome by eld (see Sv Sarasvatf), and the saviours

of Bhujyu ("Man" as the seeker of e « enJoyment" or

experrence.I ' or possibly also as II serpent," ante pnn-c%p~um)

The rescue of Bhujyu or other Prophets by the ASVlDS

from mid-occ an, and their safe return to port IS referred to

In R V , I, lIO, 1-'), I, I82, 5-7, I, 1:60,3 and elsewhere

In the first of these passages we find HYe brought r u mback In Irving ShIpS (atmanvan-naublzz h 12 ) , traversing

mid-space (a12tanAsa), above the waves to the sea's

strand tsamudravya dJzanvan) to hIS home (astam,cf X, 14, 8, pu nar astam eh~), alrve (atasthwansam, cf

from stli«, to be born, subsist, exist) on a shrp " (niiva117

In 1., 100, 3, the !'>}l1P IS called a ferry (per'f.(,) that ISwell

equipped (yuMa) and launched on the open sed. imadliye

arnaso dlzclYZ) , m I, 18~, the !'>l11PS, here four, are iitmanssa;

and wmgc.d (that I~ r t angelic "), and there ISalso presented

the alternative Image of the Tree of LIfe (vrksa) standing

(msthzta) Inmid-ocean (madhya arnaso) and to which th€"suppliant Bhujyu chngs 13

The last passages recall the sky-faring ship of A V ,

XIX, 39, 7-8, that IS provided WIth a golden hawser

(bandhana), and where for Its passengers who Hsee hfe "

tamrta- f) there IS no shppmg back again ,15 the tree of

R V , I, 182, suggests that tree to which the ark of Manu

IS tied In S B , I, 8, I,6 In any case It ISclear that the

pattern of the FIrst Voyage ISreflected ill, and In prmcipleidentical WIth, that of the recurrent voyages of Manu,

coincident WIth every mmor pralaya, for here, too,

though from a lesser distance, the generatrve principles

destined to prolong their hne In the ensuing manuantara

are carried over from the past and brought to land ItIS'

to be noted too that the waters of the Flood rise and again

In due trme subside (Just as in R V , I, 164, SI, <t uniformly

WIth the days-s this water rases up and falls away"

(uc ca ety aua ca), and as to the subsidence, Just a:, m LlI,

7 D




331 :to, the RIver II bows down hke a nursmg mother,

Yields hke a maiden to her lover U

Now$ so far as Iknow, It has never been propounded

by any scholar, however historically mmded, that thevoyage of Manu, or for that matter, Noah's, represents

the legendary memory of an historical migration 17 A

for teor« , m the case of the first of all voyages, ItISa grave

defect m understanding, to find In the Shrp of Life no

more than the remmiscence of some prehistoric Mayflower

What then becomes of the captain, and the passengers. the

passage and the Iandfall ? Could any but the most naively

profane (pratyaksa-pr~ya) minds have seen here no morethan the record of an ethnic Volkerwanderung, or map of

a terrestnal geograpb.y ;l

PA:RCA JANAlj, CARSANAYAH, OR KR$TAYAH

Inman sources are not absolutely unanunous as to the

precise constrtution of the FIve Kmdreds It will sufficeto CIte the hsts as grven InAB, III, 3I, where we find

devan, manusyah, gandha1'vapsarasah, sa1'piih. pztarah

(the Vaisvadeva htany ISproper to these FIve). and Brhad

Deoata, VII, 68, where we have manusyiih, pzta1'ah,deuiih,gandharviik, uraga-rdksasah, or alternatively, gandharudh,

Jntarah. devah, asuriih, yaksa-riiksasah 18 WIthout dIS-

cussing the defimtron of these classes In detatl, It may be

remarked that even Inthese hsts manusya by meansnecessanly means 4< human" In a merely terrestnal sense,

for many of the Angels, and particularly Agm and Indra,

are often spoken of as manlike, that IS to say as mam-

fested and operating In the humane mode. Indra, for

example, IS nrtama, R V , IV, 6, 4, and" the Spirrtus

(prana) shmes upon this world Inthe shape of a Person"

(frurusa-rupena. A A, II, 2, I) 19 In any case the Rg

Veda provides us WIth texts amply sufficient to prove

that the FIve Kmdreds which particrpate III the FIrst

8




Sacrifice are classes or categones of drvme bemgs orprinciples, ancestors...mdeed of humamty. but not yetmerely human m a biological sense In R V •X, 53. the

FIve Kmdreds, panca Ja1)ijh,~,whoeat the Bread of Life ,.are summoned to cross Asmanvatt, are also spoken of asa da~vya Jana, II Heavenly KIn/' and as yaJii~yasah

.. proper to be sacrificially worshipped," expressions that

cannot have applied to hvmg members of the genusHomo sapiens In A V •X.7. ar, the Kmdreds (Janah),sc panca jandh) havmg a supenor understanding arecontrasted With II those below" (avare) whose under-

standing IS profane 20 The FIve Kmdreds are furthermoresynonymous Withthe ere-dwellers (v~sa) and their rulers(mspat~). for" The dear FIve have in the dear LIght ere-begotten made-their-home II (sam amsanta, R V • X, 55..2). and that ISInHeaven (d~vtvapanca kr~tayah. X. 60,4)Allalike are prosperedby the Sarasvati (R V •VI, 6r. :I2)

SARASVATI

In the Rg Veda, the act of creation ISreferred to underno aspect more fundamental than that of the release ofthe Waters (lipah) that have been confined wrthm thehollow-depths (kha) of the Rock or Mountain (asma. adr«,

budhna, h1mavat) where Vrtra holds them back Whenthe Waters are figuratrvely spoken of as COWS,21hen

the Mountam IS the stony fold In which they are un-pnsoned The release of the Waters or the Cows IS alsothe Fmdmg of the HIdden LIght 22 The Rock IShkewisethe birthplace of Agm (RV , II, :I2, 3), and thence hegets hIS chthonic (budhnya) steeds and other treasures(R V , VII, 6, 7. and X, 8,3) The Tree of LIfe ISrootedm the same Ground (budhna, RV, I, 24, 7) 23 Themexhaustible Well (utsa aksua, R V , VIII. I7. I6, else-where SImplyutsa, and sometimes avata) whence poursforth the River of LIfe. Sarasvatf, With her seven sister

9




streams, IS also the seat of Varona, whose abode IS ••In

the rivers' welling forth" (s~ndhunam upddaye, R V ,

VIII, 4I, 8. there too 15 Agm's track (utsasya madhye

padam ueh, X, 5. I,cf Hthe hidden treasure, as It werethe Bard's germill the Everlasting Rock," asmany anante,

I, I30. 3) If need were to justify the designation ofSarasvatr, or sometnnesAsmanvati (ObVIOUSlyn essential

name of the stream that flowsfrom the Rock, asmano hy

apah prabhavant~, S B , IX, I,24=srnvantu apah

adreh, R V ,V,4I, I2),as the RIver ofLife (orInthe pluralwhen the seven SIsterrivers are mentioned), there can be

referred to such expressions as ••the Waters drenched(sarayante) the waste-lands" (dhanviin~),R V , IV, I7,2-the Grail mottf-e-and more specifically H In thee, Saras-

vati, angelic, Inheres every angehc hie, grant unto usprogeny" (tve msvii sarasoait sntii iiyums~ deoyan.praJiim devi dsdcddh» nah , R V , II, 4I, I7), again, thequahty of matermty IS constantly attnbuted to all orany of the «RIvers" 23a

The Waters, thought of as enclosed and hidden, thatIS as they are In themselves and motionless, represent(as In all other traditions, e g , GeneSIS)the mfirute sum

of all the possibilrties of mamfestation or non-mamfesta-tion tt ThIS ISthe paradox, that when the RIvers flow(caranti nadyah), then are the Waters at a stand"

(tasthur iipah, R V, V, 47, 5) The enigma IS resolvedwhen we take into account the meanings of root stha,

to be born, mdrviduahsed, concrete, existent; or extant(ex-stans)24, prmcipial motion there, IS birth, concrete

existence, here

ItWillbe familiar that In the Rg Veda the universe(v'Zsvam, bhuvanan~, etc) IS thought of as expanded(root pznv, e g ,IIIX, 72,7) from amiddle point or centre,coincident with the centre of the world-wheel and the

SIngle source of LIght, but thought of In our texts as a

Ground, Rock, or Mountam (the ChristianII

Rock ofAges") inthe midst of the primordial Ocean, and whichIO




wouldbe an island couldwe tlunk of suchan all-pervading

Sea as.havmg a plane surface> It IS here that all thepotentialrty of the In-finite (adttt) IS as It were focussed,

to flowIn act for ever outward Tlus IS the e e birthplaceof Order" irtasya yont) and the common Nest (eka nida)wheremall the Angelsand all creatures have been fledgedSo far as the RIver of LIfe flows eddying outwards

thence,25 so far are the pOSSIbIlItIesof being reahsedwrthm Withthe COSIDlC orb, so far ISthe verdure of theIt waste-land" (dhanva) renewed, which "waste-land"or " desert II represents the latency of worlds not yet In

bemg "Where the Sarasvati IS lost" (sarasvatyatn-nasane, P B •XXV. IO, I6)will be the outermost Iimrtof the universe, the felly of the world-wheel There onthe banks of the RIver of Life, or as It were on Island-continents (dvipa) representing .. places where" thepossibihtaes of being are severally realisable Inmdefinrtelyvanous modes, the Kmdreds are "settled down"(avastta)

The occupation of the LIght-world by the Kmdredsthus rmphes a crossmgover (root tr) of the RIver or Seaof LIfe by the cattle-lovmg people to a landfall C< here "26

References to the FIrst Crossmgof the RIver of LIfe areplenty In the Rg Veda For example. "Here flowsAsmanvati, hold fast together, stand up (ut tssthata,

•proceed,' that IS, • frompotentialrty to act '), my friends,and cross (tarata). let us abandon there the unkindly

powers, let us cross over (ut tarema, •dIsembark') tothem that are proprtious," R V • X, 53, 8, where thecrossing IS of the EIght Adttyas and the FIve Kmdreds,cf III, 33, where those that cross the ttmost maternalrrver " (stndhu, vtpas) are the cattle-loving Bharatas

In both cases the FIrst Crossing IS accomplished m theheavenly chariot (the BIblIcal" chanot of fire "). andIn the latter the RIver, obedtent to Visvamitra's mcanta-

tion, so bends herself and SInkS that the current flowsno deeper than the axle-tree, HYour waves may touchII



THE ~G VEDA AS LAND-NAMA-BOK

the axle-pms (Samya). but spare the traces .. (111.33.:I3) 17

On making land, the pioneers take possession .by theerection of afire-altar, and from the ploughing that 15

requisite for tlus and for their own subsistence are called"ploughmen II or "farmers"I8, Uhe ferned o'er the

folk that nught not swun (asnatTn aparayat), and they

havmg come ashore (utsnaya) attained to nches (t'ayt'" =Lat t'em). R V •II, :IS,S. cf VII. 60, 7

SETU

The means of passage that hnks the LIght- and Dark-

worlds may also be conceived, not as a ship or chanot,but as a bridge or dyke (setu), wluch may be either easy(sumta) or hard to cross (duravya, R V , IX, 41: , 2, thelatter designation being the equivalent of " Bng o'Dread u

InScottrsh border ballads and Arthurian rradrtion)the bridge 18 ongmally crossed by the" WIse Kmg,"

and IS<

hIS own" (raja apas ca vtpras tarat« sua-setuh, R V, X, 61, :I6). bemg thus evidently a bndge

of hght, the pathway of the Sun It 15 the EssenceIn ItS discnmmative mode that separates the worlds(B U , IV, 4, 22 and CU , VIII. 4. 2) 28a From the

Jiiana kanda poIrltof VIewthe bridge 15a way on, or what15 the same thmg of return (m the posrtrve sense). forexample mK U , III, 2, rather than of first commgforth,

and this means that to walk upon It 18 the same thmg asto contmue In the ship of hfe on the angelic voyage(devayana) , hence It 15called the II bridge of aevrternrty II

iamrtasya setuh, MU , II, 2, 5), and It ISsaid thatnerther day nor mght, death nor sorrow, VIrtue nor VIcecan passIt.but only such as have the habit of the spmtual

power (brahmacarya) can pass to and fro at will (sarve~u

loke$u kamacr.ro bhauats, CU , VIII, 4. 3) ThIS bridge

IS then the 'Wayfarer's pathway onwards to the Sunand through the Sun to the worlds of Varuna, the Fisher

:12




Kmg, it corresponds to the vertical of the Cross, the

Gnostic sthauros, the trunk of the Tree of LIfe (cf Jack

and the Beanstalk), to the Ray that In early Christian

natrvrties hnks the Bambmo WIth the Supernal Sun, orm Mal U, VI, 30, that one of the Sun's rays that nses

aloft, piercing hIS disk, and extending to the Brahma-

world

It IS Just m this connection that we find m Grail

tradrtion, VIZ • III Chretien's Perceval (section by Gautier)that the pathway by which Gawain reaches the Grall

castle IS a wave-washed causeway, which he crosses by

mght, guided rather by his horse than findmg his ownway, all of which IS appropnate to his character of

solar hero, the steed for example having been that of a

slam knight who had been engaged upon the same quest,

and properly the vehicle of the Sun, by which he proceeds

In IrISh tradrtion It IS the «Bndge of the Chff " by which

Cuchullam passes over from the bnght world to the

misty dun of Scathach, from whom he learns WIsdomand

upon whose daughter he begets a son (whom he afterwardsmeets on earth and slays unawares ill single combat,

as did Sohrab Rustum), along a part of the way to the

bridge Cuchullam IS borne on Iron-back, and for another

part IS guided by a wheel, at last the It scholars of

Scathach " point out the bridge, which IS descnbed as

rising up and throwing back all who try to cross It,

Cuchullam himself only succeeds at a fourth attempt

(mconnection WIth a solar hero this must mean at night),when he IS "transfigured" and performs his Usalmon-

leap "-all details that can be readily understood, If

we recall, for example, that the leap of a salmon IS

characteristically upstream, and especially against a

fall of water, and IS a return to ItS place of origin, and

compare all this WIth the Imagery of" mverse thmkmg"

(pratyak-cetana) as a gomg "up-stream" (prat'tkiUa,

pratipa), cf Yoga Sutra, I, 2928b

1 :3




VAPA-MAN'GALA

A ploughing festrval, or more stnctly speaking <t Feast

of Seed-tune," In which the king or headman plays thecluef part, has been observed mIndia, and Indeed through-

out the world, as an mdispensable agncultural rrtualfrom tune unmemonal SD For example, m J, I, 57•.. The kmg observed the Feast of Seedtime On that

day they adorn the town like the abode of the angels

At such tune the king takes hold of a golden plough

(nangala, cf langala), the attendant rmmsters a hundred

and seven silver ploughs. the farmers (kassaka) the otherploughs Holding them, they plough this way and that

way The king goes from one SIde to the other and back

agam " It 15 on tills occasion that the mrracle takes

place of the staymg of the sun above the Jambu treeunder which the Bodhisattva has been Iaid by hIS fatherThIS represents a H solstrce," or more strictly speaking

the turning pomt of the Sprmg equmox, the begmnmg

of the Year, and at the same tune the relation of theComprehensor to the Supernal-Sun. as m CU , III, IO, 4,where for one who has attained the state of Sadhya

(=Mum), of Brahma, the Sun It nses ill the zenith and

sets In the nadir "_and thus, as In the case of the miracle

of the Jambu tree, casts no movmg shadow 30 Agam

In S N , text I, I72, the farmer (kast, Hploughman ")

Bharadvaja (= the VedIC 1'S~ of that name) observes

the Feast of Seedtrme, and It IS upon this occasion thatthe Buddha also names himself as «Ploughman ..

(kassaka = karsaka) 31

For the significance of the ploughing preparatory to

the building of the fire-altar and the performance of the

horse-sacrafice, cf R V ,X IOI, 3-6 and IV, 57, 8 which

may be convemently Cited as arranged With addrtions In

T S, IV, 2, 5 (Kerth's version ill H 0 S I9. P 3I5),

.. The sages yoke the ploughs, here sow m thewomb made ready the seed The plough, proprtious

I4



THE RG VEDA AS LAND-NAMA-B6K

plougheth up a cow, a sheep, and a fat bloomingmaid, a chanot support with a platform WIthprosperitymay our ploughs plough the ground The furrow

annomted with ghee do thou, 0 furrow, turntoward us with rmlk " The nte 15more fully descnbedm S B , VII, 2, 2, 5, It It ISfor the seed that the womb(yon~) the furrow (si'ta) 15made." and 7.where It IS madevery clear that the ploughing, hke the whole yaJnaWhIChOCCUpIeshe" year," 15m mutation of what wasdone Itm the begmnmg " It Ploughmg means food(annam ua» kt's~t'-etad-va) It was when the Angels

set-about-to-remtegrate (samkaY'l-$ta)Agm-Prajapatr," I ewhen he had been disintegrated by his act of generation(sa p1'aJah srstvii vyasransata vi'ryam udakriimat

apadyat), "that they first put food mto hnn

(purastad annam. adadhah: where purastad I~ agre. "npr'/,nc~jno) and m hke manner does this (Sacnficer) nowwhen he sets about to accomplish his (Prajapatr's)reintegration, first put foodmto hun II3S SIXteenfurrows

are ploughed, defirung the special directions , theploughmg IS sunwise, avoidmg a movement towardsthe south

As regards the furrow, si'ta, It will be recalled that mthe Ramayana. Ch LXVI, Janaka's daughter IS not mthe usual way begotten ..As I was ploughingthe mead,

there arose a maid , and smce I got her when hallowmgthe field, she has come to be known as the Furrow (si'ta)U

In this case the act of ploughing has Itself a directlysexual significance, and m fact, the use of krst«, ht« that WhIChISploughed up II to mean «man," parallelsthe motion of the sexual act as a ploughmg, implied illthe notron of woman as a «field" 33 Compare also

AV, XI. 5, I2, <tRoanng on, thundermg, the ruddy-whrte goer (presumably Agru-Rudra) has IntroducedInto the earth a great virile member, the Vedic student

pours seed upon the surface. on the earth. thereby thefour quarters Irve,II and also the settmg up of the

I5




HAta.ke'vara Iu1.gam m the bowels of the earth as relatedmthe vanous Vers10DS of the Devadaruvana legendU

VISA. VISPATI

Texts have already been CItedmwhich the first settler

or ere-dwellers, and their leaders and rulers are referred

to as v~sa and mspat~, the most Important of these,

R.V IX. 55. 2, having to doWIththe collectrve occupation(sam-avasana) of the Light-world by the Frve Kmdreds

Such an occupation rmphes a procedure fr6m'darkness tohght, mtenor to extenor operation, potentiahty to act,

asuratoa (or sarpatva) to deuatoa The ere-dwellers are

immigrants, that have come forth In search of a home todwell m, iryur av~sam, R V , II, 24, 6, cf A V , VII, 4I(42), I, where the Falcon (Agni'35) Itman-regarding II

(1 e •for the sake of the Kindreds) <t cleaves hISway o'er

waste and water, crossing all the nether spaces, lookmg

for a home" (avasana-darsah) Agru IS not only theforerunner (pU1:vam ana, R V , IV, I, IZ,and (t path-

finder," pass~m) In this expedrtion, but a chieftain

('IJ1,spat~.R V •X, 4. 4 and X. 92. I). or It may be Yarna(who IS In fact a parttcular aspect of Agrn, cf R V • I,

I64, 46) who finds a home for and unites the Kmdreds,In the first place here In the worlds (R V, X, I4, 2,yamo no giitum prathamo snoeda, na esii gavyutzr apabhar-

tava u, and 9, ahobhsr adbhsr aktubh~r uyakta-m yamodadhiity auasdnan» asmas, or agam X, I8, 3 yamah. sadaniite m~notu). and secondly there beyond 36 So too In

S B I VII, I,I,Iand 4, where It ISclear that those arefirst settlers or ere-dwellers (visa) who build a fire-altaron any land, the performance of thrs nte constrtutmg thelegal act of land-takmg.s" Yama is the ruler " One

settles (avasyaL-t) when he builds the garlzapatya, and

whoever are builders of fire-altars are ' settled' (avasttiih)The Patnarchs (jntarah) have made tills world1 :6



NOTES

FIG 3 -THE KINDLEDFIRE OF THE FIRSTSACRIFICE "FlIe thatwas made to flare upon the Rock" R V II 24 7 From a MS ofthe Kalpa Sutl"a belongmg to Mr N M Heeramaneck New York,see Brown, M'tn'tatul"e pa'tnt-tngs of the Kalpasutra I934,:fig 33The rmruatarre illustrates one of the Fourteen Dreams of Tnsala

see the descrrptron of our FIg:2 For the descriptaon of thIs dream

see the Kalpa Sutl"a, text §46, Inwfnch the srgmncarrt terms uJJvalaand madhu-ghl"ta may be noted, and translataon, SBE , XXII, P 238

IS




The F])st Sacnfice has been referred to above In the

singular, It WIll however be understood that this 15 In

a collectrve sense, the sacrifice actually consisting of

many parts and distmct celebrations In any case, It15 II by means of this thousand years SesSIOnthat the

All-Emanators (v~svaSYJah,1e , all the powers participatmg

In the act of creation) emanated all the Uruverse (v~svam

aSYJanta),P B , XXV, I8, I-2The occasion of the FIrst Sacnfice--:7ana yad agnsm

ayaJanta paiica, V S, XII, 23-15 agre, ~n prznc~pw,

at the beginnmg of an aeon, the birthday of the Supernal-

Sun, the Springtide of the COSmICYear, when "Dawnfirst shone for Man (usah uvasa mamaue, R V , X, S. 3),

when" the doors of the worlds to come open for you WIth

fheir months and years," and "anCIent are all these

fhmgs JJ (R V , II, 24. 5) Its place IS on that farther

shore. which IS also the rocky source of Sarasvatt-

Asmanvatt, from which the Argonauts go forth to find

a home (amsam), when once the COsmICbeacon has been

ht, It they left behind the FIre that by their arms was madeto flare upon the Rock" (tc bahubhyam dham~tam agncm.aSman~ Jahuh. R.V, II, 24, 7) When landfall IS

made, the settler's first concern IS to estabhsh the like

ntual on "earth," that 15 on the banks of the RIver of

Life, ..where the Sarasvati ends" (sarasvatya mnasane,

1, where the waters meet the shores of the habitable

worlds, cf, R V , IV, I7, 2, dhanvan~ sarayantt1 apah) ,

It IS" forty days' Journey thence upstream on horseback"to the Source (sa1sava). which 15 m fact the Fountam

of Life, and Hso far 15 Heaven from Earth," P B , XXV,

IO,I and I6 41

It needs no argument to prove that the ntual on earth

15 performed m imrtatron of the FlISt Sacrifice ~ «the

observance of the rule thereof 15 the same as at the

creation ,. (S B, XIV, I. 2,26. and pasSJ.m). and .. In

hke manner does he, the sacrificer, even now" (5 B •VII, 2, 2,7) nil Thesacnfice, undertaken mere1yas karma,Ig



THE RG VEDA AS LAND-NAMA-130K

estabhshes the sacnficer securely where he IS, It forms

so to say his legal trtle to the taken land (5 B, VII, I,I,

I and 4), and this significance suffices for an exegesis of

the mantras regarded stnctly as karma kanda, the pointof VIewwith which we are here mamly concerned ButIS clear also that for <t lnmwho understands" (ya evam

tndvan) there IS imphed not merely a taking possession of

these worlds, but a symbolic ful:filmentof the sacnficer's

whole course, a symbohca1 journeying to the Fountamof LIfe upstream, «« to find there a full katharsis "

(avabhrtam abh~vedya).62p B, XXV, IO, IS Avabhrta,

mntual technique, 15 an <t expiatory bath concluding theceremony" In CU , III, I7. where the whole course ofhie IS Interpreted In sacrificral terms, death as the con-

cludmg ceremony of the ntual IS the avabhrta In the

same way, an ablution m the Fountam of Life ISa death,

man's last end, for aoabbrta IS also (and more hterally)a t< sinking down," as of foammto water, a .. drowning,"

and m this profounder sense, the gomg down Into the

waters of the Fountain of Life IS a descent ctmto thedepths, mto the well-sprmg of the Godhead' (Eckhart)

Otherwise expressed, the sacrifice IS said to be concludedHwhen the grhapat~ dies I> • and where Agm 15understood

to be the grhapat», thrs will mean that the last end of hfeIS attained when the flame ofWe IS extmguished and de-

sprrated (mrviita) That this last death of the soul IS a

passage out of our mortahty Into the pleroma (krtsna,

purna) ISrmphed by the apparently materrahstic wordsof the text (P B, XXV, IO, IS) when It IS said thatH there the sacrificer'shundred kme become a thousand"

that 15 to say that once and for all he comesmto effectrve

repossessionof all the potentralrties of his being

20




YAMA AS VISPATI

<t Yama first found the Way for us, this pasture never

shall be taken from us " (R V • X, 1:4,2) The greaterpart of the wordmg of the tl funeral hymns" of theRg Veda-s-considered apart fromtheir actual applicationm funeral ceremonial, discussedbelow-has reference toYarna as pathfinder and gatherer together and ruler of..men" here m the LIght-world. his connection WIththe Patriarchs 15as their guide and leader on the road thatleads to the so much desired extension of their II Ime,"

he 15 the patron of those travellers on the pztryiina,that 15 to say of those mdrvidual potentralrties, whosecourse 15 hrtherward, and only later hence In X, 1:4.8,the comer-on 15 exhorted to .. Put away the curse, seekagain thy home, and shmmg bright, assume a body"(hztva avadyam punar astam ehs, sam gacchasua tanva

suvarcah).where a reincarnation, not Inthe later and morehteral (Buddhist) sense, but of the progemtrve principles

at the dawn of a new creation IS implied Cf X, 58.surely not fl an address to recall the fieetmg Intellect

(manas) of a man at the pomt of death" (Griffiths),butto bnng back an Intellect at the appointed time forbtrth. 43

Yama's brindled "Dogs" (no doubt the Sun andMoon, "four-eyed" inasmuch as they behold the fourQuarters) that ward the Path are «man's II protectors

against demomac powers, the wolf (vrka) and such,as ••man-regarding," 44 these "Dogs" can be identified

WIth the tl man-regardmg spies" of R V, IX. 73, 5-6,who tl turn back the blmd and deaf (for indeed) theythat are malformed do not pass over on the Pathway ofthe Law H (rtasya pantham na tarants duskrtah) Thedeformed. unformed, are turned back not merely as such,

but are repelledalso for the sake of t( men,"~he pn s

of the Dark-world bemg necessanly, from t l~pomt of VIewof the karma /ulnda, though .

21:




(as'Jva,satru, arat~) to those of the LIght-world, such 10-

deed IS the eternal opposrtion of Asura and Dcva as It 15

envisaged from the mundane pomt of VICW

What IS the significance of this exclusion of the bhndand deaf, or otherwise malformed ~ 10be blind and deaf

IS the same as to be unawakened, uruntclhgcnt, and

stupid (abudhyamana, acetasa, mura), devoid of any

It human mtellect" (nrmanas) such as Agru's IS ThIS IS

the condition of sarpattva,45 cf Ahi-Vrtra abudhyam,

susupanam, asayanam, RV, IV, 19, 3, and Agm's,

as Ahi Budhnya, antepnnc'tp~um, cf apad asirwl guhamano

anta. R V , IV, I) II, followed by pra ariam the next verse,and A B , III, 36, where It rs stated that Ahi Budhnya

IS metaphysically (paroksena) what Agm Gdrhapatya

IS outwardly (pratyaksa), cf Ahi Budlmya as the t< old ,.

and AJa Ekapad (the Sun) as the «new" g(l.rhapatyii,

P B , I, 4, II-I2 WIth the injunction to the comer-on,

h'ttvaavadyam v'tsarpata atas, etc, mX, I4, 9, compare

P B, XXV, IS, where the Serpents, "<vanquishmg

Death (mrtyum aJayan) casting rhcir shrrvelled skins(h'ttva firnan tacam) and creeping farther (att sarpanh)

become A.dItyas," and so In hIS case who mutates theirrrte, «he too becomes a shmmg as of these Adltyas "46

"In the begmnmg Death" (mrtyu) not yet

essentiahsed (iitmanvi, B U, I, 2, I)-neither sees nor

hears, for he has neither Intellect nor \\ ord nor Eye

nor Ear, he 15 "Incomplete" (akrtsna, B U , I, 4, I7) ,

the yonder Brahman, not subject to rnor talrty (amarta),

IS not-m-any-Iikeness (amurta), B U , I, 2, I, and II, 3

In the same way It IS said that tt He 15 Impotent (starth)

on the one hand and vrrile (siitah) on the other He

shapes hIS aspect as he WIlls," R V , VII, IOI, 3 That

IS to say that he IS tt Impotent" In the dark mght of time,

Inthe tt house of darkness" itamas» harmye), and hence

the designatron of this state as Privatron (asaniijii)

and Death (mrtyu,), B U , I, 2 I ThIS state of PrIVatIOn

IS necessarily conceived from an empirical POInt of VIew

22



THE RG ~DA AS LAND-NAMA-BOK

(that of the human-animal, pasu, It whose discrnnmatron15merely by hunger and fhrrst;" asana-jnpiise eva abh'J,f)f.-Jnanam, AA, II. 3~~)u- as a condrtion of pam.. as for

example In R V, I, IOS, where Agnr's suffenngs asTnta Aptya Itm the PIt II (kupe) are describedU

But nowthe HIdden LIght 15 found and freed, there 15aHarrowing of Hell, the Incomplete are made wholeUwhen thou hast made hunVIable-(sntam), 0Jatavedas,&t

then speed hun to the Patnarchs forth (pra h~nutat

fntrbhyah). bear him to the world of the well-made

(sukrtam, opposed to duskrtah ill IX. 73, 6, crted above)

Agm, re-emanate him (ava srJa punah) who nowthat thou has summoned hun proceeds WIth Insmtrmsic-

powers (yas ta akutas carat» svadhabh~h).. mdumg Irfe,

let him proceed 'tn statu pujnllar~s (sesah, Sayana s'ts-yamanah), what wound soever the blackbird, the ant,

the snake, or Jackal has mfhcted, do thou Agru, all-

devourer, heal, and Soma too, who bideth WIth the

Brahmans," R V • X. I6, I-650

On the other hand, the application of the texts in areverse serse ISperfectly Iegrnmate, recurrent death bemg

10 ItS turn a passage to another world, another hfe

though still wrthm the worlds, In R V • X. 58.. YamaIS evrdently the ruler of the dead m tfns sense An

ambiguity of apphcation IS inevrtable, &1 If only because

an extroversion must Imply (wherever the COSmICrocess

IS conceived of as cyclic, kre'tslaujig), a correspondmg

and analogous mtroversion ItISill Just the same wayfor example, that the revolution of the solar wheel, WhIChfrom the karma kanda point of VIew 15unto We 10 the

worlds, becomes In Jnana kanda and In Buddhism arevolutron unto death, the last death of the soul There

cannot be spiration WIthout a corresponding despiratron

(n'tr-vana) Most of the texts WIth which we are con-

cerned have primarily to doWIththe jntryana, the UWay

of the Patriarchs " It 15 only those whose voyagmg

IS sooner or later on the devayana. the UWay of the

23 c




Ange1s,'~ that make land again there where the commg

forth and gomg In are not alternate, but one and the same

thing ~ Itmay be said only of the Comprehensor, as of

Agm~ that UHe proceedeth foremost, while yet abidmg InhIS Ground" (anu agran carai» kset~ budbnah; R V ,

111,55, 7)Though Yama's IS the dreaded path of death (R V •

I, 38.5) and Agm IS the very prmciple of hfe (ayu, ekdyu,

fnSvayu, passim), the Rg Veda either identifies Varna

WIthAgnI (I. 1:64,46), or calls the latter Varna's darhng

mend (kamya. X. 21:. 5) or pnest (hotr, X, 52, 3). and

there IS a sigmficant aspect m which their functionscomcide, VIZ. as .. gatherer together of the kmdreds "

(In I, 59, 1:, Agm Janiin yayantha, m X, I4. r,

Yarna IS samgamano Jandnam). cf ekam bhu, "to become

one," 1e , .. to die II The contrasted functions are In

fact umted In the Golden Germ <I whose Iikeness IS that

of hfe, and hkeness that of death II (X, I2I 2), In the

Year e « that separates some beings and unifies others"

(AA. III, 2, 3) How these two that are the same playmto each other's hands can be seen mR V , I, I63. 2-3.

where the sacrificral horse (given to Death by Agru as

pnest and sacrificial Irre of the Asvamedha) 15 given by

Yama In turn to Trrta, that IS to Agm himself ab sntra, IS

yoked by 1 rrta, ridden by Indra, and identihed With

Yama, Varuna (adztya), and Tnta All these are One for

the Cornprehcnsor, absolutely unified (t-l.adha blzutva,

BU. V, 5, I2), that IS, dead and buried in the GodheadWe may say then that that It 15 as Yama that the dying

man beholds Agm when he reaches the realm of the two

kings, Varna and Varuna (X, 14, 17), and that for the

Comprehensor (vzdvan), and for any man that has done

well, that one prmcrple that some desire as life and others

fear as death can be seen m either aspect as the Friend

(mztra). the Meetmg-place (samgama1la), and Lord of the

Settlers (v~spatz). for 111m thc paths of Agru and of

Yama are one and the same dcuaydna

24



CONCLUSION

Ithas been sought to showthat the RgVeda lSnot con-cerned With events In time, but With the Uentenng

m of time from the halls of the outer heaven," that 15

agt'e, m the begmmng. en prtnctJno Nor can thatentenng m of trme be thought of as Itself an event illtune, It 15 Ufirst .. and a .. begmrung II only m Iogical

order of thought Life 15 «crossmg over Uall the tame •e « ou't of the everywhere mto here" and amotion forward

to the .. last end" (put'usartha, param paaam) liB Stcmerat tn prtnctJno, est nunc. et semper eru, tn sceB1daseeculorum. These are. of course. Piirva Mimamsaka

pomts of VIew, but here they have been IndependentlydevelopedSome have been impressed by the t<bewildering vanety"

of Indian mythology, rrtual, and art. It would be nearer

the truth to speak of Its sameness or monotony.w for

mfact It never departs from the fundamental theme of

the Begmmng of All Things (Jiita-v1tlya) And this 1S

true ill an even Wider application, for this story of the

first begmnmg, which also pomts the way to the lastend. has been told mwhat ISessentially one and the same

way, although Withabundant dialectic variation, through-

out the world and from trme immemorial, and survrves

even to-day not only m accepted scriptures, but also

m fairy tale and nursery rhyme, and m folk art



NOTES

1JereID.laS, D" Kosmos von Swmer, X932, p 20

• Cf Andree, Ds« Ionesohe Saule Baufcwm oder Symbol; Berhn.X933, pp 65,66 HWhen we sound the archetype, the ultImate ongmof the form then we find that It IS anchored In the hIghest, not thelowest He who marvels that a formal sym.bol can remaan ahvenot only for millenrua, but that, as we shall yet learn, can Wring tohie again after an Interval of thousands of years, should remm.d hImselfthat the power from the spurrtua.I world, which forms one part of thesymbol, 15everlastmg ' Cf Rene Guenon., " Du pretendu •emprrisme •des ancienta," In Le V~le d'Isu, No x75. X934

3 Abbreviataons are employed as follows R V, Rq Veda Samh~ta.A V , Atha1'va Veda Samli~tii, T S. Ta~tt",rfya Samhlta, V S, ViiJa-saney", Samh~ta TB, Ta",ttlrfya B1'ahmana. PB. PanCaV1iT1SSaBf'anmana AB, A",ta1'eyaBriihmana, JB, J aJmJnfya Briihmana,J U B, Ja1m",nfya Upamsad Briihmana, A A. A1tareya Aranyaka.B U Brhadiiranyaka Upamsad. CU , Chandogya Upam~1Jd, MatU, Ma~tu Upamsad. MU, MuhtJ,aka UPam~ad, S N, Samyt##a'Nzkiiya, J, Jataka

4. .. The Comprehensors (vJdvansah) they of the Law (rtava'Kah,here the First Sacnficers) when they had bared to SIght what-thIngs-

were-theIrs-who-knew-no-Law (an1'tii), and were returned, they, theshaper-mmstrels (kavayah Gk ?Tonrro. went forth upon their glonousway," R V , II, 24, 67, "The Patriarchs <pzta1'ah) on whom as beingAngels, the Angels have bestowed their Provrdence (k1'atu) haveoverstradden the regions, laymg out the ancient m.easureless abodes

pOuring out their offspring varioualy," X, 56, 4 5 ••The generous(vu; , tnsvedevah) have made the Sun to mount the sky, and scatteredthe Aryan ordinances (a1'yavrata) 0 er the world" X 65 XI (Sayanaglosses ii1'Y4 as S1'esthan",and kalyaniin1, "best" and "lovely')Per contra, " The Herdsman of the Law (rlasya gopii) , the Comprehensorwho surveys the several worlds (VlZ, the Sun), thrusts Into the prtthem that are unquahfied (aJusta'K) and umnrtrate (avratan) Menof vision (dhJ1'ah, here the FIrSt Saoraficers) span the yarn of Law

(rtasya tantu1' v~tatah) upon the purrlymg SIeve, Varuna's tongue-tIp,by MagIC (mayaya), but he that IS not able thereunto (ap1'abhuh)falls down Into the PIt (karlam ava padiit'/.),R V, IX, 73 9, marl!: thecontrast as between the latter and the" Herdsman movmg on thepaths who never falls' (gopam an'lpadyamanam pathzb",s carantam,I x64, 31 and X, r77, 3, J U B, III, 37) The Herdsman of theUxuverse (bhuvanasya gopa I r64 2I, II 27 4 VII, 70, 2, J UB ,I I and III 12 etc) IS the" Good shepherd' of Semrtac tradItionIndra 15 typically designated vratapa, Frdei Defensor which 15 hlSnatural function as representmg the temporal power (k~at1'a)InalhanceWIth the sprrrtuaf-power (brahma) represented by Agru, who lays thebolt In Indra's hands, X, 52, 5, and appoints ham to perform herOICfeats, VIII, r00, I~2

Ii In RV, IV, x, 7. where AgDl IS arya, S§.ya:q.a.'sgloss IS sva",.va,syayor, tantamount to .. V'lSpat","

26



NOTES

e Cf, however, Namucl's reproaches addressed to Indra, < Thoubetrayer of a fnend," T B, I, 7 r , 7-8 There IS mdeed plenty ofevidence Inthe Rg Veda that the act of ta1o.ngpossession of what wasnot ongmally theirs, but belonged to the dusky Asuras--as If to the.. Redskms ' In our American analogy-was well understood to have

been m some sort a sin requmng expiation and a symbohc resntutJon.e g, R V, X, 109 the kdbMiiM are typ1cally Indra's, w1ule theRedeemer, ktlb1-Sa-sp1't IS typlcally Agru, -RV, X 7X, xo It mayalso be noted wrth respect to R V I x64. 32, where Agru 15 said to"take on destructIon' (m1'rltm) that 1fwe accept Silyana's designataonof Nrrsta as piipa-devatii. thiSalso imphes an assumptlon of our gulltWe are not, however at present concernedwrth thJ.s point of view, butonly wrtb, that affirmative attltude which naturally prevails m thekarma kiinq,a

7 In R V , I, x77, r, Indra, and mIll, 62, 6. BrhaspatJ, 15 1I1'~abhacaf'$an"niim

8 The orrgm of the ASvms "15 to be sought m a pre-VedIc penod(they) may ongmaUy have been conceived as findmg and re-

stonng or rescuing the vanIShed hght of the sun" (Macdonell. VedscMythology, PP 49, 5x, cf von Schroder, m W Z K M, IX, 1:31:)

g R V, X, 39, 3 "Ye are the gladness of her that groweth oldat home (unwed), furtherers of rumthat hath no horse and lags behmd,healers of the bhnd, the wasted and the broken" Cf S B •IV. r, S. x6• The ASVlDSare outwardly (pf'atyaksam) these two, VlZ Heavenand Earth, for It IS these that have obtaaned posaession of all tlungshere They are called the "lotus-crowned", Agm 15 venly thelotus of thls earth, the Sun of yonder sky" The ontological rmphca-

taons are eviderrt , Heaven and Earth are healers of all thlngs Inthatthey provide the necessary basis of operataon lDone or other of thecontrasted modes, terrestnal or celestial The Asvms mwardly(pa'Yoks8f1.a)are, no doubt, the brothers ... mortal and rmmoreal;"Mltrilvarunau, or Agrn and Varuna, r , x64 30 and 38, and X.85, x8From the karma kiinda POlDt of vrew release (moksa, root m'U&)

IS a sethng free of potentaalrtaes unto operat~on (R V I, XXZ, 8, theASvms release (amuncatam) the swallowed quail, I x40, 4. Agnl'Ssteeds are mumuk$ah, as m X, r r r, 9. the Rivers of LIfe are mumuk-siihiih, V, 8x, 2, the Sun as kasn, v~svii 1'upiim,pyat~ muncate, cf I, 42. I,where Pusan 1Stnrnuco naPiit, VII, 59, 2, banilhaniit mrlyor muksiya

na am'Ytat) but from the Jnana kantf,a pomt of vaew a release /1'omop8'Yat~on(th~ latter sense 1S naturally rare m R V • but cf V, 46 r,where v$muolfm and iivrttam punah are contrasted) In Buddhism,the concept of the Tathilgata as the finder of a medicine for eld anddeath (Ja1'ii-marana) can only be regarded as an adaptatlon (upiiya)to later mundane circumstances of the older concept of the MessIahas accomphshmg wrth hIS awakenm~ (Gautama, buddha = Agm,usa'Ybudh) the Harrowing of Hell, cf J , I, 76, oakkavalantaf'esuekobhiisii ahesum Jaooandhii rupiim pass~msu, Jiihbhad$'Yii saildamsummsu. Jiitzpzthasapp't padasii gacohzmsu andubandhant2din~ chntddviipat~msu, I There shone One LIght throughout the voids-between-the-worlds (1 e ,hells m terms of space rather than of time) the naturallybhnd beheld the shapes of thmgs, the naturally deaf heard sounds,

the naturally halt went forth afoot. all bars and bonds were brokenand fell away"




10 ThISSea ISthe fathomless abyss, covered over by darkness flUldand mdetermmate, of RV, X. X29 Cf AugustIne, Conjesslonum,XIII, 5. .. the dark abyss, dark as regards the Inconstant flux of Its8pIDtual formlessness" (IKjormdas), where the Waters, as m GeDeSlS

and RV,are undetermtned substance. 1111iIlltebut mere potentiatrty,ante pnncqnum. and Jh XIII, 7, "waters devoid of any standingground" (S1ne substantJa). where by a natural extensron of meamng,and lust as also typIcally In Buddhism, the abyss 15 the Inconstantsea of hie, WIth all Its dangers, and Its Imperfections now (post pnnCI-fnum) to be regarded as deformrtres that 15 to say nowas pa.r1:Ialratherthan as before a total prrvataon of formand bemg The Sea. to be passedover 15 contmuous and unsubstantIal (as Angustme sowell expresses It.loc CIt, • neque eDJID.oca sunt, qmbus mergrmur et emergunus •) ,the end to be reached lS that of a full and conSCIOUSossession of Itsown mtrmsic form (svariipa) by each and every mdrvidual potentIahtythat has been thought of as takIng passage m the shrp of hfe Thevoyage once begun 15 not at an end when any given port IS reached,

but 15 onward by the devayiina to a port beyond our understanding,or by the fntryiina to and fro from port to port

11 From the karma kan,q,apomt of VIew,the ShIP of LIfe 15 buIlt andoared for transport by the Fn'st Sacrrlice (R V , X, lOX,2), but fromthat of the Jiiiina kiilltf,a, .. the sacraficial forms are unsafe boats ,.MUIldaka UpanMad, I, 2, 7. and It lS m the vessel of the sprrrtual-power (lwahma) that the Comprehensor should pass over all the fearfulrrvers," SvettUvatiira UPan~ad. II, 8

~: & )[tmanvat IS .. bypostasised;" and .. ConSCIOUS,"f sanJ4tmanvae,A V , X. 8 z iitmanvat yak$a, the human self or essence. Jb X, 3. 43 ,iitmantJj m BU,I 2, r

18 In accordance WIth another formulataon, bemgs dwelling III theught-world, although fledglmg« of one nest (VJSO san!lah RV •

I, 6g 3) and due to be reumted there at last (yat"a vdvam bhavatyekan!lam. R V khJla, IV, 10,I,and V S , XXXII, 8), are mdlVlduallynested 10 the branches of the Tree of LIfe, cf PB , XI, :£5.X, "Nest(kultiya) 15 offsprmg, nest IS cattle, nest IS dwelling:' and R V , III54, 5-6, avamii SadiiflSl sadanam yatha veh

14 .. LIfe" rather than "lmmortahty," cf Hopkms m J A 0 S ,XXVI, P 37, "long hie WIthout decreprtude pnor to expected death"The best rendermg of amrta, as attnbuted to deuas, would be • eevrter-nlty: which lS • a mean between eternrty and tame;" see St Thomas.Sum TheoE I q ao as. angels are measured by tIme as regardsthen' affections and mtelhgences, whIch are changeable, byarvrternrty as regards then' nature, and as regards the VISIonof glorypossess a share of eterm.ty

16 Na avap"abhramSana, where avaprabhramsana = avasarpan,a 10

SB, I, 8, r, 7 Regarding the prefix aua, lIterally Hdown" thoughrendered above by .. back agam, observe that the commg forthhItherward ISalways expressed 1lterms of upward movement (verbalforms WIth prefix ut or upa) or what amounts to the same thIngforward (aroanc) or eastward (puroam) movement Commg mtoexrstence IS an ascent, emergence rasing up (arohafta as opposed topratyanc 10 R V pass~m, A V XIX, 6, 4, and JU B, I, 36) frompotentaalrty to act A backslrding (avasarpana) mto a state ofnon-bemg the •Pit 'out of which wewere digged, IS from the Incarnate'standpomt summum malum, nevertheless a return from exastence

28



NOTES

tonon-bemg when effectedposrtrvely byway ofmtegration (samsklWtUJa)18 from the mtellectual or sprrrtual pomt of VIewthe summum bonumThat backshdmg and mtegrataon can both be spoken of as movementsof descent or ~mmerSlOnmust be understood m thts sense, that whereaspotenttahty assumes the aspect of an evil when contrasted wrth act,

all IS .. good" m the Supreme Tderrtrty: where there 15 no distmctaonof potenttahty from act In other words we come forth as those whocannot swim (asnatr) and return as accomplished swunmers (snat,.)at home Inany waters These conceptions underhe the Chnstlan

and other symbohsms of the Redeemer as Fash and of the redeemedas httle fishes, cf Tertulhan, De Bapt ,I, •But we httle:fishes (jn,sc~culz)after the example of our IX8 Y2, Jesus Christ, are born Inwater,nor have we safety m any other way than by permanently abidmgIn the water ,baptlSm (and all the more when there 18 total lID-mersion) prefigunng salvation, for those whom the mundahon of theworld at the close of an aeon (at the .. Judgment Day") will not behable to hurt are precisely those who are good swunmers And In

the same way Rumi, .. I am a great fish, and desire the Ocean ofOmlln" (XVI, mNichelson, Sbams-z-Tabt'fz)

16 .. Days" here somewhat as m Genesis, and poSSlbly already mthe sense of (Sons The notion of temporal hierarctues was no lessfamiliar to the ancients than. was that of spacial ruerarchy cf Jerexruas.H andbuch der altONental~schen Gtnsteskultur, p 295 f At the same tuneand masmuch as all extension whether m tIme or space 18m prmcrpleone and the same thmg, the dally ebb and :flowof oceanic tades ex-posmg and again submergmg a strand (dhanva) ISa refiectlon analogy.or trace (V8stzgf,Um pedzs m the Scholastac sense Skr pada see myElements of Buddhzst Symbohsm, Note 146)of the subsidence and wellingup o.f the fountams of the earth at the begmnmg and end of every

cosmic Day1.7 A stran.Q.1ngon the summre of HlInAlaya would illaccord WIthany

theory 01 a migrataon across the Indus A landmg on the SUm.ID1tofMt Ararat can hardly have been an hlstoncal event

1.8 Cf the srnnlar hst of those who are carried by the cosmic stalhon(whose k.m and place are the prImordIal ocean), BU. I :1, 2 VIZ

deviih gandharviih asuriih, which WIth addrtion of p",tarah wouldcomplete a tale of FIve Kmdreds Incidentally there can be recog-rnzed here the prototype of AvalokttMvara as a saviour from shipwreckand patron of marmers, as for example m the Valakassa-jii.taha. cf

Goloubew, I<Le Cheval Ba.lAha.: BEFE 0, x~27, P 235 f

19

KeIth has observed that A A, II,2, ..

shows that the namesof the seers of the Rg Veda can be deduced from p,,4na s actaons ..

In other words the seers are not" mdrviduals ' (but seven rays ofAgm's LIght. cf R V II 5, 2, and X, 62. 5-6)Indra s associates m the FIrst Foray are constantly referred to as

II men" (e g R V IV, I, IS, narah u§1,Jah) The' human '(manuStlat)Agm as eighth Adltya "Impels the whole angehc-operataon ' (dawyam

v'/,svam znvat1,. R V. II. 5, 2) Agm has ..man s mtellect··(n"manah R V , X, 45 1: and 2, that 15 effectIvely, 'human nature ").cf Eckhart, I. 236, crtrng .. philosophers 'to the effect that' humannature has nothing to do wrth tlme, ' and St Thomas Sum 'Theol ,I q 3 a 3 .. 'Thrs flesh, these bones and the accideneal quahttesdistmgtnshmg fhrs pa.rbcular matter, are not mcluded mhumanxty

humanrty and a man are not wholly identrcal , but humantty 15 takento mean the formal part of man' ThJ.sforma humanf,tatf,s nunquaM

29




l'enl (Tluerry of Chartres) VedIc fUJf'jla 18 tantamount to dasvyaas dtstmct from asurya The deuas are man-km by what as com-mon to angels and men, V1Z, mtellect (tnafJaS), but are not therefore••men" Whereas of the asuf'as (who are devas Inpotentt-a) we may saythat theJI nature 18mforma.l, unkind (un-km), and uncouth or uncanny,USJ.Dg the latter words IntheIr basic sense of «raCIally allen' and••Ullknowable" (that whrch 18 tnformal bemg 1,PSOfacto unknowable)Inny case the Vedic usage of man and manly, or human m no wayproves that the references are anywhere to Homo sapiens of the taxono-mlSi:

20 The ~s of the contrast suggest that the Kmdreds are In~on of a WISdombanded down by mrtaatozy transmISS10n(grWU-pal'a~arli), whIch would be characteristrc for II Aryans ..

S1 The ownershIp of cows IS the effectave possession or reahzattonof the POSlilbilitIesof one's being, and It IS from fhis pomt of vrewthat the '~ger men" who under Indra s leadershap break through

the stony l';Iarners of the rmprisoned kLne are spoken of as .. cattle-mmded of" cattle-bent" (gavyanta, IV, '17, '16,gavyan gramah, III,33, xi, gavyata manasa, IV, 'I, '15,cf s v YaJna the hundred that be-come j. thousand when the whole course of the sacnfice has been:fu11illed)

:nReferences for the statements summanzed above are too numerousto be CIted here m full The followmg are typical R-V, L 56, 5"aft, mada ",nilra harsy ahan vrtf'am nt-r apam aubJo arn,avam, I, 62, 3,Brbaspatl bh.t-naa aanm V1,dadga"', I, '130, 3 nt-h.t-tam t:«h4mdh~ ver na garbham aSmany anante II, 12 3. Indra JaJanaagnt-In aSmancr antak. II, x6, 3 Indra vaJretta kkiim atrnan nadfniim,IV S, 1:1:. rtena adrtm v~ bktdanta alf,gzrasah V, 41, 12,

Sf'n'V",ntv apah adreh X, 89, 4 apak sagarasya budhniU.X. 1"1:3,4, Indra aVl"scaa adnm ava sasyadak srJat

~ lnasmuch as the Tree of Life 1$ rooted In and the RIver or RIversof LIfe ongmate m one and the same Ground or Mountam (c£ Somaas 81,h)a), It follows that as Inother rradrnons, the source of thefuv. of LIfe 18at the roots of the Tree of Life

liSa WIth Sarasvati as a name of other-worldly srgmficance, _cfthe ••dogmatac " Boyne InInsh mythology, which takes rts name fromBOa.m)., WIfe of Nechtan (whom Rhys Identifies WIth Neptune, andhence ~gnate WIth Varuna) , thIS Boyne rises from "the well ofthe 81:eenof the fortress' (evidently a name of the Fountam of LIfe) ,It 18 .~)?E:rson.tfted'as a queen, "slowly she moves, and yet her speed

exceeds the pace of the sWlftest steed" for" mdeed, Its waters traversethe whole world m seven years, wfnch 1$more than the SWiftest steedcan do" (seeHenderson, Celt~c Dragon Myth, 1911, pp XXXIV-XXXVIand Joyce Old Celt1,cRomances, 2nd ed •p 187)

ti For these meamngs see my New Approach to the Vedas Note rIland cf Lank4vatii!ya Sut"a, Ch VI text p 228, ' Appearance (nzm~ttam)15 characterised by Iocal-posrtion samsthiina)," etcCf St Thomas InOpusculum de Pulchro et Bono, crtmg Richard

of S VIctor, dzettur enem.e_nstens quas» ex aho ssstensFor the expressions carantz nadyak and " RIvers of Llfe"

cf St Thomas Sum Theol I. q 18 a I,"Waters are called Irvingthat have a contamrous current," and Zokar (Abare Moth) on Genesis

II 10," that nver 18 called Life, because hfe Issues thence to theworld"



NOTES

S5 .. Eddymg" :anasmuchas the Rlver of Lrle lS ever at once out-~g and mfiowmg, never Howmg straJ.ght away, as explamed InJUB , I, 2 Cf Jeremias, De« Annchns ,n Gesch,chts und Gegenwarl,1:930,p 4 .. Der Abendlander denkt hruenhaft rn me Ferne, darummecharusch, arelrgios, faushsch (thts may be seen m the concept of an

absolute evolutlon or progress) Das Morgenland und die Blbeldenken rncfrt; l1.nJ.enhaftsondern zertraarmhch, spirahsch krelSlaufigDas Weltgeschehen geht m Spiralen, me srch bis m die Vollendungfortsetzen ' ~nasmuch as the tade of lrle thus at the same tune fiowsand ebbs, th~ Rivers of Life are sometunes spoken of as t}vo, e g,V1t>§.sand Sutudn m R V, III 33, cf X, 30, XO, a:va1'fJnatfh/lfJ'&dhaf'ah, Utwo eddymg :floods'

sa In metaphysical formulation, a .. crossing of water" alwaysrmphes a change of state and status for example m the case of voyagesto ..otherworlds" (notably the Voyage of Bran, also Inthe IndJ.anstory of Mahbiib, see my ,. KhwaJa. Khad1r .. Ars Islamf,ca I,pp 1:74-5,r934), m the case of Charon and the Styx, and mthe notaons

ofIe

crossmg over Jordan,' and" one more nver to cross" The FIrstCrossmg 18 a gomg forth towards a home II here" the crossmg backagam, as of the Rtver VIJara.f'ageless "), KausJtakr. Up, I, 3, agameffected by the mteliect alone, and where nowthe traveller leaves belimdlum all the burden of h1Sgood or eVll deeds (and all h1Smemones).18 the prodtgal's return to the Father's home It there 'The formal aspects of the tradltIon as to .. crossmg water" have

been admIrably dealt Withby Brown, The IndJan and Chnst,an Mf'aclesof Walk,ng on the Watef', Chicago X928 JB, II, 439. where the Ra.s§.

makes herself fordable for Indra s envoy, Sarama.,may be added tothereferences discussed.1ThlS imphes that the fioor (butlhna, cc ground," R V, X, 1:35,6)

IS unwetted • that as, even whilst en route, the voyagers are safelysupported by a platform. restmg, hke every other .. earth," or thelotus-leaf that symbohzes .. earth," on the surface of the Sea Cfpt'lnkha m R V , VII, 83, 3. and na'Unaga1'a(' ark ") m J B I, 1:25In R V, VII, x8, the Rlver crossed 1S the m-finrte (adJt~) Paru snf

("' turbulent "), or Yamuna. (Gnffiths remarks narvely .. It 15 not easyto see how the expedrtion reached so far") Here agam the watersgrant an easy passage (supa1'ifi.) to the Aryan party under Indra'sgmdance The parallel With Exodus 15 here especially close, m.a.smuchas the opposmg party 18 overwhelmed by the returnmg Hood,after thepassage of the AryansThat Exodus l.S a crea'b.onmyth, rather than an hlStoncal event,

IS of course the QabballStIc pomt of view Note that Pharoah 18

descnbed as .. the great dragon (tanJm, Babyloman tJamat) thatheth m the mtdst of bas nvers, wruch has sard, My nver 15 mme own.and I have made It for myself" (Ezek:J.el,XXIX, 3) ... spoiling theEgyptlans " corresponds to the Devas takmg possession of the kme andother treasures of the Asuras, e g , R V , II, 24, 6, and MosestoTndra,not only as leader of the chosen people, but m that he Smites the Rockand finds Water for them m the WlldernessAccording to the Zohaf' (Shelah Lecha and Vaethhanan) .. Moses

was the Sun Moses mdeed made a new begmmng m the worldthere was that m Moseswhrch was not In any other man. smee

lus perfectaon radIated to many thousands and mynads •

a8 See the sec'b.onson Caf'~an' and Vapa-mangaJa

aSa As It may not be perfectly clear m what sense Essence (atman)can be saad to sepa1'ats the worlds, It should be observed that B U

31:



NOTES

th~ food requu-ed for offenng Insacnfice, cf VII, 2, 2, 7, crted below,(r] that there IS a co-operahon of :male and female prmcrples, theEmpress and her ladles makmg thesllk robes to be worn at the sacrrfice,(3) that the openmg of the ground, hke the 'fa.k:I.n.g. of virgmrey, 15

thought of as dangerous, and that It IS the Emperor quapnest who takes

t1ns task upon hrmself, and (4) that a corresponding ntual Wlth reversedsrgmficance was observed at the Autumn equmox

80 The Jambu tree prefigures and IS VU"tually the Bodln-tree,It 18SlgnUicantInhIS conneetaon that here too there ISan .. awakenmg •-the BodhISattva has been laid down by bas father upon a bed (sayana)surrounded by an enclosing curtain, 1e , he 15 not .. manlfested ..but he .. nses up" (uttnaya, 1 , proceeding from potentJ.ahty to act)to take hls seat InJhana Such a rtsmg up takes place at least fourtames m the course of the Bodhlsattva s hfe VIZ, at birth (tdhakopathatJ'l-yam patdthaya, J , I. 53). then on the present OCC3.Slonf thefirst Jnana, then at the gomg-fcrfh (ab}nn'l-kkhamana, ~b I, 6I, sayanavutthaya) finally when from rest m the sala-grove he proceeds ('1b

I, 70 payas'l- = prayat1,) along a broadway to the Bodhr-tree Theuse of root stna, especially Inconnection wrth, sayana, 15 techmcat,cf Sayana on RV, V. X9. x, sthdam pad4rlna Jatam and B U , II,3 r, where what 15 stnsta 15 also muria and InR V, I. 36 x3 u'I'ddhvat1,§tha. I, 84. 3. a t"stna, III. 38, 4, at~stkat, X. 53, 8, uttssthata, etc

31 The language of the verses lD thlS Sutta 18 strongly remmisceneof Vedic texts, cf e g • pamocanam as .. unyoktng" wrth R V • V,46, I tJ1.mucam, III 53 20 a tJ~mocanat, mane yottam c . mtellect theyoke,' With I, 5I, IO manoyuJak II, 40, 3, manasa YUJyamiinam,V. 8x, I,yunJate mana. and VII, 69,2 manasii yuktah. and note thatthe reward 18 .. alVltermty" (amata-pnala = amrta-phala)

sa S B ,VII, :I, 2, r, and 2, 2, 7. cf PB 4, XO, r, where the sacrifice15 called a mana vrata, and the food consists of what npens Ina year(samtJatsa'l'am annam Pa&yate), thls restores (adhsnot) him.. Food' 15 the szne qua non of esastence (root sthii Lat e:nstare.

as distinguished from esse) annam ad, .. to eat food' the Brbhca.l.. to :findpasture" IS techmcally .. to exrst;" .. hve" Agm-Prajapatnthe principle and exemplar of all hfe, m.ust be • fed' m order thatthe human sacraficer may hkewise eat and hve It IS from the samepomt of VIew that the Bodhisattva, before the Great Awakenmg,abandons Ins fast and takes food, for otherwise there could have beenno pubhc manlfestabon of h1S person It Wlli be understood of coursethat all the hfe as BodhISattva SlddhArtha, antecedent to the GreatAwakemng belongs to the operataon ab '1nt'l'a,while the subsequent

hfe as Buddha, .. Awakened," and untIl the Parmirvana, to the operationab estra The Son of Man comes" eatmg and dnnktng", Agm 15

the" most greedy of eaters OJ Cf B U, r, :2, 5, .. He (Death) beganto eat ..

33 Cf Bagchr, PC, Pre-Aryaos and pre-D'I'atJ1.d1.an1.n Ind1.an X929PP Ia-I5 (associates hnga and langala as having both the prrmrtrvemeanmg .. virile member"), Langdon, Semstto Mythology P 99,CI1:J.ngEbbehng, Ked1.nsch'l''l-fteaus Assur, p 3x9, .. 0\ my lord, theploughshare hast thou caused to Impregnate the earth " Jerermas,Old Testament 1.nthe L'tght 01 the AnC'Jent East, p 59 (" In the Babylonianage the planet JUpiter 15 designated •Bull of the Sun,' and Insplace Inhe heavens' Furrow of Heaven' a plough IS the attnbute

of OSlnS Nebuchadnezzar calls hunself the husbandman (Ikkaru)of Babylon"), and Sophocles, Ant1.gone. 569

33




Still. more stnkmg IS the Sumenan text, ••The astral Ploughmanhas yoked m the Plain (of Heaven) the seed-sowmg Plough: crtedby Frankfort 1D. .. Gods and myths m SaTgomd seals," Fraq, I, 1934.P 19. m connectaon With hts Plate III, ftg h ThIs seal affords goodsupport to the proposrtaon that Vedrc texts could be admrrably illus-

trated not only from the later tradtbonal art of IndIa, such as has beenmade use of Inour illustrabons but also from Sumenan and Babylomanseals, cf m the same Journal, Plate I,:f:Jg a, what may be saad torepresent at one and the same tune the slaymg of Tlamat, Heraklesslaymg the Hydra and Indra slaymg Vrtra

a& . See my Ya'k~as. II. pp 43-45. and references. sb P 43, Note 2

36 See Bloomfield m J A 0 S, XVI, pp ;[2-13

36 See the sectaon Yama as VlSpab

87 IcelandIc land-nama, whence the btle of the present essay,

Wlth reference to the IcelandIc " Book of the Takmg of Land ., by theere-dwellers (ef'byggya) The landfall of the Scandmavian lIIllDJ.grantsmIceland, hke that of the first settlers mAmenca, and that too of theAryans In IndIa (If we assume the existence of any such ethmc stock).all offer close analogies With the settlement of the worlds ..m the be-guuung" Tlus 18 a normal case of the correspondence of microccsmand macrocosm cf A B VIII, 2. am~a lokasyayam loko' nuyupah, andAA, III, r, z In th1s sense every lustoncal event 15 a <. repeat ofhIstory" and a "recurrence"From the Tndonesians" POInt of VIewthe same myth becomes their

own pre-history, the legend of theJr own Immediate ongms Everypeople makes of rts own land a holy land rn the hkeness of the placeof therr origm, and names Its srtes after the names of places In thefirst homeland. that 15 10 our case, as Iidesirmg to estabhsh a• kmgdom of heaven on earth II As for the earthly altars, to adaptby changing a single word what has been aptly Bald bJ Mus (" LeBuddha pare "B EFEO, X928, pp 252-253), • On dut lesconsiderer commes de petrts foyers gardant pour amSl dire un ecIa.tdes grandes forces actrves concentrees aux sancturures pnV1l6jp.6sd antan" cf JeremIas, The Old Testament SIS ths L~ght of the AmaentEast, p 58

88 Correspondmg to R V , X, 1:4,9 asmii etam p~taf'o lokam aRYan,both passages unplymg an estabbshment of worship her« and thatYama 15" not a God of the dead but of the hvmg" Note that VedIC

..here" and "thIS" refer to the Light-world generally, and notespecaally or exclusrvely to OUf'planetCf R V, VIII, IOX, 14, "Three races digressed from the way, the

others settled (vw~s1'e)round the Llght (aykam) 10 the worlds"II,1,1:, crtmg fhrs text. adds, .. those are settled down (nw~sta) aroundthe LIght, that rs around Agru even as being yonder Sun,"where the apphcatron of V1S to settlement m the LIght-world IS specific

89 From the Br8.hmana pomt of VIewat least, ~gnl and Pra]apatl.the Year, are one and the same Demrurge, anusamdhiityThe same Idea. IS expressed In Chrastaanrry when Christ 15 spoken

of as Hmediate cause," as 10 St Thomas. Sum Theol, I q 45, a 6.ad 2... the Son recerves the power of creation from the Father

and of the Son It 15 said (John I 3) •Through Hun all thIngs weremade •••

34



NOTES

~oThat the Devas are Asuras and Serpents sa.cnficIall.ytransformedor" turned about" (paryavrlta. etc) 15 the theme of a separate article,entItled" Angel and TItan, an essay InVechc ontology. ' to appearIn the JA0S thls yearThat the Serpents C change theu- skms ., 18 ~resented throughout

the Indian tradrnon m the power attnbuted to Nagas' of assummga serpentme or human" form at will " Creepmg farther" recallsV1.ca sarpata atas m R V • X %4 9 whIch according to our under-standmg ISsaidWIthreference to angehc procession and the lengthenmgof days and prolongatIon of one's hne as m X. :I8.3 and 6 contrastavasarpalta InS B. I, 8, z, 7. cf Note

n The plaksa prasyavana IS also referred to as a ••pool." IwadaIn the vanous accounts of the rejuvenatIon of Cyavba. (RV, I.u6, IO P B , XXV, 6, 10, S B , IV, I, 5, J B. III. :120and :125.etc )the pool Inwhich his youth ISrenewedby the ASvms 15referred to ertheras such (hyada), or as Waters (apah), or as the .. JIlfancy" (sauava)

of the Sarasvatl, and must be regarded as the same as the source(pYas"avana) of the Sarasvati referred to InP B XXV, IO :16. andutsa akSt.ta and St.ndhuniim upodaya of R V , VIII, :17 :16 and 41, 8It woWd also seem to follow that Cyavana, c'm declme," should beregarded as a designataon of PraJapatI, when .. stupefted by age:'Jfryya milYa (PB , XXV, 1.7, 3) Cf P B XXV. I5, 4. 1utviJ JJ7'1Jantacam (of whrch there IS a remrmscence InBhagavad Gftli. II, 22,vasiins1.fEYfliim yathii vt.haya)

Agm, commonly (as InSB) and nghtly adentafied WIth PraJApatI.ISsmularly subject to mveterataon at the end of a world age, cf R VII 4,5, ..Bemg' aged He forrhwrtih became a youth a.gam. > (JuJunlanyo muhuy ifyuvif Milt). and A A •II, I,7,where the powers (tnbhatayak,

sc d8vas) of the Purusa are said to endure .. so long as the world ofFIre and Earth doesnot growold .. (naJbyate) An agemg of the worlds,and of the manrfested prrncrple of lIfe by whIch they are anunated 18

necessarily Involved In the tradItIonal doctrme of aeomc successionCyavana, then may be taken to be an eprthet of Agnl-PraJapatl

at the end of an aeon cf R V ,V 74 5 •Ye {.ASvms)ook offfrom themveterated Cyavana (JuJUYUSOcyaviinat) hIs skIn as It were a robe(vavnm atkam na muncathan) then when ye made hIm young agaan(yuva punah) he starred the Bnde's desIre' (a kamam "nVBvadhvah) We may say, made harn once more that potent pat", forwhom " the desirous woman goesa seelang Inhe flood 'JU B , I, 56and all thls corresponds to R V , VII, 1.01, 3, " Now IS He Impotentand now becomes progenrtrve, He shapes has hkeness as He WIll" Atthe dawn of a new age therefore, the former powers are said to .. fallaway" (cyu) , as In RV X, 124, 4 agn"'h somo va'l'unas te cyavante.or alternatavely as ha.vmg fallen away (cyavana) to change theIr SkInS,proceeding In renewed youth Here then and lust as Inother tradl-tIons we recogmze the concept of a DYIng God and ever recurrentResurrectron One Prrncrple outwardly subject to a..l aevrternatmveteratrcn (Jarii) but havmg at the same tame Intself an unagemg hie(ayuh aJayam, X 51, 7) and altogether Independent of tIme (aJuryamX 88, X3) mortal and Immortal, marufested and unshown movmgand unmoved Sol Invictus "All else that moves comes to rest,only the Waters ever flow, the Sun for ever nses Who Wlth thyLIght dispellest Darkness, and wrth,thy Radiance settest all InmotIon"

(R V , X. 37, 2 and 4), " He Indeed never really nses nor sets, but onlymverts hunsel£ .. (A"tareya Byjj.hmalta, III, 44)

35




The hrada or laS§ava of the SarasvatI, the Fountam ofLIfe crtedabove.15 also the same as the avatta of the NeranJa.na.,the abode of Kru.aNagaraJa, to whlch the Buddha's pat1'a floats upstream (patuotam).a dlStance of I eighty I hands' by measure With the speed of a swifthorse", the same as Ka.hya·swhlrlpool of the Yamuna. 10 the KnJJ.alila, and the same as the whirlpool 10 the Story of Prince Ma.l)biib(ChJlh, Folk Tales oj H'Jndustan)

41. ThIs IS the normal, rather than 10 any sense a pecuhar pomt ofVIew, cf for example, .. The Chrrstian Sacrifice (the Mass) ISan act of the <hvine and eternal order the reahty and sigmficanceof whIch can only be seenwhen It ISVIewedIn the context of etermtyIt 15 not confined to nor lumted by, the condrtaons of bme and space,yet smce It.concerns man who 15a creature of tameand space aswellasan heir of eternxty It IS Immersed 10 the moments of our tame " (BedeFrost, The Mean-mg oj Mass, Oxford, x934, P 63)

u Avabhl'amSatta must be understood here 10 the mverted, favour-able, upstream sense, not as 10 AV, XIX, 39, 8For Alexander's analogous search for the Fountam of LIfe 10 the

Land of Darkness and other Persian analogies see the sources CIted10my" Khw3-]aKhadrr and the Fountam of LIfe 10 A"s Islam'lCtl,Part 2 x934. and for a ChJ.neseparallel, the lost Vale of the Immortalsand the F-ounta.ul at the RIver s Source, Hefter and Hall, . r TheChmese Idyll," Cluna JOU1'nal oj Se&en,:esand Arss XXV, May x934,pp 220:fE If the JOurney upstream be a II myth," how can theJourney downstream, whIch IS presupposed, have been a .. fact .. ?

oInhe same way X, 56, has pnmanly to do With the processionof AgOland the Patrtarchs Wlth a voyaging 10 the slup of hfe wrthrn

the worlds, ••whether by these or farther shores' (avansu, pa1'8§u)

U ..Man-regarding" nl'caksa. RV. X, x4, rr, elsewhere 10 RVsaid of Savrtf". Agm., Soma, tnSv8devah, p"ta"ah, etc. always 10 a fa"our-able sense, cf sayana on X. X58, 8, n1'cak§a = "harmful to the foesofmen"

UCf the popular (tradttIonal) expressions "bhndworm" and.. deaf adder"

46 V'Jsarpana and a.t~sal'p'anannphed m the CIted passages are theopposxte of afJasal'pana 10 S B. I, 8, x, 7 = avaprabhl'amSana 10 A VXIX 39 8 Cf the case of ApaJ.a on whom Indra bestowed a II solar

skIn" (surya-tvacam) 10 place of the scaly skins that are removed whenshe IS passed throngh holes 10 the celestial cbariot whIch representthe gateway of procession (R V VIII 9X, WithSayana's gloss) Evenmore sigmficant, 10 view of the known relataonshrp between AuBudhnya, the Chthoruc Serpent (cf R V, VII 34 16 ah~m abJambudhne nadJniim 1'aJahsu s~dan) and Agrn GarhapGtya, the HouseholdFire (cf A B, III, 36) IS the findlng of Agm .. on a lotus leaf where hehad crept up out of the Waters" (adbhya up~das,..ptam puskal'apaf'fJe,SB. VII, 3. 2 1:4), the use of SI'P here admtrably illustrates the un-fatlmg precision of the tradIbonal textsObserve also that 1D. Buddhism the lxst of those drsquahfied from

admission to the Sanlgha, the .. Anyan .. communrty rncludes eunuchs(10 R V , the defeated and excluded powers of darkness are typIcally

vadhY'l, mill'l&,and stan) and serpents, thus very evxdently preservmgthe pattern of the oragmat Vedic distmctron of a1'ya from anarya

36



NOTES

Itmay be noted furthE!rIn thIs connecb.on that Buddbmn~carnes over from the Rg Veda the notIon of af'haUa, .. fitness " ••quali-fica;tton,•or "proficIency' The designataen ""hal IS apphed to Agm11\ II. 3, I and 3and X. 2, 2, to Indra.gnlUlV. 86, '$, to Indra InX, 99. 1.to Rudra In II. 33. 10, to the Maruts UlV. 52. 5. and to tho FlI'St

Sacnficers In V, 1, 2. w1ll1eIn X. 63, 4, It IS .. by af',"",a" that theAdityas are said ..to II obtain theu- aevrternrty (amrlatt1afll 1I~.i).the trace of theIr earlier state rema.m.u:a.g1lthe designataon aA~mtiytJ •••possesSing the magic of the serpent " maya here, as generally,pertaimng to the asuratva that remarns Inhe deua«, and by whIch theyoperateThe parallel m Matthew, X, 16, tsstote ef'go fw'U4entes sscvl serpentes

e e Slmpl'Jces stcut columbae represents more than aSImplefigure of speechApropos of our three rllustrataons, denved from Jama sources,

It may be added that Jamlsm. no less than Buddlusm, preserves theVedIC •arhat: see the descnpbon of Fig '2 And If the designataon.. Maker of a Iord • (tirlhamkara) does not occur as such m the Rg

Veda the notron InvolvedInany case corresponds to what ISan essentialfunction of the fJ~sPatf,who conducts the ktndreds across the flowmg'Waters to the promised lands, cf also X, 30, 14. "Wherethe prayer ISaddressed to the Asvms .. Make ye a ford" (krlam tJrlnam), and vanousother passages mwhich the word tirtha appears It may be noted. too,that lust as Mahavrra IS concerved by one mother and nurtured byanother so In Buddhism, Siddharfha IS born of one who dies rm-media.tely and ISnurtured byher SIster,these twobeanngthe slgru.fi.cantnames Maya and PaJapati wluch represent In fact the names of theMadonna respectrvetv Inetermty and Inaevrternrty or ttme at •nIght •and by • day ThIS dual bIrth rmmedrately reflects that of the.. two-mothered dfJ~mata)Agrn of the Rg Veda as for example InIII.

55, 4. where One mother holds the Calf (Skr oatsa =bambmo JUstas speakmg In the vernacular we sometimes call a chrld a .. kid ).the other rests" (ksett = rernams ab 1,ntra as In III 55.7. and X St.5) whale mV 2 2, we see that of these two mothers It ISthe Queen-mother (moh~si correspondmg to the Buddhlst Maya) that begets thePnnce (kumar =Agm) and the handmaad \ (pesi corresponding toPalA.patl10 the Buddhist legend) that ISnow holdmg h1m An almosthteral parallel to the events of Mahavfra, s n::i.tlvltyoccurs Ul R V •I II3, I, where" Night, as havmg conceived for Savrtr's qmckenmg(pl"asfUa safJ~tuh savaya) YIelds the womb to Dawn" (yontm a,.ash).cf I, 124. 8 • SIster to rmghtaer SIsterYieldsthe wombOther correspondences beeween the Buddha and Agm are demon-

strated 10my Elements of Buddh1.st Iconbgrapn,y Cambndge, 1935To matenals assembled there It may be added that the Butldhacarda.I 16 and II, 19-20 referrmg to the death of May1i-<ieVlfter the bIrthof Srddhar-cha describes her as abandomng as was befittIng. "hersubtle form (suksmam prakrt1.m) and mamfestang her double' {SflamQf'-

t1.h) of the drsposrtron With herself (sama-prabhava)' In tlus lessrationalIsed form the story corresponds to the VedICmyth of Vlvas~at(the Sun) and hISWIfeSaranyii whose son IS Yama, and Saral1yft'sdouble' (savarna) whose son ISManu (Yama and Manu can both be

Identified WIth or assrmrlat.ed to Agni) There can be no questIonthat the legends of Mahavrra and Buddha are .adaptafaons, or rather.partaal rataonalrsatnons of the VedIC legend of Agm, Inwhrch thehrstorrcal element ISabsent It IS accordmgly that we can say that

like the stories the tradrtaonal rllustrations of the natrvrties of Mahavlraand Buddha are VIrtually rllustratrons of the natrvrty of Agm. and

37




representa'bons of the Creab.on .. Inthe begmnmg " as described Inthe Rg Vedt:&It may be added, reca.lhng at the same tame that the name VI:,\lU

JS of frequent occurrence In the Rg Veda as a designataon of the Sun,that the legend of Krsna's natrvrty once more repeats the essentIals

of the story as summansed above Born of Vasudeva and DevaklInthe realm. of an Asura, Krljna IS conveyed to Gokula (the Brala-mandala 18not tb.lS Gokula, but called after It) where he IS fostered byYa.Sod§.,who hke TnSaIa does not know that the chrld was not begottenm her own womb the translatIon from anterior to exterior operatIonJS clearly marked by the miraculous crossing of the nver Jamuna,wluch though rn flood, becomes fordable at the touch of Kr~na s foot,the story thus repeatIng WIth only shght variation the VedIC legendof the FIrSt Crossmg of the Rrver of LIfe "leavmg behind the un-£nendly powers ' (R V , X, 53, 8), and It WIllnot be overlooked thatthe real mother .. remams " (Vedic kset.,.)wrthrn 'the parallels couldbe developed at great length. most of Knna Sheroic feats, for example.

are the same as Indra s or Agm's4..1 The t . estamatrve understandmg" m scholastIc defiru:tJ.on,

appetIb.ve. pragmatIc, expenmental. scientafic knowledge

68 It has often. been remarked that a doctrine of Hell 18 unknownto the Rg Veda. Inact, however. the Rg VedIC Hell IS precISelythat ante-natal tomb from which the Iife-desirous pnntafi1:: arethought of as escapmg, or mto whIch those who have mtometaphysIcal sm or are enemies of the Aryan Kmdreds may be thrustback agam. On the other hand the mtermediate state of latency(pnva'bon) IS a future one only from the standpomt of those alreadymanIfested m any ceonwho, bemg progenrtrvely inclined (prCl;Jii-kamya)

and OCCUpIedWIth works, have not yet as Comprehensors (vtdvan)nsen above the tI storm of the world-fiow" Wherever the evolutionand mvomtaon of worlds IS thought of as an eternal cycle, <t Hellor restraInt IS necessanly a past as well as a future state contrastedWIth that -o f the worlds themselves, m whIch the satIsfactIon of desires18 freely pursuedAt the same tIme, It ISonly from the mundane (lauk~ka) pomt of

Vlew that the state of prrvataon can and must be thought of as one ofdefect. the pnvatIon IS more strIctly speaking an absence of any-hmltmg condrtaon, a hberty (add1tva) that 15not m any WISe (nOt1.nOn),but potenttally m all WISe(V1Svatas, etc). for" What ISsilerrt (tus~m=maunam) IS unexpounded (amruktam). and what IS unexpounded IS

everythm.g (sarvvam)," S B ,VII 22 14,cf Eckhart," ThIs unpotenceof the essence IS Its chlef potentIalIty "

49 ThIs essenbal name of Agm, as he who akhyat deviiniim Jamma,R V , IV, 2 xS and f11Sviiveda Jamma, VI, 15. 13. IS here espectallyappropnate

50 The last reference 15 to the .. tortures of hell, II Inthe sensesaforesaad cf for example R V • IV, 19 9, where the .. Maiden s Son '(Agru) 18 spokan of as "blInd and devoured by ants" Of Agmas eIghth AdItya, M~nda Agm Vwvanara, Agm-PraJapab. Itmay assuredly be said that •he descends mto Hell and nses agamfrom the dead ' punah punah Jiiyamana

li1An amblgurty that recurs l.D. connection WIth every symbolIcrepresentatIon of the COSmIC cycle The Tree of LIfe, for example,

38

the rg veda as land nama book ananda coormaswamy

Documents