YFI'A. 



VEDA. 



ten thousand five huixlred and eighty and a half .SVrA or verses. Thefirst 

 eight of thro* Man'd'als* begin with hynins addressed to JpM, which 

 are followed by hymna addressed to /mlra. After the Utter come 

 gMMnlly h vron* addressed to the VUwe DtvAt, or the gods collectively, 

 and then those which ire devoted to other divinities. The ninth 

 Man'd'ala i entirely addressed to the Soma-plant, and is especially 

 connected, therefore, with the Simaveda-SanhitA ; while the tenth 

 Man'd'ala has chiefly erred for the collection of the Atharrareda 

 hymna. Again, aa regarda their author, the aecond Man'd'ala contain! 

 hymna which are attributed to the R'ishi Or'itsamada; the third i* 

 aaid to belong to Vis'wftmitra, the fourth to Vamadevm, the fifth to the 

 Atria, the aixth to Bharadwaja, the serenth to Vamshfha. the eighth 

 to Kanvra, the ninth to Angiraa. The first and the tenth Man'd'ala 

 are ascribed to the authonhip of various R'ishU. 



"The worahip which the Suktas deacribe comprehends offering 

 prayer and praise : the former are chiefly oblations and libations, 

 clarified butter poured on fire ; and the expressed and fermented juice 

 of the Soma-plant, presented in ladles to the deities invoked, in what 

 manner does not exactly appear, although it seems to hare been 

 sprinkled, sometimes on the lire, sometimes on the ground, or, rather, 

 on the K<u'a, or sacred grass, strewed on the floor, and in all cases the 

 residue was drunk by the assistants. The ceremony takes place in the 

 dwelling of the worshipper, in a chamber appropriated to the purpose, 

 and probably to the maintenance of a perpetual fire, although the 

 frequent allusions to the occasional kindling of the sacred flame are 

 rather at variance with this practice. There is no mention of any 

 temple, nor any reference to a public place of worship, and it is clear 



that the worship was entirely domestic That animal victims 



were offered on particular occasions may be inferred from brief and 

 obscure allusions in the hymns of the first book ; and it is inferrible 

 from some passages that human sacrifices were not unknown, although 

 infrequent and sometimes typical : but those are the exceptions, and 

 the habitual offerings may be regarded as consisting of clarified butter 

 and the juice of the Soma-plant. 



" The S<U*a almost invariably combines the attributes of prayer and 

 praise : the power, the vaetness, the generosity, the goodness, and even 

 the personal beauty of the deity addressed are described in highly 

 laudatory strains, and his past bounties or exploits rehearsed and 

 glorified ; hi requital of which commendations, and of the libations or 

 oblations which he is solicited to accept, and in approval of the rite in 

 his honour, at which his presence is invoked, he is implored to bestow 

 Messing* on the person who has instituted the ceremony, and some- 

 times, but not so commonly, also on the author or reciter of the 

 |>rayef. The blessings prayed for are, for the most part, of a temporal 

 and personal description, wealth, food, life, posterity, cattle, cows, and 

 horses ; protection against enemies, victory over them, and sometimes 

 their destruction, particularly when they ore represented as inimical to 

 the celebration of religious rites, or, in other words, people not pro- 

 fessing the same religious faith. There are a few indications of a hope 

 of immortality and of future happiness, but they are neither frequent 

 nor, in general, distinctly announced, although the immortality of the 

 gods is recognised, and the possibility of its attainment by human 

 being! exemplified in the case of the demigods termed R'ibhus, ele- 

 vated for their piety to the rank of divinities. Protection against 

 evil spirits (RAIakatot) is also requested, and in one or two passages 

 Kama and his office, as ruler of the dead, are obscurely alluded to. 

 There is little demand for moral benefactions, although in some few 

 instances hatred of untruth and abhorrence of sin are expressed ; a 

 hope U uttered that the latter may be repented of or expiated ; and 

 the goda are in one hymn solicited to extricate the worshippers from sin 

 of every kind. The main object of the prayers, however, are benefits 

 of a more worldly and physical character : the tone in which these are 

 requested indicates a quiet confidence in their being granted, aa a 

 return for the benefits which the gods are supposed to derive from the 

 offering! made to them, in gratifying their bodily wants, and from the 

 praises which impart to them enhanced energy and augmented power : 

 there U nothing, however, which denotes any particular potency in the 

 prayer or hymn, so as to compel the gods to comply with the desires of 

 the worshipper ; nothing of that enforced necessity which makes so 

 conspicuous and characteristic a figure in the Hindu mythology of a 

 later date, by which the performance of austerities for a continued 

 period constrains the gods to grant the desired boon, although fraught 

 with |*ril and even destruction to themselves." (Wilson, ' R'igveda,' 

 vuL i. p. xxiii, I!'.) 



If we ask what divinities were worshipped by the authors of the 

 R'igreda hymns, an answer U given by Yaska, the oldest Vaidik exegote 

 of those whose writing* are preserved, in the following manner : 

 " The Vaidik exegote says that there are (Arte Devatag, viz., Agni, who 

 resides on earth ; Vayu, or Indra, who resides in the intermediate 

 region (between heaven and earth) ; and Surj-a, who resides in heaven. 

 Became each of these Devmtta has a variety of attributes, there are 

 indeed many names of them " (vii. 5) ; and " of the Devatt there is 

 but one soul ; but the DevaU having a variety of attributes, it is 

 praised in many ways : other gods are merely portions of the one soul " 

 (vii 4). The Anukramaol. or explanatory index to this Veda, says, in 

 a similar manner, " The deities an only three, whose places are the 

 earth, the intermediate region, and heaven : (namely) fire, air, and the 

 sun. They are pronounced to be (the deities of the mysterious names 



severally) ; and (1'rajipatit the lord of creation is (the deity) of them 

 collectively. The syllable Om intends every deity; it belongs to 

 .Paramesht'h'i) him who dwells in the supreme abode ; It appertains to 

 Brahman) the Ys*t one; to (Deva) God; to (Adhyatman) the super- 

 intending soul Other deities belonging to those several regions are 

 portions of the three gods; for they are variously named and described, 

 JD account of their Various operations : but (in fact) there U only one 

 deity, the Oreal Soul (MahanatmA). He is called the Sun ; for he is 

 the soul of all beings : (and) that is declared by the sage : ' the sun is 

 the soul of ( jagat) what moves and of (tasthivat) that which is fixed.' 

 Other deities are portions of him." (Colebrooke, Misc. Ees.,' i- 1' 



If we took this account for correct representation of the Vaiilik 

 creed we could not but draw the inference that it was based on the 

 belief hi one god, or, at leant, one principle of creation, and that the 

 many gods met with in the Vaidik hymns are merely poetical allegories 

 of the One Great Soul. We have quoted indeed, before, a > 

 cal hymn of the R'igveda, which would seem to countenance this 

 view. But an unbiassed examination of the R'igveda poetry must 

 lead to the conclusion that religion did not take this course in India ; 

 that we must distinguish between one or more hymns, evidently the 

 product of a later and philosophical age, and the bulk of that collection 

 which contains nothing but the adoration of the elementary powers 

 in their various manifestations and degrees. Nor can we give an 

 unqualified assent to the threefold classification of the Vaidik 

 divinities, as given by Y&ska, and repeated by the Anukramanl ; for 

 neither is Agni's abode restricted to earth, nor could Indra be identified 

 or placed on the same level with V&yu, nor would it be correct to 

 assign to Surya such a place in tho Vaidik pantheon as would equalise 

 his rank with that of Agni or Indra. The real position and quality <>f 

 the principal Vaidik divinities of the R'igveda is, in short, this : 

 The chief deities ore Agni and Indra, the two gods, as we have i; 

 before, to whom the first series of hymns is addressed in eight out of 

 the ten Mon'd'alas of the SanhitA. Agni (from aj, " to move," Latin, 

 igtii-) is the God of Fire, under a threefold aspect of this element : 

 as it exists on earth, in its daily use and in its sacrificial capacity, as 

 well as the heat of digestion and the principle of animal and vegetable 

 life ; secondly, as the fire of lightning ; and thirdly, as the fire of the 

 sun. Agni is praised therefore as the originator of the sacrifice, and as 

 the mediator between gods and men: he conveys offerings to the 

 former, and brings the gods to the worshipper. During the night he 

 protects mortals from the demons who haunt the altars and are hostile 

 to religious rites. On the other hand, as the fire of lightning, Agni 

 is the " son, or the grandson, of the waters ;" and as the fire of the 

 sun he grants wealth, food, health, and life, destroys and revives all 

 things. Not many subordinate divinities are mentioned in his train ; 

 sometimes; the Atarult, or Winds, are, but they are more frequently 

 the attendants of Indra; and the Aprtt, female divinities, which also 

 include insensible objects, such as the doors of the sacrificial hall. The 

 proper offering to Agni is ghee (ghrita), or clarified butter. 



Indra (a word of doubtful etymology, probably from an obsolete 

 radical id or iW, " to see " or " to know ') is the powerful god of the 

 firmament. He bestows blessings and riches when propitiated by the 

 juice of the Soma-plant, which is his appropriate offering. He has 

 elevated the sun and fixed the constellations in the sky ; but above all 

 he is the conqueror of IVi'tro (" the enveloper "), the demon who hides 

 the sun, and of the clouds which threaten to withhold their waters from 

 the earth ; he pierces them with his thunderbolt and the waters ore 

 let down. Ho is also represented as discovering, and rescuing with his 

 thunderbolt, the cows which had been stolen and were hidden in the 

 hollows of the mountains by a demon named Pan'i or Vala. It is 

 possible that these cows, as Professor Whitney believes ('Journal Amer. 

 Or. Soo. 1 iii. p. 820), are meant for an allegory of the reservoirs of water 

 which are freed by Indra, like the waters in the myth of Vr'itra ; but 

 it is possible also that this legend is merely a poetical record of an 

 occurrence of pastoral life, such as we frequently meet with in the 

 R'igveda poetry. A subordinate class of gods who are naturally 

 associated with Indra, are the Harutt, or Winds ; they assist Indra in 

 his battles with Vr'itra and the. production of rain. " They ride on 

 spotted stags, wear shining armour, and carry spears in their hands ; 

 no one knows whither they come nor whither they go, their voice U 

 heard aloud aa they come rushing on; the earth trembles and the 

 mountains shake' before them. They are called the sons of Iliulrn, 

 who is conceived of as peculiar god of the tempest." (Ib. p. 315.) 

 Besides them a god of wind, Vdyu, is named : " he drives a thousand 

 steeds ; his breath chases away the demons ; be comes in the earliest 

 morning, as the first breath of air that stirs itself at day break, to 

 drink the Soina, and the Auroras weave for him shining garment*." 

 This god is sometimes identified with Indra ; but there are verses in 

 which both, Indra and Viyu, are invoked conjointly to share in the 

 sacrifice. 



Amongst the gods assigned by Yoska to the sphere of heaven, we 

 have to notice in the first rank the A dityat, or the sons of the A <iiti. 

 The latter word means " indestructibility," and the Ailityaa ore dis- 

 cribed as " elevated above all imperfection ; they do not sleep or wink ; 

 their character is all truth ; they hate and punish guilt; to preserve 

 mortals from sin U their highest office." One of these Adityas, is 

 SSrya, the sun, who is described OK driving a chariot drawn by seven 

 golden steeds, and is also personified as the ornamented bird of heaven. 



