SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 94 



NOTES 



1. The Angels (devCih) in RV., although from one point of view, that is to 

 say throughout the duration of their aeviternity (anirfattva), incorruptible 

 (ajara, a jury a, amrta, amartya), are subject nevertheless to inveteration at 

 the end, and resurrection at the beginning, of every aeon (ytiga) ; for example, 

 Agni, the very principle of life (ay its, visvayus, RV. passim) " Being inveter- 

 ated, is forthwith born youthful" (jujiir^'an yo muhur a yxiva bhiit, II, 4, 5), 

 and with respect to the aeviternity of his manifestation is also said to be "of 

 unaging youth" (yiivd ajarah, V, 44, 3), and called "Life-universal, deathless 

 amongst them that die" (visvaynr yo aiiirto martesu, VI, 4, 2). Similarly in 

 X, 124, 4 "Agni, Varuna, and Soma decline" (cyavante), in IV, 19, 2 the in- 

 \eterated deities are re-emanated {ai'asrjanta jivrayo na dcvah) , and in V, 74, 5, 

 " From him that hath declined (cyavaiiat) ye (Asvins) loosed the covering 

 cloak, when ye made him young (yuva) again, and stirred the bride's desire". 



2. All references unspecified are to the Rg Veda Satiihita. 



3. For the significance of the vestigium pedi in Vedic. Zen. and Christian 

 tradition see my Elements of Buddhist iconography, 1935, p. 16 and Note 146. 



4. These two forms of his are the same as the two forms {dve rfipe) of 

 Brahman, "immortal, imageless " {amrta, amftrta) and "mortal, in a likeness" 

 {martya, mftrta) of Brhadaranyaka Up., II, 3. i, cf. Maitri Up., VI, 3, 15. 

 and 22. The immortal form is that of Varuna, Death, the para- and nirguija- 

 Brahman: the mortal that Martanda (=Vivasvan, Surya) whom "Aditi bore 

 hitherward unto repeated birth and death ", RV.. X, 72, 9 ; Pururavas " when in 

 altered aspect I kept with mortals", X, 95. 16; Purusa, whom the Angels 

 sacrificed, X, 9; Agni as the sacrifice, X, 88, 9; Brhaspati as the sacrifice, 

 Yama "who gave up his own dear body", X, 13, 4; Yama, "the sole mortal", 

 X. ID, 3; Vasistha of the "only birth", VII, 33, 10; the "only son" (ekaiii 

 putram) of Varuna, Mitra, and Aryaman, VIII, loi, 6; the apara- and 

 saguna- Brahman of the Upanisads. " Mitra is the Day and Varuna the Night ", 

 Paiicavinisa Brahiiiana, XXV, 10, 10. 



5. The Vedic hymns to Dawn are primarily concerned with her first appear- 

 ance at the beginning of the aeon, and analogically with her constant reappear- 

 ance, cf. I, 123, 9, where Dawn, coming forth day after day, " hath knowledge 

 of the first day's name ". In the same way the " Days " are primarily periods of 

 supernal time, and only analogically human days, cf. I, 164, 51 " Day after Day 

 the Waters rise and fall ", and II, 30, i, " Day after Day the sparkling of the 

 Waters moves ". Another version of the hesitation before the battle occurs in the 

 Kulavake Jataka, No. 31, Jafaka, text I, pp. 202-203, where Indra (Sakra) 

 corresponds to Arjuna and Matali to Krsna ; Indra's words "Let me not for 

 the sake of empire (issaram^=aisvaryam) destroy life, rather would I for their 

 sake sacrifice my own life to the Asuras ", very closely parallel those of Arjuna 

 in the Bhagavad G'lta, I, 33-35, though the detail of the motivation is brought 

 out in a slightly different manner. 



6. The concatenation of krsna and arjuna here is by no means fortuitous, 

 but corresponds to that of Krsna and Arjuna in the Malmbharata, where the 

 Great Fight is nothing else but the Vedic conflict of Devas and Asuras. Krsna, 

 whose name is significant of his descent, comes over from the other side to aid 



