Maya—A Conceptual History Dr Arpita Mitra

276 Maya—A Conceptual History Dr Arpita Mitra mong the many scholarly projects the objective of this essay is rather modest: to on Indian history and culture that Swami present before the reader a brief historical sketch A Vivekananda intended posterity to take of the concept of ‘maya’ in Hinduism—a con- up was a kind of history of Indian concepts.1 cept without which any discussion on Vedanta Such a history would capture the changing is incomplete. meaning of concepts over time. In recent dec- ades, intellectual history has emerged in a big The Meaning of ‘Maya’ way, especially in the US and Europe, partly out ‘Maya’ is undoubtedly a difficult concept. It has of a critique of the dominance of social history. been commonly understood and translated as ‘il- While it is still new and highly contested there, lusion’. It is true that one of the general meanings intellectual history has received even scantier of the term is deception. However, the Vedantic attention in the field of Indology. According to concept of ‘maya’ is a philosophically sophisti- Sheldon Pollock: ‘The field of Indology has long cated concept, and the general perception of it been dominated by the old philology, which one meaning ‘illusion’ is wrong. Prabhu Dutt Shastri could characterize grosso modo and not neces- says: ‘The world, says the Maya theory in its cor- sarily pejoratively as history without ideas (the rect interpretation, is an appearance, not a mere history of language or textual change, for ex- illusion, since the latter as such is impossible.’4 It ample), and the old Orientalism, which can be is important to distinguish between the general viewed as ideas without history.’2 usage of the term and the technical usage, both It is not that no history of concepts was ever of which, however, seem to overlap at times. The written in Indology. Jan Gonda’s work on con- term was not invented by the Vedanta philoso- cepts such as ishvara, maya, and so on, Prabhu phers. It pre-dates both Mahayana Buddhism, Dutt Shastri’s work on maya, or K L S Rao’s where it is used in a specific sense, and the later The Concept of Śraddhā would bear witness to school of Advaita Vedanta. It is found in the the contrary. However, it may not be wrong to earliest speculations of humankind recorded in say that conceptual history as a systematic and the Rig Veda, and appears early in the Upani- definite discipline with well-defined methods shads in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, while is yet to evolve in the field of Indic Studies.3 it crystallises into a specific meaning in theSh - Having pointed out the academic need to pay vetashvatara Upanishad. It then develops into its attention to the history of ancient Indian ideas, final form at the hands of the Advaita Vedantins. It is worth citing here Swamiji’s brief discus- Dr Arpita Mitra has a PhD in history from Jawahar- sion of the history and meaning of the concept: lal Nehru University and specialises in Indian intel- Generally it is used, though incorrectly, to de- lectual history. note illusion, or delusion, or some such thing. 266 PB January 2020 Maya—A Conceptual History 277 But the theory of Maya forms one of the pillars philosophers who did not believe in the exter- upon which the Vedanta rests; it is, therefore, nal world at all. But the Maya of the Vedanta, necessary that it should be properly under- in its last developed form, is neither Idealism stood. I ask a little patience of you, for there nor Realism, nor is it a theory. It is a simple is a great danger of its being misunderstood. statement of facts—what we are and what we The oldest idea of Maya that we find in Vedic see around us.5 literature is the sense of delusion; but then the real theory had not been reached. We find Hopefully, we shall be in a better position such passages as, ‘Indra through his Maya as- to appreciate his statement at the end of the sumed various forms’. Here it is true the word present essay. Maya means something like magic, and we find There are certain dimensions associated with various other passages, always taking the same the word ‘maya’: power, inscrutable, mysteri- meaning. The word Maya then dropped out of ous, magical, deception, and pretense. All these sight altogether. But in the meantime the idea was developing. Later, the question was raised: connotations have endured over time and have ‘Why can’t we know this secret of the universe?’ been invoked in different contexts. Let us take And the answer given was very significant: ‘Be- a look at the etymology of the word.6 Prabhu cause we talk in vain, and because we are satis- Dutt Shastri writes: ‘The word ‘Maya’ is derived fied with the things of the senses, and because from √mā, to measure—“mīyate anayā iti”, i.e., we are running after desires; therefore, we, as it by which is measured, meaning thereby, as trad- were, cover the Reality with a mist.’ Here the ition has it, that illusive projection of the world word Maya is not used at all, but we get the by which the immeasurable Brahman appears idea that the cause of our ignorance is a kind of mist that has come between us and the Truth. as if measured. The same root gives further the Much later on, in one of the latest Upanishads, sense of “to build”, leading to the idea of “appear- we find the word Maya reappearing, but this ance” or illusion. Sāyaṇa, in his commentary on time, a transformation has taken place in it, R.V. [Rig Veda] i. II. 7, too derives the word from and a mass of new meaning has attached itself “māḍḍ māne” (i.e., √mā, to measure).’7 Further- to the word. Theories had been propounded more: ‘Another way to derive it would be “māti and repeated, others had been taken up, until (svātmānam) darśayati iti māyā”, i.e., “that which at last the idea of Maya became fixed. We read shows itself—that which appears to our view in the Shvetashvatara Upanishad, ‘Know nature to be Maya and the Ruler of this Maya is the (without having any real existence)”. This will Lord Himself.’ Coming to our philosophers, be from √mā, to show. Hence, the conception we find that this word Maya has been manipu- of māyā as the causal will power (icchā-śakti or lated in various fashions, until we come to the prajñā) may be derived from √mā, to know; and, great Shankaracharya. The theory of Maya was as the effectual state of the world as illusion, from manipulated a little by the Buddhists too, but √mā, to measure, to build, etc.’ (30). in the hands of the Buddhists it became very much like what is called Idealism, and that is Maya in the Vedas the meaning that is now generally given to the The central debate about the concept of ‘maya’ word Maya. When the Hindu says the world is Maya, at once people get the idea that the in the Vedic texts is whether it means the same world is an illusion. This interpretation has thing as what it came to mean when the phil- some basis, as coming through the Buddhistic osophy of Advaita Vedanta was fully developed philosophers, because there was one section of at the hands of Acharya Gaudapada and Acharya PB January 2020 267 278 Prabuddha Bharata Shankara. Opinions on this issue are divided. Soma-Arka, Mayabheda, Indravishnu, Prajapati- Simply put, some scholars differentiate strictly Vaishvamitra, and Surya-Vaishvanara.9 between the meaning of the concept as found The word does not occur so often in the Yajur in the Vedas and as found in later Vedantic phil- and the Sama Vedas, which are basically an ad- osophy, while others consider the meaning of aptation of many mantras of the Rig Veda along the term in the Vedic and the later Vedantic con- with the addition of some new mantras. The texts to be identical. According to Jan Gonda: word occurs about twenty times, spread over ‘Both views pronounced by many of our prede- sixteen hymns, in the Atharva Veda. However, cessors, viz. that according to which Vedism and its usage in this text is of great import. We shall Hinduism attached different values to the term come to this shortly. māyā-, and the “Vedantist theory” according to In the Rig Veda, the word ‘maya’ is not used which the sense of “deceptive appearance, un- in the same sense everywhere. TheNighantu , an reality, illusion, magic” is also to be attributed early collection of Vedic homonyms, mentions to the relevant passages of the earlier Indian lit- ‘maya’ as one of the eleven names of prajna, intel- erature, are equally inadequate.’ However, ‘this ligence. Yaska, in his Nirukta, mentions the same term while expressing fundamentally the same meaning for ‘maya’, prajna. Shastri points out: sense from the earliest texts to the later periods As a rule, following Yāska, Sāyaṇa in most cases of Hinduism was in the course of time applied in gives the meaning prajñā—i.e., energy, mental different connections, used in various religious, power as distinguished from physical—but he is philosophical and profane contexts, attributed not always definite; in fact, he could not be so. to different owners, bearers or wielders, that its … Tradition—as preserved in Sāyaṇa’s commen- sense and range of application was deepened, tary—tells us that the two meanings prajñā and extended and specialized’.8 We shall be able to kapaṭa are the most common, and sometimes judge the issue for ourselves perhaps at the end run parallel.

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