Indological Book House

CLASSICAL INDIA VOLUME THREE VEDIC INDIA BY LOUIS RENOU Translated from the French by Philip Spratt INDOLOGICAL BOOK HOUSE DELHI 1911 VARANASI "\ ,.. VEDIC INDIA THE TEXTS 55 universe, the universe is a function of the divine, which is at i today extremely few, while the Smarta, who maintain the I the same time within things and external to them. 11 rituals "of the Smriti", together with adherence t9 the cult of the Five Gods, are still a very large number. F~ om an § 109. Elevation to the divine level proceeds form partici f antiquarian point of view the distinction should be made be pation in the sacred. Thus a ma~ can attain to the divine t tween tae Yajnika, who perform the sacrifices, the Vaidika, level, and it is not to be doubted that at the root of more than f who know by heart their Veda, together with the associated one Vedic story lie legends, fragments of historical fa,:t. texts, and the Shrotriya, who are specialists in the Shl'autasutra At the time when he is invoked, each divinity is regarded (Bhandarkar). Ninety per,cent of Brahmans are Yajurvedins. as the supreme divinity ; he is given the highest prerogatives, and even attributes which belong properly to ,others, It is 2. BELIEFS through this shifting tttat the process of levelling takes place ; lNT.ERODUCTORY it is to be explained in part by the Indian technique ofhymno § 107. The essential part of the Vedic 'system ()f beliefs logy (in a repertory of hymns one draws from a set ,of inter consists in an assemblage of myths, in relation to which all the ehangeable formulae) and. in part by _a~}m~.~~iablc:.te!!,~<:nsy rest, even the cosmogony and above all the eschatology, are of ~~.Il.Qthei~m, ThiS is the phenomenon whIch lVrax secondary importance. These II).yths can be divided into three Muller called henotheism orkathenotheism. We can preserve groups corresponding to three social categories-myths of so the word without' giving it hIs meaning of a deliberately deve vereignty, myths of war, and myths of reproduction. They are loped system. not merely an arbitrary jumble, although fiction has introduced Another remarkable feature of Vedism is that it does not IJOme modifications and even created some of them : they are involve a hierarchy, an organised pantheon. Certainly some , closely related to the rituals. But the connection, often only gods are invoked more often or in a more urgent manner, but Isecondary, l..etween a given myth and its corresponding ritual, this does not necessarily correspond to the importance of the 'esapes us in large measure. divine figure in question, Side by side with the gods there The_J:)~.£w.oynd _Lt~_y'edi!:;_m)d.ho1ogy is natura!~~. is also a vast, indeed unlimited domain of "special gods" ; However, the natural fact is rarely presented in its pure state, some' of these are emanations from a more diversified perso but appears to have resulted from an assimilation; the battles nality, whose attriLutes have been splft apart, a frequent o,f 8 god, for example, having been identified with the mani occurrence in later Vedism. These divisions, as also the fusion ! featations of the storm. At least in the Rigveda we notice of images, may reflect~g~c;!gencesJ;>etw~q ~ibes.,and famil!es. I a tendency to transfer the scenery and story of myths to the § 110 Standing in'contrast to the world of the gods is the ! sky. world ;:,f the demoOll, but less clearly defined : there is no great ' The figures which occur in the myths are strongly anthro~ principle of Evil, but a cloud of minor and indistinct evils. pomorphised, but not to a uniform extent ; they are often also Sometimes the same individual or the same idta bears the presented as animals, but not to such an extent as to affect demoniac aspect side by side with its divine aspect : an instance their behaviour, which remains human. of the ambivalence which has played so iIpportant a part right through the growth of Indian .thought. § 108. Vedic thought moves on several different planes, eaclI fact being susceptible of more than one interpretation. The Vedic religion is seen in the process of evolution. In ~_h.as I?:~!i a cert!liq effect, and. a symbolism-has the hymns themselves the Aditya form a sort of background. ~p-- created wh!£h_J!;I.U:l~. to mask the olq~r m~~I}mgs, As a a residue of pre-Vedic ideas. bJ!~.!'.. We .stage_ of ttte. J:n':rt:'·~lI} I re;'ultora "sort onevelling down, -'the diVine figures, which at ~s,~eseIlt,li~i9n..Qf thc:... got;l becomes less t;lis.tinct, al?t .~~a~e.:s . first were individualised, have taken on a certain uniformity. the place of myth, and eventually doctrine takes the place of ~cl... & we view the texts in sequence, we doubtless overem These divine figures are many. The number of the gods phasise this transformation, separating what may nave been cannot be stated, since there is no clear distinction between simultaneous, and veiling ancient fOrms behind irrelevant the divine and the non-divine, and since everything, down to interpretations. the implements of the cult and abstract ideas, can be divinised at a given moment and from a given point of view. It is in THE INDO-EUROPEAN HERITAGE ~fluid form, and not ~ ~s!.;;?I.e syst~gt of thought, that we § 111. The Vedic Indians inherited from th< Indo-Euro ~~.~sp~~.or a,"'Vegkpaqth~lSfn (more exactly, with Otto, of a peans the outlines, meanings, themes of myths rather than iIieopanhsm) : the universe is not divine, but the divine is the '" 56 VEDIC INDIA THE TEXTS 57 preciae figures: Varuna, perhaps, who is certainly the Sky EXTERNAL INFLUENCES Father, but on Indian soil he soon ceases to be important. ey inherited a clear, full conception of the divine, the name. § ll3. We have referred above (§111) to a possible in deYa, of which is inseparable from the name of the day and fluence of Asian cults. The Dravidian (or pro-Dravidian) oCthe luminous sky (Meilletj. religion may have left its mark, inserting into the Aryan forms ~ ideas new to the high cult, Jts in,!he, ~vQJI.!:iory of ~J.l9ra into It seems that the Indo-E~r~Pa~ns .dex.e.!~d, beyond the ~_Ol:_.e.v.en_.the"eYQlutjQn"of th,e Rlgy~ic B..udrainto the eJeme.ntary worship-or-t1leSky an die earth, the stars, the Yajurveg.Jc J?-wlMl.. Dravidian or more generally non-Aryan wind and water, the n~n Qra sOYSL~.ru;.itjLotdru..l~_ ~es have been assumed in the snake cult, the idea of , ~tl the law.gi:w- iDa f6be~; and on the other hand transmigration, etc. (Brown and others). Popular ideas appear . teY recognised a division. of society into three classes,. those in a public rite such as the Rajasuya (Weber) ; all the more practising magic-reti~':.fsacUviiies,-'-polmcaraildwarfik;;-' ac therefore in the domestic ceremonies and magical practices. tivities. and economi~ and productive activities, a division In some places the Aryanisation of the Veda gives the impre which, coinciding with the rise of a strong priestly power and ssion of being superficial. of a weJl-established military class, had important effects upon the religious system (Benveniste, Dumezil) •. As for the Babylonian contribution which has often been' assumed (as in the origin of the nakshatras, f nd the interpreta Among the myths which may come ~ Indo-European tion of the Adityas), the idea has recently lost favour. It is sources are the fight with the drag.?.1!4!he.~c91t 2.{.fin:~,Ju)!~_...> 8tiII admitted, however, for the myth of the deluge (Winternitz), drink which~coiiI£rs j_r~~JEY. HuT suCh themes may and correlations have been suggested recently in regard to the ,..·c 6een . orABian or ' 'primitive" origin, and may merely horse sacrifice (Dumont), and in certain cosmogonic ideas ,ve been adopted by the Indo-Europeans. In the same way (see § 184). different origins have been suggested for the cult of the Earth Mother (and of the sacred marriage with the Sky). and metre Despite all this, it remains true that the Vedic religion is generally for the cult of the Great Mother ,(Przyluski), for the an Indian creation. If some material was borrowed, all its adoration of the thunder-god and for the £'lIt o(Jh~.~~ elements were brought together in a new system, which bears <1'oppSira~ ...whic.h.jD ,pact taok.the,..plac~jl.: the powerful impress of the Brahmanic spirit. Ethical values were of a low order, and the relations of man THE DIVINITIES I to the divine were on a quite different plane from that found § 114. The gods of the Veda are active and passionate U~.n the Semi tic reli.g.ion.s (Lom m.el).. lJ... .... i~.J>.r.ob.,~!!.I.e.. ~bj\t.'lY..."Q.r; beings who intervene in human affairs. Though their attitude S~,..QLdlb~_dea<t!~d.glL!lm:ilLf,lJ~Jb.e ",2-~.~a'.:E~ ~L~a~}'_~- is initially doubtful, homage renders them propitious ; even if \lclope . they are to be feared, they become the friends of men through .... THE INDO-IRANIAN HERITAGE prayers. They are also friends among them~e1ves, or at least united against the demons; however, in later mythology, dis ! § 112. In spite of close agreement in formulae and themes, it is not easy to say exactly what India has prt.'served from the cord reigns among them also. The attitude of men to them is not that of a slave.

Load more