Vedic Cosmology and Ethics Gonda Indological Studies Published Under the Auspices of the J. Gonda Foundation Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences Edited by Peter C. Bisschop (Leiden) Editorial Board Hans T. Bakker (Groningen) Dominic D.S. Goodall (Paris/Pondicherry) Hans Harder (Heidelberg) Stephanie Jamison (Los Angeles) Ellen M. Raven (Leiden) Jonathan A. Silk (Leiden) volume 19 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/gis Vedic Cosmology and Ethics Selected Studies By Henk Bodewitz Edited by Dory Heilijgers Jan Houben Karel van Kooij LEIDEN | BOSTON This is an open access title distributed under the terms of the CC-BY-NC 4.0 License, which permits any non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Bodewitz, H. W., author. | Heilijgers-Seelen, Dorothea Maria, 1949- editor. Title: Vedic cosmology and ethics : selected studies / by Henk Bodewitz ; edited by Dory Heilijgers, Jan Houben, Karel van Kooij. Description: Boston : Brill, 2019. | Series: Gonda indological studies, ISSN 1382-3442 ; 19 | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2019013194 (print) | LCCN 2019021868 (ebook) | ISBN 9789004400139 (ebook) | ISBN 9789004398641 (hardback : alk. paper) Subjects: LCSH: Hindu cosmology. | Hinduism–Doctrines. | Hindu ethics. Classification: LCC B132.C67 (ebook) | LCC B132.C67 B63 2019 (print) | DDC 294.5/2–dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019013194 Typeface for the Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic scripts: “Brill”. See and download: brill.com/brill‑typeface. ISSN 1382-3442 ISBN 978-90-04-39864-1 (hardback) ISBN 978-90-04-40013-9 (e-book) Copyright 2019 by Henk Bodewitz. Published by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. 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Contents Foreword xi Hans Bakker Editors’ Preface xiv List of Abbreviations (Texts) xxiv Introductory Article 1 The Hindu Doctrine of Transmigration: Its Origin and Background 3 1 Terminology 7 1.1 karman 7 1.2 Return and Rebirth (punarjanman) 9 1.3 mokṣa 11 2 Ideological Framework 12 3 Textual Evidence 15 Part 1 Yonder World 2 Der Vers vicakṣaṇād ṛtavo …(JB 1, 18; 1, 50; KauṣU 1, 2) 23 3 Gab es damals auch dyumnas? Die Weltentstehung nach dem Jaiminīya Brāhmaṇa 29 4 The Waters in Vedic Cosmic Classifications 37 5 The Fourth Priest (the Brahmán) in Vedic Ritual 46 1 The Brahmán as the Fourth Item 53 2 Silence 57 3 The Brahmán and the South 59 4 Complete Knowledge 62 5 Expiations 63 6 Conclusion 64 6 Yama’s Second Boon in the Kaṭha Upaniṣad 66 vi contents 7 Reaching Immortality According to the First Anuvāka of the Jaiminīya Upaniṣad Brāhmaṇa 86 8 Life after Death in the Ṛgveda Saṁhitā 94 9 The pañcāgnividyā and the pitṛyāna/devayāna 111 1 Connection with the Agnihotra 112 2 The Kṣatriya Motif 113 3 The pañcāgnividyā 114 4 The Journey to Heaven 115 5 The Separation of the devayāna and the pitṛyāna 117 6 The Ultimate Situation of the One Who Follows the devayāna 118 10 Redeath and Its Relation to Rebirth and Release 121 11 Yonder World in the Atharvaveda 135 1 Hell 139 2 Destination of Unfavourable Persons or Items 140 3 Rivals and Enemies 141 4 Return of the Deceased or Almost Deceased 142 12 Pits, Pitfalls and the Underworld in the Veda 148 13 Distance and Death in the Veda 162 1 Ṛgveda Saṁhitā 164 2 Atharvaveda Saṁhitā 165 3 Yajurveda Saṁhitā and Vedic Prose 167 4 Evidence from the Ṛgveda and Atharvaveda Saṁhitā 169 4.1 Sinners (Hell) 169 4.2 Rivals (Underworld or Hell) 169 4.3 Ordinary People and Pitṛs (Underworld) 170 14 Classifications and Yonder World in the Veda 174 1 The Quarters of Space 176 1.1 East and West 179 1.2 South and North 181 1.3 The Quarters of Space and the Classes 183 1.4 More Than Four Quarters of Space 184 2 The Cosmic Classifications of the Worlds 189 contents vii 2.1 The Sevenfold Classification 189 2.2 The Fourfold/Fivefold Classification 193 2.3 The Waters as Fourth or Fifth World 195 2.4 Cosmic and Microcosmic Identifications 197 2.5 Varuṇa’s Waters and the Fourth World 199 2.6 The Dhur Verses and the Cosmic Classification 200 3 Synthesis. The World of Death 204 3.1 The South and the Fourth World 205 3.2 Varuṇa, the West, the Waters and the Fourth World 206 3.3 The North and the Fourth World 206 3.4 The Darker Side of the Pitṛs 208 15 Citra’s Questions in KauṣU 1, 1 210 16 Uddālaka’s Teaching in Chāndogya Upaniṣad 6, 8–16 214 17 The Dark and Deep Underworld in the Veda 223 1 Demons and Diseases 224 2 Sinners 227 3 Rivals and Enemies 228 4 Ignorant Persons 232 5 Ancestors and Diseased Relatives or Clients 233 6 Conclusions and General Observations 237 Part 2 Vices and Virtues 18 Sukṛtá and Sacrifice 245 19 Non-ritual kárman in the Veda 253 20 Vedic aghám: Evil or Sin, Distress or Death? 262 1 The Dictionaries 263 2 The Concept of Sin in Connection with aghám 264 3 The Ṛgveda Saṁhitā 265 4 The Atharvaveda Saṁhitā 268 4.1 Evil or Harm 268 4.2 Distress or Mourning 269 4.3 Lamenting the Departure of the Bride 271 viii contents 4.4 Compounds with aghá 274 4.5 Conclusion 275 5 Vedic aghám: Sin? 276 6 The Grave-Mound in the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa 277 7 Post-Vedic agham 281 7.1 agham with the Verb bhoj (BhG 3, 13 and Manu 3, 118) 281 7.2 The Aghamarṣaṇa Ceremony 283 7.3 The Compounds anagha and niragha 284 8 Conclusion 284 21 The Vedic Concepts āgaś and énas 287 1 Introduction 287 2 ā́gas and énas in the Dictionaries 291 2.1 ā́gas 291 2.2 énas 292 3 Vedic ā́gas after the Ṛgveda Saṁhitā 293 3.1 ā́gas in the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa 293 3.2 ā́gas in the Atharvaveda Saṁhitā 296 4 ā́gas in the Ṛgveda Saṁhitā 297 4.1 Self-Committed ā́gas 297 4.2 Missing Indications of Self-Committed ā́gas 300 4.3 Actions against ā́gas 301 5 Gonda’s Views on ā́gas and ánāgas in the Ṛgveda Saṁhitā 303 6 énas in the Ṛgveda Saṁhitā 306 6.1 The Verb kar Used with énas 306 6.2 Other Verbs Used with énas 311 7 énas in the Atharvaveda (Śaunaka) 318 7.1 The Verb kar Used with énas 318 7.2 Other Verbs Used with énas 320 7.3 The Result of énas (Sin) Caused by Not Giving a Cow to the Brahmins 325 8 enas in the Atharvaveda (Paippalāda) 327 8.1 The Verb kar Used with enas 327 8.2 Other Verbs Used with enas 329 9 énas in the Yajurveda Saṁhitās 331 9.1 The énas Which is devákṛtam 331 9.2 Committed énas 334 9.3 énas (Evil) Produced (kṛtám) by Oneself or by Others 336 10 énas in the Brāhmaṇas 337 11 Conclusion 341 contents ix 22 Sins and Vices: Their Enumerations and Specifications in the Veda 342 1 The Seven indriyāṇi in GB 1, 2, 2 342 2 The Six pāpmānas in JB 1, 98 and 2, 363 343 3 Six pāpmā́nas in AV 11, 8, 19 345 4 Fifteen doṣas in ĀpDhS 1, (8)23, 5 346 5 Two Types of Evils and Vices in MaiU 3, 5 346 6 The Six Vices in Post-Vedic Texts 348 7 Two Types of vyasanāni in Manu 7, 45ff. 349 8 The Four (or Five) Major Sins According to ChU 5, 10, 9 and Dharma Texts 350 9 Eight Types of Sinners in MS 4, 1, 9 and TB 3, 2, 8, 12 353 10 Major Sins 356 10.1 Killing or Murder 356 10.2 Stealing 360 10.3 Drinking Liquor 362 10.4 Illicit Sexual Intercourse 363 11 Conclusion 366 23 Vedic Terms Denoting Virtues and Merits 368 1 The Merit of sukṛtám 369 1.1 What Has to Be Done for Obtaining Merit (sukṛtám) and By Whom? 370 1.2 The Non-sacrificial sukṛtám 371 1.3 The Role of the Yajamāna as the sukṛ́t 375 1.4 The sukṛtam in Late Vedic texts 378 2 The Merit of púṇyam 379 2.1 puṇyam = sukṛtam and pāpam = duṣkṛtam 380 2.2 The loka Obtained by puṇyam 384 2.3 The Persons Who Are Called puṇya 388 2.4 What Is the puṇyam Done by the Meritorious? 390 3 What Are the Qualifications for Life after Death in Heaven? 392 3.1 Obtaining Heaven in the Ṛgveda Saṁhitā 393 3.2 Qualifications for Heaven in the Atharvaveda Saṁhitā 396 3.3 How Is Heaven to Be Obtained in Vedic Prose Texts? 396 4 Vedic, Late-Vedic, Post-Vedic and Non-Vedic Lists of Virtues or Rules of Life 399 5 Conclusions 401 x contents Appendix 1. The Verse vicakṣaṇād ṛtavo …(JB 1, 18; 1, 50; KauṣU 1, 2) 405 Appendix 2. Were There Any dyumnas at the Time? Cosmogony According to the Jaiminīya Brāhmaṇa 410 References 417 Index of Authors 437 Index of Textplaces 440 General Index 462 Foreword In one of his rare interviews, given to Mare, Weekly Magazine of the University of Leiden (7-11-2002), on the occasion of his Valedictory Lecture, Hendrik (Henk) Wilhelm Bodewitz defined his own professional career as moving to and fro between Utrecht and Leiden “with the flexibility of an Afghan.” This oneliner is worth quoting, since it illustrates two features that characterize Henk Bodewitz as I know him: his professorship in Leiden without renouncing his loyalty to Utrecht, and his humour.