Wendy Doniger Rig Veda on Solar Gods

Table Of Contents

CREATION
DEATH
THE ELEMENTS OF SACRIFICE
THE HORSE SACRIFICE
GODS OF THE SACRIFICE: AGNI AND SOMA
SOMA
INDRA
GODS OF THE STORM
SOLAR GODS
SKY AND EARTH
VARUNA
RUDRA AND VISNU
REALIA
WOMEN
INCANTATIONS AND SPELLS

SOLAR GODS

IN the nineteenth century, Max Müller conceived and popularized the theory that all the gods of the Rig Veda were aspects of the sun. Solar mythology has now been eclipsed, but it is certainly true that many of the Vedic gods have some connection with the sun, that many of the creation hymns involve the discovery of the sun, and that many of the closing benedictions include a plea that the worshipper may continue to see the sun. Visnu is a particularly solar god (cf. 1.154), and Agni and Soma have strong solar characteristics; other gods are more vaguely solar, being described as shining or golden and dwelling in the sky.

There is, in addition, a group of gods connected with the sun in various concrete ways. Dawn is incarnate as a goddess closely associated with the Asvins (1.92), who are themselves the sons of Vivasvan, the sun. The Asvins are given credit for accomplishing many acts of benefit to mankind, particularly the rescue of people in danger (1.116); many of these remain obscure, but one, the rescue of Atri, is described at length (5.78). Atri, in turn, is said to have found the lost sun (5.40), an act that may be seen as a variant of the original act of creation itself, the making or finding of the sun (usually attributed to Indra), or merely surviving the danger of an eclipse.

The sun is personified primarily as Surya (1.50); metaphorically, he is associated with the sun-bird (10.177), who is in turn personified in a mysterious sage named Vena (10.123). Püsan is the charioteer of the sun and is therefore associated with journeys and travellers (1.42); he is also the god who presides over the unharnessing of chariots at the end of the day (6.55). Savitr is the ‘Driver’ who inspires and impels men to action; he, too, is invoked not only by day but at sunset (2.38) and at night (1.35). The dark aspect of the sun, which is manifest even in the hymns to Dawn, is balanced by a vision of the light embodied in the benevolent aspect of night (10.127).

1.92   Dawn and the Asvins

The central and recurring metaphor in this hymn to Usas (personification of dawn) is that of harnessing tawny cows or bay horses to her chariot, in which she is to bring all riches to the men who worship her. The chariot is both a simple instrument of portage, a kind of cosmic Wells Fargo wagon, and symbolic of the victory chariot by which all riches are won. The metaphor is complicated and enriched by the fact that the lights of dawn themselves are regarded as cows or mothers, who come of their own accord to be milked at dawn.

1 See how the dawns have set up their banner¹ in the eastern half of the sky, adorning and anointing² themselves with sunlight for balm. Unleashing themselves like impetuous heroes unsheathing their weapons, the tawny cows, the mothers, return.

2 The red-gold lights have flown up freely; they have yoked the tawny cows who let themselves be yoked. The dawns have spread their webs in the ancient way; the tawny ones have set forth the glowing light.

3 They sing like women busy at their tasks, coming from a distant place with a single harnessed team,³ bringing refreshing food day after day to the man of good actions, the man of generosity, the man who sacrifices and presses the Soma.

4 Like a dancing girl, she puts on bright ornaments; she uncovers her breast as a cow reveals her swollen udder. Creating light for the whole universe, Dawn has opened up the darkness as cows break out from their-enclosed pen.

5 Her brilliant flame has become visible once more; she spreads herself out, driving back the formless black abyss. As one⁴ sets up the stake in the sacrifice, anointing⁵ and adorning it with coloured ornaments, so the daughter of the sky sets up her many- coloured light.

6 We have crossed to the farther bank of this darkness; radiant Dawn spreads her webs. Smiling like a lover who wishes to win his way, she shines forth and with her lovely face awakens us to happiness.

7 The shining daughter of the sky, bringing rich gifts, is praised by the Gotamas.⁶ Measure out off spring and strong men as the victory prizes, Dawn, the rewards that begin with cattle and culminate in horses.

8 Let me obtain great riches of glory and heroic men, Dawn, riches that begin with slaves and culminate in heroes. Fortunate in your beauty, incited by the victory prize you shine forth with the fame of great achievements.

9 Gazing out over all creatures, the goddess shines from the distance facing straight towards every eye. Awakening into motion everything that lives, she has found the speech of every inspired poet.⁶

10 The ancient goddess, born again and again dressed in the same colour, causes the mortal to age and wears away his life-span,⁷ as a cunning gambler carries off the stakes.

11 She has awakened, uncovering the very edges of the sky; she pushes aside her sister.⁸ Shrinking human generations, the young woman shines under her lover’s gaze.⁹

12 Spreading out her rays like cattle, like a river in full ood the brightly coloured one shines from the distance. The fortunate goddess does not break the laws of the gods but becomes visible, appearing by the rays of the sun.

13 Dawn, you who hold the victory prize, bring us that brightly coloured power by which we establish children and grandchildren.

14 Dawn, rich in cows, rich in horses, resplendent giver of gifts, shine your riches upon us here and now.

15 Harness your red-gold horses now, O prize-giving Dawn, and bring all good fortunes to us.

16 O Asvins¹⁰ who work wonders, turn your chariot that brings cattle, that brings gold, and with one mind come back to us.

17 You Asvins who gave a shout from heaven¹¹ and made light for mankind, bring us strength.

18 May those who wake at dawn¹² bring here to drink the Soma the two gods who work wonders and give joy, moving on paths of gold.

NOTES

1. The banner that the dawns plant in the sky, as if to stake out a territory, may be a streak of dawn light revealing the darkened universe, or it may be the sun ; it is also a battle banner, as the verse goes on to liken the dawns to warriors.

2. The verb means both to anoint and to adorn; in verse 1, the dawns adorn themselves with the sun and anoint themselves with light; in verse 5 the priest anoints the stake with clarified butter and adorns it with coloured ornaments, a metaphor which also recalls the setting up of the banner in verse 1.

3. The phrase indicates that the team has travelled a yojana, the distance one can traverse with a single ‘yoking’, without having to change the team.

4. The priest. Here Dawn is likened to a man, as she is in verse 1 (a warrior) and verse 10 (a gambler). She is a potent, sinister figure.

5. The family of sages to whom this hymn is attributed.

6. ‘Found’ both in the sense that she finds it for him (inspires him) and finds it in him (accepts his praise).

7. Here, and in the next verse, Dawn steals away the life-span (cf. 1.179.1) of mortals, while remaining young herself and acting for the benefit of the gods. She steals our youth as a gambler (perhaps by deception) takes away someone else’s stakes (cf. 2.12.5 and 10.34.6).

8. The night.

9. Her lover, as the next verse makes clear, is the sun, whose love is reflected in her.

10. Three verses addressed to the Asvins are appended to this hymn, attracted by the metaphor of the chariot that brings riches and by the ideas of awakening (w. 17-18) and dawn (v. 18).

11. They shout to wake people up at sunrise.

12. The priests.

1.116   The Deeds of the Asvins

1 For the Näsatyas¹ I offer praises, as one sets an offering on sacred grass, driving them forward as the wind drives rain-clouds; the two of them brought a wife to the young Vimada on a chariot swift as an arrow,²

2 trusting in their horses with strong wings and swift gaits or in the incitements of the gods. Your donkey, Näsatyas, won a thousand in the prize race with Yama.³

3 Tugra had left Bhujyu in the cloud of water as a dead man leaves behind his wealth. You brought him back, Asvins, in ships that were alive, that swam through the realm of air far from the water.

4 With birds that flew on for three nights and three days you Näsatyas brought Bhujyu to the far shore of the ocean, to the edge of the wetness, in three chariots with six horses and a hundred feet.⁴

5 You did the deeds of heroes in that ocean that has no beginning, no support, no handhold, when you Asvins carried Bhujyu home after he had climbed on board your ship that has a hundred oars.

6 The white horse that you Asvins gave to the man who had poor horses, to be a joy to him for ever, this great gift of yours has become famous, and the racehorse of Pedu can still be summoned by his master.⁵

7 You lords of men granted the wish of Pajriya Kaksivat when he praised you: you poured forth from the hoof of your potent stallion a hundred pots of wine as if from a sieve.

8 With snow you warded off the red-hot fire; you brought him⁶ sustaining nourishment. When Atri was led down into the glowing oven, you Asvins led him and all his followers back up again safely.

9 You Näsatyas overturned the well : you made the base on the top and the rim slanting down.⁷ Like water for drinking, the streams flowed for riches for the thousand thirsty people of Gotama.

10 You Näsatyas stripped away the sheath of flesh from Cyavana when he had grown old, as if it were a cloak.⁸ You masters stretched out his life-span when he had been abandoned and made him the husband of young girls.

11 Manly Näsatyas, your helpful protection was worthy of praise and admiration, when, knowing how to do it, you dug out Vandana who was hidden like a treasure.⁹

12 As thunder announces rain, I announce – for reward – your enormous master-deed, lords: that Dadhyañc, the son of the Atharvan priest, told you about the honey through the head of a horse.¹⁰

13 Näsatyas who enjoy many things, the bringer of abundance¹¹ called for your hands to give great help as you came to her. You heard the cry of the wife of the impotent man as if it was a command, and you Asvins gave her a son with golden hands.

14 You manly Näsatyas released the quail right out of the mouth of the wolf. You who enjoy many things gave sight to the poet when he lamented.

15 At the turning-point in Khela’s race the mare broke a leg, like the wing of a bird; right then you gave Vispalä¹² an iron leg so that she could run for the rich prize that had been set.

16 When Rjräsva carved up a hundred rams for the she-wolf, his father made him blind.¹³ You Näsatyas, wonderworking healers, gave him two eyes so that he saw with perfect sight.

17 The daughter of the sun mounted your chariot like a woman winning her goal with a racehorse.¹⁴ All the gods agreed to it in their hearts. You Näsatyas are strongly attracted to beauty.

18 When you Asvins drove on your journey to Divodäsa and to Bharadväja, your trusty chariot brought a treasure: a bull and a dolphin were yoked together.¹⁵

19 Bringing wealth with good kingship, long life blessed with fine children and true heroism, you Näsatyas with one mind came with prizes to Jahnävi,¹⁶ who offered you a sacrificial portion three times a day.

20 You carried Jähusa away in the night on good paths through the realms of space when he was surrounded on all sides, and with your chariot that breaks through barriers you unageing Näsatyas drove through the mountains.

21 You Asvins helped Vasa in the battle when in one morning he won thousands. With Indra at your side you bulls drove disasters and attacks away from Prthusravas.

22 You raised up water from the bottom of the deep well to the top for Sara Ärcatka to drink. You Näsatyas used your powers to make the barren cow swell with milk for Sayu when he was exhausted.

23 For Visvaka Krsniya, who needed help and praised you and was a righteous man, you Näsatyas used your powers to bring back Visnäpü for him to see again, he who had been lost like a stray cow.¹⁷

24 When Rebha lay for ten nights and nine days bound by his enemy and immersed inside the waters, broken into pieces thrown in the water, you drew him out as one draws out Soma with a ladle.¹⁸

25 I have proclaimed your wondrous deeds, Asvins. Let me be lord over this world, with good cattle and good sons; let me see and win a long life-span and enter old age as if going home.

NOTES

1. The Asvins are said to be ‘unfailing’ or ‘saviours’ or ‘born of the nose’ (from the nostrils of their mother, Saranyü) or ‘not- untrue’, for possible glosses of Näsatyas.

2. This is the first of numerous references in this hymn to the deeds of the Asvins, some known from the Rig Veda or other ancient texts, some obscure. Vimada was attacked when taking his bride home; the Asvins brought her to him on their own chariot.

3. The donkey is sometimes said to pull the Asvins’ chariot; here they employ him in a race, probably on the occasion of the marriage of Suryä (cf. 10.85.8–9, 10.85.15–16).

4. Bhujyu, mentioned often in the Rig Veda, was rescued from drowning. The ship’s hundred ‘feet’ are the oars, mentioned by name in the next verse.

5. Pedu was given a white horse that killed snakes; before this, he had no good horse.

6. Atri was thrown by the Asuras into a fiery pit, whence the Asvins rescued him.

7. The overturned well is a metaphor for the rain-cloud that saves Gotama from drought, a rescue elsewhere credited to the Maruts (1.85.10-11).

8. Cyavana, often identified with Atri, was kept in a pit or box where he had no access to his wife, until the Asvins freed him and rejuvenated him. Cf. 5.78.

9. Vandana (perhaps yet another name for Atri?) was similarly trapped and aged, and similarly rescued by the Asvins.

10. Dadhyañc was given a horse-head with which he told the Asvins about Soma and the beheading of the sacrifice; Indra then cut off that head, and Dadhyañc’s own head was restored by the Asvins.

11. Purandhi is a divinity connected with abundance and child birth, sometimes associated or even identified with Indra (cf. 4.26.7, 4.27.2, 2.38.10). Here she is a woman whom the Asvins- assist in giving birth (cf. 5.78.16, which refers to a woman with an impotent husband).

12. Vispalä is the name of Khela’s racing mare restored by the Asvins.

13. The she-wolf for whom Rjrâsva slaughtered the rams is said to have been one of the donkeys of the Asvins in disguise.

14. The Asvins, brothers of Süryä, are also her husbands, winning her in a chariot-race competition. Cf. 10.85.8-9, 10.85.15-16; cf. also 10.102 for a woman charioteer.

15. Bharadväja was the priest of Divodäsa; the bull and dolphin are yoked both as a proof of the Asvins’ power and to pull the chariot on land and water. For the unusual chariot animals, cf. 10.102.

16. Probably the wife of Jahnu, a great sage.

17. Visnäpü was the son of Visvaka Krsniya.

18. Rebha was dead in the water, killed by several different methods, and the Asvins brought him back to life.

5.78   The Rescue of Atri

The first set of three verses invokes the Asvins; the second triad tells of Atri’s rescue; the third prays for the successful birth of a child. These three parts are closely interrelated, for the Asvins ‘delivered’ Atri from a pit as the child is delivered from the womb. The tale of Atri is known in several different variants, but the basic plot is that certain enemies kept Atri away from his wife at night, locked in a pit, a box, or a room in his own house; every morning they would take him out. After suffering in this way for a long time, Atri conceived the idea of praising the Asvins, the physicians – particularly the obstetricians – of the gods (vv. 1-3); they came to him, took him out, and vanished; Atri made love to his wife but then went back into the pit at dawn as before, for he was afraid. In the pit he was inspired with the verses telling of his rescue (vv. 4-6). Whether the child whose birth is to be protected in the final three verses is the result of Atri’s stolen visit to his wife seems unlikely; rather, the tale of Atri is told to provide a model for any happy delivery.

1 Asvins, unfailing ones,¹ come to us; do not turn away. Fly here like two swans to the Soma-juice.

2 Asvins, like two gazelles, like two buffaloes to the grassy meadow, fly here like two swans to the Soma-juice.

3 Asvins, rich in prizes, enjoy the sacrifice and grant our wish. Fly here like two swans to the Soma-juice.

4 As Atri climbed down into the pit² and called to you like a woman in need of help,³ then you Asvins came with the fresh, welcome speed of an eagle.

5 ‘Open, O tree,⁴ like the womb of a woman giving birth.⁵ Asvins, hear my cry and set free the man seven times unmanned.’⁶

6 When the sage seven times unmanned was frightened and in need, with your magic spells you Asvins bent the tree together and apart.⁷

7 As the wind stirs up a lotus pond on all sides, so let the child in your womb stir and come out when it is ten months old.

8 As the wind and the wood and the ocean stir, so let the ten-month-old child come down together with the afterbirth.

9 When the boy has lain for ten months in the mother, let him come out alive and unharmed, alive from the living woman.

NOTES

1. The Näsatyas are ‘true’ or unfailing in that they do what they say they will do.

2. Elsewhere in the Rig Veda Atri is rescued by the Asvins from a fiery pit. Cf. 1.116.8.

3. The word particularly designates a woman in pangs of labour. This forms a further link with the last three verses.

4. The tree may be the wooden box or the wooden door of the room in which Atri is con ned.

5. A further, and this time explicit, link with the last three verses.

6. This may be an epithet of Atri (Saptavadhri) or of another man rescued by the Asvins. Atri and Saptavadhri appear together on other occasions, where it seems more likely that they are a pair rather than a single character. But Atri himself is ‘unmanned’ (literally, castrated, the term used to refer to a steer in contrast with a bull – cf. 1.32.7 and 10.102.7, 10.102.12) by those who keep him from his wife. The two men are thus closely parallel, if not identical. Cf. 1.116.13.

7. The image of splitting apart the tree – pressing its sides together and then stretching them apart – to let Atri out is another birth metaphor.

5.40   Atri and the Last Sun

This hymn may describe the experience of an eclipse (verse 5 seems best interpreted in this light) or the myth of the finding of the sun at the time of creation – or, in classical mythic fashion, both at once. The first four verses invoke Indra; verses 1-6 describe the mythic deeds of Indra, overlapping with verses 6-9 describing the role of the high priest Atri both in assisting Indra and in accomplishing the miracle himself.

1 Come, lord of Soma,¹ come and drink the Soma that has been pressed by the stones, O Indra, bull with bulls,² greatest killer of Vrtra.

2 The pressing-stone is a bull; the ecstasy is a bull; the pressed-out Soma is a bull, O Indra, bull with bulls, greatest killer of Vrtra.

3 As a bull I call to you, the bull with the thunderbolt, with various aids, O Indra, bull with bulls, greatest killer of Vrtra.

4 Impetuous bull with the thunderbolt, the king who breathes hard as he overpowers the mighty, Vrtra- slayer and Soma-drinker – let him yoke his two bay horses and come here to us. Let Indra drink to ecstasy in the midday Soma pressing.

5 When the demon of sunlight³ pierced you, Sun,⁴ with darkness, then all creatures looked like a confused man who does not know where he is.

6 As you, Indra, struck down the sunlight-demon’s magic spells that were turning beneath the sky,⁵ then Atri with the fourth incantation⁶ found the sun that had been hidden by the darkness pitted against the sacred order.⁷

7 [Tie sun:] ‘Let not the attacker swallow me up in his jealous spite and terrifying rage, for I am yours, Atri. You are my friend,8 whose favour is real.⁹ I hope that both you and King Varuna will help me now.’

8 The high priest Atri set the pressing-stones to work and honoured the gods with devout obeisance, seeking to win their protection. He set the eye of the sun in heaven and

made the magic spells of the demon of sunlight disappear.

9 The Atris found again the sun that the sunlight demon had pierced with darkness, for no others could do this.

NOTES

1. Indra is the lord of Soma, the best Soma-drinker.

2. The bulls are the Maruts.

3. Svarbhânu, ‘sunlight’, is a demon (Asura) who devours the sun, either in the course of its annual waning, or in its daily setting, or in its occasional eclipses. In later mythology he becomes Râhu, who devours both the sun and the moon. He is a ‘sunlight’ demon whose name is constructed like the name of the ‘cookie-monster’: he eats sunlight as the monster eats cookies.

4. Surya.

5. The sun could not shine down to earth as the magic placed a barrier beneath it.

6. Later texts tell that the first three spells did not work. Säyana suggests that this may also be a reference to the first four stanzas of this hymn, that invoke Indra.

7. The sacred law or order (Rta), the way of nature, would not have made the sun dark at that time. This seems to imply an eclipse rather than some natural darkening of the sun in winter or at night.

8. A pun on ‘friend’ and the name of the god Mitra, ally of Varuna.

9. That is, whatever you help me with is sure to come true.

1.50   The Sun, Surya

The Sun in this hymn drives a chariot whose rays (also called banners) are said to be seven mares. In his fiery aspect, he is identified with Agni ‘Knower of Creatures’ (Jâtavedas), and through the recurrent image of seeing and being seen and giving light that allows others to see he is further identified with Varuna, the eye of the gods.

1 His brilliant banners draw upwards the god who knows all creatures, so that everyone may see the sun.

2 The constellations, along with the nights, steal away like thieves, making way for the sun who gazes on everyone.

3 The rays that are his banners have become visible from the distance, shining over mankind like blazing fires.

4 Crossing space , you are the maker of light, seen by everyone, O sun. You illumine the whole, wide realm of space.

5 You rise up facing all the groups of gods, facing mankind, facing everyone, so that they can see the sunlight.

6 He is the eye with which, O Purifying Varuna, you look upon the busy one¹ among men.

7 You cross heaven and the vast realm of space, O sun, measuring days by nights, looking upon the generations.

8 Seven bay mares carry you in the chariot, O sun god with hair of flame, gazing from afar.

9 The sun has yoked the seven splendid daughters of the chariot; he goes with them, who yoke themselves.

10 We have come up out of darkness, seeing the higher light around us, going to the sun, the god among gods, the highest light.

11 As you rise today, O sun, you who are honoured as a friend, climbing to the highest sky, make me free of heartache and yellow pallor.²

12 Let us place my yellow pallor among parrots and thrushes, or let us place my yellow pallor among other yellow birds in yellow trees.

13 This Aditya³ has risen with all his dominating force, hurling my hateful enemy down into my hands. Let me not fall into my enemy’s hands!

NOTES

1. A probable reference to the diligent sacrificer.

2. Jaundice (yellow pallor) is analogous to yellow sunlight; hence the sun is invoked to dispense homoeopathic medicine.

3. The sun is one of the children of Aditi (cf. 10.72), a group of solar gods called Ädityas.

10.123   Vena

A strange, mystical hymn to a sage or god named Vena (‘longing’); the imagery plays upon Vena’s identification both with Soma and with the sun, more particularly with the sun-bird that is (or wins) Soma (cf. 4.26-7). The pressing of Soma, the rising of the sun, and the birth of speech and inspiration (cf. 1.164) run as parallel themes through the hymn.

1 This Vena drives forth those who are pregnant with the dappled one.¹ Enveloped in a membrane of light,² he measures out the realm of space. In the union of the waters and the sun, the inspired priests lick him with prayers as if he were a calf.³

2 Vena whips the wave high out of the ocean.⁴ Born of the clouds, the back of the loved one has appeared,⁵ shining on the crest at the highpoint of Order. The women⁶ cry out to the common womb.

3 The calf’s many mothers from the same nest stand lowing at their common child. Striding to the crest of Order, the voices lick the honeyed drink of immortality.

4 Knowing his form, the inspired ones yearn for him, for they have come towards the bellow of the wild animal, the buffalo.⁷ Going on the right path, they have climbed to the river. The divine youths have found the immortal names.⁸

5 The nymph,⁹ the woman, smiling at her lover bears him to the highest heaven. The lover moves in the wombs of the lover. Vena sits on the golden wing.¹⁰

6 Longing¹¹ for you in their heart, they saw you ying to the dome of the sky as an eagle, the golden-winged messenger of Varuna, the bird hastening into the womb of Yama.

7 Then the divine youth¹² climbed straight back up into the dome of the sky bearing his many-coloured weapons. Dressing himself in a perfumed robe, looking like sunlight, he gives birth to his own names.¹³

8 When the drop comes to the ocean,¹⁴ looking upon the wide expanse with the eye of a vulture, then the sun, rejoicing in the clear light, takes on his own names in the third realm.

NOTES

1. The dappled one (Prsni) is both the Soma stalk, brightly coloured, and the sun, represented as a dappled bull; the pregnant ones are thus the waters that mix with the Soma and the dawns that hold the sun, and Vena is said to bring them forth simultaneously.

2. As an embryo (the image projected from the first half of the verse), Soma is born in a burst of light (a membrane; cf. 10.51.1), as is the sun, who is the subject of the second sentence in the verse, while the third refers primarily to Soma.

3. Soma is often likened to a new-born calf licked by a cow, as is Agni. Cf. 4.18.10 and 2.35.13.

4. The sage brings the wave of sacred speech out of the ocean of the heart; the sun rises from the ocean, and Soma is mixed with the waters.

5. The loved one is Soma, immediately identified with the shining sun.

6. The women are either the voices and sacred speeches of the priests, calling to Soma (the womb of Order), or the streams of milk that mix with Soma. Both of these similes are extended in the next verse.

7. Soma is the buffalo who roars as he mingles with the waters.

8. The Gandharvas are the ones who reveal the secrets of the gods. Demigods associated with power and fertility, they are often identified with Soma, as is the case here, or the sun, as in the following verse.

9. The nymph, or Apsaras, as the beloved of the Gandharva, represents the Dawn, who loves the sun, or the waters or Speech, who love Soma.

10. Vena as the sun bears Soma on golden wings. The metaphor continues in the next verse.

11. ‘Longing’ (venantas), a pun on the name of Vena.

12. Here the divine youth (Gandharva) primarily represents the sun; in the second half of the verse, Soma is primary, the sun secondary.

13. By revealing his names, he reveals his forms.

14. Vena is Soma in the first half of the hymn, flying from the ocean through the wide expanse of space, to become the sun in the second half of the hymn, in the third realm that is heaven.

10.177   The Bird

The imagery of this hymn is closely tied to that of the Vena hymn. This is regarded as a magic-dispelling {mäyäbheda) incantation.

1 The wise see in their heart, in their spirit, the bird anointed¹ with the magic of the Asura. The poets see him inside the ocean; the sages seek the footprints of his rays.²

2 The bird carries in his heart Speech that the divine youth³ spoke of inside the womb. The poets guard this revelation that shines like the sun in the footprint of Order.

3 I have seen the cowherd who never tires, moving to and fro along the paths. Clothing himself in those that move towards the same centre but spread apart,⁴ he rolls on and on inside the worlds.

NOTES

1. The Asuras, noted for their magic, possess a miraculous balm which, placed upon the eyes, makes the bearer invisible to the eyes of others.

2. Vena as the sun is hidden inside the waters.

3. Here, as in 10.123.4, the Gandharva (the sun) ‘reveals’ the secrets of the gods. This secret is often told while the speaker is still in the womb. Cf. 4.27.1 and 4.18.1.

4. The waters and rays. This verse is taken from 1.164.31, which expands upon the riddle of the sun-bird.

1.42   Püsan on the Road

Püsan presides over roads and journeys. He is one of the Ädityas and therefore a solar god, though this aspect of his character is seldom emphasized.

1 Traverse the ways, Püsan, and keep away anguish, O child of the unharnessing.¹ Stay with us, O god, going before us.

2 The evil, vicious wolf who threatens us, Püsan, chase him away from the path.

3 The notorious highwayman, the robber who plots in ambush, drive him far away from the track.

4 Trample with your foot the torch of the two-tongued slanderer, whoever he may be.

5 Worker of wonders,² full of good council, O Püsan, we beg you for that help with which you encouraged our fathers.

6 You bring every good fortune and are the best bearer of the golden sword. Make riches easy for us to win.

7 Lead us past our pursuers; make our paths pleasant and easy to travel. Find for us here, Püsan, the power of understanding.

8 Lead us to pastures rich in grass; let there be no sudden fever on the journey. Find for us here, Püsan, the power of understanding.

9 Use your powers, give fully and lavishly, give eagerly and fill the belly. Find for us here, Püsan, the power of understanding.

10 We do not reproach Püsan, but sing his praises with well-worded hymns. We pray to the worker of wonders to give us riches.

NOTES

1. The releasing or unyoking of the horses at journey’s end or at nightfall; by extension, perhaps, the release of the worshipper from evil or misfortune or exhaustion, the tight spot {amhas) or anguish.

2. An epithet usually given to the Asvins, implying wonders wrought in order to be helpful to human worshippers.

6.55   Püsan, Child of the Unharnessing

1 Come, burning child of the unharnessing. Let the two of us be joined together. Be for us the charioteer of Order.¹

2 Best of charioteers, lord of great wealth, friend with braided hair, we pray to you for riches.

3 You are a stream of riches, a heap of wealth, O burning one with goats for horses,² friend of this and that inspired singer.

4 Püsan with goats for horses, the prize-winner who is called the lover of his sister,³ him we would praise.

5 I have spoken of him who is his mother’s suitor; let him hear, he who is his sister’s lover, the brother of Indra, and my friend.

6 Let the sure-footed goats who pull his chariot bring Püsan to us, carrying here the god who is the glory of the people.

NOTES

1. Perhaps the one who carries us to Order (Rta), or who drives Order to us.

2. The goat, sacred to Püsan (cf. 1.162.3-4), draws his chariot in place of the usual horse.

3. Apparently Dawn (Usas) was the sister of Püsan as well as his mother (v. 5), and, finally, the object of his (perhaps unrequited?) love. The Asvins are also unsuccessful suitors and brothers of Sûryâ (10.85). This incestuous tangle arises in part out of the fact that dusk, dawn, and twilight are natural siblings in close contact with the sun, and dawn ‘gives birth’ to the sun in one sense and is born from him in another.

2.38   Savitr at Sunset

Savitr ‘the impeller’, ‘driver’, or ‘goader’, is the god of the sun at morning and the setting sun, the latter aspect often emphasized in the hymns.

1 This god Savitr, the driver,¹ has risen up many times to goad us on – this is his work. Now he apportions to the gods the jewel,² and to those who offer the oblation he gives a share in happiness.

2 So that all will obey him, the god with broad hands stands uptight and stretches out his two arms before him. Even the waters obey his command; even the wind stops in his orbit.

3 Even the one who travels with swift horses³ now unharnesses them; he⁴ has stopped even the wanderer⁵ from going on. He has put an end to the voracious hunger even of those who eat serpents.⁶ Night has come by Savitr’s command.

4 She who weaves⁷ has rolled up again what was stretched out. The skilful worker has laid down the work half-completed. He⁸ stirs and stands up; he has set apart the different times. With his thoughts gathered, the god Savitr has come.

5 He who lives in a house ⁹ goes off into various dwellings, all his life. The glow of fire springs up and spreads out. The mother gives her son the best portion, because of the longing that Savitr has stirred up in him.¹⁰

6 He who went away because he wished to get something has now come back; the desire of all who wander turns to home. All of them, leaving their work uncompleted, have

followed the command of the divine Savitr.

7 Those whose portion you decreed to be water are in the waters;¹¹ the hunters spread out over the dry land. The trees belong to the birds; no one transgresses these commands of this god Savitr.¹²

8 Varuna goes to the watery womb that he loves best, after rushing about restlessly from one blink of the eye to the next. Every bird and beast goes to his nest or pen; Savitr has dispersed each creature to its proper resting-place.

9 He whose law is not broken by Indra, nor by Varuna or Mitra, nor by Aryaman or Rudra, nor even by the forces of evil – that god Savitr I call upon for happiness, bowing low.

10 Stirring up Good Luck¹³ and Thought and Abundance -and may Praise-of-Men,¹⁴ the husband of goddesses, help us – when blessings come and riches pile up let us be dear to the god Savitr.

11 From the sky, from the waters, from the earth let there come to us that bounty that we long for and that you give, that brings happiness to those who praise and to your friend,¹⁵ the singer whose praises reach far, O Savit?.

NOTES

1. That is, the driver of the chariot. The same epithet is also applied to Agni in 3.31.1.

2. Both immortality and the sacrificial offering.

3. Simultaneously Savitr in his chariot and any man on earth, who unyokes now that night has come.

4. Only Savitr is meant here.

5. Either one who wanders about as he wishes to do, or one who has strayed from the path.

6. Probably birds of prey.

7. Both night, continued from verse 3, here ‘rolling up’ the sun light, and the woman who takes up her weaving now that night has come.

8. Only Savitr here, who demarcates the different seasons and hours.

9. Both the householder who goes home at night, and the domestic fire (mentioned in the next part of the verse) that ‘arrives’ in the house at evening.

10. That is, the setting sun makes the boy hungry.

11. The animals who seek water-holes at the end of the day; the hunters, by contrast, are hunting on the dry land.

12. Several overlapping meanings: no one destroys the trees; no one, not even the trees, disobeys Savitr’s command to rest at night.

13. Good Luck (Bhaga) is often personified as a god, but here he appears with other personifications regarded more as abstractions – thought (dhi) and abundance (Purandhi).

14. The praise that is bestowed upon men (Narãsamsa), rather than by them.

15. That is, the author of this hymn.

1.35   Savitr at Night

1 I call first to Agni for well-being; I call Mitra and Varuna here to help. I call on Night¹ that gives rest to all that moves ; I call on the god Savitr for aid.

2 When he turns through the dark dust and gives rest to the immortal and the mortal, the god Savitr who watches all creatures comes with his golden chariot.

3 The god goes forward; he goes upward; he who is worshipped goes with his two bright bay horses. The god Savitr comes from the far distance, driving away all evils.

4 The god Savitr, who is worshipped, mounts his high chariot that is covered with pearls, painted with all colours, fastened with golden pins; shining brightly, he puts on his vital power for the dark dusts.²

5 The black horses with white feet have looked at the people, pulling the chariot with the golden shafts in front. All tribes, all worlds, rest always in the lap of the divine Savitr.

6 There are three skies: two are the lap of Savitr, and the last is the one that controls men, in the world of Yama. Immortal things rest on him like a chariot wheel on a lynch- pin. Let him who understands this proclaim it here.

7 The eagle has looked over the middle realms of space; he is the Asura who leads well and is spoken of in secret. Where is the sun now? Who knows? To what sky has his ray stretched?

8 He has looked upon the eight peaks of the earth, and on the three plains a league wide, and the seven rivers. The golden-eyed Savitr has come, bringing to the worshipper the treasures that he longs for.

9 Golden-handed Savitr moves busily between the two, between sky and earth. He drives away disease and bids the sun approach; he reaches to the sky through the dark dust.

10 Let the merciful and helpful Asura, the good leader with golden hands, come towards us. Routing the demons³ and sorcerers, the god to whom we sing has taken his place against the evening.

11 On your ancient paths, Savitr, that are dustless and well made in the middle realm of space, on those paths that are good to go on come to us today, and protect us, and speak a blessing on us, O god.

NOTES

1. Here and in other verses of this hymn, Savitr appears in his nocturnal aspect (as Dawn often does), moving through the dark dust or haze of night.

2. That is, he uses his powers of brightness to cross the dark spaces of night.

3. Raksases, flesh-eating demons on earth, not the mighty Asuras of heaven.

10.127   Night

This is the only Rig Vedic hymn dedicated to the goddess of night, sister of Dawn and, like Dawn, a bright creature, full of coloured stars, in contrast with the feared darkness of black night that is banished (vv. 3 and 7).

1 The goddess Night has drawn near, looking about on many sides with her eyes.¹ She has put on all her glories.

2 The immortal goddess has filled the wide space,² the depths and the heights. She stems the tide of darkness with her light.

3 The goddess has drawn near, pushing aside her sister the twilight.³ Darkness, too, will give way.

4 As you came near to us today, we turned homeward to rest, as birds go to their home in a tree. 5 People who live in villages have gone home to rest, and animals with feet, and animals with wings, even the ever-searching hawks. 6 Ward off the she-wolf and the wolf; ward off the thief. O night full of waves, be easy for us to cross over.⁴ 7 Darkness – palpable, black, and painted.⁵ – has come upon me. O Dawn, banish it like a debt.⁶ 8 I have driven this hymn to you as the herdsman drives cows.⁷ Choose and accept it, O Night, daughter of the sky, like a song of praise to a conqueror.

NOTES

1. The stats. 2. Between sky and earth. 3. The actual term used here is dawn, but it probably indicates twilight in general, more specifically here the evening twilight, or even the entire day (as in the Vedic expression ‘dawn and night’ meaning ‘day and -night’). On the other hand, if one takes it literally as dawn, it may mean that the Night keeps dawn away because darkness must depart when dawn appears. Cf. 1.92.11, where Dawn pushes Night aside. 4. The verb ‘to cross’ is frequently applied to a transition from one period of time to another. Its primary meaning is to cross from one bank of a river to another, and here it

may recall the epithet ‘full of waves, ’ depicting Night as a dangerous body of water that one must cross. Cf. 1.92.6.

5. Night is here regarded as a material mass painted with stars or actually painting them herself.

6. The implication is that light (often compared to wealth) should banish darkness as money banishes the poet’s debts ; or Dawn may ‘collect’ the debt of the night, that is, make good what darkness had incurred or ‘exact’ the darkness from Night as one would exact money owing.

7. An elliptic image, but clear in the Vedic context that associates cows with light; the herdsman gives back at night the cows that he has kept all day.

Wendy Doniger Rig Veda on Sky and Earth

Table Of Contents

CREATION
DEATH
THE ELEMENTS OF SACRIFICE
THE HORSE SACRIFICE
GODS OF THE SACRIFICE: AGNI AND SOMA
SOMA
INDRA
GODS OF THE STORM
SOLAR GODS
SKY AND EARTH
VARUNA
RUDRA AND VISNU
REALIA
WOMEN
INCANTATIONS AND SPELLS

SKY AND EARTH

THE Sky (Dyaus) was an important god in Indo-European mythology and remained so in Greece, in the figure of Zeus. In India, his scope is greatly reduced, most aspects of his mythology being taken over by Indra, but he remains enshrined in several hymns as one half of the androgynous pair, Sky-and-Earth (often expressed as a single noun in the dual). This pair is essential not only to the cosmogony (1.160) but to the safety and well-being of mortals on earth, who invoke their help as one would ask parents for comfort (1.185). Like parents, too, they are described as being made of food and nourishment for mankind (6.70).

1.160   Sky and Earth

These divinities, referred to in the dual, are alternately characterized as male and female, parents of the sun, or as two sisters.

1 Sky and earth, these two who are good for everyone, hold the Order and bear the poet of space.¹ Between the two goddesses, the two bowls that give birth magnificently, the pure sun god moves according to the laws of nature.

2 Wide and roomy, strong and inexhaustible, the father and mother protect the universe. The two world-halves are as bold as two wonderful girls² when their father³ dresses them in shapes and colours.

3 The son of these parents,⁴ their clever charioteer with the power to make things clear, purifies the universe by magic.⁵ From the dappled milk-cow and the bull with good seed,⁶ every day he milks the milk that is his⁷ seed.

4 Most artful of the artful gods, he⁸ gave birth to the two world-halves that are good for everyone. He measured apart the two realms of space⁹ with his power of inspiration and fixed them in place with undecaying pillars.

5 Sky and earth, you mighty pair whose praises we have sung, grant us great fame and high sovereignty, by which we may extend our rule over the peoples for ever. Give us enormous force.

NOTES

1. The sun, in the space between sky and earth.

2. These are the two goddesses of the previous verse, sky and earth as two bowls.

3. Tvastr or the creator.

4. The sun, child of sky and earth as parents again.

5. The sun’s magic dispels darkness, thus both clarifying and purifying the world.

6. The dappled cow (Psšni) is the earth, the bull the sky.

7. The milker is the child, the sun; ‘his’ seed refers probably not merely to the bull but to the joint, androgynous creature that gives a fluid simultaneously milk (from her) and seed (from him).

8. Probably Tvastr or the creator. If it is the sun, he is giving birth to his own parents, an idea not without precedent in the Rig Veda. The sun is the subject of the second half of the verse.

9. Between sky and earth.

1.185   Guard Us from the Monstrous Abyss¹

1 Which of these two was first, and which came later? How were they born? Who, O poets, really knows? They themselves bear whatever has a name. The two halves of the day² roll past one another like two wheels.

2 These two³ who do not move, who have no feet, receive the teeming embryo⁴ that moves and has feet, like a natural son in the parents’ lap. Sky and earth, guard us from the monstrous abyss.

3 I call upon Aditi’s gift⁵ that dispels evil and repels assault, the celestial, awe-inspiring gift that saves us from violent death. Sky and earth, guard us from the monstrous abyss.

4 We wish to please the two world-halves whose sons are the gods, the two among the gods who free us from suffering and help the helpless, with the two rotating halves of the days. Sky and earth, guard us from the monstrous abyss.

5 The two young women, true sisters who join in the lap of their parents,⁶ share a common boundary⁷ and kiss the navel of the world.⁸ Sky and earth, guard us from the monstrous abyss.

6 With truth I call upon the two wide and high mansions⁹ who give birth¹⁰ with the help of the gods, the two whose faces are lovely and who have received immortality. Sky and earth, guard us from the monstrous abyss.

7 With reverence in this sacrifice I speak in prayer to the two who are wide, vast, and massive, whose boundaries are far distant, who having received immortality bring good fortune and dispel evil. Sky and earth, guard us from the monstrous abyss.

8 Whatever wrong we have ever done to the gods, or to an old friend, or to the master of the house, for all of these let the thought in this hymn be an apology. Sky and earth, guard us from the monstrous abyss.

9 Let both sides of the praise of heroes¹¹ be kind to me. Let both of them¹² stay near me with help and favour. There is plenty for the patron who is more generous than a stranger.¹³ Let us become ecstatic, O gods, and invigorated by the drink of ecstasy.

10 I have in my wisdom spoken this truth¹⁴ to heaven and earth, so that they will hear it first. Let them protect us from the blame and evil that we face. Let father and mother guard us with helping favours.

11 Let this come true,¹⁵ what I have said here in prayer to you, sky and earth, father and mother. Become the closest of the gods with your helping favours. Let us nd the drink whose luscious drops give strength and ecstasy.

NOTES

1. The word (abhvam) designates a dark, formless, enormous and terrifying abyss, particularly associated with night (1.92.5) and the underworld, and hence opposed to the light of the worlds of sky and earth.

2. Day and night, loosely associated with heaven and earth through their duality rather than through a literal identification of day with heaven and night with earth.

3. Sky and earth.

4. The embryo, or seed (garbha), is the sun or Agni, here symbolic of all creatures (hence teeming).

5. As mother of the gods, Aditi gives the blessings of life and nature.

6. Cf. 1.160.2.

7. The line where sky and earth meet.

8. The axis mundi, here identified with the sun.

9. Sky and earth.

10. They give birth to the gods.

11. Praise given by the poet to heroes and gods, and praise given to him by heroes and gods.

12. Sky and earth, or both men and gods.

13. The stranger is the ‘best enemy’ or ritual competitor. Cf. 10.86.1.

14. The word for truth here (rta) designates actual reality and order, a statement about sky and earth as well as to them.

15. True here in the sense of physical actuality.

6.70   The Two Full of Butter

1 The two full of butter, beautiful masters of all creatures, broad and wide, milked of honey, beautifully adorned – sky and earth have been propped apart, by Varuna’s law ; unageing, they are rich in seed.

2 Inexhaustible, rich in streams, full of milk, the two whose vows are pure are milked of butter for the one who does good deeds. You two world-halves, rulers over this universe, pour out on us the seed that was the base for mankind.¹

3 The mortal who makes an offering to you world-halves, sources of strength, so that he may walk on the right path, he succeeds: he is reborn through his progeny according to the law. Creatures with various forms but with a common vow have been poured out from you.

4 Enclosed in butter are sky and earth, beautiful in butter, gorged on butter, grown on butter. Broad and wide, they are the first priests² in the choice of the priest of the oblation. They are the ones that the priests invoke when they seek kindness.

5 Sky and earth that stream with honey, that are milked of honey, that have honey for their vow, let them soak us with honey, bringing sacrifice and wealth to the gods, great fame, the victory prize, and virility to us.

6 Sky and earth, the all-knowing father and mother who achieve wondrous works – let them swell up with food to nourish us. Let the two world-halves, that work together to give bene ts to all, together thrust toward us gain, and the victory prize, and wealth.

NOTES

1. The seed from which mankind (or Manu) originally grew.

2. The Purohitas who cast the first vote in choosing the oblation priest to assist them.

Wendy Doniger Rig Veda on Varuna

Table Of Contents

CREATION
DEATH
THE ELEMENTS OF SACRIFICE
THE HORSE SACRIFICE
GODS OF THE SACRIFICE: AGNI AND SOMA
SOMA
INDRA
GODS OF THE STORM
SOLAR GODS
SKY AND EARTH
VARUNA
RUDRA AND VISNU
REALIA
WOMEN
INCANTATIONS AND SPELLS

VARUNA

ALTHOUGH Varuna’s original function was that of a sky god (like Ouranos, with whom his name is cognate), by the time of the Rig Veda he had developed into a god whose primary role was watching over the deeds of men (as a sky god is well placed to do) and punishing those who violated the sacred law (Rta) of which Varuna was the most important custodian. He is also, like several other Vedic gods, credited with the archetypal acts of creation – finding the sun, propping apart the sky and earth, and so forth (5.85). His friendship, disaffection, and ultimate reconciliation with the sage Vasistha (7.86, 7.88, 7.89) form a paradigm for his stern but loving relationship with mankind in general. He is asked to protect the worshipper not only from his own avenging wrath but also from all dangers and hatreds (2.28), an all-encompassing role that was transferred to the gods Visnu and Siva in later Hinduism, when Varuna ceased to be worshipped any more.

5.85   The Deeds of Varuna

This hymn describes the great deeds of Varuna and closes with a wish that he will pardon the mistakes of the worshipper.

1 For the emperor¹ I will sing a splendid, deep prayer, one that will be dear to the famous Varuna who struck apart the earth² and spread it beneath the sun as the priest who performs the slaughter spreads out the victim’s skin.³

2 He stretched out the middle realm of space in the trees; he laid victory in swift horses and milk in the dawn cows, intelligence in hearts and fire in the waters. Varuna placed the sun in the sky and Soma on the mountain.

3 Over the two world-halves and the realm of space between them Varuna has poured out the cask,⁴ turning its mouth downward. With it the king of the whole universe waters the soil as the rain waters the grain. 4 He waters the soil, the earth,⁵ and the sky. Whenever Varuna wishes for milk, the mountains dress them selves in cloud and the heroes,⁶ brandishing their power, let them loose.⁷ 5 I will proclaim the great magic⁸ of Varuna the famous Asura,⁹ who stood up in the middle realm of space and measured apart the earth with the sun as with a measuring- stick.¹⁰ 6 No one has dared this great magic of the most inspired god: that these shimmering torrents, pouring down, do not ll the one single ocean with their water.¹¹ 7 If we have committed an offence against a hospitable friend like Aryaman or a close friend like Mitra,¹² or against one who has always been a comrade, or a brother, or a neighbour – one of our own or a stranger – loosen that offence from us, Varuna.

8 If we have cheated like gamblers in a game, whether we know it or really do not know it,¹³ O god, cast all these offences away like loosened bonds.¹⁴ Let us be dear to you, Varuna.

NOTES

1. Varuna who is the king over all kings.

2. That is, struck it and made it part from the sky.

3. The sacrificial priest (Samitr) spreads the skin and places the limbs of the animal upon it. Cf. 1.162.19.

4. The overturned cask or leather bottle is a frequent metaphor for a torrent of rain. Cf. 5.83.7.

5. The earth here designates the whole world, in contrast with the surface (soil).

6. The Maruts.

7. The Maruts let loose the cloud – that is, the waters. The metaphor may also refer to other things loosed by the Maruts – their own horses or powers – or to the explicit simile, the garments.

8. Magic here in the sense of a miracle rather than an illusion.

9. Asura not in its later sense of ‘demon’ but in its early Vedic sense of sky god.

10. Cf. 1.154.1.

11. That is, although there are many rivers and rains, the ocean, though alone, contains them. No one dares this – no one dares to challenge it or to attempt it.

12. Aryaman is the god of formal hospitality to strangers, Mitra the god of intimate friendship among one’s own kind.

13. Cf. 2.12.10 for a sin of which one is unaware.

14. The bonds are both the offences themselves and the bonds with which Varuna punishes those who offend. Cf. 7.86 and 7.89.

7.86   Varuna ‘Provoked to Anger

According to one tradition, this hymn should be read together with 7.5 5, to which it is joined by a myth: In a dream (or in his sleep) one night the sage Vasistha came to the house of Varuna; as he entered, a dog ran at him, barking and trying to bite him, but Vasistha put him to sleep with several verses (7.5 5); then King Varuna bound Vasistha with his snares, and when Vasistha praised his father Varuna with more verses (7.86-9), he was released. One text says that Vasistha stole something (perhaps food), an episode that may be alluded to in the reference to Vasistha being like a cattle-thief; but it is precisely the unknown and indefinable nature of Vasistha’s sin that gives this hymn its

power. For the implication of someone else in one’s own evil deed -an older brother, or a father, or the forces of wine and anger, or the cloud of sleep – tends to negate any possible sense of remorse; one can regret the results of an unknown act (visible in Varuna’s punishment) but not repent of its motives.¹ One may be punished for the sins of other people; in this context, sin may be a misleading word to use, for although the worshipper wishes for expiation, he wishes to be ‘free from sin’ primarily in the sense of being free from the effects of sin. He wishes to serve Varuna in order to become free from sin, not to be free from sin in order to serve Varuna. ‘The evil that sleep does not avert’ may be a bad dream or a deed committed while asleep;² this may be the source of the tradition that Vasistha composed this hymn while wandering in a dream (or in his sleep), but in any case it further highlights the tension between conscious evil (sin) and unconscious evil (for which there is no good term in English).

1 The generations have become wise by the power of him who has propped apart the two world-halves even though they are so vast.³ He has pushed away the dome of the sky to make it high and wide; he has set the sun on its double journey⁴ and spread out the earth.

2 And I ask my own heart, ‘When shall I be close to Varuna? Will he enjoy my offering and not be provoked to anger? When shall I see his mercy and rejoice?’

3 I ask myself what that transgression was, Varuna, for I wish to understand. I turn to the wise to ask them. The poets have told me the very same thing: ‘Varuna has been provoked to anger against you.’

4 O Varuna, what was the terrible crime for which you wish to destroy your friend who praises you? Proclaim it to me so that I may hasten to prostrate myself before you and be free from sin, for you are hard to deceive and are ruled by yourself alone.

5 Free us from the harmful deeds of our fathers, and from those that we have committed with our own bodies. O king, free Vasistha like a thief who has stolen cattle,⁵ like a calf set free from a rope.

6 The mischief was not done by my own free will, Varuna; wine, anger, dice, or carelessness led me astray. The older shares in the mistake of the younger.⁶ Even sleep does not avert evil.

7 As a slave serves a generous master, so would I serve the furious god and be free from sin. The noble god gave understanding to those who did not understand;⁷ being yet wiser, he speeds the clever man to wealth.

8 O Varuna, you who are ruled by yourself alone, let this praise lodge in your very heart. Let it go well for us always with your blessings.

NOTES

1. Cf. 2.12.10 and 5.85.8.

2. Cf. 10.164. 3. Creation consists in the act (here attributed to Varuna, else where to other gods) of propping apart heaven and earth and releasing the sun.

4. Either by day in the sky and under the earth by night, or, less likely, its daily and annual revolutions.

5. Varuna binds sinners with his snares of disease and misfortune. The thief is set free after doing expiation for his sin – or, perhaps, in order to be led to his punishment.

6. The elder brother may be implicated in his younger brother’s lapse, or he may be the cause of it. ‘Older’ may also refer to an older generation, the ancestral sin mentioned in the previous verse.

7. The wisdom that Varuna gives to the generations is his own truth. Varuna himself is ‘yet wiser’ either than those to whom he gave understanding or than the clever man that he aids. Varuna is wise in a spiritual sense ; the clever or ‘ sharp ‘ man is merely worldly-wise.

7.88   Varuna the Friend of Vasistha

After an introductory verse spoken by the poet, Vasistha speaks of his bygone friendship with Varuna, a friendship now threatened by the possibility that Vasistha has committed some offence, which he does not know of, and incurred the punishing wrath of Varuna.

1 Vasistha, bring a pure and most desirable poem to the bountiful Varuna, who draws toward us the great bull¹ who is worthy of sacri ce and thousands of gifts.

2 ‘Now that I have come into his² presence, I think the face of Varuna is Agni’s. Let the Lord on High³ lead me to the sun that is in the rock⁴ and the darkness, so that I may see the marvel.

3 ‘When we two, Varuna, board the boat and sail forth to the middle of the ocean, when we skim along the crests of the waters, we will swing in the swing⁵ and glitter.’

4 Varuna set Vasistha right in the boat. The inspired master made him a seer, a poet, by his great powers, so that his days would be good days, so that his skies and dawns would stretch out.

5 ‘Where have those friendships of us two gone, when in the old times we could live together without becoming enemies? I went into your high palace, self-ruling Varuna, into your house with a thousand doors.⁶

6 ‘If your old friend and dear ally has committed sins against you, Varuna, do not make us who have offended you pay for that. Avenger, inspired one, give protection to the singer of praises.

7 ‘As we dwell in these solid dwelling-places, let Varuna set us free from the noose and help us win aid from the lap of Aditi. Protect us always with blessings.’

NOTES

1. The sun, brought forth each day by Varuna.

2. Probably Varuna’s presence, but perhaps that of the sun.

3. Varuna.

4. The sun tests in the rock of darkness all night; it is, moreover, trapped in the cli until Indra sets it free (3.31), a feat also attributed to Varuna.

5. Varuna, as god of the waters, has a boat that glitters as it swings.

6. Vasistha’s entry into Varuna’s house is alluded to elsewhere in the Rig Veda; cf.

7.89.1 and the introduction to 7.86.

7.89   The House of Clay

Varuna casts his snares upon the offending worshipper in the form of dropsy; but he satisfies by the grace of his own nature the thirst of the man who suffers from physical or spiritual fever. Thus the waters in verse 4 refer to the feverish thirst and ‘waters’ of the dropsy and to the waters of Varuna himself. The concept of unconscious sin is implicit in verse 3 and clearly expressed in verse 5, which juxtaposes various levels of evil: offence, sin, and a violation of the cosmic law (dharma, Varuna’s law, the ‘true current’ of verse 3). All of these are tempered by the possibility that they were done carelessly, unwittingly; for it is the duty of Varuna himself to make men thoughtful (to ‘make the generations wise’),¹ and the duty of the repentant sinner to know his sin.

The house of clay is a metaphor for death on various planes: it is the urn used to store the ashes of the dead after cremation or to store their bones in burial; it is the earth, the house of the dead man; and it is the home of Varuna, to which Vasistha went one night.²

1 Let me not go to the house of clay, O King Varuna, not yet. Have mercy, great ruler; be merciful.

2 If I seem to stumble and tremble like a puffed up goatskin,³ O master of stones,⁴ have mercy; great ruler, be merciful.

3 If through weakness of will-power I have somehow gone against the true current, O pure one, have mercy; great ruler, be merciful.

4 Thirst has come upon the one who sings to you as he stands in the midst of waters; have mercy, great ruler, be merciful.

5 If we humans have committed some offence against the race of gods, O Varuna, or through carelessness have violated your laws, do not injure us, O god, for that sin.

NOTES

1. See 7.86.1.

2. Cf. 7.88.5 and introduction to 7.86. Cf. also n. 6 to 7.88.

3. The worshipper is palsied and swollen from dropsy, like a leather wine-bottle filled with air; and he trembles in fear of Varun. For stumbling, cf. 8.48.5.

4. This epithet, usually applied to Indra, refers both to the mastery of stones used to press the Some and to stones used as we pons in sling.

2.28   Varuna

1 Let this song to the son of Aditi, the poet who rules himself, surpass in greatness all the songs that now exist. The god who is comfortable to sacrifice to, the abundant Varuna, is the one I beg for lasting fame.

2 Let us be happy in your command, having praised you, Varuna, with good intentions, awakening like kindled fires day after day at the approach of the dawns rich in cattle.

3 Let us be under your protection, for you have many heroes, Varuna our leader, and your word reaches far. You sons of Aditi, gods who cannot be deceived, consent to join us.

4 The son of Aditi set them free to flow and ordered them; the rivers go by the Order of Varuna. They do not tire, nor do they unharness themselves. They fly swiftly like birds in their orbit.

5 Loosen me from sin as from sash; let us find the fountainhead of your Order, Varuna. Do not let the thread break while I am still weaving this thought, nor let the measuring- stick of the workman shatter before its time.

6 Keep fear far way from me, Varuna, and hold fast to me, O emperor of Order. Set me free from anguish as one would free a calf from rope; I cannot bear to live apart from you even for the blink of an eye.

7 Varuna the Asura, do not wound us with your weapons that wound the man you seek when he has committed sin. Let us not be exiled from the light. Loosen clean way from us our failures, so that we may live.

8 O Varuna born of strength, the homage to you that was made in the past long go we would speak now, and in the time yet to come. Upon you who cannot be deceived our vows are set, unshakeable, as if upon mountain.

9 Abolish the debts for the things I have done, O king, and do not make me pay for what has been done by others. So many more dawns have not yet risen, Varuna; make sure that we will live through them.

10 If someone I have met, O king, or friend has spoken of danger to me in a dream to frighten me, or if a thief should waylay us, or wolf – protect us from that, Varuna.

11 Do not let me know the loss of dear, generous, open-handed friend, Varuna, nor let me lack the wealth that makes good reign, O king. Let us speak great words as men of

power in the sacrificial gathering.

Wendy Doniger Rig Veda on Rudra and Visnu

Table Of Contents

CREATION
DEATH
THE ELEMENTS OF SACRIFICE
THE HORSE SACRIFICE
GODS OF THE SACRIFICE: AGNI AND SOMA
SOMA
INDRA
GODS OF THE STORM
SOLAR GODS
SKY AND EARTH
VARUNA
RUDRA AND VISNU
REALIA
WOMEN
INCANTATIONS AND SPELLS

RUDRA AND VISNU

RUDRA is a liminal figure in the Rig Veda, invoked with Vedic hymns but not invited to partake in the regular Vedic sacrifice; as the embodiment of wildness and unpredictable danger, he is addressed more with the hope of keeping him at bay than with the wish to bring him near (a form of worship that persists in Hinduism not in the cult of Rudra’s successor, Siva, but in the cult of the Goddess, who does not appear in the Rig Veda at all). Visnu is a far more typically Vedic god, vaguely solar, benevolent, and procreative (cf. 10.184), often associated with Indra and prayed to jointly with him, but appearing alone in several hymns. The two gods are significant not merely for their roles in the Rig Veda but for the far more important roles they were destined to play in later sectarian Hinduism.

2.33   Rudra, Father of the Maruts

Though only three entire hymns in the Rig Veda are addressed to Rudra, the rich ambivalence of his character is the basis of an important line of Indian theology that culminates in the Hindu god Siva. Rudra is fierce and destructive like a terrible beast, like a wild storm; the sage begs him to turn his malevolence elsewhere. Yet Rudra is not merely demonic, for he is the healer and cooler as well as the bringer of disease and destructive fever.

1 Father of the Maruts,¹ send your kindness here. Do not cut us off from the sight of the sun. Let the hero spare our horses.² O Rudra, let us be born again through our children.

2 By those most healing medicines that you give, Rudra, I would attain a hundred winters. Drive hatred far away from us, and anguish farther away; drive diseases away in all directions.

3 Of what is born, you, Rudra, are the most glorious in glory, the strongest of the strong, with the thunderbolt in your hand.¹ Carry us safely to the farther shore of anguish;³ ward off all attacks or injury.

4 We would not wish to anger you, Rudra the bull,¹ by acts of homage or ill praise,⁴ or by invoking you together with another god.⁵ Raise up our heroes with your healing medicines; I hear that of all healers you are the best healer.

5 If someone should call him with invocations and oblations, thinking, ‘I will appease Rudra with songs of praise’ – may the soft-hearted⁶ god who is easy to invoke, the tawny god whose lips are full⁷ – may he not suspect us of that and give us over into the power of his anger.⁸

6 The bull¹ with the Maruts inspired me with his vital energy when I was in need of help. I long to win the kindness of Rudra, as I would long to reach the shade unharmed in the heat of the sun.

7 Where is your merciful hand, Rudra, so healing and cooling, that removes the injury that comes from the gods? Have mercy on me, O bull.

8 I send high praise to the high bull, tawny and white. I bow low in homage to the radiant one. We praise the dreaded name of Rudra.

9 The fierce, tawny god of many forms has adorned his firm limbs with shimmering gold. Never let the Asura power⁹ draw away from Rudra, the ruler of this vast world.

10 Rightly you carry the arrows and bow; rightly you wear the precious golden necklace shaped with many forms and colours; rightly you extend this terrible power over everything.¹⁰ There is nothing more powerful than you, Rudra.

11 Praise him, the famous young god who sits on the high seat,¹¹ the fierce one who attacks like a ferocious wild beast. O Rudra, have mercy on the singer, now that you have been praised. Let your armies strike down someone other than us.

12 As a son bows to his father who greets him, so I bow to you, Rudra, as you approach. I sing to the giver of plenty, the true lord; being praised, give us healing medicines.

13 Your healing medicines, O Maruts, so pure, so strengthening, so comforting, that our father Manu¹² chose -I desire these, O bulls, and happiness and health from Rudra.

14 Let the weapon of Rudra veer from us; let the great malevolence of the dreaded god go past us. Loosen the taut bows for the sake of our generous patrons; O bountiful one, have mercy on our children and grandchildren.

15 O tawny and amazing bull, O God, do not become incensed or kill us. Be here for us, Rudra, and hear our call. Let us speak great words as men of power in the sacri cial gathering.

NOTES

1. This hymn transfers to Rudra several attributes usually associated with Indra, such as the companionship of the Maruts, the thunderbolt, and the bull.

2. This verse may also imply a wish that Rudra will spare the worshipper when he is. on horseback. Elsewhere in the Rig Veda (1.114.8), Rudra is asked not to harm horses.

3. For the image of crossing over danger, cf. 10.127.6 and 1.92.6.

4. The implication is that the worship may be given in an un satisfactory way.

5. Many gods are invoked in pairs or groups in the Rig Veda, but never Rudra, who is given offerings separately from all other gods. The worshipper may also fear that he might offend Rudra by pairing him with an inferior god.

6. A vain hope or an optimistic euphemism, like calling the Greek Furies the Eumenides or ‘well-disposed’.

7. The adjective, also applied to Indra, particularly indicates that his lips are ready to drink Soma.

8. The verse implies that the wrong-minded worshipper might think he could bribe Rudra and that such a man’s thought might provoke Rudra to anger. The poet asks Rudra not to suspect him of such blasphemy. The verse turns upon the multiple meanings of mona: thought (the blasphemy), suspicion (Rudra’s), and anger (also Rudra’s).

9. Here the term ‘asura’ still has its connotation of a class of divinities, though its later meaning, ‘demonic’, would also be appropriate to Rudra.

10. The power of chaos and darkness (abhvam). Cf. 1.185.

11. Probably the seat on a chariot, rather than a throne.

12. This may recall the time of original creation, when Manu, the father of mankind, first kindled the sacrificial fire and offered Soma to the gods; Soma may be the source of the ‘healing medicines’ given to Manu in return for sacrifice. For Rudra and Manu, cf. 1.114.2.

1.114   Have Mercy on Us, Rudra

1 We bring these thoughts to the mighty Rudra, the god with braided hair,¹ who rules over heroes, so that it will be well with our two-footed and four-footed creatures, and in this village all will flourish unharmed.

2 Have mercy on us, Rudra, and give us life-force. We wish to bow low in service to you who rule over heroes. Whatever happiness and health Manu the father² won by sacrifice, we wish to gain that with you to lead us forth.

3 We wish to gain your kindness, Rudra, through sacrifice to the gods, for you are generous. O ruler over heroes, come to our families with kindness. Let us offer the oblation to you with our heroes free from injury.

4 We call down for help the dreaded Rudra who completes the sacrifice, the sage who fies.³ Let him repel far from us the anger of the gods; it is his kindness that we choose to have.

5 Tawny boar of the sky, dreaded form with braided hair, we call you down and we bow low. Holding in his hand the healing medicines that we long for, let him grant us protection, shelter, refuge.

6 These words are spoken for Rudra, the father of the Maruts, words sweeter than sweet, to strengthen him. And grant us, O immortal, the food for mortals. Have mercy on us, and on our children and grandchildren.

7 Do not slaughter the great one among us or the small one among us, nor the growing or the grown. Rudra, do not kill our father or our mother, nor harm the bodies dear to us.⁴

8 Do not harm us in our children or grandchildren, nor in our life-span, nor in our cows or in our horses. Rudra, do not in fury slaughter our heroes. With oblations we call you

here for ever.

9 I have driven these praises to you as the herdsman drives his cattle. Grant us kindness, father of the Maruts, for your kindness brings blessings most merciful, and so it is your help that we choose to have.

10 Keep far away from us your cow-killing and man-killing power, O ruler of heroes. Have mercy on us and speak for us, O god, and grant us double protection.⁵ 11 Seeking help, we have spoken in homage to him. Let Rudra with the Maruts hear our call. Let Mitra, Varuna, Aditi, Sindhu,⁶ Earth and Sky grant this to us.

NOTES

1. Rudra’s long hair is braided or piled on top of his head in a chignon.

2. As the primeval ancestor of man, Manu performed the first sacrifice by mortals for immortals.

3. Cf. 10.136.4 and 10.136.7.

4. Either our own bodies or the bodies of people we love.

5. Probably protection from his own wrath as well as from that of the other gods (before whom he is asked to speak on behalf of the worshipper), or from the killing of men and the killing of cattle.

6. A river goddess.

1.154   The Three Strides of Visnu

Visnu, like Rudra, seems prominent in the Rig Veda only through Hindu hindsight; though he is often invoked in conjunction with Indra (with whom Rudra also has close ties), he is merely one of several similar gods of a generally solar and beneficial character. This hymn is the basis of the later myth of the dwarf avatar who takes three steps to win the world from the demons.

Visnu’s three space-creating steps prop apart and thereby make the basic two-part Universe: the earthly regions and the ‘upper dwelling-place’ (v. 1) or ‘highest footstep’ (vv. 5-6), the seat of the immortal gods (vv. 5-6), particularly of Visnu (or of Visnu with Indra). It is significant that three steps are needed to accomplish this split into two; the paradox becomes strikingly explicit in verse 4, where Visnu supports the threefold heaven and earth; the mediating third is Visnu himself, who embodies ‘all creatures’. The three steps suggest many metaphorical levels. In the solar symbolism, they may be dawn, noon, and sunset, or three phases of the year that Visnu ‘measures apart’ (vv. 1 and 3). These steps are called strides (vikrama, vv. 1-2 and 5) or steps (pada, vv. 3-6), the latter with many complex connotations that enlarge the metaphor. Its primary meaning is ‘foot’ (cognate with that word as with Latin pes, pedis); it then designates ‘step’ (the foot’s

action) and ‘footprint’ (the foot’s after-image), as well as ‘stand’ or ‘base’ in the sense of dwelling-place (later devotional Hinduism makes much of the fact that the lowest part of god is the highest part of the universe). In the final verses, pada refers both to the actual place where men and gods dwell and the footstep which marks the place, in which the honey-fountain springs as water lls the mark made by a cow’s hoof.¹

1 Let me now sing the heroic deeds² of Visnu, who has measured apart the realms of earth, who propped up³ the upper dwelling-place, striding far as he stepped forth three times.

2 They praise for his heroic deeds Visnu who lurks in the mountains, wandering like a ferocious wild beast,⁴ in whose three wide strides all creatures dwell.

3 Let this song of inspiration go forth to Visnu, the wide-striding bull who lives in the mountains, who alone with but three steps measured apart this long, far-reaching dwelling-place.⁵

4 His three footprints, inexhaustibly full of honey, rejoice⁶ in the sacrificial drink. Alone, he supports threefold the earth and the sky – all creatures.

5 Would that I might reach his dear place of refuge, where men who love the gods rejoice.⁶ For there one draws close to the wide-striding Visnu; there, in his highest footstep, is the fountain of honey.

6 We wish to go to your⁷ dwelling-places, where there are untiring, many-horned cattle.⁸ There the highest footstep of the wide-stepping bull shines brightly down.

NOTES

1. Cf. the various uses of pada in 1.164.

2. Cf. 1.32.1, which begins with the same phrase.

3. The verb (skambh) is related to the noun for ‘pillar’, the axis mundi that props heaven apart so that creation may take place. This pillar is also a measuring-stick for Visnu. Elsewhere this act is attributed to Varuna (5.85.5), who measures out the earth with the sun as with a measure.

4. The commentator suggests that this is a lion; this seems more likely, in view of the sinister characteristics attributed to Visnu here, than to interpret it as a reference to the bull who is about to appear (vv. 3 and 6). Indeed, as bulls do not usually live in mountains, this may merely be an instance of the use of the word (Vrsan) to denote any male full of seed, in this case a wild beast (as the Vedic gods are often said to be wild beasts).

5. This may refer to the entire triple world or to the earth as opposed to the upper dwelling-place.

6. The verb can be transitive or intransitive, to be or to make someone else happy or drunk. Here both meanings seem appropriate: the honey in the footprints acts like Soma, intoxicating the creatures who dwell there, the ‘men who love the gods’ specified in the next verse. The honey is in all three of his footsteps (v. 4), though the highest is the fountain of the nectar of immortality (v. 5).

7. The pronoun, in the dual, refers to both Indra and Visnu.

8. Here, as elsewhere, the cattle may simply symbolize cattle (and, by extension, the riches of life), or something more. The commentator identifies them as rays of light (extensions of Visnu as the sun); they may be stars. As cattle, they are untiring, as rays unfading; ‘many-horned’ would mean something like ‘twinkling’ (for stars) or ‘widely diffused’ (for sunbeams). (Cf. 1.163.11 for horns as rays.) But they may be just what the verse says, the cattle who abound in heaven.