Dakshina's Play Ground

Tuesday, November 11, 2025

Wendy Doniger Rig Veda on Soma

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

SOMA

THE Soma plant is visualized in the Rig Veda as a god and as a liquid, pressed by stones in wooden bowls and filtered through a woollen sieve. These processes are described in some detail (9.74, 10.94) and are the inspiration for a rich cloth of imagery woven by the Vedic poet, an imagery also applied to the flowing of the sacrificial butter (4.58): women uniting with lovers, wild animals attacking, rivers flowing to the sea. Soma can be dangerous (8.79.7-8; 8.48.10) but the effects of drinking Soma are usually admired, or at least sought after: a sense of immense personal power (10.119, particularly valuable in the god Indra), intimations of immortality (9.113), the assurance of immortality (8.48), and the hallucinations of trance (10.136). Soma’s form and activities are referred to in several other hymns in this collection: 8.91, 9.112, 10.85, 10.94, 10.109; the story of his descent from heaven (4.26-7) is the only episode in his mythology narrated in any detail.

8.79 This Restless Soma

1 This restless Soma – you try to grab him but he breaks away and overpowers everything. He is a sage and a seer inspired by poetry.

2 He covers the naked and heals all who are sick. The blind man sees; the lame man steps forth.

3 Soma, you are a broad defence against those who hate us, both enemies we have made ourselves and those made by others. .

4 Through your knowledge and skills, rushing forward you drive out of the sky and the earth the evil deed of the enemy.

5 Let those who seek find what they seek: let them receive the treasure given by the generous and stop the greedy from getting what they want.

6 Let him¹ find what was lost before; let him push for- ward the man of truth. Let him stretch out the life- span that has not yet crossed its span.

7 Be kind and merciful to us, Soma; be good to our heart, without confusing our powers in your whirlwind.

8 King Soma, do not enrage us; do not terrify us; do not wound our heart with dazzling light.

9 Give help, when you see the evil plans of the gods in your own house.² Generous king, keep away hatreds, keep away failures.

NOTES

1. Soma or the man inspired by Soma.

2. Soma is asked to intercede for the worshipper among the other gods, as Agni often does.

9.74 Soma Pressed in the Bowls

This hymn describes in metaphors the pressing of Soma in the Soma-bowls and the pouring of the juices through a filter made of wool. The processes are likened to the milking of rain out of the clouds and the downpouring of the torrents upon the earth; to the pouring of seed into a womb to produce children; and to the winning of a race. In addition to their function as metaphors, these images serve also to express the goals of life that the poet hopes will be achieved by the Soma sacrifice: rain, fertility, and wealth. Cows appear in all of these metaphors : as symbols of the milk or water with which the Soma is mixed; as clouds from which rain is milked; as women who bear children; and as the prize to be won by the racehorse. Soma appears sometimes as a male animal (calf, horse, bull), sometimes as a female (identified with the cows), like Parjanya and Agni in other hymns; he is further identified with more abstract and general forms such as the navel of Order, the pillar of the sky (here identified with the stalk of the Soma plant), and the pasture or lap of Aditi – the highest heaven (here identified with the Soma bowl). The metaphors intertwine in many ways, as when rain is called the seed of the sky or the water in the bowl is called a wave of the cosmic ocean.

1 Like a new-born child he bellows in the wood,¹ the tawny racehorse straining to win the sun. He unites with the sky’s seed that grows great with milk.² With kind thoughts we pray to him for far-reaching shelter.

2 He who is the pillar of the sky, the well-adorned support, the full stalk that encircles all around, he is the one who by tradition sacrifices to these two great world-halves. The poet³ holds together the conjoined pair, and the refreshing foods.

3 The honey of Soma is a great feast; the wide pasture of Aditi is for the man who follows the right way. Child of dawn, the bull who rules over the rain here, leader of the waters, worthy of hymns, he is the one who brings help here.

4 Butter and milk are milked from the living cloud; the navel of Order, the ambrosia is born. Together those who bring fine gifts satisfy him; the swollen men⁴ piss down the fluid set in motion.

5 The stalk roared as it united with the wave;5 for man he swells the skin that attracts the gods. He places in the lap of Aditi the seed by which we win sons and grandsons.

6 Relentlessly they⁶ flow down into the lter of a thousand streams; let them have offspring in the third realm of the world. Four hidden springs pouring forth butter carry down from the sky the ambrosia that is the oblation.

7 He takes on a white colour when he strains to win; Soma, the generous Asura, knows the whole world. He clings to inspired thought and ritual action as he goes forth; let

him hurl down from the sky the cask full of water.

8 Now he has gone to the white pot coated by cows; the racehorse has reached the

winning line and has won a hundred cows for Kaksivat, the man of a hundred winters.⁷ Longing for the gods in their heart, they⁸ hasten forth.

9 Clarifying Soma, when you are sated with waters your juice runs through the sieve made of wool. Polished by the poets, Soma who brings supreme ecstasy, be sweet for Indra to drink.

NOTES

1. Soma as a new-born calf or horse wanders in the ‘forest’ of the wooden pressing- bowls.

2. The seed of heaven is the rain that mixes with the milk of the clouds, as Soma mixes with the milk in the bowls.

3. Soma is identified with the sun, who is called a poet, propping apart and holding together the pair of sky and earth, his parents.

4. The Maruts are the swollen men (clouds) who urinate the Soma (a male image) after it has been milked from the clouds (a female image).

5. Soma is the living, androgynous cloud from which milk and rain are pressed. Soma is the stalk; the wave is the water that mixes with it. The skin of the plant swells like the leather water-skin likened to the fain-clouds (cf. 1.85.5, 5.83.7) or the overturned cask (v. 7), both attributes of Parjanya.

6. The streams of Soma likened to rains are to have their ‘off spring’ in the third realm, for the floods of rain renew themselves in heaven. Cf. 1.164.

7. Kaksivat, said to have been saved by the Asvins (1.116.7), may have regained his youth, as did many others helped by the Asvins.

8. The Soma juices, or the priests.

10.94 The Pressing-Stones

A hymn to the stones that press the Soma juice. The noise that they make while grinding the stalks of the plant, and their action in devouring (i.e. destroying) the fibres while releasing the juices, suggest the actions of animals (cows, bulls, horses) that growl or bellow and swallow the liquid.

1 Let them¹ raise their voices, and let us raise our voices. Speak your speech² to the stones that speak, when you stones, you mountains full of Soma, rush to bring the rhythmic sound to Indra.

2 They speak in a hundred ways, a thousand ways, howling with their green jaws.³ Working busily and well to do the good work, the stones have succeeded in eating the

oblation even before the priest of the oblation.

3 They speak: they have found the honey. They growl and gnaw on the cooked meat.⁴ As they snap at the branch of the red tree,⁵ the bulls who have grazed well begin to bellow.

4 They speak loudly, excited by the exhilarating drink. They shout to Indra: they have found the honey. Artfully they danced with the sisters that embrace them,⁶ making the earth echo with their stampings.

5 The eagles have sent their cry up to the sky. Ardently the dark hinds danced in the meadow. They plunge deep to the rendezvous with the lower stone; they infuse it with floods of the seed of the sun-bright one.⁷

6 Like brawny draught animals yoked together, these bulls bear the shaft and pull as a team. When they bellow, panting and chewing the cud, they sound like racehorses whinnying.

7 Sing to them that have ten girths,⁸ ten yoke-straps, ten harnesses, ten reins that never wear out, to them that are yoked ten times to bear ten shafts.

8 The stones are swift horses; their bridle with ten thongs fits them comfortably. They have tasted the filtered juice of the first pressing of the Soma juice milked from the stalk.

9 These Soma-eaters kiss Indra’s pair of bays. As they milk the stalk they sit upon the ox.⁹ When Indra has drunk the honey they have milked he grows great and acts like a bull.

10 Your stalk is a bull; surely you will not be harmed. You are always over owing with nourishment, sated with food. You are lovely in your splendour like the daughter of a rich man at whose sacrifice you stones rejoice.

11 Porous or not porous, the stones never tire, never rest, never die; they are never sick or old or shaken by passion; nicely fat, they are free from thirst and desire.

12 Your fathers¹⁰ are entirely firm in age after age; peace-loving, they do not budge from their spot. Untouched by age, the companions of the tawny one¹¹ are like the saffron tree;¹² they have made the sky and the earth listen to their uproar.

13 The stones speak the same when they are unyoked and when they are on their journey, with their stampings like the noises of men who drink deeply. Like those who sow seed and grow grain, they gobble up the Soma without diminishing it as they lap it up.

14 They have raised their voices for the sacrificial juice, like playful children jostling a mother. Set free the inspiration of the one who presses Soma, and let the stones that we hold in awe return to being stones.¹³

NOTES

1. The stones are first referred to, and then are addressed after the priests, at the end of the verse.

2. Here the poet addresses the priests, whose chants of invocation to Indra are equated with the noise of the stones that Indra hears.

3. Their jaws are green with the juice of the Soma plant, also called yellow, red (as in v. 3), or tawny.

4. Soma is here imagined as a sacrificial animal eaten by the stones.

5. Soma.

6. The ten fingers that hold the stones.

7. Soma.

8. The ten fingers again, here imagined as draught animals as in the previous verse.

9. The Soma stalks are placed upon an oxhide.

10. The mountains, as in verse 1, are the fathers of the stones.

11. Soma is the tawny one; as he grows in the mountains, they are his companions.

12. The stones (or the mountains) become yellow through contact with Soma.

13. That is, lose those awesome qualities that they took on during the ritual and return to being mere stones. The ritual objects must be desanctified after the ritual.

4.58 Butter

The clarified butter is visualized in three forms (v. 3) : as the actual butter used as the oblation, as the Soma juice, and as perfected speech in the heart of the poet.

1 The wave of honey arose out of the ocean; mingling with the stalk,¹ it became the elixir of immortality, that is the secret name of butter: ‘tongue of the gods’, ‘navel of immortality’.

2 We will proclaim the name of butter; we will sustain it in this sacrifice by bowing low. When it has been pronounced, let the Brahmin priest hear it. This four- horned buffalo² has let it slip out.³

3 Four horns, three feet has he; two heads and seven hands has he. Bound threefold, the bull bellows. The great god has entered mortals.

4 In the cow the gods found the butter that had been divided into three parts and hidden by the Panis.⁴ Indra brought forth one form, Surya one, and from the very substance of Vena⁵ they fashioned one.

5 These streams of butter flow from the ocean of the heart,⁶ enclosed by a hundred fences so that the enemy cannot see them. I gaze upon them; the golden reed⁷ is in their midst.

6 Our words flow together like rivers, made clear by understanding deep within the heart.⁸ These waves of butter flow like gazelles fleeing before a hunter.

7 Like whirlpools in the current of a river, the young streams of butter surge forth and swell with the waves, overtaking the wind like a chestnut racehorse that breaks through the sides of the track.⁹

8 Smiling, the streams of butter rush to Agni like beautiful women to a festival. They touch the fuel-sticks, and Agni joyously woos them.

9 I gaze upon them. They are like girls anointing themselves with perfumed oil to go to a wedding. Where Soma is pressed, where there is a sacrifice, there the streams of butter are made clear.

10 Let a fine song of praise flow forth, and a race that wins cows. Bring us auspicious riches. Lead this sacrifice of ours to the gods. The honeyed streams of butter become clear.

11 The whole universe is set in your essence within the ocean, within the heart, in the life-span.¹⁰ Let us win your honeyed wave that is brought to the face of the waters as they ow together.

NOTES

1. The Soma stalk mixes with the water to make the juice of immortality.

2. Soma is imagined as a buffalo and, in the next verse, as a bull.

3. He emits the secret, the Soma, and his seed, all as butter.

4. Indra released the cows that had been penned up by the Panis (human and demonic enemies of the invading Indo-Aryans), finding the butter (Soma as milk) within them. Cf. 3.31 and 10.108.

5. The seer identified with the sun-bird. Cf. 10.123.

6. The Soma juices, once imbibed, are said to be in the heart, as is the poet’s inspiration.

7. The Soma plant full of butter and seed.

8. Soma is clarified in the filter, butter is clarified by boiling, and thought is clarified in the heart.

9. The track is simultaneously the fence around the race-track, the banks of the river, and the normal channels of thought.

10. The life-span belongs both to butter (that gives immortality, as Soma) and to the poet (whose inspiration, in the ocean that is his heart, gives him immortality).

4.26-7 Soma and Indra and the Eagle

These two closely related hymns centre upon the myth of the theft of the elixir of immortality. This Indo-European theme appears in Russia as the fire-bird and in Greece as the myth of Prometheus – for Soma is the ‘fiery juice’, simultaneously fire and water (Agni-Somau), that gives immortality. Soma is born in heaven (or in the mountains) and closely guarded by demonic powers; an eagle carries Indra to heaven to bring the Soma to men and gods (or an eagle brings the Soma to Indra – cf. 4.18.13), escaping with merely the loss of a single feather from the one shot loosed by the guardian archer.

The first hymn begins with a song of drunken self-praise by Indra (vv. 1-4; cf. 10.119) and then tells the story of the eagle (vv. 5-7). The second hymn begins with the self-praise of the eagle (v. 1), then a verse spoken by Soma, and a return to the narration of the myth.

4.26

1 [Indra:] ‘I was Manu and I was the Sun;¹ I am Kaksivat, the wise sage.² I surpassed Kutsa the son of Arjuna;³ I am the inspired Usanas⁴ – look at me!

2 ‘I gave the earth to the Aryan; I gave rain to the mortal who made an offering. I led forth the roaring water;⁵ the gods followed after my wish.

3 ‘Ecstatic with Soma I shattered the nine and ninety fortresses of Sambara⁶ all at once, finishing off the inhabitant as the hundredth, as I gave aid to Divodäsa Atithigva.

4 ‘O Maruts, the bird shall be supreme above all birds, the swift-flying eagle above all eagles, since by his own driving power that needs no chariot wheels, with his powerful wings he brought to man the oblation loved by the gods.’

5 Fluttering⁷ as he brought it⁸ down, the bird swift as thought shot forth on the wide path; swiftly the eagle came with the honey of Soma and won fame for that.

6 Stretching out in flight, holding the stem, the eagle brought the exhilarating and intoxicating drink from the distance. Accompanied by the gods,⁹ the bird clutched the Soma tightly after he took it from that highest heaven.

7 When the eagle had taken the Soma, he brought it for a thousand and ten thousand pressings at once. The bringer of abundance¹⁰ left his enemies behind there; ecstatic with Soma, the wise one left the fools.

4.27

1 [The eagle:] ‘While still in the womb, I knew all the generations of these gods. A hundred iron fortresses guarded me,¹¹ but I, the eagle,¹² swiftly flew away.’

2 [Soma:] ‘He]¹³ did not drag me out against my will, for I surpassed him in energy and manly strength. In a flash, the bringer of abundance left his enemies behind as he outran the winds, swelling with power.’

3 As the eagle came shrieking down from heaven, and as they ¹⁴ led the bringer of abundance down from there like the wind, as the archer Krsanu,¹⁵ reacting quickly,

aimed down at hi and let loose his bowstring,

4 the eagle bearing Indra brought him down like Bhujyu¹⁶ from the summits of heaven, stretching out in swift flight. Then a wing feather¹⁷ fell in mid-air¹⁸ from the bird as he swooped on the path of flight.

5 The white goblet over flowing with cows’ milk, the nest honey, the clear juice offered by the priests¹⁹ -now let the generous Indra raise it to drink until ecstatic with Soma; let the hero raise it to drink until ecstatic with Soma.

NOTES

1. In his ecstatic sense of self-importance and omnipotence, Indra identifies himself with various mythic personages; the sun is another form of the prize won by the celestial fire-bird (or, in other variants, the sun is the fire-bird himself), and Manu, the eponymous ancestor of mankind, is the one to whom the Soma is brought (v.4).

2. Indra identifies himself with the sage whom he inspires. Cf. Kak??vat in 9.74.8.

3. Indra and Kutsa are sometimes enemies in the Rig Veda, sometimes allies in feats such as fighting with the serpent Susna and stealing the solar disc.

4. Usanas is an inspired sage and priest.

5. By destroying the fortresses of the demons, Indra releases the waters; cf. 1.32.

6. A demon, the enemy of Indra and of Divodasa; with Indra’s help, Divodasa destroys the demon’s fortresses that imprison the eagle with the Soma.

7. In fear of the archer shooting at him (4.27.3).

8. The Soma.

9. The gods as the attendants of Indra.

10. Indra, perhaps riding on the eagle. Elsewhere (cf. 1.116.13), the bringer of abundance (Purandhi) is a female divinity.

11. Again an allusion to the demon’s fortresses (cf. 4.26.3), in which the eagle is kept; perhaps the Soma was guarded there and the eagle was kept there after the theft, though Soma may have been imprisoned alone earlier in order to forestall the theft.

12. The eagle boasts in response to Indra’s praise of him (4.26.4).

13. The eagle, or Indra riding on the eagle.

14. Probably the gods, or perhaps the winds mentioned in the previous verse.

15. A demon placed as guardian over the Soma.

16. The Asvins rescued Bhujyu from the ocean. Cf. 1.116.3-4.

17. The feather turned into a plant used as a substitute for the Soma plant.

18. Half-way between sky and earth.

19. The Adhvaryus, responsible for the performance of the Soma ritual.

10.119 The Soma-Drinker Praises Himself

Under the influence of the drug Soma, a sage or god praises himself.¹ The god may be Indra or Agni, though the former is more likely and is supported by the Indian commentarial tradition; either god may be incarnate in the worshipper speaking the hymn. As he drinks, his boasts become progressively more Gargantuan.

1 This, yes, this is my thought: I will win² a cow and a horse. Have I not drunk Soma?

2 Like impetuous winds, the drinks have lifted me up. Have I not drunk Soma?

3 The drinks have lifted me up, like swift horses bolting with a chariot. Have I not drunk Soma?

4 The prayer has come to me ³ as a lowing cow comes to her beloved son. Have I not drunk Soma?

5 I turn the prayer around in my³ heart, as a wheelwright turns a chariot seat. Have I not drunk Soma?

6 The five tribes ⁴ are no more to me than a mote in the eye.⁵ Have I not drunk Soma?

7 The two world halves ⁶ cannot be set against⁷ a single wing of mine.⁸ Have I not drunk Soma?

8 In my vastness, I surpassed the sky and this vast earth. Have I not drunk Soma?

9 Yes ! I will place the earth here, or perhaps there. Have I not drunk Soma?

10 I will thrash the earth soundly, here, or perhaps there. Have I not drunk Soma?

11 One of my wings is in the sky; I have trailed the other below.⁹ Have I not drunk Soma?

12 I am huge, huge! flying to the cloud. Have I not drunk Soma?

13 I am going¹⁰ – a well-stocked house, carrying the oblation to the gods.¹¹ Have I not drunk Soma?

NOTES

1. Cf. 4.26.1-3, 4.27.1.

2. The verb can mean to win for oneself or for someone else. If Indra is speaking, he wants them for himself; if Agni, to transmit to the other gods or to give to the poet; if the poet, to give to the gods. Since the poet imagines that he has become a god, all of these meanings are simultaneously present.

3. As a god, he receives the prayer and ‘turns it around’ to decide whether or not to accept it; as a poet, he receives the inspiration of the prayer and ‘turns it around’ to perfect it.

4. The whole of the Vedic tribal world.

5. Alternatively, worth no more than a glance.

6. Sky and earth.

7. ‘Set against’ both in the sense of set in opposition to and set up as equal to.

8. Agni takes the form of a bird or a winged horse, but the poet may simply feel that he is flying, a frequent symptom of drug-induced ecstasy. Cf. 10.136.2-4.

9. He imagines himself to have grown so large that he touches heaven and earth at the same time.

10. A salutation of farewell, as he heads for heaven and the gods.

11. A compound image, of a house full of Soma (his stomach being the larder), a flying palace (common in later Indian mythology), and the god Agni carrying the oblation – the Soma – to the gods.

9.113 The Ecstasy of Soma

The poet begins by inviting Indra to drink Soma with him and then invokes Soma for himself, praising him. He then asks Soma to make him immortal, as he becomes inspired under the hallucinogenic in infuence of the drug (v. 6).

1 Let Indra the killer of Vrtra drink Soma in Saryanavat,¹ gathering his strength within himself, to do a great heroic deed. O drop of Soma, flow for Indra.

2 Purify yourself, generous Soma from Arjika,¹ master of the quarters of the sky. Pressed with sacred words, with truth and faith and ardour,² O drop of Soma, flow for Indra.

3 The daughter of the sun has brought the buffalo raised by Parjanya.³ The divine youths have received him and placed the juice in Soma. O drop of Soma, flow for Indra.

4 You speak of the sacred, as your brightness is sacred; you speak the truth, as your deeds are true.⁴ You speak of faith, King Soma, as you are carefully prepared by the sacrificial priest. O drop of Soma, flow for Indra.

5 The floods of the high one, the truly awesome one, flow together. The juices of him so full of juice mingle together as you, the tawny one, purify yourself with prayer. O drop of Soma, flow for Indra.

6 Where the high priest speaks rhythmic words, O Purifier, holding the pressing-stone, feeling that he has become great with the Soma, giving birth to joy through the Soma, O drop of Soma, flow for Indra.

7 Where the inextinguishable light shines, the world where the sun was placed, in that immortal, unfading world, O Purifier, place me. O drop of Soma, flow for Indra.

8 Where Vivasvan’s son is king,⁵ where heaven is enclosed, where those young waters are⁶ – there make me immortal. O drop of Soma, flow for Indra.

9 Where they move as they will, in the triple dome, in the third heaven of heaven, where the worlds are made of light, there make me immortal. O drop of Soma, flow for Indra.

10 Where there are desires and longings, at the sun’s zenith, where the dead are fed and satisfied,⁶ there make me immortal. O drop of Soma, flow for Indra.

11 Where there are joys and pleasures, gladness and delight, where the desires of desire are fulfilled, there make me immortal. O drop of Soma, flow for Indra.

NOTES

1 The mountains where Soma is found.

2 Tapas, the heat generated by sacrificial activity (and, later, by asceticism).

3 The daughter of the sun is the wife of Soma; Soma is some times called a buffalo (or a bull or stallion) ; Parjanya, god of fructifying rain, makes Soma and other plants grow (cf. 5.83.1, 5.83.5, 5.83.10; 7.101.2, 7.101.6).

4 That is, the deeds done under the influence of Soma are true (cf. in vino Veritas).

5 Yama, the son of Vivasvan, is king in the world of the dead, here (and elsewhere in the Rig Veda) thought of as being in heaven, where the dead are nourished by the offerings made to them by their descendants.

6 The cosmic waters born in heaven.

8.48 We Have Drunk the Soma

This hymn celebrates the effects of Soma, particularly the feeling of being set free and released into boundless open space, and the belief that the drinker is immortal.

1 I have tasted the sweet drink of life, knowing that it inspires good thoughts and joyous expansiveness to the extreme, that all the gods and mortals seek it together, calling it honey.¹

2 When you penetrate inside, you will know no limits,² and you will avert the wrath of the gods. Enjoying Indra’s friendship, O drop of Soma, bring riches as a docile cow³ brings the yoke.

3 We have drunk the Soma; we have become immortal; ⁴ we have gone to the light; we have found the gods. What can hatred and the malice of a mortal do to us now, O immortal one?

4 When we have drunk you, O drop of Soma, be good to our heart, kind as a father to his son, thoughtful as a friend to a friend. Far-famed Soma, stretch out⁵ our life-span so that we may live.

5 The glorious drops that I have drunk set me free in wide space. You have bound me together in my limbs as thongs bind a chariot. Let the drops protect me from the foot that stumbles ⁶ and keep lameness away from me.

6 Inflame me like a fire kindled by friction; make us see far; make us richer, better. For when I am intoxicated with you, Soma, I think myself rich. Draw near and make us thrive.

7 We would enjoy you, pressed with a fervent heart, like riches from a father. King Soma, stretch out our life- spans as the sun stretches the spring days.

8 King Soma, have mercy on us for our well-being. Know that we are devoted to your laws. Passion and fury are stirred up.⁷ O drop of Soma, do not hand us over to the pleasure of the enemy.

9 For you, Soma, are the guardian of our body; watching over men, you have settled down in every limb. If we break your laws, O god, have mercy on us like a good friend, to make us better.

10 Let me join closely with my compassionate friend⁸ so that he will not injure me when I have drunk him. O lord of bay horses,⁹ for the Soma that is lodged in us I approach Indra to stretch out our life-span.

11 Weaknesses and diseases have gone; the forces of darkness¹⁰ have fled in terror. Soma has climbed up in us, expanding. We have come to the place where they stretch out life- spans.

12 The drop that we have drunk has entered our hearts, an immortal inside mortals. O fathers,¹¹ let us serve that Soma with the oblations and abide in his mercy and kindness.

13 Uniting in agreement with the fathers, O drop of Soma, you have extended yourself through sky and earth. Let us serve him with an oblation; let us be masters of riches.

14 You protecting gods, speak out for us. Do not let sleep or harmful speech¹² seize us. Let us, always dear to Soma, speak as men of power in the sacrificial gathering.

15 Soma, you give us the force of life on every side. Enter into us, finding the sunlight, watching over men. O drop of Soma, summon your helpers and protect us before and after.¹³

NOTES

1. Here, as elsewhere in the hymns to Soma, honey is not a reference to the product of bees or the Indo-European mead made from it, but refers to the essence and sweetness

of the ambrosia.

2. Inside the human body, the Soma becomes ‘boundless’ in the sense of producing a feeling of infinite expansion, a sensation char acteristic of psychedelic drugs. But the word (aditi) may also be taken as the proper name of the goddess Aditi, for Soma is called the youngest son of Aditi and Aditi’s function of liberating from sin might be relevant here : Soma, Aditi’s son, purifies from within and pacifies the angry gods.

3. The term denotes an obedient female animal, probably a draught animal; it could be a mare or a cow. Cf. Dawn harnessing docile cows to her chariot in order to bring treasure to the singer (1.92.2). These animals, though naturally fierce in the Indo- European world, were also capable of being tamed.

4. The poet has a vision of what life in heaven would be like, a kind of vague, temporary immortality, lasting ‘a long time’.

5. The verb means to cross in a forward direction, as one would cross a river, to push the farther bank of the life-span farther away. Cf. SB 11.1.6.6, in which Prajapati sees the end of his life as one would see the farther bank of a river. The metaphor is repeated in vv. 7 and 10-11, and the idea of prolonging life (or of obtaining the limited immortality which consists in a full life-span) is central to the hymn. Cf. also the recurrent Vedic themes of ‘stretching the thread’ of the sacrifice and expanding in space.

6. The releasing effect of the drug described in the first part of this verse is immediately contrasted with a binding, perhaps by Soma, perhaps by someone else, and then with some sort of stumbling; this stumbling may involve actual injury, prefigured in the ‘binding with thongs’ and followed by the ‘lameness’ of the next phrase. The verse may also imply more metaphysical mistakes, but the literal meaning might refer to stumbling and falling in physical clumsiness as a result of the ecstasy induced by Soma.

7. Soma stirs not only the emotions of the drinkers but also the unpredictable emotions of the enemy mentioned in the next phrase.

8. Soma.

9. Indra, here as elsewhere identified with Soma. The singer approaches Indra to come ‘for’ Soma in the sense of ‘in order to enjoy’ Soma or ‘in return for being given’ Soma, but in any case to act, like Soma, to prolong life, or even to allow Soma to remain in the belly for a long time.

10. Personified as females.

11. The fathers, as drinkers of Soma, are called to witness.

12. ‘Harmful speech’ may mean injurious slander or may refer to the violation of the vows of remaining awake and silent in the rite of initiation into the Soma sacrifice. Cf. 10.18.14.

13. The worshipper asks to be surrounded and protected now and forever in his drug- induced vulnerability.

10.136 The Long-haired Ascetic

The long-haired ascetic (Kesin), an early precursor of the Upanisadic yogi, drinks a drug (probably some hallucinogen other than Soma) in the company of Rudra, the master of poison and a god who is excluded from the Soma sacrifice. The hallucinations described in the hymn are related to but not the same as those attributed to Soma-drinkers in 9.112, 10.119, etc.

1 Long-hair holds fire, holds the drug, holds sky and earth. Long-hair reveals everything, so that everyone can see the sun.¹ Long-hair declares the light.

2 These ascetics, swathed in wind,² put dirty red rags on.³ When gods enter them, they ride with the rush of the wind.

3 ‘Crazy with asceticism, we have mounted the wind.⁴ Our bodies are all you mere mortals can see.’

4 He sails through the air, looking down on all shapes below.⁵ The ascetic is friend to this god and that god, devoted to what is well done.

5 The stallion of the wind, friend of gales, lashed on by gods – the ascetic lives in the two seas, on the east and on the west.

6 He moves with the motion of heavenly girls ⁶ and youths, of wild beasts. Long-hair, reading their minds, is their sweet, their most exciting friend.

7 The wind has churned it⁷ up; Kunamnama⁸ prepared it for him. Long-hair drinks from the cup, sharing the drug ⁹ with Rudra.

NOTES

1. This act is attributed to other Vedic gods, too. Cf. 1.50.5.

2. That is, they are naked; but the connection with the wind is also literally important, as in verses 3, 5, and 7.

3. Some are naked, some wear red (later saffron) rags.

4. The ascetic rides the wind as if it were a horse; cf. v. 5. The ascetic controls the wind by controlling his own breath.

5. This act is often attributed to the sun. The ecstatic ascetic takes on the characteristics of several gods. The verse also describes the sensation of flying outside of one’s own body, observed below (cf. v. 3).

6. The Apsarases or nymphs of heaven, with their companions the Gandharvas.

7. The drug.

8. A female deity who appears only here; her name may indicate a witch or a hunchback.

9. Visa, a drug or poison.

Wendy Doniger Rig Veda on Indra

INDRA

INDRA, the king of the gods, is frequently mentioned in hymns to other gods. As the great Soma-drinker, he appears often in the Soma hymns (cf. 10.119), and it is he who lures Agni away from the waters or the demons (10.51, 10.124). He is central to hymns about the Maruts (1.165, 1.170-71), Atri (5.40), Apala (8.91), and Vrsakapi (10.86), and appears as a very important bit player in many others.

Indra’s family life is troubled in ways that remain unclear. His birth, like that of many great warriors and heroes, is unnatural; there are also strong hints that he may have killed his father (4.18). So, too, he is in turn challenged by his own son, whom he apparently overcomes (10.28). The incestuous implications in these relationships may have led the Vedic poet to append to one of the Indra hymns the tale of another incestuous birth and infancy, apparently that of Agni (3.31.1-3; cf. 5.2.1).

But the hymns return again and again to clearer and more straightforward stories: the heroic deeds of Indra. The killing of Vrtra(1.32) is frequently alluded to in other hymns, as is the freeing of the cows in the cave (3.31, 10.108), which shares much of the symbolism and significance of the battle with Vrtra. Other deeds, such as the beheading of the sacrifice (10.171), are mentioned without being fully explained in the Rig Veda, though later mythological texts often expand upon them.

Indra’s famous generosity – particularly when he is exultant from copious draughts of Soma – and his endearing anthropomorphism embolden the poet to imagine himself in Indra’s place (8.14). These same qualities, however, may have led worshippers even in Vedic times to devalue Indra, the beginning of a process that culminates in his total loss of worship in the Hindu period; in answer to these implicit expressions of doubt, the poet reaffirms his faith in Indra as the greatest of the Vedic warrior gods (2.12).

4.18 The Birth and Childhood Deeds of Indra

This obscure dialogue is partially illuminated by the recognition of its place in Indo- European mythology: it refers, in purposely mysterious tones, to the story of a male god concealed by his mother from a father who threatens to kill him, a father whom he himself then kills. The hymn alternates between narrative and direct discourse, the latter spoken by Indra and his mother, the former by the poet who questions them and elicits answers that attempt to vindicate and justify the actions of the two protagonists. None of the principals in the drama is named except Indra; later commentary identifies the mother with Aditi and the father with Tvastr(who appears in the hymn, though not explicitly as the father).

The hymn begins with the story of Indra’s birth: his mother kept him in the womb for many years (v. 4), not, she insists, in absence of maternal feeling but for Indra’s sake – i.e. to protect him; the hymn does not tell us why this was necessary, but it may well be

because his father was jealous of Indra’s great powers (v. 5), a suspicion ultimately proved valid when Indra kills his father (v. 12). As the dialogue begins, Indra is still inside the womb and wishes to break out through her side; she attempts to dissuade him (v. 1), but he insists on being born (v. 2). She then hides him (v. 3), presumably still in fear of his father. Again Indra refuses to be protected, but follows her to Tvastr’s house, where he drinks the Soma (v. 3). In response to the narrator’s accusations (vv. 4-5), she calls upon the waters to witness her good motives in treating Indra as she did (vv. 6-7), and speaks of being guiltless of the wounds Indra incurred in fighting the demon Vrtra(vv. 8-9), who is analogized with Indra’s father. The narrator then recapitulates the story of Indra’s birth (v. 10) and the slaying of Vrtra, in which Visnuu came to Indra’s aid (v. 11). Upon being questioned about killing his father (v. 12), Indra protests that he had no choice, being in terrible danger until the eagle brought him the Soma (v. 13).

1 [Indra’s mother:] ‘This¹ is the ancient, proven path by which all the gods were born and moved upward. By this very path he should be born when he has grown great. He should not make his mother perish in that way.’²

2 [Indra:] ‘I cannot come out by that path; these are bad places to go through. I will come out cross-wise, through the side. Many things yet undone must I do; one ³ I will fight, and one ⁴ I will question.’

3 [Narrator:] He watched his mother as she went away:⁵ ‘I cannot help following : I will follow.’ In Tvastr’s house Indra drank the Soma⁶ worth a hundred cows, pressed in the two bowls.

4 Why has she pushed him far away, whom she carried for a thousand months and many autumns? For there is no one his equal among those who are born and those who will be born.⁷

5 As if she thought he was flawed,⁸ his mother hid Indra though he abounded in manly strength. Then he stood up and put his garment on by himself; as he was born he filled the two world-halves.

6 [Indra’s mother:] ‘These waters⁹ flow happily, shouting “ Alala! “, waters that were screaming together like righteous women.¹⁰ Ask them what they are saying, what encircling mountain¹¹ the waters burst apart.

7 ‘Are they speaking words of praise and invitation¹² to him? Do the waters wish to take on themselves the flaw of Indra?¹³ With his great weapon my son killed Vrtra and set these rivers free.

8 ‘ Still a young woman, I did not throw you away for my sake; nor did Evil-childbirth¹⁴ swallow you up for my sake. But for my sake the waters were kind to the child,¹⁵ and for my sake Indra stood up at once.

9 ‘Not for my sake did the shoulderless one¹⁶ wound you, generous Indra, and strike away your two jaws;¹⁷ though wounded, you overpowered him, and with your weapon

you crushed the head of the Dasa.’¹⁸

10 [Narrator:] The heifer¹⁹ gave birth to the firm, strong, unassailable bull, the stout Indra. The mother let her calf wander unlicked,²⁰ to seek his own ways by himself.

11 And the mother turned to the buffalo:²¹ ‘My son, the gods here are deserting you.’²² Then Indra, wanting to kill Vrtra, said, ‘Visnu, my friend, stride as far as you can.’²³’

12 Who made your mother a widow?²⁴ Who wished to kill you when you were lying still or moving?²⁵ What god helped you when you grabbed your father by the foot and crushed him?²⁶

13 [Indra:] ‘Because I was in desperate straits, I cooked the entrails of a dog,²⁷ and I found no one among the gods to help me. I saw my woman²⁸ dishonoured. Then the eagle brought the honey to me.’²⁹

NOTES

1. The conventional birth passage through the womb; Indra, like so many folk heroes, refuses to be born in this way. Cf. Soma talking in the womb, 4.27.1.

2. She argues that he will kill her if he bursts out through her side. In fact, several Indian mythological heroes (including the Buddha) are conceived and/or born through the side without injury to the parent (as is about to be the case with Indra now), but some do indeed kill their mothers (or androgynous fathers) in this way.

3. Vrtra, who is alluded to several times in this hymn.

4. The verb ‘to question’ here contrasts with the verb ‘to fight’, and indicates that Indra will either speak to make a treaty (with Visnu) or speak before killing (Tvastr). The former seems more likely; the question that he asks of Visnu is the request to have him stride forward (v. 11).

5. The commentator says that she died, but the hymn makes this unlikely; she merely abandons him, as the true mother of the Indo- European hero usually does. Cf. 5.2.1-2, where Agni’s mother hides him from his father for many years in her womb.

6. According to later tradition, Indra killed Tvastr in order to get the Soma away from him.

7. The argument is either, Why did she try to kill him when she knew he was so powerful that he couldn’t be killed, or, Why did she try to kill him when she knew he was destined to be a great hero? In fact, she merely pushed him away in order to preserve him, but one is reminded of the mother of Martanda’, Aditi (who is traditionally identified as the mother of Indra as well), who pushed her son away to kill him (10.72.8).

8. The flaw may be a physical birth flaw such as Martanda’ had, the cause of Aditi’s rejection of him. Again, this suspicion is invalid: Indra is not physically flawed. But the

phrase may also foreshadow the moral flaw which is to be a problem to Indra, the guilt of the slaughter of Vrtra, alluded to in verse 7.

9. The waters set free when Vrtra was killed (1.32.1, 1.32.8, 1.32.11-12, etc.). Also, perhaps, the waters in which Indra was placed to hide him from danger (cf. 1.32.10 and 10.51).

10. At first the waters scream for help when Vrtra assaults them; then they chortle onomatopoetically when they are set free.

11. The cavern where Vrtra kept the waters penned up. Cf. 1.32.11 and 3.31.5.

12. A technical term for a formula of praise and laudatory epithets, used to call a god.

13. The flaw or stain is the sin incurred in killing Vrtra. Later myths narrate at great length the way in which Indra asked the waters (and other creatures) to take upon themselves a portion of this stain.

14. This may be the name of a demonness who swallows children, whose name indicates that she brings evil to those in childbirth (i.e. causes the death of the child or the mother or both) or brings forth evil. More likely, however, it is the name of the river who’swallows up’ Indra – not for the sake of his mother (i.e. not because she was a rejecting mother), but for his sake – to save him from danger.

15. The mercy of the waters may be their kindness in adopting him when his mother was forced to abandon him, or their willing ness to forgive him for the sin of killing the demon (for their benefit) and to take part of the sin upon them. Indra’s mother takes credit for persuading them to do this, and for letting Indra stand up at once, though earlier (v. 5) the poet emphasizes that Indra did this despite her efforts to hide him.

16. Vrtra. Cf. 1.32.5.

17. Elsewhere it is said that Vrtra wounded Indra in this way, shattering his jaws (1.32.12). Indra’s mother seems to be saying that it wasn’t her fault that Indra got into such trouble; she had tried to keep him safe in her womb.

18. The serpent is identified with the native enemy, or slave, of the conquering Aryan. See 1.32.11.

19. Indra’s mother is here called a cow who has not yet given birth to a calf. Indra is her first-born. Cf. the mothers of Agni as primaparas, 2.35.5.

20. That is, she did not hold him close to her after he was born, but pushed him away uncared for, like a cow who fails to eat the afterbirth and lick the calf. Moreover, as Indra was not born through the womb, there would be no afterbirth.

21. Indra.

22. A possible reference to the episode in which the Maruts left Indra to fight Vrtra all alone. This point is debated (by the Maruts) in 1.165.6-7.

23. Indra asks Visnu to stride forward to help him, but he also refers to Visnu’s famous talent for creating space (as Indra does by killing Vrtra) by striding. Cf. 1.154.

24. This might be a question put by Visnu to Indra, but is more likely asked by the narrator.

25. That is, while he was still lying in the womb or coming out of it. Indra himself tries to kill the Maruts when they are in the womb of their mother.

26. The same language is used to describe the killing of Vrtra and the killing of Indra’s father. This is not to imply that these are one and the same, but they are strangely linked: Tvastr is Vrtra’s father in later Indian tradition. In any case, the two deeds are closely parallel in this hymn : Indra’s father must be killed, just as the dragon must be killed, and Indra’s mother tries to prevent both slaughters at first (as Vrtra’s mother is said to participate in the battle with Indra, in 1.32.9) and finally acquiesces and takes Indra’s side, at least in the fight with Vrtra and perhaps, by implication, in the parricide. Cf. the way in which the mother of Agni holds Agni by the foot when she abandons him, 1.164.17.

27. This comes to be the quintessential polluting act in later Hinduism, an act that is particularly used in mythology as an example of what one is allowed to do in dire straits: one may even eat a dog. Indra seems to be arguing that, if this is so, one can surely kill one’s father under similar circumstances.

28. Indra’s wife has not yet been mentioned in this hymn, nor is it clear why she would be dishonoured: elsewhere (10.86.1. 1.86.4-5. 1.86.9) she is dishonoured when Indra loses power, and the gambler’s wife is dishonoured when he is ruined (10.34.11). It is possible that the ‘woman’ is Indra’s mother, whom he regards as dishonoured by the actions of her husband, Indra’s father, and therefore avenges by committing parricide.

29. This seems to contradict the statement that Indra took the Soma from Tvastr’s house (v. 3), as well as the implication that Indra accompanied the eagle on the journey to get the Soma (4.26.7, 4.27.3-4). Evidently what is meant is that once Indra had killed his father (Tvastr?), he had access to the Soma in all of its forms.

10.28 Indra Chastises His Son

This dialogue begins in medias fires, but the situation can be sketchily reconstructed from what follows : A son of Indra gave a sacrifice and invited the gods; all but Indra came to it, for Indra was angry with the son’s pretensions to be another Indra. The son’s wife worried about Indra’s absence, and Indra then appeared, responding to his son’s hasty offerings with a series of riddles intended to humble him. The son at first pretends to be too naïve to understand, but when Indra speaks more directly about the consequences of challenging the gods, the son asserts himself, and finally, overcome by the violence of Indra’s increasingly patent fables, praises the god his father.

1 [Sacrificer’s wife:] ‘All the rest of the band of my friends has come, but my husband’s father has not come. He would have eaten barley meal and drunk Soma and gone back home well fed.’

2 [Indra:] ‘ The sharp-horned bull bellowed as he stood over the height and breadth of the earth. In all combats I protect the man who presses Soma and fills my two bellies.’¹

3 [Sacrificer:] ‘They are pressing out the impetuous, exhilarating Soma juices with the pressing-stone, for you, Indra. Drink them! They are cooking bulls for you; you will eat them, generous Indra, when they summon you with food.’

4 [Indra:] ‘Singer, understand this that I say: The rivers carry their currents upstream. The fox crept up to the lion from behind. The jackal fell upon the wild boar out of an ambush.’²

5 [Sacrificer:] ‘How can I, a simpleton, understand what is said by you who are wise and powerful?³ You who know should tell us truly: towards which side is your peaceful chariot shaft going, generous one? ‘⁴

6 [Indra:] ‘They truly praise me as the powerful one; my chariot shaft is going straight up to the lofty sky. I crush down many thousands at once, for my begetter begot me to have no enemy to conquer me.’

7 [Sacrificer:] ‘The gods truly know me as the powerful one, a fierce bull in one action after another, Indra. Exhilarated by Soma, I killed Vrtra with my thunderbolt, and I opened up the cow-pen by force for the devout worshipper.’⁵

8 [Indra :] ‘ The gods went out and took their axes ; they cut down trees and came there with their servants. They laid the good wood in the boxes but burnt the scrub wood right there.’ ⁶

9 [Sacrificer:] ‘The rabbit swallowed up the knife as it came towards him; with a clod I split the mountain far away.⁷ I will put the great in the power of the small; the calf becomes strong and attacks the bull.’

10 [Indra:] ‘That is the way the eagle caught his talon and was trapped, like a lion caught in a foot-snare. Even the buffalo was caught when he got thirsty: a crocodile dragged him away by the foot.⁸

11 ‘In the same way let a crocodile drag away by the foot all those who oppose the feeding of priests. As they all eat the bulls that have been set free, they themselves destroy the powers of their body.⁹

12 [Sacrificer :] ‘Those who hastened in person to Soma with hymns of praise have become supreme in their sacrificial acts and devout rituals. Speaking like a man, measure out prizes for us. In heaven you have earned fame and the name of hero.’

NOTES

1. The imagery of the first two verses, including the references to Indra’s two bellies and the role of the sacrificer’s wife, is similar to that of the Vrsakapi hymn, 10.86.14-15. Indra implies that the son, like a fox or jackal, by trying to be

2. Indra, who is like a lion or wild boar, is both creating a topsy-turvy world (in which the rivers flow the wrong way and the cowardly animals attack the fierce) and foolishly taking on more than he can handle.

3. Cf. the young man who challenges his father in 4.5.2 and 6.9.2.

4. That is, are you on the side of simple mortals or wise immortals? The answer in the next verse seems to be that Indra is on his own side, or the side of the gods.

5. The son here explicitly claims credit for the deeds of Indra (1.32, 3.31), as other gods do from time to time; in offering the Soma that enables Indra to perform these deeds, the sacrificer to a certain extent participates in them.

6. Indra implies that the gods are able to distinguish the good (wood or Indras) from the worthless ; the former they take home in boxes on wagons, the latter they destroy – a thinly veiled threat to the pretender.

7. Another allusion to Indra’s splitting of the mountain in which the cows were trapped. Cf. 3.31.

8. Indra’s warning to anyone who takes on too great an opponent or becomes careless.

9. Indra threatens those who take to themselves praise due to the gods, Soma due to the gods, or food due to the gods or priests.

1.32 The Killing of Vrtra

The greatest of Indra’s heroic deeds was the slaying of the dragon Vrtra, an act which also symbolizes the releasing of the waters or rains which Vrtra had held back, the conquest of the enemies of the Aryans, and the creation of the world out of the body of the dragon.The thunderbolt of Indra is a club which, as a phallic symbol, is also a symbol of fertility, the source of seed as well as rain; sexual imagery also underlies the contrast between the castrated steer and the bull bursting with seed. Rain imagery is also prominent; Vrtra is a cloud pierced in his loins or in his bellies, for elsewhere he is said to have swallowed all the universe, which Indra must free from him; the cows to which the waters are compared are also rain-clouds. Vrtra may be imagined as a shoulderless serpent or as a dragon whose arms and legs Indra has just cut off ; he is primarily a symbol of danger, constriction, and loss. The battle is waged with magic as well as with weapons; Indra uses magic to make himself as thin as a horse’s hair, and Vrtra uses magic to create lightning and fog. Indra wins, of course, and verse 14 refers to a similar feat of rescue performed by the eagle,¹ but only as a simile in the context of another myth: Indra is said to have fled after killing Vrtra and to have been punished for the crime of murder. This hymn, however, ends on a note of affirmation for Indra’s victory.

1 Let me now sing the heroic deeds of Indra, the first that the thunderbolt-wielder performed. He killed the dragon and pierced an opening for the waters ; he split open the bellies of mountains.

2 He killed the dragon who lay upon the mountain; Tvastr² fashioned the roaring thunderbolt for him. Like lowing cows, the flowing waters rushed straight down to the sea.

3 Wildly excited like a bull, he took the Soma for himself and drank the extract from the three bowls in the three-day Soma ceremony.³ Indra the Generous seized his thunderbolt to hurl it as a weapon; he killed the first born of dragons.

4 Indra, when you killed the first-born of dragons and overcame by your own magic the magic of the magicians, at that very moment you brought forth the sun, the sky, and dawn. Since then you have found no enemy to conquer you.

5 With his great weapon , the thunderbolt, Indra killed the shoulderless Vrtra, his greatest enemy. Like the trunk of a tree whose branches have been lopped off by an axe, the dragon lies at upon the ground.

6 For, muddled by drunkenness like one who is no soldier, Vrtra challenged the great hero who had overcome the mighty and who drank Soma to the dregs. Unable to withstand the onslaught of his weapons, he found Indra an enemy to conquer him and was shattered, his nose crushed.

7 Without feet or hands he fought against Indra, who struck him on the nape of the neck with his thunderbolt. The steer who wished to become the equal of the bull bursting with seed, Vrtra lay broken in many places.

8 Over him as he lay there like a broken reed the swelling waters owed for man.⁴ Those waters that Vrtra had enclosed with his power – the dragon now lay at their feet.

9 The vital energy of Vrtra’s mother ebbed away, for Indra had hurled his deadly weapon at her. Above was the mother, below was the son; Danu⁵ lay down like a cow with her calf.

10 In the midst of the channels of the waters which never stood still or rested, the body was hidden. The waters flow over Vrtra’s secret place; he who found Indra an enemy to conquer him sank into long darkness.

11 The waters who had the Dasa⁵ for their husband, the dragon for their protector, were imprisoned like the cows imprisoned by the Panis.⁵ When he killed Vrtra he split open the outlet of the waters that had been closed.

12 Indra, you became a hair of a horse’s tail when Vrtra struck you on the corner of the mouth. You, the one god, the brave one, you won the cows; you won the Soma; you released the seven streams so that they could flow.

13 No use was the lightning and thunder, fog and hail that he⁶ had scattered about, when the dragon and Indra fought. Indra the Generous remained victorious for all time to

come.

14 What avenger of the dragon did you see, Indra, that fear entered your heart when you had killed him? Then you crossed the ninety-nine streams like the frightened eagle⁷ crossing the realms of earth and air.

15 Indra, who wields the thunderbolt in his hand, is the king of that which moves and that which rests, of the tame and of the horned.⁸ He rules the people as their king, encircling all this as a rim encircles spokes.

NOTES

1. Cf. 4.26-7.

2. Tvastr is the artisan of the gods, sometimes an enemy of Indra (cf. 4.18) but here his ally.

3. Cf. 10.14.16.

4. Manu was the eponymous ancestor of mankind; the verse may refer to the waters that flowed at the time of the great flood, when Manu alone was saved, or to the waters that flowed for the sake of mankind at the time of the piercing of Vrtra(cf. 1.165.8). The latter seems more likely – or both at once.

5. Danu is the mother of Vrtra and of other demons called Danavas; Dasa is another name for Vrtra and also, in the sense of ‘slave’, for other human and demonic enemies of Indra; the Panis are a group of such enemies, said to have stolen and penned up the cows until Indra released them (see 3.31 and 10.108).

6. ‘He’ is Vrtra, trying his magic in vain against Indra’s (cf. v. 4).

7. Possibly the eagle (Indra in disguise) that stole the Soma (4.26- 7).

8. According to Sayana, the ‘tame’ are animals that do not attack, such as horses and donkeys, while the ‘horned’ are fierce animals like buffaloes and bulls.

3.31 The Cows in the Cave

Indra split open the cave where the cows were pent up, releasing them and winning them. This myth expresses simultaneously the successful cattle raids of the Indo-Aryans against the people they conquered, the process of birth out of the womb, the releasing of the waters (symbolized by cows) pent up by the demons of drought, the finding (and hence creating) of the dawn rays of the sun (also symbolized by cows), and the poet’s discovery and release of his own inspirations. The martial level of the myth is fleshed out by references to Indra’s assistants, simultaneously the Angiras priests (who thus tie the myth to the fourth level, the poet’s inspiration) and the Maruts or storm-clouds (tying it to the second level, the end of the drought). The theme of finding and creating the sun is expanded in the first three verses of the hymn, which describe the birth of fire in an

obscure allegory of incest that also alludes to the winning of treasure (the wealth of cattle again).

1 The driver¹ wise in the Law came, speaking devoutly as he chastened his daughter’s daughter.² When the father strove to pour³ into his daughter, his heart eagerly consented.

2 The son of the body did not leave the inheritance to the sister; he made her womb a treasure-house for the winner.⁴ When the mothers ⁵ give birth to the driver,¹ one of the two who do good deeds is the maker, and the other derives the gain.

3 Trembling with his tongue, Agni was born to honour the sons of the great rosy one.⁶ Great was the embryo, great was their birth, and great the growth, through sacrifice, of the lord of bay horses.⁷

4 The conquerors surrounded the challenger ;⁸ they brought forth great light out of darkness. The dawns recognized him and came to meet him; Indra became the only lord of cows.

5 The wise ones ⁹ struck a path for those¹⁰ who were in the cave; the seven priests drove them oh with thoughts pressing forward. They found all the paths of the right way; the one who knew was the one who entered them, bowing low.

6 If Sarama ¹¹ finds the breach in the mountain, she will complete her earlier great path finding. The swift-footedone led out the head of the undying syllables;¹² knowing the way, she was the first to go towards the cry.

7 The most inspired one came, behaving like a friend.¹³ The mountain made ripe the fruit of its womb for the one who performed great deeds.¹⁴ The young hero, proving his generosity, won success with the youths; then Angiras right away became a singer of praise.¹⁵

8 The image of this creature and that creature, he knows all who are born. Standing in the forefront, he killed Susna.¹⁶ Knowing the path of the sky, longing for cows, he went before us, singing. The friend freed his friends from dishonour.

9 With a heart longing for cows they sat down while with their songs they made the road to immortality. This is their very seat, still often used now, the lawful way by which they wished to win the months.¹⁷

10 Glancing about, they rejoiced in their own possessions as they milked out the milk of the ancient seed.¹⁸ Their shout heated the two worlds. They arranged the off spring, dividing the cows among the men.¹⁹

11 He himself, Indra the killer of Vrtra, with songs released the rosy cows together with the off spring and the oblations. Stretching far, the cow was milked of the sweet honey- like butter that she had held for him.

12 They made a seat for him as for a father,²⁰ for these great deeds revealed a great, shining seat. They propped their two parents apart with a pillar; sitting down, they

raised the wild one²¹ high up.

13 When the abundant female²² determined to crush down the one who had grown great in a single day²³ and had pervaded the two world-halves, all irresistible powers came to Indra, in whom flawless praises come together.

14 I long for your great friendship, for your powerful help.²⁴ Many gifts go to the killer of Vrtra. Great is praise; we have come to the kindness of the lord. Generous Indra, be good to us as our shepherd.

15 He won great land and much wealth, and he sent the booty to his friends. Radiant with his men, Indra gave birth to the sun, the dawn, motion,²⁵ and fire.

16 This house-friend has loosed into a single channel even the wide dispersed waters that shine with many colours, the honeyed waters made clear by the inspired lters. Rushing along by day and night, they drive forward.²⁶

17 The two dark bearers of treasure, worthy of sacrifice,²⁷ follow the sun with his consent, when your beloved, impetuous friends²⁸ embrace your splendour to draw it to them.

18 Killer of Vrtra, be the lord of lovely gifts, the bull who gives life to songs of praise for a whole life-span. Come to us with kind and friendly favours, with great help, quickly, O great one.

19 Like Angiras I honour him and bow to him, making new for the ancient one a song that was born long ago.²⁹ Thwart the many godless lies, and let us win the sun, generous Indra.

20 The mists that were spread about have become transparent;³⁰ guide us safely across them. You, our charioteer, must protect us from injury. Soon, Indra, soon, make us winners of cows.

21 The killer of Vrtra as lord of cows has shown us cows ; he went among the dark ones with his rosy forms.³¹ Revealing lovely gifts in the right way, he has opened up all his own gates.

22 For success in this battle where there are prizes to be won, we will invoke the generous Indra, most manly and brawny, who listens and gives help in combat, who kills enemies and wins riches.

NOTES

1. Agni is here and in verse 2 referred to as the driver or transporter, the one who carries the oblation to the gods in his chariot. 2. The extended metaphor of the first three verses may represent the priest as the father, his daughter as the sacrificial butter held in the spoon, and the son as the fire ‘ begotten’ (kindled) by the priest.

3. The priest pours butter into the spoon, and the father pours seed into his daughter.

4. The winner is the son or brother, who apparently marries his sister so that her inheritance (the treasure) passes back through him to his heirs. For incest with brother and father, cf. Püsan with his mother and sister (6.55). In the ritual metaphor, the inheritance is the butter which falls from the spoon (her ‘womb’) into the fire.

5. The mothers of Agni are the kindling-sticks or the hands that hold them; the two who do good deeds, also regarded as the mothers of Agni, are the priest who ‘makes’ the fire and the sacrificer who derives the gain from it.

6. The Angiras priests, who tend Agni and own cows, are born of the rosy sky.

7. Indra is the lord of bay horses, ‘grown’ and aided in battle by the priests (Angirases) who feed him Soma in their sacrifices.

8. The Maruts and Angirases are the conquerors who closely surround Indra, the challenger not of them but of the cattle- thieves.

9. The priests again.

10. The noun is feminine, referring to the cows.

11. The bitch of Indra, the swift-footed one who finds the way to the cave. Cf. 10.108. The first part of this verse may be spoken by Indra.

12. Here the cows are explicitly identified with sacred speech. Cf. 1.164.

13. Indra or the leader of the Angirases (called Angiras) may be the inspired one, exalted by drinking Soma. Cf. 10.108.8. He feigns friendship as Sarama is tempted to do; cf. 10.108.9-10.

14. That is, the mountain yielded its contents, the cows, to Indra.

15. Angiras praises Indra in order to strengthen him. The song may be directly quoted in the next verse.

16. Susna is the demon of drought.

17. The Angirases sit down to perform the sacrifice that will give Indra the strength to win the cows who give the milk of immortality, and to acquire the power of the monthly sacrifices or the list of months in which the sacrifice was offered.

18. The milk of the cows is equated with seed and with rain.

19. They distributed the booty of calves and cows, the calves (as milk) being gifts for the priests.

20. Indra is like a father to the Angirases. The seat is both his resting-place and a term for the special sacrifice (sattra) performed by the Angirases on Indra’s behalf. The priests separate the worlds, making a place for the sacrifice to Indra by revealing the space of the realm between sky and earth.

21. The sun, created here, as usual, by the propping apart of sky and earth, as well as by being ‘discovered’ in the cave.

22. An obscure term (Dhisana) designating the bowl of Soma, the bowl of sky or of earth, or a goddess of abundance. Here she inspires Indra.

23. Indra’s deed of freeing the cows from the cave is assimilated to his deed of killing Vrtra(who grew great in one day) and releasing the waters.

24. The worshipper addresses Indra directly.

25. Perhaps the orbit of the sun, or the passing of time, or the course of the sacrifice.

26. That is, they drive (transitively) the horses who pull the chariots of the waters that mix with the Soma.

27. The dark ones are night and twilight.

28. The Maruts.

29. Cf. 1.1.2.

30. Cf. the dispersed mists of Vrtra, 1.32.13.

31. The dark ones are the aboriginal enemies of the Aryans, or the dark forces of evil, illuminated by the rosy lights of the dawns/ Maruts/priests, as in verse 17.

10.108 Sarama and the Panis

This conversation takes place in the midst of a myth told in later texts at some length. The Panis are demons who live in the sky on the other side of the river Rasa that separates the world of gods and men from the world of demons; the name also refers to tribal people who are the enemies of the Vedic people on earth. These Panis stole the cows of the Angirases and hid them in mountain caves; the sages joined with the gods – Indra, Soma, Agni, and Brhaspati – to get the cattle back.¹ They sent Sarama, the bitch of Indra, to follow the trail of the cows, which she succeeded in doing. Reaching the hiding- place, she engaged in the conversation recorded in this hymn, one in which the Panis appear at first secure and sarcastic but soon become worried and attempt, unsuccessfully, to bribe Sarama.

1 [The Panis:] ‘With what desire has Sarama come to this place? The road stretches far into distant lands. What is your mission to us? How did you find your way here? And how did you cross the waters of the Rasa?’

2 [Sarama:] ‘I have journeyed here, sent as the messenger of Indra, and I desire your great treasures, O Panis. Because they feared being jumped across, they² helped me to do it; thus I crossed the waters of the Rasa.’

3 [Panis: ‘What is Indra like, Sarama? What is the appearance of him who sent you here as his messenger from afar? If he comes here, we will make friends with him, and he will be the herdsman of our cattle.’

4 [Sarama] ‘I know him as one who cannot be tricked; he tricks others, he who sent me here as his messenger from afar. The deep streams do not hide him; ³ you Panis will lie there slain by Indra.’

5 [Panis:] ‘These are the cows which you desire, lovely Sarama, having own beyond the ends of the sky. Who would release them to you without a fight? And we have sharp weapons.’

6 [Sarama] ‘Your words, O Panis, are no armies. Your evil bodies may be proof against arrows, the path that goes to you may be impregnable, but Brhaspati will not spare you in either case.’

7 [Panis] ‘ Sarama, this treasure-room full of cows, horses, and riches is set firm in cliffs of rock. Panis who are good sentinels guard it. You have come in vain on this empty path.’

8 [Sarama:] ‘The sages – Ayasyas, Angirases, and Navagvas⁴ – roused by Soma will share this enclosed cave of cattle among them. Then the Panis will spit back these words.’

9 [Panis:] ‘Sarama, since you have come here, compelled by the force of the gods, we will make you our sister. Do not go back, fair one; we will give you a share of the cattle.’

10 [Sarama:] ‘I know no brotherhood, nor sisterhood; Indra and the Angirases, who inspire terror, know them. When I left them, they seemed to me to be desirous of cattle. Panis, run far away from here.

11 ‘Run far into the distance, Panis. Let the cattle come out by the right path and disappear, the cattle which Brhaspati, the inspired sages, the pressing-stones and Soma found when they had been hidden.’

NOTES

1. Cf. 3.3T.

2. The waters. At the critical moment of the journey, the river Rasa was worried about losing her reputation as a great river if a dog could jump across her; so she helped Sarama by building a ford.

3. A possible reference to Vrtra lying under the water, killed by Indra. Cf. 1.32.8, 1.32.10. For tricking the tricky, cf. 1.32.4.

4. Families of Vedic sages.

10.171 Indra Beheads the Sacrifice

1 You, Indra, helped forward the chariot of Itat, who pressed Soma; you heard the call of the man who offered Soma.

2 You severed from his skin the head of the rebellious Sacrifice¹ and went with it to the home of the man who offered Soma.

3 You, Indra, set loose in a moment the mortal Venya for Astrabudhna when he thought of it.²

4 You, Indra, should bring to the East the sun that is now in the West, even against the will of the gods.³

NOTES

1. An allusion to the myth, later expanded, that Indra in anger beheaded the sacrifice when it threatened the gods and became in carnate in human form.

2. Venya is known to the Rig Veda, but all else in this verse is obscure.

3. The sun was thought to travel from west to east by night, under the earth. Why the gods should oppose this is unclear.

8.14 ‘If I were Like You, Indra’

1 If I were like you, Indra, and all alone ruled over riches, the man who praised me would have the company of cows.

2 I would do my best for him, I would want to give things to the sage, O Husband of Power, if I were the lord of cattle.

3 For the one who sacrifices and presses Soma your opulence is a cow milked of the cattle and horses with which she swells to overflowing.

4 There is no one, neither god nor mortal, who obstructs your generosity, Indra, when you are praised and you wish to give rich gifts.

5 The sacrifice made Indra grow greater when he rolled back the earth and made the sky his own diadem.

6 We ask help from you Indra, you who have grown great and have won all treasures.

7 In the ecstasy of Soma, Indra spread out the middle realm of space and the lights, when he shattered Vala.¹

8 He drove out the cows for the Angirases, making visible those that had been hidden, and he hurled Vala down headlong.

9 The lights of the sky were made firm and fast by Indra, so that they cannot be pushed away from their fixed place.

10 Like the exhilarating wave of the waters, your praise, Indra, hastens along; your ecstasies have shone forth.

11 For the hymns of praise and the songs of praise make you grow great, Indra, and you bring happiness to the singer of praises..

12 Let the two long-maned bay horses bring Indra to drink Soma here at the sacrifice of the giver of rich gifts.

13 With the foam of the waters, Indra, you tore off the head of the demon who would not let go,² when you conquered all challengers.

14 You whirled down the Dasyus who wanted to climb up to the sky, Indra, when they had crept up by using their magic spells.³

15 You scattered to every side the ones that did not press Soma; as Soma-drinker you are supreme.

NOTES

1. Vala is the demon who pens up the cows, as in 3.31 (though he is not named in that hymn).

2. The demon Namuci.

3. Cf. 2.12.12.

2.12 ‘Who is Indra?’

As if to answer the challenges of the atheists, or at least of those who question the divinity of Indra (v. 5), the poet insists that Indra is indeed the god who did what he is said to have done. These concerns, and the verbal patterns used to express them, are repeated in a later hymn about the Creator (10.121).

1 The god who had insight the moment he was born, the first who protected the gods with his power of thought, before whose hot breath the two world-halves tremble at the greatness of his manly powers – he, my people, is Indra.

2 He who made fast the tottering earth, who made still the quaking mountains, who measured out and extended the expanse of the air, who propped up the sky – he, my people, is Indra

3 He who killed the serpent and loosed the seven rivers, who drove out the cows that had been pent up by Vala,¹ who gave birth to fire between two stones,² the winner of booty in combats – he, my people, is Indra.

4 He by whom all these changes were rung, who drove the race of Dasas³ down into obscurity, who took away the flourishing wealth of the enemy as a winning gambler takes the stake – he, my people, is Indra.

5 He about whom they ask, ‘ Where is he? ‘, or they say of him, the terrible one, ‘He does not exist’, he who diminishes the flourishing wealth of the enemy as gambling does – believe in him! He, my people, is Indra.

6 He who encourages the weary and the sick, and the poor priest who is in need, who helps the man who harnesses the stones to press Soma, he who has lips ne for drinking – he, my people, is Indra.

7 He under whose command are horses and cows and villages and all chariots, who gave birth to the sun and the dawn and led out the waters, he, my people, is Indra.

8 He who is invoked by both of two armies, enemies locked in combat, on this side and that side, he who is even invoked separately by each of two men standing on the very same chariot,⁴ he, my people, is Indra.

9 He without whom people do not conquer, he whom they call on for help when they are fighting, who became the image of everything, who shakes the unshakeable – he, my people, is Indra.

10 He who killed with his weapon all those who had committed a great sin, even when they did not know it, he who does not pardon the arrogant man for his arrogance, who is the slayer of the Dasyus, he, my people, is Indra.

11 He who in the fortieth autumn discovered Sambara living in the mountains,⁵ who killed the violent serpent, the Danu,⁶ as he lay there, he, my people, is Indra.

12 He, the mighty bull who with his seven reins let loose the seven rivers to flow, who with his thunderbolt in his hand hurled down Rauhina⁷ as he was climbing up to the sky, he, my people, is Indra

13 Even the sky and the earth bow low before him, and the mountains are terrified of his hot breath; he who is known as the Soma-drinker, with the thunderbolt in his hand, with the thunderbolt in his palm, he, my people, is Indra.

14 He who helps with his favour the one who presses and the one who cooks,⁸ the praiser and the preparer, he for whom prayer is nourishment, for whom Soma is the special gift, he, my people, is Indra.

15 You⁹ who furiously grasp the prize for the one who presses and the one who cooks, you are truly real. Let us be dear to you, Indra, all our days, and let us speak as men of power in the sacrificial gathering.

NOTES

1. Vala is an enemy, human or demonic, who kept the cows from Indra. See 8.14.7-8 and 3.31.

2. The fire kindled by flints, or the sun or lightning between the two worlds. Cf. 3.31.1-

3. Dasas (also called Dasyus, as in v. 10) are the enemies of the Aryans, called ‘slaves’ and enslaved.

4. The image of the two armies is expanded in the corresponding hymn, 10.121.6. The two men on the same chariot are the charioteer/priest and the warrior/king.

5. Sambara was a demon who kept the Soma from Indra In mountain fortresses; cf. 4.26.3.

6. Vrtra. Cf. 1.32.9.

7. A more obscure enemy, about whom nothing but this is known. Cf. 8.14.14.

8. The one who presses and the one who cooks the Soma.

9. Here the poet addresses Indra directly, closing with traditional phrases.

Wendy Doniger Rig Veda on God of Storm

GODS OF THE STORM

CLOSELY associated with Indra in his capacity as god of the thunderstorm, the Maruts are also linked to Rudra (1.85 ; cf. 2.33 and 1.114). It is precisely the overlapping of their functions with those of Indra that underlies a series of hymns debating their several rights to the sacrificial offering (1.165, 1.170, 1.171); ultimately, Indra is armed to be supreme. Indra is also intimately connected with Parjanya the rain-cloud, who is, like Indra, called a bull (5.83) but is also called a cow (7.101). This androgyny appears elsewhere in the Rig Veda associated with sky and earth, and Soma and Agni, but in later mythology it becomes an important characteristic of Prajäpati and Siva. Vâta, the Gale, a less important but equally vivid aspect of the storm, is said to drive a chariot (10.168), like the sun and the sacrifice (1.164). Parjanya and Vâta differ from the Maruts in being relatively straightforward personifications of natural phenomena; the Maruts, like Indra, are multivalent, symbolizing warriors and acting as aids to mankind as well as bringing fertilizing storms.

1.85 The Maruts

The Maruts are wind-gods portrayed always as a group, as a band of warriors who serve Indra. Since Rudra is their father, they are also called Rudras; their mother is the dappled cow of earth, Prsni.

1 The team of horses on the course, the Maruts, the sons of Rudra, workers of marvels, adorned themselves like women and made the two world-halves grow strong. Trembling, the heroes drink to ecstasy in the rites.

2 They have grown to greatness; the Rudras have made a mansion in heaven. Singing their song and creating the power of Indra,¹ they whose mother is the dappled cow have put on glory.

3 When the handsome ones whose mother is a cow adorn themselves with their ornaments, they put shining things on their bodies. They drive away every attacker. Butter flows all along their path.²

4 Good warriors who shine forth with their spears, shaking with their formidable power even those who cannot be shaken – when you Maruts have yoked to your chariots the dappled gazelles³ swift as thought,

5 when you have yoked the dappled gazelles to your chariots, speeding the stone forward to win the contest,⁴ then the streams are let loose from the chestnut stallion.⁵ Like a leather skin,⁶ they wet the earth with water.

6 Let your swift-gliding teams bring you here. Flying swiftly with your arms,⁷ come forward. Sit down on the sacred grass; a wide seat has been made for you Maruts. Drink in ecstasy from the sweet juice.

7 They grew great by their own power; they climbed up to the dome of the sky and made for themselves a broad seat. When Visnu helped the bull excited by Soma- drinking, they sat down like birds on the beloved sacred grass.⁸

8 Striding briskly like heroes ready to ght, like men eager for fame, they array themselves for battles. All creatures fear the Maruts; these men with terrible faces are like kings.

9 When the artful Tvastr had turned ⁹ the well-made golden thunderbolt with its thousand spikes, Indra took it to do heroic deeds. He killed Vrtra and set free the flood of waters.

10 They¹⁰ forced up the fountain with their power; they split open even the mountain on its solid base.¹¹ Blowing their reed-pipe, the Maruts who give fine gifts performed joyous deeds in the ecstasy of drinking Soma.

11 They forced up the fountain in a stream that shot to the side; they poured out the spring for the thirsty Gotama. Shining brilliantly, they came to him with aid. They fulfilled the desire of the sage in their own ways.

12 The shelters that you have for the devout man – extend them threefold to the man who believes in you.¹² Give them to us, O Maruts, bulls. Give us the wealth of fine heroes.¹³

NOTES

1. As the poet gives power to Indra by singing the hymn, so the Maruts give themselves Indra’s powers by singing their howling storm songs.

2. Butter is here symbolic of rain and the sap of life, as well as the ritual offering and the Soma that the Maruts love.

3. Unspecified female dappled animals pull the Maruts’ chariots; they could be mates, but other Rig Vedic evidence makes it more likely that they are gazelles.

4. The winds compete in hurling rocks and crushing boulders, as men compete in bowling or shot-put.

5. The rain is the sperm or urine of the horse of heaven – the cloud or heaven itself.

6. The image is that of a wineskin bag pouring out the rain (cf.this simile in the hymn to Parjanya, 5.83.7); a secondary connotation might be the pouring down of water on to the earth likened to a skin being tanned with fluids.

7. That is, flapping your arms like wings to speed you faster. Cf. 10.81.3.

8. The bull is Indra. When Visnu helped Indra in the fight against Vrtra, the Maruts came and helped, too. But cf. 1.165.6.

9. Turned on his lathe.

10. The Maruts. A reference to a story told by the commentator: The sage Gotama was afflicted with thirst and prayed to the Maruts for water. They made a fountain in the distance, brought it near him, gave it to him to drink from, and bathed him in it.

11. As Indra pierced the mountain to release the waters in the fight with Vrtra.

12. That is, the poet singing the present hymn.

13. Literally, the wealth that consists in having fine heroes, but also, by implication, the wealth brought by fine heroes. 1.165, 1.170, 1.171 Indra, the Maruts, and Agastya

In this group of hymns, Indra and the Maruts argue over their rights to a sacrificial offering; this sacrifice is attributed by tradition to the sage Agastya, though his name is mentioned only once in the hymns. Several texts offer different versions of the myth underlying this cycle: (a) Agastya had dedicated a hundred dappled cows to the Maruts, but he sacrificed them to Indra. The Maruts became angry and went to Agastya, who sang these hymns to conciliate them. (b) Indra took away the cows intended for the Maruts; the Maruts grabbed his thunderbolt. Then Agastya and Indra conciliated the Maruts with these hymns, (c) Agastya took an offering that had been dedicated to Indra and wanted to give it to the Maruts. Despite the variations, the underlying conflict is consistent and forms a thread through all the hymns in the series, a thread that conforms most closely to the second of the three variant glosses. In the first hymn (1. 165), Indra wishes to go to Agastya’s sacrifice and encounters the Maruts in heaven; as their conversation progresses, Indra becomes more and more confident, the Maruts more and more subdued; finally they refer to their former praise of him and allay his anger, and they all go together to the sacrifice. In an intervening hymn not translated here (1.169), the reconciliation is further developed. Then (1.170) Agastya is faced with the problem of choosing between the mighty Indra and the now somewhat chastened Maruts. Finally (1.171), Agastya apologizes to both Indra and the Maruts and prays to all of them.

1.165 Indra and the Maruts

1. [Indra:] ‘With what shared finery have the Maruts, who are of the same youth, from the same nest, mingled together? With what intention, and from what place have they come? These bulls sing their breathless song in their desire to win riches.

2. ‘Whose chants have the young men taken pleasure in? Who has turned the Maruts to his sacrifice? With what great thought will we make them stop here as they swoop through the middle realm of space?’¹

3. [Maruts:] ‘Indra, where are you coming from, all alone though you are so mighty? What is your intention, true lord? Will you make a pact with us, now that you have met us in our finery? Master of bay horses, tell us what your purpose is for us.’

4. [Indra:] ‘The chants, the thoughts, the Soma-pressings are good for me. Breathlessness² surges in me; the pressing-stone is set out for me. The hymns are longing, waiting for me. These two bay horses are carrying us to them.’

5 [Maruts:] ‘Because of this,³ we have adorned our bodies and harnessed the self-willed horses next to the chariot; and now we have yoked does ⁴ for greater power. Indra, you have always acknowledged our independent spirit.’

6 [Indra:] ‘Where was that independent spirit of yours, Maruts, when you left me all alone in the fight with the dragon? ⁵I was the one, fierce and strong and mighty, who bent aside the lethal weapons of every enemy with my own weapons.’

7. [Maruts:] ‘You did much with us as allies, with our manly powers yoked in common, O bull. For we will do much, most valiant Indra, if we set our minds and will to do it, O Maruts. ‘⁶

8. [Indra:] ‘I killed Vrtra, O Maruts, by my Indra-power, having grown strong through my own glorious rage. With the thunderbolt on my arm I made these all- luminous waters move well for man.’⁷

9. [Maruts:] ‘No one can overcome your power, generous Indra; no one your equal is known to exist among the gods; no one being born now or already born could get such power. Do the things you will do, as you have grown strong.’

10. [Indra:] ‘Even when I am alone, my formidable power must be vast; whatever I boldly set out to do, I do. For I am known as terrible, O Maruts; whatever I set in motion, Indra himself is master of that.

11. ‘Your praise has made me rejoice, lordly Maruts, the sacred chant worthy of hearing that you made here for me – for Indra the bull, the good fighter – that you my friends made in person for me, your friend, in person.

12. ‘ Thus they shine forth facing me, the blameless band who take to themselves fame and the drink of ecstasy. Luminous and golden Maruts, you have pleased me when I looked at you, and you will please me now.’

13 [The poet:] Who has celebrated you here,⁸ Maruts? Journey as friends to your friends. Shining brightly, inspire thoughts. Be witness to these truths of mine.

14 [Indra:]⁹ ‘Since the wisdom of Mänya¹⁰ brought us here, as the hope of gifts brings the singer to one who gives, therefore turn to the inspired seer. Let the singer chant these sacred words for you, Maruts.’

15 [The poet:] This praise is for you, Maruts, this song of the poet Mändärya ¹⁰ Let him obtain vital strength for his body through the nourishing and inspiring drink. Let us find a welcoming circle of sacrificers who shower us with gifts.

NOTES

1. Indra wishes to conceive an idea so ‘arresting’ that it will stop the Maruts in their tracks as they fly between sky and earth.

2. Here, as in verse 1, breathlessness indicates the excitement of combat.

3. That is, because the sacrifice is ready and the Maruts want to have it themselves.

4. The gazelles are yoked in front, in addition to the horses right next to the chariot.

5. Indra mocks the Maruts for their ‘independence’ and accuses them of remaining uncommitted when he fought Vrtra. Cf. 4.18.11.

6. Here the speaker is addressing the other Maruts, as if to elicit their support in his boast to Indra.

7. A reference to the episode in which, after killing Vrtra and releasing the waters, Indra led Manu to safety on the flood waters. Cf. 1.32.8.

8. The poet asks what sacrificer here (i.e. on earth, rather than in heaven where the conversation has been taking place) has attracted the Maruts.

9. This verse also makes sense in the mouth of the poet, who has come to the sacrifice in hope of being given gifts, or even in the mouth of the Maruts, one of whom would be addressing the others, as in verse ⁷.

10. This may be a name of Agastya or of his son.

1.170 Agastya and the Maruts

Indra is silent during this conversation, but both groups of speakers address most of their remarks to him.

1 [Agastya:] ‘Today is nothing and tomorrow is nothing. Who understands the mystery? If one depends on someone else’s intention, all that one wished for is ruined.’¹

2 [Maruts:] ‘Why do you want to destroy us, Indra? The Maruts are your brothers; treat them well. Do not kill us in a violent clash.

3 ‘Brother Agastya, why do you dishonour us though you are our friend? For we know what is in your mind: you do not wish to give us anything.’²

4 [Agastya:] ‘Make ready the altar; kindle the fire in front of it. In it³ we two⁴ will spread a memorable sacrifice for you, the immortal.⁵

5 ‘Lord of riches, you rule over riches. Lord of friendship, you are the best reconciler of friends. Speak in agreement with the Maruts, Indra, and eat the oblations at the right ritual moment.’

NOTES

1. Agastya seems to be apologizing to the Maruts for making the offering to Indra ; he argues that Indra took away what Agastya had intended for the Maruts, and he is

helpless to prevent it.

2. This is an indirect answer to Agastya’s apology in verse 1; they argue that he did not even intend to sacrifice to them, and indeed he then speaks to Indra alone.

3. In the fire, or perhaps in the altar.

4. Perhaps Agastya together with another priest, his son (cf. 1.165.14).

5. Here Agastya speaks only to Indra, though he goes on to ask Indra to conciliate the rejected Maruts.

1.171 Agastya Prays to Indra and the Maruts

1. I come to you with this homage, and with a hymn I beg for the kindness of the mighty.¹ Willingly and knowingly lay aside your spiteful anger, Maruts; unharness your horses.²

2. This praise and homage fashioned in the heart and in the mind was made for you, Maruts, for you who are gods. Come and enjoy it with your mind, for you are the ones who make homage grow.

3 Let the Maruts have mercy on us when they have been praised and the generous and most beneficent one³ has been praised. Let our smooth woods⁴ stand up and ready all our days, O Maruts, through our desire to conquer.

4 I shrank away from this mighty Indra, trembling in fear, O Maruts. It was for you that the oblations were laid out, but we set them aside.⁵ Forgive us!

5 The fame by which the Manas⁶ became distinguished for their power in the daybreaks of all the successive dawns – give us that fame, O strong and terrible bull with the terrible Maruts, giver of overpowering strength.⁷

6 Protect your men from those who could overpower them by force, O Indra;⁸ make the Maruts give up their spiteful anger, for they bring good omens; you have been made the overpowering conqueror. Let us find a welcoming circle of sacrificers who shower us with gifts.

NOTES

1. In the plural, addressing the Maruts, as the rest of the, verse makes clear.

2. That is, stop here and accept our sacrifice.

3. Indra.

4. Perhaps a metaphor for the fire-sticks, the spear, or the phallus.

5. That is, we gave them to Indra, instead, because he frightened us.

6. Perhaps the name of generous patrons, who gave the cows of dawn to the priests. Cf. the patron Mänya in 1.165.14–15.

7. Indra is the terrible, overpowering bull, here asked to over power the Maruts.

8. Having apologized to the Maruts in 1.170, Agastya now asks Indra (who is supposed to be on Agastya’s side, having accepted his sacrifice) to protect his men (i.e. his worshippers) from those who are more powerful (the Maruts).

5.83 Parjanya, the Bull

Only three hymns are dedicated to Parjanya, who is the personification of the rain-cloud, often represented as a male animal. Closely associated with thunder and lightning, he inspires vegetation and produces fertility in cows, mares, and women. So rich is the abundance with which he responds to the poet’s plea that at the end of the hymn he is begged not to send too much rain.

1 Summon the powerful god with these songs; praise Parjanya; win him over with homage. The bellowing bull, freely flowing with luscious drops, places his seed in the plants as an embryo.

2 He shatters the trees and slaughters the demons; he strikes terror into every creature with his enormous deadly weapon.¹ Even the sinless man gives way before the god bursting with seed like a bull, when the thundering Parjanya slaughters those who do evil.

3 Like a charioteer lashing his horses with a whip, he makes his messengers of rain appear.² From the distance arise the thunder-peals of a lion, when Parjanya makes the sky full of rain-clouds.

4 The winds blow forth, the lightnings fly, the plants surge up, the sky swells, the sun overflows.³ The sap of life quickens in every creature when Parjanya refreshes the earth with his seed.

5 By your law, the earth bends low; by your law, all animals with hoofs quiver; by your law, plants of all forms bloom. By these powers, Parjanya, grant us safe shelter.

6 Give us rain from heaven, O Maruts. Make the streams of the seed-bearing stallion overflow as they swell. Come here with your thunder, pouring down waters, for you are our father, the bright sky-god.

7 Bellow and thunder; lay your seed. Fly in circles around the world in your chariot full of water. Drag the leather water-bag upside down, untied. Let the hills and the valleys become level.⁴

8 Draw up the enormous bucket and pour it down. Let the streams flow forth, set free. Drench heaven and earth with butter. Let there be a good drinking-place for the cows.

9 Parjanya, when you bellow loudly and thunder and slaughter those who do evil, everything that exists upon the earth rejoices.

10 You have sent the rain; now hold it back. You have made the deserts easy to cross over. You have made the plants grow so that there is food, and you have found inspired poetry for living creatures.

NOTES

1. The thunderbolt.

2. Clouds foretelling rain, or the Matuts. He drives them as the charioteer drives horses.

3. According to Indian theory, during the rainy season the sun flows with the water that it has drawn up during the preceding hot season. Here, at the very brink of the storm, the sun begins to pour back its rain. Cf. 1.164.51-2.

4. The water rises so high that both hills and valleys are covered. Cf. 1.85.5, for the leather bag.

7.101 Parjanya, the Cow

The poet addresses the rain-cloud, Parjanya, whose three voices are lightning, thunder, and rain. Though he is a bull full of seed, his udder is the cloud milked of rain, and his calf is the fire born of lightning. The three lights may be the lights of the three worlds, or fire, sun, and moon (or wind). The sterile (i.e. milkless) cow is the cloud that does not give rain; the cow that brings forth is the cloud that rains. The mother, earth, receives the milk, rain-water, from the father, the sky; the sky thrives on the rain and the son (the group of creatures on earth) thrives on water.

1 Raise the three voices with light going before them, voices that milk the udder that gives honey.¹ The bull created the calf, the embryo of the plants, and roared as he was born.

2 The god who causes the plants to increase, and the waters, who rules over the entire world, may he grant us triple refuge and comfort, the triple light that is of good help to us.

3 Now he becomes a barren female, now one who gives birth; he takes whatever body he wishes. The mother receives the milk of the father; with it the father increases and prospers, and with it the son thrives.²

4 All worlds rest on him – the triple skies and the triple owing waters. The three vats that drench pour forth in all directions the over owing honey.³

5 Let this speech reach close to the heart of Parjanya who rules by himself, and let him rejoice in it. Let life-giving rains come to us, and let the plants guarded by the gods bear good berries.

6 He is the bull who places the seed in all plants ; in him is the vital breath of what moves and what is still. Let this truth protect me for a hundred autumns; protect us

always with blessings.

NOTES

1. On another level, the subject of the verse may be Soma, the three voices are the chants when the Soma is pressed, and the udder that gives honey is the Soma plant (while, in the cosmic metaphor, it is the rain-cloud, the udder of the heavenly cow).

2. In this verse, the ritual level would make Soma the son: the rain enters the Soma plant and later returns to the cloud (as evaporation), or, more likely, to heaven (the gods) in the form of a Soma oblation.

3. Again, the three vats are clouds full of rain or Soma vessels full of Soma.

10.168 The Gale Wind

This hymn is to Vâta, a particularly violent and concrete form of the wind.

1 O, the power and glory of the chariot of the gale! It breaks things into pieces as it passes by, making a sound like thunder. Touching the sky as it moves, it makes red streaks;¹ passing along the earth, it scatters the dust.

2 The tempests² race together after the gale; they come to him like women to a rendezvous. Yoked with them to a single chariot, the god who is the king of this whole universe passes by.

3 Moving along his paths in the middle realm of space , he does not rest even for a single day. Friend of the waters, first-born keeper of the Law, where was he born? What was he created from?

4 Breath of the gods, embryo of the universe, this god wanders wherever he pleases. His sounds are heard, but his form is not seen.³ Let us worship the gale with oblation.

NOTES

1. The red streaks may be the redness of the sky during tain, or the chestnut horses of the wind; the term is also used of the clouds at dawn, especially when there is thunder, and of the ruddy hue of lightning.

2. These are the ‘extensions’ or companions of the wind, whirl winds or downpours, feminine beings.

3. Cf. 1.164.44.

Tuesday, November 11, 2025

Wendy Doniger Rig Veda on Soma

Table Of Contents

SOMA

8.79 This Restless Soma

NOTES

9.74 Soma Pressed in the Bowls

NOTES

10.94 The Pressing-Stones

NOTES

4.58 Butter

NOTES

4.26-7 Soma and Indra and the Eagle

4.26

4.27

NOTES

10.119 The Soma-Drinker Praises Himself

NOTES

9.113 The Ecstasy of Soma

NOTES

8.48 We Have Drunk the Soma

NOTES

10.136 The Long-haired Ascetic

NOTES

Wendy Doniger Rig Veda on Indra

Table Of Contents

INDRA

4.18 The Birth and Childhood Deeds of Indra

NOTES

10.28 Indra Chastises His Son

NOTES

1.32 The Killing of Vrtra

NOTES

3.31 The Cows in the Cave

NOTES

10.108 Sarama and the Panis

NOTES

10.171 Indra Beheads the Sacrifice

NOTES

8.14 ‘If I were Like You, Indra’

NOTES

2.12 ‘Who is Indra?’

NOTES

Wendy Doniger Rig Veda on God of Storm

Table Of Contents

GODS OF THE STORM

1.85 The Maruts

NOTES

1.165 Indra and the Maruts

NOTES

1.170 Agastya and the Maruts

NOTES

1.171 Agastya Prays to Indra and the Maruts

NOTES

5.83 Parjanya, the Bull

NOTES

7.101 Parjanya, the Cow

NOTES

10.168 The Gale Wind

NOTES

Juror Types