Veda and Vedism

VEDA AND VEDISM. - In treating of Brahmanism (v.), mention has been made of the V. and of the Vedic religion or Vedism. But we must dwell further on the gods of the Vedic pantheon and on the "hymns of praise" or rc (whence Rg-veda, "science of the hymns of praise"), which accompanied the sacrifices of soma, the deified juice of a sacred plant that served for the libations to the gods.

It is not possible to linger over propaedeutic questions, such as the importance of the V. for the history of religions or the two methods that contended for primacy in Vedic exegesis: the ethnographic and the mythological, the latter of which posed, but did not succeed in resolving, the question whether it was rather the radiant splendor of the sun and the dawn, or the unleashing of the hurricane, that contributed more to awakening the sentiment of the divine. The major gods invoked in the hymns of the Rgveda are undoubtedly deifications of natural phenomena, more or less anthropomorphic according to the greater or lesser transparency of the naturalistic substratum that serves them as a base. Of Agni (ignis) it is said that he is the god with golden hair, with a thousand horns, with strong jaws, but the passages that attribute human form to Fire are much rarer than in the case of Indra, the god of the storm, armed with the thunderbolt. The aspect of fire was before everyone's eyes, and it was seen that it was not the figure of a man, whereas no mortal eye succeeded in discovering the likeness of Indra. The poet's fantasy thus remained free to lend the god the features of a giant who, when he was not called upon to bestow rain by cleaving the clouds, exercised his power elsewhere. To him are dedicated 250 hymns, to Agni 200. Both the I and the II mandala or "cycle" of the Rgveda begin with the name of Agni, but the I is chronologically later than the II, which is in turn the first of a series of seven, attributed to as many families of rsi or "seers" who would have received its revelation. Of the 12 cycles, which comprise 1028 hymns, the VIII is also attributed to two families of prophets, and the I, IX and X contain hymns whose author is individually indicated. But these are mythical personages: the authors remain unknown. Cycles I and X, composed of heterogeneous parts, are the most recent in the collection. The age of the Rgveda is uncertain and impossible to determine with certainty: ca. 1800 B.C. is one of the most probable dates. At the time of the composition of the Rgveda, the Aryan-Indians were still settled in the Panjab, the region of the 5 rivers (tributaries of the Indus; devoted to pastoralism, they cultivated barley), not yet rice (srihi), and the wolf was for them the most ferocious animal. In the Rgveda the elephant is mentioned only a couple of times, the tiger never. The language of the hymns, elaborated in the priestly schools, represents an archaic phase of Sanskrit, which probably remained a learned language, for the use of the brahmans and cultivated persons, alongside the vernacular spoken by the people. The hymns were partly recited and partly sung during the sacrifices. The choral [book] of the singing priest (udgitar) is the Sāma-veda or "V. of the melodies," which contains 1540 stanzas, all but 75 drawn from the Rgveda, especially from cycle IX, dedicated to the god Soma. Musical notation is lacking, but the constant association of the stanzas with their melodies made up for this lack. Even today, in Catholic churches, the words of a hymn such as Tantum ergo or Te Deum suffice to recall to the faithful the "air" of the chant. Ab Iove principium, but Dyaus pitar (Diespiter, Iuppiter), "the Heaven father," is a secondary divinity in the Rgveda; the primacy belongs to Vārūna, the god of the sidereal sky, who sees and punishes the faults of men. In the company of Mitra, a solar deity, he ascends at dawn upon a throne supported by columns of bronze and observes, with the eye of the sun, the actions, open and hidden, of his subjects. The two gods are the guardians of the rta, "the order" both moral and cosmic. "O king Mitra and Vārūna," says hymn V, 62, st. 3, "you sustain the earth and the sky with your power; you make the herbs grow and the milk flow to the heifers; ready givers, you make the rain fall in torrents." Vārūna also reigns over the gods, but one of them contends with him for primacy: Indra, the god of battles, armed with the thunderbolt, lord of the atmospheric sky. His figure is completely anthropomorphic, with some comic trait, of plainly popular origin. The Rgvedic hymn I, 32, 1-8. 15, thus celebrates the liberation of the waters (the rivers of the Panjab) that the dragon Vṛtra held prisoner in the caves of the mountains: "I wish to celebrate the deeds of Indra, the first that he accomplished armed with the thunderbolt: he killed the dragon, opened the passage for the waters, cleft the belly of the mountains. — He killed the dragon that lay upon the mountain; the thundering bolt Tvaṣṭar had fashioned for him. Like lowing cows, the waters ran at once to rush into the sea. — With the greed of a bull, he longed for the soma: he drank (the juice) pressed in the three vats. The Munificent one seized the missile weapon, the thunderbolt; he killed that first-born of dragons. — When you killed, O Indra, the first-born of dragons and destroyed also the spells of the sorcerers, then, creating the sun, the sky, the dawn, you truly found no more enemies. — With the thunderbolt, his great weapon, Indra struck Vṛtra, most fierce enemy, (and) Vyamsa. The dragon lies, stretched on the ground like branches cut with the axe. — Like a drunkard incapable of fighting, he defied the great exterminating hero, ready for the assault. The enemy of Indra did not withstand the shock of his blows; he crushed (in falling) the rivers. — Without feet or hands, he fought against Indra; (the latter) hurled the thunderbolt at his back. A castrated [beast] that wanted to stand up to a bull, Vṛtra lay here and there, cut to pieces. — Over him, who thus lay like a broken reed, the waters pass, taking courage. The dragon Vṛtra lay at the foot of those whom he held enclosed by his power. — Indra the thunderbolt-bearer reigns over what walks and over what stands still, over the horned (cattle) and over that which is without horns. As a king, he governs men; he has embraced these things as the circle (of the wheel) [embraces] the spokes. The exegetes do not agree on the interpretation of the myth; for some the mountains symbolize the heaps of clouds, and the waters set free are the rains.

To the dawn, the daughter of heaven, who each day restores to men the beneficent light of day, the Rgveda dedicates some thirty hymns. This one (VII, 77) is among the most characteristic: "Radiant she drew near like a young bride, urging every living being to move. Agni became flame for men; she brought the light, putting the darkness to flight. — Widely extending, she rose turned toward the universe; bearing a luminous, splendid garment, she shone. Golden-colored, of beautiful aspect, the mother of the cows, leader of the days, shone. — The blessed one who bears the eye of the gods (the sun), who guides the beautiful white horse (the sun), the Dawn adorned with rays, has appeared and has spread through all (the universe) with her resplendent gifts. — Standing near with goods, drive away the enemy by your rays; procure for us a broad, safe pasture. Remove hostility, bring us riches, hasten the gift to the singer, O generous one! — Shine for us, goddess Dawn, with the most brilliant rays, prolonging our life and granting us (you who possess every good) food and gifts of cows, of horses and of chariots. — O Dawn, gracious daughter of Heaven, you whom the Vasiṣṭha extol with prayers, grant us high, great wealth. You (gods), protect us always with well-being."

In the Vedic religion, sacrifices to the gods were of two kinds: domestic, which the father of the family attended to using the household hearth, and "conformable to revelation (irauta)," which required three fires and the work of four principal priests: the Hotar or "Invoker," who recited the hymns of praise and invited the gods to the sacrificial banquet; the Udgitar or "Chanter," who accompanied the libations with songs (āna); the Adhvaryu or "Executor," who attended to the manual part of the rite and recited the sacrificial formulas (yajus); and the Brahmān, the inspector of the sacrifice, who had to ensure the perfect conduct of the ceremonies. While the first three priests needed only knowledge of the V. relating to their own office (that of the Rgveda for the Hotar, of the Sāma-veda for the Udgitar, and of the Yajur-veda for the Adhvaryu), the Brahmān had to be a profound connoisseur of all three V., of the travidyā or "threefold knowledge," considered as a unity and equated with the Brahmān (v.). The fourth V., of magical content, had no relation to the sacrifice properly so called. In the Vedic age there were no temples or images, nor was there a State priesthood, despite the importance of the cult. Public sacrifices were performed in the open air, in communion with nature, but not for the people nor at public expense. They were private in character even when celebrated by order and for the benefit of the king. The spring sacrifice of soma was particularly solemn and so costly that only a wealthy yajamina, "patron of the sacrifice," could afford it. The ceremony, which was attended by sixteen priests, is described as follows. Three fires are lit upon a height: that of the "master of the house," which represents the domestic fire; that which receives the oblations; and the southern one, intended to keep evil spirits at a distance. The fires surround the vadi, a quadrangular place dug into the ground and spread with kula grass, whose longer sides, receding inward, curve in the manner of a crescent.

It is the pulvinar of the gods (barhis), upon which they, invisible, will recline to take part in the banquet. All the divinities are invited; the greater by name, the lesser collectively. The first libation belongs to the Wind, the swiftest god. While the Hotar recites his litanies, and the chorus of singers accompanies him, the Adhvarya attends, with his assistants, to the manual tasks: the immolation of 11 goats to as many divinities, the baking of the cakes, the pressing of the soma. Of the three pressings—morning, midday, and evening—the middle one belongs solely to Indra, the great drinker. Under the eye of the Brahmān, who sees all from his lofty seat, the sacrificial offerings follow one another, which after gladdening the table of the gods will gladden that of the priests. Once the sacrifice is finished, in fact, the meats, cakes, and soma are divided among the officiants together with the honorarium, consisting of gold, garments, and livestock. Offerings of food and drink were also made to the semi-material souls of the dead, to which the same needs as the living were attributed. Daily the father of the family offered to the Manes small quantities of dough and rice, and it was believed that during the solemn annual sacrifice in honor of the deceased fathers, these banqueted, seated on the barhis, together with Agni, becoming drunk on soma. The Rgveda is poor in eschatological information; it nevertheless allows one to affirm that only the just go to heaven, where they find again the good works performed in life. For extraordinary merits, special rewards are promised; the donors of horses "unite with the sun" (Rgv., X, 107, 2). The references to places of punishment are also very scanty and vague. The Rgvedic hymn VII, 104, 3, invokes Indra and Soma so that these two gods may hurl into the bottomless abyss the sorcerers, the slanderers, the liars, the haters of the brahmans, so that not even one may return from there. For girls without brothers (harlots) and for adulteresses, a "deep place" is destined, which must be a hell, while it is not certain whether the vague allusions to "falls into the pit" and "descents into deep darkness" refer to places of punishment or rather to a tragic end and to death.

Ferdinando Belloni Filippi