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SECTION XVIII.

YAMA AND THE DOCTRINE OF A FUTURE LIFE.

(1) References to immortality in the earlier books of the Rig-veda.

It is in the ninth and tenth books of the Rig-veda that we find the most distinct and prominent references to a future life. It is true that the Ribhus, on account of their artistic skill, are said, in some texts in the earlier books, to have been promised, and to have attained, immortality and divine honours (see above p. 226, and R.V. iv. 35, 3, where it is said: atha aita Vājāḥ amṛitasya panthum ganam derānām Ribhavaḥ suhastaḥ | "Then, skilful Vājas, Ribhus, ye proceeded on the road of immortality, to the assemblage of the gods;" and verse 8: ye devāso abharata sukṛityā śyenāḥ ica id adhi divi nisheda | te ratnam dhāta śavaso napātaḥ Sandhanvanāḥ abhavata amṛitāsaḥ | "Ye who through your skill have become gods, and like falcons are seated in the sky, do ye, children of strength, give us riches; ye, o sons of Sudhanvan, have become immortal."). This, however, is a special case of deification, and would not prove that ordinary mortals were considered to survive after the termination of their earthly existence. There are, however, a few other passages which must be understood as intimating a belief in a future state of happiness. Thus Agni is said in i. 31, 7, to exalt a mortal to immortality (tvam tam Agne amṛitatve uttame martam dadhāsi); and to be the guardian of immortality (adabdho gopāḥ amṛitasya rakshitā). And the same power is ascribed to Soma in i. 191, 1: tava pranītī pitaro naḥ Indo deveshu ratnam abhajanta dhirāḥ | "By thy guidance, o Soma, our sage ancestors have obtained riches among the gods;" and again, in verse 18: apyāyamāno amṛitāya Soma divi śravām̃si uttamāni dhishva | "Soma, becoming abundant to (produce) immortality, place (for us) excellent treasures in the sky."4 Some other passages to the same

411 Professor Benfey, however, translates differently: "take possession of the highest renown in heaven."

effect are the following: i. 125, 5. Nākasya prishṭhe adhi tishṭhati śrito yo prināti sa ha deveshu gachhati | 6. Dakshiṇāvatām id imāni chitrā dakshiṇāvatām divi sūryāsaḥ | dakshināvanto amṛitam bhajante dakshināvantaḥ pratirante ayuḥ 412 | “5. The liberal man abides placed upon the summit of the sky; he goes to the gods. 6. These brilliant things are the portion of those who bestow largesses; there are suns for them in heaven; they attain immortality; they prolong their lives. i. 154, 5. Tad asya priyam abhi pātho 413 aśyām naro yatra devayavo madanti | urukramasya sa hi bandhur ittha Vishnok pade parame madhvaḥ utsaḥ | "May I attain to that his (Vishnu's) beloved abode where men devoted to the gods rejoice; for that is the bond of the wide-striding god-a spring of honey in the highest sphere of Vishnu." i. 179, 6. Ubhau varnav rishir ugraḥ puposha satyāḥ deveshu āśisho jagāma | "The glorious rishi practised both kinds 41: he realised his aspirations among the gods." In v. 4, 10, the worshipper prays: prajābhir Agne amṛitvam aśyām "May I, Agni, with my offspring, attain immortality."415 In v. 55, 4, the Maruts are besought to place their worshippers in the condition of immortality (uto asmān amṛitatve dadhātana). v. 63, 2: vṛishṭim vām rādho amṛitatvam īmahe | "We ask of you twain (Mitra and Varuna) rain, wealth, immortality." vii. 57, 6. Dadāta no amṛitasya prajāyai | which Professor Roth, s.v. prajā, explains: "add us

412 The same idea is repeated in x. 107, 2 (uchhā divi dakshiṇāvanto asthur ye aśvadāḥ saha te sūryena | hiranyadāḥ amṛitatvam bhajante vāsodāḥ soma pra tirante ayuḥ | "The givers of largesses abide high in the sky; the givers of horses live with the sun; the givers of gold enjoy immortality; the givers of raiment prolong their lives."

413 The same word which is here employed, pathas, occurs also in iii. 55, 10: Vishnur gopāḥ paramam pāti pāthaḥ priyā dhāmāni amṛitā dadhānaḥ | “Vishnu, a protector, guards the highest abode, occupying the beloved, imperishable regions." See also i. 162, 2; x. 70, 9, 10. In i. 163, 13, the horse which had been immolated is said to have gone to the highest abode, to the gods (upa prāgāt paramam sadastham arvāñ achā pitaram mātaram cha | adya devān jushṭatamo hi gamyōḥ). In ii. 23, 8, mention is made of uttaram sumnam "the highest happiness," and in ii. 25, 5, of the "happiness of the gods" (devānām sumne); but it does not appear whether heaven is meant. In i. 159, 2, Heaven and Earth seem to be declared to provide large immortality for their offspring (uru prajāyāḥ amṛitam).

414 Sayana explains abhau varnau by "pleasure and austerity" kāmam cha tapas cha).

415 See, however, Sāyaṇa's gloss and Wilson's note, in loco, where the immortality referred to is explained as immortality through offspring, and as consisting in an unbroken succession of descendants, the immortality of a mortal (amṛitatvam santatyavichheda-lakshanam | “prajām anu prajāyate tad u te martya amṛitam” iti hi

irutiḥ).

to (the number of) the people of eternity, i.e. to the blessed." vii. 76, 4. Te id devānāṁ sadhamādaḥ āsann ṛitāvānaḥ kavayaḥ pūrvyāsaḥ | "They were the companions of the gods,-those ancient righteous sages." viii. 58, 7. Ud yad bradhnasya vishṭapam griham Indraś cha ganvahi madhvaḥ pītvā sachevahi triḥ sapta sakhyuḥ pade | "When we two, Indra and I, go to the region of the sun, to our home, may we, drinking nectar, seek thrice seven in the realm of the friend." Compare viii. 48, 3, quoted above in p. 90, note: We have drunk the Soma; we have become immortal; we have entered into light; we have known the gods."

Vata is also declared to have a store of immortality in his house (te grihe amṛitasya nidhir hitaḥ). But this verse occurs in a late hymn (the 186th) of the tenth Mandala. In the same Book, x. 95, 18, the promise is made by the gods to Pururavas, the son of Ila, that though he was a mortal, when his offspring should worship them, with oblations, he should enjoy happiness in Svarga, heaven (iti tvā devāḥ ime āhur Aila yathem etad bhavasi mṛityubandhuḥ | prajā te devān havishā yajati svarge u tvam api mādayāse).

(2) References to the Fathers, the souls of departed ancestors, in the earlier books of the Rig-veda.

The following passages appear to refer to the souls of deceased ancestors conceived of as still existing in another world :

i. 36, 18. Agninā Turvaśam Yadum parāvataḥ Ugradevam̃ havāmahe | "Through Agni we call Turvaśa, Yadu, and Ugradeva from afar." iii. 55, 2. Mo shu no atra juhuranta devāḥ mā pūrve Agne pitaraḥ padajnāḥ | "Let not the gods injure us here, nor our early Fathers who know the realms." vi. 52, 4. Avantu mām Ushaso jāyamānāḥ avantu mā sindhavaḥ pinvamānāḥ | avantu mā parvatāso dhruvāso avantu mā pitaro devahutau | "May the rising Dawn, the swelling rivers, the firm mountains, protect me; may the Fathers protect me in my invocation to the gods." vi. 75, 10. Brāhmaṇāsaḥ pitaraḥ somyasaḥ śive no Dyāvāpṛithivi anehasă | Pūshā naḥ pātu duriṭād ṛitārṛidhaḥ | “May the Brahmans, Fathers, drinkers of Soma, may Heaven and Earth be propitious to us. May Pushan, the promoter of sacred rites, preserve us from calamity." vii. 35, 12. S'am naḥ satyasya patayo bhavantu

śam no arvantaḥ śam u santu gāvaḥ | śam naḥ Ṛibhavaḥ sukṛitaḥ suhastāḥ sam no bhavantu pitaro haveshu | "May the lords of truth be propitious to us, and so may the horses and kine; may the skilful Ribhus, dexterous of hand, may the Fathers, be propitious to us in our invocations." viii. 48, 13. Tram Soma pitṛibhiḥ samvidāno anu dyāvāprithivi ā tatantha | "Thou, Soma, in concert with the Fathers, hast extended the Heaven and Earth."

I may also introduce here a few detached texts on the same subject from the ninth and tenth books: ix. 83, 3. Māyāvino mamire asya māyayā nṛichakshasaḥ pitaro garbham ādadhuḥ | "By his wondrous power, the skilful have formed, the Fathers, beholders of men, have deposited the germ." x. 68, 11. Abhi śyāvam na kṛisanebhir aśvam nakshatrebhiḥ pitaro dyam apimsan | "The Fathers have adorned the sky with stars, as a bay horse is decorated with pearls (?)." x. 88, 15. Dve sruti aśṛinavam pitrīnām aham devānām uta martyānām | I have heard of two paths for mortals, that of the Fathers, and that of the gods." 416 x. 107, 1. Mahi jyotiḥ pitṛibhir dattam āgāt | "The great light given by the Fathers has arrived."

In the Taittiriya Brahmana, and in the Puranas, the Fathers (Pritris) are represented as being a distinct order of beings from men, as may be gathered from their being separately created. See the 1st vol. of this work, pp. 23 f., 37, 58, 79 f.

(3) Hymns relating to Yama and the Fathers.

I now come to the passages in the ninth and tenth books to which I first alluded: and, owing to the great interest and importance of the subjects to which they refer, I shall first quote the most essential parts of them at length, and then supply a summary of the conclusions which they assert or involve.

I shall begin with the brief account of Yama's parentage in the seventeenth hymn, already quoted above, p. 227, and the dialogue betwixt him and his twin sister Yami, in the tenth hymn of the tenth book.

R.V. x. 17, 1. "Tvashtri makes a marriage for his daughter. (Hearing) this, this whole world assembles. The mother of Yama, becoming

416 See the 1st vol. of this Work, p. 434.

wedded, the wife of the great Vivasvat, disappeared. 2. They concealed the immortal (bride) from mortals. Making (another) of similar form, gave her to Vivasvat. And she bore the Asvins when that happened. Saranyu abandoned the two pairs of twins." 4"

The following hymn contains a dialogue between Yama and his twin sister Yami, in which, according to Professor Roth, she is to be considered as urging a matrimonial union between them for the continuation of the human species, of which, in the opinion of that writer, they appear to have been regarded as the earliest pair. 418 In verse 4, they are declared to have been the offspring of the Gandharva and his wife. R.V. x. 10, 1.419 O chit sakhayam sakhyā vavṛityām tiraḥ puru chid arṇavam jaganvān | pitur napātam ā dadhīta vedḥāḥ adhi kshami prataram didhyānaḥ | 2. Na te sakhā sakhyam vashți etat salakshmā yad vishurūpā bhavāti | mahas putrāso asurasya vīrāḥ divo dhartṭāraḥ ureiyā pari khyan | 3. Usanti gha te amṛitāsaḥ etad ekasya chit tyajusam martyasya | ni te mano manasi dhāyi asme janyuḥ patis tanvam ā viviśyāḥ | 4. Na yat pură chakṛima kad ha nūnam ṛitā vadanto anṛitam rapema |

417 After this section was first written I received Professor Max Müller's second series of Lectures on the Science of Language. The learned and ingenious author there discusses at length the meaning of the myths regarding Vivasvat, Saranyū, and their offspring (pp. 481 ff., and 508 ff.). He understands Vivasvat to represent the sky, Saranyū the dawn, Yama originally the day, and Yami, his twin sister, the night (p. 509). I shall briefly refer, as I proceed, to some of his further explanations, leaving the reader to consult the work itself for fuller information.

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418 See Professor Roth's remarks on Yama in the Journal of the German Oriental Society, iv. 426, and in the Journal of the American Oriental Society, iii. 335 f. "They are," he says, 'as their names denote, twin brother and sister, and are the first human pair, the originators of the race. As the Hebrew conception closely connected the parents of mankind by making the woman formed from a portion of the body of the man, so by the Indian tradition they are placed in the relationship of twins. This thought is laid by the hymn in question in the mouth of Yami herself, when she is made to say: 'Even in the womb the Creator made us for man and wife.' Professor Müller, on the other hand, says (Lect., 2nd ser., p. 510): "There is a curious dialogue between her (Yami) and her brother, where she (the night) implores her brother (the day) to make her his wife, and where he declines her offer, because,' as he says, 'they have called it a sin that a brother should marry his sister.' Again, p. 521, "There is not a single word in the Veda pointing to Yama and Yami as the first couple of mortals, as the Indian Adam and Eve.... If Yama had been the first created of men, surely the Vedic poets, in speaking of him, could not have passed this over in silence." See, however, the passage from the A.V. xviii. 3, 13, to be quoted further on.

419 This hymn is repeated in the A.V. xviii. 1, 1 ff. I am indebted to Professor Aufrecht for some improvements in my translation.