pides, which is there preserved, we find that a doctrine, partly similar to that of the Aitareya Brahmana adduced above, regarding heaven and earth, is ascribed to the philosopher Anaxagoras, and was expressed by his disciple the poet : ̓Αναξαγόρᾳ προσεφοίτησεν Εὐριπίδης. ̓Αναξαγόρου δὲ λόγος ἐστὶν ὅτι πάντα ἐν πᾶσιν, εἶτα ὕστερον διεκρίθη. μετὰ ταῦτα ὡμίλησε καὶ Σωκράτει, καὶ ἐπὶ τὸ ἀποὁμολογεῖ οὖν την διδασκαλίαν τὴν ἀρχαίαν διὰ τῆς ρώτερον ἤγαγε τὸν λόγον. Μελανίππης· Κοὐκ ἐμὸς ὁ μῦθος, ἀλλ ̓ ἐμῆς μητρὸς πάρα, ὡς οὐρανός τε γαιά τ ̓ ἦν μορφὴ μία· ἐπεὶ δ' ἐχωρίσθησαν ἀλλήλων δίχα, δένδρη, πετεινὰ, θῆρας, οὕς θ ̓ ἅλμη τρέφει, "Euripides frequented the lectures of Anaxagoras. Now it was the theory of that philosopher that all things were confounded (lit. all things were in all things), but afterwards became separated. Euripides afterwards associated with Socrates, and became doubtful regarding the theory. He accordingly admits the ancient doctrine by the mouth of Melanippe: 'The saying is not mine but came from my mother, that formerly the Heaven and Earth formed one substance: but when they were separated from each other, they gave birth to all things, and brought them forth into the light, trees, birds, beasts, fishes, and the race of mortals.'" The appellation of mother is naturally applied to the earth, as the source from which all vegetable products spring, as well as the home of all living creatures. This is remarked by Lucretius, "De Rerum Natura," in these lines, v. 793 ff.: "Nam neque de cælo cecidisse animalia possunt, Nec terrestria de salsis exisse lacunis: Linquitur ut merito maternum nomen adepta And again, v. 821: "Quare etiam atque etiam maternum nomen adepta Terra tenet merito, quoniam genus ipsa creavit Humanum atque animal prope certo tempore fudit," etc. And in illustration of the idea that Heaven is the father of all things, I may quote his words, ii. 991: "Denique cælesti sumus omnes semine oriundi : Omnibus ille idem pater est, unde alma liquentis Umoris guttas mater cum terra recepit,“ Feta parit nitidas fruges arbustaque laeta And ii. 998: "Qua propter merito maternum nomen adepta est. See also v. 799: "Quo minus est mirum, si tum sunt plura coorta My attention was drawn to these passages by finding them referred to in Professor Sellar's "Roman Poets of the Republic," pp. 236, 247, and 276. See also Lucretius i. 250: Postremo pereunt imbres, ubi eos pater aether In gremium matris terrai praecipitavit ; And v. 318: Denique jam tuere hoc, circum supraque quod omnem, See also Pacuvius 86, quoted by Mr. Munro in his Notes on Lucretius Magnus alit magno commixtus corpore fetus. Mr. Munro there remarks: "From the Vedas to the Pervigilium Veneris poets and philosophers love to celebrate this union of ether and earth, ether as father descending in showers into the lap of mother earth." See the same author's notes on Lucr. ii. 991.45 Tacitus, too, informs us in his Germania, 40: Nec quidquam notabile in singulis nisi quod in commune Ertham, it ed Terram matrem, colunt, eamque intervenire rebus hominum, invehi populis arbitrantur." "Nor is there anything in regard to particular points which deserves remark except that they all together worship Ertha, i.e. Mother Earth, and think that she intervenes in the affairs of men, and moves round among the nations." 44 Compare A.V. xii. 1, 12, 42, quoted above, p. 23. 45 See also Professor Max Müller's Lectures on Language, ii. 459, and Mr. C. Bruce's paper "On the Vedic Conception of the Earth," Journ. R. A. S. xix. 330 ff. Ed. F. Ritter (Cambridge and London, 1848) who substitutes Ertham for the common reading Nertham. See his Notes in loco, and on Section 9. (3) Heaven and earth elsewhere spoken of as created. 48 On the other hand, Heaven and Earth are spoken of in other places as themselves created. Thus it is said (i. 160, 4; iv. 56, 3), that he who produced heaven and earth must have been the most skilful artizan of all the gods 47 (ayam devānām apasām apastamo yo jajāna rodasī viśvaśambhuvā: sa it svapā bhuvaneshu āsa yaḥ ime dyāvā-pṛithivi jajāna). Again, Indra is described as their creator (janită divo janita prithivyāḥ) (vi. 30, 5; viii. 36, 4); as having beautifully fashioned them by his power and skill (x. 29, 6, mātre nu te sumite Indra purvi dyaur majmanā pṛithivī kāvyena); as having generated from his own body the father and the mother (by which heaven and earth are clearly intended (x. 54, 3. Kaḥ u nu te mahimanaḥ samasya asmat pūrve rishayo antam apuḥ | yan mataram cha pitaram cha sākam ajanayathās tanvaḥ svāyāḥ); as having bestowed them on his worshippers (iii. 34, 8. Sasāna yaḥ prithivim dyām utemām); as sustaining and upholding them (dadhara yaḥ prithivīm dyām utemām) (iii. 32, 8; iii. 44, 3; vi. 17, 7; x. 55, 1); 49 as grasping them in his hand (iii. 30, 5. Ime chid Indra rodasī apāre yat samgribhnaḥ maghavan kāśir it te); as stretching them out like a hide (viii. 6. 5. Ojas tad asya titvishe ubhe yat samavarttayat | Indraś charmeva rodasi). The same deity is elsewhere (vi. 30, 1) said to transcend heaven and earth, which are equal to only a half of the god 50 (Pra 47 This phrase is, perhaps, primarily meant as an eulogy of the heaven and earth, by expressing that he must have been a most glorious being who was the author of so grand a production as heaven and earth (see Sayana on R.V. i. 160, 4, who says, "that having in the previous verse magnified the heaven and earth by lauding their son the sun, the poet now magnifies them by exalting their maker"). But it also appears to intimate that, in the idea of the writer, the heaven and earth were, after all, produced by some greater being. In iv. 17, 4, it is similarly said that "the maker of Indra was a most skilful artist." 48 The A.V. xii. 1. 10, says: "May our mother the earth whom Indra, the lord of power, made, friendly to himself, give milk to me her son (Indro yām chakre ātmane anamitrām śachīpatiḥ | sā no bhūmir visṛijatām mātā putrāya me payah. 49 Who are the sons or children of Indra's brother (bhrātuḥ putrān) mentioned in this verse, and who is the brother? 50 In viii. 59, 5, it is said: "If, Indra, a hundred heavens and a hundred earths were thine, a thousand suns could not equal thee, thunderer, nor anything born, nor both worlds” (yad dyāvaḥ Indra te s'atam satam bhūmīr uta syuḥ | na tvā vajrin sahasram sūryāḥ anu na jātam ashța rodasi). ririche divaḥ Indraḥ prithivyaḥ arddham id asya prati rodasi ubhe); and they are further represented as following him as a chariot wheel a horse (viii. 6, 38. Anu tvā rodasi ubhe chakram na vartti etaśam); as bowing down before him (i. 131, 1. Indrāya hi Dyaur asuro anamnata Indrāya mahi prithiri varīmabhiḥ); 51 as trembling from fear of him (iv. 17, 2. Tava trisho janiman rejata Dyauḥ rejad bhūmir bhiyasā svasya manyoḥ 52 See also iv. 22, 3 f.; vi. 17, 9; viii. 86, 14); as being disturbed by his greatness (vii. 23, 3. Vi būdhishța rodasī mahitvā Indraḥ); as subject to his dominion (x. 89, 10. Indro divaḥ Indraḥ ise prithivyāḥ); and as doing homage to his power (viii. 82, 12. Adha te apratishkutām devī śushmam saparyataḥ | ubhe suśipra rodasi). The creation of heaven and earth is also ascribed to other deities, as to Soma and Pushan (ii. 40, 1. Somāpūshanā jananā rayīnām jananā divo janānā prithivyah); to Soma (ix. 98, 9. Sa vām yajneshu Mānarī Indur janishta rodasi | devo devi ityādi | 53 See also ix. 90, 1; ix. 96, 5); to Dhātṛi (x. 190, 3. Sūryā-chandramasau Dhātā yathāpūrvam akalpayat | divam cha prithivīm cha antariksham atho svaḥ); to Hiranyagarbha (x. 121, 9. Ma no himsij janita yaḥ prithivyāḥ yo va divam satyadharma jajana | Comp. v. 5); they are declared to have received their shape and variety of forms, from Tvashtri, though themselves parents (x. 110, 9. Yaḥ ime dyāvāpṛithivī janitrī rūpair apiñśad bhuvanāni viśvā); to have sprung respectively from the head and the feet of Purusha (x. 90, 14. Nabhyaḥ asya antariksham sirshno dyauḥ samavarttata | padbhyām bhūmiḥ); and to be sustained or supported by Mitra (iii. 59, 1), by Savitri (iv. 53, 2; x. 149, 1. Savita yantraiḥ pri 51 Heaven (Dyaus) is here styled asuraḥ, "the divine," as also in iii. 53, 7. 52 It might at first sight appear as if, according to the fourth verse of this hymn (iv. 17, 4), the Heaven, Dyaus, was the father of Indra (see Professor Wilson's translation, vol. iii. p. 151). But the meaning seems to be: "The Heaven esteemed that thy father was a stalwart hero: he was a most skilful artist who made Indra, who produced the celestial thunderer, unshaken, as the world (cannot be shaken) from its place." This is confirmed by verse 1, which says that the Heaven acknowledged Indra's power; and by verse 2, which represents it as trembling at his birth. See also vi. 72, 3. 53 The two worlds, rodasī, are here styled devi, "divine," and mānavī, “human,” or "connected with men," or "friendly to men.” 54 It is remarkable that here Dhatri is said to have formed the sun, moon, sky, earth, air, and heaven, as before; as if, agreeably to the Puranic conception, they had previously existed, and been destroyed. See the 1st vol. of this work, 2nd ed. pp. 51, 66, 76. thivim aramnud askambhane Savita dyam adṛimhat), by Varuna (vi. 70, 1; vii. 86, 1; viii. 42, 1), by Indra and Soma (vi. 72, 2), by Soma (ix. 87, 2), and by Hiranyagarbha (x. 121, 5). (4) Speculations about their origin. In other passages we encounter various speculations about their origin. In i. 185, 1, the perplexed poet enquires, "Which of these two was the first,55 and which the last? How have they been produced? Sages, who knows?" (Katarā pūrvā katarā aparā ayoḥ kathā jāte kavayoḥ ko vi veda). 56 In vii. 34, 2, the waters are said to know the birth-place of heaven and earth (viduḥ prithivyāḥ divo janitram śrinvanti apo adha ksharantiḥ). In x. 31, 7, the Rishi asks: "What was the forest, what was the tree, from which they fashioned the heaven and the earth, which abide undecaying and perpetual, (whilst) the days and many dawns have disappeared?" (kim svid vanam kaḥ u sa vrikshaḥ asa yato dyāvā-prithivi nishṭatakshuḥ | samtasthāne ajare itaūtī ahāni pūrvīr ushaso jaranta). This question is repeated in x. 81, 4;57 and in the same hymn (verses 2 and 3) the creation of heaven and earth is ascribed to the sole agency of the god Viśvakarman: 2. "What was the support, what and how was the basis from which by his might the all-seeing Viśvakarman produced the earth, and spread out the sky? 3. The one god who has on every side eyes, faces, arms, and feet, blows with his arms and his wings, when producing the heaven and earth" (2. Kim svid āsīd adhishṭhānam ārambhanam katamat svit kathā āsīt | yato bhūmim janayan Viśvakarmā vi dyām aurnod mahinā viśvachakshaḥ | 3. Viśvataśchakshur uta viśvatomukho viśvatobāhur uta viśvataspāt | sam bāhubhyam̃ dhamati sam pata 58 55 S'atap. Br. xiv. 1, 2, 10, Iyam pṛithivī bhūtasya prathama-jā, "This earth is the firstborn of created things." 56 Compare Professor Müller's Lectures on Language, ii. 488, and Nirukta iii. 22. 57 See also the Taitt. Br. ii. 8, 9, 6, where the answer is given, "Brahma was the forest, Brahma was that tree from which they fashioned heaven and earth" (Brahma vanam Brahma sa vṛikshaḥ āsīd yato dyāvāpṛithivī nishṭatakshuḥ). In A.V. xii. 1, 60, Viśvakarman is said to have sought the earth with an oblation when she had entered into the fluid atmosphere (yām anvaichhad Viśvakarmā antar arnave rajasi pravishṭām). Compare the accounts in the Brahmanas and Puranas of the earth being sunk beneath the waters at the creation, 1st vol. of this work, 2nd ed. pp. 50-55, 76. 58 See the 4th vol. of this work, pp. 4 ff., and Haug's Aitareya Brāhmaṇa, ii. 299. |