HINDU ACCOUNTS OF THE ORIGIN OF THE VEDAS THE TIME WHEN THE VEDAS WERE COMPOSED : ... ... ... ... The Religious Childhood of India, 30; Dyaus and Prithivi, 32; Aditi and the Adityas, 33; Varuna, 34; Indra, 35; Agni, 37; Parjanya, 38; Vayu, 39; The Maruts, 39; Solar Deities, 40; Mitra, 41; Surya, 41; Savitri, 41; Vishnu, 42; Pushan, 43; Ushas, 43; Asvins, 44; Tvashtri, 44; The Ribhus, 44; Vishvakarman, 45; Prajapati, 45; Brihaspati or Brahmanaspati, 45; Vach, 46; Soma, 46; Rudra, 47; Yama and Yami, 48; Visve Devas, 48; Ka, 49; Goddesses, 49; The Pitris, 49; Sacrificial THE RIG-VEDA. WITH ILLUSTRATIVE EXTRACTS. INTRODUCTION. Object. The following compilation is intended chiefly for thoughtful Hindus. They are sufficiently intelligent to reject the low and degrading ideas of God given in the later Hindu books; but some of them have the idea that a pure monotheism is to be found in the Vedas, the most ancient and authoritative of their sacred writings. Careful examination will show that this belief is unfounded. The inquiry should be conducted with great seriousness, and an earnest desire to know the truth. The following short prayer may fitly be offered: O All-wise, All-merciful God and Father, pour the bright beams of Thy light into my soul, and guide me into Thy eternal truth. Meaning of Term.-VEDA is from the Sanskrit vid, 'know,' kindred with the Latin vid, and the English to wit. In its general sense it is sometimes applied by the Brahmans to the whole body of their most ancient sacred literature. More strictly it denotes four collections of hymns, which are respectively known by the names of Rig-Veda, Yajur-Veda, Sama-Veda, and Atharva-Veda. They are supposed to contain the science, as teaching that knowledge which, of all others, is best worth acquiring. "The general form of the Vedas is that of lyric poetry. They contain the songs in which the first ancestors of the Hindu people, at the very dawn of their existence as a separate nation, while they were still only on the threshold of the great country which they were afterwards to fill with their civilization, praised the gods, extolled heroic deeds, and sung of other matters which kindled their poetical fervour."* The Vedas the highest Hindu Authorities.—The Hindu sacred books are divided into two great classes, called Sruti and Smriti. Sruti, which means hearing, denotes direct revelation; Smriti, recollection, includes the sacred books which are admitted to have been composed by human authors. Professor Max Müller thus shows the estimation in which the Vedas are held : According to the orthodox views of Indian theologians, not a single line of the Veda was the work of human authors. The whole Veda is in * Whitney's Oriental and Linguistic Studies, Vol. I., p. 5. some way or other the work of the Deity, and even those who received the revelation, or, as they express it, those who saw it, were not supposed to be ordinary mortals, but beings raised above the level of common humanity, and less liable therefore to error in the reception of revealed truth. . . . The human element, called paurusheyatva in Sanskrit, is drawn out of every corner or hiding-place, and as the Veda is held to have existed in the mind of the Deity before the beginning of time, every allusion to historical events, of which there are not a few, is explained away with a zeal and ingenuity worthy of a better cause." "The laws of Manu, according to the Brahmanic theology, are not revelation; they are not Sruti, but only Smriti. If these laws or any other work of authority can be proved on any point to be at variance with a single passage of the Veda, their authority is at once overruled." The inspiration of the Veda, says Monier Williams, is regarded as so self-convincing, "as to require no proof, and to be entirely beyond the province of reason or argument." Hindu ignorance of the Vedas.-Although the Vedas are held in the highest estimation by the Hindus, their real character is almost entirely unknown to them. Very few copies of them existed until they were printed in Europe. It has often been said that if the Vedic Aryans were to reappear and act before their descendants their former life, they would be regarded with horror as a most impure and irreligious people. They killed cows and ate their flesh! The later books were studied by the learned in India instead of the Vedas themselves. "When Rammohun Roy was in London," says Max Müller," he saw at the British Museum a young German scholar, Friedrich Rosen, busily engaged in copying MSS. of the Rig-Veda. The Rajab was surprised, but he told Rosen that he ought not to waste his time on the Hymns, but that he should study the text of the Upanishads."+ Publication of the Vedas -For a long time it was very difficult for European scholars to gain a knowledge of the Veda. "All other Sanskrit MSS. were freely communicated to Englishmen resident in India, but not the MSS. of the Veda. And even in cases where such MSS. had fallen into the hands of barbarians, the Pandits declined to translate them for them. Colebrooke alone seems to have overcome all these difficulties, and his Essays On the Vedas, or the Sacred Writings of the Hindus,' though published in 1805, are still extremely valuable." Rosen published a specimen of the Hymns of the Rig-Veda in 1830. He died soon after, and only the first book of the Rig-Veda, translated into Latin, was finished by him, and published after his death in 1838. In 1845 Max Müller was in Paris, copying the text of the RigVeda with the commentary of Sayana Acharya. Sayana was brother of Madhavacharya, the prime minister of the Raja of * Chips from a German Workshop, Vol. I. Max Müller, Biographical Essays, p. 39, Vijayanagara, in the 14th century. His commentary was, no doubt, prepared with the assistance of the most learned Brahmans of the time. Max Müller was authorised by the East India Company to bring out an edition of both at its expense. The first volume appeared in 1849. The editing occupied about 20 years. The price of the 6 quarto volumes is £15. A new edition, in 4 volumes, at the expense of the Maharaja of Vizianagram, has lately been published. The price is 2 guineas per volume. The text of the Rig-Veda, in Roman character, was printed in Berlin in 1861. An English translation of the Rig-Veda, based on the commentary of Sayana, was prepared by the late Professor Wilson. Part of it was published after his death. It is expensive, the price of the 6 volumes being £6-198. There is a new English translation by Mr. R. T. H. Griffith, formerly Principal of the Sanskrit College, Benares. A popular commentary is also given, explaining, as far as possible, difficult passages. The opinions of Sayana, Max Müller, Muir, and other oriental scholars are quoted, where they throw light on the subject, in addition to valuable original notes. The translator has had the advantage of the labours of his predecessors, and of a long residence at Benares in close connection with some of the best Pandits in India. He is also a poet, and has sought, as far as possible, to imitate the rhythm of the original. Second Edition in two volumes, Rs. 14; postage 12 As. All students who can afford it should possess copies of this recent and accurate translation of the Vedas. It should be accessible in all Public and Mission Libraries in India. A translation by Max Müller, entitled Vedic Hymns, is in course of Publication in The Sacred Books of the East. Some of the Hymns have been translated by Professor Peterson of Bombay. Bengali translations of the Rig-Veda have been published. METRES AND LANGUAGE OF THE VEDAS. Metres.-Great importance is attached to the Metres used. Dr. Haug says: "The power and significance of the Hotri-priests at a sacrifice consists in their being the masters of the sacred word, which is frequently personified by Vach, i. e., Speech, who is identical with Sarasvati, the goddess of learning in the later Hindu Pantheon. Speech has, according to the opinion of the earliest divines, the power of vivifying and killing. The sacred words pronounced by the Hotar effect, by dint of the innate power of Vach, the spiritual birth of the sacrificer, form his body, raise him up to heaven, connect him with the prototypes of those things which *In what is now the Bellary District of the Madras Presidency. The ruins over 2 s quare miles. |