The Vedas
Page 51
by the gods.
To Sun and Moon, two Moons, to Yama in the heaven, to Trita, Vata,
Dawn, Night, and the two Ashvins.
How is the Sage extolled whom the loud singers praise? What voice,
what hymn is used to praise Brihaspati?
May Aja-Ekapad with Rikvans swift to hear, and Ahi of the Deep listen
to our call.
Aditi, to the birth of Daksha and the vow, you summon the kings
Mitra and Varuna.
With course unchecked, with many chariots, Aryaman comes with the
seven priests to tribes of various sorts.
May all those vigorous coursers listen to our cry, hearers of
invocation, speeding on their way;
Winners of thousands where the priestly gift is won, who gather of
themselves great wealth in every race.
Bring you Puramdhi, bring Vayu who yokes his steeds, for friendship
bring Pushan with your songs of praise:
They with one mind, one thought attend the sacrifice, urged by the
favouring aid of Savitr the god.
The thrice-seven wandering rivers, yes, the mighty floods, the
forest trees, the mountains, Agni to our aid,
Krishanu, Tishya, archers to our gathering place, and Rudra strong amid
the Rudras we invoke.
Let the great streams come here with their mighty help, Sindhu,
Sarasvati, and Sarayu with waves.
You Goddess Floods, you mothers, animating all, promise us water rich
in fatness and in balm.
And let Brihaddiva, the mother, hear our call, and Tvashtr,
father, with the goddesses and women.
Ribhukshan, Vaja, Bhaga, and Rathaspati, and the sweet speech of him
who labours, guard us well!
Pleasant to look on, as a dwelling rich in food is the blessed
favour of the Maruts, Rudra’s sons.
May we be famed among the people for wealth in cows and ever come to
you, ye Gods, with sacred food.
The thought which you, O Maruts, Indra and you Gods have given to
me, and you, Mitra and Varuna,
Cause this to grow and swell like a milch cow with milk. Will you not
bear away my songs upon your chariot?
O Maruts, do you never, never recollect and call again to mind
this our relationship?
When next we meet together at the central point, even there shall
Aditi confirm our brotherhood.
The Mothers, Heaven and Earth, those mighty goddesses, worthy of
sacrifice, secure with the race of gods.
These two with their support uphold both gods and men, and with the
Fathers pour the copious genial stream.
This invocation wins all good that we desire Brihaspati,
highly praised Aramati, are here,
Even where the stone that presses mead rings loudly out, and where
the sages make their voices heard with hymns.
Thus has the sage, skilled in loud singers’ duties, desiring
riches, yearning after treasure,
Gaya, the priestly singer, with his praises and hymns contented the
celestial people.
Thus has the youthful sage the son of Plati, praised you,
O Aditi and all Adityas.
Men are made rich by those who are Immortal: the Heavenly People have
been extolled by Gaya.
(10.64)
Purusha
A thousand heads has Purusha, a thousand eyes, a thousand feet.
On every side pervading earth he fills a space ten fingers wide.
This Purusha is all that has been and all that will be;
The Lord of immortality which grows larger through food.
So mighty is his greatness; yes, greater than this is Purusha.
All creatures are one-fourth of him, three-fourths is eternal life in
heaven.
With three-fourths Purusha went up: one-fourth of him again was
here.
Then he strode out to every side over what eats and what does not eat.
From him Viraj was born; again Purusha from Viraj was born.
As soon as he was born he spread eastward and westward over the
earth.
When gods prepared the sacrifice with Purusha as their offering,
Its oil was spring, the holy gift was autumn; summer was the wood.
They consecrated as victim on the grass Purusha born in earliest time.
With him the deities and all Sadhyas and rishis sacrificed.
From that great general sacrifice the dripping fat was gathered
up.
He formed the creatures of the air, and animals both wild and tame.
From that great general sacrifice the Riks and Sama-hymns were born:
Therefrom were spells and charms produced; the Yajus had its birth
from it.
From it were horses born, from it all creatures with two rows of
teeth:
From it came cows, from it the goats and sheep were born.
When they divided Purusha how many portions did they make?
What do they call his mouth, his arms? What do they call his thighs
and feet?
The brahmana was his mouth, of both his arms was the rajanya made.
His thighs became the vaishya, from his feet the shudra was produced.
The moon emerged from his mind, and from his eye the sun was
born;
Indra and Agni from his mouth were born, and Vayu from his breath.
From his navel came mid-air; the sky was fashioned from his head;
Earth from his feet, and from his ear the regions. Thus they formed
the worlds.
Seven fencing sticks had he, thrice seven layers of fuel were
prepared,
When the Gods, offering sacrifice, bound, as their victim, Purusha.
Gods, sacrificing, sacrificed the victim; these were the earliest
holy ordinances.
The Mighty Ones attained the height of heaven, there where the
Sadhyas, Gods of old, still live.
(10.90)
NOTE: Purusha is both the universal soul and the individual soul. The sacrifice is manasa yajna—of the mind.
Creation
Then there was neither non-existence nor existence: there was no realm of
air, no sky beyond it.
What covered it, and where? And what gave shelter? Was water there,
unfathomed depths of water?
Death was not there then, nor was there anything immortal; no sign was
there, of the day’s and night’s divider.
That One Thing, breathless, breathed by its own nature; apart from
it there was nothing whatsoever.
Darkness was there; at first concealed in darkness this All was
indiscriminate chaos.
All that existed then was void and formless: by the great power of heat was born a unit of life.
Thereafter arose Desire in the beginning, Desire, the primal seed
and germ of Spirit.
Sages who searched with their heart’s thought discovered the relationship of
existence with the non-existent.
Transversely was their severing line extended: what was above it
then, and what below it?
There were begetters, there were mighty forces, free action here and
energy up above.
Who truly knows and who can say, from where it was born
and from where this creation came?
The gods are later than this world’s creation. Who knows then from where it first came into being?
He, the first origin of this creation, whether he formed it all or
did not form it,
Whose eye controls thi
s world in the highest heaven, he only knows,
or perhaps even he does not know.
(10.129)
Aranyani
Goddess of the wilderness and forest who seems to vanish from sight.
How is it that you do not seek the village? Are you perhaps afraid?
When the grasshopper replies and answers the shrill cicada’s
call, with a sound like tinkling bells, then Aranyani rejoices.
And, far away, one can catch a glimpse of her, as if cattle seem to graze, or a distant house appears:
Or else in the evening Aranyani is heard, like the sound of moving wagons.
Here she is heard as if one is calling to his cow, or as if another there has felled a tree:
At evening the dweller in the wood hears her faintly, but fancies that someone has screamed.
The Goddess never kills, unless some murderous enemy approaches.
She eats savoury wild fruit and then whenever she wants, she rests.
Now have I praised Aranyani, the Forest Queen, sweet-scented, redolent of
balm,
The mother of all wild things, who tills not but has stores of
food.
(10.146)
To Vayu, in the form of Vata
O the Wind’s (Vata’s) chariot, O its power and glory! Crashing it goes and
has a voice of thunder.
It makes the regions red and touches heaven, and as it moves the
dust of earth is scattered.
Along the traces of the Wind they hurry, they come to him as women
to an assembly.
Borne on his chariot with these for his attendants, the god speeds
forth, he is the monarch of the universe.
Travelling on the paths of air’s mid-region, there is not a single day when he
rests or sleeps.
Holy and earliest-born, friend of the waters, where did he spring from
and from what region did he come?
Germ of the world, the deities’ vital spirit, this god moves always
according to his will.
His voice is heard, his shape can never be seen. Let us adore this
Wind with our oblation.
(10.168)
Cows
May the wind blow upon our cows with healing: may they eat
herbage full of vigorous juices.
May they drink waters rich in life and fatness: to those that move
on feet be gracious, Rudra.
Like-coloured, various-hued, or single-coloured, whose names
through sacrifice are known to Agni,
Whom the Angirasas produced by fervour, grant to these, Parjanya,
great protection.
Those who have offered to the gods their bodies, whose varied
forms are all well known to Soma,
Those grant us in our cattle pen, O Indra, with their full streams
of milk and plenteous offspring.
Prajapati, bestowing these upon me, one-minded with all gods and
with the Fathers,
Has to our cow pen brought auspicious cattle: so may we own the
offspring they will bear us.
(10.169)
Creation
From heat and fervour (tapas) Eternal Law and Truth (rita and satya) were born;
From that too, the night was produced, and from that the billowy flood of sea
arose.
From that same billowy flood of sea the year was afterwards
produced,
Ordainer of the days and nights, Lord over all who close the eyes.
Dhatr, the great creator, then formed in due order the sun and the moon.
He formed in order Heaven and Earth, the regions of the air, and
light.
(10.190)
YAJUR VEDA
As explained in Chapter 1, the Yajur Veda had two main versions. We begin with some verses and passages from the Taittiriya Samhita. These are based on the translation by A.B. Keith.
TAITTIRIYA SAMHITA
These two prayers from Kanda 1 form part of the Soma sacrifice.
1.
May the waters wet (you) for life,
For length of days, for glory.
O plant, protect him.
Axe, hurt him not.
Obedient to the gods I shear these.
With success may I reach further days.
Let the waters, the mothers, purify us,
With ghi let those that purify our ghi purify us,
Let them bear from us all pollution,
Forth from these waters do I come bright, in purity.
You are the body of Soma, guard my body.
You are the milk of the great ones, you are the giver of
splendour; splendour place in me.
You are the pupil of Vritra’s eye, you are the guardian of the
eye, guard my eye.
Let the lord of thought purify you, let the lord of speech purify
you, let the god Savitr purify you
With the flawless purifier,
With the rays of the bright sun.
O lord of the purifier, with your purifier for whatsoever I purify
myself, that may I have strength to accomplish.
We approach you, O gods,
You that have true ordinances at the sacrifice
What O gods you can assent to,
For that we ask you, O holy ones.
Indra and Agni, heaven and earth, waters, plants.
You are the lord of consecrations, guard me that am here.
(1.2.1)
2.
In thought divine we meditate,
Merciful, for our help,
That gives glory, and carries the sacrifice.
May it guide us safely according as we will.
The gods, mind-born, mind using,
The wise, the sons of wisdom,
May they guard us, may they protect us,
To them honour! To them hail!
O Agni be you wakeful;
Let us be glad;
Guard us to attain prosperity;
Grant us to wake again.
You, O Agni, are the guardian of vows,
Among the gods and men.
You are to be invoked at our sacrifices.
All the gods have surrounded me,
Pushan with gain, Soma with a gift,
The god Savitr the giver of brightness.
O Soma, give so much, and bear more hither.
May he that fills never lack fullness. Let me not be parted with life.
You are gold; be for my enjoyment. You are raiment; be for my enjoyment. You are a cow;
be for my enjoyment. You are a horse; be for my enjoyment. You are a goat; be for my
enjoyment. You are a ram; be for my enjoyment.
To Vayu hail; to Varuna hail; to Nirriti hail; to Rudra hail!
O divine waters, son of the waters, the stream
Fit for oblation, mighty, most exhilarating,
That stream of yours may I not step upon.
Along an unbroken web of earth may I go.
From good to better do you advance.
May Brihaspati be your leader;
Then set him free, on the chosen spot of earth;
Drive afar the foes with all your strength.
We have come to the place on earth for sacrifice to the gods,
Where in olden days all the gods rejoiced.
Accomplishing (the rite) with Rik, Saman, and Yajus,
Let us rejoice in fullness of wealth, in sustenance.
(1.2.3)
From prayers for the optional and occasional offerings
Agni, overlord of creatures, may he help me;
Indra of powers,
Yama of the earth,
Vayu of the atmosphere,
Surya of the sky,
Chandrama of the nakshatras,
Brihaspati of holy power,
Mitra of truths, Varuna of waters,
The ocean of streams,
Food of lordship overlord,
May it help me;
Soma of plants,
Savitr of instigations,
Rudra of cattle,
Tvashtr of forms,
Vishnu of mountains,
The Maruts of troops overlords,
May they help me.
O you fathers, you grandfathers, you who are further, you who are nearer,
Do you here help me.
In this holy power,
This worldly power,
This prayer,
This purohitaship,
This rite,
This invocation of the gods.
(3.4.5)
Instructions and prayers for placing the fire in the fire pan
Yoking mind first,
Extending his thoughts, Savitr
Discerning the light,
Has brought Agni from the earth.
Yoking with mind the gods,
Going to the heaven, the sky, with thought,
Those that are to make great light,
Savitr instigates.
With mind well-yoked are we
In the instigation of god Savitr,
For strength to go to the heaven.
They yoke their minds, they yoke their thoughts,
The priests of the mighty wise priest,
He alone, who knows the way, appoints their functions.
Great is the praise of the god Savitr.
I yoke with honour your ancient prayer;
The praises go like Suras on their way;
All the sons of immortality hear (it),
Who have achieved dwellings divine.
He whose advance others followed,
Gods, of the god praising might,
He who meted out the regions of earth,
He is the brilliant god Savitr in greatness.
O god Savitr, instigate the sacrifice,
instigate the lord of the sacrifice, to good luck;
may the divine gandharva,
who purifies thoughts, purify our thought;
may the lord of speech today make sweet our utterance.
This sacrifice for us, O god Savitr
Do you instigate, serving the gods,
Finding comrades, ever victorious,
Winning booty, winning heaven.
By the Rik make the stoma (song of praise) to prosper,
By the Gayatra the Rathantara,
The Brihat with the Gayatri for its metre.
On the impulse of the god Savitr,
with the arms of the Ashvins,
with the hands of Pushan,