by Roopa Pai
Vedic hymns use such seeming contradictions a lot – it makes the hymns confounding if you try and make sense of them through logic. But that perhaps was exactly the message the ancient sages were trying to convey to us! God, Supreme Being, Energy, whatever you wish to call the life-force that sustains everything in the universe – is not easily definable. He cannot be described using our paltry words and metaphors, he lies beyond the grasp of our limited human intellect, and neither our senses nor our minds can ever hope to ‘see’ him in any form or fashion. It is only when we set aside our desire to fit him into our boxes of understanding – logic, rational thinking, seeing, hearing, feeling – that we may be able to experience the wonder of it all.
And while you’re wondering how to do that, let’s salute the Vedic sages for not sitting on the fence at least on the prickly chicken-and-egg problem – they believed, clearly, that it was the egg that came first.
The Hymn of the Golden Embryo
Hiranyagarbha Sukta – 10.121
In the beginning
Before anything else was,
Was Hiranyagarbha, the Golden Egg,
The Lord of All Creation,
The one who held in place the earth and sky –
Who is the god we worship through our offerings.
He who bestows vigour and life,
He whose commands the gods obey,
King of the world, Lord of Death,
Ruler of everything that breathes and sleeps,
And everything that doesn’t, and everything in between –
Who is the god we worship through our offerings.
He from whom snow-clad mountains
And rivers and rain and the sun have sprung,
Who filled the skies with vital air,
made firm the earth,
At whose sight both good and evil tremble in fear,
He who is the source of all our happiness –
Who is the god we worship through our offerings.
When the floodwaters came, they came from him,
Bearing the fiery seed, the golden egg, Hiranyagarbha;
Splitting the womb, he rose, life-breath of the gods,
Holding up the dome of the sky, filling the clouds with water,
Measuring space with the sun, propping the earth with his feet –
Who is the god we worship through our offerings.
Never may he harm us, he who is
Earth’s begetter, Heaven’s creator, guardian of the true law,
Ever may he grant our heart’s desires!
O Prajapati, Lord of All Creatures, father-protector
There is no one but you –
Who is the god we worship through our offerings.
II. THE ‘GOD-ONLY-KNOWS-OR-DOES-HE?’ STORY
An ‘ex-nihilo’ creation myth
One of the hallmarks of Hindu scriptures is to question everything, but the Nasadiya Sukta seems to take that spirit of scepticism to, quite literally, a higher level. First, it proposes a creation myth in which creation happened because Paramatman, the Formless Energy, suddenly felt the desire to give Himself shape and form - to become both female and male, earth and sky, beast and bird - and see what that felt like. Then, it proceeds to doubt itself, wondering if anyone, even the gods, can ever really know the truth – after all, there was nothing around when creation began, not even the gods. But there is an even more sacrilegious twist in the tail – read the hymn to find out what it is!
Again, there are confusing bits to this hymn. The very first line, which reads so much more mystically and alliteratively in Sanskrit – Na asat* aasit na u sat aasit tadanim – translates to ‘there was nothing that was non-existent, and nothing that was existent then’. ‘What!?’ you protest, tearing at your hair, ‘but it has to be one or the other, innit?’ Nope. Not where a Being that is ‘beyond dualities’ is concerned. It isn’t ‘one or the other’ with him. Nothing’s black or white. There are only endless shades of grey, infinite varieties of the (im)possible. Mental gymnastics, anyone?
*The name of the hymn, Nasadiya, comes from ‘Na asat’, its opening words.
The Hymn of That Which Is Not Non-Existent
Nasadiya Sukta – 10.129
Then
There was nothing that was non-existent, nor anything that was,
No air, no light, no heaven, no space,
No death, no life, no night, no day.
Darkness hidden in darkness -
Except for Something
That stirred in the still, by Its own will,
And then, was born,
Of Its own fire, Its own desire
Cleaving into
Above and below, giving and receiving, seed and womb,
It swelled the universe
Where chaos was rife, with power and life;
Who really knows where it all came from, this ‘creation’?
Who can declare that this is how it was done?
Even the gods came later.
Only He knows, He who fashioned it all.
Or does He?
III. THE ‘A-MASTER-CRAFTSMAN-BUILT-IT-BUT-WITH-WHAT-EXACTLY?’ STORY
Another ‘ex-nihilo’ creation myth
If God is a reflection of ourselves, and vice versa, surely God built his house, the universe, as we build ours? Surely he would need to sculpt things and weld things and carve things? In this hymn, the Supreme Being is called Vishwakarma – literally, Maker of the Universe – and he is seen as sculptor and architect, blacksmith and carpenter.
With a pragmatic understanding that nothing can be created anew if what already exists isn’t destroyed first, the hymn starts with a sacrifice where everything is consigned to the consuming fire by the High Priest, Vishwakarma. After completing the act of creation, the divine priest takes himself out of the picture. He, literally and metaphorically, fires himself, by turning himself into an offering, by becoming Agni.
But back to the creation part. If he offered everything, everything, as a sacrifice before he began, what in heaven’s name did he build the world with? Read on to find out!
The Hymn of the Divine Architect
Vishwakarma Sukta – 10.81
The first Priest, our Father, Vishwakarma,
Began creation with a sacrifice,
Offering everything there was, even himself, to Agni
The hotri became the sacrifice.
But if there was nothing left,
Where did he start his act of creation?
From what did he, of the all-seeing eye, sculpt the world?
Why did he create the earth
And the expanse of the sky?
Who knows the answers to these questions?
He who had eyes on all sides and mouths on all sides
And arms and feet on all sides –
Fanning the smithy flame with his arms –
How did he weld together earth and heaven?
From what wood of what tree, in truth,
Did he carve the worlds?
All ye thinking people, reflect on this mystery –
On what did he stand, Vishwakarma,
While he set the worlds up?
PS: This is the even more frustrating part of the Vedic hymns – you go to them looking for answers, and often come away with more questions than you had before! But through this no-doubt aggravating technique, they teach us great lessons – you can never know it all, the really important questions have no (simple) answers, the world is full of mystery and wonder, and, most importantly, it is often as much fun, if not more, to employ the fabulous gift of your intellect to fashion and ponder the questions, as it is to arrive at answers.
IV. THE ‘IT-WAS-THE-MAN-WHO-MADE-MAN’ STORY
A ‘dismemberment’ creation myth
One of the best-known hymns of the Rig Veda, particularly because of a highly controversial verse, the Purusha Sukta proposes, once again, that creation began with a sacrifice. Except, in this case, Purusha, the Cosmic Man, the Supreme Being, was h
imself the sacrificial animal. The gods were the priests at this primordial yagna, and as Purusha was dismembered, different parts of his body became different parts of the cosmos.
One of the messages of the hymn seems to be that there is always a sacrifice involved in achievement, whatever human goal you are pursuing – health (sacrifice the sugary drinks and chips!), wealth (sacrifice the extravagant spending), fame (sacrifice your right to a quiet and private life), love (sacrifice your ego), doing the right thing (sacrifice your need to be popular), being at peace (sacrifice your desire to control everything).
However, the main message of the Purusha Sukta, its core lesson, is also the underlying philosophy of all Arya thought, all Hindu belief – everything, everything in the world, comes from a common source. We are all – birds and beasts and men and mountains and oceans and trees – connected; we carry inside us, despite all our apparent differences, a common divine spirit; we are all, in short, God. The philosophy also finds an echo in modern science – the Big Bang theory, the most accepted theory about how the universe was formed, posits, essentially, that the constantly expanding universe can be traced back to a single source, an unimaginably dense, unimaginably hot, unimaginably tiny point.
And the controversial verse? You can find it in stanza 5 of this translation, the part where it talks about which parts of the Purusha’s body the different castes came from. A lot of people read this verse as a hierarchical arrangement of varna; since the brahmins came from the Purusha’s mouth, they believe, they are naturally the highest caste (for good measure, the hymn also has Agni and Indra proceeding from the same body part), the kshatriyas are next, and so on, with the shudras being at the very bottom of the ladder. Through the centuries, the upper castes have used this verse as ‘divine sanction’ to persecute and exploit the lower castes.
While it is entirely possible that the sages of the Rig intended to place the brahmins higher than the shudras through this verse, there are a couple of other possibilities.
• Apart from in the Purusha Sukta, there is no mention of varnas in the Rig. This could indicate that varnas were not so clearly demarcated in the Rig Vedic society. Could it be then, that this one verse was slipped into the text at a later date, after the varnas had become hierarchical, to ensure that the upper castes continued to maintain their position in society?
• Or was the verse intended to be a subversive one, designed to cleverly counter the existing hierarchy in society? Did a wise rishi slip it in, hoping that people would read it to mean that people of all varnas, equally, came from the same source?
Like the Rig Veda itself may ask, who knows the answers to these questions? All we can do when faced with such contradictions in interpretation, is to always, always, choose the kinder, fairer, more balanced one, over one that is less so. That is our responsibility as members of the human race, and our sacred duty.
But on to the hymn!
The Hymn of Man
Purusha Sukta – 10.90
Purusha, Giant Cosmic Man,
With his thousand heads, thousand eyes and thousand feet
Fills the earth and all the space around it –
But fits into a space just ten fingers tall.
That’s not all.
All of earth’s creatures, those that eat and those that do not
Are formed from only one quarter of him,
The other three quarters cover everything about and above them.
From him was born Virat, and from Virat was he –
They begat each other, see?
Then came the great sacrifice of the gods
With Purusha as the sacrificial beast;
They laid him on the kindling that was summer,
Poured on him ghee that was spring,
oil that was autumn –
And then some.
Out of the sacrifice came all Creation –
From the drippings were born beasts and birds,
From the offerings came the hymns and chants,
Of the Rig and the Yajur and the Sama –
Spectacle and drama!
Now the body of Purusha the Offering
Was divided; his mouth became the brahmin who chants,
His arms the kshatriya who wields sword and bow,
His thighs the vaishya who supports, his feet the shudra who serves –
All part of the same body, observe!
His mind? The moon! The sun? His eye!
His mouth? Indra-Agni. The wind? His breath!
His navel? Turned into space! His head? Became the sky!
His feet? Spread themselves out, became the earth –
This is the story of Man’s birth.
PS: In stanza 1, the paradox is that while Purusha is large enough to permeate (be inside) and encompass (be outside) everything in all the worlds, he is also able to fit into a space that is only ‘ten fingers tall’. That space is supposed to indicate the amount of space occupied by a man’s soul. In stanza 2, the Virat referred to (also known as Viraj) is the female counterpart of Purusha. From Purusha was born Virat, and from Virat was born Purusha. This kind of thing would be a paradox in a culture that believes time is linear - first you are born, then you grow up, then you grow old, then you die - but not so much in one like the Arya one, which believed time is cyclical - first you are born, then you die, then you are born again. See how that works?
REQUIEM FOR THE DEAD
The Arya believed that Yama, Lord of the Dead, was the first mortal who died, and thereafter, found his way to the realms of the gods. When consecrating a dead man to the flames, therefore, it was him they pleaded with to guide the man’s spirit ‘home’. (Home, because the Vedas tell us we all came from a common source, to which we shall eventually return.)
Just like the fierce three-headed dog Cerberus, who guards the gates of the underworld in Greek mythology, the Arya believed that Sharvara (notice the similarity in their names?), Yama’s four-eyed dog, guarded the entrance to Pitrloka, Yama’s kingdom. Sharvara had a companion, another spotted, brindled dog like himself, and between the two of them, they managed to keep the dead inside the gates. Both dogs were believed to be the sons of Sarama, Indra’s divine she-dog.* Sarama’s sons wander among us although we cannot see them, sniffing around to identify Yama’s next lot of passengers. We can also spot them in the sky on a cloudless night – Sharvara is associated with the constellation Canis Major and his companion with what else but... yup, the constellation Canis Minor (Canis is the Latin word for dog).
*Sarama has a whole hymn to herself in the Rig Veda! In it, she warns the cow-stealing Panis that her master Indra will be along soon to destroy them and liberate the stolen cows.
A Hymn to the Lord of the Underworld
Yama Sukta – 10.14
Come, O Yama, king who travelled first
To the lofty heights where the gods reside;
Pathfinder Supreme, partake of the feast,
And be kind to this man who has died.
(To the dead man)
Go forth, go forth, on the ancient paths
To the highest heaven, where your fathers wait,
Gain rewards for your earthly deeds –
Go home, to that blissful state.
Away, away, ye ghouls and demons –
This is not your place, ’tis his, ’tis his;
Run, man, past Sarama’s four-eyed sons –
Oh King, grant him good health and bliss.
You four-eyed dogs, who wander among us –
Leave us be, thirst not for our breath;
O Yama, plead our case with the gods –
Accept our offering, keep us from death.
A TOAST TO THE DRINK DIVINE
We already know that the Arya gods were very particular about their food (which is why the humans who conducted yagnas fussed so much over it). Naturally, one entire Mandala in the Rig Veda is dedicated to Pavamana (say pava-maana) Soma, or Soma the Purifier, the favourite drink of the gods.
&nb
sp; As you can imagine, the process of extracting the soma was itself a ritual of giant religious proportions, with space set aside in the sacrificial ground for the purpose, maidens employed to press the stalks and cows on standby to provide fresh milk for the mixing as and when it was needed. And this ritual was performed – did you ever doubt it? – to the chanting of hymns, of course!
Here is a translation of the very first hymn of the Soma Mandala for you to enjoy.
A Hymn for Purification
Pavamana Sukta – 9.1
Flow, Soma, flow,
Flow sweet and pure –
Indra’s beloved, our panacea, our cure;
Flow, precious draught,
Thou granter of wealth –
Demon-destroyer, bestower of health;
Flow through the maiden’s fingers
As they grasp and press,
Come, our woes and fears to address;
Flow through the strainer
That Shraddha* spreads,
Emerge sweet and pure past the waiting threads;
Flow! The sacred herds
Are gathered here –
Their milk to blend with your juice so clear;
Flow, so Indra may drink
Of your rousing mead –
And slay his enemies, and our prayers heed.
PS: Hindu religious ceremonies no longer feature soma the drink, but the Soma Mandala is still very relevant. To this day, several of its hymns are chanted as part of a ceremony called the Pavamana Homa – a purifying ritual that is performed either when a new space is being inaugurated for use, or to cleanse a space of negative, toxic influences.
*Shraddha is the daughter of the sun. The word shraddha also means dedication, and its use here is perhaps meant to remind listeners that the preparation of soma was a sacred task that required one to be conscientious and focused.
HATED ONE, I CAST UPON YOU A SPELL!
Sure the Arya as a society prayed for the rain to fall and rivers to run full and the sun to shine, just so, in each season, but as individuals, they also had more pressing and more private concerns. The composers of the Vedas understood that and obliged, creating spells and incantations to take care of problems both big and small.
There were spells to be chanted over mothers-to-be for a safe pregnancy and birth, sleeping spells by which new mothers could ensure that their babies slept through the night (predictably, these were also chanted by burglars over the house they were about to break into!), death-repelling spells for healers to chant over their critically ill patients, and many more. Most spells of this kind are to be found in the Atharva Veda, but there are a few in the last Mandala of the Rig as well. Here is one such for you to enjoy.