Part 1.1 - Ideology in the Saṃhitā Period

i. Ideas of Truth and Falsehood

The ideas of truth and falsehood are distinctly expressed through the medium of deities. Truth (Satya) regulated the work in the skies (Ṛgveda-saṃhitā X.85.1, Atharvaveda 14.1.1).the deeds of the deity Indra were declared to be true. (Ṛgveda-saṃhitā II.15.1,VI. 27.1-2). Satya was virtuous and often praised whereas falsehood was erroneous. The Ādityas watched the good and evil in men, they hated falsehood and punished sin. (Ṛgveda-saṃhitā II.27.4,VII.52.2). Pāpa is the term for evil (Ṛgveda-saṃhitā X.10.12, IV. 5.5, VII.52.18) or sin and connected with sins for punishment to sinners as well as releasing them from sins is chiefly the deity Varuṇa,^[1] the guardian of the moral law prevailing in the nature. An effort to make this moral law a counterpart of the physical order law of ṛta in the universe, the occurs in the Ṛgveda. The term Anṛta as contrary to Ṛta (Ṛgveda-saṃhitā I.105.5) in the sense of an immoral act is expressed in Ṛgveda-saṃhitā X. 10.4. Ṛta (order) and Satya (truth) appear together in the late ṚV (IX.113.4, X.190). Anṛta means falsehood (anṛta asatyaḥ) in Ṛgveda-saṃhitā IV. 5.5 and comes as opposed to Ṛta and Satya in Maitrāyaṇī-saṃhitā I.10.11.

Righteousness was believed to lead to the region of eternal light. Savitṛ was prayed to carry the spirit to the world of the righteous (Ṛgveda-saṃhitā X.17.4).Heaven as the place of eternal light (Ṛgveda-saṃhitā IX.113.7-9) as the highest (Atharvaveda II.4.11.), luminous world (Atharvaveda 4.34.2) where the righteous dwell (Ṛgveda-saṃhitā X. 16.4) is often mentioned.

Inversely falsehood/sin led to the place of lowest (Atharvaveda 8.2.24) or black darkness (Atharvaveda 5.30.11) or blind darkness (Atharvaveda 5.30.11) termed as Hell or Narakaloka (Atharvaveda 12.4.36) where the sinners stayed (Vājasaneya-saṃhitā 30.5.).

ii. Ideals of Human Life

The ideals of human life in this period were believed to be long life, heaven and immortality. While there are prayers for long life^[2] and wishes expressed to the deities to bestow immortality^[3] active efforts were taken in these contexts to reach the ideals. The place of eternal light (heaven) was believed to be won by good deeds. (Ṛgveda-saṃhitā I.125.4-6,Atharvaveda IV.34.2,5,VI.120.3). Since very early it was deemed a reward and thereby a place for the valiant men who fought battles and sacrificed their lives (Ṛgveda-saṃhitā VI.46.12). This place was essentially shared with pitṛs and the gods (Ṛgveda-saṃhitā X. 14.10). Especially the gods who resided in the heaven and came to earth to receive the offerings made in the sacrifices.

These gods were not originally immortal, they themselves were receivers of immortality obtained by them from other gods.^[4] They were first men and became immortal by their deeds.^[5] Whereas certain deities were postulated as the creators of the world,^[6] they were also considered as originating with various names and forms from a single principle.^[7]

iii. Kāla as the Creator

Kāla is made the creator of deities like Prajāpati and also the creator of men (Atharvaveda XIX.53, 54). Manu, son of Vivaswant, is designated as the first of men (Ṛgveda-saṃhitā X. 63.7).Yama, even is the originator of man (Ṛgveda-saṃhitā X.10) and is made the first of mortals who found out the way to heaven (Ṛgveda-saṃhitā X.14.2),the idea expressing heaven a reachable place by men through rituals actions.

iv. Order of Ṛta and Dharma

While such cosmological ideology was being formulated, the conversion of Ṛta (cosmic order) into Dharma (order of rituals or sacrifices) was an important development in this period. Ṛta or the “course of things”^[8] systematized as the order in the physical world in the form of the heavenly bodies, as order in the moral world in the form of ‘truth (Satya) and light’ and order in the religious world as ‘rite’. This was perhaps the basis of the correlation of Jyotiṣa and Karma appearing in the later period. To this context the deities were said to be the followers of Ṛta which became an unchangeable law laid down by the gods^[9] and their actions and which was to be followed by men in later Ṛgveda-saṃhitā (IX.121.1,X.37.5). This was termed as Vrata. Though Vrata, occur with verbs of motion in the Ṛgveda-saṃhitā^[10] an effort to establish a relation between cosmic motion and human action is seen in this period. The idea appears to connect practically the physical cosmic order to the moral rules and the ritual practices than prevalent in the culture through the medium of time. Actions against these were Apavrata and were liable to be punished (Ṛgveda-saṃhitā I.25.1-2). Following the Vedic practices being a requisite, the non-congnizant was said to be debarred from the Sun (Ṛgveda-saṃhitā V. 42.9).

The firm belief that the Earth was supported by truth and the sky was supported by the Sun also occurs in this period (Ṛgveda-saṃhitā X. 85.1). The abstract deity Varuṇa is made the excavator of this path of truth (Satya) and is also said to regulate the actions of the luminaries. This concept of Varuṇa protecting the Sun from falling & making a path for him has a parallel with the Iranian god Ahura^[11] yet the conception of Varuṇa as the protector of the path of Satya regulated by the luminaries appears to be Vedic. Also statements such as the darkness seizing the Sun could be destroyed by cosmic order and true speech reveal the efforts of the culture to connect the physical and the moral elements. The ideas of Satya thereby pertained to the brightness and the order in nature and an effort to arrange rituals actions on this path of Satya expressed by the order of light forms occur in this period.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Fetters of Varuṇa which bind the sinners (Ṛgveda-saṃhitā I. 24.15, VI. 74.4), release from sin (Ṛgveda-saṃhitā II.28.5, V. 85.7.8). According to Keith, “the conception of sin as punished by Varuṇa is an Aryan one and not a conception borrowed from a semitic race”. The Religion and Philosophy of Veda and Upaniṣads, p.246.

[2]:

[...] Ṛgveda-saṃhitā X. 18., VII.66.16. Atharvaveda XIX.67.

[3]:

To Agni Ṛgveda-saṃhitā I.31.7.

[4]:

Savitṛ (Ṛgveda-saṃhitā IV. 54.2.), Agni (Ṛgveda-saṃhitā VI. 7.4.).

[5]:

Ṛbhus Ṛgveda-saṃhitā IV 35.3., Ṛgveda-saṃhitā III. 60.3., Ṛgveda-saṃhitā I.110.4.

[6]:

Agni (Ṛgveda-saṃhitā I. 96.2), Apām Napāt (II. 35.2), Uṣas (Ṛgveda-saṃhitā VII.78.3).

[7]:

Prajāpati (Taittirīya-saṃhitā III. 3.7.1), Brahmaṇaspati (Ṛgveda-saṃhitā X. 72.2), Ṛgveda-saṃhitā I. 164.46.

[8]:

Vedic Mythology, p. 11.

[9]:

Ṛgveda-saṃhitā V. 63.7.

[10]:

History of Dharmaśāstra Vol. V. 1, p. 2.

[11]:

Ahura keeps the Earth from falling and provides a pathway for the Sun. Religion and Philosophy of Veda, p. 83.