The horse in Vedic literature (Introduction)

Vedic literature is the oldest and most important source of Indian religion and philosophy. This literature consists of the Saṃhitās, Brāhmaṇas, Āraṇyakas and Upaniṣads. The Saṃhitās are mantras and benedictions, the Brāhmaṇas are commentaries of the mantras employed in the rituals, ceremonies and sacrifices, the Āraṇyakas are texts on rituals, ceremonies and symbolic-sacrifices, and the Upaniṣads are the texts, discussing meditation, philosophy and spiritual knowledge.^[1] A dive into the Vedic literature is felt necessary to trace the antecedents of Hayagrīva in the Hayagrīvopaniṣad.

The vast expanse of Lord Viṣṇu is seen in Sanskrit literature. Visnu occupies a subordinate position in the Ṛgveda associated with Indra. Later he rose to a position of capital importance in the mythology of the Brāhmaṇas. Viṣṇu has a very broad sense in the Vedas and Upaniṣads, in the history and mythology, in the chanting and poetry. The name Viṣṇu, can be distinctively explained as ‘the active one’. In the Nirukta, Yāṣka defines Viṣṇu as “Viṣṇur viṣvater vā vyaśnoter vā” as the one who embarks everywhere, he mentions, “atha yad viṣito bhavati tad viṣnurbhavati” i.e., the one free from restraints and servitude is Viṣṇu.^[2] Medhātithi suggests that the word Viṣṇu has etymological roots in viś- to pervade, thereby implying that Viṣṇu is ‘one who pervades everything and is inside everything’.^[3] All-pervasiveness and three strides or ‘Trivikrama’ are the main traits of Lord Viṣṇu’s character as envisaged by the Saṃhitās and Brāhmaṇas.

Several hymns of the Ṛgveda repeat the mighty deed of Viṣṇu called the Trivikrama^[4] , which is one of the lasting mythologies since the Vedic times.^[5] In the Ṛgveda 1.22.16, it is said “Ato devā avantuno yato viṣṇurvicakrame/ Pṛthibyā saptadhāmabhiḥ//” This mantra is also seen in the Sāmaveda^[6] , Vājasaneyī Saṃhitā^[7] and Atharvaveda^[8] with slight variation.

Interpreting the mantras niruktakāra says,

“Yadidaṃ kiñca tadvikramate viṣṇuḥ/ tridhā nidadhe padaṃ/ Tredhā bhāvaya ‘pṛthivyāṃ antarīkṣe divi’ iti Śākapuniḥ ‘samārohaṇe viṣṇupade gayāśirasi’ iti Aurṇavābhaḥ/ Samūḍhamasya pāṃśure/ Pyāyane’ntarīkṣe padaṃ na dṛśyate/ Apāva upamārthaḥ syāt/ Samūḍhamasya pāṃśula iva padaṃ na dṛśyate//”^[9]

Viṣṇu’s epithets as Urugāya or ‘wide going’ and Urukrama or ‘widestriding’, indicate the same. With the three steps Viṣṇu traverses the earth or the terrestrial spaces. Two of His steps are perceptible to men, but the third or highest pace is beyond the understanding of mortal ken.^[10] The same notion appears to be mystically expressed when he is said to bear his third name in the bright domain of heaven.^[11] Yāṣka’s predecessor Aurṇavābha denotes the three steps to signify the rising, crowning and setting sun.^[12] The other view, which coerces throughout the Brāhmaṇas and the post Vedic literature, supported by Yāṣka’s predecessor Śākapuni^[15] also appreciated by Macdonell, interprets the three steps to be the course of the solar deity through the three divisions of the universe.^[14] Even if Viṣṇu is no longer clearly associated with a natural phenomenon, evidence appears to justify that he was essentially envisaged as the sun, not in his general character, but as the embodied, swiftly moving luminary, with infinite strides to transcend the entire universe. The justification could be derived from the root viś, which is often used reasonably in the Ṛgveda. ^[15]

In the Ṛgveda, there are references to Viṣṇu where he represents the Sūrya, the soma, as the slayer of the demon Vṛtra and as god who takes three strides to measure the universe. In the Atharvaveda he radiates incandescence^[16] and in the Brāhmaṇas his head gets severed to become the sun. In the Brāhmaṇas he is equated with Prajāpati, the supreme deity, the god of creation with his cosmogonic role of taking strides and pervading the three worlds.

He is also identified with Āditya or Agni thus retaining his solar origin. Viṣṇu is closely associated with Indra and through this association he becomes a drinker of soma.^[17] He appears as a protector of the embryo. Moreover references are made to the fact that in battle he assumed a strange form.^[18] In the Yajurveda Saṃhitā Viṣṇu is more prominent compared to the Ṛgveda and in the Brāhmaṇas his cosmic nature is more emphasised.

The Vedic seers observed the nature as a part of divinity and a greater truth. Macdonell says, “Material objects are occasionally mentioned in the later Vedic literature as symbol representing deities.”^[19] Even Vedic animals are represented as symbol in absurd or mythic forms.

The process of human’s expansion beyond animal existence has been accomplished partly by his ability to understand symbols. ‘Symbol’ is a general term and in the modern times it comprises all that is in a sign, mark or token. In philosophy, psychology, sociology and art it is regarded as that which means something else. The term symbol is derived from the Greek word ‘smbolon’. It appears to mean to bring together ideas and objects, one expressing the other; and this meaning is the reasonable antecedent of the modern meaning of symbolism.^[20]

Symbols may be conveniently grouped into five classes, where symbolism represents: ^[21]

• a group of objects by approximate imitation and of a part of an object used to represent the entire
• an object associated with thought, action, occupation or custom
• an object, which by its nature, analogous character and function represents or suggests an idea
• an idea by association of two or more ideas/objects
• an idea or concrete object which expresses itself by motifs incorporated in the design(s)

In the world literature beasts are used by authors as symbols. In India there are many tales and fables which have been found in the Pañcatantra and such other works. A critical and careful study of the Sanskrit literature shows that animals in general and beast it particular have played the role of symbols related to human behaviour and such other matters. The animal symbols possess great suggestive value. In fact the beast symbol was started in the Veda itself.

The animal is a symbol of energy, needed to overcome evil and also to subdue nature while the power of human intelligence symbolises the motivating heroic force in bringing about the motivation. So, Viṣṇu as the chief associate of Indra is sometimes compared with a dread beast and wide pacing bull as found in the Ṛgveda. ^[22]

Animal enters to a considerable extent into the mythological creations of the Veda, from a primordial age when the line, dividing men and animal, was not definitely drawn and gods might be imagined as having animal forms as there are some traces of such animal forms still. The higher Vedic gods being anthropomorphic in character and the relationship of the Vedic gods with the animals draw special treatment. According to ethnology, the predominant animal traits amongst Vedic gods had a remote antiquity where the god is frequently an animal or becomes an animal, or can oscillate between both human and animal nature.

The Vedic Indians meet the real animal as the messenger or the representative of gods. Some scholar states,

“However the great gods standing in the foreground more or less similar to human beings are surrounded by a kind of divine animal world: numerous primitive gods, particularly, creatures hostile to the gods, demons causing diseases etc, have animal form.”^[23]

In the Veda the place of animal is of comparatively little importance, so far as the direct worship of animals is concerned. There is distinctiveness in theriomorphism of gods, whether individuals and or species, animal fetishes or non animal gods, and the existence of these seem to be divine. These animal forms depict aquatic, avian, domestic, economically important and magnificent creatures of wild, especially horse an animal symbolizing strength and speed is accredited divine respect by Vedic poets.

Concerning antecedents to the horse headed figures, animals enjoy a significant position in the Vedas. Myth tradition is also populated by theriomorphic or anthropomorphic beings, figures that are partly human and partly animal. When the line dividing men from animals was not absolutely drawn, gods could be imagined as having animal forms. This anthropomorphic nature is evident in the higher Vedic gods themselves. Features of the god’s identity are symbolically represented through references to the characteristics of distinctive animals.

Horse has been imagined as the symbol of energy, light, swiftness etc. throughout the Vedas visualised as the wings of an eagle, limbs of a deer, golden horns, bronze feet and he moves faster than thought.

“Śyenasya pakṣā hariṇasya vāhu upastutaṃ mahi jātaṃ te arvan//”
“Hiraṇyaśṛṅgo’yo asya pādā manojavā avara indra āsīt/
Devā idasya haviradyamāṣṇyo arvantaṃ prathamo adhyatiṣṭhat//”^[24]

The Upaniṣads linked the senses to horse that must be reined or else will become vicious and wild (KU, 3.4-6); and a mendicant said to the Buddha “the senses of others are restless like horses, but yours have been tamed. Other beings are passionate, but your passions have ceased.”^[25] The horse is especially associated with the ocean and fire. In the Ṛgveda, fiery horses draw the chariot of the sun, the flames of agni.^[26] Agni appears as a horse in the Ṛgveda to deceive the demons.^[27] While agni was hiding from the gods, Prajāpati takes the form of a white horse to find him and enters the ocean in this form. Agni burns the horse’s mouth.^[28] This comprises the essential motifs of the Vaḍavāvaktra fire. Apart from the connection between horse and fire, the connection with ocean is also established. In the Brāhmaṇas the horse is born from the womb of ocean^[29] and is sacred to Varuṇa, the god of water.^[30] In this context Stella Kramrisch states that “the ancient Aryans sacrificed a horse to Varuṇa, the god of the fertilizing waters. In the hymnic liquor they knew the horse as Varuṇa.”^[31]

The relationship of the Vedic gods to the animals observed a few cases where the animal represents god in the ritual, an instance of animal fetishism or its less distinct remnant coming into practice.^[32] Horse forms an important component in certain soma sacrifice, where the recitation of the hymns, a characteristic for this form, takes place during sunset. The horse head is connected with the myth of the seeking of soma and agni. Oldenberg states that the animal fetishism or something analogous to it is not only limited to domestic animals but later forms a higher cult.^[33] The view that associates the Vedic age with the cultic use of animals, did not invest the full majesty of the god in a bull or a horse.^[34] Between a god and an animal, there exists a certain association of the substance; an association that constantly engage our interest while considering the cult of magic.

The symbolic use of horse in several places of the Vedic literature may be discussed in this context.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

George M. Williams: Handbook of Hindu Mythology, p. 285.

[2]:

Adluri, Vishwa; Joydeep Bagchee: From Poetic Immortality to Salvation: Ruru and Orpheus in Indic and Greek Myth, History of Religions, pp. 245–246.

[3]:

Klaus K. Klostermaier: Hinduism; A Short History. pp. 83–84.

[4]:

“Viṣṇornu kaṃ vīryāṇi pra vocaṃ yaḥ pārthivāni vimame rajāṃsi/
Yo askabhāyaduttarat sadhasthaṃ vicakramāṇastredhorugāyaḥ//
Yasyooruṣu triṣu vikramaṇesvadhikṣiyanti bhuvanāni visvā //”
“Ya idaṃ dīrghaṃ prayataṃ sadhasthameko vimame tribhiritpadebhiḥ//”
“Yyasya trī pūrṇā madhunā padāny akṣīramānā svadhayā madanti//
Yya u tridhātu pṛthvīrnuta dyāmeko dādhāra bhuvanāni visvā //” Ṛgveda, 1.154. 2b, 3b, 4.

[5]:

Klaus K. Klostermaier: Op. cit. pp.84–85.

[6]:

“Idaṃ viṣṇurvicakrame tredhā ni dadhe padaṃ samūḍhamasya pāṃśure” Sāma, 2.10.18.

[7]:

“Triṇī padā vicakrame viṣṇurgopā adābhaḥ/ Ato dharmāṇi Dhārayan//” VāS, 34.43.

[8]:

AV, 7.26.5.

[9]:

Nir, 12.19.

[10]:

Ṛgveda, 1.155.5; 7.99.2,

[11]:

ibid.,1.155.3

[12]:

Nir, 12.19.

[13]:

“Viṣṇurādityaḥ/ Kathammiti yata āha ‘tredhā nidadhe padaṃ’ nidadhe padaṃ nidānaṃ padaiḥ kva tattāvat pṛthivyāmantarīkṣe divīti Śākapuniḥ//”

[14]:

Macdonell, A. A: Vedic Mythology. p.38.

[15]:

ibid.,p.39.

[16]:

“Viṣṇuryunaktu vahudhā tapāṅgsyasmin yajñe suyujaḥ svāhā//” AV. 5.26.7.

[17]:

Keith, A.B: The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upaniṣads, Part I. p.109.

[18]:

Ṛgveda. 7.100.6.

[19]:

Macdonell. A.A: Op. cit. p.155.

[20]:

Whittickp, Arnald: Symbols Signs and their meaning and uses in Design. p.3.

[21]:

ibid.,p.5.

[22]:

Ṛgveda. 1.154.2.3.

[23]:

Oldenberg. H: The Religion of the Vedas, p.37.

[24]:

Ṛgveda, 1.163.1b.
“Hiraṇyaśṛṅgo’yo asya pādā manojavā avara indra āsīt/
Devā idasya haviradyamāynyo arvantaṃ prathamo adhyatiṣṭhat//” ibid.,1.163.9.

[25]:

O'Flaherty, Wendy Doniger: Women, Androgynes, and Other Mythical Beasts. p.239.

[26]:

“Yāti devaḥ pravatā yātyudvatā yāti śrubhrābhyāṃ yajato haribhyāṃ/
Ā devo yāti savitā parāvato’pa viśvā duritā vādhamānaḥ//” Ṛgveda, 1.35.3.
“Kṛṣṇaṃ niyānaṃ harayaḥ suparṇā apo vasānā vidamutpatanti/
Ta āvavṛtrantsadanādṛtasyādidaghūtena pṛthivī vyudyate//” ibid.,1.164.47.
“Stavā nu ta indra pūrvyā mahānyuta stavāma nūtanā kṛtāni/
Stavā vajraṃ vāhvoruśantaṃ stavā harī sūryasya ketū//” ibid.,2.11.6.
“Pro tye agnaya’gniṣu viśvaṃ puṣānti vāryaṃ/
Te hinvire ta invire ta iyaṇyantyānuṣagiyaṃ stotṛbhya ā bhara//” ibid.,5.6.6.
“Adhukṣat pipyuṣīmiṣmūrjaṃ saptapadīmayiḥ/
Sūryasya saptaraśmibhiḥ//” ibid.,8.72.16,

[27]:

ibid.,1.58.2,149.3,60.5; 2.4.4; 5.1; 3.2.7, 27.3, 27.14.

[28]:

Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa, 7.3.2.14.

[29]:

Taittirīya Saṃhitā, 7.5.25.2; Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa. 5.1.4.5.

[30]:

Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa, 5.3.1.5; 6.2.1.5.

[31]:

Ṛgveda, 1.163.1.

[32]:

Oldenberg, H. Op. cit. p.39

[33]:

ibid., Op. cit. p. 41.

[34]:

ibid., ‘loc. cit.’p. 41.