Part 8 - The Concept of God in the Light of the Vedas

The term deva is used in the Vedas for the divine concept. The term is well defined by Sāyaṇācārya, in his commentary of the Ṛgvedasaṃhitā as dānādiguṇayukta,^[1] i.e. one, that is endowed with the qualities of making gifts, etc.

Besides this, in the commentary of the same text, he has used the term dīpyamānaḥ,^[2] dyotamānaḥ,^[3] etc., to convey the meaning the shining one.

Yāskācārya, in the Nirukta, gives the etymological meaning of the term deva as:

devo dānādvā dīpanādvā dyotanādvā dyusthāno bhavatītivā/^[4]

According to him, deva is called so as because of making gifts to the earthly beings or for being brilliant or radiant, or because he belongs primarily to the heavenly sphere.^[5] The etymological meaning holds the term deva can be derived from the root dā, dīp or dyut. Patañjali, the great grammarian, has derived the term deva from root div, to shine. Those, who shine with the heavenly qualities and deeds of supremacy, are regarded as deities.^[6]

Deva or god is called devatā also:

yo devaḥ sā devatā/^[7]

Almost all the great scholars like Max Müller, Keith, Macdonell, Winternitz, Griswold, etc., have unanimously accepted that the gods are nothing but the defied and personified phenomena of nature. Yāskācārya has etymologized the term on the basis of such natural observation. The great commentator Sāyaṇācārya, Skandaswāmi, etc., have followed and made extensive use of naturalistic interpretations of Yāskācārya and show their awareness towards it. Both Yāskācārya and Sāyaṇācarya have pointed out the myth of Indra’s fight against Vṛtra, which is, in reality, a depiction of natural phenomena, i.e. the thunder and the cloud.

Vṛtra represents here the cloud:

tat ko vṛtraḥ? megha iti nairuktāḥ, tvāṣṭroʹsura ityaitihāsikāḥ apāṃ ca jyotiṣaśca miśrībhāvakarmāṇo varṣakarma jāyate, tatropamārthena yuddhavarṇā bhavanti/^[8]

As a result of the fight of Indra and Vṛtra, the rain befalls.

The term deva is used in the sense of bright that is derived from root div, to shine and all the shining phenomena of nature are called deva.^[9] All the divine powers of nature are called by the term deva.^[10] In this stage, the etymological meaning of the term degraded. Finally, the concept of the term deva has become expanded and in a more liberal sense the term was applied to other natural phenomena like earth,^[11] wind^[12] water,^[13] night,^[14] etc.

The gods are mentioned as arisen from the non-existence in the Vedas.^[15] In the Nāsadīyasūkta of the Ṛgvedasaṃhitā, they are cited as born after the creation of the universe.^[16] They are mentioned as daivyajana, i.e. the divine clan.^[17] They reside in the Heaven. They are said to be the children of Heaven and Earth, i.e. devaputre^[18] that means they, whose sons are the gods. In a number of hymns, the deities are stated to have been born from the Heaven and Earth.^[19] The terms pitarā, mātarā, etc., are used in the Vedas to distinguish their universal parenthood.^[20] They are cited as pūrvaje pitrā and pitarā pūrvajā means the primeval parents.^[21] Thus, being the descendants of Dyaus, the divinities are called as divine and all the natural phenomena within the sphere of heaven and earth are regarded as their children.^[22] These divinities possess equal naturalness and equal powers.

The term deva or devatā includes in it all kinds of divinities, viz. the higher gods with great functional importance and the abstract deities with lesser power or prowess. The Rgvedasamhita and other Vedic texts contain the worship of the higher gods such as Sūrya, Agni, Indra, Vāyu, Rudra, Uṣas, Ādityas, Maruts, the Aśvins, etc., the deities, comparatively of lesser importance, such as Vivasvat, Trita Āptya, etc., the semi-divine deities Vāstospati, Mātariśvan etc. Besides these, the abstract ideas, like faith, i.e. śraddhā, charity, i.e. dakṣiṇā, anger, i.e. manyu, knowledge, i.e. jñāna, speech, i.e. vāk etc. have occupied places of worship as deities in the Vedas. In this way, under the sphere of the term deva, both the concrete and abstract ideas have come. Different diseases, medicinal plants and creepers, different human organs, etc., have also found a place of worship occupying the form of god in the Vedic pantheon. Thus in the Vedas, both the truly divine as well as the non-divine objects like dundubhi,^[23] dyuta,^[24] etc., have occupied the places of importance as deities and worshipped by the common people.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Ibid., 1.1.1

[2]:

Ibid., 19.6

[3]:

Ibid, 2.38.1

[4]:

Nirukta,7.15

[5]:

Sarup, L. (ed.), The Nighantu and the Nirukta, part II, p. 121

[6]:

cf., diveraiśvaryakarmaṇo devaḥ/ Mahābhāṣya 5.1.59

[7]:

Nirukta, 7.15

[8]:

cf., Nirukta, 2.16

[9]:

cf., yo nākasyādhi rocane divi devāsa āsate/ marudbhiragna ā gahi// Ṛgvedasaṃhitā, 1.19.6 udu ṣya devaḥ savitā savāya// Ibid., 2.38.1

[10]:

Ibid., 1.1.2

[11]:

cf., devī devebhiryajate yajatrairaminatī tasyaturukṣamāṇe/ ṛtāvarī adguhā devaputre yajñasya netrī śucayadbhirarkaiḥ// Ibid., 4.56.2

[12]:

cf., ye maho rajaso vidurviśve devāso adguhaḥ/ Ibid., 1.19.3

[13]:

cf., śaṃ no devīrabhiṣṭaya āpo bhavantu pītaye/ śaṃ yorabhisravantu naḥ// Ibid.,10.9.4

[14]:

cf., rātrī vyakhyadāyatī purutrā devyakṣabhiḥ/ viśvā adhi śriyo’dhitaḥ// Ibid.,10.127.1

[15]:

cf., bṛhanto nāma te devā ye’sataḥ pari jajñire/ekaṃ tadaṅgaṃ skambhasyāsadāhuḥ puro janāḥ// Atharvavedasaṃhitā, 10.7.25

[16]:

cf., ko addhā veda ka iha pra vocatkuta ājātā kuta iyaṃ visṛṣṭiḥ/arvāgdevā asya visarjanenāthā ko veda yata ābabhūva// Ṛgvedasaṃhitā, 10.129.6

[17]:

Ibid.,7.53.2

[18]:

cf., atapyamāne avasāvantī anu ṣyāma rodasī devaputre/ ubhe devānāmubhayebhirahnāṃ dyāvā rakṣataṃ pṛthivī no abhvāt// Ibid., 1.185.4

[19]:

Ibid., 1.159, 1.160,1.185;4.56; 6.70; 7.53

[20]:

cf., te sūnavaḥ svapasaḥ sudaṃsaso mahī jajñurmātarā pūrvacittaye/ Ibid.,1.159.3

[21]:

cf., Ibid.

[22]:

Griswold, H.D., Religion of the Ṛgveda, pp. 101-102

[23]:

Ṛgvedasaṃhitā, 6.47.29,30

[24]:

Ibid., 10.34