The Antiquities of Orissa v1.c11.93

Language: English

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**Vaisnavism of the early Vedas :** Although, as above stated, the name of Viṣṇu was well known as that of a great god in the Vedic times, and several hymns are dedicated to the praise of that divinity in the *Ṛgveda Saṁhitā*, his place in the celestial assembly is nowhere well defined. He has no sovereignty over any of the elements, nor is he the personification of any object or idea. His principal attributes are thus put together in one of the early hymns of that work: "May the gods preserve us from the place from which Viṣṇu strode through the seven regions of the earth. Viṣṇu strode over this (universe); in three places he planted his step; (the world, or his, step, was) enveloped in his dust. Viṣṇu, unconquerable preserver, strode three steps, bearing from thence fixed observances. Behold the acts of Viṣṇu, through which this fitting (or intimate) friend of Indra perceived religious ceremonies. Sages constantly behold that highest position of Viṣṇu, like an eye fixed in the sky. Wise men, singing praises, and ever wakeful light up (by the power of their hymns?) that which is the highest station of Viṣṇu".⁴² This hymn is held in the highest veneration by the Brāhmaṇas, and is frequently muttered, or recited, at all the principal ceremonies enjoined in the Vedas. At Śrāddhas and marital and other rites of the present day, it constitutes the holiest *mantra*; and seldom is a sacred fire lighted without its being brought to bear upon it.

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The most important elements of this hymn are the epithets and phrases which assign to Viṣṇu the attribute of one who "strode through the seven regions of the earth," who "planted his step three times," who "envelops the world with his dust," who "is fixed like an eye in the sky". Other attributes and functions, such as that of protection here noticed, or of creation of the heaven and the earth, of making of the atmosphere wide, of producing the sun and dawn, elsewhere assigned to him. (I. 154. 1-2) belong to him in common with the other gods; but these are peculiar, and they afford a clue to his true character. The counterparts of the phrases, "the god who strode through the seven regions of the earth" and "who planted his steps three times," occur frequently, and in a variety of forms. Thus, Viṣṇu is described as "the swift goer," "the god of three strides," "the wide-stepping," "the large-pacing," "the swift-moving," "the strider of strides," "the occupier of three stations," "the god within whose three vast paces all the world abides," &c, &c. Commentators are not agreed as to the purport of these epithets. Yāska, in the *Nirukta*, quotes the opinions of two older expounders, one of whom, Śākapūṇi, "thought that the triple manifestation of the god, in the form of fire on the earth, of lightning in the atmosphere, [ **150** ] and of the solar light in the sky, was intended" by these epithets;

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while the other, Aruṇavābha, took them to indicate "the different positions of the sun at his rising, his culmination, and his setting".⁴³ Sāyaṇa Ācārya explains them differently in different places, but he understands them to refer to the dwarf incarnation, in which Viṣṇu put one foot on the earth, another on the firmament and a third, according to some, on the heavens, and according to others, on the head of the Titan Bali, whom he defrauded of his sovereignty of the world to bestow it on Indra. Durgācārya, in his comment on the *Nirukta*, boldy asserts that the Viṣṇu indicated by the epithets was no other than the sun Āditya, whose different position in the sky at dawn, at midday, and at vesper, referred to by Aruṇavābha, were the three steps alluded to in the epithets. That this is the right interpretation is evident from the phrase used in the hymn which says the deity "is fixed like an eye in the sky". The expression, "who envelops the world with his dust," has been interpreted by Benfey in one place, to mean, "the earth was subject to him," and in another place, that "the god is so mighty that the dust which his tread raises, fills the whole earth". But Dr. Muir asks, "Can this dust be understood of the dazzling brightness of the sun's rays, surrounding his progress, and obscuring his disk from the view of the observer? The prophet Nahum, i.

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3, "The Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet".⁴⁴ Sāyaṇa sets it down to light, and that the rays of the sun are likened to dust, may be accepted as the true meaning by reference to a verse in the Seventh Book, in which Viṣṇu is said to have "enveloped the earth on every side with beams of light". (VII. 99. 3)