The Arctic Home in the Vedas c12.33

Language: English

c12.33.1

It is, however, alleged by Wallis in his *Cosmology of the Rig-Veda* (p. 115) that the Vedic bards were not acquainted with the regions below the earth, and that every thing, which is described in the Vedas as occurring in the atmosphere, including the movements of the sun during night and day, must be placed in the regions of the sky, which were over the head of these bards. This view appears to be adopted by Macdonell in his *Vedic Mythology*; and if it be correct, we shall have to place all the waters in the upper heaven. But I do not think that Wallis has correctly interpreted the passages quoted by Prof. Zimmer in support of his theory that a *rajas* (region) exists below the earth; and we cannot, therefore, accept Wallis' conclusions, which are evidently based upon prepossessions derived most probably from the Homeric controversy. Prof. Zimmer refers to three passages (VI, 9, 1; VII, 80, 1; V, 81, 4) to prove that a *rajas* beneath the earth was known to the Vedic people. The first of these passages is the well-known verse regarding the bright and the dark day. It says, "the bright day and the dark day, both roll the two *rajas* by the well-known paths." Here the two *rajas* are evidently the upper and the lower celestial hemisphere;

c12.33.2

but Wallis asks us to compare this verse with I, 185, 1, where day and night are said "to revolve like two wheels," that is, to circle round from east to west, the one rising as the other goes down, and observes that "we are in no way obliged to consider that the progress of either is continued below the earth." I am unable to understand how we can draw such an inference from these passages. In VI, 9, 1, quoted by Zimmer, two *rajas* or atmospheres are mentioned, and the bright and the dark day are said to roll along both these *rajas* or regions. But if we hold with Wallis that the progress of either begins in the east and stops in the west, without going below the earth, the whole movement becomes confined to one *rajas* or region and does not extend over the two. Zimmer's interpretation is, therefore, not only more probable, but the only one that explains the use of *rajasî* (in the dual), or the two regions, in the verse. The next passage (VII, 80, 1) is also misunderstood by Wallis. It describes the dawn as "unrolling the two regions (*rajasî*), which border on each other (*samante*), revealing all things." Now the dawn always appears on the horizon and the two *rajas*, which it unrolls and which are said to border on each other, must meet on this horizon. They can, therefore, only represent the lower and the upper celestial sphere.

c12.33.3

But Wallis would have us believe that both these *rajasî* are above the earth, and that narrowing down together towards east and west they meet on the horizon like two arched curves over one’s head! The artificial character of this explanation is self-evident, and I see no reason why we should adopt it in preference to the simple and natural explanation of Zimmer, unless we start with a preconceived notion that references to the regions below the earth ought not to be and cannot be found in the Rig-Veda. The third passage pointed out by Zimmer is V, 81, 4, which says “O Savitṛi! Thou goest round (*parīyase*) the night, on both sides (*ubhayataḥ*).” Here Wallis proposes to translate *parīyase* by ‘encompassest’; but *parīyase* ordinarily means ‘goest round,’ and there is no reason why the idea of motion usually implied by it should be here abandoned. It will thus be seen that the conclusion of Wallis is based upon the distortion of passages which Zimmer interprets in a simpler and a more natural way; and that Zimmer’s view is more in accordance with the natural meaning of these texts. But if an express passage be still needed to prove conclusively that the region below the earth was known to the Vedic bards, we refer to VII, 104, 11, where the bard prays for the destruction of his enemies and says, “Let him (enemy) go down below the three earths, (*tisraḥ pṛthivīḥ adhaḥ*).” Here the region below the three earths is expressly mentioned;

c12.33.4

and since the enemy is to be condemned to it, it must be a region of torment and pain like the Hades. In X, 152, 5, we read, “One, who injures us, let him be sent to the nether darkness (*adharam tamaḥ*),” and, comparing this with the last passage, it is evident that the region below the earth was conceived as dark. In III, 53, 21, we have, “Let him, who hates us, fall downwards (*adharaḥ*),” and in II, 12, 4, the brood of the Dasyu, whom Indra killed, is said to be “sent to the unknown nether world (*adharam guhâkaḥ*).” These passages directly show that region below the earth was not only known to the Vedic bards, but was conceived as filled with darkness, and made the scene of Indra's fight with Vritra. It may, however, be alleged that "below the three earths" may simply mean underneath the surface of the earth. But, in that case, it was not necessary to speak of all the three earths; and since we are told that the region is below all the three earths, it can refer only to the nether world. This is further proved by the passage which describes what is above the three earths. The expression, corresponding to tisraḥ pṛthivīḥ adhaḥ or "the region below the three earths," will be tisraḥ pṛthivīḥ upari or "the region above the three earths," and as a matter of fact this expression is also found in the Ṛig-Veda.

c12.33.5

Thus in I, 34, 8, we are told that "the Ashvins, moving above the three earths (tisraḥ pṛthivīḥ upari), protect the vault or the top of heaven (divo nākam) through days and nights"; and Ashvins are said to have come on their car from a distant region (parāvat) in the preceding verse of the same hymn. The phrase divo nākam occurs several times in the Ṛig-Veda and means the top or the vault of the heaven. Thus in IV, 13, 5, the sun is said to guard (pāti) the vault of the heaven (divo nākam); and as regards the three-fold division of the earth it is mentioned in several places in the Ṛig-Veda (I, 102, 8, IV, 53, 5; VII, 87, 5), and also in the Avesta (Yt. XIII, 3; Yasna, XI, 7). In IV, 53, 5, this three-fold division is further extended to antarikṣa, rajas, rochana and dyu or heaven. This shows what we are to understand by 'three earths.' It is the one and the same earth, regarded as three-fold; and since the Ashvins are described as protecting the vault of heaven by moving "above the three earths," it is clear that in contrast with the vault above, a nether region, as far below the three earths as the heaven is above them, must have been conceived and denoted by the phrase "below the three earths," and that the latter expression did not merely mean an interterranean ground.

c12.33.6

When we meet with two such phrases as the heaven "above the three earths," and the region "below the three earths," in the Rig-Veda, phrases, which cannot be mistaken or misunderstood, the hypothesis that the Vedic bards were not acquainted with the nether world at once falls to the ground.