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The Arctic Home in the Vedas c13.s5: Seven-fold and Ten-fold

The Arctic Home in the Vedas c13.s5

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Seven-fold and Ten-fold

c13.s5.1

It is stated above that the nether waters are divided after the manner of the heaven and the earth, either into three, seven or ten divisions. We have also seen that the ancient sacrificers completed their sacrificial session in seven, nine or ten months; and that the Navagvas and the Dashagvas are, therefore, sometimes mentioned together, sometimes separately and sometimes along with the seven sages or vipras. I have also briefly referred to the seven-fold division, which generally obtains not only in the Vedic, but also in other Aryan mythologies. But the subject deserves a fuller consideration, and I propose here to collect certain facts bearing upon it, which seem to have hitherto attracted but little attention. All that Yâska and Sâyaṇa tell us about the seven-fold division is that there are seven horses of the sun and seven tongues or flames of Agni, because the rays of the sun are seven in number; and the late Mr. S. P. Pandit goes so far as to assert that the seven rays here referred to may be the prismatic colours with which we are familiar in the science of optics, or the seven colours of the rainbow. All this appears to be very satisfactory at the first sight, but our complacency is disturbed as soon as we are told that along with the seven rays and horses of the sun, the Rig-Veda speaks of ten horses or ten rays of the same luminary. Yâska and Sâyaṇa get over the difficulty either by ignoring or by explaining away, in a tortuous manner, all references to the ten-fold division of this kind. But the places where it is mentioned are too many to allow us to lightly set aside the ten-fold division, which occurs along with the seven-fold one in the Rig-Veda; and we must find out why this double division is recorded in the Rig-Veda. But before inquiring into it, we shall collect all the facts and see how far this double division extends in the Vedic literature.

c13.s5.2

We begin with the sun. He is described as seven-horsed (saptâshva) in V, 45, 9, and his chariot is described as seven-wheeled, or yoked with seven horses, or one seven-named horse in I, 164, 3. The seven bay steeds (haritaḥ) are also mentioned as drawing the carriage of the sun in I, 50, 8. But in IX, 63, 9, the sun is said to have yoked ten horses to his carriage; and the wheel of the year-god is said to be carried by ten horses in I, 164, 14. In the Atharva Veda XI, 4, 22, the sun's carriage is, however, said to be eight-wheeled (aṣṭâ-chakra).

c13.s5.3

Indra is called sapta-rashmi in II, 12, 12, and his chariot is also said to be seven-rayed in VI, 44, 24. But in V, 33, 8, ten white horses are said to bear him; while in VIII, 24, 23, Indra is said to be "the tenth new" (dashamam navam). In the Taittirîya Âraṇyaka III, 11, 1, Indra's self is said to be going about ten-fold (Indrasya âtmânam dashadhâ charantam); and corresponding to it, it may be here noticed, we have in the Bahrâm Yasht, in the Avesta, ten incarnations of Verethraghna (Sans. Vṛitrahan) specifically mentioned. Amongst the proteges of Indra we again have one called Dasha-dyu, or one shining ten-fold (I, 33, 14; VI, 26, 4); while Dashoṇi, a being with ten arms or helpers, and Dasha-mâya, or a ten-wiled person, are mentioned amongst those whom Indra forced to submit to Dyotana in VI, 20, 8. Dashonya and Dasha-shipra are also mentioned to have been by the side of Indra when he drank Soma with Syûmarashmi in VIII, 52, 2.

c13.s5.4

The chariot of Soma and Pûshan is described as five-rayed and seven-wheeled in II, 40, 3. But Soma is said to have ten rays (rashmayah) in IX, 97, 23.

c13.s5.5

Agni is described as sapta-rashmi or seven-rayed in I, 146, 1, and his rays are expressly said to be seven in II, 5, 2. His horses are similarly described as seven-tongued in III, 6, 2. But in I, 141, 2, Agni is said to be dasha-pramati, and his ten secret dwellings are mentioned in X, 51, 3. The adjective navamam or the ninth is also applied to the youngest (navishthâya) Agni in V, 27, 3, much in the same way as dashamam is applied to the new (nava) Indra in VIII, 24, 23.

c13.s5.6

Seven dhîtis, prayers or devotions of sacrificial priests, are mentioned in IX, 8, 4. But in I, 144, 5, their number is said to be ten.

c13.s5.7

Foods are said to be seven in III, 4, 7. But in I, 122, 13, the food is described as divided ten-fold. In the Shatapatha Brâhmaṇa I, 8, 1, 34, haviḥ, or sacrificial oblation, is, however, described as made in ten ways.

c13.s5.8

Seven vipras (III, 7, 7,), or seven sacrificers (hotâraḥ), are mentioned in several places (III, 10, 4; IV, 2, 15; X, 63, 7). But in III, 39, 5, the number of the Dashagvas is expressly stated to be ten. Ten sacrificers (hotâraḥ) are also mentioned in the Taittirîya Brâhmaṇa II, 2, 1, 1, and II, 2, 4, 1.

c13.s5.9

Bṛihaspati, the first-born sacrificer, is described as seven-mouthed or saptâsya in IV, 50, 4, and the same verse occurs in the Atharva Veda (XX, 88, 4). But in the Atharva Veda IV, 6, 1, the first Brâhmaṇa Bṛihaspati is said to be dashâsya, or ten-mouthed, and dasha-shîrsha, or ten-headed. Seven heads of the Brâhmaṇa are not expressly mentioned in the Rig-Veda, but in X, 67, 1, “our father,” meaning the father of the Aṅgirases, is said to have acquired seven-headed (*sapta-shīrṣṇī*) devotion or intelligence (*dhī*).

c13.s5.10

Seven divisions of the earth are mentioned in I, 22, 16. But the earths are said to be ten (*dashâvani*) in X, 94, 7, (also cf. I, 52, 11).

c13.s5.11

The cows’ stable which the Ashvins opened is said to be *saptâsya* or seven-mouthed in X, 40, 8. But a ten-fold cows’ stable (*dashavraja*) is mentioned in VIII, 8, 20; 49, 10; 50, 9.

c13.s5.12

In X, 93, 4, Aryaman, Mitra, Varuṇa, Rudra, Maruts, Pûshan and Bhaga are mentioned as seven kings. But ten gold-like (*hiraṇyasaṇḍrisha*) kings are referred to in VIII, 5, 38, and ten non-sacrificing (*ayajyavaḥ*) kings are mentioned in VII, 83, 7. The Atharva Veda, XI, 8, 10, further tells us that there were only ten ancient gods.

c13.s5.13.1

These references will make it clear that if the horses of the sun are mentioned as seven in one place, they are said to be ten in another; and so there are seven devotions and ten devotions; seven earths and ten earths; seven cowpens and ten cowpens, and so on. This double division may not be equally explicit in all cases; but, on the whole, there can be no doubt that the several objects mentioned in the above passages are conceived as divided in a double manner, once as seven-fold and once as ten-fold. To this double division may be added the three-fold division of the heaven, the earth and the nether world or Nir-ṛiti; and the eleven-fold division of gods in the heaven, the earth and waters mentioned previously. In the Atharva Veda XI, 7, 14, nine earths, nine oceans and nine skies are also mentioned, and the same division again occurs in the Atharvashiras Upanishad, 6. Now it is evident that the theory started by Yâska cannot explain all these different methods of division. We might say that the three-fold division was suggested by the heaven, the earth and the lower world. But how are we to account for all kinds of division from seven to eleven? So far as I am aware there is no attempt made to explain the principle of division underlying these different classifications. But now the analogy of the seven priests, the Navagvas and the Dashagvas, suggests to us the probable reason of the different methods of division noticed above.

c13.s5.13.2

The fact that the horses of the sun are once said to be seven and once ten, seems naturally to refer to seven months' and ten months' period of sunshine previously described; and if so, this helps us in understanding the real meaning of the different divisions. The seven-fold, nine-fold or ten-fold division of things is thus merely a different phase of the division of sacrificers into the seven Hotṛis, the Navagvas and the Dashagvas. Both seem to be the effects of the same cause. The mother land of the Aryan race in ancient times, lying between the North Pole and the Arctic circle, was probably divided into different zones according to the number of months for which the sun was seen above the horizon in each; and the facts, that the Navagvas and the Dashagvas are said to be the chief or the most prominent of the Aṅgirases, that *saptâshva* was the principal designation of Sûrya, and that the sons of Aditi who were presented to the gods were only seven in number, further show that in the ancient Arctic home a year of seven, nine, or ten months' sunshine must have been more prevalent than a year of 8 or 11 months.

c13.s5.13.3

It may, however, be noticed that just as the Aṅgirases are said to be *virûpas*, Aryaman is described in X, 64, 5, as having a great chariot, and amidst his births of various forms (*viṣhu-rûpeṣhu*) he is said to be a seven-fold sacrificer (*sapta-hotṛi*), showing that though the seven-fold character of Aryaman was the chief or the principal one, yet there were various other forms of the deity. In X, 27, 15, seven, eight, nine and ten Viras or warriors are said to rise from below, behind, in the front, or on the back, or, in other words, all round. This verse is differently interpreted by scholars; but it seems to me to refer to the seven-fold, eight-fold, or nine-fold division of the sacrificers, or the Angirases, who are actually described in III, 53,7, as "the *Viras* or warriors of the Asura." It is, therefore, quite probable that the same *Viras* are referred to in X, 27, 15. In VII, 4, 1, Indra is said to be worshipped by people in the front (east), behind (west), up (north), and down (south), meaning that his worshippers were to be found everywhere; and if the adjectives "below, behind &c." in X, 27, 15, be similarly interpreted the verse would mean that the seven-fold, eight-fold, nine-fold, or ten-fold division of sacrificers was to be met with in places all round. In other words, the different places in the Arctic region had each a group of sacrificers of its own, corresponding to the months of sunshine in the place.

c13.s5.13.4

On no other theory can we account for the different divisions satisfactorily as on the Arctic theory, and in the absence of a better explanation we may, I think, accept the one stated above.

Cites (5)