History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v3.c37.6
History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v3.c37.6
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v3.c37.6.1
It is extremely doubtful whether images were generally worshipped in the ancient Vedic times. In the Ṛgveda and the other Vedas, there is worship of Agni, the Sun, Varuṇa and various other deities; but they were worshipped in the abstract, as powers and manifestations of the one Divine Person or as separate deities or functions behind natural phenomena or cosmic processes. There are no doubt passages where the deities of the Ṛgveda are spoken of as possessed of bodily attributes. A few verses may be cited in this connection. Indra is described in Ṛg. VIII. 17. 8 as ‘tuvigrīva’ (with a powerful or thick neck) and ‘vapodara’ (having big or capacious belly) and ‘subāhu’ (having well-shaped arms). Ṛg. VIII. 17. 5 speaks of the limbs and sides of Indra and prays Indra to taste honey with his tongue. In Ṛg. X. 96. 8 Indra is spoken as having dark green (*hari*) hair and beard and in X. 105.7 again it is said that the hair on his chin are dark-green and his chin is never injured (in battle).¹⁶⁸⁸ In Ṛg. II. 33. 5 Rudra is said to be ‘ṛdūdara’ (whose abdomen is soft), ‘babhru’ (of brown colour) and ‘suśipra’ (with a fine chin or nose). The Vāj. S. 16. 7 speaks of Rudra as having a dark-blue throat and red (complexion) and 16. 51 says he wears a skin (*kṛtti*). In Ṛg. I. 155. 6 Viṣṇu is said to approach a battle with his huge body and as a youth (‘bṛhac-charīra’ and ‘yuvā’). In Ṛg. III. 53.
v3.c37.6.2
6 Indra is asked to go home at once after drinking Somas, as he has a charming wife and delightful house. In Ṛg. X. 26.7 god Pūṣan is said to shake his beard. In Ṛg. IV. 53.2 Savitṛ is said to put on a yellowish *drāpi* (armour) and in Ṛg. I. 25. 13 Varuṇa is said to wear a golden *drāpi*. It is not necessary to multiply examples. It is possible to argue that all these descriptions are poetic and metaphoric. But there are two passages of the Ṛgveda that cause much more difficulty than the above. Ṛg. IV. 24. 10 asks ‘who will¹⁶⁸⁹ purchase this my Indra for ten cows and might return it after he (Indra) has killed enemies'? Ṛg. VIII. 1. 5 says 'O Indra! I shall not give thee for even a great price, not even for a hundred, a thousand or an *ayuta* (ten thousand)'. It may be argued that here there is a reference to an image of Indra. But this is not convincing. It is equally possible to hold that these are hyperbolic or boastful statements of the great devotion of the worshipper to Indra and that there is no reference to an image of Indra.
v3.c37.6.3
If we look at the Vedic cult described in the Brāhmaṇas where sacrifices of butter, cakes and boiled rice or other grain are offered to several deities in the fire, or animal and soma sacrifices are described at great length, it is clear that the ancient sages hardly ever thought of the worship of idols, but of deities in the abstract to whom they ascribed different functions and poetically represented them as being endowed like human beings with hands and feet and other limbs. It cannot be denied that here and there occur a few passages that suggest images as objects of worship. For example, in the Tai. Br. II. 6. 17 occurs the passage 'may the hotṛ priest worship the three goddesses, that are golden, that are endowed with beauty (or ornaments) that are great ones' &c. It looks as if golden images of the three goddesses are meant.¹⁶⁹⁰ One can say without much fear of contradiction that the religious practices among the higher strata of the Vedic Aryans did not include the worship of images in the house or in temples. But we have hardly any literary materials for judging what the religious practices of the lower or ignorant masses of Vedic India were. In Ṛg. VII. 21. 5 Vasiṣṭha prays to Indra 'may the *śiśna-devas* not overwhelm our ṛta' (religious order or practices); similarly in Ṛg. X. 99. 3 the prayer is 'may he (Indra) striking (or killing) the *śiśnadevas* overcome them by his form or power'.
v3.c37.6.4
Scholars are sharply divided in opinion about the meaning of the word¹⁶⁹¹ '*śiśnadeva*'. Some hold that it denotes people who were worshippers of the phallus (*vide* Vedic Index, vol. II. p. 382). Others hold that the word is used in a secondary or metaphorical sense for those who are immersed in sexual gratification and do not recognize anything else (as worthy of pursuit). Yāska in his Nirukta (IV. 19) quotes Ṛg. VII. 21. 5 and explains that the word means 'those who do not observe rules of *brahmacarya* (celibacy)'. The preponderance of authority and evidence is in favour of the second view. In Ṛg. VII. 104. 14(= Atharva VIII. 4. 14), the poet pleads 'if I be addicted to falsehood, O fire, or if I call upon the gods in vain (then you may injure me), but (not being so) why are you angry with me? May those whose speech is false incur slaughter at your hands'. Here 'anṛta-devāḥ' is practically the same as 'drogba-vācaḥ' in the fourth pāda. In the Tai. Up. I. 11. 2 we have the words 'mātṛdevo bhava, pitṛdevo bhava', where all that is meant is that 'one should be devoted to the parents'. Therefore 'śiśna-deva' could hardly mean 'those who worship phallus as god'. In Ṛg.¹⁶⁹² X. 87. 2 Agni is invoked as follows 'with thy tongue reach the *mūradevas*, in thy mouth envelope the eaters of raw flesh after cutting them into bits' and in Ṛg. VII. 104.
v3.c37.6.5
24 Indra is called upon to kill male and female *yātudhānas* (evil spirits or sorcerers) and it is added 'may the mūradevas perish bereft of their necks and may they not see the sun rising up from the horizon'. Yāska in commenting on Ṛg. X. 4. 4 explains 'mūra' as 'mūḍha' (stupid)¹⁶⁹³. It is possible to take 'mūra' as meaning 'mortal' or 'perishable' (since the root 'mṛ' assumes the form 'muriya' as in Ṛg. VII. 104. 15). From the above quotations it is clear that the Ṛgvedic poets knew of low people who practised witchcraft, who were mūradevas (i. e. either worshipped perishable objects or were stupid in their cult) and who were the enemies of the Aryans. There are also clear references to enemies who did not look upon Indra as God (Ṛg. X. 27. 6, X. 48. 7, X. 86. 1).