History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v6.c81.24

v6.c81.24

The word ‘samrāj’ appears to be applied to a human king in Ṛg ¹⁰ VII. 58 4 ‘the sovereign, protected by you, O Maruts! kills the enemy’, and in Ṛg. X. 85 46 the newly married girl has the blessing ‘be you a queen’ (samrājñī). Varuṇa, Mitra, Indra, Agni, Viśve-devāḥ and Ādityas are called kings (*rājan*) and emperors (samrāj) in Ṛg. II. 41. 6, III 10 1, III. 54 10, V. 85 1, VII. 38. 4, VIII 27 22, X. 63. 5. Varuṇa (who is praised in about 12 hymns) is called *samrāj* oftener than even Indra praised in about 200 hymns What is more natural than to suppose that the gods called kings and emperors were believed to have laid down commands or ordinances to be obeyed by all. Though Ṛgvedic sages extol several gods they had already arrived at the conception that there was only one Supreme Being that was addressed under different names such as Indra, Mitra, Varuṇa, Agni and assumed several forms (Ṛg I 164. 46, VI. 47 18, X. 121. 1, X 129. 1-2) Vratas are spoken of as *dhruva* (immutably fixed) as in II. 5 4, III 56 1, V. 69 4 and as *adabdha* (unharmed, unassailable) as in I. 24 10, II. 9 1, III 54 18, VII. 66. 6 and *daivya* (divine) as in Ṛg I 70 1, I 92 12, VII 75 3. One must carefully remember these facts when ascertaining the exact meaning of *vrata* mentioned in connection with almost all the prominent gods of the Ṛgveda It is often stated in the Ṛgveda that the vratas of the god whom the sage for the moment praises are not violated by other gods Some striking examples¹¹ may, be given here: Ṛg. III. 7. 7 ‘the gods observe the vratas of gods’ (devā devānām-anu hi vratā guḥ); II. 38 9 ‘I invoke for my welfare with salutations god Savitṛ whose vrata is not violated by Indra, Varuṇa, Mitra, Aryaman, or Rudra or by the (god's) enemies’; III. 56. 1 ‘the primeval and immutably fixed vratas are not destroyed by the wily (demons), nor by the wise (sages), nor by the well-disposed Heaven and Earth and the firmly fixed mountains are not there for being bent down’; VIII. 42. 1 ‘the all-knowing and powerful (Varuṇa) made Heaven firm, he measured (created) the expanse of the earth; the great king sits over (rules) all the worlds; all these are the vratas of Varuṇa’. Vide also Ṛg. I. 101. 3, II. 24. 12, II 38. 2, III. 30. 4, V. 69. 4.