History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c89.42.1

v7.c89.42.1

Apart from the simple śāntis for appeasing deities in sacrificial matters, even the Ṛgveda contains indications that there were other occurrences which were thought to be unlucky and against the supposed evil effects of which some remedies were employed For example, Ṛg X. 164 (1-5) is a hymn declared by the Anukramaṇī and Ṛgvidhāna IV. 20 1 as counteracting the indications of bad dreams¹¹⁵⁷ Verse 3 of it is 'May Agni place far away from us all evil and undesirable actions which we may have done while awake or asleep whether by our desires or imprecations or want of desire'. In Ṛg. V 82 4-5¹¹⁵⁸ the poet prays ‘O God Savitṛ! today produce for us welfare endowed with progeny and frighten away the effects of bad dreams; O God Savitṛ! drive away all sins (or evils) and confer on us what is beneficent’ (or auspicious). In Ṛg. II. 28 10 the poet prays ‘O king Varuṇa! whoever, whether a helper or a friend, declares to me who ascertained a danger (from what I saw) in a dream or whoever, a thief or a wolf, intends to harm me, from that guard us’. In Ṛg. VIII. 47. 15 the sage exclaims ‘we deliver all our bad dreams to Trita Āptya, your kindness cannot be obstructed by any one, the protection given by you is good’. Vide also Ṛg. VIII 47 14, 16-18, X 36. 4, X. 37, 4 for bad dreams. Similarly, the Ṛgveda contains verses which show that cries of birds were deemed to indicate coming good or evil and the hooting of the owl was thought to be unlucky.