History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c95.170

v7.c95.170

The verse 20 'dvā suparṇā' also occurs in the Muṇḍakopaniṣad III. 1. and ŚV. Up. IV. 6 and refers to the individual soul and the Supreme Self and tells us that the former is bhoktṛ (taster of worldly pleasures), while the latter simply looks on. But so far as the present writer can see there is absolutely nothing about a former or future life in the verse. Verse 30 draws a sharp distinction between the self which is immortal and the body which is mortal and states that the two are bound together to the same place. Verse 31 is a description of the movements of the Sun who is called 'gopā' (protector, guardian) and speaks of his coming to the worlds again and again. Prof. Ranade sees too much in the words 'gopām', which is applied to Agni (Rg. I. 1. 8, I. 96. 7), to Soma (in Ṛg. VI. 52. 3), to Varuṇa (in Ṛg. VIII. 42. 2), to Viṣṇu in Ṛg. I. 22. 18. In Ṛg. III. 43. 5 the words 'gopām janasya' (protector of the people) occur. Prof. Ranade translates (p. 151) 'he saw the guardian returning frequently to mundane regions'. Why should we not translate (particularly when we have the words 'bhuvanesvantaḥ') 'I saw the guardian Sun again and again returning to the worlds and moving towards me and away from me by different paths'? Prof. Ranade also²⁵⁰⁰ relies on Ṛg. X. 16. 3 and particularly on the word 'dharmanā' in it which he renders as 'his qualities'. Ṛg. X. 16 has 14 verses, is one of the funeral hymns and the cremation fire (as Agni or Jātavedas) is expressly mentioned in eleven verses. Verse 3 (addressed to the deceased) may literally be translated as 'may thy eye go to the Sun, ātman (prāṇa) to wind, go to heaven or the earth by dharman or go to the waters if you find your benefit in them; be firmly established in the plants with the limbs of the body.' The express mention of 'heaven' shows that this is only one of the numerous verses of the Ṛgveda in which heaven is referred to as the abode of those who perform good works and that there is nothing more in it than that. *Vide* above pp. 20-21 for the meaning of dharman (which is the only form of the word employed in the Ṛgveda) viz. 'religious rites or sacrifices' (in most Ṛgveda passages) or rarely 'fixed principles of conduct'. The very next verse (X. 16. 4) contains a prayer to Agni to carry the deceased to the world of people of good deeds (tābhirvahainam sukṛtām-u lokam). There is no reason to suppose that in Ṛg. X. 16. 3 anything more is meant than what is prayed for in verse 4. Besides, the basic idea of punarjanma is that future existence is regulated by the good or evil deeds of a person and he has no option whatever. In Ṛg. X. 16. 3 the departed spirit is told that he may go to heaven or earth or waters or plants. This is not the doctrine of punarjanma at all. In X. 16. 5 the cremation fire is addressed 'O Agni! send forth the departing man who is offered as an oblation into thee and who will move on with the food offered, again to (the world of) pitṛs; the remainder (left after the body is burnt) putting on a new life may go near (pitṛs) and be connected with (a new) body in that world.' This verse contains the same idea as in X. 16. 4 in different words and refers