The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v1.c14.2

v1.c14.2

THE cosmology of the Veda is simple and natural, and it shows little of the spirit of the cosmology which is characteristically Indian and which is first revealed to us in post-Vedic texts, though the source whence it is derived is unknown.¹ The simplest conception is that of sky and earth, which gives to mythology the idea of the dual deity Dyāvāpṛthivī, at first united, then parted; but this division is often supplanted by another which distinguishes earth on the one hand, the atmosphere or the air on the other, and places the heaven above the air. In that case the boundary of the visible sphere is the vault (*nāka*) of the sky. The triple division is the favourite one in the Rigveda, which loves triads, and, when it is accepted, the solar phenomena are assigned to the heaven, and those of lightning, rain, and wind to the atmosphere, while in the simpler twofold division all are ascribed to the sky. The triple division is, however, crossed by yet another; apparently from the use of the term the 'skies' or 'earth' to mean the three divisions—as in the case of *pitarau*, 'fathers', used for parents, there grew up the idea that there were three divisions of each of the main divisions. If the simpler dichotomy were kept, then the number of six divisions was arrived at. A further complication is introduced by the addition of the vault of the sky, not as the boundary between heaven and air, but as a separate entity; but this view is isolated and unimportant.