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The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v1.c22.s2: § 2. Other Ancient Priests

The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v1.c22.s2

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§ 2. Other Ancient Priests

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Of other ancient seers the most famous are the Seven Seers, who are four times mentioned in the Rigveda.⁸ They are called divine fathers and secure Trasadasyu for Purukutsa’s wife in her dire need; possibly the number is merely the frequent mystic number seven, or again it may be derived from the seven priests of the ritual⁹—who again, however, may be due to the desire to make up the sacred number. Their names are not given before the Brāhmaṇas. In the Çatapatha¹⁰ they are regarded as the seven stars in the constellation of the Great Bear, and are declared to have been in origin bears, a theory explained by the similarity of the words Ṛṣi, seer, and Ṛkṣa, which means both star¹¹ and bear.¹² It is probably the same number who are the seven Hotṛs with whom Manu made his first offering.¹³ A couple of divine Hotṛs, who are mentioned about twelve times in the Rigveda,¹⁴ seem to be based on some pair of sacrificers in the ritual.

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⁸ iv. 42. 8; x. 109. 4; 130. 7.

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⁹ RV. ii. 1. 2. Cf. iii. 7. 7; iv. 1. 12; vi. 22. 2; x. 35. 10.

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¹⁰ ii. 1. 2. 4; xiii. 8. 1. 10; JUB. iv. 26. 12; names in BAU. ii. 2. 6; HGS. ii. 19. 1.

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¹¹ RV. i. 24. 10.

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¹² RV. v. 56. 3.

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¹³ RV. x. 63. 7.

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¹⁴ Oldenberg, SBE. xlvi. 11.

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Of individual seers Atri is the most famous, mainly through the myth of his being saved by Agni and by the Açvins, who took him from a burning chasm, and refreshed him: once too they are said to have made him young again. The other legend attaching to him, or to the Atris, is the finding of the sun, when it was hidden by the demon Svarbhānu, and placing it again in the sky.¹ This legend is often mentioned in the Brāhmaṇas and the Çatapatha ² adds the detail that Atri originated from and is even identical with Vāc. The Atris, besides claiming a share in their father’s exploit, are an historical reality, and the fifth book of the Rigveda is assigned by tradition to them, a tradition to a large extent borne out by the references in the work. With Atri, Saptavadhri seems to be identical: he is only named in immediate juxtaposition with Atri,³ and the same rescue seems to be performed for him as for Atri.

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¹ RV. v. 40. 6, 8; AV. viii. 2. 4, 12, 36.

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² iv. 3. 4. 21; i. 4. 5. 13; xiv. 5. 2. 5.

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³ RV. x. 39. 9; v. 78. 5, 6; viii. 73. 8, 9; Bergaigne, *Rel. Véd.* ii. 467.

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Atri probably denotes the devourer, from *ad*, ‘eat’, and indeed once occurs as an epithet of Agni,⁴ whence Bergaigne ⁵ has suggested that Atri is really in origin Agni himself.

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⁴ RV. ii. 8. 5.

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⁵ *Op. cit.* ii. 467–72. Cf. Max Müller, *Beitr. zu einer wiss. Myth.* ii. 155, 162.

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Kaṇva, whose descendants, the Kaṇvas, are the reputed authors of the poems of the eighth book of the Rigveda, is celebrated as an ancient seer, often in connexion with persons in whose existence we have no reason to disbelieve. He is, however, said to have had his sight restored by the Açvins, and this, taken in conjunction with his connexion with the fire worship, has suggested the theory of Bergaigne ⁶ that he is really the sun during the night, or more generally the hidden Agni, a suggestion for which there is nothing to be said. On the other hand, it is probable that Kaṇva was merely an eponymous hero: nothing said of him seems to prove contemporaneity with any Rigvedic poet.⁷ Medhyātithi and Priyamedha, who are among the descendants of Kaṇva, seem to have been real personages. Of the other seers, to whom the various books of the Rigveda are assigned, Gotama, Viçvāmitra, Vāmadeva, Bharadvāja, and Vasiṣṭha, there is still less reason to disbelieve the historic existence, or at least the existence of the families bearing the names from which the ancestors may have been reconstructed.⁸

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⁶ *Op. cit.* ii. 465.

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⁷ Oldenberg, ZDMG. xlii. 216, 217.

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⁸ ÇGS. ii. 14. 2 invents a Bharadvāja Dhanvantari, but AGS. i. 2. 2; 3. 6; 12. 7 has Dhanvantari alone.

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A more mysterious appearance belongs to Kāvya Uçanā, whose main characteristic is wisdom: Soma is compared with and identified with him on this ground. He appears as a protégé of Indra and associated with him when with Kutsa he vanquished Çuṣṇa: he also forged his bolt for Indra, and is said to have established Agni as Hotṛ priest. He appears, however, in the Pañcaviṅça Brāhmaṇa as the Purohita of the Asuras, and has been compared with the famous Iranian figure of saga, Kai Kāōs.⁹

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⁹ PB. vii. 5. 20; Hillebrandt, *Ved. Myth.* iii. 442.

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