The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v1.c22.s3: § 3. Warriors

The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v1.c22.s3

Language: English

§ 3. Warriors

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Of the warriors who are mentioned as having been engaged in battles and aided by the gods, we have absolutely no reason to assign the majority to any but the world of past reality. Historic reminiscence and poetic imagination are sufficient to account for what is said about them, just as the same factors together with aetiological myths explain adequately the legends of the priest of old days. To seek in any of them gods is erroneous: ¹ treated as history, it is perfectly possible to make good sense out of the history of Sudās, and even of the older and more mystic Divodāsa Atithigva.² With Sudās Viçvāmitra and Vasiṣṭha stand in the closest relation: we have a poem which tradition places in the mouth of Viçvāmitra extolling the rivers Vipāç and Çutudrī for giving an easy crossing to his master’s hosts,³ and another hymn recounts with jeers at the expense of Viçvāmitra ⁴ the failure of the great coalition which he had brought against his former master, and the success of the army of Sudās through the help of Vasiṣṭha.

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¹ Gruppe, *Griech. Culte*, i. 298 ff.; Oldenberg, *Rel. des Veda*², pp. 287, 288; cf. Leaf, *Homer and History*, chap. i.; Farnell, *Greek Hero Cults*.

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² For all the following see Macdonell and Keith, *Vedic Index, s.vv.*

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³ RV. iii. 33; cf. 53; Hillebrandt, *Festgruss an Boehtlingk*, p. 403; Geldner, *Ved. Stud.* ii. 158 f.

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⁴ RV. vii. 18; Oldenberg, ZDMG. xlii. 203 ff.; Oertel, JAOS. xviii. 47, 48; Hopkins, JAOS. xv. 260 ff.

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The other heroes are of less consequence except Kutsa,⁵ who is important for the part played by him in connexion with Indra. In order to assist Kutsa to overthrow Çuṣṇa, Indra tore off one wheel of the sun, and gave the other to him to drive on with. The mythic element seems merely to be the introduction of this deed of Indra; as Indra defeated for him Smadibha, Tugra, and the Vetasus, and on the other hand defeats for Tūrvayāṇa Kutsa, Āyu, and Atithigva, it seems most probable that Kutsa is a real enough prince. Bergaigne ⁶ sees in him, as too often, a figure of Agni, and the Naighaṇṭuka ⁷ includes his name among the synonyms of the thunderbolt.

Linked texts (2)

Ṛgvedasaṃhitā — Sanskrit
Nighaṇṭu — Yāska, Sanskrit