The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v1.c24.65

v1.c24.65

The later Vedic age⁹ appreciated these praises of liberality, Dānastutis, and celebrations of the fame of men, Gāthā Nārāçaṅsī, at their true worth when they treated them as lies and placed the makers in the same rank as drunkards, but to the Vedic poet they doubtless shared the glory of his poetry. The poets of the Rigveda took themselves in all seriousness: they called themselves inspired, and believed in their high powers of workmanship: they repeatedly extol the value of their new and beautiful songs, which surpass those of others. To Indra they can say unashamed¹⁰ 'We have wishes; you have gifts; here are we with our songs', and expect that the god will see that the exchange is fair. The same spirit is shown in the elaboration of the poems themselves, in the efforts by bold imagery and even by elaborate metre to produce perfect works of art. The poem is compared to a well-wrought chariot, it is likened to winnowed grain, to ghee well purified. It became in itself a divinity as Dhī, ‘holy devotion’, Suṣṭuti, ‘lovely praise’, and Manīṣā, ‘holy thought’. In its expression of admiration of the gods, it is the highest product of the worship of the priests, the most attractive outcome of their religious consciousness, relieving and giving value to a cult which is of overwhelming tedium and complication.