The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v1.c27.s2.1

v1.c27.s2.1

In the theosophy of the Brāhmaṇas it is an accepted fact that the sacrifice has a magic power of its own, and that it brings about the effects at which it aims with absolute independence: the old idea of the working upon the good will of a deity has disappeared, and in the philosophy of the Pūrva Mīmāṅsā,⁸ which is the logical outcome of the Brāhmaṇas, the idea of god is effectively disposed of. But the theosophy of the Brāhmaṇas is of no value as religion, and the question arises whether the Rigveda shows any real trace of the belief in the magic efficacy of the sacrifice. Much of the evidence which has been adduced by both Bergaigne ⁹ and Geldner ¹⁰ for the view that the priests claim to control the gods, to capture them in the net of the sacrifice, and make them do their bidding, is clearly without weight: the simple imagery of the poets cannot be pressed to mean more than it says. The later literature, which regards the priest as powerful to control the gods, openly says so,¹¹ and provides the believer with magic devices in order to bind hard the Ādityas until they yield what is desired,¹ and Kutsa is said to tie Indra up in disgraceful fashion,² but nothing of that gross kind can certainly be found in the Rigveda. The most that can be adduced are a passage where Indra is spoken of as pursued by the priest with milk as hunters the wild beast,³ a prayer that the mortal may be lord over Agni in his house,⁴ and an assertion that honour, Namas, is above the gods themselves,⁵ nothing more than occasional expressions of exaltation in the priestly power. Moreover, when the Vasiṣṭhas pride themselves on drawing Indra away from Pāçadyumna, they evidently assume that the god was free to choose, and preferred them to their rival.⁶ But, while the idea of the power of the sacrifice over the gods is merely commencing to manifest itself, there is clear evidence that the belief in the greatness of the sacrifice was in process of steady development. It is seen in such declarations as that the sun was born through the result of the sacrifice of Atharvan,⁷ and from the fact that the offerings of the Aṅgirases won the treasures of the Paṇis is deduced the doctrine that great might is that of the Soma-presser.⁸ The greatness of the sacrifice is also brought out by the doctrine of the first sacrifice of the gods in which they offered up the giant Puruṣa:⁹ from this sacrifice were born the hymn and the metre of the sacrifice: the idea of the production of sacrifice by sacrifice is precisely in the strain of shallow mysticism which is characteristic of the Vedic conceptions. That the human offering could produce results by itself is here and there, it would seem, recognized in the Rigveda, where the morning Agnihotra seems to have power to aid the sun to rise,¹⁰ and more distinctly in a late hymn the bringing down of rain is treated as if it were the direct work of the Purohita Devāpi.¹¹