The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v2.c34.s1.20

v2.c34.s1.20

But it would be an error to assume that the body was left for ever at death : this might seem to be the logical view, but it is not the view of the Vedic Indian, as it has not been the view of many different classes of men. The care expressed in the Rigveda⁴ itself for the avoidance of injury to the body of the dead, which was to be burned, by a bird or other beast, is confirmed by the express injunction to the dead that he has in the next world to unite himself with his body. The same idea is expressed in the Atharvaveda,⁵ which treats as in the next world the body, the *asu*, the mind, the limbs, and the sap all uninjured, and the Fathers are entreated to secure that the bones which have been placed out of order shall all be placed in due arrangement. This unquestionably is the regular view in the Veda : the alternative view once found in the Rigveda,⁶ which sends the eye of the dead to the sun, the breath to the wind, bids him go to the heaven and the earth, or if he prefers to the waters, and to dwell among the plants with his members, cannot be treated as more than a mere deviation of no great consequence for the general view of Vedic religion. The connexion of the eye and the sun is also seen in the Puruṣasūkta, where the sacrifice of the primeval giant results in the sun being created from his eye. The concrete character of the entity which is left in the heaven is proved by the fact that the Fathers are always addressed, when mentioned individually, by their own names : there is no such thing as an invocation of the spirit of any individual. He himself continues his life.