The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v2.c39.s5.42

v2.c39.s5.42

Akin to Rūpa in the view of many scholars is the somewhat vague term Dhāman, especially in cases where we hear of the Dhāmāni of such a god as Soma,² or, as often in the Brāhmaṇas and earlier, of the dear Dhāman of a deity, though the sense 'abode' is preferred by Hillebrandt³ among others. We hear of the butter as the dear Dhāman of Agni, of the mead as that of the Açvins; speech is that of Indra and Agni, salt that of heaven and also of the cattle, the quarters that of Soma.⁴ A frequent reward of the man who worships correctly or has the proper knowledge is to attain the Dhāman of the deity, or by the use of the sacrificial strew, which is the Dhāman of cattle, one obtains them.⁵ In Oldenberg's view⁶ the term denotes what is ordained (*dhā*). Thus in the Rigveda we hear of the ordinances of Mitra and Varuṇa, and with a genitive the term often denotes what is appointed by some power.⁷ In other cases, when thus used, the term in the genitive expresses what is ordained, or the substratum, in which the thing ordained has effect; the former may be the meaning in the Rigveda⁸ of the phrase the Dhāman of the Ṛta, which is given⁹ as the description of the dawn, or the Dhāman of the sacrifice.¹⁰ But, while this explanation has the advantage of being true to the etymology of the term, and is doubtless largely correct, it is clear that the meaning 'abode' early developed, and this sense should probably be recognized much more freely than is admitted by Oldenberg, though he recognizes that the term did develop something approaching this sense.¹¹