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Vedic Mythology c4: II. Vedic Conceptions of the World and its Origin

Vedic Mythology c4

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II. Vedic Conceptions of the World and its Origin

c4.1

§ 7. Cosmology. — The Universe, the stage on which the actions of the gods are enacted, is regarded by the Vedic poets as divided into the three domains¹ of earth, air or atmosphere, and heaven². The sky when regarded as the whole space above the earth, forms with the latter the entire universe consisting of the upper and the nether world. The vault (*nāka*) of the sky is regarded as the limit dividing the visible upper world from the third or invisible world of heaven, which is the abode of light and the dwelling place of the gods. Heaven, air, and earth form the favourite triad of the RV., constantly spoken of explicitly or implicitly (8, 10⁶. 90⁶ &c.). The solar phenomena which appear to take place on the vault of the sky, are referred to heaven, while those of lightning, rain, and wind belong to the atmosphere. But when heaven designates the whole space above the earth both classes of phenomena are spoken of as taking place there. In a passage of the AV. (4, 14³ = VS. 17, 67) the 'vault of the sky' comes between the triad of earth, air, heaven and the world of light, which thus forms a fourth division ³. Each of the three worlds is also subdivided. Thus three earths, three atmospheres, three heavens are sometimes mentioned; or when the universe is looked upon as consisting of two halves, we hear of six worlds or spaces (*rajāṃsi*). This subdivision probably arose from the loose use of the word *pṛthivī* 'earth' (1, 108⁹. ¹⁰; 7, 104¹¹)⁴ in the plural to denote the three worlds (just as the dual *pitarau*, 'two fathers' regularly denotes 'father and mother').

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The earth is variously called *bhūmi*, *kṣam*, *kṣā*, *gmā*, the great (*mahī*), the broad (*pṛthivī* or *urvī*), the extended (*uttānā*), the boundless (*apārā*), or the place here (*idam*) as contrasted with the upper sphere (1, 22¹⁷. 154¹· ³).

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The conception of the earth being a disc surrounded by an ocean does not appear in the Saṃhitās. But it was naturally regarded as circular, being compared with a wheel (10, 89⁴) and expressly called circular (*parimaṇḍala*) in the ŚB.⁶

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The four points of the compass are already mentioned in the RV. in an adverbial form (7, 72⁵; 10, 36¹⁴. 42¹¹) and in the AV. as substantives (AV. 15, 2¹ ff.). Hence 'four quarters' (*pradiśaḥ*) are spoken of (10, 19⁸), a term also used as synonymous with the whole earth (1, 164⁴²), and the earth is described as 'four-pointed' (10, 58³). Five points are occasionally mentioned (9, 86²⁹; AV. 3, 24³ &c.), when that in the middle (10, 42¹¹), where the speaker stands, denotes the fifth. The AV. also refers to six (the zenith being added) and even seven points⁵. The same points may be meant by the seven regions (*diśaḥ*) and the seven places (*dhāma*) of the earth spoken of in the RV. (9, 114³; 1, 22¹⁶).

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Heaven or *div* is also commonly termed *vyoman*, sky, or as pervaded with light, the 'luminous space', *rocana* (with or without *divaḥ*). Designations of the dividing firmament besides the 'vault' are the 'summit' (*sānu*), 'surface' (*viṣṭap*), 'ridge' (*pṛṣṭha*), as well as the compound expressions 'ridge of the vault' (1, 125⁵ cp. 3, 2¹²) and 'summit of the vault' (8, 92²)³. Even a 'third ridge in the luminous space of heaven' is mentioned (9, 86²⁷). When three heavens are distinguished they are very often called the three luminous spaces (*trī rocanā*), a highest (*uttama*), a middle, and a lowest being specified (5, 60⁶). The highest is also termed *uttara* and *pārya* (4, 26⁶; 6, 40⁵). In this third or highest heaven (very often *parame rocane* or *vyoman*) the gods, the fathers, and Soma are conceived as abiding.

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Heaven and earth are coupled as a dual conception called by the terms *rodasī*, *kṣoṇī*, *dvyāvāpṛthivī* and others (§ 44), and spoken of as the two halves (2, 27¹⁵). The combination with the semi-spherical sky causes the notion of the earth's shape to be modified, when the two are called 'the two great bowls (*camvā*) turned towards each other' (3, 55²⁰). Once they are compared to the wheels at the two ends of an axle (10, 89⁴).

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The RV. makes no reference to the supposed distance between heaven and earth, except in such vague phrases as that not even the birds can soar to the abode of Viṣṇu (1, 155⁵). But the AV. (10, 8¹⁸) says that 'the two wings of the yellow bird (the sun) flying to heaven are 1000 days' journey apart'. A similar notion is found in the AB., where it is remarked (2, 17⁸) that '1000 days' journey for a horse the heavenly world is distant from here'. Another Brāhmaṇa states that the heavenly world is as far from this world as 1000 cows standing on each other (PB. 16, 8⁶; 21, 1⁹).

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The air or intermediate space (*antarikṣa*) is hardly susceptible of personification. As the region of mists and cloud, it is also called *rajas* which is described as watery (1, 124⁵ cp. 5, 85²) and is sometimes thought of as dark, when it is spoken of as 'black' (1, 35²·⁴·⁹; 8, 43⁶). The triple subdivision is referred to as the three spaces or *rajāṃsi* (4, 53⁵; 5, 69¹). The highest is then spoken of as *uttama* (9, 22⁵), *parama* (3, 30²), or *tṛtīya*, the third (9, 74⁶; 10, 45³. 123⁸), where the waters and Soma are and the celestial Agni is produced. The two lower spaces are within the range of our perception, but the third belongs to Viṣṇu (7, 99¹ cp. 1, 155⁵). The latter seems to be the 'mysterious' space once referred to elsewhere (10, 105⁷). The twofold subdivision of the atmosphere is commoner. Then the lower (*upara*) or terrestrial (*pārthiva*) is contrasted with the heavenly (*divyam* or *divaḥ*) space (1, 62⁵; 4, 53³). The uppermost stratum, as being contiguous with heaven (*div*) in the twofold as well as the triple division, seems often to be loosely employed as synonymous with heaven in the strict sense. Absolute definiteness or consistency in the statements of different poets or even of the same poet could not reasonably be expected in regard to such matters.

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The air being above the earth in the threefold division of the universe, its subdivisions, whether two or three, would naturally have been regarded as above it also; and one verse at least (1, 81⁵ cp. 90⁷) clearly shows that the 'terrestrial space' is in this position. Three passages, however, of the RV. (6, 9¹; 7, 80¹; 5, 81⁴) have been thought to lend themselves to the view⁷ that the lower atmosphere was conceived as under the earth, to account for the course of the sun during the night. The least indefinite of these three passages (5, 81⁴) is to the effect that Savitṛ, the sun, goes round night on both sides (*ubhayataḥ*). This may, however, mean nothing more than that night is enclosed between the limits of sunset and sunrise. At any rate, the view advanced in the AB. (3, 44⁴) as to the sun's course during the night is, that the luminary shines upwards at night, while it turns round so as to shine downwards in the daytime. A similar notion may account for the statement of the RV. that the light which the sun's steeds draw is sometimes bright and sometimes dark (1, 115⁵), or that the *rajas* which accompanies the sun to the east is different from the light with which he rises (10, 37³).

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There being no direct reference to the sun passing below the earth, the balance of probabilities seems to favour the view that the luminary was supposed to return towards the east the way he came, becoming entirely darkened during the return journey. As to what becomes of the stars during the daytime, a doubt is expressed (1, 24¹⁰), but no conjecture is made.

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The atmosphere is often called a sea (*samudra*) as the abode of the celestial waters. It is also assimilated to the earth, inasmuch as it has mountains (1, 32² &c.) and seven streams which flow there (1, 32¹² &c.), when the conflict with the demon of drought takes place. Owing to the obvious resemblance the term 'mountain' (*parvata*) thus very often in the RV. refers to clouds⁸, the figurative sense being generally clear enough. The word 'rock' (*adri*) is further regularly used in a mythological sense for 'cloud' as enclosing the cows released by Indra and other gods⁹.

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The rainclouds as containing the waters, as dripping, moving and roaring, are peculiarly liable to theriomorphism as cows¹⁰, whose milk is rain.

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The cosmic order or law prevailing in nature is recognised under the name of *ṛta*¹¹ (properly the 'course' of things), which is considered to be under the guardianship of the highest gods. The same word also designates 'order' in the moral world as truth and 'right', and in the religious world as sacrifice or 'rite'.

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¹ ROTH, ZDMG. 6, 68.

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² Cp. SP.AP. 122; KRV. 34, note 118.

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³ HOPKINS, AJP. 4, 189.

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⁴ BOLLENSEN, ZDMG. 41, 494.

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⁵ BLOOMFIELD, AJP. 12, 432.

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⁶ Cp. WEBER, IS. 10, 358—64.

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⁷ AIL. 357—9.

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⁸ KHF. 178; DELBRÜCK, ZVP. 1865, pp. 284—5.

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⁹ KHF. 187; Zft. f. deutsche Mythologie, 3, 378.

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¹⁰ GW., s. v. *go*; WVB. 1894, p. 13.

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¹¹ LUDWIG, Religiöse und philosophische Anschauungen des Veda (1875), p. 15; LRV. 3, 284—5; HARLEZ, JA. (1878), 11, 105—6; DARMESTETER, Ormazd et Ahriman, 13—4; OGR. 198. 243; KRV. 28; BRV. 3, 220; WC. 91—7. 100; SP.AP. 139; ORV. 195—201; JACKSON, Trans. of 10th Or. Congress, 2, 74. BRUCE, Vedic conceptions of the Earth, JRAS. 1862, p. 321 ff.; BRV. 1, 1—3; WALLIS, Cosmology of the Rigveda (London 1887), 111—17.

§ 8. Cosmogony

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The cosmogonic mythology of the RV. fluctuates between two theories, which are not mutually exclusive, but may be found combined in the same verse. The one regards the universe as the result of mechanical production, the work of the carpenter's and joiner's skill; the other represents it as the result of natural generation.

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The poets of the RV. often employ the metaphor of building in its various details, when speaking of the formation of the world. The act of measuring is constantly referred to. Thus Indra measured the six regions, made the wide expanse of earth and the high dome of heaven (6, 47 ³·⁴). Viṣṇu measured out the terrestrial spaces and made fast the abode on high (1, 154¹). The measuring instrument, sometimes mentioned (2, 15³; 3, 38³), is the sun, with which Varuṇa performs the act (5, 85⁵). The Fathers measured the two worlds with measuring rods and made them broad (3, 38³ cp. 1, 190²). The measurement naturally begins in front or the east. Thus Indra measured out as it were a house with measures from the front (2, 15³ cp. 7, 99²). Connected with this idea is that of spreading out the earth, an action attributed to Agni, Indra, the Maruts, and others. As the Vedic house was built of wood, the material is once or twice spoken of as timber. Thus the poet asks: 'What was the wood, what the tree out of which they fashioned heaven and earth?' (10, 31⁷ = 10, 81⁴). The answer given to this question in a Brāhmaṇa is that Brahma was the wood and the tree (TB. 2, 8, 9⁶). Heaven and earth are very often described as having been supported (*skabh* or *stabh*) with posts (*skambha* or *skambhana*), but the sky is said to be rafterless (2, 15²; 4, 56³; 10, 149¹), and that it never falls is a source of wonder (5, 29⁴; 6, 17⁷; 8, 45⁶). The framework of a door is called *ātā*; in such a frame of heaven Indra fixed the air (1, 56⁵). The doors of the cosmic house are the portals of the east through which the morning light enters (1, 113⁴; 4, 51²; 5, 45¹). Foundations are sometimes alluded to. Thus Savitṛ made fast the earth with bands (10, 149¹), Viṣṇu fixed it with pegs (7, 99³), and Bṛhaspati supports its ends (4, 50¹ cp. 10, 89¹). The agents in the construction of the world are either the gods in general or various individual gods; but where special professional skill seemed to be required in details, Tvaṣṭṛ, the divine carpenter, or the deft-handed Ṛbhus are mentioned. Little is said as to their motive; but as man builds his house to live in, so of Viṣṇu at least it is indicated that he measured or stretched out the regions as an abode for man (6, 49¹³. 69⁵, cp. 1, 155⁴).

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The notion of parentage as a creative agency in the universe, chiefly connected with the birth of the sun at dawn and with the production of rain after drought, has three principle applications in the RV. The first is temporal, as involving the idea of priority. One phenomenon preceding another is spoken of as its parent. Thus the dawns generate (*jan*) the sun and the morning sacrifice (7, 78³), while Dawn herself is born of Night (1, 123⁹). As the point of view is changed, contradictions with regard to such relationships naturally arise (cp. p. 48). When the rising of the dawn is ascribed to the sacrifice of the Fathers, the explanation is to be found in this notion of priority. Secondly, a local application frequently occurs. The space in which a thing is contained or produced is its father or mother. Illustrations of this are furnished by purely figurative statements. Thus the quiver is called the father of the arrows (6, 75⁵) or the bright steeds of the sun are termed the daughters of his car (1, 50⁹). This idea of local parentage is especially connected with heaven and earth. Paternity is the characteristic feature in the personification of Dyaus (see § 11), and Dawn is constantly called the 'daughter of Heaven'. Similarly the Earth, who produces vegetation on her broad bosom (5, 84³), is a mother (1, 89⁴ &c.). Heaven and earth are, however, more often found coupled as universal parents, a conception obvious enough from the fact that heaven fertilizes the earth by the descent of moisture and light, and further developed by the observation that both supply nourishment to living beings, the one in the form of rain, the other in that of herbage. They are characteristically the parents of the gods (§ 44). As the latter are often said to have created heaven and earth, we thus arrive at the paradox of the Vedic poets that the children produced their own parents; Indra, for instance, being described as having begotten his father and mother from his own body (1, 159²; 10, 54³). Again, the raincloud cow is the mother of the lightning calf, or the heavenly waters, as carrying the embryo of the aerial fire, are its mothers, for one of the forms of the fire-god is 'the son of waters' (§ 24). 'Son of the steep' also appears to be a name of lightning in the AV. (1, 13²·³; cp. 26³ and RV. 10, 142²). Thirdly, the notion of parentage arises from a generic point of view: he who is the chief, the most prominent member of a group, becomes their parent. Thus Vāyu, Wind, is father of the Storm-gods (1, 134⁴), Rudra, father of the Maruts or Rudras, Soma, father of plants, while Sarasvatī is mother of rivers.

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There are also two minor applications of the idea of paternity in the RV. As in the Semitic languages, an abstract quality is quite frequently employed in a figurative sense (which is sometimes mythologically developed) to represent the parent of sons who possess or bestow that quality in an eminent degree. Thus the gods in general are sons (*sūnavah* or *putrāḥ*) of immortality¹ as well as sons of skill, *dakṣa* (8, 25⁵; cp. § 19). Agni is the 'son of strength' or of 'force' (§ 35). Pūṣan is the 'child of setting free'². Indra is the 'son of truth' (8, 58⁴), the 'child of cow-getting' (4, 32²²), and the 'son of might' (*śavasaḥ*, 4, 24¹; 8, 81¹⁴, his mother twice being called *śavasī*, 8, 45⁵. 66²). Mitra-Varuṇa are the 'children of great might'. Another application is much less common. As a father transmits his qualities to his son, his name is also occasionally transferred, something like a modern surname. Thus *viśvarūpa*, an epithet of Tvaṣṭr, becomes the proper name of his son. Analogously the name of Vivasvat is applied to his son Manu in the sense of the patronymic Vaivasvata (Vāl. 4¹).

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A mythological account of the origin of the universe, involving neither manufacture nor generation, is given in one of the latest hymns of the RV., the well-known *puruṣa-sūkta* (10, 90). Though several details in this myth point to the most recent period of the RV., the main idea is very primitive, as it accounts for the formation of the world from the body of a giant. With him the gods performed a sacrifice, when his head became the sky, his navel the air, and his feet the earth. From his mind sprang the moon, from his eye the sun, from his mouth Indra and Agni, from his breath, wind. The four castes also arose from him. His mouth became the *brāhmaṇa*, his arms the *rājanya* or warrior, his thighs the *vaiśya*, and his feet the *śūdra*. The interpretation given in the hymn itself is pantheistic, for it is there said (v. 2) that Puruṣa is ‘all this, both what has become and what shall be’. In the AV. (10, 17) and the Upaniṣads (Muṇḍ. Up. 2, 1¹⁰) Puruṣa is also pantheistically interpreted as identical with the universe. He is also identified with Brahma (Chānd. Up. 1, 7⁵). In the ŚB. (11, 1, 6¹) he is the same as Prajāpati, the creator.

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There are in the last book of the RV. some hymns which treat the origin of the world philosophically rather than mythologically. Various passages show that in the cosmological speculation of the RV. the sun was regarded as an important agent of generation. Thus he is called the soul (*ātmā*) of all that moves and stands (1, 115¹). Statements such as that he is called by many names though one (1, 164⁴⁶; 10, 114⁵ cp. Vāl. 10²) indicate that his nature was being tentatively abstracted to that of a supreme god, nearly approaching that of the later conception of Brahmā. In this sense the sun is once glorified as a great power of the universe under the name of the ‘golden embryo’, *hiraṇya-garbha*, in RV. 10, 121.³ It is he who measures out space in the air and shines where the sun rises (vv. 5. 6). In the last verse of this hymn, he is called Prajāpati⁴, ‘lord of created beings’, the name which became that of the chief god of the Brāhmaṇas. It is significant that in the only older passage of the RV. in which it occurs (4, 53²), *prajāpati* is an epithet of the solar deity Savitṛ, who in the same hymn (v. ⁶) is said to rule over what moves and stands⁵.

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There are two other cosmogonic hymns which both explain the origin of the universe as a kind of evolution of the existent (*sat*) from the non-existent (*asat*). In 10, 72⁶ it is said that Brahmaṇaspati forged together this world like a smith. From the non-existent the existent was produced. Thence in succession arose the earth, the spaces, Aditi with Dakṣa; and after Aditi the gods were born. The gods then brought forward the sun. There were eight sons of Aditi, but the eighth, Mārtaṇḍa, she cast away; she brought him to be born and to die (i. e. to rise and set). Three stages can be distinguished in this hymn: first the world is produced, then the gods, and lastly the sun.

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In RV. 10, 129, a more abstract and a very sublime hymn, it is affirmed that nothing existed in the beginning, all being void. Darkness and space enveloped the undifferentiated waters (cp. 10, 82⁶. 121⁷, AV. 2, 8). The one primordial substance (*ekam*) was produced by heat. Then desire (*kāma*), the first seed of mind (*manas*) arose. This is the bond between the non-existent and the existent. By this emanation the gods came into being. But here the poet, overcome by his doubts, gives up the riddle of creation as unsolvable. A short hymn of three stanzas (10, 190) forms a sequel to the more general evolution of that just described. Here it is stated that from heat (*tapas*) was produced order (*ṛta*); then night, the ocean, the year; the creator (*dhātā*) produced in succession sun and moon, heaven and earth, air and ether.

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In a similar strain to RV. 10, 129 a Brāhmaṇa passage declares that ‘formerly nothing existed, neither heaven nor earth nor atmosphere, which being non-existent resolved to come into being’ (TB. 2, 2, 9¹ ff.). The regular cosmogonic view of the Brāhmaṇas requires the agency of a creator, who is not, however, always the starting point. The creator here is Prajāpati or the personal Brahmā, who is not only father of gods, men, and demons, but is the All. Prajāpati is here an anthropomorphic representation of the desire which is the first seed spoken of in RV. 10, 129. In all these accounts the starting point is either Prajāpati desiring offspring and creating, or else the primeval waters, on which floated Hiraṇyagarbha the cosmic golden egg, whence is produced the spirit that desires and creates the Universe. This fundamental contradiction as to the priority of Prajāpati or of the waters appears to be the result of combining the theory of evolution with that of creation. Besides this there are many minor conflicts of statement, as, for instance, that the gods create Prajāpati and that Prajāpati creates the gods⁷. The account given in the Chāndogya Brāhmaṇa (5, 19) is that not-being became being; the latter changed into an egg, which after a year by splitting in two became heaven and earth; whatever was produced is the sun, which is Brahma⁸ (cp. Ch. Up. 3, 19^1–4). Again, in the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad (5, 6^1), the order of evolution is thus stated: In the beginning waters were this (universe); they produced the real (*satyam*); from this was produced Brahma, from Brahma Prajāpati, from Prajāpati the gods.

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¹ OST. 5, 52.

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⁷ OST. 4, 20 ff.; HRI. 208—9.

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⁸ Weber, IS. 1, 261.

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The All-god appears as a creator in the AV. under the new names of Skambha, Support, Prāṇa⁹, the personified breath of life (AV. 11, 4), Rohita, as a name of the sun, Kāma, Desire, and various others¹⁰. The most notable cosmogonic myth of the Brāhmaṇas describes the raising of the submerged earth by a boar, which in post-Vedic mythology developed into an Avatār of Viṣṇu.¹¹

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² OST. 5, 175, note 271; BRV. 2, 422 ff.; Darmesteter, Haurvatāt et Ameretāt, 83; ORV. 232, note 2.

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³ SPH. 27—8; HRI. 208.

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⁴ SPH. 29.

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⁵ OGR. 295; WC. 50—1.

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⁶ OST. 5, 48.

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⁹ SPH. 69—72.

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¹⁰ HRI. 209.

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¹¹ Macdonell, JRAS. 1895, pp. 178—89. Haug, Die Kosmogonie der Inder, Allgemeine Zeitung, 1873, p. 2373 ff.; Weber, IS. 9, 74; Ludwig, Die philosophischen und religiösen Anschauungen des Veda; AIL. 217; BRI. 30—1; Scherman, Philosophische Hymnen aus der Ṛig- und Atharvaveda Saṃhitā, München 1887; Lukas, Die Grundbegriffe in den Kosmogonien der alten Völker, Leipzig 1893, pp. 65—99.

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§ 9. Origin of gods and men. — As most of the statements contained in the Vedas about the origin of the gods have already been mentioned, only a brief summary need here be added. In the philosophical hymns the origin of the gods is mostly connected with the element of water¹. In the AV. (10, 7^25) they are said to have arisen from the non-existent. According to one cosmogonic hymn (10, 129^6) they were born after the creation of the universe. Otherwise they are in general described as the children of Heaven and Earth. In one passage (10, 63^2) a triple origin, apparently corresponding to the triple division of the universe, is ascribed to the gods, when they are said to have been ‘born from Aditi, from the waters, from the earth’ (cp. 1, 139^11). According no doubt to a secondary conception, certain individual gods are spoken of as having begotten others. Thus the Dawn is called the mother of the gods (1, 113^19) and Brahmaṇaspati (2, 26^3), as well as Soma (9, 87^2), is said to be their father. A group of seven or eight gods, the Ādityas, are regarded as the sons of Aditi. In the AV. some gods are spoken of as fathers, others as sons² (AV. 1, 30^2).

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The Vedic conceptions on the subject of the origin of man are rather fluctuating, but the human race appear generally to have been regarded as descended from a first man. The latter is called either Vivasvat’s son Manu, who was the first sacrificer (10, 63^7) and who is also spoken of as father Manus (1, 80¹⁶); or he is Yama Vaivasvata, Vivasvat’s son, who with his twin sister Yamī produced the human race. The origin of men, when thought of as going back beyond this first ancestor, seems to have been conceived as celestial. Vivasvat (§ 18) is the father of the primeval twins, while once the celestial Gandharva and the water nymph are designated as their highest kin (10, 10⁴). Men’s relationship to the gods is sometimes also alluded to³; and men must have been thought of as included among the offspring of Heaven and Earth, the great parents of all that exists. Again, Agni is said to have begotten the offspring of men (1, 96²⁻⁴), and the Aṅgirases, the semi-divine ancestors of later priestly families, are described as his sons. Various other human families are spoken of as independently descended from the gods through their founders Atri, Kaṇva, and others (1, 139⁹). Vasiṣṭha (7, 33¹¹) was miraculously begotten by Mitra and Varuṇa, the divine nymph Urvaśī having been his mother. To quite a different order of ideas belongs the conception of the origin of various classes of men from parts of the world giant Puruṣa⁴ (§ 8, p. 13).

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¹ SPH. 32.

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² OST. 5, 13 f., 23 f., 38 f.

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³ BRV. 1, 36.

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⁴ ORV. 275—7. 125—8.

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