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Vedic Mythology c5.s2.t2: § 25. Mātariśvan

Vedic Mythology c5.s2.t2

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§ 25. Mātariśvan

c5.s2.t2.1

Mātariśvan is not celebrated in any hymn of the RV., and the name is found there only twenty-seven times, occurring twenty-one times in the latest portions of that Veda and otherwise only five times in the third and once in the sixth book. In these six older passages Mātariśvan is always either identified with Agni or is the producer of fire. Though the myth of Mātariśvan is based on the distinction between fire and a personification which produces it, the analysis of the myth shows these two to be identical. Nothing even in any of the later books of the RV., can be said to show clearly that the conception of Mātariśvan prevailing in the other Vedas and in the post-Vedic period, had begun to appear in that Veda.

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Mātariśvan is a name of Agni in three passages (3, 5⁹. 26²; 1, 96⁴). This is probably also the case where the name occurs in the vocative at the end of an Agni hymn (9, 88¹⁹). In another verse, where an etymological explanation of the name is given, he is spoken of as one of the forms of Agni: ‘As heavenly germ he is called Tanūnapāt, he becomes Narāśaṁsa when he is born; when as Mātariśvan he was fashioned in his mother (*amimīta mātari*: cp. 1, 141⁵), he became the swift flight of wind’ (3, 29¹¹). It is further said elsewhere: ‘One being the wise call variously: they speak of Agni, Yama, Mātariśvan’ (1, 164⁴⁶). Once Mātariśvan is also a form of Bṛhaspati, who is several times identified with Agni (§ 36): ‘That Bṛhaspati appeared (*sam abhavat*) at the rite as Mātariśvan’ (1, 190²).

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Elsewhere Mātariśvan is distinguished from Agni. ‘He (Agni) being born in the highest heavens appeared to Mātariśvan’ (1, 143²). ‘Agni first appeared to Mātariśvan and Vivasvat; the two worlds trembled at the choosing of the priest’ (1, 31³). ‘Agni being the highest of the luminaries has supported with his flame the firmament, when Mātariśvan kindled the oblation-bearer who was concealed’ (3, 5¹⁰). This verse follows one in which Agni is directly called Mātariśvan. The only explanation of such a discrepancy in contiguous verses of the same hymn, seems to be that the name of a specific personification of Agni in the latter verse is used as an epithet of the generic Agni in the former. Mātariśvan brought to Bhṛgu as a gift the glorious offerer, the banner of the sacrificial gathering, the messenger who has two births (1, 60¹). Mātariśvan brought the one (Agni) from the sky, the eagle wrested the other (Soma) from the rock (1, 93⁶). Mātariśvan brought Agni the adorable priest, the dweller in heaven (3, 2¹³). Mātariśvan (and) the gods fashioned Agni, whom the Bhṛgus produced, as the first adorable (priest) for man (10, 46⁹). Him, the god, Mātariśvan has brought from afar for man (1, 128²). Mātariśvan, the messenger of Vivasvat, brought hither from afar Agni Vaiśvānara, whom the mighty seized in the lap of the waters (6, 8⁴). Mātariśvan brought from afar the hidden Agni, produced by friction, from the gods (3, 9⁵). Mātariśvan produced by friction the hidden Agni (1, 141³). Agni was produced with friction by Mātariśvan and was set up in human abodes (1, 71⁴. 148¹). Indra produced cows for Trita from the dragon and delivered the cowstalls to Dadhyañc (and) Mātariśvan (10, 48²).

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There are a few obscure passages in late hymns which hardly shed any further light on the character of Mātariśvan. In two of these he seems to be regarded as purifying and enjoying Soma (9, 67³¹; 10, 114¹); and in another, he is mentioned in an enumeration of Fathers beside whom Indra drank Soma (Vāl. 4²). Indra is once compared with him as with a skilful artificer (10, 105⁶), probably in allusion to Mātariśvan's skill in producing Agni (cp. 10, 46⁹, where the same verb *takṣ* is used). This notion of skill is probably also present in a verse of the wedding hymn (10, 85⁴⁷), where Mātariśvan is invoked along with other deities to join the hearts of two lovers (cp. Tvaṣṭṛ, § 38). Finally, in a very obscure verse (10, 109¹) Mātariśvan is spoken of as 'boundless' and 'wandering' (*salila*, an adjective several times used with *vāta* in the AV.), attributes which possibly already represent the conception of Mātariśvan to be found in later times.

c5.s2.t2.5

Mātariśvan would thus appear to be a personification of a celestial form of Agni, who at the same time is thought of as having like Prometheus brought down the hidden fire from heaven to earth. Hardly anything but lightning can be his natural basis. This would account for his being the messenger of Vivasvat from heaven to earth (6, 8⁴), just as Agni himself is a messenger of Vivasvat (§ 35) between the two worlds¹. In the AV. Mātariśvan is still found as a mystic name of Agni (AV. 10, 8³⁹· ⁴⁰); but generally in that (AV. 12, 1⁵¹ &c.) and other Saṃhitās, the Brāhmaṇas and all the subsequent literature, the name is a designation of wind. The transition to this conception is to be found in a passage already quoted (3, 29¹¹): 'Agni, when as Mātariśvan he was formed in his mother, became the swift flight of wind'², and Agni in the air as a raging serpent is elsewhere compared with the rushing wind (1, 79¹). Such a statement might easily have been taken later to interpret Mātariśvan as the wind.

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¹ ORV. 122, n. 1 thinks the frequently expressed opinion that Mātariśvan is nothing but a form of Agni, has no sure foundation, and regards Mātariśvan simply as the Prometheus of the RV.; cp. ORV. 108, n. 1, and SBE. 46, 123. —

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² Cp. BRV. 1, 27; BDA. 51; OLDENBERG, SBE. 46, 306. —

c5.s2.t2.8

The word *mātariśvan*, which is without a cognate in any other Indo-European language, has every appearance of being a purely Indian compound (like *mātaríbhvarī*, *rjiśvan*, *durgṛ́bhīśvan*). The Rigvedic poet's explanation of the name as 'he who is formed in his mother' can hardly be dismissed as an etymological conceit, since the word in all likelihood dates from a contemporary phase of language. It probably means 'growing in his mother' (*√śū*, to swell, from which we have *śiśu*, child, and other derivatives)³, Agni being also said to grow (*√vṛdh*) in his mothers (1, 141⁵). There is a change of accent from the second to the third syllable, probably due to the influence of numerous words in *-van* (like *prātarítvan*). By the mother either the lower *araṇi* or the thundercloud might be meant; but the latter is the more probable, as Mātariśvan comes from heaven. Yāska (Nir. 7, 26), who regards Mātariśvan as a designation of Vāyu, analyzes the compound into *mātari* (= *antarikṣe*) and *śvan* (from *śvas* to breathe or *āśu an* to breathe quickly), so as to mean the wind that breathes in the air.

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³ Cp. WHITNEY, Sanskrit Roots p. 176; ROTH, Nirukta 111—3; WEBER, IS. 1, 416; REUTER, KZ. 31, 544—5. KHF. 8. 14; MUIR, JRAS. 20, 416, note; OST. 5, 204, note; SCHWARTZ, KZ. 20, 210; GW. s. v.; BRV. 1, 52—7; BRI. 9; KRV. 35; HVBP. 110; EGGELING, SBE. 12, 186, note 2; ORV. 122—3. [^1] PW. s. v. *aja*; Nirukta, Erl. 165—6 (cp. OST. 5, 336). — [^2] GW. s. v. I *aja*; cp. Fay, AJP. 17, 24—5. — [^3] AJP. 12, 443; SBE. 42, 664. — [^4] Les hymnes Rohita, Paris 1891, p. 24. — [^5] HVBP. 41—2. — [^6] BRV. 3, 23. — [^7] ORV. 71—2; cp. BRI. 24. Weber, IS. 1, 96.

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