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Vedic Mythology c6.s1: § 50. Manu

Vedic Mythology c6.s1

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§ 50. Manu

c6.s1.1

— As the appellation Manu or Manus is often used in the sense of 'man', there is sometimes an uncertainty as to when it has the value of a proper name in the RV. It appears to have the latter signification nearly twenty times in the form of Manu and almost as often in that of Manus. Manu is five times styled a father, and in two of these passages more definitely as 'our father' (2, 33¹³ &c., cp. § 9). Sacrificers are spoken of as the people (*viśaḥ*) of Manus (4, 37¹ &c.) and Agni is said to abide among the offspring of Manu (1, 68⁴). Manu was the institutor of sacrifice. For when he had kindled the fire, he presented the first offering with the seven priests to the gods (10, 63⁷). The sacrifice of Manu is the prototype of the present sacrifice. For the latter is compared to the sacrifice which Manus offered to the gods (1, 76⁵). Such comparisons are frequently made with the adverb *manuṣvat*, 'like Manus'. Worshippers make Agni the accomplisher of sacrifice, as Manus did (1, 44¹¹). They kindle Agni like Manus (5, 21¹ &c.). Like Manus, they invoke Agni who was kindled by Manu (7, 2³). They offer Soma as Manus did (4, 37³). Soma is prayed to flow as he once flowed for Manu (9, 96¹²). Manu established Agni as a light for all people (1, 36¹⁹). Manu is also mentioned with other ancient sacrificers, with Aṅgiras and Yayāti (1, 31¹⁷), with Bhṛgu and Aṅgiras (8, 43¹³), with Atharvan and Dadhyañc (1, 80¹⁶), with Dadhyañc, Aṅgiras, Atri and Kaṇva (1, 139⁹). The gods (1, 36¹⁰), Mātariśvan (1, 128²), Mātariśvan and the gods (10, 46⁹), and Kāvya Uśanā¹ (8, 23¹⁷) are said to have given Agni to Manu or to have instituted him a sacrificer for Manu. In the last four passages the word has perhaps only the appellative meaning of 'man'.

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Indra is said to have drunk Soma beside Manu Vivasvat (Vāl. 4¹) or Manu Sāṃvaraṇi (Vāl. 3¹), and to have drunk the Soma of Manus, three lakes, to strengthen himself for the Vṛtra-fight (5, 29⁷). Soma is said to have been brought to Manu by the bird (4, 26⁴). In the TS. and the ŚB. Manu is also frequently described as a celebrator of religious ceremonies.

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Manu appears to have been regarded as the son of Vivasvat even in the RV.; for he is once (Vāl. 4¹ cp. 3¹) called Manu Vivasvat (cp. p. 42). In the AV. (8, 10²⁴) and the ŚB. (13, 4, 3³), as well as in post-Vedic literature, he bears the regular patronymic Vaivasvata. Yama also is a son of Vivasvat, and the first of mortals. Manu is thus a doublet of Yama as ancestor of the human race². But Manu is regarded as the first of men living on earth, while Yama, as first of men who died, became the king of the dead in the other world. Hence in the ŚB. (13, 4, 3³⁻⁵) Manu Vaivasvata is described as ruler of men, and Yama Vaivasvata as ruler of the Manes. Yāska (Nir. 12, 10) explains Manu to be the son of Vivasvat, the sun (*Āditya*), and of Savarṇā the substitute of Saraṇyū (cp. 10, 17²; p. 125), counting him (Nir. 12, 34) among the divine beings of the celestial region (Naigh. 5, 6).

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² Possibly ancestor of the Āryans only, as he is in several passages contrasted with Dasyus, cp. OST. 1, 174; Sp.AP. 272. —

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The ŚB. (1, 8, 1¹⁻¹⁰) relates a legend of how Manu was saved in a ship from a deluge, which swept away all other creatures, by a fish (in post-Vedic mythology an Avatār of Viṣṇu). Manu is then said to have become the progenitor of mankind through his daughter Iḍā, who was produced from his offerings. That the story of the flood was known as early as the time of the AV. is implied in a passage of that Saṃhitā (19, 39⁸)³. The myth of the deluge occurs in the Avesta also, and may be Indo-European⁴. It is generally regarded as borrowed from a Semitic source⁵, but this seems to be an unnecessary hypothesis⁶.

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¹ An ancient sage and sacrificer, see § 58 B. —

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³ HRL. 166. —

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⁴ Lindner, Die iranische Flutsage, FaR. 213—6. —

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⁵ Burnouf, Bhāgavata Purāṇa, preface, li—liv; Weber, IS. 1, 160 ff.; Sp.AP. 271—4; ORV. 276 note. —

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⁶ MM., India 133—8; HRI. 160. KHF. 21; KZ. 4, 91; Corssen, KZ. 2, 32; Weber, IS. 1, 194; ZDMG. 4, 302; 18, 286; Roth, ZDMG. 4, 430; ZDMG. 5, 525 ff.; KZ. 12, 293; 19, 156; Ascoli,

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KZ. 17, 334; MUIR, JRAS. 1863, 410—16; 1865, 287 ff.; OST. 1, 162—96; BRV. 1, 62—70; ORV. 275—6; HRI. 143.

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§ 51. Bhṛgus. — Bhṛgu is a name met with twenty-one times in the RV., besides two occurrences in the adverbial form *bhṛguvat*. It is found only once in the singular; and appears therefore to have properly designated a group of mythical beings. Mentioned twelve times in Agni hymns, they are chiefly connected with the communication of fire to men. Mātariśvan brought Agni as a treasure to Bhṛgu (1, 60¹) or kindled the hidden Agni for ¹ the Bhṛgus (3, 5¹⁰). Mātariśvan and the gods fashioned Agni for Manu, while the Bhṛgus with might produced him (10, 46⁹). The Bhṛgus found Agni lurking in the waters (10, 46²); worshipping him in the waters, they placed him in the abodes of Āyu or man (2, 4² cp. 4). They established Agni like a friend well-deposited in the wood (6, 15²) or as a treasure among men (1, 58⁶). For Agni is the Bhṛgus’ gift (3, 2⁴). Rubbing him they invoked him with prayer (1, 127⁷). With songs of praise they caused him to shine forth (10, 122⁵) in wood (4, 7¹). They brought him to the navel (cp. p. 92) of the earth (1, 143⁴). While Atharvan established rites with sacrifices, the Bhṛgus showed themselves as gods with their dexterity (10, 92¹⁰). Their skill, primarily manifested in producing fire, is incidentally spoken of as artistic. For worshippers make a prayer for Indra or the Aśvins as the Bhṛgus (made) a car (4, 16²⁰; 10, 39¹⁴).

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They are an ancient race. For sacrificers speak of them, together with the Aṅgirases and Atharvans, as their Soma-loving fathers (10, 14⁶) and invoke Agni as the Bhṛgus (*bhṛguvat*), the Aṅgirases, and Manu did (8, 43¹³). They implore Indra to hear their prayer like those of the Yatis and Bhṛgus (8, 6¹⁸), or to aid them as he did the Yatis, Bhṛgus, and Praskaṇva (8, 3⁹). The Bhṛgus are mentioned, along with the Druhyus and Turvaśa, as the foes of king Sudās (7, 18⁶). In the last three passages their name appears in the historical character of the designation of a tribe. The Bhṛgus are invoked to drink soma with all the thirty-three gods, the Maruts, the Waters, the Aśvins, Uṣas, and Sūrya (8, 35³). They are compared with suns and said to have gained all their desires (8, 3¹⁶). In one passage (9, 101¹³) they are connected with an unknown myth, when worshippers express a wish to drive away the niggardly, as the Bhṛgus the demon (*makham*).

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Thus the Bhṛgus never designate actually existing priests in the RV., but only a group of ancient sacrificers and ancestors, to which Bhṛgu bears the relation of chief, just as Aṅgiras does to the group of the Aṅgirases, or Vasiṣṭha to that of the Vasiṣṭhas.

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The myth of the descent of fire and its communication to man is chiefly connected with Mātariśvan and the Bhṛgus. But while Mātariśvan brings it from heaven as lightning, the Bhṛgus do not fetch it, but are rather regarded as kindling it for the establishment and diffusion of the sacrifice on earth.

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In the later Vedic literature Bhṛgu occurs as the name of a seer representing a tribe (AV. 5, 19¹; AB. 2, 20⁷). He arises as a spark from Prajāpati’s seed and being adopted by Varuṇa receives the patronymic Vāruṇi (AB. 3, 34¹ cp. PB. 18, 9¹) and is expressly called a son of Varuṇa (ŚB. 11, 6, 1¹)².

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¹ Cp. OLDENBERG, SBE. 46, 243. —

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² WEBER, ZDMG. 9, 240 ff. —

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Etymologically the word *bhṛgu* means ‘shining’ from the root *bhrāj*, ‘to shine’. BERGAIGNE³ thinks there can hardly be a doubt that *bhṛgu* was originally a name of fire, while KUHN⁴ and BARTH⁵ agree in the opinion that the form of fire it represents is lightning. KUHN⁶ and WEBER⁷ further identify the Bhṛgus as fire-priests with the Greek φλεγύαι.

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³ BRV. 1,

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52—6; cp. HOPKINS, JAOS. 16, 280. — 4 KHF. 9—14. — 5 BRI. 10. — 6 KHF. 21—2. — 7 ZDMG. 9, 242. — OST. 1, 170; ORV. 123; HRI. 168.

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