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Vedic Mythology c7.s6: § 64. Noxious Animals

Vedic Mythology c7.s6

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§ 64. Noxious Animals

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These generally appear as demons or show demoniac traits. Demons are sometimes in the RV. referred to with the generic term *mṛga*, 'wild beast' (1, 80⁷; 5, 29⁴. 32³). One demon who is mentioned three times (2, 11¹⁸; 8, 32²⁶. 66²) is called Aurṇavābha, 'Spider-brood'; another referred to only once (2, 14⁴) is named Uraṇa, 'Ram'.

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The most common animal form applied in this way is the serpent¹ (*ahi* = Av. *azhi*)². This is generally only another designation of the demon Vṛtra, who probably received his name (cp. § 68) as a formidable enemy of mankind enveloping his prey like a serpent in his coils³. The Vṛtra-slayer Indra, who is also called the serpent-slayer, is said to have slain the serpent (8, 82² cp. 4, 17¹); the identity of Ahi and Vṛtra is clear where the terms interchange (1, 32¹· ²· ⁷⁻¹⁴); and by the 'first-born of the serpents' (ib.³· ⁴) no other can be meant than 'Vṛtra, the most Vṛtra' (ib.⁵). In several passages, too, the words are in apposition and may be translated 'the serpent Vṛtra'⁴. When Ahi is mentioned alone, the results of Indra's victory over him are the same as in the case of Vṛtra, the god causing the waters to flow, delivering the seven streams, or winning the cows⁵. The waters are also described as encompassed by the serpent, the action being expressed by the root *vṛ* (2, 19²) among others. They are similarly said to be swallowed (*√gras*) by the serpent (4, 17¹; 10, 111⁹). Ahi is armed with lightning thunder and hail (1, 32¹³). He is bright, for the Maruts are called *ahi-bhānavah*, 'shining like Ahi' (1, 172¹); and the term *ahi* is applied to Agni, who is described as a 'raging serpent, like the rushing wind' (1, 79¹)¹⁵. Soma is once besought to deliver an enemy to Ahi (7, 104⁹). The plural of the word is occasionally used to express a race of demons (9, 88⁴; 10, 139⁶), of whom *the* Ahi is the first-born (1, 32³· ⁴).

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The serpent, however, also appears as a divine being in the form of Ahi budhnya (§ 26), who seems to represent the beneficent side of the character of Ahi Vṛtra.

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In the later Saṃhitās the serpents (*sarpāḥ*) are found as a class of semi-divine beings beside the Gandharvas and others. They are spoken of as being in earth, air, and heaven (VS. 13, 6; cp. TB. 3, 1, 1⁷). They are often mentioned in the AV.¹⁶, one hymn of which (11, 9) is sometimes interpreted as an invocation of certain serpent divinities⁷. In the Sūtras offerings to the serpents of earth, air, and heaven (AGS. 2, 1⁹; PGS. 2, 14⁹) are prescribed; serpents are satiated along with gods, plants, demons, &c. (ŚGS. 4, 9³. 15⁴; AGS. 3, 4¹), and blood is poured out for them (AGS. 4, 8²⁷). In this worship the serpent, owing to its hurtfulness, is naturally regarded as having a demoniac nature, which has to be propitiated. In a similar sense offerings are sometimes made to ants (KS. 116).

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¹ Cp. BENFEY, GGA. 1847, p. 1484; GUBERNATIS, Zoological Mythology 2, 392—7; WINTERNITZ, Der Sarpabali, Vienna 1888. — ² SP.AP. 257. — ³ Cp. SP.AP. 261. — ⁴ BRV. 2, 204. — ⁵ GRIFFITH, RV. Transl. 1, 133, note 1; MACDONELL, JRAS. 25, 429. — ⁶ WEBER, Jyotiṣa 94; PW. s. v. *sarpa*. — ⁷ Cp. BLOOMFIELD, SBE. 42, 631—4.

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§ 65. Survival of prehistoric notions. — The primitive conception that man does not differ essentially from beast, has left a few traces in the form of a belief in beings of the werewolf order. These are represented by the man-tigers (VS. 30, 8; ŚB. 13, 2, 4²)¹¹ and by the Nāgas, human beings in appearance but in reality serpents, which are first mentioned under this name in the Sūtras² (AGS. 3, 4¹). It does not seem likely that the later serpent worship had any connexion with the myth of the Vṛtra serpent, but its development was probably due rather to the influence of the aborigines. For on the one hand there is no trace of it in the RV., and on the other it has been found prevailing very widely among the non-Aryan Indians. The Aryans doubtless found the cult extensively diffused among the natives when they spread over India, the land of serpents³.

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¹ Cp. the Man-lion incarnation of Viṣṇu. — ² Cp. WINTERNITZ, Sarpabali 43. — ³ ORV. 69, note 2. — ⁴ PW. s. v.; IS. 3, 457. 459. — ⁵ Also mentioned in Manu 2, 19. — ⁶ Superlative of *go*. — ⁷ See PW. sub vocibus. — ⁸ ORV. 85—6; Bloomfield, JAOS. 15, 178, note. — ⁹ PAOS. 1894, p. cliv.

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Similarly, there are possibly in the RV. some survivals of totemism or the belief in the descent of the human race or of individual tribes or families from animals or plants. Kaśyapa, 'Tortoise', the name of a seer (9, 114²) and of a priestly family (AB. 7, 27), is also frequently found in the AV. and the later Vedic literature⁴ as that of a cosmogonic power nearly related to or identified with the Creator Prajāpati. In a passage of the ŚB. (7, 5, 1⁵) Prajāpati appears in the form of a tortoise (*kūrma*). Here it is remarked that, as *kūrma* is identical with *kaśyapa*, 'therefore men say: all beings are the children of the tortoise (*kaśyapa*)'. The RV. (7, 18⁶· ¹⁹) mentions as tribal names the Matsyas (Fishes)⁵, the Ajas (Goats), and the Śigrus (Horse-radishes). As names of Vedic priestly families also occur the Gotamas⁶ (Oxen), the Vatsas (Calves), the Śunakas (Dogs), the Kauśikas (Owls), and Māṇḍukeyas⁷ (Frog-sons). The father of Saṃvaraṇa (a name occurring in RV. 5, 53¹⁰), from whom the kings of the Kurus claimed descent, is in the Epic called Ṛkṣa (Bear)⁸. HOPKINS, however, expresses a doubt whether the names of animals ever point to totemism in the RV.⁹

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