Vedic Mythology c9.s3: § 74

Vedic Mythology c9.s3

Language: English

§ 74 c9.s3.1

The most distinct and prominent references to the future life are in the ninth and tenth books of the RV., but it is also sometimes referred to in the first. Heaven is regarded as the reward of those who practise rigorous penance (*tapas*), of heroes who risk their lives in battle (10, 154²⁻⁵), but above all of those who bestow liberal sacrificial gifts (ib.³; 1, 125⁵; 10, 107²). The AV. is full of references to the blessings accruing to the latter.

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In heaven the deceased enter upon a delectable life (10, 14⁸. 15¹⁴. 162·⁵), in which all desires are fulfilled (9, 113⁹·¹¹), and which is passed among the gods (10, 14¹⁴), particularly in the presence of the two kings Yama and Varuṇa (10, 14⁷). There they unswervingly overcome old age (10, 27²¹). Uniting with a glorious body they are dear and welcome to the gods (10, 14⁸. 16⁵. 56¹). There they see father, mother, and sons (AV. 6, 120³), and unite with wives and children (AV. 12, 3¹⁷). The life is free from imperfections and bodily frailties (10, 14⁸; AV. 6, 120³). Sickness is left behind and limbs are not lame or crooked (AV. 3, 28⁵). It is often said in the AV. and ŚB. that the deceased are in that world complete in body and limbs¹.

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The dead are in the RV. often spoken of in general terms (*madanti*, *mādayante*) as enjoying bliss (10, 14¹⁰. 15¹⁴, &c.). The most detailed account of the joys of the life in heaven is given in RV. 9, 113⁷⁻¹¹. There are eternal light and swift waters; there movement is unrestrained (cp. TB. 3, 12, 2⁹); there is spirit food and satiety; there joy, glee, gladness, and the fulfilment of all desires. The joys here indefinitely referred to, are later explained to be those of love (TB. 2, 4, 6⁶ cp. ŚB. 10, 4, 4⁴); and the AV. (4, 34²) states that in the heavenly world there is abundance of sexual gratification. According to the ŚB.' the joys of the Blest are a hundred times as great as the highest on earth (14, 7, 1³²⁻³). In the heaven of the Blest, the RV. further says, the sound of the flute and of songs is heard (10, 135⁷)²; Soma, ghee, and honey flow for them (10, 154¹). There are ponds filled with ghee and streams flowing with milk, honey, and wine (AV. 4, 34⁵.⁶; ŚB. 11, 5, 6⁴). There are at hand bright, many-coloured cows yielding all desires (*kāmadughāḥ*: AV. 4, 34⁸). There are neither rich nor poor, neither powerful nor oppressed (AV. 3, 29³). To the celestial life of the Blest in the Saṃhitās and Brāhmaṇas corresponds in the Upaniṣads the lower and transient bliss of the heaven of the gods which is followed by rebirth, only those who know the truth attaining to immortality and the changeless joy of unending peace by absorption into the world-soul³. Thus the life of the righteous dead in heaven was clearly regarded as one of indolent, material bliss, in which freed from all frailties they were united with the gods, and which was devoted to music, drinking, and sensual joys (such as the gods themselves are occasionally alluded to as indulging in: cp. 3, 53⁶).

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Heaven is a glorified world of material joys as pictured by the imagination not of warriors but of priests⁴. It is the world of the righteous (10, 16⁴), where righteous and godly men, familiar with rites (*ṛta*) dwell in bliss⁵. There they are united with what they have sacrificed and given (*iṣṭāpūrta*)⁶, especially reaping the reward of their pious gifts to priests (10, 154³ &c.)⁷. In the Brāhmaṇas it is said that those who sacrifice properly above all attain union and identity of abode with the sun (*āditya*) and with Agni, but also with Vāyu, Indra, Varuṇa, Bṛhaspati, Prajāpati and Brahmā (ŚB. 2, 6, 4⁸; 11, 4, 4²¹. 6, 2²·³; TB. 3, 10, 11⁶). A certain sage is described as having through his knowledge become a golden swan, gone to heaven, and obtained union with the sun TB. (3, 10, 9¹¹). In the TS. (6, 6, 9²) the notion occurs that a man by the performance of certain rites can reach heaven without dying (*jīvan*)⁸.

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One who reads the Veda in a particular way is said to be freed from dying again and to attain identity of nature (*sātmatā*) with Brahmā (ŚB. 10, 5, 6⁹). As a reward for knowing a certain mystery a man is born again, in this world (ŚB. 1, 5, 3¹⁴). Thus we have in the ŚB. the beginnings of the doctrine of retribution and transmigration. That doctrine (as well as the doctrine of hell) is not only to be found in the earliest Sūtras⁹, but appears fully developed in the later Brāhmaṇa period, that is to say, in the oldest Upaniṣads, the Chāndogya, the Bṛhadāraṇyaka, and especially the Kaṭha Upaniṣad¹⁰. In the latter Upaniṣad the story is related of Naciketas, who pays a visit to the realm of Death and is told by the latter, that those who have not sufficient merit for heaven and immortality, fall again and again into the power of death and enter upon the cycle of existence (*saṃsāra*), being born again and again with a body or as a stationary object. He who controls himself reaches Viṣṇu's highest place. On the other hand, there is no hell for those not found worthy¹¹.

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¹ References in OST. 5, 315; cp. AIL. 411; HRI. 205. —

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² At the sacrifice to the Manes music was performed, lutes (*vīṇā*) being played (KS. 84, 8). —

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³ HRI. 239. —

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⁴ ORV. 532. —

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⁵ 1, 115^2. 154^5; 10, 15^1. 174. 154^{2-5}; AV. 6, 95^1. 120^3; VS. 15, 50. —

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⁶ WINDISCH, FaB. 115—8. —

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⁷ For references to the same idea in the AV. see OST. 5, 293, note 433; cp. IStr. 1, 20 ff. —

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⁸ WEBER, ZDMG. 9, 237 ff.; OST. 5, 317; HRI. 204. —

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⁹ HRI. 175. —

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¹⁰ HRI. 145, note 4; cp. v. SCHROEDER, Indiens Litt. u. Kultur 245; GARBE in this encyclopedia 3, 4, p. 15. —

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¹¹ Origin of the myth, TB. 3, 11^8; cp. SVL. 10, n. 1; BRI. 78.

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§ 75. Hell. — If in the opinion of the composers of the RV. the virtuous received their reward in the future life, it is natural that they should have believed at least in some kind of abode, if not in future punishment,¹ for the wicked, as is the case in the Avesta². As far as the AV. and the Kaṭha Upaniṣad are concerned, the belief in hell is beyond doubt. The AV. (2, 14^3; 5, 19^3) speaks of the house below, the abode of female goblins and sorceresses, called *nāraka loka*³, in contrast with *svarga loka*, the heavenly world, the realm of Yama (12, 4^). To this hell the murderer is consigned (VS. 30, 5). It is in the AV. several times described as 'lowest darkness' (8, 2^ &c.), as well as 'black darkness' (5, 30^) and 'blind darkness' (18, 3^3). The torments of hell are also once described in the AV. (5, 19) and with greater detail in the ŚB. (11, 6, 1)⁴; for it is not till the period of the Brāhmaṇas that the notion of future punishment appears plainly developed⁵. The same Brāhmaṇa further states that every one is born again after death and is weighed in a balance⁶,, receiving reward or punishment according as his works are good or bad (ŚB 11, 2, 7^; cp. 12, 9, 1^1). This idea is also Iranian.⁷ ROTH⁸ favours the view that the religion of the RV. knows nothing of hell, the wicked being supposed to be annihilated by death. Evidence of the belief in some kind of hell is, however, not altogether wanting in the RV. Thus, 'this deep place' is said to have been produced for those who are evil, false, and untrue (4, 5^5). Indra-Soma are besought to 'dash the evil-doers into the abyss (*vavre*), into bottomless darkness, so that not even one of them may get out' (7, 104^3); and the poet prays that 'she (the demoness) who malignantly wanders about like an owl concealing herself, may fall into the endless abysses' (ib. ^17), and that the enemy and robber may lie below all the three earths (ib. ^). But such references are few and the evidence cannot be said to go beyond showing belief in a hell as an underground darkness. The thoughts of the poets of the RV., intent on the happiness of this earth, appear to have rarely dwelt on the joys of the next life, still less on its possible punishments⁹. The doctrine of the Brāhmaṇas is that after death, all, both good and bad, are born again in the next world and are recompensed according to their deeds (ŚB. 6, 2, 2^; 10, 6, 3^1), but nothing is said as to the eternity of reward or punishment¹⁰. The notion also occurs there that those who do not rightly understand and practise the rites of sacrifice, depart to the next world before the natural term of their terrestrial life (ŚB. 11, 2, 7^).

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The idea of a formal judgment to which all the dead must submit, seems hardly traceable to the Vedic period. One or two passages of the RV. in which reference to it has been found¹¹, are too indefinite to justify such an interpretation. In the TA. (6, 5^) it is said that the truthful and untruthful are separated before Yama, but that he acts in the capacity of a judge, is not implied¹².

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That the belief in a hell goes back even to the Indo-European period, has been argued by WEBER¹³ on the strength of the equation Bhṛgu = φλεγύαι¹⁴ and the fact that the former is described in the ŚB. as sent by his father Varuṇa for pride to see the tortures of hell, and the latter are condemned for pride to undergo severe tortures in hell. But the similarity of the two legends is probably only a coincidence, as belief in the torments of hell seems to be a later development in India¹⁵.

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¹ Zimmer and Scherman, but Hopkins considers this conclusion pedantic. —

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² Roth, JAOS. 3, 345; Geldner, FaW. 22, thinks that hell is directly referred to in RV. 10, 106 by the word *vīci*. —

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³ *Naraka* in AV. and Brāhmaṇas: Whitney, JAOS. 13, civ. —

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⁴ Weber, ZDMG. 9, 240 ff. —

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⁵ HRI. 175. —

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⁶ Weber, ZDMG. 9, 238; OST. 5, 314—5. —

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⁷ Jackson, Trans. of the 10th Or. Congress 2, 67—73. —

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⁸ Roth, JAOS. 3, 329—47; cp. also Weber, ZDMG. 9, 238 f. —

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⁹ Cp. AIL. 418 ff.; Scherman, Romanische Forschungen 5, 569 ff.; SVL. 122 ff.; KRV. n. 287 a; ORV. 538 ff.; HRI. 147. —

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¹⁰ Weber, ZDMG. 9, 237—43. —

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¹¹ SVL. 152—3. —

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¹² ORV. 541—2. —

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¹³ ZDMG. 9, 242. —

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¹⁴ KHF. 23; WVB. 1894, p. 3. —

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¹⁵ Cp. Jaiminīya Br. ed. Burnell I, 42—4; Oertel, JAOS. 15, 234—8; SVL. 5—8; Spiegel, Eranische Altertumskunde 1, 458; HRI. 206.

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§ 76. The Pitṛs. — The blessed dead who dwell in the third heaven are called Pitṛs or Fathers. By this term are generally meant the early or first ancestors (10, 15^8. 10), who followed the ancient paths, seers who made the paths by which the recent dead go to join them (10, 14^2. 7. 15). They are connected with the (third) step of Viṣṇu (10, 15^3 cp. 1, 154^5). Two hymns of the RV. are devoted to their praise (10, 15. 54).

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Their different races are mentioned by name as Navagvas, Vairūpas, Aṅgirases, Atharvans, Bhṛgus, Vasiṣṭhas (10, 14^4-6. 15^8), the last four being identical with the names of priestly families, to whom tradition attributed the composition of the AV.¹ and of books II and VII of the RV. Among these the Aṅgirases are particularly associated with Yama (10, 14^3. 5). The Pitṛs are spoken of as lower, higher, and middle, as earlier and later, and though not all known to their descendants, they are known to Agni (10, 15^1. 2. 13). The AV. speaks of the Pitṛs as inhabiting air, earth, and heaven (AV. 18, 2^49 cp. RV. 10, 15^2).

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The ancient fathers themselves once offered the Soma libation (10, 15^8). They revel with Yama (10, 14^10 cp. 135^1; AV. 18, 4^10), and feast with the gods (7, 76^4). Leading the same life as the gods, they receive almost divine honours. They come on the same car as Indra and the gods (10, 15^10). They are fond of Soma (*somya*: 10, 15^1. 5 &c.) and sitting on the sacrificial grass to the south, they drink the pressed draught (ib. 5. 6). They thirst for the libations prepared for them on earth, and are invited to come with Yama, his father Vivasvat, and Agni, and to eat the offerings along with Yama (ib. ^8-11. 14^4. 5). Arriving in thousands they range themselves in order on the sacrificial ground (10, 15^10. 11). When the Pitṛs come to the sacrifice, evil spirits sometimes intrude into their society in the guise of friends according to the AV. (18, 2^28).

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The Fathers receive oblations as their food, which in one passage (10, 14^3) is referred to with the term *svadhā* as contrasted with *svāhā*, the call to the gods²; so too in the later ritual the portion of the gods at the daily pressings was strictly distinguished from that of the Pitṛs (ŚB. 4, 4, 22). They receive worship, are entreated to hear, intercede for and protect their votaries, and invoked not to injure their descendants for any sin humanly committed against them (10, 15^2. 5. 6 cp. 3, 55^2). Their favour is implored along with that of the dawns, streams, mountains, heaven and earth, Pūṣan and the Ṛbhus (6, 52^4. 75^10; 7, 35^12; 1, 106^3). They are besought to give riches, offspring, and long life to their sons (10, 15^7. 11; AV. 18, 3^14. 4^62), who desire to be in their good graces (10, 14^6). The Vasiṣṭhas collectively are called upon to help their descendants (7, 33¹ cp. 10, 15⁸); and individual ancestors, as Turvaśa, Yadu, and Ugrādeva, are invoked (1, 36¹⁸).

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The Fathers are immortal (AV. 6, 41³) and are even spoken of as gods (10, 56⁴)³. In the Aṅgirases and similar groups the divine character is combined with that of ancient priests. Cosmical actions like those of the gods are sometimes attributed to the Fathers. Thus they are said to have adorned the sky with stars and placed darkness in the night and light in the day (10, 68¹¹), to have found the hidden light and generated the dawn (7, 76⁴ cp. 10, 107¹), and in concert with Soma to have extended heaven and earth (8, 48¹³).

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³ Otherwise HRI. 145, n. 1. —

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Just as the corpse-devouring Agni is distinguished from the Agni who wafts the sacrifice to the gods (10, 16⁹), so the path of the Fathers is distinguished from that of the gods (10, 2⁷. 18¹ cp. 88¹⁵)⁴. Similarly in the ŚB. the heavenly world (*svarga loka*) is contrasted with that of the fathers (*pitṛloka*), the door of the former being said to be in the north-east (ŚB. 6, 6, 2⁴), and that of the latter in the south-east (13, 8, 1⁵)⁵. The fathers are also spoken of as a class distinct from men, having been created separately (TB. 2, 3, 8²).

Linked texts (9)

Ṛgvedasaṃhitā — Sanskrit
Atharvavedasaṃhitā — Atharvan & Aṅgiras, Sanskrit
Śatapathabrāhmaṇa — Yājñavalkya & Śāṇḍilya (Vedic teacher), Sanskrit
Taittirīyabrāhmaṇa — Sanskrit
Taittirīyasaṃhitā — Sanskrit
Vājasaneyisaṃhitā — Sanskrit
Jaiminīyabrāhmaṇa — Sanskrit
Kāṭhakasaṃhitā — Sanskrit
Taittirīyāraṇyaka — Sanskrit