Ancient Indian Education (Brahmanical and Buddhist) c9.6

c9.6

In dealing with this vast and varied material belonging to different ages, the editors of the Rigveda Saṁhitā were called upon to evolve advanced and comprehensive principles in constructing their work. Firstly, it had to be a representative collection which could reflect the different types and kinds of literary achievements and religious speculation already current in the country. Thus the Saṁhitā is characterized by a remarkable variety in its contents, the topics dealt with in the hymns it brings together, which differ in their appeal and value. Thus there are many hymns which are pure and sublime expressions of faith and poetry, having no connection with any practical purpose or rituals. There are other hymns which are applied for sacrificial purposes. Some again are entirely prompted by the practical needs of the sacrifice and read like sacrificial songs and litanies, arranged in a businesslike manner, by the priestly poets conducting such sacrifices. Much of their poetry again depends upon their subjects. Those addressed to Varuṇa, for example, rank among the highest. Indra again inspires 250 hymns of a different character as the national god of war. These Varuṇa-Indra hymns, however, are marked by great pathos, vigour, and raciness. Agni, again, is the god of the householder, inspiring hymns that touch the heart and rouse tender feelings. There are pearls of lyric poetry in the hymns to Sūrya, Parjanya, Maruts, and Ushas. Among the sacrificial hymns and litanies may be mentioned as the best specimens the famous Āprī Sūktas (propitiatory hymns). Of a different class are what may be called the funeral songs in the tenth maṇḍala of the Rigveda (where there is the interesting reference to the erection of a mound over a corpse) [*Ṛv.* x, 18, 10-13]. There are also hymns referring to cremation and transmigration [x, 16, 1-6]. The hymn i, 164 reads like a riddle. It refers to a wheel of order with twelve spokes, revolving round the heavens, and holding within it in pairs 720 sons to signify the year of twelve months and 360 days and 360 nights. There is again the long and highly interesting wedding hymn [x, 85]. There are, further, hymns of a somewhat secular character. Instances of these are those called *Saṁvādas*, dialogues or ballads, such as x, 95 on Purūravas and Urvaśī, x, 10 on Yama and Yamī, or x, 85 known as the Sūryā Sūkta. There are also a few didactic poems. One of these, x, 117, is addressed to Dāna (Liberality) as its deity by Ṛishi called *Bhikshu* (Āṅgirasa). It enjoins charity as more meritorious than Yajña, sacrifice. The gift of food is a gift of life, for hunger is a form of death. Friends forsake him who does not help them in need, and leave him homeless, for a home means friends. Fortune also is unstable like the wheels of a rolling chariot. So one must not cling to it as a miser. Nor can it save him from death. Nor should one be proud of it, for a rich man finds another richer. Twins, looking alike, differ in mind (*chit*), strength (*vīrya*), and liberality. So there is no religion higher than charity. Similarly, x, 34, is a pathetic monologue in which a gambler bemoans the ruin he has brought to his wife, mother, and family by dicing, exclaiming: "Play not with dice: ply thy tillage: enjoy and value the property thou hast, thy cattle, and thy wife (*kṛishimit kṛishasva vitte ramasva tatra gāvaḥ tatra jāyā*). There are again some special hymns called *Dāna-stutis*, about forty in number, of which the best is the aforesaid x, 117. Lastly, we ascend to the highest level of philosophy in hymns like the song of creation in x, 129; x, 125 on Logos, or x, 90 on the sacrifice of the Virāṭ Purusha to sustain his creation.