Ancient Indian Education (Brahmanical and Buddhist) c9.91

c9.91

The scientific spirit of the Rigveda is also evident in some amount of free thinking to which it refers at places. Dissenters are denounced as "haters of the Veda" (*Brahma-dvish*), "maligners of gods" (*deva-nid*), or "men devoid of any doctrine", (*apavrata*). Evidence of heterodoxy and scepticism is also indicated in two hymns, ii, 12 and x, 82. The first is at pains to prove the supremacy of Indra, which is questioned, and the second holds up to ridicule the votaries of the Veda described as "selfish prattling priests plying their business in self-delusion".