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PART
FOUR
OTHER HYMNS
HYMN IN PRAISE OF INDRA
I.5
"But approach, but sit down, sing out towards Indra,
O friends
who bear the burden of the psalm."
स्तोम
(stoma). From
स्तु
(stu) to establish firmly. Stoma is the
psalm, the hymn of praise; it is the expression in the potency
of speech of those qualities in the Lord of Mental Force,
— or whatever other Master of being is praised, — which the
sadhaka is either calling to his aid or aspires to bring out in his
own being and activity. The expression of a quality in inspired
and rhythmic speech tends by the essential nature of Mantra to
bring forward and establish in habitual action that which was
formerly latent or vague in the nature. For this reason the psalm
is stoma, that which establishes or confirms, as the prayer is uktha, that which desires or wills, and the simple hymn is
gāyatra, that which brings up and sets in motion, or śamsa, that which
brings out into the field of expression.
"When the nectar has been distilled, then it is Indra I take
for friends, the mightiest of all that is mighty, the lord of all
highest desirable things."
पुरूतमं पुरूणाम्
(purūtamam purūṇām). Sayana's
far-fetched and violent gloss, "waster of many (foes), lord of many possessions",
is an entirely needless violation of the plain sense of the words.
पुरूतमं पुरूणाम्
(purūtamam purūṇām) can have only one
meaning and grammatical connection, "most
पुरू
(puru) among all
that are
पुरू
(puru)," just as
ईशानं वार्याणाम् (īśānam vāryāṇām) means
"master among all that is supreme",
वार्य
(vārya) may indeed
mean "desirable", very much in the underlying sense of
वर
(vara), a boon but "supreme", rather than "desirable" chimes with
ईशान
(īśāna) and suits the balance of the phrases.
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– 491
सचा
(sacā) is accepted invariably by the grammarians as an
adverb in the sense of "together" formed from root
सच्
(sac) to adhere, to accompany. But is it certain that the word has no
other sense in the Veda ? The arrangement, if not the construction of the words in this line calls imperatively for a verb to
connect
इन्द्र
(indra) with
सोमे सुते
(some sute). To read in
प्र गायत अभि
(pra gāyata abhi) from the first Rik, is intolerably clumsy.
Now in form
सचा
(sacā) may be the Active
imperative of
सच्
(sac)
— the singular would then be addressed to one of the company
and replace... the collective plural of the first and fourth Riks
— as
सचस्व
(sacasva) is its imperative Middle; or it may be more
naturally, if my suggestion in connection with
पृच्छा
(pṛcchā) (see
Hymn 4) is accepted, the first person indicative present of the
verb used in the Active Mood and with a transitive effect. If
सचस्व
(sacasva) can mean "to consort with, always dwell with as
a friend" (see Hymn 7),
सचा (sacā) in the Active may very well
mean "I keep with me as a friend or comrade". The sentence
then becomes natural, straightforward and simple and the sense
perfect and appropriate not only to the present verse, but to the
preceding Rik and to the Rik that follows. It provides us with
the perfect logical connection and transition which is a perpetual
feature of the Vedic style. In the first verse the Rishi invites his
"friends" or "life-companions" to sing the psalm of Indra; the
second states the object and purpose of their singing which is to
have this mighty and supreme Master of things as a friend, —
the peculiar purpose of Madhuchchhandas as the acknowledged
head of this group of sadhakas,
यस्ते सखिभ्य आ
वरम् (yaste sakhibhya ā varam); the third justifies the choice of the forceful God by
affirming Indra's faithful friendship and his perfect helpfulness.
"It was he that was ever present to us in the union (with our
desire), he ever for our felicity, he ever in the holding of our city;
ever he comes to us with gifts of substance (in his hands)."
The emphasis is on
स:
(saḥ) which is, therefore, repeated
with each case of application,
स योगे स राये स पुरंध्याम्
(sa yoge,
sa rāye, sa puramdhyām), and
घा (ghā) serves to bring out the
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– 492
intention of the Rishi to emphasise the word. He is explaining
why it is towards Indra,
इन्द्रमभि
(indramabhi), that the psalm
must be upheld; for it is Indra that is there always in the getting
of our desire, Indra always when felicity is the result of our active
consciousness, Indra always when our getting and our felicity
are attacked and our city has to be held against the Dasyus, the
robbers, the foes. He comes to us always bringing fresh substance
to our mental faculties, increased resources of mental force for
our active consciousness.
भुवत्, गमत्
(bhuvat, gamat) — the habitual past, formed direct from the proper stem
भू, गम्
(bhū, gam). I accept
राये (rāye) as the usual dative, although I do not feel at
all certain that we are not sometimes in the presence of a form
राय:
(rāyaḥ) and this
राये (rāye) like
योगे
(yoge) and
पुरंध्याम्
(puramdhyām) a locative.
योग
(yoga). The idea of Yoga in all its Vedic senses is the
reaching out of the being in us to unite itself with being expressed
in other persons, objects or forces, whether in the form of application of effort, contact of consciousness or acquisition of
things desired.
पुरंध्याम्
(puramdhyām). I can accept neither
योषिति (yoṣiti) nor his
बहुविधायां बुध्धौ
(bahuvidhāyām buddhau); his
construction of
पुरम्
(puram) —
बहु
(bahu) with
धि
(dhi) —
बुद्धि
(buddhi) is almost grotesque in its violence,
पुर्
(pur) is that which
is filled or that which contains and protects, the city, the ādhāra, this nine-gated city of ours in which we guard our gettings
and enjoy our felicity;
धि: (dhiḥ) is holding, supporting. Always
attacked by spiritual enemies, Dasyus, Rakshasas, Daityas,
Vritras, Panis, it has to be maintained and upheld by the strength
of the gods, Indra first, Indra always, Indra foremost.
"Sing to that Indra whose steeds no foeman in our battles
can withstand in the shock."
संस्थे
(samsthe). Sayana's construction
यस्य रथे
(युक्तौ) हरी
(yasya rathe [yuktau] harī) seems to me in the last degree forced
and impossible. If
संस्थ
(samstha) means
रथ
(ratha), and
बृण्वते
(vṛṇvate) means
संभजन्ते
(sambhajante), the only sense can be that
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– 493
Indra's enemies in Indra's chariot do not approve of his horse!
We must find more possible sense for
संस्थ
(samstha). In connection
with battles, it may well mean the meeting and locked struggle
of his enemies, and
बृण्वते
(vṛṇvate) well having the sense which
we find so often, of checking, obstructing or successfully opposing. When Indra
and the enemy stand struggling together in the shock of battle, they cannot
succeed in restraining the progress of his car; it forces always the obstacle and moves forward
to its goal. The verse following on the
आ भुवत् पुरंध्याम्
(ā bhuvat
puramdhyām) of the last Rik and ending in the resumption of the
first idea closes appropriately in the word
गायत
(gāyata) and with
true Vedic perfection of the minutiae of style, the train of thought
started by a
प्र गायत
(pra gāyata) and brought out by
ईन्द्रं सचा
(indram
sacā).
"Distilled for purification are these juices of the Soma;
pure, they are spent for thy manifestation, able then to bear their
own intensity."
सुतपाव्ने
(sutapāvne).
सोमस्य पानकर्त्रे
(somasya pānakartre), says
Sayana, and he is well within his rights, for
पावन्
(pāvan) would
undoubtedly be in later Sanskrit a noun of the agent and so taken
in this passage, it makes good sense. "Here are these Somas
distilled for the Soma drinker." But, as European scholars have
discovered, in the old Aryan tongue the dative
अने
(ane) was used
verbally to express the action, no less than the agent, and appears
disguised in the Greek infinitive nai, enai while the shorter form
अन्
(an) dative or nominative appears as the ordinary Greek infinitive ein. Old Aryan
असन्
(asan) for being remains in Greek as
einai to be;
दावन्
(dāvan) for giving as dounai to give;
भुवन्
(bhuvan) for becoming as
phuein to become;
श्रुवन्
(śruvan) for hearing
as kluein to hear. Can we hold that this ancient Aryan form persists in the Veda, in such forms as
पावने, दावने
(pāvane, dāvane)?
The hypothesis is tenable. In that case, however, we should land ourselves in
our passage in a piece of grotesque bathos, "these Soma-juices have been
distilled for the purpose of drinking Soma"! If we have to accept the idea of drinking for
पावन्
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– 494
(pāvan), Sayana's interpretation is infinitely to be preferred.
But
पावन्
(pāvan) occurs to us naturally as of the same
form as
दावन्
( dāvan), by the addition of
अन्,
(an) to the root
पा
(pā) to drink, with the intercalary euphonious
व
(va) which we
find established in Tamil and surviving in Sanskrit forms like
ब्रुवन्
, स्तुवे
(bruvan, stuve), yet
पावन्
(pāvan) may equally derive
from the root
पू
(pū) to purify by modification of the root vowel,
as in
पावक
(pāvaka) and
पावन
(pāvan) before the termination
अन्
(an). If we accept this account of
sutapāvne, we get a deep and
fruitful significance thoroughly in harmony with the subtle, suggestive and pregnant style of the hymns of Madhuchchhandas.
The nectar juices are distilled for the primary process of purification of what has been distilled,
सुतपावने
(sutapāvne); when they are
purified,
शुचय:
(śucayaḥ), they then come into use
यन्ति वीतये (yanti vītaye), because they are then
दध्याशिर:
(dadhyāśiraḥ).
The presence of the epithet
शुचय: (śucayaḥ) becomes at once intelligible;
otherwise an ornate epithet, not without
meaning, but not really needed, it becomes in this rendering a word of capital
importance, logically accessory and indeed inevitable in the context,
दध्याशिर:
(dadhyāśiraḥ), led up to naturally by
शुचय:(śucayaḥ), and comes with equal inevitability as the climax of the sentence
and the thought.
वीतये
(vītaye). Sayana says
भक्षणार्थे
(bhaksanārthe),
but he gives other significances also for
वी
(vī)
गतिव्याप्तिप्रजननकान्त्यसनखादनेष्विति
(gati-vyāpti-prajanana-kanti-asana-khādaneṣviti). In the sense of
going, as in the familiar classical
वीत
(vīta),
वी
(vī) is sometimes
the compound of
वि+इ
(vi+i) to go, but the verb we have in
वीतये
(vītaye)
is rather the long form
वी
(vī) of the primary root
वि
(vi) to manifest, open, shine, be born, appear, produce, grow,
spread, extend, move, still surviving in
वयस्, वियत्, वयुनम्, (vayas,
viyat, vayunam). The rendering
खादन
(khādana) strikes me as an
additional sense forced upon it by the ceremonialists in order to
bring this crucial Vedic term within the scope of their ritualistic
conceptions. I take it, in the Veda, in its natural sense of manifestation, appearance, bringing out or expansion. The word
वीति
(vīti) describes the capital process of Vedic Yoga, the manifestation for formation and activity of that which is in us unmanifest, vague or inactive. It is
वीतये
(vītaye) or
देववीतये (devavītaye),
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– 495
for manifestation of the gods or of the powers and activities which they represent that the Vedic sacrificer is initiated
and conducted internally in subjective meditation and surrender,
externally in objective worship and oblation. The Soma juices
purified
यन्ति वीतये
(yanti vītaye) go to manifest, are spent for
manifestation, — in this case, as we see in the next verse
वृध्धो अजायथा:
(vṛddho ajāyathāḥ), — of Indra, the god of the hymn,
Master of mental force.
दधि — आशिर:
(dadhi—āśiraḥ). This expression must either
consist of two separate words
दधि
(dadhi) and
आशिर:
(āśiraḥ) wrongly combined in the Padapatha or it is a compound — as
Sayana takes it—epithet, of
सोमास:
(somāsaḥ). In the
first case,
दधि
(dadhi) may mean curd and
आशिर:
(āśiraḥ) milk, used
in the plural to express several helpings of milk; we shall have then to
translate ritualistically, "here are (Somas) distilled for the Soma drinker and
here, purified, go Somas, curd and milks for eating." Let those take it so who
will and reconcile as they may its puerility with the loftiness of the verse
that precedes and subtlety of the verse that follows. But it is clear from the
construction and arrangement of words that
दधि-आशिर
: (dadhi-āśirah) is an epithet of
सोमास:
(somāsaḥ). Sayana's explanation is too wonderfully complex
for acceptation; nor can
दधि-आशिर:(dadhi-āśiraḥ̣)
mean
दधि-आशिर-युक्त:
dadhi-āśira-yuktaḥ), one of the two factors in the compound
may have a verbal force, the other of the governed substantive; nor in the older terms of Vedic language is there any
insurmountable objection to the verb in the compound preceding the word it governs.
दधि
(dadhi)
will then be a verbal adjective formed by reduplication from
धि
(dhi), cf.
दधिष्व
(dadhiṣva), the adjective
दध्धि
(daddhi) upholding, able to uphold and
आशिर
(āśira) a noun expressing devouring heat, force or intensity
akin to the other Vedic word
आशु
(āśu) more than once used adjectively in this sense by Madhuchchhandas. We get therefore
the sense "able, being purified, to sustain the action of their
own intensity", — not, therefore, rapidly wasted so as to be
unable to supply the basis of delight and force necessary for
Indra's action.
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– 496
"Thou for the drinking of the Soma-juice straightway onward didst appear increased, O Indra, for supremacy, O great in
strength."
अजायथा:
(ajāyathāḥ), didst appear; again the habitual past.
The idea of the verse follows in logical order on the suggestions in the last. The Rishi has devoted his four verses to the
reasons he has to give for the preference of Indra and the hymning of Indra. He then proceeds to the offering of the Soma, the
wine of immortality, Ananda materialised in the delight-filled
vitality; it is first expressed in the terms of joy and vitality; it
is next purified; purified it is spent in the putting out of mental
force for the manifestation of divine Mind, Indra; Indra manifests at once,
सद्य:... अजायथा:
(sadyaḥ...ajāyathāḥ),
but he manifests increased; a greater mental force appears than has been experienced in the past stages of the Yoga or the life. Indra
appears thus increased
सुतस्य पीतये
(sutasya pītaye) and
ज्यैष्ठ्याय
(jyaiṣṭhyāya),
primarily for the drinking of the joy and vitality that has been distilled,
secondarily, through and as a result of the taking up of that joy and vitality
in the active mental consciousness for supremacy,
ज्येष्ठ्य
(jyaiṣhṭya), that is to say, for full
manifestation of his force in that fullness in which he is always
the leader of the divine war and king and greatest of the battling
gods. Therefore is the appellation
सुक्रतो
(sukrato) placed at the end in order
to explain
ज्यैष्ठ्याय
(jyaiṣṭhyāya). The Lord of Mental Force is a very mighty god; therefore, when he appears in
his fullness, it is always his force that takes the lead in our activity. We
have in these two verses a succession of symbolic concepts in perfect logical order which express stage by stage the
whole process of the divine manifestation in this lower material
activity, devaviti, in Adhwara Yajna.
"May the fiery Soma-juices enter into thee,
O Indra, thou
who hast delight in the Word; may they be peace to thee in thy
forward-acting awareness."
आशव:
(āśavaḥ) व्याप्तिमन्त:
(
vyāptimantaḥ), says Sayana; but
the epithet is then inapposite.
आशु
(āśu) like
आशिर
(āśira) means
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– 497
devouring, fiery, intense, impetuous, swift — cf. the senses of
आशिर
(āśira), fire, the sun, a demon. The joy and vitality are to
pervade the mental force and, because this is to be done in the
force of the word, the mantras,
गिर:
(giraḥ), therefore Indra is
addressed as
गिर्वण:
(girvaṇaḥ), the word, besides, preparing after
the fashion of Vedic interlinking the transition of the thought to
the subject of the next verse.
प्रचेतसे
(pracetase). The epithet is not here merely ornamental
or generally descriptive; if it were, the vocative would have been
preferred. The use of the dative indicates clearly that
प्रचेतस्
(pracetas} is meant to express the condition in which the peace is
desired. The most serious obstacle of the sadhaka is the difficulty
of combining action with a basis of calm; when intense force
enters the system and is put out in activity, it brings eagerness,
disturbance, trouble, and excitement of activity and exhaustion
of relapse. There is
अशान्ति
(aśānti), absence of
शम्
(śam). It is easy
to avoid this when there is quietude and the Ananda is merely
enjoyed, not utilised. But Indra, as mental force, has to be
प्रचेतस्
(pracetas), consciously active, putting his consciousness
forward in thought and action, he has to absorb the Soma-wine
and lose nothing of its fire, yet preserve the peace of the liberated
soul. The Soma-juices have to bring added peace with them to
the active mind as well as an added force.
"Thee the hymns of praise have increased, thee, the hymns
of prayer, O Indra of the hundred mights; thee may (let) our
Words increase."
अवीवृधन्
(avīvṛdhan). The habitual past. In the past and as a
rule, praise of Indra and prayer to Indra have increased and
increase the mental force; let the words also of this mantra now
increase it.
गिर:
(giraḥ) takes up the
गिर्वण: (girvaṇaḥ) of the last line. It is the mantra that has to make the Soma effective in increasing Indra. The thought, therefore, takes up the
प्र गायत
(pra gāyata) of the first Rik and applies it to the office which is asked of Indra,
for which he has been given the Soma-wine, the general purpose
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– 498
of the invocatory chant and the utility of this divine increase
in the fiery strength of the Soma offering.
"Unimpaired in his expansion may Indra safeguard this
myriad wealth (of mind) on which all our strengths are established."
अक्षितोति:
(akṣitotiḥ). The ritualistic interpretation of the ninth
Rik is not unworth noting for its unadulterated clumsiness
and unconvincing pointlessness. Sayana takes
वाजम्
(vājam) in
the sense of food and supposes it to allude to the Soma. "Let
Indra," he renders it, "whose protection is undamaged, enjoy
this food thousand-numbered, in which food are all strengths."
Nothing is clear here except the working of a mind ignorant of
the meaning of the text and compelled to hammer out a meaning
in harmony with tradition and ritualistic prepossessions. In the
light of the symbolic interpretation, the verse like every other
becomes both in sense and construction simple, straightforward,
logical, well-ordered and full of subtle purpose and consummate
dexterity,
ऊति:
(ūtiḥ) is expansion. Indra is supposed to have
increased mental force in accordance with his experience,
वृध्धो अजायथा:, अवीवृधन्
(vṛddho ajāyathāḥ, avīvṛdhan), and in answer to
the prayer
त्वां वर्धन्तु नो गिर:
(tvām vardhantu no giraḥ) he is
वृध्ध:
(vṛddhaḥ); the Rishi prays that that increased mental force may
remain unimpaired,
अक्षित
(akṣita), and that the Lord of the Force,
thus preserved in the expansion of his power, may safeguard,
preserve or keep safe,
सनेद्
(saned), this substance of mind, this rich
mind-stuff full of the force of Indra,
सहस्रिणम्
(sahasriṇam), in which
all human strengths repose for their effectiveness and stability.
सनेद्
(saned). The group of words,
सा:, साति:, सन्
, सनय:, सन:, सनि:, सानसि:
(sāḥ, sātiḥ, san, sanayaḥ, sanaḥ, saniḥ, sānasiḥ), are of
great importance in the Veda. Sayana is not consistent in his
interpretation of them. He applies to them his favourite ritualistic ideas of giving, favour, progeny, eating, etc. I attach to them
invariably the sense of substance, permanence, safety, preservation, safeguarding. The basic sense of the roots of the
sa
(स)
family is substance, steadfastness, stability, solidity,
सा:
(sāḥ)
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– 499
is the Greek sws, safe,
साति:
(sātiḥ)
the Greek sosis, safety, salvation, preservation,
सन्
(san) is the basis
of the Latin sanus, sound, sane, in health which rests on the fundamental
sense "well- preserved, safe from harm", and of the Sanskrit
सनत्
, सना, सनात् , सनातन:
(sanat, sanā, sanāt, sanātanaḥ), perpetual, eternal, and
सनय:, सनि:,
सन:, सानसि:
(sanayaḥ, saniḥ, sanaḥ, sānasiḥ) are its derivatives in this
fundamental significance. We shall find that this interpretation will illuminate
the sense of every passage in which the words occur, need never be varied and
never lead to either straining of sense or awkwardness of construction.
सहस्रम्
(sahasram) means "a thousand";
if that be its only significance,
सहस्रिणम्
(sahaśriṇam) must mean, myriad,
thousand-fold, infinitely numerous or varied. I am convinced, however, that
सहस
(sahasra) meant originally as an adjective plentiful or forceful, or as a
noun, plenty or force;
सहस्रिणम्
(sahasriṇam) would then mean "abundantly
plentiful" or "rich in force" In any case, it describes well the myriad-shaped
wealth of mind-stuff and mind-force which is the basis of all our masculine
activities or practical masteries,
यस्मिन्
विश्वानि पौंस्या
(yasmin viśvani paunsyā).
We may, if we choose, take the phrase to mean "wealth counted by thousands" of
gold pieces or of cattle in which, says the Vedic Rishi, reside all forms of
human strength and greatness. But I am not disposed to lend the sentiment of Mammon worship to men of an early age in which strength, skill and mental resource
must have been the one source and protection of wealth and not, as falsely
seems to be the fact in a plutocratic age, wealth the source and condition of
the rest. The Vedic Rishis may have been primitive sages, but primitive savages
did not hold sentiments of this kind; they valued strength and skill first,
wealth only as the reward of strength and skill.
"Let not mortal men (or, let not the
slayers) do hurt to us, O Indra who delightest in the mantra; be the lord of our
bodies and give us to ward off the stroke."
मर्ता:
(martāḥ), Greek brotos,
mortal. The Rishi has already prayed for protection of his spiritual gains
against spiritual
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– 500
enemies; he now prays for the safety from human blows of the
physical body. But I am inclined to think that
मर्ता: (martāḥ) here has an active rather than a passive sense; for the termination
त
(ta) may have either force,
मर्त:
(martaḥ) undoubtedly
means mortal in the Veda, but it is possible that it bears also the
sense of slayer, smiter, deadly one like
मर्त (marta) in the Latin mors, like the transitive sense in mortal, which means either
subject to death or deadly. In any case I cannot follow Sayana in
taking तनूनाम्
(tanūnām) as subject to
अभि
(abhi). I take it only
set to
ईशान: (īśānah) which is otherwise otiose and pointless in the
sentence. The significant use of
गिर्वण: (girvaṇaḥ) indicates that
the safety from mortal strokes is also claimed as a result of the
Vedic mantra. "Let not those who would slay, do harm against
us (अभि
[abhi] in our direction); do thou Indra, lord of mental
force, in the strength of the mantra, govern our bodies and when
the blow comes in our direction ward it off or enable us to ward
it off (यवय
[yavaya], causal)." The reference seems to me to be
to that power of the mental force in which the Indian yogin has
always believed, the power which, substituting a divine mental
action for the passive helpless and vulnerable action of the
body, protects the individual and turns away all attempts physical or otherwise to do him hurt. If I am right in my interpretation, we see the source of the Tantric idea of the
stoma or stotra acting as a kavaca or mental armour around the body which
keeps off the attacks of suffering, calamity, diseases, wounds
or death. We may note that if
मर्ता:
(martāḥ) be slayers,
तनूनाम्
(tanūnām) may be governed by
मर्ता: (martāḥ); "let not the slayers
of the body do hurt towards us, O Indra who delightest in the
mantra; govern them (our bodies with thy mental force) and give
us to ward off the stroke." But, in any case, whether we associate
तनूनाम्
(tanūnam) with
अभ (abhi) or
मर्ता: (martāḥ)
or
ईशान: (īśānaḥ),
ईशान: (īśānaḥ)
must refer back to
तनूनाम्
(tanūnam). Sayana's "ward
off the blow, for thou canst", is a pointless superfluity, one of
those ideas which seem right and ingenious to the scholar, but
would never suggest itself to the poet; least of all to a master of
style like Madhuchchhandas.
Page
– 501
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