Chapter 2: Veda and the Vedas
in the context of this chapter, Veda “refers to knowledge of the highest sort, made available to all through the revelations of ancient seers. Ordinary truth emerges from the practical experience of the community, the stuff of daily life. It is added to by everyone over time. Veda, however, concerns matters of great moral and religious importance—the meaning of life and death, for example, and the proper relationship between gods and humans. Veda is sacred knowledge” (p. 18).
the fully-formed Vedas (as opposed to their prototypical forms in earlier times) came to be between 1500 and 1000 BCE and were initially written in Sanskrit; this period of time, as mentioned in the previous chapter, is called the Vedic age.
Vedas were almost always spoken by Brahmins and, in particular, by a particularly elite group of scholars known as rishis, who were particularly learned and who served as teachers to others.
Brahmin class = sole protectors and interpreters of the Vedas; were the ones to chant them at all religious events, too, which were meant to facilitate the coming together of gods and humans.
Vedas organized into 4 large collections, each of which had its own particular emphasis but also shared much in common with the others.
Rig Veda: earliest and most significant of the Vedas; “long and loosely organized collection of hymns [called suktas] and chants associated with sacrifices to the various gods” (p. 18). composition likely began c. 1500 BCE but was probably only organized and put into one comprehensive work closer to 1200 BCE. totalled 1,028 suktas in the end, organized into 10 sections called mandalas for the sake of making them easier to memorize. this text served as the groundwork for sacrificial rituals.
Sama Veda and Yajur Veda are two succeeding, related texts; Sama Veda re/arranges certain Rig Veda passages so they could be performed as songs, while Yajur Veda “is essentially a collection of formulas and instructions concerned with the correct arrangement of the ritual” (p. 19).
final Veda is Atharva Veda, which is unique partially because it was made quite a bit later than the others, but also because it’s primarily concerned with “shamanistic formulas, spells, and mystical incantations” (p. 19), which many speculate is the influence of pre-Aryan Dravidian traditions. “Nonetheless, that too came to be part of the great sacrifice rituals, and a priest called the Atharvan had the role of incorporating the appropriate chants from that Veda” (p. 19).
“in the Vedas, the gods are endlessly praised, invoked, flattered” (p. 19).
yajna: the Vedic sacrifice
Vedic society, like other ancient societies, involved a shit-ton of rituals, seemingly for everything (of human significance) under the sun
head of family could officiate minor rituals (eg, how Grandma and Grandpa pray over dinner), but Brahmin priests were the only ones who could officiate more significant rituals
in times of crisis (“or perhaps on the occasion of some special celebration—when one or more of the gods was to be approached directly”; p. 20), Brahmin priests would conduct a huge event called the Vedic Fire Sacrifice, which occurred on holy grounds a distance away from the community’s general living space and which, in antiquity, always occurred outside
prep
first, construct low platform of mud bricks, which serves as alter for sacred fire
nearby, drive big-ass wooden stake into ground, which are “anointed and adorned with colorful ornaments” (p. 20).
then etch a circle in the ground around that fulcrum, highlighted with rocks or sand
circle is now the sacred space that only Brahmin priests can enter, called a mandala
begin ceremony by starting sacred fire and sounding conch horns; fire serves as centre of sacrifice, seen as the living presence of the god Agni
sacrifice given into centre of fire, seen as Agni’s mouth
fire generally quite large
priests
wore ceremonial robes (and possibly a headdress of antler or bull’s horns)
Hotri: the “high priest”-esque Brahmin conducting the sacrifice
Udgatri: lesser-ranking priests; chant verses from the Sama Veda to summon the gods (believed certain musical tones had magical qualities)
Adhvaryu: the priest who oversaw everything while chanting verses from Yajur Veda
“Yet another Brahmin, highly knowledgeable in the details of ritual procedure, actually presided over the ceremony, though he took no active part in it. He sat to the side and carefully observed everything, making sure that every detail was performed correctly. Correct performance was believed to be absolutely essential if the sacrifice was to be successful” (p. 20).
victim-offering was ritually sacrificed; part was put into the flames so the victim’s spirit was carried up to the gods, the rest eaten by participants. possibly human sacrifices in early days, but much more common to sacrifice a stallion or bull (since Vedic noblemen were horse-breeders and cattle-raisers and thus these animals were seen as particularly valuable).
ashvamedha: sacrifice of a fine horse; only ever allowed to be sponsored by kings who’d been successful in battle. “An excellent white stallion would be let loose to wander wherever it wanted for one year. It was followed by a group of warriors who made a note of where it travelled, for the king had a right to claim all of the land included in its wanderings. When the year was over the horse was driven back to the place of sacrifice, where it was ritually slain and cut up in preparation for the ashvamedha” (p. 21).
soma
soma: a hallucinogenic drug used in rituals during the Vedic age
unsure what it actually was (theorize it’s some kind of shroom, potentially related to psilocybin)
believed the gods loved it and had infused it with some kind of sacred spirit that entered them upon its consumption, temporarily granting them the consciousness of a god
Rig Veda and Sama Veda detail a ritual surrounding its prep (crushed, then pressed) and ingestion
only Brahmins were allowed to use it, as they thought it was the way to “ascend temporarily to the realm of the gods” (and thus communicate with them; p. 23)
a little bit was added to the sacred fire
use probably predates Aryan migration into India
the writings detail the plant growing naturally on hilly and mountainous terrain
was to be gathered at night (and some say only under a full moon)
sacred plant
associated with the god Soma, who personified the plant and “temporarily inhabited a person and took over his consciousness” (p. 22) after the plant’s ingestion
“made it possible for [the brāhmaṇo] to share in the divine mode of being” (p. 22).
“The bad trip was ever a worrisome possibility. The Rig Veda even seems to suggest the possibility of heart failure” (p. 22).
only consumed for sacred ceremony
use died out after Vedic age
the Vedic pantheon
this section offers an overview of a handful of the most important gods in the Hindu pantheon, since there are too many with too complex of stories/backgrounds to cover in this text
in the beginning…
“in the beginning was the One, the Ultimate Reality, which took the form of a golden cosmic egg, or embryo. The embryo became the earth and the sky, the most fundamental dual aspects of the one reality. The earth was personified as Prithivi, the mother of all, and the broad and luminous sky was personified as Dyaus, the male counterpart of Prithivi. From Dyaus and Prithivi were born the principal gods and, indirectly, all other things.
“So we see that at this most fundamental level the dual character of nature, male and female, is honored in the personifications of earth and sky. They were not regarded as being distinct. The earth and sky were said to be like two hemispheres that were joined at the horizon to become one whole. The underlying unity of the two was often expressed by joining the two names together into one name, Dyausaprithivi” (p. 24).
principal gods of the Vedic pantheon
though Hinduism has a shit-ton of gods, only a handful were specifically mentioned in the Vedas
Hindu deities, unlike Greco-Roman ones, don’t necessarily have precise or well-defined roles; rather, they just Did Things (TM). “One sometimes gets the feeling that the people of India were more concerned with the personality of the god than with his or her actual ‘job description’” (p. 24).
Agni
son of Dyaus and Prithivi
god and personification of fire
first of the 10 books of the Rig Veda is dedicated to him
associated with the sun, which “descends to earth in the form of lightning” (p. 25)
priest of the gods (and thus the brāhmaṇo felt particular kinship with him)
carried sacrifices up to the other gods
said to be eternally young from being reborn each time a fire was kindled
“The kindling of the sacrificial fire was an elaborate ritual involving the rubbing together of two wooden sticks” (p. 25).
often symbolized as horned bull
loved soma
“As the domestic fire he is an honored guest in every [Hindu] home, and the funeral pyre at the time of cremation is a [person’s] final oblation to Agni” (p. 26).
Indra
son and oldest child of Dyaus and Prithivi (though not a ruler over the other gods)
“identified with great strength and sexual prowess” (p. 26) and thus associated with stallions and bulls
to symbolize his power, he always carried the vajra, “a short metal rod with a stylized trident head at both ends” (p. 26).
“According to some accounts Indra killed his father, Dyaus, taking over his place, including his identification with the bull and stallion, and even making a consort of his own mother” (p. 26).
originated as a warrior god, favoured among Kshatriya warriors
he “embodies all the virtues of youth: heroism, generosity, exuberance. He stands for action and service but also for the need of force which leads to power, to victory” (p. 26).
“Indra has numerous love affairs. Many instances are recorded of his lasciviousness, and his example is often referred to as an excuse for adultery” (p. 26).
very generous (if in a good mood)
often offered him sacrifices to ask for numerous sons or increased wealth, as well as in times of drought—he was the one who brought monsoons upon defeating the demon Vritra, “who caused drought by welling up the river waters in the mountains” (p. 27).
“In the Rig Veda, appeals to Indra are more numerous than to any other of the gods” (p. 27).
(particularly) fond of soma
Varuna
as ancient as Indra and with “almost indistinguishable” powers (p. 27)
maintained rita, a natural law in accordance to which everything in nature behaved; he was thus omnipresent
for humans, rita was “the inner moral law that properly guides all action” (p. 27)
“Varuna watched over the affairs of watched over the affairs of men and punished those who violated the sacred law of rita” (p. 27).
Sarasvati (or Saraswati)
river goddess/personification of the ancient river Sarasvati, which was sacred in the Vedic Age but has since dried up (see ch1)
“During the Vedic Age the goddess Sarasvati was definitely important—even eventually being referred to as the ‘mother of the Vedas’—but she was not numbered among the major deities in the Vedas” (p. 29); however, down the road, she would come to be associated with wisdom and learning, “represented holding a book in one of her four hands” (p. 29), the pinnacle of refinement and patron of the humanities
“Most significantly of all, though, in later times Sarasvati came to be seen as the ‘wife’ (shakti) of the mythical creator-god, Brahma” (p. 29) 🤨
Surya (or Savatar or Savitri)
god and personification of the sun; guides the sun in its daily path
Ushas
goddess of dawn
particularly noteworthy since she’s one of the most important goddesses in the pantheon, which, like the Greco-Romans’, was largely male-dominated (he attributes this to ancient societies being nomadic, warrior societies and thus similarly male-dominated smh)
Vedas devote long passages to praising her beauty
Rudra
like Indra, Rudra was associated with storms, but specifically destructive ones that drown things out, etc (typhoons, floods…) (as opposed to the life-giving monsoons at the end of droughts, eg)
theorized that there are 2 storm deities with major overlap because Rudra was carried over from pre-Indo-Aryan, Dravidian mythology
“Rain, the very thing that made life possible, was also the thing that sometimes devastated life. Rudra, the personification of that dichotomy, united within himself both the beneficent and the dangerous aspects of nature. To Vedic man, Rudra represented the unconquered and unpredictable character of raw nature” (pp. 30-1).
“dark and fearsome and short-tempered” (p. 30), he was the only god in the pantheon said to have a mean streak
most of the passages dedicated to him are just asking him not to flood them lmaooo
said to live in the north mountains, far from the other gods
he “was something of a misfit among the Vedic deities” (p. 31).
“took the blame for every kind of disaster. Even the other gods feared his anger” (p. 31).
Rudra was later identified with the god Shiva, who maintains many of Rudra’s traits but is a more 3D personage in general
Yama
king of the afterworld
not quite a god, but rather the first ever mortal to die; gods granted him near-divine status and let him lead people to the afterlife
doesn’t decide whether you get a good or bad afterlife (the gods, especially Varuna, do, based on if folk were faithful to rita during their lives), but he can plead folks’ case to the gods if folk can persuade him to
people also made offerings to him to avoid death for longer
was given extra soma aksjdghlkajdsh
an overview of Vedic cosmology
as with all ancient societies, religion helped folk make sense of the seeming disorder of the world; the tradeoff was the rigid hierarchy we discussed in chapter 1
“In human life the caste system was seen as the natural order of society that that conformed to essential differences of perfection among the member families that made up the larger community. Each had its place, guaranteed for all time, and appropriate responsibilities that went with that place” (p. 33).
(the Vedas serve as our near-exclusive source of Vedic-Age information, btw)
“life was seen to be like a great elaborate wheel slowly turning round and round. Everything and everyone, including the gods, had its proper place on that wheel, and its appropriate responsibilities corresponding to that place” (p. 33).
“A person’s sacred duty was to live [their] life in harmony with the customs and responsibilities of one’s caste and to faithfully worship the gods in the ways prescribed by tradition. If one did that (and nurtured a generous supply of virtue and acceptance), [their] hunger for order and meaning would be satisfied (probably) and from that would grow the all-important sense of security” (p. 33). that is, rather than just being some poor oaf being tossed around by nature, one was a cog in a well-oiled machine that, should each cog perform its duty well, worked well for everyone (in theory).
“And that person’s destiny, assuming that [they] faithfully played the part expected of [them], was a happy afterlife in the kingdom of Yama. Death must inevitably come, but even death was no cause for terror or despair” (p. 33).
differing interpretations of the Vedas and of Vedic-Age Indian society:
(1) life was simple, mundane, and shitty overall. rituals and ceremonies and such broke up the monotony to keep life worth living. these people were simple, superstitious, and unsophisticated. (and this perspective is probably tinged with racism, too. :upside_down:)
(2) per Indian philosopher Sri Aurobindo Ghose, the Vedas are actually far more complicated than most people give them credit for; they actually have 2 possible interpretations: the surface-level one for uneducated commoners, and the hidden/underlying/symbolic meaning for the brāhmaṇo (who believed it would be dangerous or at least inadvisable for everyday people to have access to that knowledge, lest they misinterpret or misuse it). as Ghose writes, the brāhmaṇo “favoured the existence of an outer worship, effective but imperfect, for the profane, and inner discipline for the initiate, and clothed their language in words and images which had, equally, a spiritual sense for the elect, a concrete sense for the mass of ordinary worshippers. The Vedic hymns were conceived and constructed on this principle” (quoted on p. 35).
“What is not in dispute at all, though, is that these largely religious works did indeed sometimes step into the realm of genuine philosophical speculation. Threaded throughout the Vedas are seminal questions and speculations from which later Hindu thought will develop” (p. 35).
“woven through all of the much-repeated proclamations and entreaties of the Vedas are some subtle philosophical themes that appear to evolve and become more important with the passage of time. Chief among these is the yearning for something that stands behind the myriad things of life—something that underlies it all and gives order and unity to existence” (p. 35, emphasis added).
“A sense of underlying unity is the hallmark of so much of Eastern thought” (p. 35).
“We see in the Vedas that there was a developing awareness that the One is fundamentally more real than the Many. The universe began as the One and eventually would return to the primal state from which it had emerged. Between [these moments], the One would propagate itself as the myriad creatures that temporarily make up the great hierarchy of being” (p. 36). perspective isn’t super prevalent in the Vedas but is alluded to from time to time.
“The Doctrine of Rita is another case in point. Many came to believe that there is a law, a natural law, that is immanent throughout all of creation. Even the gods do not exercise their powers capriciously. The gods, like all other creatures, must act in accord with the universal order of rita. […] Rita assures harmony and wholeness, the orderly evolution of life. Rita is the grand unifying order of nature. In the concept of rita, the rishis gave form to the idea of a rational order that underlies and unifies all of Nature” (p. 36).