VEDA ~ VEDAS

Aryan society was divided between Kshatra (the nobility, of horse-riding warriors) and Vish (the common tribesmen). Hereditary priests (Brahmana) served the Kshatriya in the sacrificial worship of their pantheon. The learned Brahmana employed Sanskrit to record their Wisdom, which is thought to have been directly revealed to the Rishis (Seers), whose Mantras are generally considered as the linguistic embodiment of the eternal Satyam (Truth) and Ritam (Law) underlying the universe. The earliest Samhita (collection of Mantras) appears in the Rig-Veda (Praise Revelation), whose prime concern is sacrificial ritual. And the compilation began c. 1500 BC.

The Aryans imported their ancient Sky-God Varuna (Greek Ouranos), whose power and wisdom is revealed in the light of the Sun (‘the eye of Mitra and Varuna’). He knows the cosmic secrets in the upper regions, and all deeds done or not done, and he sees the truth and falsehood of men. He has many eyes, especially in the night sky, and employs spies in the trees (presumably fireflies), who watch to see if men walk the righteous path. The Natural Law (Rita) of the universe was established by Varuna ~ and the word Arya refers to one who conforms to this Law. He separated the primordial Dyausprithivi, to reveal Dyaus (Sky ~ Zeus) and Prithivi (Earth). The Aryans, however, praised most highly the demon-slaying god Indra, who became their ‘King of Gods’.

The Rig-Veda Samhita includes numerous prayers addressed to Indra, imploring his help in vanquishing the enemy, capturing their cattle, and acquiring their wealth. His preferred oblation is Soma, a plant said to grow on Mujavat Mountain and which was prepared as an inebriating drink. This is presumably Ephædra intermedia Schrenk. & Meyer 1846, which grows in the western Himalayas, western Tibet, and across Afghanistan, where the plant is known as Huma. It’s distribution extends into Iran (cf. Arya), and it is recognized by Zoroastrians as the Haoma plant of their Zend Avesta. Ephædra intermedia is restricted to alpine habitats (2,500 - 4,800 m); and it contains alkaloids (chiefly pseudo-ephedrine) with strong tonic and stimulant properties. Other Ephædra species may have been used: e.g. the more widely distributed E. gerardiana Wall. 1828, which contains principally ephedrine. There is clear connexion between the four chief Adityas (solar gods) of the early Rig-Veda (Varuna, Mitra, Aryaman, and Bhaga) and the Avestan Ahura Mazda, Mithra, Airiyaman, and Baga. The early Vedic Asura Varuna is equivalent with Avestan Ahura Mazda, the Lord of High Knowledge, who is manifest as Varana (the Sky) and is the keeper of Asa or Arta (the fundamental ethical principal of Zoroastrianism). Varuna was gradually eclipsed by the developing solar pantheon and became a God of the vast Waters, where serpents (Nagas) dwell, and a guardian (Dikpala) of the sunset realm in the West. After death, Yama led the soul into the next world, to be judged according to the life lived. The blessed live on in bliss with Yama in the celestial ‘World of the Fathers’ whereas the damned are punished with torment in the ‘House of Clay’. This reward and punishment was seen as final ~ the bulk of the Rig-Veda knows nothing of successive lives.

Yama is Dikpala of the South, where he entertains the departed Fathers (Pitaras); Soma (identified with the Moon) and the Rudras (other nocturnal ‘spies’) dwell in the North; while the light of Indra and the Adityas arises in the East.


Despite the proliferation of deities requiring worship, the early Rig-Veda notes that, what is but one, the wise call by manifold names:

Ekam Sat, Vipra Bahudha Vadanti.


Until about 1000 BC, Aryans had not penetrated further east than the Jamuna River, but they eventually spread into the Ganges Valley, and reached as far as the western frontiers of Bengal by 800 BC. Concurrently, the 10th Mandala additions to the Rig-Veda (1000-900 BC) revealed Prajapati (Lord of Creation) as the ‘God who has ever been the One King of all that breathes’. Sacrifice (Yajna) was elevated to supreme importance, as the very process by which the universe came into being, and the ritual actions of Yajna became invested with magical power. Sacrifice performed in the phenomenal world has an effect more vast than the act itself, and the supernatural power that produces this disproportionate effect is Brih (‘Vast’, as the boundless sky) ~ the power of Varuna, now considered inherent within, and wielded by, Brahman. In the Vedas, the neuter Brahman (nom. Brahma) refers to sacred utterance or Mantra, and the power contained in it; and the noble gods of the early Rig-Veda were said to possess Brahman. The Lord of this ‘Logos-Brahman’, however, was Brahmanaspati or Brihaspati. As the Brahmana’s priest-craft was elaborated, three priests (Purohita) became necessary for correct Yajna. The chief Hotar followed the Rig-Veda, whose Mantras were rearranged as Gayatri in the Sama (Song) Veda for a second priest (Udgatar) to intone. And a third Revelation was compiled, the Yajur (Sacrificial) Veda, which provides supplementary ritual formulae for the Adhvaryu, who was responsible for the manual elements of Yajna. Vedic cosmogony, however, remained rather nebulous:


Then was not non-existent nor existent: there was no realm of air, no sky beyond it.

What covered in, and where? And what gave shelter? Was water there, of unfathomed depth?

Death was not then, nor was there immortality: no sign was there, the divider of day and night.

That One Thing, breathless, breathed by its own nature: apart from it was nothing whatsoever.

Darkness there was: at first concealed in darkness, this All was indiscriminated chaos.

All that existed then was void and formless: by the great power of Warmth was born that Singularity.

Thereafter rose Desire in the beginning, Desire the primal seed and germ of Spirit.

Sages, who searched with their hearts, discovered the existent’s kinship in the non-existent.

Transversely was their severing line extended: what was above it then, and what below it?

There were begetters, there were mighty forces, free action here and energy up yonder.

Who verily knows and who can declare it, when was it born and whence comes this creation?

The gods are later than this world’s production. Who knows then when it first came into being?

He, the first origin of this creation, whether he formed it all or did not form it,

Whose eye controls this world in highest heaven, he verily knows it, or perhaps he knows it not.

[from Rig-Veda Samhita ~ Transl. R.T.H. Griffith]


After 800 BC, with the Samhitas in their final redaction, prose directives and exegesis, known as Brahmanas, were added to each of the Vedas. In their cosmogony, unmanifest Brahman became Vishvakarman (Maker of All ~ also known as Daksha-Prajapati), emerging from Asat (Not-being) to create Cosmos out of Chaos. Prajapati (as Brihaspati, the cosmic Purohita) created life by offering himself as an oblation, in the form of Purusha (Primal Man ~ vital spirit, the latent creative power of metaphysical Brahman) ~ thus becoming not only the energy behind the creative act, but the material ingredient of the universe. Brahman (n.) is said to have created Brahman (m.) through self-sacrifice at Pushkara, in the Pushkaranya (Purusha-ka-Aranya ~ Forest of Purusha). Brahman (n.) was inspired but unmoved until this Purusha-Yajna. Now manifest, through the power of Brih, Brahman is referred to in masculine form (nom. Brahma), indicating the pesonalized Creator Brahman. Thus personalized, any man conversant with Brahma was known as Brahma (Brahmin), a type of the Brahmana caste. The Trayi-Vidya (Threefold Wisdom) was revealed in three Brahma-Vedas, for three Soma priests, reflecting the triple formula of creation, which also determined three Aryan castes, and three stages of life (Ashrama) ~ Brahmacharya (Student), Garhasthya (Householder), and Vanaprastha (Forest Recluse) ~ in the three-dimensional realm of physical reality.


Sarvam khalvidam Brahma
(All this is verily Brahma)


The expansion of Aryan influence required Brahminic recognition of some new realities. The Brahmanas established that four castes of humanity exist as part of the ordained structure of the universe, resulting from Prajapati’s ‘Sacrifice of Primeval Cosmic Man’ (Purusha-Yajna), who was divided into four parts: Brahmana was his mouth, the arms were made Kshatriya, his thighs Vaishya, and from his feet was born Sudra (Serf ~ a fourth category of man, required for conquered indigenous peoples). The advance of Brahmanism, however, faced vigorous opposition from the Yati (Hermits, cf. Yeti), a pre-Aryan brotherhood of hermit shamans who supported the regional kings against Aryan culture, and paid with their lives. The Brahmanas mention that ‘Indra gave the Yati to the wolf-hounds’. Only three survived, to whom Indra gave boons ~ the surviving Yati were accepted into the Aryan community. The Yati ‘priests’ were known as Vratya or Yatuvidah (those skilled in Yatu ~ Sorcery), and their wisdom found expression in the Atharva-Veda, which incorporates popular and indigenous chants and charms, and provides the earliest literary source (albeit Sanskritic) for the religion of pre-Aryan India. This fourth Veda is actually known as Atharvangirasah, having both Atharvan and Angiras components, the former characterized as Shantam (Holy) and the latter as Ghoram (Terrible). Atharvan includes auspicious and remedial charms (Bheshagam), while Angiras ritual has aggressive intent and was distinguished as Abhikarikam (unholy Sorcery). The Yatuvidah were Agni (Fire ~ Latin Ignis) priests, whose ritual had primarily domestic concern. Their sorcery involved the magical and medicinal use of indigenous flora, which remained largely mysterious to the Aryan immigrants. The Atharva-Veda provides a manual of pre-Aryan medical lore, although the identity of most herbs is no longer clear. Orthodox priests did not accept the Atharvan as a true Brahma-Veda, and counselled Brahmana to avoid the practice of medicine ~ a woman with knowledge of the correct use of roots and herbs was especially to be feared.

The Atharva-Veda emphasized the underlying transcendent principle that was always implied in the Trayi-Vidya, but only truly appreciated in profound contemplation. In Aryan cosmogony, the inceptive power of creation was originally held in Mantra (as Brih), and was gradually transferred to the sacrificial process of Yajna (as Purusha or Soma); but, for the Yati, Yogi, and Jnani, the process is involutional, with Tapas as the efficient cause. Self-generated creative heat and illumination indicate the solar nature of this pure metaphysical Brahman, who is essentially related to the fourth dimension of time.

The Atharva-Veda established, in addition to the Hotar, Udgatar, and Adhvaryu, an essential function for the Atharvan Purohita, who adopted the supreme title of Brahman. The Brahman in Atharvan Yajna undertakes a less active, supervisory role, accounting for faults and inadequacies in the ritual performance with Bheshagam, and protecting against malefic influences with Abhikarikam. A fourth Ashrama, known as Yati (Hermit), completed the Atharvan (3+1) vision, which was prefigured in the ancient Aryan Adityas: The unfathomed darkness of Varuna supporting the all illuminating Mitra who, with Bhaga (Womb, or Prosperity), begot the brilliant Aryaman and the entire solar race. Brahman has four heads, and his four arms are represented holding a sacrificial ladle (his essence as Purusha or Prajapati), a book (he is approached through wisdom), a Mala or rosary (he is to be contemplated and meditated upon), and a Kamandalu or alms-pot (symbolic of a mendicant’s life). Along with their Bheshagam and Abhikarikam, the Revelations of the contemplative Atharvan Brahmana (Yati) provide more cosmogonic and theosophic speculation than appears in the Trayi-Vidya, and their sentiment is beautifully expressed in the following Atharvan hymns [Transl. M. Bloomfield] to Kala (Time) and Prithivi (Earth). The Earth-Goddess is here praised independently of Dyaus, and the extent of this hymn also reflects the ancient matrifocal inclinations of the indigenous population.