11.04.10

The Gita and the Neo-Brahmin anti-Buddhist reaction

Posted in Uncategorized at 11:16 am by nemo

MBFM’s post on the Gita, with the references to Bharati is very good, and it is often hard for New Agers to find their way here.
I think that the Bazaz book can help, even though I suspect that some of his claims deserve challenge. Nevertheless his explanation on the way the Gita was constructed might clarify the puzzlement expressed by Bharati on the text.
I was hoping to easily scan the text, but for some reason it generates too much bad text. But I might scan the chapters on the Gita composition: the basic narrative is of the reactionary Neo-Brahmin restoration destroying the world of Indian Buddhism, and generating a text, the Gita, as a substitute sacred text. The whole strategy in the Gita is a deception and it is not surprising that Bharati should be scratching his head.

Just for the recored I tried scanning the first chapter of Bazaz’ book, results not too good, but the key chapters on the Gita (after the history of Buddhism which is already on this blog in considerable scanned chapters) might be worth scanning. The scan below took about 30 minutes total, too much. But the main chapter on the construction of the Gita fraud would be an eye-opener.

THE vast land mass, known as India, was inhabited by homo
sapiens from time immemorial. Even before 3000 B.C., when
Indo-Aryans began to migrate from abroad and enter the sub-
continent through mountainous passes on the north-west, the
country was peopled by the curly-haired ancestors of the dark
skinned Dravidians, mostly in the southern peninsula. On the
basis of geological antiquity and the favourable climatic con-
ditions on the eastern coast of South India, a view is held that
the Early Man in India originated there and migrated towards
the Punjab at the close of the First Ice Age. De Terra has
stated, on the basis of extensive investigations, that Early Man
went to the north with his hand-axe industry from the south.l
The two earliest Indian civilisations known to history flou-
rished in the lower Indus Valley (Mohenjo-daro) and upper
Indus Valley (Harrapa). “On a careful consideration of all
available material”, writes A.D. Pusalker, “for the age of the
Indus civilisation, it appears that the main culture period at
Mohenjo-daro or the “Harrapa Culture” ranged between
28~-2500 B. C.”2 Although the originators of these civili-
sations are reported 10 De Dravidians -oy cerTain research
scliOt!irs;- the statemeiit lacKSverification. But this much is
ce.rtain that though an element of Indo-Aryans was mixed tip
Wlt~ t~e population of the Indus Valley, when it prospered the
majorIty of the inhabitants was non-Aryan, “Sir John Marshall
has compared the Vedic civilisation with that of the Indus
Valley and has found that they are quite distinct, and as the
entry of the Aryans into India, according to his view of the date
of the Rigveda, is subsequent to 1500 B. c. more than a thousand
years after the last vestige of the Indus Valley civilisation
disappeared, he cannot think of the Aryans in connection with
the Indus Valley civilisation.”3

The chief characteristics of the early Indus Valley culture
were those of a developed city life, worship of a mother goddess
and a prototype male god like Shiva. The people of this
culture also venerated the bull and worshipped icons. On the
other hand, the Aryans were nomads and a pastoral people
who tended cattle and gave the place of honour to such deities
as Indra, Surya, Agni, Varuna, Mitra and Nasatyas (morning
and evening stars). These supernal beings were not known
to the propounders of the early Indus culture; they are later
creations born of the imagina tion of the Aryan poets.

By the beginning of second millennium B. C., the Aryans
had entered North India in large numbers and had subdued the
local inhabitants. Before they had finally settled down in the
Sind Valley and the Gangetic Plain, they had developed a rich
literature reflecting their social life, which was handed down by
oral transmission as writing was unknown in that period of
Indian history. The literature was in the form of utterances
and sayings of sages and poets or observations made by venerable
seers from time to time. Because they had not been reduced
to writing and were passed on orally .from generation to
generation, they came to be called sruti (what is heard). Near
about 1500 B. C., when the Aryans succeeded in founding
settlements, the srutis were compiled and arranged in four
volumes-Rig, Sam, Yajur and Atharva-called the Vedas (know-
ledge). The word Veda is derived from the Sanskrit root vid (to
know). The Vedas are also called the samhitas (collections).

The four Vedas are only a part of the vast literature
produced by the Indo-Aryans. Every Veda was followed by Brah-
manas, Aranyakas and Upanishads, the last being also. called
Vedanta (end of knowledge). In All, this literature consists of
20,389 mantras (verses). It may, however, be noted that some
sras have been repeated in the different Vedas. The Vedas
are considered as the source books of ancient Indian wisdom.

The Vedas are in the form of poetry except for some passages
written in rhythmic prose. The first and the oldest of the four
collections is the Rig Veda consisting of 10552 hymns composed
over a long period of several centuries. It indicates the Aryan
outlook on life as also the evolution of Indian thought during
the early times. The Sama Veda, next in importance, has 1875
mantras mostly consisting of melodies. The Yajur Veda (1975
mantras) deals with formulas employed in religious sacrifices,
and the last of the samhitas-the Atharva Veda-with 5987
mantras contains, for the most part, magic incantations for all
manner of things, even for doing away with one’s supposed or
real enemies. None but the Rig Veda is of any philosophical
significance.

The Vedas have no doubt been, as we shall see, the source
of later philosophies and religious rituals of the Indians but,
taken collectively and assessed impartially, they are, by and
large, no better than half-formed myths and immature compo-
sitions. The Sama Veda and the Yajur Veda are nothing more
than prayer books for the practical use of the priests. These
two samhitas have been compiled strictly from the point of
view of their use at the sacrifices. The Samavidhana Brahmana,
a ritual compendium, belonging to the Sama Veda, is a regular
handbook of sorcery which teaches how certain samans (melo-
dies) can be employed for magic purposes. The Yajur Veda
has two parts: White Yajur Veda and Black Yajur Veda, the
former is considered clear and well-arranged because it draws
distinction between sacrificial utterances and explanations of
rituals, but the latter is unarranged and haphazard. The spells
of the Yajur Veda called formulas are a meaningless conglomer-
ation of ideas. As a matter of fact, -they were not composed
to make any sense, being conceived as spells and calculated to
force the gods to fulfill the wishes of the sacrificer.

There is no part of social life for which a charm, an amulet,
or an incantation is not prescribed in the Atharva Veda. These,
were the only weapons the primitive man could forge to fight
his enemies like diseases and the vagaries of nature. According
to it, the diseases are caused by gandharvas (heavenly beings),
apsaras (celestial nymphs), pishachas (goblins) and rakshasas
(demons). The Atharva Veda consists solely of incantations,
spells, benedictions and liturgies besides obscene songs and
coarse jokes. The main purpose of the Atharva Veda is to
appease, to bless or to curse. Atharva means “holy magic”
which brings happiness and, in contrast to it, angiras denotes
“hostile magic” ; both form part of the Atharva Veda.
M. Winternitz, an eminent German orientalist, evaluating’
the contents of the Atharva Veda, observes: “Indeed many of
the magic songs, like the magic rites pertaining to them, belong
to a sphere of conceptions which spread over the whole earth,
ever recur with the most surprising similarity in the most
varying people of all countries. Among the Indians of North
America, among the Negro races of Africa, among the Maiayas
and Mongols, among the ancient Greeks and the Romans, and
frequently still among the peasantry of present day Europe,
we find again exactly the same views, exactly the same leaps of
thought in the magic songs and magic rites, as have come down
to us in the Atharva Veda of the ancient Indians.”4
Since the Atharva Veda deals solely with magic towards which
the intellectual classes even in those far off days of Indian civilisa-
tion were not favourably disposed, it was neither recognised as
part of true knowledge nor included in Vedas for many centuries.
However, its place in the ancient literature cannot be under-
estimated. “The great importance of the Atharva Veda Samhita”,
points out Winternitz, “lies in the very fact that it is an invalu-
able source of knowledge of the real popular belief as it is
uninfluenced by the priestly religion of the faith in numberless
spirits, imps, ghosts and demons of every kind and of the
witchcraft so eminently important for ethnology and for the
history of religion.”5
It is not fair to compare the Vedas with the modern philoso-
phical knowledge. If we keep in mind the period of history
in which they were composed their significance and importance
cannot be underestimated. “What renders these hymns so
valuable for us is that we see before us in them a mythology
in the making; we see gods as if arising before our own eyes.”6
The Vedas are a comprehensive record of the earliest Indian
society trying to understand the nature and its phenomena and
:b tbe knowledge thus acquired going ahead with the purpose
ofliving a happy, prosperous life.
To come out successful in the struggle for survival,

sub-human species had to adapt tbemselves to the physical
environment in which they lived; those who failed to do so
beCame extinct. With the evolution of human organism, the
struggle for existence had to be carried on a higher level of
intelligence. Instead of adapting himself to the environment,
man tries to dominate the forces of nature and use them for
his own progress and happiness. That aim, however, can be
achieved only by acquiring knowledge about the diverse
phenomena of nature. Man must discover their causes and
the laws governing them. The first lesson in this study is to
ascribe the different phenomena to a variety of gods. Man
creates the gods in his own image; they are quite like him but
more powerful than he ; for that reason they can produce and
control the incomprehensible phenomena. Therefore, the gods
are to be propitiated, cajoled, persuaded with blandishments
so that they may be induced to function for the benefit of man
and human society. This is natural religion in its primitive form.
The hymns of the four Vedas, particularly the Rig Veda, make
it abundantly clear that the early Aryans evolved such a
religious philosophy and were guided by its doctrines.
The Indo-Aryans had created several gods which are
frequently mentioned in the Vedas. Indra, the most powerful
of them all, was the ideal hero. He was the highest deity and
the model (pratimana) for the whole world.” Describing his
might Rig Veda (RV) says:

He bends not to the strong nor to the firm
nor to the dying foe, instigated by the lawless,
for Indra lofty mountains are as plains
and in the deeps there is a food for him.s

Other important Vedic gods are Prithvi, Agni, Soma, Brihaspati,
Rudra, Vayu-Vata, Apah, Parjnya, Mitra, Varuna, Surya,
Savitri, Pushan, Adityas, Ushas and Ashvins, all personifying
different forces or elements in Nature. There are personified
demons too representing evil, who stand in the way of progress.
The blackest of them all is Vritra (the Obstructor) who holds
Up waters on which depended life of the Aryans. He is killed
by Indra.

Everyone of the gods was supreme in his own right. Prayers
were offered to the gods not only for wealth and wordly prospe-
rity but also to obtain intellectual power (dhi), wisdom (kratu),
efficiency (daksha), spiritual vigour (varcha) and high talent
(medha) :

o god, bestow on us the best treasures,
the efficient mind, and spiritual lustre
the increase of wealth, the health of bodies

the sweetness of speech and the fairness of days.s
Earth, ether, sky
may we be rich in offspring

rich in heroes, rich in nourishing food.10
May we, for a hundred autmns, see

that lustrous eye-god ordained-arise before us,
may we live a hundred autmns;
may we hear for a hundred autmns;
may we speak well for a hundred autmns;

may we hold our heads high for a hundred autmns;
yea, even beyond a hundred autmns.l1
Give sight to our eyes;

sight to Our bodies so that we can see;
may we see the world as a whole,
may we also see it in detaiI.12

May I have voice in my mouth, breath in my nostrils;
sight in my eyes, hearing in my ears,

hair that has not turned grey, teeth that have not decayed;
great strength in my arm, .

may I have power in my thighs, swiftness in my legs,
steadfastness in my feet;

may all my limbs be uninjured and my souI’unimpaired.I3
Verily a hundred years lie before us, gods,
within which you cause decay of our bodies,
within which the sons become fathers;

do not break in the middle the course of our fleeing life.14
o god, may we be ever youthful in thy friendship.I5
May the four regions bow before me.I6
In the friendship of thee, the valiant,
we shall neither fear nor tire.t?

Powerful Lord, give manliness to our bodies
and ever-conquering valour.IS

Bestow on us the brightest efficiency (daksha).19
Arouse our intelligence.2o
o Varuna, sharpen the intelligence (dhi),
wisdom (kratu) and insight of him
who is striving for enlightenment.s!
o Agni, make us shine brightly like
fire produced by friction.22

Failure of the monsoon and consequent draughts were in
ancient times in India, as today, not uncommon. Water has,
therefore, received special attention in the Vedic hymns:

Waters, friends of men, in peace and in trouble
give your blessings to our sons and grandsons,
for you are the most motherly physicians,

the mother of all that stands and all that moves.23
Indra flooded with water the desert and thirsty plains
and milked the dry cows that had a mighty master.24

Though the ancient Aryans considered the gods as equals, yet
they were believed to possess extraordinary powers; hence the
need of help from them to solve the day to day problems. It is
for the good of man and his tribe that the gods are strong and
should grow stronger :

Years do not age him; nor months nor days
wear out Indra ;
may his self grow, though ever so mighty,
glorified by songs of praise and hymns of prayer.w
IfIndra, a hundred heavens were thine,
and even a hundred earths,
no, not even a thousand sons, 0 thunderer,
could match thee, manifested, nor both the worlds.26

The Vedic gods were conceived, at any rate in the beginning,
as friendly fellow-beings by the Aryans. They were expected to
come and enjoy the pleasures of life on earth among men. Being
gifted with immense power they would make men strong who
would then be able to dominate nature and face its vagaries:

Verily the gods are of one spirit with man
all common possessors of graces.P?
o god, having received the friendship
of thee, the valiant,
we will neither fear nor feel weary.28
Thou art the fiery spirit, give me the fiery spirit,
thou art the manly vigour, give me manly vigour
thou art power, give me power
thou art energy, give me energy.
thou art battle fury, give me battle fury,
thou art conquering might, give me conquering might.s?
We will bring these existing worlds into subjection
with Indra and all gods to aid us.30

Indra, though a god, is invoked as a human being: “I invoke
Indra, the man (naram), who fulfills the desires of many from
his ancient dwellings, in the same manner as ‘my ancestors did
in the past. “31 Indra is praised as the chief among men
(nritamah) and one who shares out (vibhakta) wealth along
with other human beings (nribhih sakhaih). This epithet of
being the chief among men is frequently used. He is also the
finest among all human beings (nrinam nritamah).32 The gods,
Mitra and Varuna, are invoked to come and join the soma-
drinking (soma is a favourite beverage) in the company of
human beings.33 As the chief of men, Indra, rends asunder
the clouds and causes showers to benefit society.ss He speaks
like human beings (nrivat vadan) and “comes to us and gives us
food.”35 The yajamanas (performers of the ritual) are asked to
offer cakes to Indra who is believed to be present in the gathering
and is the bravest of human beings tnrinam viratamaya).36 The
prayers to the gods for fulfilment of different wants are also made
considering them as powerful human beings. “May Jndra and
Vishnu like human beings give us house to live in. “37 “With
all these evidences”, observes Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya, “it
is safe to presume that Indra was originally only the culture-
hero of some Vedic tribe eventually raised to the status of a
deity… The more we penetrate into the pre-history of the
Vedic people, the clearer do we see their gods to be outspokenly
human and maintaining a comradely relationship with the
members of the tribe.”38 The gods were conceived as men
possessing great powers, huge wealth and vast waters.

Even the god of death is friendly and strikes no terror
in the heart of the Aryans: “As we men, 0 Aditya, have
death for our comrade may you lengthen our days on earth,
so that we may live.”39 Twice in the Rig Veda man has been
called mrityabhandhu (relation of death) who willingly gives
back, when life terminates, to the elements what he has taken
from them:

Do not burn him, Agni, do not scorch him either,
do not tear asunder his skin or body,
when you have devoured him, 0 Jatavedas,
then do you send him on to the fathers;
let the eye go to the sun, let the breath go to the wind,
to heaven or to earth according to their desert.
Or to . waters go, if that is your lot,
or set you up in the plants with your limbs.s?

To achieve their chosen aims, the Aryans did not entirely
depend on the gods. I n their estimation self-dedication and
self-effort were as essential to obtain virtues and arrive at the
truth as propitiation of the gods:

By self-dedication one obtains consecration;
by consecration one obtains grace;
by grace one obtains reverence, and by reverence
is truth obtained.s!

The Aryans had a strong tribal sense of unity. One should
not live for oneself alone but should endeavour to progress in
cooperation with others :
Assemble, speak in harmony,
may your friends be of one accord,
your prayer be common,
your assembly be common,
common your mind, united your thoughts.
I counsel you to common purpose
and I worship with your common oblation.s-

Those opposed to the tribal unity and the common aim of
subjugating the forces of nature were to be left to their
fate; for the tribe would not lag behind because of their
sluggishness:

The stream, filled with stones, flows on,
move together,
stand erect and cross over, my friends,
here let us leave those who are opposed to good
and let us cross over to powers that are beneficient.O

The ancient Aryans desired to live long, active and full life,
enjoy the available blessings of nature and, significantly, were
least concerned with the here-after. They entertained not the
faintest idea of the next world nor did they believe in rebirth.
“Of the dismal belief in the transmigration of soul”, remarks
Winternitz, “and eternal rebirth-the belief which controls the
whole philosophical thought of Indians in later centuries-there
is in the Rig Veda, as yet no trace to be found.”44 Ayam lokah
priyatamah (this world is most beloved of all), declares the
Atharva Veda. 45
The Aryans prayed for happiness here and now:

Make us today (adya) enjoyers of wide room and
happiness,
may we be master of felicity now (idanim).46
May the air blow his balm
carrying joy and health to our hearts,
may we prolong our Iives.s?
Food is soul, the apparel is the body
and the unguent is the giver of spiritual vigour.v’

Summing up his fi ndings on the religion and philosophy
of Vedic Aryans, V.M. Apte says: “But the joys and the
pleasures of this world interest them deeply. Thus the Rig
Veda is full of prayers for long life, freedom from disease,
heroic progeny, wealth, power, abundance of food and drink,
the defeat of rivals etc. There is no trace of pessimism in the
thought of the Rig Vedic sages. Whether life was a reality or
illusion, substance or shadow, they want to enjoy it to the
fu11.”49 Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, the recognised authority on
Hindu idealist philosophy, has to admit: “But the dominant
note (of the Vedic seers) is not one of asceticism. In the
hymns (of the Rig Veda) we find a keen delight in the beauties
of nature, its greatness, its splendour and its pathos. The
motive of the sacrifices is the love of the good things of the
world. We have yet the deep joy in life and the world
untainted by any melancholy gI00m.”5o

As with the passage of time minds matured, the Aryans who
believed everyone of their gods to be unrivalled and possessing
supreme power, began to discern a unity underlying the
pantheon:
They speak of Indra, Mitra, Varuna, Agni,
and there are the divine Suparna and Garutmat.
The wise call the one being by many names,
as Agni, Yama, Matrishavan.s!
Again:

Agni is that, Aditya i~ tha!, Vayu is that, .
Chandramas is that, light IS that, Brahman IS that,
Apah (waters) are those and Prajapati is He.52

It took the Rig Veda many centuries to acquire the final
shape which it assumed in about 1500 B.C. Its earlier hymns
are different in outlook on life from those composed later.
Maturer Vedic hymns represent a transition from polytheism
to monotheism and there is evidence which goes to show that
the ancient seers had been veered round to the idea of monism.
Its seeds can be detected in the “Song of Creation” which
pronounces that in the beginning “neither death nor deathless-
ness existed ; of day and night there was no distinction. That
one alone breathed calmly self-supported, other than it was
none, nor aught above it.”53

Thus in course of time the natural religion of the Vedic
Aryans became both polytheistic and monotheistic in com-
plexion. It contemplated the existence of many gods but
asserted that each one of them was supreme and that the same
eternal’ truth was hidden behind them all. The German
scholar, Friedrich Maximilian Mueller, popularly known as
Max Mueller (1823-1900), coined a new name, Henotheism, for
this cult where divinity is seen as the one in many and the
many in one.

The Vedic Aryans had above everything else an abiding
faith in Rita (the Eternal Law) which moved the world and
produced the cosmic order or symmetry that underlies beauty
so mainfest in Nature itself. Orderly and consistent conduct
is the essential feature of good life. Virtue is conformity to
Rita. As opposed to it anrita (falsehood) or disorder is the
greatest evil. The conception of dharma (sacred law) developed
in subsequent ages originally sprung from Rita. In concrete
form Rita took the shape of love of fellow human beings,
kindness to living creatures, fulfilment of one’s social duties
and obedience to the gods.

The Aryans believed that for one who lives according to
the Eternal Law ‘:the winds are full of sweetness, the rivers
pour sweets, plants emit sweetness, sweet is the night and
Sweet the dawn, sweet the dust of the earth.”54
To understand and follow the Rita the Aryans prayed:
“Let noble thoughts come to us from every side.”55 The
Vedic Aryans, at any rate in the earlier centuries, knew no
distinctions amongst themselves; they were all equal. If there
existed any differences they were based on the acceptance of
the Rita or opposition to it. The dasas or dasyus were
subjugated people or those outside the Aryan fold. They were
rita-less (a-karman), indifferent to the gods (a-devayu), without
devotion (a-brahman), not sacrificing (a-yajvan), lawless
(a-vrata), following strange ordinances (anuavrata), reviling the
gods (deva-piya) etc. References are made to asuras as enemies
of Vedic people and their gods. The rakshsas and pishachas
are also human elements but outside the Aryan fold. Collec-
tively, they are opponents of the Rita. “The man of faith is
generally one who has understood and accepted the Eternal
Law.” As regards the rest A.C. Bose says that “the atheist is
one who does not believe in the general values and does not
stand for goodness and oppose evil according to the Eternal
Law. Vritra whom Indra destroys is the power of darkness
and evil, who obstructs the working of rita. The dasa and
dasyu are followers of evil law and inhuman (anyavrata,
amanushya). “56

That the Indo-Aryans were materialists, that is interested
in their physical welfare and enjoyment of life and not in the
so-called spiritual elevation, is abundantly clear from the hymns
of the older parts of the Rig Veda in which the gods are
invoked solely to secure the necessities of life and not for any
other-worldly purpose. “The Vedic songs were also called
kamavarshi, the showerers of desire”, says D.P. Chattopadhyaya.
“And what was the nature of these desires? The desire for
food, wealth, cattle, children, strength and safety. It was
never the desire for liberation or moksha. This word, signify-
ing the highest ideal for the later champions of the Vedas, was
in fact unknown to the Vedic people.”57

A Vedic scholar, Sayana, has translated brahmanaspati as
one that nourishes the activity of food production. An ancient
text Nighantu suggests that the word brahma was one of the
synonyms for anna or food. “This alone”, observes
Chattopadhyaya, “lays bare the materialistic conception of the
Vedic gods. It also shows how far remov~d fro~ the Vedas

as the idealistic outlook of the Upanishads III WhICh Brahman
~t the ultimate reality as pure consciousness.”58 He adds:

“The Vedic people did not know of any song t~at was not
a showerer of desire and they did not know of any desIre that was
not positively material. And if their desires were so thoroughly
this-wordly, it would be wrong to attribute to them any other-
worldly or spiritualistic world-outlook on the precarious
evidence of extremely doubtful interpretation of a few
fragments of such a compilation of their songs… It would be a
rare feat indeed if a single rik (hymn) of the genuinely earlier
portions of the Rig Veda can be made to reveal the ideal of
moksha or final liberation as inspiring the early Vedic
poets.”59
Reference has already been made to the conception of man
being no other than his body and at the time of death getting
dissloved into different elements of nature. There are many
hymns in the Rig Veda conveying the same idea. There is no
rebirth, no migration of soul, no heaven and no world except-
ing this one.
The earlier Indo-Aryans were a pastoral, nomadic people

tending cattle and gathering food; they knew next to nothing
about agriculture. It was the simple everyday desires of such
people that inspired the older songs of Rig Veda. The
various gods were the embodiments of such desires. The
invocations were generally insistent requests to lead the people
to fulfilment of the desires.
But the materialism of the Rigvedic Aryans is primitive

and instinctive; it does not deal with any flights of high
philosophy; it is proto-materialism and cannot be compared
with the scientific materialism of modern times. Vedic
materialism was born of simple observances and experiences of
unsophisticated people made by them in every day life. It is
an expression of desire for food, drink and other necessities
required for nourishment of the body. As pointed out by
~axman Shastri Joshi “it is an indication of the primitive,
Simple, undeveloped mind, for the idea of causation in it is
based on complete ignorance of real causal relationship. .As
compared to this Vedic natural religion, the other-wordly or
spiritualistic religion definitely suggests a higher stage of
development. “60
It took some hundred years for all the hymns found in the
Rig Veda to be composed. It is in the later hymns that
we find indications of notions like deity, soul, rebirth,
caste system and moksha which ultimately paved the way for
the emergence of religion as we know it today. And with it
also rose anti-religious forces like sceptics, atheists and non-
believers who challenged the existence of gods, soul and
other world.
The beginning of doubt in religious beliefs is hinted at by
the hymns raising questions like “Of whom they ask? ‘Where
is He T”, of him indeed they also say ‘He is not.”61
A sage who believes, yet believes not, observes: “Desiring
strength bring forward a hymn of praise, a truthful hymn to
Indra, if truly he exists; ‘there is no Indra’ some have said,
‘who has seen him’? Why then shall we adore 1″62
But the confirmed believer answers:

I exist, 0 singer, look upon me here
all that exists I surpass in splendour

the eternal laws, commandments make me mighty,
when I rend, I rend asunder the world.63
The core of Vedic scepticism is best expressed in the tenth
book of the Rig Veda in the “Hymn of Creation” referred to
above. “It is sophisticated and philosophical”, says A.C.
Bouquet, “and belongs to a stage of transition in religious
thought far removed from that of early hymns. Indeed, it
questions the status of the Vedic gods, and asks who is the real
creator, finally concluding that the gods themselves are not
ultimate, but perhaps themselves the products of some
mysterious Self-Existent Cosmic Being.’ ’64
The wavering Vedic seer asks and then affirms :

Who verily knows and who can here declare it,
whence it was born and whence comes this creation?
the gods are later than this world’s production.

Who knows, then, whence 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.65
Another matter of importance about the ancient Aryan
society that invites attention is th~ status of women. Althou.gh
. the Vedic pantheon are included some goddesses like

;:’ithvi, Aditi, Saraswati and Ushas, it is the male element
that predominates. Nevertheless, the tender regard for woman-
hood is one of the marked characteristics of Vedic literature.
The women are respected and honoured. Like a goddess, a
woman is addressed as subhaga (the graceful one) and kalyani
(the blissful one).
There are references to premarital love between the lover
and the beloved. Widow could remarry if she so willed, at any
rate in the early times, though in later periods objections were
raised against the practice. The Atharva Veda clearly mentions
the occmrence of remarriage of a widow after the loss of her
first husband. There were sages who strongly supported widows
wishing to remarry according to their choice :
Go up, 0 woman, to the world of life;
come you are lying by one who is lifeless;
you have entered into the relationship of wife
to husband of him who takes your hand and woos you.
The bow I have taken from the hands of the dead
so that it may bring us valour, brilliance and strength
Here you are and here may we with heroes triumph
over all who challenge us and fight against US.66

A childless widow was permitted to cohabit with her
brother-in-law until the birth of a son.67
In the concluding period of the Vedic Age the evil custom

of sati (burning of a widow with the dead body of her
husband) seems to have started as there are vague references to
it in both the Rig Veda68 and the Atharva Veda.69 But most
probably the rite was not prevalent and only in a subsequent
period at the decline of the woman’s status, spread to many
parts of the country.
By copious references to Sanskrit texts, Radha Kumad

Mookerji has shown that even in the Vedic Age there was a
conception of the unity of India in the Aryan mind. The
oldest expression of this unity, according to him, is the name
Bharatavarsha given by the Aryans to the subcontinent. The
lists of holy places mentioned in the Vedic literature show
complete familiarity with every part of the country. The
geographic horizon in the Vedic times and the extension of the
limits of India in Aitareya Brahmana corroborate this. “Thus
has India been helped”, concludes Mookerji, “both by nature
and nurture, by her geographical conditions and historic
experience, by her religious ideas and political ideals to realise
herself as a unit, to perceive, preserve and promote her
individuality in fulfilment of her heaven-appointed mission
in the culture-history of the world.”?o

But the political unification of the Indian subcontinent
partially achieved under the rule of the Mauriyas and the
Mughals remained an unrealisable dream until the nineteenth
century when the British conquered the entire subcontinent
and established a strong central administration.

An unbiased study of Vedic literature enables us to probe
into the minds of the ancient Indo-Aryan sages and understand
the nature of the society which they had been able to found in
North India; it reveals their strength and weakness, virtues
and foibles, noble ideals and crude fantasies, Successes and
failures and, above all, their quest for knowledge.

There is a marked tendency amongst a class of writers to
idealise Vedic culture, to exaggerate its achievements and
underrate its shortcomings. The Vedic society is presented as
the most advanced and the one fit to be emulated even today.
That orthodox Hindus should hold such puerile views would
cause little surprise. But besides many Hindu savants, even
some reputed Western scholars have failed objectively to esti-
mate the ancient Indian civilisation. This has occasioned much
harm and prevented a rational and critical outlook to grow in
Indian society. “We must not form too exalted an idea of the
moral conditions in ancient India”, advises Winternitz, “and
not picture these to ourselves in such an idyllic manner as
certainly Max Mueller has at times done. We hear in the
hymns of Rig Veda of incest, seduction, conjugal unfaithfulness,
procuring of aboration as also deception, theft and
robbery.’ ’71

Despite some flights of fertile imagination of the Vedic
seers the knowledge achieved is not of high order by modern
philosophical standard. It is mostly, though understandably,

ve. “Those (Vedic) beliefs”, com~ents T.W. Rhys
:ds, “seem to us, and indeed are, so bizzare a~d absurd,
,t it is bard to accept the proposition that they give expres-
,n to an advanced stage of thought. “72
It is, however, as already observed, not fair to judge the
Vedas by modern standard. Four thousand years ago. the
human mind could not have soared higher. It was an achieve-
ment indeed to have discovered the fundamental
principles, in however rudimentary a form, of dive~se e1eme~ts
of knowledge which subsequently became the baSIS on which
were raised the structures of different schools of Indian philoso-
phy, both materialistic and idealistic, orthodox and heretical,
reactionary and revolutionary, in the following ages. Even
some of those thinkers who disowned the Vedas derived to a
considerable extent, inspiration from the hymns of the Rig
Veda and elaborated on them to found their own systems.
Nevertheless, it is well to remember that the achievements
of the Vedic seers and sages were in no way unique in the
bistory of human culture. Some other primitive societies which
in point of time preceded or followed the Indo-Aryans have
produced more or less similar poetry containing ideas and
conceptions like those of the Vedic people. Adoption of
natural religion with emphasis on material prosperity, creation
of gods in their own image, worship of deities symbolizing
forces of nature and transition from polytheism to monotheism
bas not been peculiar to ancient Indian society. The Sum-
merian prayer hymns (c.2200 B.C.), the Babylonian penitential
songs (c. 2500 B.C.), Egyptian temple literature (first half of
third millennium B.C.), the Chinese sacrificial hymns and the
Greek prayers to gods (c. 800 B.C.) are the outcome of the same
quest for knowledge which activated Indo-Aryan mind and
contain similar outpourings-immature, meaningless and
childish-with occasional flashes of wisdom. The famous
Greek philosopher, Xenophanes, called the attempts of his
countrymen as “men making gods in the likeness of them-
selves”. In India also the gods were made in the same fashion
but. n~ver unmade subsequently as was done in other advancing
’8OClet.les. We shall discuss how and why this happened
blocking further progress of the Indian society for many
THE ROLE OF THE BHAGAVAD-GITA IN INDIAN HISTORY
centuries till the present day. The point to be made here is
that the contemporary Hindus have no reason to feel vain-
glorious about the achievements, whatever they be, of the
Vedic Aryans nor is there any basis for the belief that the
Vedic culture excels other ancient cultures or possesses some-
thing unique or peculiar to teach the world.

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