what will be the end of that loved
pair,
Long guided and supported by my hand ?
pair,
Long guided and supported by my hand ?
Universal Anthology - v01
This Varuna, again, was soon thought of in connec tion with another vague personification called Mitra (= the Persian Mithra), god of day.
After a time these impersona tions of the celestial sphere were felt to be too vague to suit the growth of religious ideas in ordinary minds.
Soon, there fore, the great investing firmament resolved itself into separate cosmical entities with separate powers and attributes.
First, the watery atmosphere, personified under the name of Indra, ever seeking to dispense his dewy treasures (indu), though ever restrained by an opposing force or spirit of evil called Vritra ; and, secondly, the wind, thought of either as a single personality named Vagu, or as a whole assemblage of moving powers coming from every quarter of the compass, and imper sonated as Maruts or " Storm-gods.
" At the same time in this process of decentralization — if I may use the term — the once purely celestial Varuna became relegated to a position among seven secondary deities of the heavenly sphere called Adityas (afterwards increased to twelve, and regarded as diversified forms of the sun in the several months of the year), and sub
196 VEDIC HYMNS.
sequently to a dominion over the waters when they had left the air and rested on the earth.
Of these separately deified physical forces, by far the most favorite object of adoration was the deity supposed to yield the dew and rain, longed for by Eastern cultivators of the soil with even greater cravings than by Northern agriculturists. Indra, therefore, — the Jupiter Pluvius of early Indian mythology, — is undoubtedly the principal divinity of Vedic worshipers, in so far at least as the greater number of their prayers and hymns are addressed to him.
What, however, could rain effect without the aid of heat ? a force, the intensity of which must have impressed an Indian mind with awe, and led him to invest the possessor of it with divine attributes. Hence the other great god of Vedic wor shipers, and in some respects the most important in his connec tion with sacrificial rites, is Agni (Latin Ignis), the god of fire. Even Siirya, the sun (Greek Helios), who was probably at first adored as the original source of heat, came to be regarded as only another form of fire. He was merely a manifestation of the same divine energy removed to the heavens and consequently less accessible. Another deity, Ushas, goddess of the dawn, — the Eos of the Greeks, — was naturally connected with the sun, and regarded as daughter of the sky. Two other deities, the Acvins, were fabled as connected with Ushas, as ever young and handsome, traveling in a golden car, and precursors of the dawn. They are sometimes called Dasras, as divine physicians, destroyers of diseases; sometimes Uasatyas, as "never untrue. " They appear to have been personifications of two luminous rays imagined to precede the break of day. These, with Yama, " the God of departed spirits," are the principal deities of the Mantra portion of the Veda.
We find, therefore, no trace in the Mantras of the Trimurti or Triad of deities (Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva), afterwards so popular. Nor does the doctrine of transmigration, afterwards an essential element of the Hindu religion, appear in the Mantra portion of the Veda, though there is a clear declaration of it in the Aranyaka of the Aitareya Brahmana. Nor is caste clearly alluded to, except in the later Purusha-sukta.
But here it may be asked, if sky, air, water, fire, and the sun were thus worshiped as manifestations of the supreme universal God of the universe, was not the earth also an object of adora tion with the early Hindus ? And unquestionably in the earlier
VEDIC HYMNS. 197
system the earth, under the name of Prithivi, " the broad one," does receive divine honors, being thought of as the mother of all beings. Moreover, various deities were regarded as the progeny resulting from the fancied union of earth with Dyaus, heaven. This imaginary marriage of heaven and earth was indeed a most natural idea, and much of the later mythology may be explained by it. But it is remarkable that as religious worship became of a more selfish character, the earth, being more evidently under man's control, and not seeming to need propitiation so urgently as the more uncertain air, fire, and water, lost impor tance among the gods, and was rarely addressed in prayer or hymn.
In all probability the deified forces addressed in the hymns were not represented by images or idols in the Vedic period, though doubtless the early worshipers clothed their gods with human form in their own imaginations.
I now begin my examples with a nearly literal translation of the well-known sixteenth hymn of the fourth book of the Atharva-veda, in praise of Varuna or the Investing Sky : —
HYMN TO THE INVESTING SKY.
The mighty Varuna, who rules above, looks down
Upon these worlds, his kingdom, as if close at hand.
When men imagine they do aught by stealth, he knows it. No one can stand or walk or softly glide along
Or hide in dark recess, or lurk in secret cell,
But Varuna detects him and his movements spies.
Two persons may devise some plot, together sitting
In private and alone ; but he, the king, is there —
A third — and sees it all. This boundless earth is his,
His the vast sky, whose depth no mortal e'er can fathom. Both oceans [air and sea] find a place within his body, yet In that small pool he lies contained. Whoe'er should flee Far, far beyond the sky, would not escape the grasp
Of Varuna, the king. His messengers descend
Countless from his abode — forever traversing
This world and scanning with a thousand eyes its inmates. Whate'er exists within this earth, and all within the sky, Yea, all that is beyond, King Varuna perceives.
The winking of men's eyes are numbered all by him.
He wields the universe, as gamesters handle dice.
May thy destroying snares cast sevenfold round the wicked, Entangle liars, but the truthful spare, O king !
198 VEDIC HYMNS.
I pass from the ancient Aryan deity Varuna to the more thoroughly Indian god Indra.
The following metrical lines bring together various scattered texts relating to this Hindu Jupiter Pluvius : —
TO THE RAIN GOD.
Indra, twin brother of the god of fire,
When thou wast born, thy mother Aditi
Gave thee, her lusty child, the thrilling draught
Of mountain-growing Soma — source of life
And never-dying vigor to thy frame.
Then at the Thunderer's birth, appalled with fear, Dreading the hundred-jointed thunderbolt —
Forged by the cunning Trastivri — mountain rocked, Earth shook, and heaven trembled. Thou wast born Without a rival, king of gods and men —
The eye of living and terrestrial things.
Immortal Indra, unrelenting foe
Of drought and darkness, infinitely wise,
Terrific crusher of thy enemies,
Heroic, irresistible in might,
Wall of defense to us thy worshipers,
We sing thy praises, and our ardent hymns
Embrace thee, as a loving wife her lord.
Thou art our guardian, advocate, and friend,
A brother, father, mother, all combined.
Most fatherly of fathers, we are thine,
And thou art ours ; oh ! let thy pitying soul
Turn to us in compassion, when we praise thee,
And slay us not for one sin or for many.
Deliver us to-day, to-morrow, every day. — Armed for the conflict, see ! the demons come
Ahi and Vritra and a long array
Of darksome spirits. Quick, then, quaff the draught That stimulates thy martial energy,
And dashing onward in thy golden car,
Drawn by thy ruddy, Ribhu-fashioned steeds,
Speed to the charge, escorted by the Maruts.
Vainly the demons dare thy might ; in vain
Strive to deprive us of thy watery treasures.
Earth quakes beneath the crashing of thy bolts. Pierced, shattered, lies the foe — his cities crushed, His armies overthrown, his fortresses
Shivered to fragments; then the pent-up waters,
VEDIC HYMNS. 199
Released from long imprisonment, descend In torrents to the earth, and swollen rivers, Foaming and rolling to their ocean home, Proclaim the triumph of the Thunderer.
Let us proceed next to the all-important Vedic deity Agni, " god of fire," especially of sacrificial fire. I propose now to paraphrase a few of the texts which relate to him : —
TO THE FIRE GOD.
Agni, thou art a sage, a priest, a king, Protector, father of the sacrifice. Commissioned by us men thou dost ascend A messenger, conveying to the sky
Our hymns and offerings. Though thy origin
Be threefold, now from air and now from water, Now from the mystic double Arani,
Thou art thyself a mighty god, a lord,
Giver of life and immortality,
One in thy essence, but to mortals three ;
Displaying thine eternal triple form,
As fire on earth, as lightning in the air,
As sun in heaven. Thou art a cherished guest
In every household — father, brother, son,
Friend, benefactor, guardian, all in one.
Bright, seven-rayed god ! how manifold thy shapes Revealed to us thy votaries ! now we see thee,
With body all of gold, and radiant hair,
Flaming from three terrific heads, and mouths Whose burning jaws and teeth devour all things. Now with a thousand glowing horns, and now Flashing thy luster from a thousand eyes,
Thou'rt borne towards us in a golden chariot, Impelled by winds, and drawn by ruddy steeds, Marking thy car's destructive course with blackness. Deliver, mighty lord, thy worshipers.
Purge us from taint of sin, and when we die,
Deal mercifully with us on the pyre,
Burning our bodies with their load of guilt,
But bearing our eternal part on high
To luminous abodes and realms of bliss,
Forever there to dwell with righteous men.
The next deity is Surya, the sun, who, with reference to the variety of his functions, has various names, — such as Savitri,
200 VEDIC HYMNS.
Aryaman, Mitra, Varuna, Pushan, sometimes ranking as dis tinct deities of the celestial sphere. As already explained, he is associated in the minds of Vedic worshipers with Fire, and is frequently described as sitting in a chariot drawn by seven ruddy horses (representing the seven days of the week), pre ceded by the Dawn. Here is an example of a hymn addressed to this deity, translated almost literally : —
HYMN TO THE SUN.
Behold the rays of dawn, like heralds, lead on high
The sun, that men may see the great all-knowing god.
The stars slink off like thieves, in company with Night, Before the all-seeing eye, whose beams reveal his presence, Gleaming like brilliant flames, to nation after nation.
With speed beyond the ken of mortals, thou, O Sun,
Dost ever travel on, conspicuous to all.
Thou dost create the light, and with it dost illume
The universe entire ; thou risest in the sight
Of all the race of men, and all the host of heaven. Light-giving Varuna ! thy piercing glance doth scan
in quick succession all this stirring, active world,
And penetrateth, too, the broad ethereal space,
Measuring our days and nights and spying out all creatures. Surya with flaming locks, clear-sighted, god of day,
Thy seven ruddy mares bear on thy rushing car.
With these thy self-yoked steeds, seven daughters of thy
chariot.
Onward thou dost advance. To thy refulgent orb Beyond this lower gloom and upward to the light Would we ascend, O Sun, thou god among the gods.
As an accompaniment to this hymn may here be mentioned the celebrated Gayatri. It is a short prayer to the Sun in his character of Savitri or the Vivifier, and is the most sacred of all Vedic texts. Though not always understood, it is to this very day used by every Brahman throughout India in his daily devotions. It occurs in the Rig-veda, and can be literally translated as follows : —
" Let us meditate [or, We meditate] on that excellent glory of the divine Vivifier. May he enlighten [or, stimulate] our understandings. "
May we not conjecture, with Sir William Jones, that the great veneration in which this text has ever been held by the
VEDIC HYMNS. 201
Hindus from time immemorial, indicates that the more enlight ened worshipers adored, under the type of the visible sun, that divine light which alone could illumine their intellects ?
I may here also fitly offer a short paraphrase descriptive of the Vedic Ushas, the Greek E5s, or Dawn : —
HYMN TO THE DAWN.
Hail, ruddy Ushas, golden goddess, borne Upon thy shining car, thou comest like A lovely maiden by her mother decked, Disclosing coyly all thy hidden graces
To our admiring eyes ; or like a wife
Unveiling to her lord, with conscious pride, Beauties which, as he gazes lovingly,
Seem fresher, fairer, each succeeding morn. Through years on years thou hast lived on, and yet Thou'rt ever young. Thou art the breath and life Of all that breathes and lives, awaking day by day Myriads of prostrate sleepers, as from death, Causing the birds to flutter from their nests,
And rousing men to ply with busy feet
Their daily duties and appointed tasks,
Toiling for wealth, or pleasure, or renown.
Before leaving the subject of the Vedic deities, I add a few words about Yama, the god of departed spirits. It appears tolerably certain that the doctrine of metempsychosis has no place in the Mantra portion of the Veda ; nor do the authors of the hymns evince any sympathy with the desire to get rid of all action and personal existence, which became so remarkable a feature of the theology and philosophy of the Brahmans in later times. But there are many indirect references to the immortality of man's spirit and a future life, and these become more marked and decided towards the end of the Rig-veda. One of the hymns in the last Mandala is addressed to the Pitris or fathers, that is to say, the spirits of departed ances tors who have attained to a state of heavenly bliss, and are supposed to occupy three different stages of blessedness ; the highest inhabiting the upper sky, the middle the intermediate air, and the lowest the regions of the atmosphere near the earth. Reverence and adoration are always to be offered them, and they are presided over by the god Yama, the ruler of all the spirits of the dead, whether good or bad. The earlier legends repre
202 VEDIC HYMNS.
sent this god as a kind of first man (his twin sister being Yami), and also as the first of men that died. Hence he is described as guiding the spirits of other men who die, to the same world. In some passages, however, Death is said to be his messenger, he himself dwelling in celestial light, to which the departed are brought, and where they enjoy his society and that of the fathers. In the Veda he has nothing to do with judging or punishing the departed (as in the later mythology), but he has two terrific dogs, with four eyes, which guard the way to his abode. Here are a few thoughts about him from various hymns in the tenth Mandala of the Rig-veda : —
HYMN TO DEATH.
To Yama, mighty king, be gifts and homage paid.
He was the first of men that died, the first to brave
Death's rapid, rushing stream, the first to point the road
To heaven, and welcome others to that bright abode.
No power can rob us of the home thus won by thee.
O king, we come ; the born must die, must tread the path That thou hast trod — the path by which each race of men, In long succession, and our fathers too, have passed. —
Soul of the dead ! depart ; fear not to take the road
The ancient road — by which thy ancestors have gone ; Ascend to meet the god — to meet thy happy fathers, — Who dwell in bliss with him. Fear not to pass the guards The four-eyed brindled dogs — that watch for the departed. Return unto thy home, O soul ! Thy sin and shame—
Leave thou behind on earth ; assume a shining form
Thy ancient shape — refined and from all taint set free.
Let me now endeavor, by slightly amplified translations, to convey some idea of two of the most remarkable hymns in the Rig-veda. The first, which may be compared with some parts of the thirty-eighth chapter of Job, attempts to describe the mystery of creation, thus : —
THE MYSTERY OP CREATION.
In the beginning there was neither naught nor aught; Then there was neither sky nor atmosphere above. What then enshrouded all this teeming Universe ?
In the receptacle of what was it contained ?
Was it enveloped in the gulf profound of water ? Then was there neither death nor immortality,
VEDIC HYMNS. 203
Then was there neither day, nor night, nor light, nor darkness, Only the existent One breathed calmly, self-contained.
Naught else than him there was — naught else above, beyond. Then first came darkness hid in darkness, gloom in gloom. Next all was water, all a chaos indiscrete,
In which the One lay void, shrouded in nothingness. Then turning inwards, he by self-developed force
Of inner fervor and intense abstraction, grew.
And now in him Desire, the primal germ of mind, Arose, which learned men, profoundly searching, say Is the first subtle bond, connecting Entity
With Nullity. This ray that kindled dormant life, Where was it then ? before ? or was it found above ? Were there parturient powers and latent qualities,
And fecund principles beneath, and active forces
That energized aloft ? Who knows ? Who can declare ? How and from what has sprung this Universe ? the gods Themselves are subsequent to its development.
Who then can penetrate the secret of its rise ?
Whether 'twas framed or not, made or not made, he only Who in the highest heaven sits, the omniscient lord, Assuredly knows all, or haply knows he not.
The next example is from the first Mandala of the Rig-veda. Like the preceding, it furnishes a good argument for those who maintain that the purer faith of the Hindus is properly mono theistic.
THE ONE GOD.
What god shall we adore with sacrifice ?
Him let us praise, the golden child that rose
In the beginning, who was born the lord —
The one sole lord of all that is — who made
The earth, and formed the sky, who giveth life, Who giveth strength, whose bidding gods revere, Whose hiding place is immortality,
Whose shadow, death ; who by his might is king Of all the breathing, sleeping, waking world— Who governs men and beasts, whose majesty These snowy hills, this ocean with its rivers, Declare ; of whom these spreading regions form The arms ; by whom the firmament is strong, Earth firmly planted, and the highest heavens Supported, and the clouds that fill the air Distributed and measured out ; to whom
Both earth and heaven, established by his will,
204
VEDIC HYMNS.
Look up with trembling mind ; in whom revealed The rising sun shines forth above the world. Where'er let loose in space, the mighty waters Have gone, depositing a fruitful seed.
And generating fire, there he arose,
Who is the breath and life of all the gods,
Whose mighty glance looks round the vast expanse Of watery vapor — source of energy,
Cause of the sacrifice — the only God
Above the gods. May he not injure us!
He the Creator of the earth — the righteous
Creator of the sky, Creator too
Of oceans bright, and far-extending waters.
Let me now give a few verses (not in regular order and not quite literally translated) from the celebrated Purusha-sukta, one of the most recent hymns of the Rig-veda. It will serve to illustrate the gradual sliding of Hindu monotheism into pantheism, and the first foreshadowing of the institution of caste, which for so many centuries has held India in bond age : —
The embodied spirit has a thousand heads, A thousand eyes, a thousand feet around, On every side enveloping the earth,
Yet filling space no larger than a span.
He is himself this very universe,
He is whatever is, has been, and shall be.
He is the lord of immortality.
All creatures are one fourth of him, three fourths
Are that which is immortal in the sky.
From him called Purusha, was born Viraj,
And from Viraj was Purusha produced,
Whom gods and holy men made their oblation.
With Purusha as victim they performed
A sacrifice. When they divided him,
How did they cut him up ? what was his mouth ? What were his arms ? And what his thighs and feet ? The Brahman was his mouth, the kingly soldier
Was made his arms, the husbandman his thighs,
The servile Sudra issued from his feet.
I close my examples of the Mantras with slightly amplified versions of two hymns — one in praise of Time, personified as the source of all things, taken from the Atharva-veda ; the other addressed to Night, from the Rig-veda.
VEDIC HYMNS. 205
Hymn to Time.
Time, like a brilliant steed with seven rays,
And with a thousand eyes, imperishable,
Full of fecundity, bears all things onward.
On him ascend the learned and the wise.
Time, like a seven-wheeled, seven-naved car, moves on. His rolling wheels are all the worlds, his axle
Is immortality. He is the first of gods.
We see him like an overflowing jar ;
We see him multiplied in various forms.
He draws forth and encompasses the worlds ; He is all future worlds ; he is their father ; He is their son ; there is no power like him. The past and future issue out of Time,
All sacred knowledge and austerity.
From Time the earth and waters were produced ;
From Time, the rising, setting, burning sun ;
From Time, the wind ; through Time the earth is vast Through Time the eye perceives ; mind, breath, and name In him are comprehended. All rejoice
When Time arrives — the monarch who has conquered This world, the highest world, the holy worlds,
Yea, all the worlds — and ever marches on.
The hymn to Night is my last example. It is taken from the tenth Mandala of the Rig-veda : —
Hymn to Night.
The goddess Night arrives in all her glory, Looking about her with her countless eyes. She, the immortal goddess, throws her veil Over low valley, rising ground, and hill,
But soon with bright effulgence dissipates The darkness she produces ; soon advancing, She calls her sister Morning to return,
And then each darksome shadow melts away. Kind goddess, be propitious to thy servants
Who at thy coming straightway seek repose,
Like birds who nightly nestle in the trees.
Lo ! men and cattle, flocks and winged creatures, And e'en the ravenous hawks, have gone to rest. Drive thou away from us, O Night, the wolf ; Drive thou away the thief, and bear us safely Across thy borders. Then do thou, O Dawn, Like one who clears away a debt, chase off
206
LEX TALIONIS.
This black yet palpable obscurity,
Which came to fold us in its close embrace. Receive, O Night, dark daughter of the Day, My hymn of praise, which I present to thee, Like some rich offering to a conqueror.
LEX TALIONIS.
Dasaratha declares his Bereavement a Punishment. (From the R&mayana : translated by Sir Monier Monier- Williams. )
One day when rains refreshed the earth, and caused my heart to swell with joy ;
When, after scorching with his rays the parched ground, the summer sun
Had passed towards the south ; when cooling breezes chased away the heat
And grateful clouds arose ; when frogs and peafowl sported, and the deer
Seemed drunk with glee, and all the winged creation, dripping as if drowned,
Plumed their dank feathers on the tops of wind-rocked trees, and falling showers
Covered the mountains till they looked like watery heaps, and tor rents poured
Down from their sides, filled with loose stones and red as dawn with
mineral earth, — Winding like serpents in their course;
then, at that charming
season, I,
Longing to breathe the air, went forth, with bow and arrow in my
hand,
To seek for game, if haply by the riverside a buffalo,
An elephant, or other animal might cross at eve my path,
Coming to drink. Then in the dusk I heard the sound of gurgling
water ;
Quickly I took my bow, and aiming toward the sound, shot off the
dart.
A cry of mortal agony came from the spot, — a human voice
Was heard, and a poor hermit's son fell pierced and bleeding in the " stream.
Ah ! wherefore then," he cried, "am I, a harmless hermit's son, struck down ?
LEX TALIONIS. 207
Hither to this lone brook I came at eve to fill my water jar. I By whom have I been smitten ? Whom have I offended ? Oh !
grieve
Not for myself or my own fate, but for my parents, old and blind, Who perish in my death. Ah !
what will be the end of that loved
pair,
Long guided and supported by my hand ? This barbed dart hath
pierced
Both me and them. " Hearing that piteous voice, I, Dasaratha, Who meant no harm to any human creature, young or old, became Palsied with fear ; my bow and arrows dropped from my senseless
hands;
And I approached the place in horror ; there with dismay I saw Stretched on the bank an innocent hermit boy, writhing in pain and
smeared
With dust and blood, his knotted hair disheveled, and a broken jar Lying beside him. I stood petrified and speechless. He on me Fixed full his eyes; and then, as if to burn my inmost soul, he
said :—
"How have I wronged thee, monarch? that thy cruel hand has
smitten me, —
Me, a poor hermit's son, born in the forest : father, mother, child Hast thou transfixed with this one arrow : they, my parents, sit at
home, —
Expecting my return, and long will cherish hope
And agonizing fears. Go to my father — tell him of my fate,
Lest his dread curse consume thee, as the flame devours the withered
wood.
But first in pity draw thou forth the shaft that pierces to my heart And checks the gushing lifeblood, as the bank obstructs the bound
ing stream ! "
He ceased, and as he rolled his eyes in agony, and quivering writhed Upon the ground, I slowly drew the arrow from the poor boy's side. Distracted at the grievous crime, wrought by my hand unwittingly, Sadly I thought within myself how I might best repair the wrong, Then took the way he had directed me towards the hermitage.
There I beheld his parents, old and blind; like two clipped, wing
less birds
Sitting forlorn, without their guide, awaiting his arrival anxiously, And, to beguile their weariness, conversing of him tenderly.
Quickly they caught the sound of footsteps, and I heard the old
man say "
With chiding voice, Why hast thou lingered, child ? Quick, give
us both to drink
A little water. Long forgetful of us, in the cooling stream
a prey to thirst
208 LEX TALIONIS.
Hast thou disported ; come in, for thy mother yearneth for her son. If she or I in aught have caused thee pain, or spoken hasty words, Think on thy hermit's duty of forgiveness ; bear them not in mind. Thou art the refuge of us refugeless — the eyes of thy blind sire. Why art thou silent? Speak! Bound up in thee are both thy
parents' lives. "
He ceased, and I stood paralyzed — till by an effort resolutely Collecting all my powers of utterance, with faltering voice I said :—
I am the king. Wandering with bow and arrow by a stream, seeking for game,
" Pious and noble hermit, I am not thy son ;
I pierced
Unknowingly thy child. The rest I need not tell. Be gracious
to me. "
Hearing my pitiless words, announcing his bereavement, he remained Senseless awhile; then drawing a deep sigh, his face all bathed
in tears,
He spake as I approached him suppliantly, and slowly said : —
" Hadst thou not come thyself to tell thy awful tale, its load of guilt Had crushed thy head into ten thousand fragments. This ill-fated
deed
Was wrought by thee unwittingly, O king, else hadst thou not
been spared,
And all the race of Raghavas had perished. Lead us to the place ; And, bloody though he be, and lifeless, we must look upon our son For the last time, and clasp him in our arms. " Then weeping
bitterly,
The pair, led by my hand, came to the spot, and fell upon their son. Thrilled by the touch, the father cried: "My son, hast thou no
greeting for me?
No word of recognition ? Why liest thou here upon the ground ?
I no longer loved by thee, my son ?
Art thou offended ? Or am
See here thy mother. Thou wert ever dutiful towards us both.
Why wilt thou not embrace me ? Speak one tender word. Whom
shall I hear
Reading again the sacred Sastra in the early morning hours ?
Who now will bring me roots and fruits to feed me like a cherished
guest ?
How, weak and blind, can I support thy aged mother, pining for
her son?
Stay ! Go not yet to Death's abode —stay with thy mother yet
one day:
To-morrow we will both go with thee on the dreary way. Forlorn And sad, deserted by our child, without protector in the wood,
Soon shall we both depart toward the mansion of the King of
Death. "
LOVE STRONGER THAN DEATH. 209
Thus bitterly lamenting, he performed the funeral rites; then turning " I had
Towards me, thus addressed me, standing reverently near :
But this one child, and thou hast made me childless. Now strike
down I shall feel no pain in death. But
The father ; thy requital
be That sorrow for a child shall also bring thee one day to the grave. "
LOVE STRONGER THAN DEATH. (From the Mahabharata : translated by Protap Chandra Roy. )
There was a king among the Madras who was virtuous and highly pious. And he was the foremost of givers, and was able, and was beloved by both the citizens and the rural population. And the name of that Lord of Earth was Acwapati. And that forgiving monarch of truthful speech and subdued senses was without offspring. And when he got old, he was stricken with grief at this. And that best of kings, daily offering ten thou sand oblations to the Fire, recited hymns in honor of Savitri, the wife of Brahma, and ate temperately at the sixth hour. And at the end of eighteen years, Savitri appeared unto him and said: —
" Through the favor granted by the Self-create, there shall speedily be born unto thee a daughter of great energy. It behooveth thee to make no reply. Well" pleased, I tell thee this at the command of the Great Father !
And Savitri vanishing away, the monarch entered his own city. And when some time had elapsed, that king observant of vows begat offspring on his eldest queen engaged in the practice of virtue.
And when the time came, his wife brought forth a daughter furnished with lotuslike eyes. And as she had been bestowed with delight by the goddess Savitri by virtue of the oblations offered in honor of that goddess, both her father and the Brahmanas named her Savitri.
And the king's daughter grew up like unto Sri [the goddess of beauty] herself in embodied form. And in due time that damsel attained her puberty.
And beholding that maiden of slender waist and ample hips, and resembling a golden image, people thought : " Lo, we have received a goddess ! "
210 LOVE STRONGER THAN DEATH.
And, overpowered by her energy, none could wed that girl of eyes like lotus leaves, and possessed of a burning splendor.
And it came to pass that once on the occasion of a holy day, having fasted and bathed her head, she presented herself before the family deity, and caused the Brahmanas to offer oblations with due rites before the sacrificial fire. And taking the flowers that had been offered to the god, that lady, beautiful as Sri herself, went to her high-souled sire. And having rever enced the feet of her father, that lady of exceeding grace, with joined hands, stood at the side of the king. And seeing his own daughter, resembling a celestial damsel and arrived at puberty, unsought by people, the king became sad.
asketh thee. Do thou, therefore, thyself seek for a husband equal to thee in qualities. That person who may be desired by thee shall be notified to me by thee. Do thou choose for thy hus band as thou listest. Do thou, O auspicious one, listen to the words I myself have heard from the twice-born ones : The father that doth not bestow his daughter cometh by disgrace. And the son who doth not protect his mother when her husband is dead also suffereth disgrace. Hearing these words, do thou engage thyself in search of a husband. Do thou act in such a way that we may not be censured by the gods ! "
Having said these words to his daughter and his old coun selors, "he instructed the attendants to follow her, saying, « Go !
Thereafter, bashfully bowing even down unto her father's feet, the meek maid went out without hesitation, in compliance with the words of her sire. And ascending a golden car, she went to the delightful asylums of the royal sages, accompanied by her father's royal counselors. There, worshiping the feet of the aged ones, she gradually began to roam over all the woods. Thus the king's daughter, distributing wealth in all sacred regions, ranged the various places belonging to the foremost of the twice-born ones.
Now on one occasion, when Acwapati, the Lord of the Madras, was seated with Narada, the celestial sage, in the midst of his court enjoyed in conversation, Savitri returned to her father's abode, after visiting various asylums and regions.
And beholding her father sitting with Narada, she wor shiped both by bending down her head.
And the king said : —
" Daughter, the time for bestowing thee is come ! Yet none
LOVE STRONGER THAN DEATH. 211
" Whither had this thy daughter gone ? And, O king, whence also doth she come ? Why also dost thou not bestow her on a husband, seeing that she hath arrived at the age of puberty ? "
"Surely it was on this very business that she hath been sent, and she returneth now from her search. Do thou, O celestial sage, listen, even unto herself, as to the husband she hath chosen for herself. "
" There was amongst the Salwas a virtuous Kshatriya king known by the name of Dyumatsena. And it came to pass that in the course of time he became blind. And that blind king possessed of wisdom had an only son. And it so hap pened that an old enemy dwelling in his neighborhood, taking advantage of the king's mishap, deprived him of his kingdom. And, thereupon, the monarch, accompanied by his wife, bear ing a child on her breast, went into the woods. And having retired into the forest, he adopted great vows and began to practice ascetic austerities. And his son, born in the city, began to grow in the hermitage. That youth, fit to be my husband, I have accepted in my heart for my lord ! "
" Alas ! O king, Savitri hath committed a great wrong ; since, not knowing, she hath accepted for her lord this Satyavan of excellent qualities. " —
" But is Prince Satyavan endued with energy and intelli gence and forgiveness and courage ? "
" In energy Satyavan is like unto the Sun, and in wisdom like unto Vrihaspati ! And he is brave like unto the Lord of the Celestials, and forgiving like unto the Earth herself ! "
"And is Prince Satyavan liberal in gifts and devoted to the Brahmanas ? Is he handsome and magnanimous and lovely to behold ? "
" In bestowing gifts, according to his power, he is like unto Sankriti's son Rantideva. In truthfulness of speech and devo
And Narada then said : —
Acwapati answered, saying : —
Then that blessed maid related everything in detail, as commanded by her father : —
At these her words, Narada said : —
The king then asked :
Narada replied, saying : —
Acwapati then said : —
Narada said : —
212 LOVE STRONGER THAN DEATH.
tion to the Brahmanas, he is like Ucinara's son Civl. And he is magnanimous like Yayati, and beautiful like the Moon. And, with senses under control, he is meek and brave and truthful ! And, with passions in subjection, he is devoted to his friends, and free from malice, and modest and patient. "
" O reverend sage, thou tellest me that he is possessed of every virtue ! Do thou now tell me his defects, indeed, he hath any "
" He hath one only defect, that hath overwhelmed all his virtues. That defect incapable of being conquered even by the greatest efforts. He hath only one defect and no other. Within year from this day, Satyavan, endued with short life, will cast off his body "
Hearing this, Agwapati said : —
Narada then said —
Hearing these words of the sage, the king said —
" Come, Savitri, go thou and choose another for thy lord, beautiful damsel That one great defect existing in this
youth covereth all his merits. " —
At these words of her father, Savitri said
" The die can fall but once daughter can be given away
but once; and only once can person say, 'I give away. ' These three things can take place only once Indeed, with life short or long, possessed of virtues or bereft of them,
have for once selected my husband. Twice shall not select. When thing first settled mentally, expressed in words, and then " carried out into practice. Of this my mind an example
—
best of men, the heart of thy daughter wavereth not
Then Narada said "
It not possible by any means to make her swerve from this path of virtue The bestowal of thy daughter is, therefore, approved by me. " —
The king said
" What thou hast said, illustrious one, should never be disobeyed for thy words are true And shall act as thou hast said, since thou art my preceptor "
—
"May the bestowal of thy daughter Savitri be attended with peace shall now depart. Blessed be all of ye "
Having said this, Narada rose up into the sky and went to heaven. On the other hand, the king began to make prepara
Narada said
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LOVE STRONGER THAN DEATH. 213
tions for his daughter's wedding. And having summoned all the old Brahmanas and priests, he set out on an auspicious day with his daughter. And, arriving at the asylum of Dyumat- sena in the sacred forest, the king approached the royal sage, and after duly reverencing him, introduced himself in a humble speech. And the monarch said to his royal guest : —
" Wherefore is this visit ? "
Thus addressed, the king disclosed everything about his intention and purpose with reference to Satyavan, saying : —
" O royal sage, this beautiful girl is my daughter, named Savitri. O thou versed in morality, do thou, agreeably to the customs of our order, take her from me as thy daughter-in-law ! "
Hearing these words, Dyumatsena said : —
"Deprived of kingdom and taking up our abode in the woods, we are engaged in the practice of virtue as ascetics with regulated lives. Unworthy of a forest life, how will "thy daughter, living in the sylvan asylum, bear this hardship ?
Agwapati said : —
" As my daughter knoweth, as well as myself, that happi ness and misery come and go, without either being stationary, such words as these are not fit to be used to one like me. Thou art my equal and fit for an alliance with me, as, indeed, I am thy equal and fit for an alliance with thee. Do thou, there fore, accept my daughter for thy daughter-in-law and the wife of the good Satyavan. " —
" Formerly I had desired an alliance with thee. But I hesi tated, being subsequently deprived of my kingdom. Let this wish, therefore, that I had formerly entertained, be accom plished this very day. Thou art, indeed, a very welcome guest tome! "
Then summoning all the twice-born ones residing in the hermitages of that forest, the two kings caused the union to take place with due rites. And having bestowed his daughter with suitable robes and ornaments, Acwapati went back to his abode in great joy.
And Satyavan, having obtained a wife possessed of every accomplishment, became highly glad, while she also rejoiced, having gained the husband after her own heart. And when her father had departed, she put off all her ornaments, and clad herself in bark and in clothes dyed in red. And by her services and virtues, her tenderness and self-denial, and by her
Hearing these words, Dyumatsena said :
214 LOVE STRONGER THAN DEATH.
agreeable offices unto all, she pleased everybody. And she gratified her mother-in-law by attending to her person and by covering her with robes and ornaments. And she gratified her father-in-law by worshiping him as a god and controlling her speech. And she pleased her husband by her honeyed speeches, her skill in every kind of work, the evenness of her temper, and the indications of her love in private. And all these, living in the asylum of the pious dwellers of the forest, continued for some time to practice ascetic austerities. But the words spoken by Narada were present night and day to the mind of the sorrowful Savitri.
At length the hour appointed for the death of Satyavan arrived. And as the words spoken by Narada were ever pres ent to the mind of Savitri, she counted the days as they passed. And having ascertained that her husband would die on the fourth day following, the damsel fasted day and night, observ ing the Triratra vow. And hearing of her vow, the king became exceedingly sorry, and rising up, soothed Savitri and said"these words : —
This vow thou hast begun to observe, O daughter of a king, is exceedingly hard ; for it is exceedingly difficult to fast three nights together ! "
And hearing these words, Savitri said : —
" Thou needest not be sorry, O father ! This vow I shall be able to observe ! I have for certain undertaken this task with perseverance ; and perseverance is the cause of the suc cessful observance of vows. "
And having listened to her, Dyumatsena said : —
" I can by no means say unto thee, ' Do thou break thy vow. ' One like me, on the contrary, should say, 'Do thou complete thy vow ! ' "
And having said this, the high-minded Dyumatsena stopped.
And Savitri, continuing to fast, began to look lean like a wooden doll. And thinking her husband would die on the morrow, the woe-stricken one, observing a fast, spent that night in extreme anguish. And when the sun had risen about a couple of hands, thinking within herself, "To-day is that day," she finished her morning rites, and offered oblations to the flaming fire. And bowing down unto the aged Brahmanas and her father-in-law and mother-in-law, she stood before them with joined hands, concentrating her senses. And for
LOVE STRONGER THAN DEATH. 215
the welfare of Savitri all the ascetics dwelling in that hermit age uttered the auspicious benediction that she should never suffer widowhood. And Savitri, immersed in contemplation, accepted all these words of the ascetics, mentally saying, " So
be it ! " And the king's daughter, reflecting on the words of Narada, remained, expecting the hour and the moment.
Then, well pleased, her father-in-law and her mother-in-law said these words unto the princess seated in a corner : —
" Thou hast completed the vow as prescribed. The time for thy "meal has now arrived ; therefore do thou what is proper ! —
" Now that I have completed the purposed vow, I will eat when the sun goes down. Even this is my heart's resolve and this is my vow ! "
Thereat Savitri said :
And when Savitri had spoken thus about her vow, Satya- van, taking his ax upon his shoulder, set out for the woods. And at this Savitri said unto her husband : —
"It behooveth thee not to go alone. I will accompany thee. I cannot bear to be separated from thee ! "
Hearing these words of her, Satyavan said : —
" Thou hast never before repaired to the forest. And, O lady, the forest paths are hard to pass ! Besides, thou hast been reduced by fast on account of thy vow. How wouldst thou, therefore, be able to walk on foot ? "
" If thou desirest to go, I will gratify that desire of thine. Do thou, however, take the permission of my parents, so that Imay be guilty of no fault ! "
Thus addressed, Savitri said : —
"I do not feel languor because of the fast, nor do I feel exhaustion. And I have made up my mind to go. It be hooveth thee not, therefore, to prevent me ! "
At this, Satyavan said : —
Thus addressed by her lord, Savitri of high vows saluted her father-in-law and mother-in-law, and addressed them, saying : —
" This my husband goeth to the forest for procuring fruits. Permitted by my revered lady mother and my father-in-law, I will accompany him.
196 VEDIC HYMNS.
sequently to a dominion over the waters when they had left the air and rested on the earth.
Of these separately deified physical forces, by far the most favorite object of adoration was the deity supposed to yield the dew and rain, longed for by Eastern cultivators of the soil with even greater cravings than by Northern agriculturists. Indra, therefore, — the Jupiter Pluvius of early Indian mythology, — is undoubtedly the principal divinity of Vedic worshipers, in so far at least as the greater number of their prayers and hymns are addressed to him.
What, however, could rain effect without the aid of heat ? a force, the intensity of which must have impressed an Indian mind with awe, and led him to invest the possessor of it with divine attributes. Hence the other great god of Vedic wor shipers, and in some respects the most important in his connec tion with sacrificial rites, is Agni (Latin Ignis), the god of fire. Even Siirya, the sun (Greek Helios), who was probably at first adored as the original source of heat, came to be regarded as only another form of fire. He was merely a manifestation of the same divine energy removed to the heavens and consequently less accessible. Another deity, Ushas, goddess of the dawn, — the Eos of the Greeks, — was naturally connected with the sun, and regarded as daughter of the sky. Two other deities, the Acvins, were fabled as connected with Ushas, as ever young and handsome, traveling in a golden car, and precursors of the dawn. They are sometimes called Dasras, as divine physicians, destroyers of diseases; sometimes Uasatyas, as "never untrue. " They appear to have been personifications of two luminous rays imagined to precede the break of day. These, with Yama, " the God of departed spirits," are the principal deities of the Mantra portion of the Veda.
We find, therefore, no trace in the Mantras of the Trimurti or Triad of deities (Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva), afterwards so popular. Nor does the doctrine of transmigration, afterwards an essential element of the Hindu religion, appear in the Mantra portion of the Veda, though there is a clear declaration of it in the Aranyaka of the Aitareya Brahmana. Nor is caste clearly alluded to, except in the later Purusha-sukta.
But here it may be asked, if sky, air, water, fire, and the sun were thus worshiped as manifestations of the supreme universal God of the universe, was not the earth also an object of adora tion with the early Hindus ? And unquestionably in the earlier
VEDIC HYMNS. 197
system the earth, under the name of Prithivi, " the broad one," does receive divine honors, being thought of as the mother of all beings. Moreover, various deities were regarded as the progeny resulting from the fancied union of earth with Dyaus, heaven. This imaginary marriage of heaven and earth was indeed a most natural idea, and much of the later mythology may be explained by it. But it is remarkable that as religious worship became of a more selfish character, the earth, being more evidently under man's control, and not seeming to need propitiation so urgently as the more uncertain air, fire, and water, lost impor tance among the gods, and was rarely addressed in prayer or hymn.
In all probability the deified forces addressed in the hymns were not represented by images or idols in the Vedic period, though doubtless the early worshipers clothed their gods with human form in their own imaginations.
I now begin my examples with a nearly literal translation of the well-known sixteenth hymn of the fourth book of the Atharva-veda, in praise of Varuna or the Investing Sky : —
HYMN TO THE INVESTING SKY.
The mighty Varuna, who rules above, looks down
Upon these worlds, his kingdom, as if close at hand.
When men imagine they do aught by stealth, he knows it. No one can stand or walk or softly glide along
Or hide in dark recess, or lurk in secret cell,
But Varuna detects him and his movements spies.
Two persons may devise some plot, together sitting
In private and alone ; but he, the king, is there —
A third — and sees it all. This boundless earth is his,
His the vast sky, whose depth no mortal e'er can fathom. Both oceans [air and sea] find a place within his body, yet In that small pool he lies contained. Whoe'er should flee Far, far beyond the sky, would not escape the grasp
Of Varuna, the king. His messengers descend
Countless from his abode — forever traversing
This world and scanning with a thousand eyes its inmates. Whate'er exists within this earth, and all within the sky, Yea, all that is beyond, King Varuna perceives.
The winking of men's eyes are numbered all by him.
He wields the universe, as gamesters handle dice.
May thy destroying snares cast sevenfold round the wicked, Entangle liars, but the truthful spare, O king !
198 VEDIC HYMNS.
I pass from the ancient Aryan deity Varuna to the more thoroughly Indian god Indra.
The following metrical lines bring together various scattered texts relating to this Hindu Jupiter Pluvius : —
TO THE RAIN GOD.
Indra, twin brother of the god of fire,
When thou wast born, thy mother Aditi
Gave thee, her lusty child, the thrilling draught
Of mountain-growing Soma — source of life
And never-dying vigor to thy frame.
Then at the Thunderer's birth, appalled with fear, Dreading the hundred-jointed thunderbolt —
Forged by the cunning Trastivri — mountain rocked, Earth shook, and heaven trembled. Thou wast born Without a rival, king of gods and men —
The eye of living and terrestrial things.
Immortal Indra, unrelenting foe
Of drought and darkness, infinitely wise,
Terrific crusher of thy enemies,
Heroic, irresistible in might,
Wall of defense to us thy worshipers,
We sing thy praises, and our ardent hymns
Embrace thee, as a loving wife her lord.
Thou art our guardian, advocate, and friend,
A brother, father, mother, all combined.
Most fatherly of fathers, we are thine,
And thou art ours ; oh ! let thy pitying soul
Turn to us in compassion, when we praise thee,
And slay us not for one sin or for many.
Deliver us to-day, to-morrow, every day. — Armed for the conflict, see ! the demons come
Ahi and Vritra and a long array
Of darksome spirits. Quick, then, quaff the draught That stimulates thy martial energy,
And dashing onward in thy golden car,
Drawn by thy ruddy, Ribhu-fashioned steeds,
Speed to the charge, escorted by the Maruts.
Vainly the demons dare thy might ; in vain
Strive to deprive us of thy watery treasures.
Earth quakes beneath the crashing of thy bolts. Pierced, shattered, lies the foe — his cities crushed, His armies overthrown, his fortresses
Shivered to fragments; then the pent-up waters,
VEDIC HYMNS. 199
Released from long imprisonment, descend In torrents to the earth, and swollen rivers, Foaming and rolling to their ocean home, Proclaim the triumph of the Thunderer.
Let us proceed next to the all-important Vedic deity Agni, " god of fire," especially of sacrificial fire. I propose now to paraphrase a few of the texts which relate to him : —
TO THE FIRE GOD.
Agni, thou art a sage, a priest, a king, Protector, father of the sacrifice. Commissioned by us men thou dost ascend A messenger, conveying to the sky
Our hymns and offerings. Though thy origin
Be threefold, now from air and now from water, Now from the mystic double Arani,
Thou art thyself a mighty god, a lord,
Giver of life and immortality,
One in thy essence, but to mortals three ;
Displaying thine eternal triple form,
As fire on earth, as lightning in the air,
As sun in heaven. Thou art a cherished guest
In every household — father, brother, son,
Friend, benefactor, guardian, all in one.
Bright, seven-rayed god ! how manifold thy shapes Revealed to us thy votaries ! now we see thee,
With body all of gold, and radiant hair,
Flaming from three terrific heads, and mouths Whose burning jaws and teeth devour all things. Now with a thousand glowing horns, and now Flashing thy luster from a thousand eyes,
Thou'rt borne towards us in a golden chariot, Impelled by winds, and drawn by ruddy steeds, Marking thy car's destructive course with blackness. Deliver, mighty lord, thy worshipers.
Purge us from taint of sin, and when we die,
Deal mercifully with us on the pyre,
Burning our bodies with their load of guilt,
But bearing our eternal part on high
To luminous abodes and realms of bliss,
Forever there to dwell with righteous men.
The next deity is Surya, the sun, who, with reference to the variety of his functions, has various names, — such as Savitri,
200 VEDIC HYMNS.
Aryaman, Mitra, Varuna, Pushan, sometimes ranking as dis tinct deities of the celestial sphere. As already explained, he is associated in the minds of Vedic worshipers with Fire, and is frequently described as sitting in a chariot drawn by seven ruddy horses (representing the seven days of the week), pre ceded by the Dawn. Here is an example of a hymn addressed to this deity, translated almost literally : —
HYMN TO THE SUN.
Behold the rays of dawn, like heralds, lead on high
The sun, that men may see the great all-knowing god.
The stars slink off like thieves, in company with Night, Before the all-seeing eye, whose beams reveal his presence, Gleaming like brilliant flames, to nation after nation.
With speed beyond the ken of mortals, thou, O Sun,
Dost ever travel on, conspicuous to all.
Thou dost create the light, and with it dost illume
The universe entire ; thou risest in the sight
Of all the race of men, and all the host of heaven. Light-giving Varuna ! thy piercing glance doth scan
in quick succession all this stirring, active world,
And penetrateth, too, the broad ethereal space,
Measuring our days and nights and spying out all creatures. Surya with flaming locks, clear-sighted, god of day,
Thy seven ruddy mares bear on thy rushing car.
With these thy self-yoked steeds, seven daughters of thy
chariot.
Onward thou dost advance. To thy refulgent orb Beyond this lower gloom and upward to the light Would we ascend, O Sun, thou god among the gods.
As an accompaniment to this hymn may here be mentioned the celebrated Gayatri. It is a short prayer to the Sun in his character of Savitri or the Vivifier, and is the most sacred of all Vedic texts. Though not always understood, it is to this very day used by every Brahman throughout India in his daily devotions. It occurs in the Rig-veda, and can be literally translated as follows : —
" Let us meditate [or, We meditate] on that excellent glory of the divine Vivifier. May he enlighten [or, stimulate] our understandings. "
May we not conjecture, with Sir William Jones, that the great veneration in which this text has ever been held by the
VEDIC HYMNS. 201
Hindus from time immemorial, indicates that the more enlight ened worshipers adored, under the type of the visible sun, that divine light which alone could illumine their intellects ?
I may here also fitly offer a short paraphrase descriptive of the Vedic Ushas, the Greek E5s, or Dawn : —
HYMN TO THE DAWN.
Hail, ruddy Ushas, golden goddess, borne Upon thy shining car, thou comest like A lovely maiden by her mother decked, Disclosing coyly all thy hidden graces
To our admiring eyes ; or like a wife
Unveiling to her lord, with conscious pride, Beauties which, as he gazes lovingly,
Seem fresher, fairer, each succeeding morn. Through years on years thou hast lived on, and yet Thou'rt ever young. Thou art the breath and life Of all that breathes and lives, awaking day by day Myriads of prostrate sleepers, as from death, Causing the birds to flutter from their nests,
And rousing men to ply with busy feet
Their daily duties and appointed tasks,
Toiling for wealth, or pleasure, or renown.
Before leaving the subject of the Vedic deities, I add a few words about Yama, the god of departed spirits. It appears tolerably certain that the doctrine of metempsychosis has no place in the Mantra portion of the Veda ; nor do the authors of the hymns evince any sympathy with the desire to get rid of all action and personal existence, which became so remarkable a feature of the theology and philosophy of the Brahmans in later times. But there are many indirect references to the immortality of man's spirit and a future life, and these become more marked and decided towards the end of the Rig-veda. One of the hymns in the last Mandala is addressed to the Pitris or fathers, that is to say, the spirits of departed ances tors who have attained to a state of heavenly bliss, and are supposed to occupy three different stages of blessedness ; the highest inhabiting the upper sky, the middle the intermediate air, and the lowest the regions of the atmosphere near the earth. Reverence and adoration are always to be offered them, and they are presided over by the god Yama, the ruler of all the spirits of the dead, whether good or bad. The earlier legends repre
202 VEDIC HYMNS.
sent this god as a kind of first man (his twin sister being Yami), and also as the first of men that died. Hence he is described as guiding the spirits of other men who die, to the same world. In some passages, however, Death is said to be his messenger, he himself dwelling in celestial light, to which the departed are brought, and where they enjoy his society and that of the fathers. In the Veda he has nothing to do with judging or punishing the departed (as in the later mythology), but he has two terrific dogs, with four eyes, which guard the way to his abode. Here are a few thoughts about him from various hymns in the tenth Mandala of the Rig-veda : —
HYMN TO DEATH.
To Yama, mighty king, be gifts and homage paid.
He was the first of men that died, the first to brave
Death's rapid, rushing stream, the first to point the road
To heaven, and welcome others to that bright abode.
No power can rob us of the home thus won by thee.
O king, we come ; the born must die, must tread the path That thou hast trod — the path by which each race of men, In long succession, and our fathers too, have passed. —
Soul of the dead ! depart ; fear not to take the road
The ancient road — by which thy ancestors have gone ; Ascend to meet the god — to meet thy happy fathers, — Who dwell in bliss with him. Fear not to pass the guards The four-eyed brindled dogs — that watch for the departed. Return unto thy home, O soul ! Thy sin and shame—
Leave thou behind on earth ; assume a shining form
Thy ancient shape — refined and from all taint set free.
Let me now endeavor, by slightly amplified translations, to convey some idea of two of the most remarkable hymns in the Rig-veda. The first, which may be compared with some parts of the thirty-eighth chapter of Job, attempts to describe the mystery of creation, thus : —
THE MYSTERY OP CREATION.
In the beginning there was neither naught nor aught; Then there was neither sky nor atmosphere above. What then enshrouded all this teeming Universe ?
In the receptacle of what was it contained ?
Was it enveloped in the gulf profound of water ? Then was there neither death nor immortality,
VEDIC HYMNS. 203
Then was there neither day, nor night, nor light, nor darkness, Only the existent One breathed calmly, self-contained.
Naught else than him there was — naught else above, beyond. Then first came darkness hid in darkness, gloom in gloom. Next all was water, all a chaos indiscrete,
In which the One lay void, shrouded in nothingness. Then turning inwards, he by self-developed force
Of inner fervor and intense abstraction, grew.
And now in him Desire, the primal germ of mind, Arose, which learned men, profoundly searching, say Is the first subtle bond, connecting Entity
With Nullity. This ray that kindled dormant life, Where was it then ? before ? or was it found above ? Were there parturient powers and latent qualities,
And fecund principles beneath, and active forces
That energized aloft ? Who knows ? Who can declare ? How and from what has sprung this Universe ? the gods Themselves are subsequent to its development.
Who then can penetrate the secret of its rise ?
Whether 'twas framed or not, made or not made, he only Who in the highest heaven sits, the omniscient lord, Assuredly knows all, or haply knows he not.
The next example is from the first Mandala of the Rig-veda. Like the preceding, it furnishes a good argument for those who maintain that the purer faith of the Hindus is properly mono theistic.
THE ONE GOD.
What god shall we adore with sacrifice ?
Him let us praise, the golden child that rose
In the beginning, who was born the lord —
The one sole lord of all that is — who made
The earth, and formed the sky, who giveth life, Who giveth strength, whose bidding gods revere, Whose hiding place is immortality,
Whose shadow, death ; who by his might is king Of all the breathing, sleeping, waking world— Who governs men and beasts, whose majesty These snowy hills, this ocean with its rivers, Declare ; of whom these spreading regions form The arms ; by whom the firmament is strong, Earth firmly planted, and the highest heavens Supported, and the clouds that fill the air Distributed and measured out ; to whom
Both earth and heaven, established by his will,
204
VEDIC HYMNS.
Look up with trembling mind ; in whom revealed The rising sun shines forth above the world. Where'er let loose in space, the mighty waters Have gone, depositing a fruitful seed.
And generating fire, there he arose,
Who is the breath and life of all the gods,
Whose mighty glance looks round the vast expanse Of watery vapor — source of energy,
Cause of the sacrifice — the only God
Above the gods. May he not injure us!
He the Creator of the earth — the righteous
Creator of the sky, Creator too
Of oceans bright, and far-extending waters.
Let me now give a few verses (not in regular order and not quite literally translated) from the celebrated Purusha-sukta, one of the most recent hymns of the Rig-veda. It will serve to illustrate the gradual sliding of Hindu monotheism into pantheism, and the first foreshadowing of the institution of caste, which for so many centuries has held India in bond age : —
The embodied spirit has a thousand heads, A thousand eyes, a thousand feet around, On every side enveloping the earth,
Yet filling space no larger than a span.
He is himself this very universe,
He is whatever is, has been, and shall be.
He is the lord of immortality.
All creatures are one fourth of him, three fourths
Are that which is immortal in the sky.
From him called Purusha, was born Viraj,
And from Viraj was Purusha produced,
Whom gods and holy men made their oblation.
With Purusha as victim they performed
A sacrifice. When they divided him,
How did they cut him up ? what was his mouth ? What were his arms ? And what his thighs and feet ? The Brahman was his mouth, the kingly soldier
Was made his arms, the husbandman his thighs,
The servile Sudra issued from his feet.
I close my examples of the Mantras with slightly amplified versions of two hymns — one in praise of Time, personified as the source of all things, taken from the Atharva-veda ; the other addressed to Night, from the Rig-veda.
VEDIC HYMNS. 205
Hymn to Time.
Time, like a brilliant steed with seven rays,
And with a thousand eyes, imperishable,
Full of fecundity, bears all things onward.
On him ascend the learned and the wise.
Time, like a seven-wheeled, seven-naved car, moves on. His rolling wheels are all the worlds, his axle
Is immortality. He is the first of gods.
We see him like an overflowing jar ;
We see him multiplied in various forms.
He draws forth and encompasses the worlds ; He is all future worlds ; he is their father ; He is their son ; there is no power like him. The past and future issue out of Time,
All sacred knowledge and austerity.
From Time the earth and waters were produced ;
From Time, the rising, setting, burning sun ;
From Time, the wind ; through Time the earth is vast Through Time the eye perceives ; mind, breath, and name In him are comprehended. All rejoice
When Time arrives — the monarch who has conquered This world, the highest world, the holy worlds,
Yea, all the worlds — and ever marches on.
The hymn to Night is my last example. It is taken from the tenth Mandala of the Rig-veda : —
Hymn to Night.
The goddess Night arrives in all her glory, Looking about her with her countless eyes. She, the immortal goddess, throws her veil Over low valley, rising ground, and hill,
But soon with bright effulgence dissipates The darkness she produces ; soon advancing, She calls her sister Morning to return,
And then each darksome shadow melts away. Kind goddess, be propitious to thy servants
Who at thy coming straightway seek repose,
Like birds who nightly nestle in the trees.
Lo ! men and cattle, flocks and winged creatures, And e'en the ravenous hawks, have gone to rest. Drive thou away from us, O Night, the wolf ; Drive thou away the thief, and bear us safely Across thy borders. Then do thou, O Dawn, Like one who clears away a debt, chase off
206
LEX TALIONIS.
This black yet palpable obscurity,
Which came to fold us in its close embrace. Receive, O Night, dark daughter of the Day, My hymn of praise, which I present to thee, Like some rich offering to a conqueror.
LEX TALIONIS.
Dasaratha declares his Bereavement a Punishment. (From the R&mayana : translated by Sir Monier Monier- Williams. )
One day when rains refreshed the earth, and caused my heart to swell with joy ;
When, after scorching with his rays the parched ground, the summer sun
Had passed towards the south ; when cooling breezes chased away the heat
And grateful clouds arose ; when frogs and peafowl sported, and the deer
Seemed drunk with glee, and all the winged creation, dripping as if drowned,
Plumed their dank feathers on the tops of wind-rocked trees, and falling showers
Covered the mountains till they looked like watery heaps, and tor rents poured
Down from their sides, filled with loose stones and red as dawn with
mineral earth, — Winding like serpents in their course;
then, at that charming
season, I,
Longing to breathe the air, went forth, with bow and arrow in my
hand,
To seek for game, if haply by the riverside a buffalo,
An elephant, or other animal might cross at eve my path,
Coming to drink. Then in the dusk I heard the sound of gurgling
water ;
Quickly I took my bow, and aiming toward the sound, shot off the
dart.
A cry of mortal agony came from the spot, — a human voice
Was heard, and a poor hermit's son fell pierced and bleeding in the " stream.
Ah ! wherefore then," he cried, "am I, a harmless hermit's son, struck down ?
LEX TALIONIS. 207
Hither to this lone brook I came at eve to fill my water jar. I By whom have I been smitten ? Whom have I offended ? Oh !
grieve
Not for myself or my own fate, but for my parents, old and blind, Who perish in my death. Ah !
what will be the end of that loved
pair,
Long guided and supported by my hand ? This barbed dart hath
pierced
Both me and them. " Hearing that piteous voice, I, Dasaratha, Who meant no harm to any human creature, young or old, became Palsied with fear ; my bow and arrows dropped from my senseless
hands;
And I approached the place in horror ; there with dismay I saw Stretched on the bank an innocent hermit boy, writhing in pain and
smeared
With dust and blood, his knotted hair disheveled, and a broken jar Lying beside him. I stood petrified and speechless. He on me Fixed full his eyes; and then, as if to burn my inmost soul, he
said :—
"How have I wronged thee, monarch? that thy cruel hand has
smitten me, —
Me, a poor hermit's son, born in the forest : father, mother, child Hast thou transfixed with this one arrow : they, my parents, sit at
home, —
Expecting my return, and long will cherish hope
And agonizing fears. Go to my father — tell him of my fate,
Lest his dread curse consume thee, as the flame devours the withered
wood.
But first in pity draw thou forth the shaft that pierces to my heart And checks the gushing lifeblood, as the bank obstructs the bound
ing stream ! "
He ceased, and as he rolled his eyes in agony, and quivering writhed Upon the ground, I slowly drew the arrow from the poor boy's side. Distracted at the grievous crime, wrought by my hand unwittingly, Sadly I thought within myself how I might best repair the wrong, Then took the way he had directed me towards the hermitage.
There I beheld his parents, old and blind; like two clipped, wing
less birds
Sitting forlorn, without their guide, awaiting his arrival anxiously, And, to beguile their weariness, conversing of him tenderly.
Quickly they caught the sound of footsteps, and I heard the old
man say "
With chiding voice, Why hast thou lingered, child ? Quick, give
us both to drink
A little water. Long forgetful of us, in the cooling stream
a prey to thirst
208 LEX TALIONIS.
Hast thou disported ; come in, for thy mother yearneth for her son. If she or I in aught have caused thee pain, or spoken hasty words, Think on thy hermit's duty of forgiveness ; bear them not in mind. Thou art the refuge of us refugeless — the eyes of thy blind sire. Why art thou silent? Speak! Bound up in thee are both thy
parents' lives. "
He ceased, and I stood paralyzed — till by an effort resolutely Collecting all my powers of utterance, with faltering voice I said :—
I am the king. Wandering with bow and arrow by a stream, seeking for game,
" Pious and noble hermit, I am not thy son ;
I pierced
Unknowingly thy child. The rest I need not tell. Be gracious
to me. "
Hearing my pitiless words, announcing his bereavement, he remained Senseless awhile; then drawing a deep sigh, his face all bathed
in tears,
He spake as I approached him suppliantly, and slowly said : —
" Hadst thou not come thyself to tell thy awful tale, its load of guilt Had crushed thy head into ten thousand fragments. This ill-fated
deed
Was wrought by thee unwittingly, O king, else hadst thou not
been spared,
And all the race of Raghavas had perished. Lead us to the place ; And, bloody though he be, and lifeless, we must look upon our son For the last time, and clasp him in our arms. " Then weeping
bitterly,
The pair, led by my hand, came to the spot, and fell upon their son. Thrilled by the touch, the father cried: "My son, hast thou no
greeting for me?
No word of recognition ? Why liest thou here upon the ground ?
I no longer loved by thee, my son ?
Art thou offended ? Or am
See here thy mother. Thou wert ever dutiful towards us both.
Why wilt thou not embrace me ? Speak one tender word. Whom
shall I hear
Reading again the sacred Sastra in the early morning hours ?
Who now will bring me roots and fruits to feed me like a cherished
guest ?
How, weak and blind, can I support thy aged mother, pining for
her son?
Stay ! Go not yet to Death's abode —stay with thy mother yet
one day:
To-morrow we will both go with thee on the dreary way. Forlorn And sad, deserted by our child, without protector in the wood,
Soon shall we both depart toward the mansion of the King of
Death. "
LOVE STRONGER THAN DEATH. 209
Thus bitterly lamenting, he performed the funeral rites; then turning " I had
Towards me, thus addressed me, standing reverently near :
But this one child, and thou hast made me childless. Now strike
down I shall feel no pain in death. But
The father ; thy requital
be That sorrow for a child shall also bring thee one day to the grave. "
LOVE STRONGER THAN DEATH. (From the Mahabharata : translated by Protap Chandra Roy. )
There was a king among the Madras who was virtuous and highly pious. And he was the foremost of givers, and was able, and was beloved by both the citizens and the rural population. And the name of that Lord of Earth was Acwapati. And that forgiving monarch of truthful speech and subdued senses was without offspring. And when he got old, he was stricken with grief at this. And that best of kings, daily offering ten thou sand oblations to the Fire, recited hymns in honor of Savitri, the wife of Brahma, and ate temperately at the sixth hour. And at the end of eighteen years, Savitri appeared unto him and said: —
" Through the favor granted by the Self-create, there shall speedily be born unto thee a daughter of great energy. It behooveth thee to make no reply. Well" pleased, I tell thee this at the command of the Great Father !
And Savitri vanishing away, the monarch entered his own city. And when some time had elapsed, that king observant of vows begat offspring on his eldest queen engaged in the practice of virtue.
And when the time came, his wife brought forth a daughter furnished with lotuslike eyes. And as she had been bestowed with delight by the goddess Savitri by virtue of the oblations offered in honor of that goddess, both her father and the Brahmanas named her Savitri.
And the king's daughter grew up like unto Sri [the goddess of beauty] herself in embodied form. And in due time that damsel attained her puberty.
And beholding that maiden of slender waist and ample hips, and resembling a golden image, people thought : " Lo, we have received a goddess ! "
210 LOVE STRONGER THAN DEATH.
And, overpowered by her energy, none could wed that girl of eyes like lotus leaves, and possessed of a burning splendor.
And it came to pass that once on the occasion of a holy day, having fasted and bathed her head, she presented herself before the family deity, and caused the Brahmanas to offer oblations with due rites before the sacrificial fire. And taking the flowers that had been offered to the god, that lady, beautiful as Sri herself, went to her high-souled sire. And having rever enced the feet of her father, that lady of exceeding grace, with joined hands, stood at the side of the king. And seeing his own daughter, resembling a celestial damsel and arrived at puberty, unsought by people, the king became sad.
asketh thee. Do thou, therefore, thyself seek for a husband equal to thee in qualities. That person who may be desired by thee shall be notified to me by thee. Do thou choose for thy hus band as thou listest. Do thou, O auspicious one, listen to the words I myself have heard from the twice-born ones : The father that doth not bestow his daughter cometh by disgrace. And the son who doth not protect his mother when her husband is dead also suffereth disgrace. Hearing these words, do thou engage thyself in search of a husband. Do thou act in such a way that we may not be censured by the gods ! "
Having said these words to his daughter and his old coun selors, "he instructed the attendants to follow her, saying, « Go !
Thereafter, bashfully bowing even down unto her father's feet, the meek maid went out without hesitation, in compliance with the words of her sire. And ascending a golden car, she went to the delightful asylums of the royal sages, accompanied by her father's royal counselors. There, worshiping the feet of the aged ones, she gradually began to roam over all the woods. Thus the king's daughter, distributing wealth in all sacred regions, ranged the various places belonging to the foremost of the twice-born ones.
Now on one occasion, when Acwapati, the Lord of the Madras, was seated with Narada, the celestial sage, in the midst of his court enjoyed in conversation, Savitri returned to her father's abode, after visiting various asylums and regions.
And beholding her father sitting with Narada, she wor shiped both by bending down her head.
And the king said : —
" Daughter, the time for bestowing thee is come ! Yet none
LOVE STRONGER THAN DEATH. 211
" Whither had this thy daughter gone ? And, O king, whence also doth she come ? Why also dost thou not bestow her on a husband, seeing that she hath arrived at the age of puberty ? "
"Surely it was on this very business that she hath been sent, and she returneth now from her search. Do thou, O celestial sage, listen, even unto herself, as to the husband she hath chosen for herself. "
" There was amongst the Salwas a virtuous Kshatriya king known by the name of Dyumatsena. And it came to pass that in the course of time he became blind. And that blind king possessed of wisdom had an only son. And it so hap pened that an old enemy dwelling in his neighborhood, taking advantage of the king's mishap, deprived him of his kingdom. And, thereupon, the monarch, accompanied by his wife, bear ing a child on her breast, went into the woods. And having retired into the forest, he adopted great vows and began to practice ascetic austerities. And his son, born in the city, began to grow in the hermitage. That youth, fit to be my husband, I have accepted in my heart for my lord ! "
" Alas ! O king, Savitri hath committed a great wrong ; since, not knowing, she hath accepted for her lord this Satyavan of excellent qualities. " —
" But is Prince Satyavan endued with energy and intelli gence and forgiveness and courage ? "
" In energy Satyavan is like unto the Sun, and in wisdom like unto Vrihaspati ! And he is brave like unto the Lord of the Celestials, and forgiving like unto the Earth herself ! "
"And is Prince Satyavan liberal in gifts and devoted to the Brahmanas ? Is he handsome and magnanimous and lovely to behold ? "
" In bestowing gifts, according to his power, he is like unto Sankriti's son Rantideva. In truthfulness of speech and devo
And Narada then said : —
Acwapati answered, saying : —
Then that blessed maid related everything in detail, as commanded by her father : —
At these her words, Narada said : —
The king then asked :
Narada replied, saying : —
Acwapati then said : —
Narada said : —
212 LOVE STRONGER THAN DEATH.
tion to the Brahmanas, he is like Ucinara's son Civl. And he is magnanimous like Yayati, and beautiful like the Moon. And, with senses under control, he is meek and brave and truthful ! And, with passions in subjection, he is devoted to his friends, and free from malice, and modest and patient. "
" O reverend sage, thou tellest me that he is possessed of every virtue ! Do thou now tell me his defects, indeed, he hath any "
" He hath one only defect, that hath overwhelmed all his virtues. That defect incapable of being conquered even by the greatest efforts. He hath only one defect and no other. Within year from this day, Satyavan, endued with short life, will cast off his body "
Hearing this, Agwapati said : —
Narada then said —
Hearing these words of the sage, the king said —
" Come, Savitri, go thou and choose another for thy lord, beautiful damsel That one great defect existing in this
youth covereth all his merits. " —
At these words of her father, Savitri said
" The die can fall but once daughter can be given away
but once; and only once can person say, 'I give away. ' These three things can take place only once Indeed, with life short or long, possessed of virtues or bereft of them,
have for once selected my husband. Twice shall not select. When thing first settled mentally, expressed in words, and then " carried out into practice. Of this my mind an example
—
best of men, the heart of thy daughter wavereth not
Then Narada said "
It not possible by any means to make her swerve from this path of virtue The bestowal of thy daughter is, therefore, approved by me. " —
The king said
" What thou hast said, illustrious one, should never be disobeyed for thy words are true And shall act as thou hast said, since thou art my preceptor "
—
"May the bestowal of thy daughter Savitri be attended with peace shall now depart. Blessed be all of ye "
Having said this, Narada rose up into the sky and went to heaven. On the other hand, the king began to make prepara
Narada said
I !
it is
! !
; aa
O
is
O
a
! ; it a!
I ! is O : ! is
:
!
is
I
:
!
!
: is
I
: !
a
O
:
if,
a
LOVE STRONGER THAN DEATH. 213
tions for his daughter's wedding. And having summoned all the old Brahmanas and priests, he set out on an auspicious day with his daughter. And, arriving at the asylum of Dyumat- sena in the sacred forest, the king approached the royal sage, and after duly reverencing him, introduced himself in a humble speech. And the monarch said to his royal guest : —
" Wherefore is this visit ? "
Thus addressed, the king disclosed everything about his intention and purpose with reference to Satyavan, saying : —
" O royal sage, this beautiful girl is my daughter, named Savitri. O thou versed in morality, do thou, agreeably to the customs of our order, take her from me as thy daughter-in-law ! "
Hearing these words, Dyumatsena said : —
"Deprived of kingdom and taking up our abode in the woods, we are engaged in the practice of virtue as ascetics with regulated lives. Unworthy of a forest life, how will "thy daughter, living in the sylvan asylum, bear this hardship ?
Agwapati said : —
" As my daughter knoweth, as well as myself, that happi ness and misery come and go, without either being stationary, such words as these are not fit to be used to one like me. Thou art my equal and fit for an alliance with me, as, indeed, I am thy equal and fit for an alliance with thee. Do thou, there fore, accept my daughter for thy daughter-in-law and the wife of the good Satyavan. " —
" Formerly I had desired an alliance with thee. But I hesi tated, being subsequently deprived of my kingdom. Let this wish, therefore, that I had formerly entertained, be accom plished this very day. Thou art, indeed, a very welcome guest tome! "
Then summoning all the twice-born ones residing in the hermitages of that forest, the two kings caused the union to take place with due rites. And having bestowed his daughter with suitable robes and ornaments, Acwapati went back to his abode in great joy.
And Satyavan, having obtained a wife possessed of every accomplishment, became highly glad, while she also rejoiced, having gained the husband after her own heart. And when her father had departed, she put off all her ornaments, and clad herself in bark and in clothes dyed in red. And by her services and virtues, her tenderness and self-denial, and by her
Hearing these words, Dyumatsena said :
214 LOVE STRONGER THAN DEATH.
agreeable offices unto all, she pleased everybody. And she gratified her mother-in-law by attending to her person and by covering her with robes and ornaments. And she gratified her father-in-law by worshiping him as a god and controlling her speech. And she pleased her husband by her honeyed speeches, her skill in every kind of work, the evenness of her temper, and the indications of her love in private. And all these, living in the asylum of the pious dwellers of the forest, continued for some time to practice ascetic austerities. But the words spoken by Narada were present night and day to the mind of the sorrowful Savitri.
At length the hour appointed for the death of Satyavan arrived. And as the words spoken by Narada were ever pres ent to the mind of Savitri, she counted the days as they passed. And having ascertained that her husband would die on the fourth day following, the damsel fasted day and night, observ ing the Triratra vow. And hearing of her vow, the king became exceedingly sorry, and rising up, soothed Savitri and said"these words : —
This vow thou hast begun to observe, O daughter of a king, is exceedingly hard ; for it is exceedingly difficult to fast three nights together ! "
And hearing these words, Savitri said : —
" Thou needest not be sorry, O father ! This vow I shall be able to observe ! I have for certain undertaken this task with perseverance ; and perseverance is the cause of the suc cessful observance of vows. "
And having listened to her, Dyumatsena said : —
" I can by no means say unto thee, ' Do thou break thy vow. ' One like me, on the contrary, should say, 'Do thou complete thy vow ! ' "
And having said this, the high-minded Dyumatsena stopped.
And Savitri, continuing to fast, began to look lean like a wooden doll. And thinking her husband would die on the morrow, the woe-stricken one, observing a fast, spent that night in extreme anguish. And when the sun had risen about a couple of hands, thinking within herself, "To-day is that day," she finished her morning rites, and offered oblations to the flaming fire. And bowing down unto the aged Brahmanas and her father-in-law and mother-in-law, she stood before them with joined hands, concentrating her senses. And for
LOVE STRONGER THAN DEATH. 215
the welfare of Savitri all the ascetics dwelling in that hermit age uttered the auspicious benediction that she should never suffer widowhood. And Savitri, immersed in contemplation, accepted all these words of the ascetics, mentally saying, " So
be it ! " And the king's daughter, reflecting on the words of Narada, remained, expecting the hour and the moment.
Then, well pleased, her father-in-law and her mother-in-law said these words unto the princess seated in a corner : —
" Thou hast completed the vow as prescribed. The time for thy "meal has now arrived ; therefore do thou what is proper ! —
" Now that I have completed the purposed vow, I will eat when the sun goes down. Even this is my heart's resolve and this is my vow ! "
Thereat Savitri said :
And when Savitri had spoken thus about her vow, Satya- van, taking his ax upon his shoulder, set out for the woods. And at this Savitri said unto her husband : —
"It behooveth thee not to go alone. I will accompany thee. I cannot bear to be separated from thee ! "
Hearing these words of her, Satyavan said : —
" Thou hast never before repaired to the forest. And, O lady, the forest paths are hard to pass ! Besides, thou hast been reduced by fast on account of thy vow. How wouldst thou, therefore, be able to walk on foot ? "
" If thou desirest to go, I will gratify that desire of thine. Do thou, however, take the permission of my parents, so that Imay be guilty of no fault ! "
Thus addressed, Savitri said : —
"I do not feel languor because of the fast, nor do I feel exhaustion. And I have made up my mind to go. It be hooveth thee not, therefore, to prevent me ! "
At this, Satyavan said : —
Thus addressed by her lord, Savitri of high vows saluted her father-in-law and mother-in-law, and addressed them, saying : —
" This my husband goeth to the forest for procuring fruits. Permitted by my revered lady mother and my father-in-law, I will accompany him.
