{"id":869,"date":"2013-07-13T01:30:55","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:30:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=869"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:30:55","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:30:55","slug":"16-the-cow-and-the-angirasa-legend-vol-10-the-secret-of-the-veda-volume-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/01-sabcl\/10-the-secret-of-the-veda-volume-10\/16-the-cow-and-the-angirasa-legend-vol-10-the-secret-of-the-veda-volume-10","title":{"rendered":"-16_The Cow and the Angirasa Legend.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n


\nC<\/font>HAPTER<\/font>
\nXIV <\/font><\/b> <\/p>\n


\nThe Cow and the Angirasa Legend <\/font><\/b> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nW<\/font>E MUST <\/font><\/b>now pursue this image of the
\nCow which we are using as a key to the sense of the Veda, into
\nthe striking Vedic parable or legend of the Angirasa Rishis, on
\nthe whole the most important of all the Vedic myths. <\/p>\n

The Vedic hymns, whatever else they may be, are throughout
\nan invocation to certain "Aryan" gods, friends and helpers of
\nman, for ends which are held by the singers, \u2014 or seers, as they
\ncall themselves (kavi, ṛ<\/span>si,
\nvipra), \u2014<\/i> to be supremely desirable
\n(vara, varā).<\/i> These desirable ends, these boons of the gods are
\nsummed up in the words rayi, rādhas,<\/i> which may mean physically
\nwealth or prosperity, and psychologically a felicity or enjoyment
\nwhich consists in the abundance of certain forms of spiritual
\nwealth. Man contributes as his share of the joint effort the work
\nof the sacrifice, the Word, the Soma-Wine and the ghṛ<\/span>ta<\/i> or clarified butter. The gods
\nare born in the sacrifice, they increase by
\nthe Word, the Wine and the ghṛ<\/span>ta<\/i> and in that strength and in the
\necstasy and intoxication of the Wine they accomplish the aims
\nof the sacrificer. The chief elements of the wealth thus acquired
\nare the Cow and the Horse; but there are also others, hiraṇ<\/span>ya, <\/i>gold, vīra,<\/i> men or heroes, ratha,<\/i> chariots, prajā<\/i>
\nor apatya,
\n<\/i>offspring. The very means of the sacrifice, the fire, the Soma,
\nthe ghṛ<\/span>ta,<\/i>
\nare supplied by the gods and they attend the sacrifice
\nas its priests, purifiers, upholders, heroes of its warfare, \u2014 for
\nthere are those who hate the sacrifice and the Word, attack the
\nsacrificer and tear or withhold from him the coveted wealth.
\nThe chief conditions of the prosperity so ardently desired are the
\nrising of the Dawn and the Sun and the downpour of the rain of
\nheaven and of the seven rivers, \u2014 physical or mystic, \u2014 called
\nin the Veda the Mighty Ones of heaven. But even this prosperity,
\nthis fullness of cows, horses, gold, men, chariots, offspring, is
\nnot a final end in itself; all this is a means towards the opening <\/p>\n

\n

\nPage \u2013 132<\/font><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

up of the other worlds, the winning of Swar, the ascent to the
\nsolar heavens, the attainment by the path of the Truth to the
\nLight and to the heavenly Bliss where the mortal arrives at Immortality. <\/p>\n

Such is the undoubted substance of the Veda. The ritual
\nand mythological sense which has been given to it from very
\nancient times is well known and need not be particularised; in
\nsum, it is the performance of sacrificial worship as the chief duty
\nof man with a view to the enjoyment of wealth here and heaven
\nhereafter. We know also the modern view of the matter in which
\nthe Veda is a worship of the personified sun, moon, stars, dawn,
\nwind, rain, fire, sky, rivers and other deities of Nature, the propitiation of
\nthese gods by sacrifice, the winning and holding of
\nwealth in this life, chiefly from human and Dravidian enemies
\nand against hostile demons and mortal plunderers, and after
\ndeath man’s attainment to the Paradise of the gods. We now
\nfind, that however valid these ideas may have been for the vulgar,
\nthey were not the inner sense of the Veda to the seers, the illumined minds (kavi,
\nvipra)<\/i> of the Vedic age. For them these material objects were symbols of
\nthe immaterial; the cows were the
\nradiances or illuminations of a divine Dawn, the horses and chariots were
\nsymbols of force and movement, gold was light, the
\nshining wealth of a divine Sun\u2014the true light, ṛ<\/span>tam jyotiḥ<\/span>;<\/i> both the wealth acquired by the sacrifice and the sacrifice itself
\nin all their details symbolised man’s effort and his means towards
\na greater end, the acquisition of immortality. The aspiration of
\nthe Vedic seer was the enrichment and expansion of man’s being,
\nthe birth and the formation of the godheads in his life-sacrifice,
\nthe increase of the Force, Truth, Light, Joy of which they are
\nthe powers until through the enlarged and ever-opening worlds
\nof his being the soul of man rises, sees the divine doors (devīr
\ndvāraḥ<\/span>)<\/i>
\nswing open to his call and enters into the supreme felicity
\nof a divine existence beyond heaven and earth. This ascent is the
\nparable of the Angirasa Rishis. <\/p>\n

All the gods are conquerors and givers of the Cows, the
\nHorse and the divine riches, but it is especially the great deity
\nIndra who is the hero and fighter in this warfare and who wins
\nfor man the Light and the Force. Therefore Indra is constantly <\/p>\n

\n

\nPage \u2013 133<\/font><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

addressed as the Master of the herds, gopati;<\/i> he is even imaged
\nas himself the cow and the horse; he is the good milker whom the
\nRishi wishes to milk and what he yields are perfect forms and
\nultimate thoughts; he is Vrishabha, the Bull of the herds; his is
\nthe wealth of cows and horses which man covets. It is even said
\nin VI.28.5, "O people, these that are the cows, they are Indra; it is Indra I desire with my heart and with my mind." This identification
\nof the cows and Indra is important and we shall have to
\nreturn to it, when we deal with Madhuchchhandas’ hymns to
\nthat deity. <\/p>\n

But ordinarily the Rishis image the acquisition of this wealth
\nas a conquest effected against certain powers, the Dasyus, sometimes represented as possessing the coveted riches which have to
\nbe ravished from them by violence, sometimes as stealing them
\nfrom the Aryan who has then to discover and recover the lost
\nwealth by the aid of the gods. The Dasyus who withhold or steal
\nthe cows are called the Panis, a word which seems originally to
\nhave meant doers, dealers or traffickers; but this significance is
\nsometimes coloured by its further sense of "misers". Their chief
\nis Vala, a demon whose name signifies probably the circumscriber
\nor "encloser", as Vritra means the opponent, obstructor                   or enfolding coverer. It is easy to suggest, as do the scholars who
\nwould read as much primitive history as possible into the Veda,
\nthat the Panis are the Dravidians and Vala is their chief or god.
\nBut this sense can only be upheld in isolated passages; in many
\nhymns it is incompatible with the actual words of the Rishis and
\nturns into a jumble of gaudy nonsense their images and figures.
\nWe have seen something of this incompatibility already; it will
\nbecome clearer to us as we examine more closely the mythus of
\nthe lost cows. <\/p>\n

Vala dwells in a lair, a hole (bila)<\/i> in the mountains; Indra
\nand the Angirasa Rishis have to pursue him there and force him
\nto give up his wealth: for he is Vala of the cows, valasya gomataḥ<\/span>. <\/i>(1.11.5). The Panis also are represented as concealing the stolen
\nherds in a cave of the mountain which is called their concealing
\nprison, vavra,<\/i> or the pen of the cows, vraja,<\/i> or sometimes in a
\nsignificant phrase, gavyam ūrvam,<\/i> literally the cowey wideness or
\nin the other sense of go<\/i><\/span>
\n"the luminous wideness", the vast wealth <\/p>\n

\n
\n

\nPage \u2013 134<\/font><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

of the shining herds. To recover this lost wealth the sacrifice has
\nto. be performed; the Angirasas or else Brihaspati and the
\nAngirasas have to chant the true word, the mantra;<\/i> Sarama the
\nheavenly hound has to find out the cows in the cave of the Panis; <\/p>\n

Indra strong with the Soma-wine and the Angirasas, the seers,
\nhis companions, have to follow the track, enter the cave or violently break
\nopen the strong places of the hill, defeat the Panis
\nand drive upward the delivered herds. <\/p>\n

Let us, first, take note of certain features which ought not to
\nbe overlooked when we seek to determine the interpretation of
\nthis parable or this myth. In the first place the legend, however
\nprecise in its images, is not yet in the Veda a simple mythological
\ntradition, but is used with a certain freedom and fluidity which
\nbetrays the significant image behind the sacred tradition. Often
\nit is stripped of the mythological aspect and applied to the personal need or
\naspiration of the singer. For it is an action of which
\nIndra is always capable; although he has done it once for all
\nin the type by means of the Angirasas, yet he repeats the type
\ncontinually even in the present, he is constantly the seeker of the
\ncows, gaveṣ<\/span>aṇ<\/span>ā,<\/i> and the restorer
\nof the stolen wealth. <\/p>\n

Sometimes we have simply the fact of the stolen cows and
\nthe recovery by Indra without any reference to Sarama or the
\nAngirasas or the Panis. But it is not always Indra who recovers
\nthe herds. We have for instance a hymn to Agni, the second of
\nthe fifth Mandala, a hymn of the Atris, in which the singer applies
\nthe image of the stolen cows to himself in a language which
\nclearly betrays its symbolism. Agni, long repressed in her womb
\nby mother Earth who is unwilling to give him to the father
\nHeaven, held and concealed in her so long as she is compressed
\ninto limited form (peṣ<\/span>ī),<\/i>
\nat length comes to birth when she becomes great and vast (mahiṣ<\/span>ī).<\/i> The birth of
\nAgni is associated
\nwith a manifestation or vision of luminous herds. "I beheld afar
\nin a field one shaping his weapons who was golden-tusked and
\npure-bright of hue; I give to him the Amrita (the immortal
\nessence, Soma) in separate parts; what shall they do to me who
\nhave not Indra and have not the word? I beheld in the field as
\nit were a happy herd ranging continuously, many, shining; they
\nseized them not, for he<\/i> was born; even those (cows) that were <\/p>\n

\n

\nPage \u2013 135<\/font><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

old, become young again." But if these Dasyus who have not
\nIndra, nor the word, are at present powerless to seize on the luminous herds,
\nit was otherwise before this bright and formidable
\ngodhead was born. "Who were they that divorced my strength
\n(maryakam;<\/i> my host of men, my heroes, vīra)<\/i> from the cows ?
\nFor they (my men) had no warrior and protector of the kine.
\nLet those who took them from me, release them; he knows and
\ncomes driving to us the cattle." <\/p>\n

What, we may fairly ask, are these shining herds, these cows
\nwho were old and become young again ? Certainly, they are not
\nphysical herds, nor is it any earthly field by the Yamuna or the Jhelum that is the scene of this splendid vision of the
\ngolden-tusked warrior god and the herds of the shining cattle. They are
\nthe herds either of the physical or of the divine Dawn and the
\nlanguage suits ill with the former interpretation; this mystical
\nvision is surely a figure of the divine illumination. They are radiances that
\nwere stolen by the powers of darkness and are now
\ndivinely recovered not by the god of the physical fire, but by the
\nflaming Force which was concealed in the littleness of the material
\nexistence and is now liberated into the clarities of an illumined
\nmental action. <\/p>\n

Indra is not, then, the only god who can break up the tenebrous cave and
\nrestore the lost radiances. There are other deities
\nto whom various hymns make the attribution of this great victory.
\nUsha is one of them, the divine Dawn, mother of these herds.
\n"True with the gods who are true, great with the gods who are
\ngreat, sacrificial godhead with the gods sacrificial, she breaks
\nopen the strong places, she gives of the shining herds; the cows
\nlow towards the Dawn!" (VII.75.7). Agni is another; sometimes
\nhe wars by himself as we have already seen, sometimes along with
\nIndra \u2014 "Ye two warred over the cows, O Indra, O Agni" (VI.
\n60.2); or, again, with Soma, "O Agni and Soma, that heroic
\nmight of yours was made conscient when ye robbed the Pani of
\nthe cows" (1.93.4). Soma in another passage is associated in this
\nvictory with Indra, "This god born by force, stayed, with Indra
\nas his comrade, the Pani" and performed all the exploits of the
\ngods warring against the Dasyus (VI.44.22). The Ashwins also
\nare credited with the same achievement in VI.62.11, "Ye two <\/p>\n

\n
\n

\nPage \u2013 136<\/font><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

open the doors of the strong pen full of the kine" and again in
\n1.112.18, "O Angiras, (the twin Ashwins are sometimes unified
\nin a single appellation), ye two take delight by the mind and enter
\nfirst in the opening of the stream of the cows", where the sense is
\nevidently the liberated, outflowing stream or sea of the Light. <\/p>\n

Brihaspati is more frequently the hero of this victory.
\n"Brihaspati, coming first into birth from the great Light in the
\nsupreme ether, seven-mouthed, multiply-born, seven-rayed, dispelled the
\ndarknesses; he with his host that possess the stubh
\n<\/i>and the Rik broke Vala into pieces by his cry. Shouting Brihaspati drove
\nupwards the bright herds that speed the offering
\nand they lowed in reply" (IV.50.4,5). And again in VI.73.1 and
\n3, "Brihaspati who is the hill-breaker, the first-born, the Angirasa…. Brihaspati
\nconquered the treasures (vasūni),<\/i> great pens
\nthis god won full of the kine." The Maruts also, singers of the
\nRik like Brihaspati, are associated, though less directly in this
\ndivine action. "He whom ye foster, O Maruts, shall break open
\nthe pen" (VI.66.8), and elsewhere we hear of the cows of the
\nMaruts (1.38.2). Pushan, the Increaser, a form of the sun-god is
\nalso invoked for the pursuit and recovery of the stolen cattle
\n(VI. 54.5,6,10): "Let Pushan follow after our kine, let him protect our
\nwar-steeds…. Pushan, go thou after the kine…. Let him
\ndrive back to us that which was lost." Even Saraswati becomes
\na slayer of the Panis. And in Madhuchchhandas’ hymn (1.11.5)
\nwe have this striking image, "O lord of the thunderbolt, thou
\ndidst uncover the hole of Vala of the cows; the gods, unfearing,
\nentered speeding (or putting forth their force) into thee." <\/p>\n

Is there a definite sense in these variations which will bind
\nthem together into a single coherent idea or is it at random that
\nthe Rishis invoke now this and now the other deity in the search
\nand war for their lost cattle ? If we will consent to take the ideas
\nof the Veda as a whole instead of bewildering ourselves in the play
\nof separate detail, we shall find a very simple and sufficient answer.
\nThis matter of the lost herds is only part of a whole system of
\nconnected symbols and images. They are recovered by the
\nsacrifice and the fiery god Agni is the flame, the power and the
\npriest of the sacrifice;\u2014by the Word, and Brihaspati is the
\nfather of the Word, the Maruts its singers or Brahmas, brahmāṇ<\/span>o<\/i> <\/p>\n

\n

\nPage \u2013 137<\/font><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

marutaḥ<\/span>,<\/i>
\nSaraswati its inspiration; \u2014 by the Wine, and Soma is
\nthe god of the Wine and the Ashwins its seekers, finders, givers,
\ndrinkers. The herds are the herds of Light and the Light comes
\nby the Dawn and by the Sun of whom Pushan is a form. Finally,
\nIndra is the head of all these gods, lord of the light, king of the
\nluminous heaven called Swar, \u2014 he is, we say, the luminous or
\ndivine Mind, into him all the gods enter and take part in his un-
\nveiling of the hidden light. We see therefore that there is a perfect
\nappropriateness in the attribution of one and the same victory
\nto these different deities and in Madhuchchhandas’ image of the
\ngods entering into Indra for the stroke against Vala. Nothing
\nhas been done at random or in obedience to a confused fluidity of
\nideas. The Veda is perfect and beautiful in its coherence and its
\nunity. <\/p>\n

Moreover, the conquest of the Light is only part of the great
\naction of the Vedic sacrifice. The gods have to win by it all the
\nboons (viśva vāryā)<\/i> which are necessary for the conquest
\nof immortality and the emergence of the hidden illuminations is only
\none of these. Force, the Horse, is as necessary as Light, the Cow; not only must Vala be reached and the light won from his jealous
\ngrasp, but Vritra must be slain and the waters released; the emergence of the
\nshining herds means the rising of the Dawn and the
\nSun; that again is incomplete without the sacrifice, the fire, the
\nwine. All these things are different members of one action, some-
\ntimes mentioned separately, sometimes in groups, sometimes
\ntogether as if in a single action, a grand total conquest. And the
\nresult of their possession is the revelation of the vast Truth and
\nthe conquest of Swar, the luminous world, called frequently the
\nwide other world, urum u lokam<\/i> or simply u lokam.<\/i> We must
\ngrasp this unity first if we are to understand the separate introduction of
\nthese symbols in the various passages of the Rig-veda. <\/p>\n

Thus in VI. 73 which has already been cited, we find a brief
\nhymn of three verses in which these symbols are briefly put together in their
\nunity; it might almost be described as one of the
\nmnemonic hymns of the Veda which serve to keep in mind the
\nunity of its sense and its symbolism. "He who is the hill-breaker,
\nfirst-born, possessed of the truth, Brihaspati, the Angirasa, the
\ngiver of the oblation, pervader of the two worlds, dweller in the <\/p>\n

\n
\n

\nPage \u2013 138<\/font><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

heat and light (of the sun), our father, roars aloud as the Bull to
\nthe two firmaments. Brihaspati who for man the voyager has
\nfashioned that other world in the calling of the gods, slaying the
\nVritra-forces breaks open the cities, conquering foes and overpowering
\nunfriends in his battles. Brihaspati conquers for him
\nthe treasures, great pens this god wins full of the kine, seeking the
\nconquest of the world of Swar, unassailable; Brihaspati slays the
\nFoe by the hymns of illumination (arkaiḥ<\/span>).<\/i>" \u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/span>We see at
\nonce the
\nunity of this many-sided symbolism. <\/p>\n

Another passage more mystic in its language brings in the
\nidea of the dawn and the restoration or new-birth of light in the
\nsun which are not expressly mentioned in the brief hymn to Brihaspati. It is in
\nthe praise of Soma of which the opening phrase
\nhas already been cited, VI.44.22; "This god born by force, stayed,
\nwith Indra as his comrade, the Pani; he it was wrested from his
\nown unblest father (the divided being) his weapons of war and his
\nforms of knowledge (māyāḥ<\/span>),<\/i> he it was made the Dawns glorious
\nin their lord, he it was created in the Sun the Light within, he it
\nwas found the triple principle (of immortality) in heaven in its
\nregions of splendour (the three worlds of Swar) and in the
\ntripartite worlds the hidden immortality (this is the giving of the
\nAmrita in separate parts alluded to in the Atris hymn to Agni,
\nthe threefold offering of the Soma given on the three levels, triṣ<\/span>u
\nsānuṣ<\/span>u,<\/i>
\nbody, life and mind); he it was supported widely heaven
\nand earth, he it was fashioned the car with the seven rays; he it
\nwas held by his force the ripe yield (of the madhu<\/i> or ghṛ<\/span>ta)<\/i> in the
\ncows, even the fountain of the ten movements" (VI. 44.22-24).
\nIt certainly seems astonishing to me that so many acute and eager
\nminds should have read such hymns as these without realising
\nthat they are the sacred poems of symbolists and mystics, not of
\nNature-worshipping barbarians or of rude Aryan invaders war-
\nring with the civilised and Vedantic Dravidians. <\/p>\n

Let us now pass rapidly through certain other passages in
\nwhich there is a more scattered collocation of these symbols.
\nFirst, we find that in this image of the cavern-pen, in the hill, as
\nelsewhere, the Cow and Horse go together. We have seen Pushan
\ncalled upon to seek for the cows and protect the horses. The two
\nforms of the Aryan’s wealth always at the mercy of marauders ? <\/p>\n

\n

\nPage \u2013 139<\/font><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

But let us see. "So in thy ecstasy of the Soma thou didst break
\nopen, O hero (Indra), the pen of the Cow and the Horse, like a
\ncity" (VIII.32.5). "Break open for us the thousands of the Cow
\nand the Horse" (VIII.34.14). "That which thou boldest, O Indra,
\nthe Cow and the Horse and the imperishable enjoyment, confirm
\nthat in the sacrificer and not in the Pani; he who lies in the slumber, doing
\nnot the work and seeking not the gods, let him perish
\nby his own impulsions; thereafter confirm perpetually (in us) the
\nwealth that must increase" (VIII.97.2,3). In another hymn the
\nPanis are said to withhold the wealth of cows and horses. Always
\nthey are powers who receive the coveted wealth but do not use it,
\npreferring to slumber, avoiding the divine action (vrata),<\/i> and they
\nare powers who must perish or be conquered before the wealth
\ncan be securely possessed by the sacrificer. And always the
\nCow and the Horse represent a concealed and imprisoned wealth
\nwhich has to be uncovered and released by a divine puissance. <\/p>\n

With the conquest of the shining herds is also associated the
\nconquest or the birth or illumination of the Dawn and the Sun,
\nbut this is a point whose significance we shall have to consider in
\nanother chapter. And associated with the Herds, the Dawn and
\nthe Sun are the Waters; for the slaying of Vritra with the release
\nof the waters and the defeat of Vala with the release of the herds
\nare two companion and not unconnected myths. In certain pas-
\nsages even, as in 1.32.4, the slaying of Vritra is represented as the
\npreliminary to the birth of the Sun, the Dawn and Heaven, and in
\nothers the opening of the Hill to the flowing of the Waters. For
\nthe general connection we may note the following passages: VII.
\n90.4, "The Dawns broke forth perfect in their shining and un-
\nhurt; meditating they (the Angirasas) found the wide Light; they
\nwho desire opened the wideness of the cows and the waters for
\nthem flowed forth from heaven"; 1.72.8, "By right thought the
\nseven Mighty Ones of heaven (the seven rivers) knew the truth
\nand knew the doors of bliss; Sarama found the strong wideness
\nof the cows and by that the human creature enjoys"; 1.100.18 of
\nIndra and the Maruts, "He with his shining companions won the
\nfield, won the Sun, won the waters"; V. 14.4 of Agni, "Agni, born,
\nshone out slaying the Dasyus.-by the Light the Darkness; he
\nfound the cows, the waters and Swar"; VI.60.2 of Indra and <\/p>\n

\n
\n

\nPage \u2013 140<\/font><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Agni, "Ye two warred over the cows, the waters, Swar, the dawns
\nthat were ravished; O Indra, O Agni, thou unitest (to us) the regions, Swar,
\nthe brilliant dawns, the waters and the cows"; 1.32.
\n12 of Indra, "O hero, thou didst conquer the cow, thou didst
\nconquer the Soma; thou didst loose forth to their flowing the seven rivers." <\/p>\n

In the last passage we see Soma coupled with the cows
\namong the conquests of Indra. Usually the Soma-intoxication is
\nthe strength in which Indra conquers the cows; e.g. III.43.7, the
\nSoma "in the intoxication of which thou didst open up the cow-
\npens"; (II. 15.8), "He, hymned by the Angirasas, broke Vala and
\nhurled apart the strong places of the hill; he severed their artificial
\nobstructions; these things Indra did in the intoxication of
\nthe Soma". Sometimes, however; the working is reversed and it
\nis the Light that brings the bliss of the Soma-wine or they come
\ntogether as in 1.62.5, "Hymned by the Angirasas, O achiever of
\nworks, thou didst open the dawns with (or by) the Sun and with
\n(or by) the cows the Soma". <\/p>\n

Agni is also, like the Soma, an indispensable element of the
\nsacrifice and therefore we find Agni too included in these formulas of
\nassociation, as in VII.99.4: "Ye made that wide other
\nworld for (as the goal of) the sacrifice, bringing into being the
\nSun and the Dawn and Agni", and we have the same formula in
\nIII.31.15, with the addition of the Path and in VII.44.3, with the
\naddition of the cow. <\/p>\n

From these examples it will appear how closely the different
\nsymbols and parables of the Veda are connected with each other
\nand we shall therefore miss the true road of interpretation if we
\ntreat the legend of the Angirasas and the Panis as an isolated
\nmythus which we can interpret at our pleasure without careful
\nregard to its setting in the general thought of the Veda and the
\nlight that that general thought casts upon the figured language in
\nwhich the legend is recounted. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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CHAPTER XIV The Cow and the Angirasa Legend   WE MUST now pursue this image of the Cow which we are using as a key…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-10-the-secret-of-the-veda-volume-10","wpcat-17-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=869"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}