{"id":920,"date":"2013-07-13T01:31:13","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:31:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=920"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:31:13","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:31:13","slug":"04-the-scholars-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\/04-the-scholars-vol-10-the-secret-of-the-veda-volume-10","title":{"rendered":"-04_The Scholars.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n

\nII <\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\nTHE SCHOLARS <\/b><\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n           
\nT<\/b>he text of the Veda which we possess has remained uncorrupted for over two thousand years. It dates, so far as we know,
\nfrom that great period of Indian intellectual activity, contemporaneous with the Greek efflorescence, but earlier in its
\nbeginnings, which founded the culture and civilisation recorded in the classical literature of the land. We cannot say to
\nhow much earlier a date our text may be carried. But there are
\ncertain considerations which justify us in supposing for it an
\nalmost enormous antiquity. An accurate text, accurate in every
\nsyllable, accurate in every accent, was a matter of supreme importance to the Vedic ritualists;
\nfor on scrupulous accuracy depended the effectuality of the sacrifice. We are told, for instance,
\nin the Brahmanas the story of Twashtri who, performing a sacrifice to produce an avenger of his son slain by Indra, produced,
\nowing to an error of accentuation, not a slayer of Indra, but one
\nof whom Indra must be the slayer. The prodigious accuracy of
\nthe ancient Indian memory is also notorious. And the sanctity
\nof the text prevented such interpolations, alterations, modernising revisions as have replaced by the present form of the Mahabharata the ancient epic of the Kurus. It is not, therefore, at all
\nimprobable that we have the Sanhita of Vyasa substantially as
\nit was arranged by the great sage and compiler.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nSubstantially, not in its present written form. Vedic prosody
\ndiffered in many respects from the prosody of classical Sanskrit
\nand, especially, employed a greater freedom in the use of that
\nprinciple of euphonic combination of separate words (sandhi)
\n<\/i>which is so peculiar a feature of the literary tongue. The Vedic
\nRishis, as was natural in a living speech, followed the ear rather
\nthan fixed rule; sometimes they combined the separate words,
\nsometimes they left them uncombined. But when the Veda came to be written down,
\nthe law of euphonic combination had assumed a much more despotic authority over the language and
\nthe ancient text was written by the grammarians as far as possible <\/font> <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 15<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nin consonance with its regulations. They were careful,
\nhowever, to accompany it with another text, called the Padapatha, in which all euphonic combinations were again resolved
\ninto the original and separate words and even the components of
\ncompound words indicated.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nIt is a notable tribute to the fidelity of
\nthe ancient memorisers that, instead of the confusion to which this system might so
\neasily have given rise, it is always perfectly easy to resolve the
\nformal text into the original harmonies of Vedic prosody. And
\nvery few are the instances in which the exactness or the sound
\njudgment of the Padapatha can be called into question. We have,
\nthen, as our basis a text which we can confidently accept and
\nwhich, even if we hold it in a few instances doubtful or defective,
\ndoes not at any rate call for that often licentious labour of emendation to which some of the European classics lend themselves.
\nThis is, to start with, a priceless advantage for which we cannot
\nbe too grateful to the conscientiousness of the old Indian
\nlearning.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nIn certain other directions it might not be safe always to
\nfollow implicitly the scholastic tradition, \u2014 as in the ascription of
\nthe Vedic poems to their respective Rishis, wherever older tradition was not firm and sound. But these are details of minor
\nimportance. Nor is there, in my view, any good reason to doubt
\nthat we have the hymns arrayed, for the most part, in the right
\norder of their verses and in their exact entirety. The exceptions,
\nif they exist, are negligible in number and importance. When the
\nhymns seem to us incoherent, it is because we do not understand
\nthem. Once the clue is found, we discover that they are perfect
\nwholes as admirable in the structure of their thought as in their
\nlanguage and their rhythms.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nIt is when we come to the interpretation of the Veda and seek
\nhelp from ancient Indian scholarship that we feel compelled to
\nmake the largest reserves. For even in the earlier days of classical
\nerudition the ritualistic view of the Veda was already dominant,
\nthe original sense of the words, the lines, the allusions, the clue to
\nthe structure of the thought had been long lost or obscured; nor
\nwas there in the erudite that intuition or that spiritual experience
\nwhich might have partly recovered the lost secret. In such a field<\/font>
\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 16<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nmere learning, especially when it is accompanied by an ingenious
\nscholastic mind, is as often a snare as a guide.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nIn Yaska’s lexicon, our most important help, we have to
\ndistinguish between two elements of very disparate value. When
\nYaska gives as a lexicographer the various meanings of Vedic
\nwords, his authority is great and the help he gives is of the first
\nimportance. It does’ not appear that he possessed all the ancient
\nsignificances, for many had been obliterated by Time and Change
\nand in the absence of a scientific Philology could not be restored.
\nBut much also had been preserved by tradition. Wherever Yaska preserves this
\ntradition and does not use a grammarian’s ingenuity, the meanings he assigns to words, although not always
\napplicable to the text to which he refers them, can yet be confirmed as possible senses by a sound Philology. But Yaska the
\netymologist does not rank with Yaska the lexicographer. Scientific grammar was first developed by Indian learning, but the
\nbeginnings of sound Philology we owe to modern research.
\nNothing can be more fanciful and lawless than the methods of
\nmere ingenuity used by the old etymologists down even to the
\nnineteenth century, whether in Europe or India. And when
\nYaska follows these methods, we are obliged to part company
\nwith him entirely. Nor in his interpretation of particular texts is.
\nhe more convincing than the later erudition of Sayana.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe commentary of Sayana closes the period of original
\nand living scholastic work on the Veda which Yaska’s Nirukta
\namong other important authorities may be said to open. The
\nlexicon was compiled in the earlier vigour of the Indian mind
\nwhen it was assembling its prehistoric gains as the materials of
\na fresh outburst of originality; the commentary is almost the last
\ngreat work of the kind left to us by the classical tradition in its
\nfinal refuge and centre in Southern India before the old culture
\nwas dislocated and broken into regional fragments by the shock
\nof the Mahomedan conquest. Since then we have had jets of
\nstrong and original effort, scattered attempts at new birth and
\nnovel combination, but work of quite this general, massive and
\nmonumental character has hardly been possible.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe commanding merits of this great legacy of the past are
\nobvious. Composed by Sayana with the aid of the most learned<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 17<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nscholars of his time, it is a work representing an enormous labour
\nof erudition, more perhaps than could have been commanded at that time by a
\nsingle brain. Yet it bears the stamp of the coordinating mind. It is consistent in the mass in spite of its many
\ninconsistencies of detail, largely planned, yet most simply,
\ncomposed in a style lucid, terse and possessed of an almost literary grace one would have thought impossible in the traditional
\nform of the Indian commentary. Nowhere is there any display of
\npedantry; the struggle with the difficulties of the text is skilfully
\nveiled and there is an air of clear acuteness and of assured, yet
\nunassuming authority which imposes even on the dissident.
\nThe first Vedic scholars in Europe admired especially the rationality of Sayana’s interpretations.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nYet, even for the external sense of the Veda, it is not possible
\nto follow either Sayana’s method or his results without the
\nlargest reservation. It is not only that he admits in his method
\nlicenses of language and construction which are unnecessary and
\nsometimes incredible, nor that he arrives at his results, often, by
\na surprising inconsistency in his interpretation of common
\nVedic terms and even of fixed Vedic formulae. These are defects
\nof detail, unavoidable perhaps in the state of the materials with
\nwhich he had to deal. But it is the central defect of Sayana’s
\nsystem that he is obsessed always by the ritualistic formula and
\nseeks continually to force the sense of the Veda into that narrow
\nmould. So he loses many clues of the greatest suggestiveness
\nand importance for the external sense of the ancient Scripture, \u2014 a problem
\nquite as interesting as its internal sense. The outcome is a representation of the Rishis, their thoughts, their culture, their aspirations, so narrow and poverty-stricken that, if
\naccepted, it renders the ancient reverence for the Veda, its sacred
\nauthority, its divine reputation quite incomprehensible to the
\nreason or only explicable as a blind and unquestioning tradition
\nof faith starting from an original error.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nThere are indeed other aspects and elements
\nin the commentary, but they are subordinate or subservient to the main
\nidea. Sayana and his helpers had to work upon a great mass of
\noften conflicting speculation and tradition which still survived
\nfrom the past. To some of its elements they had to give a formal<\/font>
\n <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 18<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nadhesion, to others they felt bound to grant minor concessions.
\nIt is possible that to Sayana’s skill in evolving out of previous
\nuncertainty or even confusion an interpretation which had firm
\nshape and consistence, is due the great and long-unquestioned
\nauthority of his work.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nThe first element with which Sayana had to deal, the most
\ninteresting to us, was the remnant of the old spiritual, philosophic
\nor psychological interpretations of the Shruti which were the true
\nfoundation of its sanctity. So far as these had entered into the
\ncurrent or orthodox\u00b9 conception, Sayana admits them; but they
\nform an exceptional element in his work, insignificant in bulk and in
\nimportance. Occasionally he gives a passing mention or concession to less current psychological renderings. He mentions,
\nfor instance, but not to admit it, an old interpretation of Vritra
\nas the Coverer who holds back from man the objects of his desire
\nand his aspirations. For Sayana Vritra is either simply the enemy
\nor the physical cloud-demon who holds back the waters and has
\nto be pierced by the Rain-giver.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nA second element is the mythological, or, as it might almost
\nbe called, the Puranic, \u2014 myths and stories of the gods given in
\ntheir outward form without that deeper sense and symbolic fact
\nwhich is the justifying truth of all Purana.\u00b2<\/font><\/p>\n

\nA third element is the legendary and historic, the stories
\nof old kings and Rishis, given in the Brahmanas or by later
\ntradition in explanation of the obscure allusions of the Veda.
\nSayana’s dealings with this element are marked by some hesitation. Often he accepts them as the right interpretation of the
\nhymns; sometimes he gives an alternative sense with which he
\nhas evidently more intellectual sympathy, but wavers between
\nthe two authorities.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nMore important is the element of naturalistic interpretation.
\nNot only are there the obvious or the traditional identifications,
\nIndra, the Maruts, the triple Agni, Surya, Usha, but we find that
\nMitra was identified with the Day, Varuna with the Night, Aryaman <\/font><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\u00b9<\/font>I use the word loosely. The terms orthodox and heterodox in the European
\n<\/b>or sectarian sense have no true application to India where opinion has always been free.<\/font>
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

\n\u00b2<\/font>There is reason to suppose that Purana (legend and apologue) and Itihasa (historical tradition) were parts of Vedic culture long before the present forms of the Puranas and historical
\nEpics were evolved.<\/font> <\/font> <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 19<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\nand Bhaga with the Sun, the Ribhus with its rays. We have
\nhere the seeds of that naturalistic theory of the Veda to which
\nEuropean learning has given so wide an extension. The old
\nIndian scholars did not use the same freedom or the same systematic minuteness in their speculations. Still this element in
\nSayana’s commentary is the true parent of the European Science
\nof Comparative Mythology.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nBut it is the ritualistic conception that pervades; that is
\nthe persistent note in which all others lose themselves. In the
\nformula of the philosophic schools, the hymns, even while
\nstanding as a supreme authority for knowledge, are yet principally and fundamentally concerned with the Karmakanda, with
\nworks, \u2014 and by works was understood, pre-eminently, the ritualistic observation of the Vedic sacrifices. Sayana labours always
\nin the light of this idea. Into this mould he moulds the language
\nof the Veda, turning the mass of its characteristic words into the
\nritualistic significances, \u2014 food, priest, giver, wealth, praise,
\nprayer, rite, sacrifice.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nWealth and food; \u2014for it is the most
\negoistic and materialistic objects that are proposed as the aim of the sacrifice,
\npossessions, strength, power, children, servants, gold, horses,
\ncows, victory, the slaughter and the plunder of enemies, the
\ndestruction of rival and malevolent critic. As one reads and
\nfinds hymn after hymn interpreted in this sense, one begins to
\nunderstand better the apparent inconsistency in the attitude of
\nthe Gita which, regarding always the Veda as divine knowledge\u00b9
\nyet censures severely the champions of an exclusive Vedism\u00b2,
\nall whose flowery teachings were devoted solely to material
\nwealth, power and enjoyment.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nIt is the final and authoritative binding of the Veda to this
\nlowest of all its possible senses that has been the most unfortunate result of Sayana’s commentary. The dominance of the
\nritualistic interpretation had already deprived India of the living
\nuse of its greatest Scripture and of the true clue to the entire
\nsense of the Upanishads. Sayana’s commentary put a seal of
\nfinality on the old misunderstanding which could not be broken
\nfor many centuries. And its suggestions, when another civilisation <\/font> <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n\u00b9<\/font>Gita XV.15.   <\/font>
\n\u00b2<\/font>Gita 11.42.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 20<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\ndiscovered and set itself to study the Veda, became in the
\nEuropean mind the parent of fresh errors.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nNevertheless, if Sayana’s work has been a key turned with
\ndouble lock on the inner sense of the Veda, it is yet indispensable
\nfor opening the antechambers of Vedic learning. All the vast
\nlabour of European erudition has not been able to replace its
\nutility. At every step we are obliged to differ from it, but at
\nevery step we are obliged to use it. It is a necessary springing-board, or a stair that we have to use for entrance, though we must
\nleave it behind if we wish to pass forwards into the penetralia.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 21<\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

II   THE SCHOLARS               The text of the Veda which we possess has remained uncorrupted for over two thousand years. It dates, so…<\/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-920","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\/920","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=920"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/920\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}