The Religion Andphilosophyof Thevedaandupanishads

THE RELIGION ANDPHILOSOPHYOF THEVEDAANDUPANISHADS

Arthur Berriedale Keith

THE HARVARD ORIENTAL SERIES

VOLUME THIRTY-ONE

THE volumes of the HARVARD ORIENTAL

SERIES are printed at the expense of funds given to Harvard University by Henry Clarke Warren (18544899), of Cambridge, Massachusetts. The third volume, Warren's Buddhism, is a noble monument to his courage in adversity and to his scholarship. The Series, as a contribution to the work of enabling the Occident to understand the Orient, is the fruit of an enlightened liberality which now seems to have been an almost prophetic anticipation on his part of a great political need

A brief account of Mr. Warren's life is given at the end of volume 30, Burlingame's Buddhist Legends. The account is reprinted at the end of the seventh and eighth issues (1922) of volume 3, Warren's Buddhism

A list of the volumes of this Series, with titles and descriptions, is printed at the end of volume 32, and is followed by a partial list of Public Libraries in which the Series may be found

HARVARD ORIENTAL SERIES

EDITED

WITH THE COOPERATION OF VARIOUS SCHOLARS

CHARLES ROCKWELL LANMAN

Professor at Harvard University ; Honorary Fellow of the Asiatic Society of

Bengal, of France, of England, and of Germany ; Corresponding Member of th

Society of Sciences at Gottingen, the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the

_Academie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres of the Institute of France

Volume Irbirtp=one

CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS

Oarbarb Zittibergitp preps

LONDON : HUMPHREY MILFORD

OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS

1925

THE RELIGION ANDPHILOSOPHY OF THE VEDAAND UPANISHADS

ARTHUR BERRIEDALE KEITH

D.C.L., D.LITT

Of the Inner Temple, Barrister-at-Law, and of the Scottish Bar ; Regius

Professor of Sanskrit and Comparatvre Philology at the University

of Edinburgh ; formerly of the Colonial Office

The first half, Chapters 1-19

Page 1 to page 312

CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS

1arbarb Elnibensitp Oren

LONDON : HUMPHREY MILFORD

OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS

1925

Keith's Religion and philosophy of the Veda was printed in 1925

from monotype-maiter. each of#tlie two volumes in 2000 copies

Printed (on paper made at its Wolvercote Mill) and bound

at the University Press, Oxford, England

by Frederick Hall, Printer to the University

Some other works LipM-Berriedale _Keith

Satikhayana Aranyaka, trans., 1908

Aitareya Aranyaka, ed. and trans., 1909

Vedic Index of Names and Subjects (with A. A. Macdonell), 1912. The Veda of the Black Yajus School (H.O.S. 18 and 19), 1914. Indian Mythology (Mythology of All Races, vol. 6), 1917

The Sarhkhya System, 1918 (2nd ed., 1924)

Rig-Veda BrAhmanas (H.O.S. 25), 1920

Indian Logic and Atomism, 1921

The Karma Mimitriask 1921

Buddhist Philosophy, 1923

Classical Sanskrit Literature, 1923

Sanskrit Drama, 1924

State Succession in International Law, 1907

Responsible Government in the Dominions, 1909 (2nd ed., 3 vols., 1912). Imperial Unity and the Dominions, 1916

Report on Home Administration of Indian Affairs (in Parliamentary Paper Crud. 207), 1919

The Belgian Congo and the Berlin Act, 1919

The War Government of the Dominions, 1921

Dominion Home Rule in Practice, 1921

Conflict of Laws (with A. V. Dicey), 1922

The Constitution, Administration, and Laws of the Empire, 1924

MARY HINCKLEY LANMAN

WIFE AND HELPMATE

CHARLES ROCKWELL LANMAN

PROFESSOR AT IIARVARD UNIVERSITY

NOTE FOR LIBRARIANS AND CATALOGUERS

THE Library of Congress issues printed catalogue-cards made to follow rules now generally approved by the best experts. The cards for this work bear the serial number 25-26748. Complete sets of these cards may be had (at a nominal price of 12 cents for each set of 8 or less) upon application to ' The Library of Congress, Card Division, Washington, D. C.. But (to foreign librarians, at least) the suggestion may be welcome that this work be recorded in Library Catalogues under the following entries :

Keith, Arthur Berriedale, 1879–

(author)

VEDAS (subject)

UPANISHADS (subject)

Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads (title) Harvard Oriental Series, v. 31-32 (series-title)

Lanman, Charles Rockwell, 1850–

(editor)

PREFACE

IT is the object of this work to present to the student of religion, in objective form and with constant reference to the original sources and to modern discussions, a comprehensive but concise account of the whole of the religion and philosophy of the Vedic period in India. The difficulty of the task lies not merely in the abundance of the original sources, which I have had occasion to study in detail in making my translations of the Taittiriya Sathhita and the Brahmanas and the Aranyakas of the Rigveda, but also in 0 e extreme divergence of view among modern interpreters of Vedic literature. Doubtless it is owing to this cause that the extraordinary value of Vedic religion to the student of religious belief has been so completely overlooked by Sir James Frazer and Professor S. Reinach in their theories of religion, and that it has been so gravely misinterpreted by Professor Sir William Ridgeway in his essays on the origin of the drama. The account of Vedic religion given in this work will, I trust, do something to restore to that religion its just place in the study of theology

The writer of such a work must at every turn derive much from his predecessors. An effort has been made to assign to their authors the most important of the theories mentioned, but I desire to acknowledge a more general obligation to certain scholars. In the treatment of the mythology I am deeply indebted to Professor A. A. Macdonell's Vedic Mythology, which is not merely an invaluable and exhaustive storehouse of facts, but is distinguished by unfailing sureness and clearness of judgement, and I have derived much help from Bergaigne's Religion Vedique, Hillebrandt's V edische Mythologie, and Oldenberg's Religion des Veda, though I have been unable to follow these authors in the more imaginative of their theories. For the ritual I owe many facts to Hillebrandt, Schwab, Caland, Henry, Weber, and last, but certainly not least, to my predecessor, Professor J. Eggeling. In its explanation I find myself often in agreement with Oldenberg, the brilliance and charm of whose work in this sphere can hardly be overestimated. I have made free use of the light cast on ritual by other religions, and I am conscious of having derived great profit from the works of Dr. L. R. Farnell ;

[e.o.s. 31]

a 3

Preface

but neither the totemism of Durkheim or S. Reinach nor the vegetation-spirits of Mannhardt and Sir J. Frazer have helped me in my study of the Veda. For the philosophy of the Brahmanas and the Upanisads, Levi, Oltramare, and Deussen have been of the greatest assistance through the completeness of the collections of material which they have made, and the fact that I have found it necessary to refuse to accept Deussen's main theories must not be taken to indicate any lack of appreciation of the great merits of his work. Nor should I conclude without an expression of indebtedness to Roth, Max Muller, Whitney, Hopkins, Bloomfield, and to the untiring labours and accomplished scholarship of Professor Charles R. Lanman, who has added to the many obligations which I owe to him by permitting these volumes to appear in the Harvard Oriental Series, that monurnentum, sere perennius of his unselfish devotion to the study of the life and literature of India

A. BERRIEDALE KEITH

EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY,

June 1, 1916

Nonumque prematur in annum. When the Preface to this work vas written neither author nor editor imagined that war conditions would compel obedience to the Horatian maxim in so literal a fashion. In revising the work for press I have taken note, so far as was compatible with the necessity of avoiding the expansion of the work beyond due bounds, of those contributions to our knowledge made since 1916, which appeared to me of most value in respect either of the results attained or of the methods adopted. Recent work on the origin of religion I have not discussed, as I have found nothing in it to throw light on Vedic beliefs, and a criticism on general grounds would involve transgression of the limits of these volumes

I trust that nothing of first-class importance in the literature has escaped my attention ; if it has, some share of the blame must fall on the deplorably inadequate provision made for Sanskrit research in this University, as the result in part of public indifference, in part of the many insistent demands on strictly limited academic resources. It is deeply to be regretted that British opinion should be so heedless of the duty of contributing to the investigation of the ancient civilization of a

Preface

land whence Britain has derived so much of her power and wealth. But a sense of this inexcusable neglect only increases my sincere gratitude to the founder and the editor of the Harvard Oriental Series, whose enlightened and impartial generosity alone have rendered possible the publication of my studies on the religion and philosophy of the Veda

The delay in publication causes me one serious regret, that this work cannot now evoke the criticism of Hermann Oldenberg, that admirable scholar, to whose writings on Vedic religion and philosophy I desire once more—inane menus—to express my deep obligation

To my wife I owe sincere thanks for much help and criticism. Mr. Frederick Hall and his staff have, as always, spared no trouble in the production and printing of the volumes, and I desire to express my high appreciation of their efforts

THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH,

June 1, 1924

CONTENTS

The twenty-nine chapters of this work are numbered, for practical convenience, in one single arithmetical sequence. But they are grouped in five main divisions, or PARTS, as follows :

PART

CHAP

I. THE SOURCES (4 chapters, pages 1-57)

1-4

IL THE GODS AND DEMONS OF THE VEDA (12 chapters) 5-16

III. VEDIC RITUAL (6 chapters, pages 252-402)

17-22

IV. THE SPIRITS OF THE DEAD (3 chapters, pages 408-482) 28-25

V. THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE VEDA (4 chapters, pages 483-613)

26-29

CONTENTS OF PART I.—THE SOURCES

CHAP

PAGE

1. The Rigveda and the Aryans

2. The later Sathhitas and the Brahmanas

3. The later literature

4. The Avesta and Comparative Mythology

. 82

§ 1. The Avesta

§ 2. Comparative Mythology and Religion

. 36

§ 3. yThe origin of religion

§ 4. The mingling of races and cultures

§ 5. Popular and hieratic religion

CONTENTS OF PART II.—THE GODS AND DEMONS OF

THE VEDA

5. The nature of the Gods and Demons

§ 1. Nature Gods and abstract Deities

... la) Anthropomorphism

. 58

(b) Theriomorphism and the worship of animals

. 61

. 68

§ 2. Fetishism

§ 3. Animism and the spirits of the dead

§ 4. The term Deva

xiv

Contents of volume 31

PAGE

CHAP

6. Vedic cosmology and cosmogony

7:1(The interrelation of the Gods

8. The Great Gods—Celestial

§ 1.4Dyaus the Father

§ 2., Varuiia, Mitra, and the Adityas

§ 3., Surya, Savitr, and Pusan

104

§ 4: Visnu

108

§ 5. Vivasvant

112

§ 6: The Acvins

113

§ 7.' The Goddess Dawn

119

§ 8. The Moon

122

9. The Great Gods—Aerial

124

1. eIndra

124

§ 2:/Trita Aptya

134

§ 8.v Apeob Napat

135

4...-Ahi Budhnya

136

5.v.Aja Ekapad

137

6:/Miltaricvan

138

u and rata

139

8.vParjanya

140

§ 9. The Waters

141

§ 10r(Rudra

142

§ 11:/.The Maruts or Rudras

150

10. The Great Gods—Terrestrial

154

§ 1: Agni

154

§ 2: Brhaspati and other forms of Agni

162

§ 8: The God Soma

166

§ 4. The Rivers

172

§ 5. The Earth

174

§ 6. The Sea

174

11. The Minor Gods of Nature

176

§ 1.v The Rbhus and the Rtus

176

§ 2/The Gandharvas and Apsarases

179

8. Spirits of the Forest, the Trees, the Plants

184

4. Spirits of Agriculture, Pasture, and the Mountains

186

5. Deities of the House

188

§ 6. Divine Implements

188

§ '7. Divine Animals

189

8. Totemism

195

9. The lesser Nature Goddesses

197

§ 10. Constellations and Time Periods

200

Contents of volume 31

CHOP

PAGE

12. Abstract Deities and Sondergotter

208

§ 1. The nature of Abstract Deities

208

§ 2. Tvastr and other Agent Gods

204

§ 8. The Creator Gods

206

§ 4. 'Subjective Deities

210

§ 5. Deified states or conditions

211

§ 6. Aditi and Diti

215

§ 7. The wives of the Gods

218

18. Groups of Deities

220

§ 1. Dual Divinities

220

§ 2. Groups of Gods

221

14. Priests and Heroes

228

§ 1. The Priests of the fire-cult

228

§ 2. Other ancient Priests

226

§ 8. Warriors

228

§ 4. The First of Men

228

15. The Demons

281

§ 1. The Enemies of the Gods

281

§ 2. The Enemies of Man

286

16...,/1'he Gods and their worshippers

248

CONTENTS OF PART III.-VEDIC RITUAL

17. The ritual in the Rigveda

252

18:- The nature of the Vedic sacrifice

257

§ 1. The sacrifice as a gift

257

§ 2. The sacrifice as a spell

260

§ 8. The removal of sin by sacrifice and magic

264

§ 4. Communion and sacrament in the sacrifice

268

§ 5. The materials of the sacrifice

278

§ 6. Fire and the sacrifice

285

§ 7. The performers of the sacrifice

289

19. Rites ancillary to the sacrifice

300

§ 1. The consecration

300

§ 2. The Avabhrtha

808

§ 8. Taboos

804

§ 4. The forms of prayer

810

xvi

Contents of volume 32

At this point occurs the break between Chapters 1-2.9 and Chapters 20-29

The latter group is bound up as volume 32

CHAP

PAGE

20. The sacrifices of the crauta ritual

313

1. General characteristics

318

2. Establishment and re-establishment of the fires

816

8. The Fire-god oblation or Agnihotra

318

4. The new-moon and full-moon sacrifices

319

5. The four-month or seasonal sacrifices

821

6. First-fruit sacrifice (5.grayana isti) and others

328

7. The animal sacrifice

324

8. The Soma sacrifice

326

9. The Pravargya or hot-milk sacrifice

332

§ 10. The Aikadacina animal offering

833

§ 11. Other forms of Jyotistoma

334

§ 12. Other Soma sacrifices of one day's duration

336

§ 18. The Vajapeya or drink-of-strength

339

§ 14. The royal consecration

340

§ 15. The horse sacrifice

848

§ 16. The human sacrifice

847

§ 17. Other Ahina rites

348

§ 18. The Sattras or sacrificial sessions

349

§ 19. The Sautramani

352

§ 20. The piling of the fire-altar

854

§ 21. The Hal. formulae

356

§ 22. Expiations

356

21. The domestic ritual

358

§ 1. General character of the domestic sacrifices

858

§ 2. The various offerings

359

§ 8. Birth-ceremonies and others

866

§ 4. Studentship

369

§ 5. Marriage

373

22. Magic in the ritual

370

§ 1. The relations of magic to religion

879

§ 2. The nature of Vedic magic

880

§ 8. The removal of hostile influences

382

§ 4. The attraction of beneficial substances and powers

386

§ 5. Mimetic magic

388

§ 6. Divination and ordeal

390

§ 7. The magic spell

898

§ 8. The magic sacrifice

396

§ 9. Yoga practices

401

Contents of volume 32

xvii

CONTENTS OF PART IV.-THE SPIRITS OF THE DEAD

CHAP

PAGE

28. The abodes of the dead

. 408

§ 1. The nature of the dead

408

§ 2. The places of the dead

406

§ 3. The transmutation of the dead

415

24. The disposal of the dead

417

25. The cult of the dead

425

§ 1. The living and the dead

. 425

§ 2. The offerings to the dead in the domestic ritual

. 427

§ 3. The offerings to the dead in the crauta ritual

. 429

CONTENTS OF PART V.-THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE VEDA

26. The beginnings of Vedic Philosophy

483

27. The Theosophy of the Brahmanas

440

§ 1. The general character of the Brahmana philosophy

440

§ 2. The highest principle of the universe

442

§ 3. The theory of the sacrifice

454

§ 4. The ethics of the Brahmanas

468

§ 5. Modes of thought and categories

482

28. The Philosophy of the Upanisads

489

1. The origin of the Upanisads

489

2. The extant Upanisads

497

3. The interpretation of the Upanisads

507

§ 4. The problem and conditions of knowledge

518

5. The nature of the Absolute

516

6. The Absolute and the Universe

522

§ 7. Maya and Prakrti-Illusion and Nature

529

(a) Illusion

529

(b) Nature

582

585

8. The Supreme and the Individual Souls

551

§ 9. The four states of the Soul

567

§ 10. The doctrine of transmigration

570

§ 11. The way of salvation

581

§ 12. The ethics of the Upanisads and Yoga

584

§ 13. The significance of the philosophy of the Upanisads

592

29. Greece and the philosophy of India

601

xviii

Contents of Appendix

PAGE

APPENDIX

A. The age of the Avesta and the Rigveda

614

B. The sacrifice of Purusa and the origin of the world

619

C. The Aryan conception of the heaven

621

D. The drink of immortality

628

E. The Indo-European fire-cult

625

F. Cremation and burial

626

G. The Dravidian element in Indian thought

629

H. Pythagoras and Parmenides

684

GENERAL INDEX

689

SANSKRIT INDEX

675

TRANSLITERATION

The system of transliteration adopted by W. D. Whitney in his Sanskrit Grammar and C. R. Lanman in his Sanskrit Reader has been followed. For vurposes of pronunciation the vowels may be treated as in Italian, but a is analogous to the sound in English ' but '. The consonants may be pronounced as in English, the diacritical marks being ignored, except in the following cased c is similar to ch in church : c and p are approximately sh in shun : s is always surd as in sun : rh, or it is a nasalization of the preceding vowel : the aspirates like th are pronounced approximately like th in pothook. The letter r may be taken as nearly ri. Similarly is li or lri

The 'complete alphabet is as follows : vowels : a aiiurir fle ai o au ;

palatals : c ch j jh h ; dentals : t th d dh n ;

semivowels : y r 1 v; further : A ni l

ABBREVIATIONS

gutturals :

ri ;

domais

n ;

labials :

Aitareya Aranyaka

Aitareya Brahmana

AGS

Agvalayana Grhya Sutra

AcS

Agvalayana crauta Sutra

Aitareya Upanisad (= AA. 2. 4-6)

Atharvaveda

AV. Par. Atharvaveda Parigista

ApDS

Apastamba Dbarma Sutra

ApGS

Apastamba Grhya Sutra

ApcS

Apastamba crauta Sutra

BAU

Brhadaranyaka Upanisad

BDS

Baudhayana Dharma Sutra

BGS

Baudhayana Grhya Sutra

BcS

Baudhayana crauta Sutra

BhGS

Bharadvaja Grhya Sutra

Chandogya Upanisad

Gopatha Brahman

GDS

Gautama Dharma Sutra

GGS

Gobhila Grhya Sutra

HGS

Hiravyakeci Grhya Sutra

HCS

Hiranyakeci crauta Sutra

Ica

Ica Upanisad (=VS. xl)

Jaimintya Brahmana

JGS

Jaiminiya Grhya Sutra

JUB

Jaimirdya Upanisad Brahmans

Kausitaki Brahma/At

KcS

Katyayana crauts Sutra

Kathaka Sathhita

Katha Upanisad

Kauu

Kaucika Sidra

Kaus

Kausltaki Upanisad

Kena

Kena Upanisad (=JUB. 4.18-21)

KhGS

Khadira Grhya Sutra

LCS

Latyayana crauta Sutra

Mantra Brahmans

MGS

Manava Grhya Sutra

Mantrapatha

MCS

Manava crauta Sutra

Maitrayanl Satidilta

Mahanar. Mahanarayana Upanisad

Maitr

Maitrayanlya Upanisad

Mund

Mundaka Upanisad

Nir

Nirukta

Paficavinca Briiiunaua

PGS

Paraskara Grhya Stara

Pracna Upanisad

Rigveda

cankhayana Aranyaka

catapatha Brahmaua

CGS

cankhayana Grhya Sutra

ccS

Cankhayana crauta Sutra

Cvetaevatara Upanisad

SVB

Samavidhana Brahmana

Taittirlya Aranyaka

Taittirlya Brahman

Taittirlya Saithita

Taittirlya Upanisad

Vajasaneyi Saiuhita

Vait

Vaitiina Sutra

VarGS. Varaha Grhya Ram

PART I. THE SOURCES

CHAPTER 1

THE RIGVEDA AND THE ARYANS

THE oldest and most important of the sources for Indian religion is the collection of 1,028 hymns known as the Rigveda Sathhita, which has been

handed down to us in the calcala recension. Preserved in its early stages by

oral tradition and long regarded as too sacred to be reduced to writing, the text affords abundant internal proof of the general accuracy with which it was preserved. Moreover, an invaluable form of control exists in the texts of the other Vedas, the Yajurveda in its different recensions, the Stunaveda, and the Atharvaveda, all of which contain much of the matter of the Rigveda. The older view, that in these texts might be found traces of earlier forms of the verses of the Rigveda, has not borne close examination and comparison in detail : 1 with a very few possible exceptions the variations which are found in these texts from the Rigveda can be unhesitatingly classed as products either of an inferior tradition on the one hand or of deliberate alteration on the other. Similarly the efforts which have been made by Hillebrandt 2 to prove that, in a stage earlier than that recorded, the Rigveda was a definitely -practical collection of hymns, arranged according to their connexion with the