Vol. 4 · pages 151–155

140 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES Now, though this sentence had another object in view, it, nevertheless, declares the eternity of language, and hence sound is eternal”. Reduced to simple syllogism the sound is eternal, the words of the Vedas are sound, therefore words of the Vedas are eternal. Absurdity in reasoning cannot go further. The riddle is why did the Brahmins propound this doctrine of the eternity of the Vedas? Why did the Brahmins adopt such an absurd reasoning in support of their doctrine? Why did the Brahmins refuse to accept the view that the Vedas were the word of God? The second dogma relating to the authority of the Vedas is that they are not only sacred but they are also infallible. It is difficult to understand why the Brahmins endeavoured to invest the Vedas with infallibility? There is no law in the Vedas in the strict sense of the term law. The Vedas do not preach Dharma in the sense of morality. The three following extracts from the Vedas can hardly be said to be consonant with morality. “(Yami speaks). I invite my friend to friendship, having come o’er the vast and desert ocean; may Vedhas, after reflecting, place in the earth the offspring (of thee) the father, endowed with excellent qualities”. “(Yama speaks). Thy friend desires not this friendship, for although of one origin, she is of a different form; the hero sons of the great Asura (are) the upholders of heaven, enjoying vast renown.” “(Yami speaks). The immortals take pleasure in (a union) like this which is forbidden to every mortal; let thy mind then concur with mine, and as the progenitor (of all) was the husband (of his daughter), do thou enjoy my person.” “(Yama speaks). We have not done what was done formerly; for how can we who speak truth, utter now that which is untrue? Gandharva (the Sun) was in the watery (firmament), and the water was his bride. She is our common parent, hence our near affinity.” “(Yami speaks). The divine omniform generator Twashtri, the progenitor, made us two, husband and wife, even in the womb; none frustrate his undertaking; earth and heaven are conscious of this our (union).” “(Yama speaks). Who knows anything of this (his) first day (of existence)? Who has beheld it? Who has here revealed it? The dwelling of Mitra and of Varuna is vast. What saysest thou, who punishest men with hell?”

141APPENDIX I “(Yami speaks). The desire of Yama hath approached me Yami, to lie with him in the same bed; I will abandon my person as a wife to her husband; let us exert ourselves in union like the two wheels of a waggon.” “(Yama speaks). The spies of the Gods, which wander upon earth, never stop, never close their eyes. Associate quickly, destructress, with some other than with me, and exert yourselves in union, like the two wheels of a waggon.” “(Yami speaks). To him (Yama) let every worshipper sacrifice both day and night, on him let the eye of the Sun repeatedly rise; (for him may) the kindred pair (day and night unite) with heaven and earth. Yami will adhere to the non-affinity of Yama”. “(Yama speaks). The subsequent ages will come, when sisters will choose one who is not a brother (as a husband); therefore, auspicious one, choose another husband that me, and make thine arm a pillow for thy mate.” “(Yami speaks). Is he a brother whose sister has no lord? Is she a sister (whose brother) misfortune approaches? Overcome by desire, I strongly urge this one request; unite thy person with mine.” “(Yama speaks). I will not unite my person with thine; they call him who approaches a sister, a sinner. Enjoy pleasure with some other than me; thy brother, auspicious one, has no such desire.” “(Yami speaks). Alas, Yama, thou art feeble; we understand not thy mind or thy heart. Some other female embraces thee as a girth a horse, or as a creeper a tree.” “(Yama speaks). Do thou, Yami, embrace another; and let another embrace thee as a creeper a tree; seek his affection, let him seek thine; and make a happy union”. “May Agni, the destroyer of the Rakshasas consenting to our prayer, drive hence (the evil spirit) who (in the form of) sickness assails thine embryo, who, as the disease durnaman, assails thy womb.” “May Agni, concurring in our prayer, destroy the cannibal who is sickness, assails thine embryo, who as the disease durnaman, assails thy womb.” “May we exterminate from hence (the evil spirit) who destroys the impregnating energy, the germ as it settles, the moving embryo, who seeks to destroy (the babe) when born.” “May we exterminate from hence (the evil spirit) who separate thy thighs, who lies between husband and wife, who, entering thy womb, devours (the seed).”

142 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES “May we exterminate from hence (the evil spirit), who in the form of brother, husband, or paramour, approaches thee, and seeks to destroy thy offspring.” “May we exterminate from hence (the evil spirit) who, having beguiled thee by sleep or darkness, approaches thee, and seeks to destroy thy offspring.” The Vedas contain two things. In the first place they contain the hopes and wishes of the Aryans as expressed by the Rishis. As observed by Mr. Muir: “The whole character of these compositions, and the circumstances under which, from internal evidence, they appear to have arisen, are in harmony with the supposition that they were nothing more than the natural expression of the personal hopes and feelings of those ancient bards by whom they were first recited. In these songs the Aryan sages celebrated the praises of their ancestral gods (while at the same time they sought to conciliate their goodwill by a variety of oblations supposed to be acceptable to them), and besought of them all the blessings which men in general desire— health, wealth, long life, cattle, offspring, victory over their enemies, forgiveness of sin, and in some cases also celestial felicity.” This is also the view of Yaska the author of Nirukta who says: “(Of the four kinds of verses specified in the preceding section) ( a) those which address a god as absent, ( b) those which address him as present, and (c) those which address the worshippers as present and the god as absent, are the most numerous, while those ( d) which refer to the speaker himself are rare. It happens also that a god is praised without any blessing being invoked, as in the hymn (R. V. i. 32). ‘I declare the heroic deeds of Indra’, etc. Again blessings are invoked without any praise being offered, as in the words, ‘May I see well with my eyes, be resplendent in my face, and hear well with my ears’. This frequently occurs in the Adhvaryava (Yajur), and in the sacrificial formula. Then again we find oaths and curses as in the words (R. V. vii. 104, 15), ‘May I die to-day, if I am a Yatudhana,’ etc. Further, we observe the desire to describe some particular state of things, as in the verse (R. V. x. 129, 2), ‘Death was not then, nor immortality,’ etc. Then there is lamentation, arising out of a certain state of things, as in the verse (R. V. x. 95, 14), ‘The beautiful god will disappear and never return,’ etc. Again, we have blame and praise, as in the words (R. V. x. 117, 6), ‘The man who eats alone, sins alone, etc. So, too, in the hymn to dice (R. V. x. 34, 13) there is a censure upon dice, and a commendation of agriculture. Thus the objects for which the hymns were seen by the rishis were very various.”

143APPENDIX I SUKTA XII (CLXIII) The deity is the cure of Phthisis; the Rishi is Vivrihan, the son of Kasyapa; the metre is Anushtubh. 1. I banish disease from thine eyes, from thy head, from thy nose, from thy ears, from thy chin, from thy brain, from thy tongue. 2. I banish disease from thy neck, from thy sinews, from thy bones, from thy joints, from thy upper arms, from thy shoulders, and from thy fore-arms. 3. I banish disease from thine entrails, from thy anus, from thine abdomen, and from thy heart, from thy kidneys, from thy liver, from thy (other viscera). 4. I banish disease from thy thighs, from thy knees, from thy heels, from thy toes, from thy loins, from thy buttocks, from thy private parts. 5. I banish disease from thy urethra, from thy bladder, from thy hair, from thy nails, from thy whole person. 6. I banish disease from each limb, from each hair, from each joint where it is generated, from thy whole person. As Prof. Wilson observes there is in the Rig-Veda (which is the stock Veda) scarcely any indication of doctrinal or philosophical speculation, no allusion to the later notions of the several schools, nor is there any hint of metempsychosis, or of the doctrine intimately allied to it, of the repeated renovation of the world. The Vedas may be useful as a source of information regarding the social life of the Aryans. As a picture of primitive life it is full of curiosity but there is nothing elevating. There are more vices and a few virtues. Given the nature and substance of the contents of the Vedas it is a riddle why the Brahmins claimed infallibility for such superstitious writings as the Vedas. There would have been some justification for this doctrine of infallibility if the Rishis who made the hymns had claimed it for themselves. But it is quite clear that the Rishis have made no such pretentions. On the contrary they have occasionally confessed their ignorance of matters in which they had interest and curiosity. Compare the following utterances of the Rishis as given in the Rig-Veda: “Ignorant, not knowing in my mind, I enquire after these hidden abodes of the gods; the sages have stretched out seven threads for a hoof over the yearling calf (or over the sun, the abode of all things). 6. Not comprehending, I ask those sages who comprehend this matter; unknowing (I ask) that I may know; what is the one thing, in the form of the uncreated one, who has upheld these six worlds?

144 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES 37. I do not recognize if I am like this; I go on perplexed and bound in mind. When the first born sons of sacrifice (or truth) come to me, then I enjoy a share of that word.” “What was the forest, what the tree, out of which they fashioned heaven and earth, which continue to exist undecaying, whilst days, and many dawns have passed away? “Which of these two (Heaven and Earth) is the first? Which is the last? How were they produced? Who, o sages, knows?” “How many fires are there? How many suns ? how many dawns ? How many waters ? I do not, fathers, say this to you in jest; I really ask you, sages, in order that I may know”. 5. “There ray (or cord), obliquely extended, was it below, or was it above? There were generative sources, and there were great powers, svadha (a self-supporting principle) below, and effort above. 6. Who knows, who hath here declared, whence this creation was produced, whence (it came) ? The gods were subsequent to the creation of this universe; who then knows whence it sprang. 7. When this creation sprang, whether any one formed it or not, he who, in the highest heavens, is the overseer of this universe,— he indeed knows or he does not know.” There are other points with regard to this dogma of infallibility which are noteworthy. IV The first point is, is this dogma original or is this a new contention raised at sometime later in the history of India. The general view is that it is the original doctrine. A reference to the Dharma Sutras which are the earliest law books which deal with this subject go to show that this is not a correct view. The Gautama Dharma Sutra lays down the following rule on the question of the infallibility of the vedas. “The Veda is the source of the sacred law”. I.1. “And the tradition and practice of those who know the (Veda)”— I.2. “If (authorities) of equal force are conflicting (either may be followed at) pleasure”. I.4. The Vashishta Dharma Sutra propounds the following view: “The Sacred law has been settled by the revealed texts and by the tradition of the sages” I.4. “On the failure of (rules given in) these (two sources) the practice of Shistas has authority.” I.5. “He whose heart is free from desire (is called) a shista”. I.6. The views of Baudhayana are given below: