Vol. 4 · pages 91–95

RIDDLE NO. 11 WHY DID THE BRAHMINS MAKE THE HINDU GODS SUFFER TO RISE AND FALL ? The Hindus are accused of idolatry. But there is nothing wrong in idolatry. Making an idol is nothing more than having a photograph of the deity and if there can be no objection to keeping a photograph what objection can there be to having an image. Real objection to Hindu idolatry is that it is not mere photography, not mere production of an image. It is more than that. The Hindu idol is a living being and is endowed with all the functions of a human being. A Hindu idol is given life by means of a ceremony called Pranapratishtha. The Buddhists also are idolatrous in as much as they too worship Buddha’s idol. But the idol they worship is only a photograph, a mere image. There is no soul in it. Why the Brahmins endowed the Hindu Gods with souls and made them living beings opens out an inquiry which is bound to be revealing. But this inquiry is outside the scope of this Chapter. The second charge generally levelled against the Hindus is that they are polytheists i.e., they worship many Gods. Here again the Hindus are not the only people who are guilty of the practice of Polytheism. Other communities have also been known to have practised polytheism. To mention only two. The Romans and the Greeks were essentially polytheists. They too worshipped many Gods. There is therefore no force in this charge. The real charge which can be levelled against the Hindus most people seem to have missed. That charge is that the Hindus are never steadfast in their devotion to their Gods. There is no such thing as This is a 43-page typed MS having corrections and modifications in the handwriting of the author. The concluding para, however, is written in pen by the author himself. The original title on the Chapter was ‘The Rise and Fall of the Gods’. This title was scored out in blue pencil, which was normally used by the author for scoring out the matter.—Ed.

81RIDDLE NO. 11 loyalty or attachment or faith in one God. In the history of Hindu Gods one finds it a very common experience that some Gods have been worshipped for a time and subsequently their worship has been abandoned and the Gods themselves have been thrown on the scrap-heap. Quite new Gods are adopted and their worship goes with an intensity of devotion which is full and overflowing. Again the new Gods are abandoned and are replaced by a fresh crop of new Gods. So the cycle goes on. In this way the Hindu Gods are always undergoing rise and fall—a phenomenon which is unknown in the history of any other community in the world. The statement that the Hindus treat their Gods with such levity may not be accepted without demur. Some evidence on this point is therefore necessary. Fortunately there is abundance of it. At present the Hindus worship four Gods (1) Shiva, (2) Vishnu, (3) Rama and (4) Krishna. The question that one has to consider is : are these the only Gods the Hindus have worshipped from the beginning ? The Hindu Pantheon has the largest number of inmates. The Pantheon of no religion can rival it in point of population. At the time of the Rig-Veda the number of its inmates was colossal. At two places the Rig-Veda1 speaks of three thousand three hundred and nine Gods. For some reasons, which it is not possible for us now to know, this number came to be reduced to thirty-three 2. This is a considerable reduction. Nevertheless with thirty three, the Hindu Pantheon remains the largest. The composition of this group of thirty-three Gods is explained by the Satapatha Brahmana3 as made up of 8 Vasus, 11 Rudras and 12 Adityas, together with Dyasus and Prithvi (heaven and earth). Of greater importance than the question of numbers is the question of their relative rank. Was their any distinction between the 33 Gods in point of their rank ? There is a verse in the Rig-Veda which seems to suggest that these thirty-three Gods were divided for purposes of honours and precedence into two classes, one being great and small and the other being young and old. This view seems to be against an earlier view also contained in the Rig-Veda. The old rule says : “None of you O ! Gods ! is small or young : You are all great”. This is also the conclusion of Prof. Max Muller : “When these individual gods are invoked, they are not conceived as limited by the power of others, as superior or inferior in rank. Each god is to the mind of the supplicants as good as all the gods. 1 Rig-Veda iii, 99 : X 52 : 6, Vaj, S. 33, 7, Muir V, p. 12. 2 Rig-Veda 1, 139, II, iii, 6, 9 ; VIII 28.1, V I I I 30,2, V I I I 35.3, Muir V. p. 10. 3 S. B. IV 5, 7, 2, Muir V, p. II.

82 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES He is felt, at the time, as a real divinity, as supreme and absolute, in spite of the necessary limitations which, to our mind, a plurality of gods must entail on every single god. All the rest disappear for a moment from the vision of the poet, and he only, who is to fulfil their desires stands in full light before the eyes of the worshippers.” “Nowhere is any of the Gods represented as the slave of others”. This is of course true only for a time. A change seems to have come in the old angle of vision towards the Gods. For one finds numerous hymns of the Veda in which some gods are represented as supreme and absolute. In the first hymn of the second Mandala, Agni is called the ruler of the Universe, the Lord of men, the wise king, the father, the brother, the son, the friend of men ; nay, all the powers and names of the others are distinctly ascribed to Agni. Then a second god came to be elevated above Agni. He is Indra. Indra is spoken of as the strongest god in the hymns as well as in the Brahmanas, and the burden of one of the songs of the Tenth Book is : Visvasmad Indra Uttarah ‘Indra is greater than all’. Then a third god is raised to the highest level. He is Soma. Of Soma, it is said that he was born great and that he conquers every one. He is called the king of the world, he has the power to prolong the life of men, and in one verse he is called the maker of heaven, and earth, of Agni, of Surya, of Indra and of Vishnu. Then Soma was forgotten and a fourth God was elevated. He is Varuna. Varuna was made the highest of all Gods. For what more could human language do than to express the idea of a divine and supreme power, than what the Vedic poet says of Varuna ; ‘Thou art Lord of all, of heaven, and earth’ or, as is said in another hymn (ii. 27, 10), Thou art the king of all ; of those who are gods, and of those who are men.” From this evidence it is clear that out of the 33 Vedic Gods four Gods, Agni, Indra, Soma and Varuna had emerged as the principal Gods. Not that other gods had ceased to be gods. But these four had become elevated above the rest. At a later stage a change seems to have taken place at the time of the Satapatha Brahmana in the relative position of the different gods. Soma and Varuna had lost their places as the principal gods while Agni and Indra had retained their positions. A new god has emerged. He is Surya. The result is that instead of Agni, Indra, Soma and Varuna ; Agni, Indra and Surya became the principal gods. This is evident from the Satapatha Brahmana which says :

83RIDDLE NO. 11 “Originally the gods were all alike, all pure. Of them being all alike, all pure, three desired, ‘May we become superior’ viz., Agni, Indra and Surya (the sun). “2. ……….. “3. Originally there was not in Agni the same flame, as this flame which is (now) in him. He desired : ‘May this flame be in me’. He saw this grahs, he took it ; and hence there became this flame in him. 4. Originally there was not in Indra the same vigour, etc. (as in para 3). 5. Originally there was not in Surya the same lustre etc.” For how long these three Gods continued to hold their places of superiority over the rest it is difficult to say. But that at a later stage a change in the scene has taken place is beyond doubt. This is evident by a reference to the Chula-Niddessa. The Chula Niddessa is a treatise which belongs to the Buddhist literature. Its approximate date is.... (left incomplete). The Chula-Niddessa gives a list of sects which were then prevalent in India. Classified on the basis of creeds and cults. They may be listed as follows : I. CREEDS Sr. No. Name of the Sect 1. Ajivika Shravaka 1 Ajivika2 2. Nigatta Shravakas Nigantha3 3. Jatil Shravakas Jatila4 4. Parivrajaka Shravakas Parivrajaka5 5. Avarudha Shravakas Avarudhaka II. CULTS Sr. No. Name of the Sect The deity which is worshipped 1. Hasti Vratikas 6 Hasti7 2. Ashva Vratikas Ashva8 3. Go Vratikas Go9 1 Shravaka means a disciple. 2 Mendicants following special rules with regard to livelihood. 3 Mendicants who are free from all ties and hindrances. 4 Mendicants who twist their hair on the head. 5 Mendicants who escape from society. 6 Vratikas means a devotee. 7 Elephant. 8 Horse. 9 Cow.

84 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES II. CULTS contd. Sr. No. Name of the Sect The deity which is worshipped 4. Kukur Vratikas Kukku1 5. Kaka Vratikas Kaka2 6. Vasudeo Vratikas Vasudeo 7. Baldeo Vratikas Baldeo 8. Puma Bhadra Vratikas Puma Bhadra 9. Mani Bhadra Vratikas Mani Bhadra 10. Agni Vratikas Agni 11. Naga Vratikas Naga 12. Suparna Vratikas Suparna 13. Yaksha Vratikas Yaksha 14. Asura Vratikas Asura 15. Gandharva Vratikas Gandharva 16. Maharaja Vratikas Maharaja 17. Chandra Vratikas Chandra 18. Surya Vratikas Surya 19. Indra Vratikas Indra 20. Brahma Vratikas Brahma 21. Deva Vratikas Deva 22. Deesha Vratikas Deesha Comparing the position as it stood at the time of the Satapatha Brahmana with that arising from the Chula-Niddessa the following propositions may be said to be well-established : (1) Firstly, that the worship of Agni, Surya and Indra continued up to the time of the Chula Niddessa. (2) Secondly, the Cults of Agni, Surya and Indra although they had not ceased, had lost their places of supremacy. Others and quite a number of cults had come into being as rivals and had won the affection of the people. (3) Thirdly, of the new cults there are two which later on became very prominent. They are the cults of Vasudeo (i.e. Krishna) and Brahma and (4) Fourthly the cults of Vishnu, Shiva and Rama had not come into being. What is the present position as compared with that found in the ChulaNiddessa ? Here again, three propositions are well-established. First : the cults of Agni, Indra, Brahma and Surya have disappeared. Second : Krishna has retained his position. Three : The cults of Vishnu, Shiva and 1 Dog. 2 Crow.