Handbook of History of Religions

SR No.: 007634
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Edward Washburn
Publisher: Sanmati Tirth Prakashan Pune
Total Pages: 678
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 2 MB

Page 51

a strong(stong in the original) current of demonology, much stronger than has been pointed out by scholars intent on proving the primitive loftiness of the Vedic religion.
In III. 62. 7-9 there are some verses to P[ru]shan, following which is the most holy couplet of the Rig Veda, to repeat which is essentially to repeat the Veda. It is the famous G[=a]yatr(=i] or S[=a]vitr[=i] hymnlet (10-12):
Of Savitar, the heavenly, that longed-for glory may we win, And may himself inspire our prayers.[21]
Whitney (loc. cit.) says of this hymn that it is not remarkable in any way and that no good reason has ever been given for its fame. The good reason for this fame, in our opinion, is that the longed-for glory was interpreted later as a revealed indication of primitive pantheism, and the verses were understood to express the desire of absorption into the sun, which, as will be seen, was one of the first divine bodies to be accepted as the type of the All-god. This is also the intent of the stanzas added to l. 50 (above, p. 17), where S[=u]rya is "the highest light, the god among gods," mystic words, taken by later philosophers, and quite rightly, to be an expression of pantheism. The esoteric meaning of the G[ra]yatr[=i] presumably made it popular among the enlightened. Exoterically the sun was only the goal of the soul, or, in pure pantheism, of the sight. In the following[22] the sin-forgiving side of Savitar is developed, whereby he comes into connection with Varuna:
God Savitar deserveth now a song from us;
To-day, with guiding word, let men direct him here. He who distributes gifts unto the sons of men, Shall here on us bestow whatever thing is best; For thou, O Savitar, dost first upon the gods Who sacrifice deserve, lay immortality, The highest gift, and then to mortals dost extend As their apportionment a long enduring life. Whatever thoughtless thing against the