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SEPTEMBER, 1906.]
THE ORIGIN OF THE DEVANAGARI ALPHABET.
265
Here the comparison of his attaining to his fortune with that of a loudly neighing horse nndoubtedly suggests the exact meaning that is intended to be conveyed by the word Bhaga. While translating the above verses, Maurice Bloomfield says that Bhaga here seems to be used in a double meaning (fortuno' and vulva').
But in the following passages the word Bhaga is used in the sense of a goddess -
(1) " Bhaga told me to marry a wife just in the same way as the Asvins married the Súrya, the Sun, who possesses a good productive quality." - 2, 82, 6, A.-V.
(2) "I invoke the peaceful Bhaga, so that she may endow you (loving pair) with harmony of mind and heart." — 2, 74, 6, 4.-V.
As regards the god Kama, he is invoked under a number of synonymous words, Prajapati, Skambha, Vaitasa, &c. The word Vaitasa has been undoubtedly used in the sense of virile membrum. Prof. Muir says17 :- "In the Rig Veda X. 95, 4, 5 (compare Nirukta III. 21) and Satap. Br. XI. 5, 1, 1, the word Vaitasa has the sense of membrum virile. Are we to understand the word Vaitasa (reed) in the same sense here, as denoting a Linga ?" Also, while translating the Atharva-Vedic hymn addressed to Skambha or Brahma, where the word Vaitasa is synonymously used with Brahma, Prof. Muir entertains similar doubts. He says: “I know not whether this word has here its ordinary meaning or the same sense which is assigned to the word Vaitasa in R-V. X. 95, 4, 5, which is addressed by Urvasi to Puräravas; Satap. Brühmana XI. 5, 1, 1, and Nirukta III. 21, and also R.-V., IV. 58, 5; and Satap. Br. VII. 5, 2, 11."
I cannot see the reason why the phallic sense assigned to the word Vaitasa should be doubted when the whole Skambha Hymn becomes, if the word is taken in its phallio sense, intelligible, freed from all its mystery. The entire Hymn addressed to Skambha is full of such words as
of this limb, in which limb,' and from which limb,' &c. The use of these expressions can only be consistent with some pictorial form of the god drawn for worship. Then alone we can understand the catechetical method of identifying the several visible limbs of the picture with several constituents of the universe. To say that such demonstrative pronominal words as * this,' of this, &c.,' are not meant to refer to some visible objects at hand, is the same as saying that the Vedic bards were ignorant of the elementary rules of Sanskrit Grammar in daily use. It is not only violating Sanskrit Grammar, bat also setting at nought the tradition preserved in all the Tantric toxts of representing gods by pictorial symbols.
Following both grammar and tradition, the Skambha Hymn can be thus translated :* In what member of this (asya) does austere fervour stand ? In which member of this is the ceremonial contained ? In what parts of this do religious observance and faith abide ? In what member of this is truth established ? From what member does agni, fire, blaze? From which does the wind blow ? From which does the moon pursue her course traversing the mighty body of Skambha? In what member of this does the earth reside and in which member of this the atmosphere? In what member is the sky placed, and in which the space above the sky? Whither tending does the upward fire blaze? Whither tending does the wind blow ? Tell, who is that Skambha to whom all devotees anxiously turn and into whom they enter? Whither tending, do the half months and the months in making up the year proceed ? Tell that Skambha to whom the seasons and other divisions of the year advance? Whither tending do the two young females of diverse aspects, the day and night, hasten in unison ? Tell that Skambha on whom the Prajapati has supported and established all the worlds P How far did Skambha penetrate into that highest, lowest, and middle Universe, comprehending all forms which Prajapati created. And how much of it was there which he did not penetrate? How far did Skambha penetrate into the past? And how much of the future lies in the face of this!
11 Sanekrit Texts, Vol. V., p. 384.
