________________
46
1
god' in the Visvamitra book.1 But three complete hymns to Visnu by Dirghatamas (i. 154-6) show a totally changed relative emphasis. The sage himself, according to the Bṛhaddevatā iv. 11-30, was the blind son of a Bhṛgu mother, and in his old age cast into the river which carried him safely eastwards beyond the Aryan pale to Angā.
PRE-ARYANS AND ARCHAEOLOGY
9. It is still necessary to show that some of these new recruits to the vedic fold were non-Aryans,2 for there is no doubt that there did exist non-vedic Aryans; among the Indians, it sufficed to refer to the vratya Licchavis. So, it might be suggested that the whole fight with Sudas's enemies was in fact a
1Apart from stylistic and metrical variation, as well as the subject matter, the mere incidence of hymn dedications my be used as a guide to clan differences. The ninth book, being dedicated to Soma, and the Välakhilyas as later appendages, have been discarded; in doubtful cases, I follow Grassmann as far as possible. The standard hymn order within books or groups allows us to emphasize dedications to Agni, Indra, and all the rest. Among the "rest" have been counted even those hymns where Indra or Agni, or both a have a share. This gives us the following table:
Book
ii
iii
iv
>7 ×
i
Agni
10
D. D. KOSAMBI
29
15
28
16
17
14
45
30
204
Indra
12
24
17
12.
31
15
45
41
44
Rest 21
9
26
47
28
72
33
105
117
458
Total 43
62
58
Totals
241
903
Modern statistical tests give information that agrees very well with what we know from other considerations. The Visvamitra book (iii) differs from all the rest, as would be expected from the real Aryan kṣatriya tradition. Books i and x may be grouped together. Books ii.iv., vi can also be combined among themselves, which proves the Bhrgu-Angiras unity of dedication. The Kanvas are closest to this group in spite of their great predilection for Indra, while only Atri comes near Vasistha, though none too close. (Calculations by Mr. S. Raghavachari for the chi-square test). In support, we may recall that the eighth book, though Kanva by tradition and with a good unity of metre and style, is unquestionably of mixed authorship; not only other Angirasas but Atris, Bhrgus (including Jamadagni and Uśanas), Kasyapa, possibly a Vasistha Dyumnika (viii.87), Trita Apiya (viii, 47, but this is impossible as the final verses show), and even Manu Vaivasvata are given a share in the authorship, by the Anukramani tradition. Only Visvamitra is stubbornly excluded, and this is highly suggestive.
87
75
104
92
191
191
* Traditionally, the Soma book contains eight hymns ascribed to a Kavi Bhargava, who is identical with or the father of Kavya Usanas, who is in turn the author of three more. But the famous Devayani story of the Mahabharata shows this personage as preceptor to the Asuras, which can be explained only on our present hypothesis of assimilation of non-Aryan priests, not necessarily in India. In the Rgveda, Uśanas is mentioned almost exclusively by the Angirasas: i.51.10-11 (Savya); 1.83.5 (Gotama Rahugana); i.121.12 (Kaksivän); iv.26.1 (Vämadeva); vi.20.11 (Bharadvaja) ; .iii.23.17 (Viśvamanas, son of Vyaśva); ix.87.3 (Usanas himself!); ix.97.3 (Vrsagana, supposedly a Vasistha) ; x.40.7 (Ghoṣā, daughter of Kakṣivän). Otherwise usana is desire, of which Grassmann takes the name as a masculine personification. One can't expect this in Angiras books, where Bṛhaspati is an Angiras (vi.73.1) and even Agni (viii.84.4) in a hymn ascribed to Uśanas. Without discussing his dentity with Kai Kāōs or Kavi Usa of the Iranians, it is fairly clear that he must be a figure of the iransitional period.
