Quest for a proper perspective in Vedic Interpretation

Author(s): N M Kansara
Publisher: Z_Agarchand_Nahta_Abhinandan_Granth_Part_2_012043.pdf

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The Quest for a Proper Perspective in Vedic Interpretation
Prof. N. M. Kansara,
Ahmedabad
The general impression that the proper interpretation of the Vedas is fraught with innumerable difficulties has persisted since the time of Yaska-about the eighth century B. C. Yaska's Nirukta, Panini's Aṣṭadhyays, and the Vedic commentaries of Skandasvami, Udgitha, Venkatamadhava and Sayana do help us to some extent in affording a hazy glimpse into various aspects of the teachings of the Ṛgveda. But the difficulty lies in the fact that there is a yawning gap of at least a thousand years between, on the one hand, the authors of the abovementioned Vedängas and, on the other hand, the original seers of the Mantras; and this has mooted the question as to whether the commentators who came much later in point of time could have grasped the original sense or flavour of the Vedas. Western Indologists have been constantly hurling this question, with renewed vigour, on our face since more than half a century. And a few indigenous supports too were quite handy for their purpose: Thus, Kautsa in Yaska's Nirukta is held to have branded the Mantras as "meaningless"; the Muṇḍakopnisad relegated the Vedas to an inferior position in comparison to the Upanisadic lore, the Bhagavadgita was found to have thoroughly thrashed the Vedas as being mere "flowery speech" of the immature fools. And, finally, the ritualistic interpretation of the Ṛgveda at the hand of no less an indigenous scholar like Säyana confirmed and ultimately uprooted the possible hope of ever searching for, or discovering, any mystic or philosophical values, except a few stray and crude ideas. in it. The dictum of multifarious interpretative tendency (sarvatomukhā vai vedaḥ) as inherent in the Vedas, and resorted to by the commentators to extract their own outlook or interpretation, has added to the already prevalent confusion. The rejection of the Vedas as unauthoritative by the Buddhists and the Jains since
1. Yaska's Nirukta, 1, v, 15: word::
2. Mundakopanisad, I, 4-5 : द ेविध वेदितव्ये इति ह स्म यद्वह्मविदो वदन्ति परा चैवापरा च ॥४॥ तत्रापरा ऋग्वेद यजुर्वेदः सामवेदोऽथर्ववेद शिक्षा कल्पो व्याकरणं निरुक्त छन्दो ज्योतिषमिति । अब परा यया तदक्षरमधिगम्यते ॥५॥
3. Bhagavadgita, II, 42 वामिनां पुष्पितां वाचं प्रवदन्त्यमनीषिणः कामात्मानः स्वर्गपरां भोगैश्वर्यगति प्रति ॥ etc., and II, 45: त्रैगुण्यविषया वेदा:...etc.
इतिहास और पुरातत्त्व १०१