Secondary Tales of the Two Great Epics

Author(s): Rajendra I Nanavati
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

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The Tales in Ramayana
was receding to give place to Indra or to the principle of Rta developing into that of Brahman, but the investigation is worth undertaking. To us, at least, it seems this way The principle of Rta has the potential of developing into that of Brahman which by its very nature discards all godheads. Varuna is the Lord of Ṛta, so even after his godhood disappears, he can be seen inherently present in the developed principle of Brahman. But Indra is neither inherent to it in any way, nor can he reach it with his godhood intact. It is only through his protége, his own symbol, Viśvāmitra, that he can reach it. From this point of view, we even have a reason to suspect the very names of the sages. Viśvämitra 'the friend of All' suits the characteristics of Indra who is much on the talking-ground with the sages. On the other hand, Vasistha 'the most brilliant' (vas-'to shine") is not easily approachable. It will be seen that Viśvāmitra really helps a number of persons - kings and commons alike – among whom are Trisanku and Sunaḥsepa also. His passions of lust and angry imprecations also tally very well with the characteristics of his Lord Indra. On the other hand Vasistha's silent forbearance and steady strength of forgiveness reflect very well the sober character of Vedic Varuna. Even if the names of these sages originally had belonged to some historical persons, the question will still remain to be answered; why these two names were chosen out of seven; why not Gṛtsamada, Atri, Vamadeva, Bharadvaja? Is it not probable that these names were chosen because they yielded meanings, which were consonant with the characteristics of the two gods of Vedic pantheon who were struggling for superiority? If the Rgveda itself does not show Indra to be specially favourable to Visvamitra, then it is likely that the name of the sage refers to some historical person, and is chosen at a later date for the potentials of its meaning. If the Rgvedic data prove that Indra is specially favourable to Visvamitra, then it may not be unlikely that Indra himself is symbolised as Viśvämitra whose historicity is rather questionable.
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Are we reading too much between the lines? Well, we must wait for some future scholar who may underline or undo our observations which, since they do not fall strictly within the scope of our subject, are stated here, for whatever worth they are, eventhough enough evidence in support has not been found.
But if this is acceptable, then the entire story-group of Vasistha-Viśvämitra conflict will be symbolic of the struggle of the two most eminent Vedic gods Varuna and Indra for superiority in which finally both stand equal. This is not in contradiction to what we have said before about the relation of Subrahmanya litany with Visvamitra-story-cycle; on the other hand, it actually gives a direction to the previous observation. We may point out here that Sukthankar takes the cow of Vasistha to be symbolic of the Vedic 'Viraj' and takes it to be a point of contact between the Vedic and epic ideologies. This means, the epic-stories are more often than not personifications or concretisations of some Abstract Vedic ideas. Philosophical concepts are often put in the concrete form of a story. Hariyappa also says: "for the average man
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