Upabrmhana and Rgveda Interpretation

Author(s): T G Manikar
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 16

The U pabrrhana and the Rgveda Interpretation
into the texture of the Puranic Anuştubha, halling directly from the Aitareya Brahmaņa. This clearly suggests that the Purāņa looks to the Brāh. maņa while narrating the story. This is really what it should be. I have already observed earlier that the Akhyānas form the common meeting ground of the Rși tradition and the Sūta tradition and here we find the two traditions consulting, depending upon and preserving the tales and their portions as known to them, the Purāna going to the length of combining the Vedic account in its own.
To support my thesis here, I may refer to another similar narrative that is common to the Veda and the Purāna, the celebrated account of Urvasi and Pururavas. The Rgveda (X. 95) narrates an interesting episode between Urvasi and Purūravas,the nymph and the king. This very episode is seen narrated in the Satapatha Brāhmaṇa, in the Mahābhārata, the Itibāsa and in the Purāņas. The Visņu Purāna (4.6), the Harivamsa (1.26) and the Srimadbhāgavata Parāna (9.14) narrate this episode confirming the Rgvedic account in its broad details and essentials. The Rgvedic hymn has received considerable attention of the scholars and by many it is regarded at many places as 'unintelligible', for it is difficult to identify the speakers and also to understand the exact background of certain statements in the dialouge that the hymn reports. The dialouge given is broken and therefore unintelligible. The satapatha Brāhmaṇa narrates this story in the context of the Gandharva Agni ritual, but adds information regarding the scene of the episode and uses some verses from the Rgveda itself. Here the ritualistic interest is obvious yet it is also clear that this account in a sense supplements the Rgvedic account. But I would like to make a pointed reference here to the Puranic account as available in the Śrimadbhāga. vata (9.14) narration. In this Purāņa, the main scene is placed by the river Sarasvati in the holy land of Kuruksetra and there is a reference to the five friends' pañca sakhih' of Urvasi, who are in all probability given in the Rgveda (X. 95. 6), as Su jūrni, Sreņi, Caranyu, Granthinı and Hrdecaksu. Sāyaṇācārya understands 'sumna api' also as a friend, but in view of the Bhāgavata reference and also in view of the meaning of the word 'api' I would render 'sumna-āpi' as 'gracious friends'. Giving the background of the dialogue between Urvasi and Pururavas, the Putāna continues the narration and in the process reveals its very close association with the Rgvedic account by incorporating words and expressions from the hymn. Thus we have “aho jāye tiştha ghore; vacāësi krnavāvahai; sudeho patati and khadanti enam vrkā' for 'sudevo prapatet, adha enam vīkā adyuh; ma mrtha, ma tva ad yuh rīkā; sakhyam na vai strāņām, vrkanām hrdayam yatha' directly hailing from the Rgvedic hymn. In the later part, the Purāna follows the Satapatha Brāhmaṇa as the references to the 'sthali, aśvattha, sami, the aranis and the final obtainment of gandharvahood by Purūravas would