Upabrmhana and Rgveda Interpretation

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

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The Hymn of Mudgala Bharmyaśva (X, 102)
field ritually to mark the beginning of the ploughing season. This ritual ended with an invocation to Indra for success in agriculture. The language used for the ritual is that of fight which goes well with the style of the Rgveda which uses the battle-garb even to describe a sacrifice.
This 'Ritual theory' virtually makes the hymn stand on its head a complete inversion of the material supplied by it. The poetic observation in 'uta sma vāto vahati vaso asyaḥ' is made to suggest that Mudgalant is quasi-naked. The Drughana about which it is said that 'yena jigāya satavat sahasram gavam' is made to represent the evil which is discarded at the other end of the field. Mudgala and his wife Mudgalāni are made the village headman and his wife and further on the strength of the word Indrasenā she is regarded as Indra's wife and represent Earth. The thousand COWS that are 'won' by Mudgala for himself and his wife are for the common weal, 'bahave janaya' and are won through the normal process of cattlerearing. Dange practically refutes his own view when he points out that "this hymn is not utilised for the ploughing-ritual as seen from the Sutra literature, the hymn utilised being RV. IV. 57. In spite of this absence in the later ritual, he asserts that we have here a ritual of agriculture which long back became obscure in the Vedic tradition which had in the long past adapted it from the popular tradition of Folks. It really becomes difficult to follow the reasoning here for whatever has been preserved in the popular practices of the Behirs, in South India, the modern Bendur, practices in Balaghat region, could have been very well prserved by a peɔple who are very zealous about a tradition, who are preeminently given to agriculture and cattle and who have an especial skill in developing and retaining a complicated structure of ritual, I mean the Vedic tradition. Thus in this theory what is given in the hymn itself is regarded as imaginary, what is poetical is regarded as real and finally all this ritualistic explanation lacks the support of the Vedic ritualistic tradition itself and what is more signi. ficant is that a very weighty, continuous and uniform historical tradition is opposed to it. Dange rightly desires an explanation that would explain the hymn as a whole' in a satisfactory manner and one is left wondering whether his explanation achieves what he is seeking.
Velankar and Geldner are of the view that a 'race' is contemplated here. According to Velankar in this race episode Mudgalang is the principal figure. At this race Mudgala and Mudgalani won with the help of a single bull, yoked to a bullock cart, along with a dummy block, the Drughana, perhaps fitted with smaller wheels, in place of another bull. It is Mudgalāni, skillful driving that has been in the main responsible for this victory at the race. Mudgala also did play an important part in this episode since he fitted up the cart for the race, was himself in the cart and drove also with a whip in his hand (vv. 5 b, 7ab, 8ab, 9cd and jayema' in 11c). He is
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