Who Was Dhirgatamas – Part Two | sreenivasarao's blogs

RSS

Who Was Dhirgatamas – Part Two

28 Jun

Rishi Dhirgatamas (दीर्घतमस्) was an ancient sage, well known for his philosophical verses Suktas (hymns) 140 to 164 in the First Mandala (section) of the Rigveda.

He was said to be the son of Ucathya (उचथ्य) and Mamata (ममता) – Dhirgatamas Aucathya Mamateya. He is often called by the name of his mother as – Mamateya (दीर्घतमाः । मामतेयः)

Dhirgatamas was one of the Angirasa Rishis, the oldest of the Rishi families; and, was said to be the brother of Rishi Bharadwaja, who is the seer of the Sixth Mandala of the Rig Veda.

The Angirasa Rishis – Brihaspati, Dhirgatamas and Bharadwaja- were said to be the central figures during the period of the Pururava Kings Dushyanta and Bharatha,

It is believed that Dhirgatamas was the purohit or the Chief-priest of King Bharata, one among the earliest kings of the land.

The Athreya Brahmana says that Dhirgatamas consecrated Bharata, the son of the famous Paurava king Dusyanta, with the Maha-abhiseka. After this great anointing, King Bharata went round the earth, conquering on every direction; and, thereafter performed Ashva-Medha-Yagna.

Etena ha vā aindreṇa mahābhiṣekeṇa Dīrghatamā-Māmateyo Bharataṃ-Dauḥṣantim abhiṣiṣeca. tasmād u Bharato-Dauḥṣantiḥ samantaṃ sarvataḥ pr̥thivīṃ jayan parīyāyāśvair u ca medhyair īje – (Aitareya Brahmana VIII.23),

Dhirgatamas was also the foremost predecessor of the Gautama family of Rishis that included such scholarly Rishis as Kak-Shivan, Gautam Maharishi, and Vamadeva (seer of the Fourth Mandala of the Rigveda) – who along with Dhirgatamas account for almost 150 of the 1000 hymns of the Rigveda.

Rishi Kak-Shivan is said to be one of the sons of Dhirgatamas. And, this Kak-Shivan is the author of many poems found in the First Mandala (116 to 126). Dhirgatamas and his son Kak-Shivan were among the reputed poets who lived during the times of Dushyanta and Bharata

The language of Dhirgatamas

Dhirgatamas, the great poet of the Vedic period, is celebrated as one of the most impressive personalities among the Rishis of the Rigveda.

The poet theorizes the origin of the world; it’s tacit secrets; and , of the nature of language, through in his poetic vision.

Karl Friedrich Geldner, the distinguished German Scholar, in the notes to his translation of the Rigveda, lauds the hymn of Dhirgatamas as containing the wonders of Nature and of Man’s life; speculations about time and about human; especially his poetic language. They are all clothed in varied allegories and riddles; and their solution is rather difficult.

Geldner regards the hymn as belonging to the class of Brahmodaya Suktas, depicting the Mystic poet’s inspired response to the wonders of Nature and of Human Life; speculations about Cosmos beyond. In the process, he has brought together a number of Vedic Doctrines about the Universe, its creation and its progression.

The enigmatic language, symbolisms, mystic-representations etc. that he has employed are all relevant in the context of his effort to project a consistent thought-provoking illustration of the world around us.

Its language may not be exact; its tenets might be vague. And yet, one has to accept that the Rishi sheds light on the dark depths of human thought. There is much to be learnt from the philosopher ’s speculations of the Truth.

Unlike in the other Vedic texts, there are not many prayers addressed to gods in Asya Vamasya Sukta. It is mainly concerned with raising of doubts, questions; suggesting answers; and glorification of knowledge and the Ultimate. Truth.

Dhirgatamas contributed much to the hypothesis concerning creation and sustenance of the universe. He put forth his concepts about a single absolute and self-subsistent principle, which is an infinite, inexhaustible source of power.

In his opinion, all finite things are products of the self-evolution of interrelated factors, enveloped within a single universal system; and, all of this existence, therefore, is a monogamous unit.

But the major problem with his writing is his most elusive enigmatic, puzzling and at times inscrutable language, terms and symbols that he employed to enunciate his metaphysical concepts.

His verses can be interpreted in varied, diverse manners; each conflicting with the other.

Dr. Kunhan Raja observes:

When we read his poems, we find ourselves in the presence of a great poet.

His Visual symbols are essentially the language of metaphysics; just as the words are of philosophy. But, shorn of their veneer, they are eloquent expressions, the meaning of which is familiar to all mankind.

When we enter the very mysterious region visualized in this poem, we find that the poet has presented a recognizable representation of things that are hidden from the understanding of the ordinary people.

With the symbolisms lost to us; and with the background obliterated, we are not able to see the significance of the whole picture

The meaning of many of the words used here, like the names of the meters etc., are unknown to us. We do not know what they exactly mean. And, there is the complex combination of songs set in meters of varied structures.

The contents of the poem turn out to be a riddle to us because we have lost the clue to the correct interpretation of the poem. We do not know many of the symbols and many of the conventions current in those days. Various notions and symbols current in those days are now lost to us, and so we do not have the necessary apparatus to work up the full and precise meaning of the lines in this poem.

The problem has been studied with the aid of grammar, language and vocabulary; the structure of the meter; and the general content of the hymns etc.

There are many terms and expressions, many modes of presentation that we cannot understand. We do not know to what the various numbers like three and seven refer to; the simile of the cow with the calf ; the imagery of the father and mother ; and other figures are also obscure.

Thus, we find ourselves having to handle a puzzle; we are faced with a mystery.

Yet, we need not lose all hope of deciphering something out of the poem. There are some pointers which might help us to interpret, unravel the mystery.

But, one thing is certain; this is not a haphazard jumble of many verses crammed into a single hymn. There is a unity and there is a continuity of thought also, within the whole poem. Not only this, the entire collection of the fifty-two hymns composed by Dhirgatamas has a plan; and , it must have been set in this order as per the traditions of his time.

The seemingly paradoxical language of Dhirgatamas is clustered with symbolisms (समाधि– भाषा – Samadhi-bhasha). And, it is not easy to follow. In his rendering, each created object, both natural and human, or an activity, or a thought, or a number, becomes a typical symbol pregnant with meaning. It is said; the language of Dhirgatamas, verily, is that of the Nature itself, in the form of the created objects, each of which conceals the Great Mystery at the core of its being.

Some have tried to explain why the Vedic thinkers selected the style of symbolism, which does seem rather ambiguous, today.

It is said; it was a deliberate ploy employed in order to explain the elements surrounding the creation of the Cosmos and of the primeval entities, of which it is constituted, viz. Mind, Life and Matter. It is said; words are mere symbols of the ideas; just as the manifest is the outer expression of the dormant unmanifest.

The language of the symbols is elastic; amenable to interpretation in varied manners. This is an advantage over the ordinary language.

The Rishis adopted the phenomena of physical Nature as figurative reflections of the functioning of Man’s inner life. They might have otherwise found it difficult to give expression to subtle ideas in the commonplace language of everyday life.

Here, the Vedic thinkers seized upon the working of the Cosmos itself, as displayed in several categories and objects in Nature – Such as: The Ocean, Sky, Earth, Air, Water, Sun, Moon, Mountains, Rivers, Forests, Trees, Animals, Rains, Clouds. And, each one of these objects stand out as an eloquent epithet in the language of Nature.

For instance; the Chariot of the Sun, Ratha, is used to symbolize the physical Universe. And, his horses are the powers or the dynamic energies, which by their sheer drive propel and provide progression to the events in the Cosmos.

As said: the wise ones were in awe of nature. They marveled at the systematic and dependable rising and setting of the sun, cycles of season – particularly the rainy one – so essential for agriculture; appearance and disappearance of the moon; the starry sky and the milky way. They wondered how all of these came about.

Dhirgatamas was a thinker of the Vedic age; and, naturally his outbursts are cast in the thought-moulds of his time. He was a mystic and a poet. And.as said earlier; he is famous for his paradoxical apothegms that are enigmatic.

Prof. Wendy Doniger, a noted Sanskrit Scholar, in her book The Rig Veda An Anthology (Penguin Books) comments:

This long and complex hymn has inspired many elaborate, detailed glosses and still remains largely obscure. The language, however, is not particularly difficult; and certain major themes emerge with sufficient clarity to encourage the translator to present the hymn in a relatively raw state of exegesis, rather than burden the reader with a critical apparatus out of proportion to the poem itself.

One reason for the great scholarly attention paid to this hymn is that it is traditionally regarded as a riddle – a tradition of Vedic exegetes. And there are solid grounds for this tradition, for many questions are asked outright in the hymn; and others are hidden in a symbolism that seems deliberately labyrinthine. Yet it seems that the poet thought he knew the answers to some of his questions and posed others merely rhetorically, as questions no one would dream of trying to answer. The reader is thus encouraged to solve those that can be solved and to leave the others unanswered.

The hymn demonstrates a unity on two distinct but intersecting levels, explicit and implicit. That is, certain tropes emerge repeatedly to express different ideas, and certain ideas emerge repeatedly to be expressed by different tropes.

The Suktha employs many of the traditional Vedic imagery to weave a maze of explicit and implicit riddles. In a series of simple but obscure verses complex meanings are piled up to create an elaborate vision.

For example, the hymn mentions cows and birds in several verses; the cow may stand for the Dawn (who is not explicitly named) or the goddess of Speech (who is), and the birds for the sun or the mortal (both explicitly named), while the Dawn may also be represented in verses ostensibly about a woman, and the sun in verses about a horse.

On one level, it is clear that the hymn is about the things it is talking about – about riddles and numbers and wisdom and immortality and birds and chariots and horses and cows and speech and the sacrifice, all of which are described in vividly naturalistic detail.

But they are also described in terms that make no sense on a naturalistic level (what chariot could have a single wheel, or have spokes at the same time as seven spokes?), and it appears that these distortions arise through the identification of several of the images with abstract ideas, particularly the chariot and birds identified with the sun or year or yearly sacrifice or immortal soul, and the cow or the mother identified with Dawn or Speech.

Many particular obscurities remain, of course, and many verses mean several things at once, but when viewed in this overarching framework the hymn reveals a number of consistent questions and answers expressed through a careful network of highly charged symbols.

Dhirgatamas- His theory of creation

The. single, absolute, self-subsistent principle, according to Dhirgatamas is Fire (Agni – the sun in the upper regions – parastat). He recognizes three forms of Fire: The Sun, the Lightning and the Fire

अस्य । वामस्य । पलितस्य । होतुस्तस्य । भ्राता । मध्यमो । अस्त्यश्नः। तृतीयो । भ्राता । घृतपृष्ठो । अस्यात्रापश्यं । विश्पतिं सप्तपुत्रम् ॥१॥ ॥ १.१६४.०१ ॥

And, he is of opinion that the Sun, blazing with dazzling radiance and warmth, is the oldest of the three; and is the first cause. This Sun, held up and propelled by its inherent force (स्वध Svadha), clad in its own splendor , travels in all the worlds , without stoppage.

अनत् । शये । तुरगातु । जीवम् । एजत् । ध्रुवम् । मध्ये । आ । पस्त्यानाम् । जीवः। मृतस्य। चरति । स्वधाभिः । अमर्त्यः । मर्त्येन । सयोनिः ॥१.१६४.३० ॥

[ In the hymns of the Rigveda, Sun (Surya) is celebrated as the Soul (Atman) of all that moves or is immoveable; enlivening the heaven, the earth, and all the surrounding space –

अप्राः । द्यावापृथिवी इति । अन्तरिक्षम् । सूर्यः । आत्मा । जगतःतस्थुषः । च ॥ – Rig Veda 1.115.1 .

He is the Divine power in the heavens; the Lightening in the atmosphere; and the Fire on Earth. These are the three main manifestations of light in our visible world.

Sun moves in its orbit, which itself is moving. Earth and other bodies move around sun due to the force of attraction (आकर्षण) .

All beings abide in this five-spoked revolving wheel; the heavily-loaded axle is never heated; its eternal compact nave is never worn away.

पञ्चअरे । चक्रे । परिवर्तमाने । तस्मिन् । आ । तस्थुः । भुवनानि । विश्वा । तस्य । न । अक्षः । तप्यते । भूरिभारः । सनात् । एव । न । शीर्यते । सनाभिः ॥ Rig Veda 1.164.13

Surya is Vipra, the radiant one. He is the Master of Truth. He enlightens and enlivens. It is he who liberates the human mind from the restrictive confines of the physical world.]

Dhirgatamas maintained that all living beings rest and depend ultimately on the Sun. And, Sun is the eternal source of Life in all this existence. Sun is the protector of the world – पलितस्य; as without him there would be no life on this planet.

He compared the Sun to a chariot, fitted with one wheel, which revolves with its axle that is heavy-laden, but not heated; and with its nave unbroken from time immemorial. The wheel, as he says, has twelve spokes, representing the twelve months. A year with twelve months consists of seven- hundred and twenty days and nights together, and the additional days and nights go to form the intercalary month. The year is divided into a certain number of seasons.

सप्त । युञ्जन्ति । रथम् । एकचक्रम् । एकः । अश्वः । वहति । सप्तनामा । त्रिनाभि । चक्रम् । अजरम् । अनर्वम् । यत्र । इमा । विश्वा । भुवना । अधि । तस्थुः ॥ Rigveda 1.164.2 ॥

द्वादश । प्रधयः । चक्रम् । एकम् । त्रीणि । नभ्यानि । कः । ऊँ इति । तत् । चिकेत । तस्मिन् । साकम् । त्रिशताः । न । शङ्कवः । अर्पिताः । षष्टिः । न । चलाचलासः ॥॥ Rigveda 1.164.48 ॥

He said: the Sun delights men with rains in the season. The tempest clouds (Parjanya) infuse Life into the Earth in the form of rain and various other kinds of energies. The clouds are formed by the water raising up in a uniform manner; and, falling back in due course. And, it is from this water the life derives its sustenance.

Dhirgatamas suggested that Sun is the un-born, un-changing cause of the ever-fleeting splendor of created things. The world as a whole is guided on towards a path of progress by two principles — active and passive, compared to two birds roosting on the same world-tree. One of them eats fruits, while the other does not eat, but silently reflects only.

द्वा सुपर्णा सयुजा सखाया समानं वृक्षं परिषस्वजाते। तयोरन्यः पिप्पलं स्वाद्वत्त्यनश्नन्नन्यो अभिचाकशीति ॥ // Mundu.Up //

It is thus; the whole of nature is moving along the road towards an end. Its governing principles are however emanations from its own inherent, energizing force. These are inseparable companions.

As Dr. Beni-madhab Barua puts it:

All physical phenomena, states and processes can be accounted for by the principles of mechanics and physics, while the final question of their origin and interaction remains ever insoluble.

There is nevertheless to be felt behind all these, the presence of an unseen hand at work; the play of a deep mystery that ever eludes man’s grasp.

The nature of ultimate reality, according to Dhirgatamas, is however unknown, and probably unknowable. The world of experience is conceived as a systematic unity, the whole of nature being a sort of Divine machine evolving and working itself to an end by some fixed and uniform laws of motion, interaction, and so forth.

The trend of his thought is towards the idea of a single absolute and self-subsistent principle, which is infinite – in the sense of being an inexhaustible power; and, towards the view that all finite things are products of the self-evolution of correlated factors of one universal system and plan; and that the world therefore is a unity. (Dr. Henry Stephen)

Thus, the attitude of Dhirgatamas towards the deepest problem of philosophy seems to border on agnosticism. But; he persistently tends to derive the many from the one single, ordaining, sustaining, coordinating self-existent principle, of which all known forces, laws and movements are its varied manifestations.

Although the mysterious is always the mysterious, Dhirgatamas advanced far enough to suggest that it is the un-born, un-changing cause of the ever-fleeting show of created things, and that whatever its real nature is, it seems to partake more of the material and less of the spiritual.

The world, as a whole, surges along a path of progress, guided by two principles — active and passive – compared to two birds roosting on the same world-tree. One of them eats fruits, while the other does not eat, but only reflects, silently.

द्वा । सुपर्णा । सयुजा । सखाया । समनम् । वृक्षम् । परि । सस्वजाते इति । तयोः । अन्यः । पिप्पलम् । स्वादु । अत्ति । अनश्नन् । अन्यः । अभि । चाकशीति ॥ [Rigveda 1.164.20]

It is how the whole of nature is moving along the road, towards an end. Its guiding principles are however emanations from the same unborn, energizing force. These are inseparable companions.

Asya Vamasya Suktam

Dhirgatamas is the author of twenty-five poems in the First Mandala of the Rigveda (140 to 164). The set of hymns under Sukta 164, titled by its opening lines: Asya Vamasya (Rigveda 1.164) , gained great fame.

This is one of the sage’s most famous poems. The hymns of Dhirgatamas are indeed ancient. His grammar, vocabulary etc., as also his presentation of gods, nature are clustered with symbolisms that are not easy to understand or decode.

In the words of the erudite scholar Dr. Kunhan Raja

His paradoxical apothegms; to date, none has been able to fully decode. His poetry is known for its exceedingly complex symbolism.

And, he writes in his First Mandala, 140th Sukta, 12th mantra, that our whole life is not a journey in a single boat, we go in one boat, we finish the task, then take another boat, and do another task, then third boat, and so on. These are the voyages of the spirit.

रथाय । नावम् । उत । नः । गृहाय । नित्यअरित्राम् । पत्वतीम् । रासि । अग्ने । अस्माकम् । वीरान् । उत । नः । मघोनः । जनान् । च । या । पारयात् । शर्म । या । च ॥ 1.140.12. II

He who knows the father below by what is above, and he who knows the father who is above by what is below is called the poet (कवियमानः)

अवः । परेण । पितरम् । यः । अस्य । अनुवेद । परः । एना । अवरेण । कवियमानः । कः । इह । प्र । वोचत् । देवम् । मनः । कुतः । अधि । प्रजातम् ॥ 1.164.18

If a person knows who he is; then he attains the true goal of life – (Bhuteshu-Bhuteshu Vichitya dhirah -KU.2.5)

इह चेदवेदीदथ सत्यमस्ति। न चेदिहावेदीन्महती विनष्टिः।भूतेषु भूतेषु विचित्य धीराः। प्रेत्यास्माल्लोकादमृता भवन्ति ॥KU.2.5 II

Dhirgatamas and his truly inspired vision had a great role in shaping Indian Philosophy. His commendable knowledge in spirituality; his versatile talent in poetry; and, his inspired gift of vision stands unparalleled even this day.

This is one of the most interesting and important hymns in the whole range of the Vedic literature. It is without a parallel in the Vedas. It is highly philosophical. It is full of mysticism. It is obscure. It is mainly in the form of a riddle; it was originally meant as a riddle and it has become a more insoluble riddle for us than for the people of those ancient days.

Dhirgatamas was confident that no one else other than a wise poet can even hope to truly understand his poems. Even to this day, none has been able to fully decode his poems; at least the Asya Vaamasya Sukta (RV 1.164).

Structure of the Texts assigned to Dhirgatamas

The poet had composed 25 poems about various gods; and this group is followed by a long poem of 52 verses about the realization of poetic vision. The poem seems to have been recited at a Sacrifice where learned people had assembled. The poet describes the world and its origin and of the nature of language and the secrets of the language, as deduced by him through his poetic vision.

***

As mentioned earlier; Dhirgatamas is the author of twenty-five poems in the First Mandala of the Rigveda (140 to 163).

Of the 25 verses – the first 41 verses form a unit dedicated to-various gods, in general; and, the remaining 11 verses are assigned certain specific deities. Yet, there is a unity and a continuity of thought, binding the whole poem.

The first two (140 , 141 and 143 ) are addressed to Agni; the next (142) is an Apri Sukta hymn (the invocation hymns recited just prior to offering the oblations into Agni); with the last verse (163) addressed to Indra.

वेदिसदे । प्रियधामाय । सुद्युते । धासिम्इव । प्र । भर । योनिम् । अग्नये । वस्त्रेणइव । वासय । मन्मना । शुचिम् । ज्योतिःरथम् । शुक्रवर्णम् । तमःहनम् ॥ १.१४०.०१ ॥

अभि । द्विजन्मा । त्रिवृत् । अन्नम् । ऋज्यते । सव्ँम्वत्सरे । ववृधे । जग्धम् । ईम् इति । पुनरिति । अन्यस्य । आसा । जिह्वया । जेन्यः । वृषा । नि । अन्येन । वनिनः । मृष्ट । वारणः ॥ १.१४०.०२ ॥

कृष्णप्रुतौ । वेविजे इति । अस्य । सक्षितौ । उभा । तरेते इति । अभि । मातरा । शिशुम् । प्राचाजिह्वम् । ध्वसयन्तम् । तृषुच्युतम् । आ । साच्यम् । कुपयम् । वर्धनम् । पितुः ॥ १.१४०.०३ ॥

Again, there are seven hymns devoted to Agni (144 to 150).

This is followed by a set of three hymns addressed to Mitra-Varuna. (151 to 153). Of these, the first is addressed to Mitra singly.

There are three hymns addressed to Vishnu (154 to 156). with the first three verses in the second of these hymns addressed jointly to Vishnu and Indra.

Then there are two hymns addressed to the Ashvins. (159 and 160).

the next is addressed to the Ribhus (161); and the next two are in praise of the Horse (162 and 163).

That section is followed by a unit of 52 verses – (Sukta 164) – celebrated as Asya Vamasya Suktam

The scholar Hermann Grassmann divided the hymn into several sections:

The first section of 10 verses he calls Cosmological questions and fancies;
Verses 11 to 15 give a mystic description of the Year and the seasons;
In the following 7 verses (16 to 22) he speaks of as very obscure and impossible to understand;
The three verses (23 to 25) deal with the common meters, and
The four verses following (26 to 29) deal with the cow which is the cloud that gives rain;
The four verses (30 to 33) are again obscure
Verses 34 to 42 and 45 are a glorification of the Sacred Speech;
In the remaining section, omitting verse 48, we find many gods in the Sacrifices and he prefers to bring the verse 48 in the group of verses 11 to 15.

In the subsequent instalments of this series ,

let us briefly go through the Verses of

Asya-Vamiya-Sukta

CONTINUED

IN THE

NEXT PART

REFERENCES

sreenivasarao's blogs