Reading the Vedas

Posted by Harsh Nevatia Nov 23, 2006

It is undisputed that the hymns or Samhitas of the Vedas were composed before the Brahmanas and Aranyakas and that the Upanishads were formalized even afterwards. The Samhitas appear to be as an anthology of verses. Read by themselves they appear abstruse and mystical. They are also prone to misinterpretation. It needs the exposition of the Upanishads to throw light on the hymns.

Take D.H.Lawrence’s poem Bavarian Gentians for example. One needs to know the background of the mythology of Demeter and Persephone in order to understand the poem completely. To one who does not know the mythology, the poem will appear superficial. In the same way the Upanishads elaborate on the symbolic and mythological references in the hymns. Hence though the Upanishads were composed afterwards they need to be read before the hymns. Reading the Upanishads can be a daunting task and several summaries of the Vedanta philosophy of the Upanishads are available, which can serve the purpose.

Hymn CXXIX of Book 10 is one of the most famous hymns from the Riga Veda. There is a line in the hymn that reads

“The Gods are later than this world's production.”

Many critics of the Vedas interpret this line as that the Vedic philosophy did not subscribe to God being the prime cause of the creation of the universe. Some even suggest that this line implies that God is a human conception in Vedic philosophy and not a divine entity. This misconception arises out of ignorance of the Vedanta philosophy.

The key word is “Gods”. This hymn is from the last book of the Riga Veda. By the time it was composed the monist and monotheistic philosophy had evolved and the pagan gods had been relegated to the secondary level. The word Gods does not refer to the One Supreme God but to the various forces of nature that had been earlier deified. We are aware today that the continents and landforms, rivers and seas, flora and fauna, winds and rain, came into existence long after the universe was born. This is what is implied by the line.

Hence it would be prudent to commence a hymn by hymn study of the Vedas only after acquainting oneself with the Vedanta philosophy.