The Triple Structure of Creation in the g Veda Author(s): Stella Kramrisch Reviewed work(s): Source: History of Religions, Vol.

2, No. 1 (Summer, 1962), pp. 140-175 Published by: The University of Chicago Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1062040 . Accessed: 20/01/2012 15:37
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

The University of Chicago Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to History of Religions.

http://www.jstor.org

Stella Kramrisch

THE

TRIPLE

STRUCTURE OF CREATION IN THE RG VEDA*

I. THE CREATION OF THE COSMOS, THE WORLD OF INDRA

In the beginning Heaven and Earth were lying in close embrace. Nothing divided them. Their duality formed a monad (cf. RV. 1. 159. 4), the principal possibility of existence. No stress, no friction, no activity binds or separates the pair who are the monad. They were separated by a god. He put his power between their recumbent shapes and dislodged them. Henceforward they are separate. Heaven is above and earth below. Between them is the midspace. The god who separated the monad heaven-and-earth made them two and kept them distinct. He placed space between them. He introduced this "midspace" (antari-ksa) from the limitless reservoir in the beyond. It snorted like a horse when it entered between heaven and earth, by the impulsion of god Savitr, the Impeller (10. 149. 1), the primus motor. The act of separating the monad and making two who had been one is the work of a third. He is the creator god of this world. He
* [Because of its length Professor Kramrisch's article will be published in two instalments. The second instalment will appear in the succeeding number.EDITORS.] 140

is the demiurge who destroys for the purpose of creation; he disrupts the wholeness of the undifferentiated, separates its constituent parts, and defines their position in the new world, where men will breathe, move, and think. God Indra, in particular, is the creator of this world. He separated heaven and earth, made them two, assuming himself the part of the One and First as creator, and of the "third" in his creative operation. As creator-destroyer, he prefiguresintellect in its discerning, separating, discriminating function. The selfsame act of violence, of forcefully wedging wholeness apart, is the creative deed of Indra (5. 31. 6, 10. 113. 5)-in particular-as it is that of Varuna (7. 86. 1) who prefigures Indra's lordship over the gods and the world. It is the deed of the Fire as Agni Vaisvanara, the fire that is in the sun and sunders heaven from earth by light (6. 8. 3), and of Hiranyagarbha, the Child of Fire, the Golden Germ (10. 121. 5), as it is the deed of Savitr who separates the two by the space or air between them; it is the deed of Soma (9. 101. 15), the Elixir of Life, and also of Brhaspati (4. 50. 1), the Lord of the inner upsurge in hymnal, mantic inspiration. Each of these gods or aspects of creativeness brings about this triple world (tridhdtu--/dha, "to place"; 1. 34. 7; 1. 154. 4; 7. 5. 4); or the Angirases, the first sacrificers and seers, propped apart heaven and earth by a pillar (viskabhnantahskambhanena;3. 31. 12). Heaven and earth, as dyadic monad, are a closed unit. It must be violated, split into its components, and these must be separated lest they fall together and the world-to-be collapses. The act of creative violation and the power of keeping apart the pair so that they become Father Heaven and Mother Earth between whom all life is engendered is the test by which a creator god establishes his supremacy. He makes the Dyad into Two. He is the One and at the same time the Third, who plays the leading part in the cosmic drama. He is hero and artist in one. While he performs the feat of separation he pillars apart the two halves. They are, moreover, the substance in which he works, the form which is to hold air and light. In his dual role of hero and artist the creator god is the first in his cosmos. By the air which he, Savitr, the Impeller, made rush into the midspace, all his creatures will breathe and speak, each in its own language. Man will be able to say what he sees in the new, radiant light of Agni Vaisvanara. Air, the substratum of breath, sound, and speech; and light, the substratum of vision, the creator provided for man's creativity between Heaven and Earth. The myth of the creator god who makes the two, Father Heaven and Mother Earth, by disrupting the monad, who thus is the third in the drama of creation and at the same time the first in his creation141

The Triple Structureof Creationin the Rg Veda

this myth of separation and violent action is the pervasive creation myth of this our world in the 1jg Veda.l It lacks the self-sufficiency of spontaneous generation of "That One" (tad ekam; 10. 129. 2) or of Hiraniyagarbha,the "Golden Germ," or "Child of Fire" (10. 121. 1). Creation is within "That One" by the immanent self-fertilizing urge of Desire (kdma) arising in That One. Self-inflamed, the incandescent state of the world-to-be shoots up in the water as the golden germ and rod of creation. "That One," the first and only existent, starts the series of all that can be numbered and it inheres in everything to be. Creation by self-fertilization of the One, origin of all that will come to be, is an unfolding. Its phases are expressed in numbers. That One within itself, in its urge (tapas), engenders the two, Mind and Desire. In the cosmogony of selfgeneration which is the ontology of creation, there is unfolding without strife, a flowing and germinating from the source into existence. Self-generation, perpetual regeneration, has its image in Agni, the Fire. Hiranyagarbha, the Golden Germ, the Child of Fire, is one of his names. Agni, the Fire, is bodily his own son (tanunapat). Like "That One," the Golden Germ, the Child of Fire, son of himself, is in the waters, in the flowing waves of possibilities, where life ignites its spark. There, Agni, the Fire, is called Apam Napat, Son of the Waters. Self-generation within one and the same body, the issue of flame from flame, in direct and uninterrupted identity of succession where the Father and Son are one, is the straight, immaculate, and fiery path of the myth of creation. Another creation myth follows the Seed of the Father at its fall to earth at the moment when he embraced his daughter and when Rudra, the skilled archer (Sudhanvan;5.42. 11), born at the selfsame moment, hit his aim and wounded the Father. Rudra infringes the intimacy of the near-monadic embrace of Father and Daughter at the moment of union. The seed fell to earth. From it arose the seers, the archetypal
1 Other creation myths of the cosmos are by sacrifice or by art. Each of these presupposes a materia prima: the Puruea, or cosmic Man, whom the gods sacrifice into creation (10.90), or a sculptor's clay or metal which Vigvakarman molds or welds together into the shapes of heaven and earth (10. 81. 2, 3), or else wood out of which the gods made heaven and earth (10. 81. 4). The wood is Brahman (Taittiriya Brahmana, 2. 8. 9. 6). The creation of this world by Indra is part of his creative operation. It begins in the Uncreate which was closed in by Vrtra, the Serpent. Indra split the Serpent (2. 19. 2) and opened up the inclosure so that the imprisoned waters could flow into the cosmos. This opening up of the metacosmic source is another of the four feats (cf. 10. 54. 4) by which Indra established this world. It was done by force, similar to the propping apart of heaven and earth. W. Norman Brown ("The Creation Myth of the Rig Veda," JAOS, LXII, 98) says: "Indra splits the covering within which lay the waters."

142

poets, and priests. They are third by cosmogonic lineage. But Rudra, the skilled archer, born at the same moment (as Vasto.pati; 10. 61. 7), by cosmogonic ordinance is the third, the Lord of the Existent (vdstospati;cf. Taittiriya Brahmana, 3. 4. 10. 4). The role of the third is played by the creator god, by Indra, Varuna, Agni, Soma, and Brhaspati. He violates the monadic embrace and makes them, in their distance and polarity, embrace his creation as Father and Mother.2 He interposes himself between their perpetual separation by propping them apart and filling their distance with air and light. He traverses the midspace as the cosmic pillar (cf. askambha ... kambhanenaskabhTydn; 10. 111. 5) that upholds the sky and the order of heaven on earth. In the image of the pillar, the demiurge resembles Aja Ekapad (1. 164. 6), the One Uncreate who "without proceeding" (acarat; 3. 56. 2) prefigures the creative act. This One Uncreate has its image in Aja Ekapad, the Uncreate One-Foot or Goat One-Foot. It is the prefigurement, prior to creation, of the structure creation will have as the work of, and supported by, the creator, whose sacred numbers, in the hierarchy of manifestation are simultaneously one and three. The created world has for its sign the three: Heaven and Earth (dydvd-prthivi)and the midspace (antariksa) are the ternary by which the structure of the outer and inner world of man is ruled. Cosmogonically, the three is the intermediary, active principle between the primary pair. It is the link and messenger between the opposites. It establishes the middle between the contraries which makes possible the movement of thought and the seeing of images, both of the ascent and descent, between the two poles. The several deities who prop apart heaven and earth are at one in performing this feat while each expresses his own mode of creativeness. Varuna, the ancient and first King of gods, pillared apart heaven and earth (6. 70. 1). By this epiphany of his, wisdom came to the creatures (dhfrd; 7. 86. 1). But it is by his will and strength that Indra separates heaven and earth and establishes the order of his cosmos, the world in which man lives. Agni, Fire, the spark and flame of life, and Soma, the elixir of life, descend from heaven to earth and ascend from earth to heaven. Their track of liquid fire extends from here to there and from the beyond down to the earth with the systole and diastole as it were of inspiration and aspiration. The place where each of these gods comes to earth and whence he ascends is the place of the sacrifice,
2 The supportingfunction in itself, without the precedingact of separation, is particularly that of Visnu. He supports Heaven and Earth and all beings of this triple world (tridhatu;1. 154. 4).

143

The Triple Structure of Creation in the Rg Veda the sacrificial altar, the navel of the world (1. 164. 34, 35). The rites of the sacrifice confirm and celebrate the tracks of these two gods which traverse the cosmos and the inner world of man. The station of Agni's descent in the cosmos is the sun in the sky (10. 88. 11, 12) and his garb is the lightning (2. 35. 9) in antarik6a, the midspace. It is Savitr, the Impeller, who drove the midspace between the earth which he had steadied and the sky which he had fixed (10. 149. 1). Roaring in his might, Brhaspati propped apart the limits of this world (4. 50. 1). Born in the beyond, in the highest space of the great light, he drove away the darkness that was in the beginning (4. 50. 4) and liberated the cows, the radiant life-giving waters, the rays-the songs -from the dark cave where they had been imprisoned (4. 50. 5). Brhaspati, Lord of inner transport and its expression, the hymn, liberates, like Agni, the light-to-be between heaven and earth, on the stage of man's illumination. The "Third" is in the midst of the two whose places he assigned to them. He is the link between heaven and earth, mediator, messenger, and creator of this our world. He gives it firmness, discrimination, and the power of expression. The leading myth of the heroic feat of separating heaven and earth is that of Indra. Indra is the creator of this universe; "by his might and strength he spread out both the worlds, heaven and earth, and he let shine the sun" (8. 3. 6). He who performed this masterwork is and the creative, magic word, the asked to grant mastery (suvTryam) Brahman (8. 3. 9). He is invoked by the Ayus, the living beings, mortal men; he is invoked by the I~bhus, creative masters of their craft who by their work have become gods; and he is invoked by the Rudras (8. 3. 7). He is the creator of this manifest cosmos. Its three worlds of heaven, earth, and midspace are the triple counterweight of Indra's strength, though he is greater than all of them together (1. 102. 8). For "he makes the non-existent at once and the existent" (asac ca san muhur dcakrir;6.24.5). He makes them come about simultaneously by separating existence from non-existence. Before that, they were conjoined in the highest heaven, the uttermost Empyrean (asac ca sac ca parame vyoman; 10. 5. 7). Before that, neither was, neither Asat nor Sat (ndsad dsfn no sad dsit; 10. 129. 1) in the indistinction of precosmic darkness and the void of the flood.3 In the ontological hierarchy of the existent and the non-existent, below the
3 The gods are "this side of creation" (10. 129. 6), that is, in the Sat, the existent, when they are viewed not as cosmogonic powers but as expressions and protectors of the three parts of the manifest world. The three classes of gods are the Vasus, Rudras, and Adityas (2. 31. 1; 10. 66. 12; cf. 7. 10. 4; 7. 35. 6). Indra is invoked with the Vasus, Rudra with the Rudras, Aditi with the Adityas (7. 10. 4). 144

highest heaven, creation brings about a negative valuation of the non-existent. This has its symbol in Indra's world-the Sat, the existent, which he divides from the non-existent. Both the existent and the non-existent are in the highest heaven, in monadic wholeness. As for existence-to-be, Indra divides the monad of heaven and earth, so for the cosmos-to-be he divides the monad of the existent-non-existent as it is in the highest heaven. Now the cosmos, the existent, emerges. The Asat, non-existence, sinks below the existent where it continues as the "Rg Vedic equivalent of hell." This asat, non-existence in itself, separated from existence, that is, from the cosmos, lies on the opposite pole of the Uncreate which is beyond, and was before, creation. In the Uncreate there is neither existence nor non-existence. Indra's deed of making at once the non-existent and the existent (asac ca san muhur dcakrir;6. 24. 5) is generally, though neither literally nor correctly, taken in the sense that non-existence was converted by him into existence. The deed of Indra, the creator, however, is not the conversion but the co-ordination of the Sat and the Asat in their separate distinctness. The Sat, existence, henceforward comprises the cosmos, its heaven, earth, and mid-air. The asat, the non-existent, like a dark cover, has fallen from it and lies below it, the dark place of the damned. In creation the accent is on the Sat, on existence. Below it is darkness where all the values of existence are non-existent. This infernal accompaniment of existence is outside creation. It is a residual element of the indistinguishable darkness before creation when there was neither existence nor non-existence. Before and beyond creation, in the darkness of the flood (10. 129. 1), ante principium, the relation of Sat and Asat, of existence and nonexistence, is a "neither-nor." At the beginning of creation, in principio, Sat as well as Asat are viewed in the light of the dawn of creation. Their neither-nor ante-principium now appears as a "together" in principio, in the highest heaven (10. 5. 7). In creation, apud principium, Indra separates the existent and the non-existent (6. 24. 5). These three phases are part of one vision. In the absolute beyond, nothing can be predicated except a neither-nor; in the highest heaven, that is, in the sphere of prefigurement, the "neither-nor" is converted into an "as well as." This prefigured state is given actuality by the creator who makes come about the existent and the non-existent in their separate distinctness. Existence being the purpose of creation, non-existence is outside it. In one creation myth, however, of the lRg Veda, the existent was generated from the non-existent (asatah sad ajdyata; 10. 72. 2, 3) in
145

The Triple Structureof Creationin the Rg Veda

the dawn of creation when existence emerges from the neither-nor.4 In relation to existence emerging, whatever indistinguishable preceded it, is non-existent, or not yet existent, on the threshold from the Uncreate into creation. The emerging of existence from non-existence is posterior to, or lies below, the transcendence of the neither-nor. It is posterior to, by an instant though, and is on one level, in the highest heaven-which is one with the first age of the gods-with the as-yetundifferentiated "togetherness" of Sat and Asat. The emerging of the Sat from the Asat is from non-existence because it is not as yet existence (10. 72. 2, 3). It is thence that "the sages searching in their heart found in deep thought (manasd)the kin of existence in the non-existent" (10. 129. 4). Seen, however, in their cosmogonic and ontological stratification, the first and topmost position is that of neither existence nor non-existence in the dark Uncreate. In the next position, at the dawn of the world, in the highest heaven of light, existence together with non-existence form an indistinguishable whole. The "neither-nor" shines forth in the relation of "as well as." At this moment the seer sees becoming existent what as yet had not come into existence. In their third position, the "neither-nor" of the Uncreate, which is the "as well as" at the dawn of creation, is separated. Now each of them is; the one the cosmos, existence itself, the other non-existence, outside, that is, below creation. The three ontological moments in the relation of Sat and Asat correspond to different levels in the structure of creation. The dark Uncreate on high has for its lower limit the first streak of the dawn of creation in the highest heaven. It is the uppermost limit of creation, or the cosmos,
4 10. 129. 1 sets the pre-creationstage farthest back in the unpredicated,where neither existence (sat) or non-existence (asat) is. 10. 72. 2 brings the scene hitherward. It plays in the first age of the gods when the existent (sat) is born from the non-existent (asat), the not-yet existent. 10. 90 sets up the stage for creation, that is, for the sacrificeof the Purusa here on this earth. Hence, he arises in three parts of himself into the immortal, while the fourth part of himself is sacrificedand transmutedinto the universe. In 10.90 the symbolic numbersare three and four, the perspective of the vision is opposite that of the other creation hymns. They see creation from the beyond, 10.90 sees creation from here below, from this created world. The Upanisads, however, say that "existence alone was this in the beginning, one only without a second" (Chandogya Up. 6. 2. 1; cf. 2. 2. 1; Br. Up. 1. 4. 1; 5. 2. 1). They stress the non-duality "in the beginning"and the non-reality of the world. The non-duality of the sat, the only Real, replacedthe potentiality of the asat, the not-yet existent and divested existence of its reality. In the R1g Veda, Sat, Asat, neither Sat nor Asat, Sat as well as Asat are not four modes of predication. They do not form the logical quadruped (catuskoti).Each of them is, the existent is; the non-existent is. Asat and Sat arecorrelated.They are always spoke of together except in 4. 5. 14 where the inept are threatened with falling defenselessly into asat, non-existence or annihilation. The paradox of the existence of non-existence, Asat, is an ontological postulate. Apud principium, non-existence, asat, is a prejorative term. Its place is deep below creation, it is just hell. 146

with its heaven, earth, and mid-air. They are the Sat, the existent, separated from the asat whose exiled darkness lies below, outside cosmic order (rta), outside creative power. Into the asat, the nonexistent, "the nearest equivalent of hell," fall those defenselessly whose speech is sapless and ineffectual (4. 5. 14). Sunk below creation, the non-existent is negativity; the existent is the cosmos, the ordered world, the world of rta, a work of art. The non-existent is chaos, decomposition, the absence of rta, the domain of Nir-rti (7.104.9). It is the counterpart, apud principium, by the act of creation and separation, of the Darkness that was-and is-before the beginning of things. This created world, the Sat, the existent, upheld by the demiurge is above the residual, absymal darkness of the non-existent, below, at the bottom, where the dark waters of chaos flow over Vrtra, the archenemy, the Serpent, and his mother, Danu, both slain by Indra (1. 32. 9-10). Vrtra sinks into long darkness (dirghamtama). His body is buried in the midst of the never-resting waters (1. 32. 10). This darkness (tamas) is as it was before the beginning of things, with the difference that creation lies between them. Indra created the tridhdtu, the triple cosmos of heaven, earth, and midspace, which is the Sat, the existent. It has the asat, non-existence, below its lowest level, while on the highest level indistinguishable darkness of which nothing can be predicated, neither existence nor non-existence, turns into the indistinguishable union of existence as well as non-existence in the incandescence of the transcendental realm, at the dawn of creation. This threefold world (tridhdtu)in which man lives is safe for him if the powers who rule over its three parts protect him. "May Siirya (the Sun god) protect us from the sky, Vata (the Wind) from the midspace, Agni (the Fire) from the earth" (10. 158. 1). These three gods are the divine exponents of the powers active in the three spheres. Altogether, the numbers of these powers in each sphere is said to be eleven. Eleven in heaven (1. 139. 11; 10. 65.9; also 3. 6. 8; 6. 52. 13, 15; 7. 35. 14), eleven on earth, eleven in the waters of the atmosphere, the ocean of air. The number of the gods is thirty-three, three times eleven.6 In each of their spheres, the power of the gods is active in
6 The thirty-three gods are by no means all the gods. The A?vins (1. 34. 11; 8. 35. 3) or Agni (1. 45. 2; 8. 39. 9) bringthem to the sacrifice.Later texts distribute the gods not as eleven in each group but as eight Vasus, eleven Rudras, and twelve Adityas. The number thirty-three has no symbolical significance of its own. It is a reiteration of three. The numerical expressionfor the gods in their completeness is three times three, figured twice, first by a triple repetition of three to which is added 3 X 3 = 9, so that the number is 3339 (3. 9. 9. and 10. 52. 6) making explicit the triple structure on each level of creation. 147

The Triple Structureof Creationin the Rg Veda

all the ten directions, above and below, in the cardinal and intermediate directions, and they are led by one protecting protagonist of each sphere who exceeds them in rank, so that they are ten plus one in each of the three spheres. But the number thirty-three is also an emphatic form of the number three. This three-tiered world picture, however, is but a prelude that indicates the theme and adumbrates the possibilities of its transposition to further and higher levels.
II. THE SUPERSTRUCTURE AND THE PREFIGUREMENT OF THE TRIPLE CREATION: AJA EKAPAD

The two strata on and in which man moves are earth and the air space. Heaven, which has the sky for its figure, is seen in this, its lower limit. The worlds above this limit are light spaces. They are not seen by the eye of man. God Visnu is the support of this triple world (tridhdtu), but, unlike the other gods who keep the vault of heaven high above this earth, though he too did pillar asunder heaven and earth (7. 99. 3), this operation, in a mode particular to Visnu only, unites the triple world. With three strides (1. 154. 34) from here below he traverses and pervades this cosmos. Where his third footfall is, none can reach, not even the birds in their flight (1. 155. 5). It is in the light space of heaven (1. 155. 3) where the source of the honey (madhvautsah; 1. 154. 5) wells forth. Visnu is not primarily a demiurge. Stepping out widely he penetrates and traverses the space which Indra creates (1. 154. 1; 8. 100. 12). He is both the pillar and the movement that links and fills the triple world. The three strides of Vignu lead from this Tridhdtu, the known and visible cosmos which he has penetrated, into a realm beyond it, in the celestial worlds where the source of honey is hidden, the celestial Soma and Agni Vai?vanara, the Fire, in the light worlds whence the drink and spark of life descend to earth. Above and beyond the triple world of the senses are the light worlds. In the third and highest is the source of Soma. Each of these light worlds (rocana) are light worlds throughout, though by homology with the world here below they are similarly structured. Together with this Tridhdtu they form the great ternary of the total creation. In the beginning, in principio, they are "the six burdens" or three dyadic monads which the One carries (3. 56. 2), each burden a monad of two horizontally joined bowls, each monad (cf. 1. 164. 33) destined to be divided and by the act of division to be separated. The separation, by which they will be kept apart, will make of each monad a triple cosmos.
148

In this manifest world of earth, air, and heaven, heaven is the third or highest part. This pattern is valid also in the other two worlds, the light worlds. The third heaven is the highest part of the second light world. It is thence that light irradiates the heavens. Whereas the two light worlds are above the firmament, the three heavens vault over this earth, the first, and over each of the two light worlds, the two other heavens. The superstructure of the celestial light worlds rests on this manifest Tridhdtu, the cosmos. Together with it, it forms the great Ternary of Creation. The number three is transposed and includes the transmundane superstructure (see Fig. 1, p. 155). The third step of Visnu is the highest. Three is given a place value in the vertical hierarchy. It is the celestial number. Lower down in the edifice of which this world is the support, the number three denotes the fact of creation. It is the creative number between Heaven and Earth. The arena of its operation lies between them. But as creative number, its value is higher than any of the two. This valuation assigns to three the highest place in the light worlds of Heaven where the light of Life and Inspiration wells forth. Three, the creative number, is also the number of transcendence. There is a heightening, vivifying, sanctifying quality to the number three. Because it is the creative number, it is the place number of the highest region in creation where the source is. The creative act of Indra or any other demiurge is performed in this world here, while the source of its creativity is in the transmundane realm, in the flowing Light spaces beyond the sky. Three as the number of creative action and source is the number of the structure of creation of which the manifest cosmos is the base. The Tridhdtuof the visible world with its heaven, earth, and midspace is the paradigm for the trebling of this Tridhdtu; a towering cosmic structure of three worlds, each with its Heaven, Earth, and Midspace, is envisaged. The transition from world to world has the pattern of a chain, or triple guilloche. This pattern of creation has its symbol in the figure of Aja Ekapad, "Goat One-Foot" or the "Uncreate One-Foot." "Aja" means "a goat." It also means "uncreate." This figure is a symbol of the One. It is asked: "What is the One in the shape of a goat (Aja) or of the Uncreate (Aja) that has propped asunder the six spaces?" (1. 164. 6). This One is further described as standing straight and carrying three mothers and three fathers (1. 164. 10). The One carries these six burdens without proceeding (acarat; 3. 56. 2). "Three earths
149

The Triple Structureof Creationin the Rg Veda

are below, one is visible."6 The three times two worlds of heaven and earth are upheld and about to be propped apart by the non-proceeding Goat One-Foot. It does not proceed into creation, while each world is still a monad. The Aja stands firm as the axis of the pattern which creation will have. It is a figure extending from the Uncreate which lies beyond the third heaven, a flowing darkness of the Void (10. 129. 3). The limit between the highest heaven of light and the restless waters of the beyond is the point instant of creation, where "the One inheres in the navel of the Uncreate" (10. 82. 6) or where the spark is lighted in the creative heat (tapas) of That One in the darkness beyond and before light. The source in the beyond, in the darkness of the limitless flood, where That One is (10. 129), or the Golden Germ shoots up, the Child of Fire, and Agni, the Fire, Son of the Waters, Apam Napat, begets himself as his own son (tananapdt), is near to the source of honey, the sweet secret, in the highest heaven. These two sources are contiguous in their identity, on the threshold of creation; nothing but the point instant of the creative act divides them. At the dawn of creation, in the first age of the gods, in the highest heaven, the Godhead reveals itself and proceeds into creation (carati; 3. 38. 4). Its name is Tvatr-Savitr-Visvarupa, the Former, Impeller, All-form-tobe (3. 55. 19; 10. 10. 5). The scene plays at the moment of creation. Its light illumines the darkness of the restless, indefatigable waters of the flood; their waves now are waves of light in the third and highest heaven (parame vyoman; 10. 5. 7). It is there that Agni is the First-Born of the world order (rta), in the earliest aeon (purva dyuni), the age of the bull-cow (10. 5. 7), of bisexual, monadic wholeness which is the mode of Agni and of Visvaripa. Hymn 3.56 sings of the cosmogonic stages in the triple structure of creation. The One-who is Aja Ekapad-carries six burdens without proceeding. Three earths are below, one is visible (3. 56. 2). These six burdens are the three mothers and three fathers carried by the one standing straight (1. 164. 10). Following the image of the original pair of Heaven and Earth in the shape of two bowls (mah ... camvd
6A hymn to Varuna (7.87) celebrates his creative operation. His breath roars as wind into the space between the two worlds of heaven and earth (7. 87. 2). Three heavens rest in him and three earths below, a group of six (7. 87. 5), the six burdens of the non-proceeding One (3. 56. 2). It is at this vision that the singer is given by Varuna the revelation of the thrice seven names of the cow, that is, of the song itself: it holds the secret of creation. The image of the non-proceeding One-Foot demarcates the position of this Uncreate one. It is on the verge from and links ante principium to in principio. The mythical figures ante principium are footless (apdd; 1. 32. 7; 4. 1. 11; see A. K. Coomaraswamy, "Angel and Titan," JAOS, LV, 401). They are serpents, ophidian powers. 150

sam?ck ubhe, 3. 55. 20)-they were made by Tvaetr of equal size (ubhe samwci,2. 27. 15)-the monad of Father Heaven and Mother Earth, the six burdens are three such monads strung on the non-proceeding, straight vertical of Goat One-Foot of the Uncreate One-Foot. For creation which is to come about has not come as yet. In the next stage, the bull Visvariipa is described having three bellies, three udders, three faces (3. 56. 3). This vision arises at the entry into creation where it will manifest as thrice three. For this to come about a decisive action was taken. It was taken by Indra who "was awakened in the decisive moment" as the path-maker of the celestial rivers (3. 56. 4). He opened for them the paths into manifestationthey had been held captive by Vrtra-and at the same time Indra made manifestation itself by propping apart heaven and earth (5. 31. 6). These acts of creation are simultaneous; they do not take place in time which has not come as yet to be. By the act of cosmic creation Indra makes the monadic dual of the two bowls of Heaven and Earth into a triple cosmos. The midspace is now between Heaven and Earth. This creative act of Indra resounds in the triple creation which the One carries. There are three earths below and three heavens. Only one of these earths is visible. It is the lowest earth identical with Mother Earth separated by Indra from Father Heaven when the midspace or air came between them. Each of the three earths lies below its heaven. The triple creation has the pattern of this one triple cosmos of earth, air, and heaven, not once only in this visible world, but also beyond it, in the light worlds beyond this visible cosmos. Thus there are "thrice three homes (sadhastha) of the seers" (3. 56. 5). This pattern of creation has for its unit the bowls of heaven and earth in their duality first and then in their separation with the midspace between them. The unit is trebled in the vertical direction.7
7 This pattern as reconstructed here differs from the generally accepted one (A. A. Macdonell, Vedic Mythology[Strassburg,1897], p. 9; also K. F. Geldner, in the commentsof his translationof the 1Rg Veda [Harvard,1951];and H. Liiders, Varuna, Vol. I [Gottingen: Vandenhoech & Ruprecht], passim). According to Macdonellthe figureof the triple creation does not result from a trebling but from a subdivision of earth, air, and heaven, each of these being divided in three parts. Thus three earths would lie below a triple heaven. Macdonellthinks that this triple subdivision "arose from the loose use of the word 'prthivi' (earth) in the plural to denote the three worlds." In one hymn only (1. 108. 9, 10) does prthivistand for earth, air, and heaven, being called the lowest, middle, and highest respectively (avama, madhyama, parama). This appelation, however, refersto the three world strata superimposed. Prthivi, earth, here is a synonym for "world" or region. It is difficult to see how this use of the word could have brought about a triple subdivisionof Earth itself, as well as of the midspace and Heaven. Besides, the triple subdivision of each of

151

The Triple Structureof Creationin the Rg Veda

The prefigurement of creation in the image of the Uncreate standing straight and carrying six burdens, which he exceeds as the "seventh" in this configuration has its sequel in later Indian cosmology with its seven worlds. While the number symbolism is maintained, their vertical arrangement is in two units of three, surmounted by the seventh world, the "Satya loka." The three lowest worlds, Bhiuh, Bhuvah, and Suvah, correspond to earth, air, heaven, the cosmos in its integrity. This one cosmos, in its monadic state, ante principium as dyad of heaven and earth, or its explicit ternary of earth, midspace, and heaven, is the unit of the cosmological pattern. The abstract diagram of the structure of creation ante principium is the monadic dyad of heaven and earth as the unit of the six burdens of the Uncreate:

Heaven

Earth

In principio, in the instant of creation the dyadic monad is split, the midspace keeps heaven and earth apart:
Heaven - Midspace --

This unit, transferred to the prefigurement of Aja Ekapad yields the thrice three "homes of the seers." The two light worlds beyond manifestation, though of light throughout, are structured according to the pattern of the manifest cosmos. Together with it they are the total creation. Three heavens rest in him (Varuna) three earths below, forming an order of six" (7. 87. 5).
these three constituents of manifestation does not yield a meaningful pattern. What is the cosmogonic or cosmological function of a three-partite earth under its three-partite heaven? Macdonell further remarks: "or when the universe is looked upon as consisting of two halves we hear of six worlds." The six worlds and the thrice three worlds are taken as alternatives. Their cosmogonic sequence is not seen. 152

"Three [are] the heavens, two [are] the lap of Savitr, one [is] in the world of Yama, the ruler of men" (1. 35. 6). This one heaven is here in this world ruled over by death, the other heavens are the light worlds, the lap of Savitr, the Impeller who keeps this creation moving. The highest heaven (9. 86. 15) is also the first (8. 13. 2) or most ancient (9. 70. 1). It equals the "first age of the gods" (10. 72. 3), the monadic entry into existence of which Agni the bull-cow is a symbol and the bisexual Visvarupa. This first age of the gods is the state of the bull-cow, the monad, the state also of Visvarupa the potential of all forms to be. At this moment Tvastr made the two bowls of Heaven-and-Earth. Then heaven, midspace, earth form thrice a totality, each a triple world. The second heaven, earth, midspace has no significance of its own except to indicate the remoteness of the third, highest, or "first" heaven. The androgynous bull Visvaripa has "three bellies, three udders, and multiple progeny. He, the three-faced, rules as the Mighty One. He is the inseminating bull of all" (3. 56. 3). He has within himself the triple cosmos which he inseminates and makes productive. Visvarfpa, All-form-to-be, has three faces for this triple aspect of the Godhead: he carries also the faces of Tvastr and Savitr.8 Savitr impels every activity, Tvastr shapes the forms which will give effect to it. With his three faces, Visvaripa looks into the triple world-to-be and he sees its becoming, which he, proceeding (3. 38. 4), has engendered. At the moment when Visvarupa, proceeding into the cosmos, puts on his splendors (3. 38. 4), Indra makes them manifest when he pillars apart Heaven and Earth, introduces the midspace, air, and light so that all forms which Visvaruipa carries within him become manifest from the earth to the firmament in this visible triple cosmos. At this moment, the act of the creator reverberates throughout creation, each of the hitherto monadic worlds opens up its heaven and earth and their two bowls hold each their midspace between them. At this moment, the six burdens which Aja Ekapad, Goat One-Foot, the Uncreate One-Foot, had carried, without proceeding, on its vertical axis of the cosmos-to-be, are no longer in their stage of prefigurement. They are the thrice three worlds in creation which Indra caused to exist and where Agni dwells, the creative Fire. But not all that was in the Uncreate, in the state of being "neither existent nor non-existent," and became "existent as well as nonexistent" in the highest heaven, entered into the creative act. Obstruc8 The worlds rest in Varuna. They are set into motion by Savitr.

153

The Triple Structureof Creationin the Rg Veda

tion and recalcitrance assert themselves in the age of the bull-cow, at the beginning of creation. Visvarfipa has a son, also called Visvarfupa.Visvariipa, the son, also has three heads. Visvarfupa, the son, did not let out the cows, the "poetic"-creative powers. He was not "all forms to be." He was mere form. He kept the cows to himself, within his comprehensive form. Visvaruipa,the son, was a monster, a mis-creation. He had to be killed by a god. Trita killed him. Indra cut off his heads and threw them away (cf. 10. 8. 8-9; 10. 99. 6), into chaos. The three heads, over and above their specific significance, mean mastery over the triple world of the cosmos. Visvaruipa, the son, "mere form," had to forfeit it. This world, the triple cosmos of Indra, is at the base of a superstructure in which not this manifest cosmos only but creation itself has its image. Its figures are the Goat One-Foot, the bull-cow Visvarupa and the Fire, Agni, as bull-cow. Goat One-Foot, or the Uncreate One-Foot, is the prefigurement and scaffold of the edifice of creation. Its traversing post extends from the Uncreate above and beyond creation into non-existence (asat) below creation. In creation its post first traverses the highest heaven. There, in the first age of the gods (10. 5. 7), on the perimeter and dividing point between the Uncreate and creation, is the station of the Monad. The Monad is the wholeness of the dyad, before dichotomy, on the threshold of creation, at the moment when the "neither-nor" of existence and non-existence in the Uncreate changes over into the simultaneity of existence and nonexistence. The monadic whole "existence-non-existence" is in the highest heaven. There, too, is the bull-cow, a theriomorphic symbol of the monadic wholeness of Agni or of Visvarupa. The stage of the bull-cow or also of Visvarupa is coincident with the two closely fitting bowls which Tvastr made (3. 55. 20). They are Heaven and Earth, the bowl of Heaven lying above that of Earth. They form a closely joined sphere, a monad. Indra terminates their intimacy which belongs to the first age of the gods. He props the two bowls apart, the One Indra (3.30. 1), and upholds them. This pillaring apart is enacted along the vertical axis of creation, prefigured by the One in the shape of Aja, the Uncreate or the Goat. Agni is a bull-cow at the beginning of things. Before that, in the Uncreate, he is the Son of the Waters, Apam Napat. On the point limit, in the highest heaven, Apam Napat changes over into Agni, the bull-cow, which is the intermediate stage between Apam Napat, the Son of the Waters, and Agni Vaisvanara, who "shines for all men." These three phases in the cosmogonic entry of the Fire into creation follow each other at once. Time begins only with Agni's form of Vaisvanara whose visible symbol is the sun.
154

The three main forms of Agni, in the process of creation, are: Apam Napat in the flood of the Uncreate, before and beyond creation; Vaisvanara in Heaven, the light that shines for all men, and Jatavedas on earth, the Knower of beings. This great ternary of Agni in the process of creation is accompanied by the triple manifestation of Fire in the visible cosmos, the sun in heaven, lightning in the air, fire on earth. The great ternary of Agni in creation is ontological and cosmogonic; his ternary in manifestation
AJA EKAPAD AGNI

Neither SAT nor ASAT

TAD EKAM; HIRANYAGARBHA

APAMINAPAT
SAT as well as ASAT

VISVARUPA VAISVANARA

JATAVEDAS asat
FIG. 1

is in the triple world of Indra. Indra and Agni are twin brothers (6. 59. 2). They have the same father; he is Tvastr, Agni's father (1. 95. 2). Agni is the elder of the twins. He dwelt in the Asura, the Godhead, before Indra bade him to leave that ancient rule and join him and the other gods (10. 124. 1-6). The prefigurement of the triple structure of creation is carried by the One as Aja, the Uncreate or the Goat. This is Aja Ekapad whose one foot is the vertical axis of the cosmos-to-be. Unlike Agni, Aja does not proceed into creation. He carries the three monads of the world-to-be. These three times two which the non-proceeding One carries are his six burdens. They are strung on his traversing rod. He is the One; in
155

The Triple Structure of Creationin the Rg Veda

the total constellation of the as-yet-undivided structure of creation, he is the seventh. If this pervasive relation is realized in its potency in each of the three worlds, three times seven, or twenty-one, is the number for the total of cosmos and metacosmos, prior to manifestation. It is therefore said that the cow (aghnyd;lit. "the inviolable"), that is, sacred speech, has thrice seven names. They should be taught in secret (7. 87. 4). They hold the mystery of creation. In the manifest cosmos the space between heaven and earth is filled with air and light. In the two transcendental worlds it is filled with light. The light worlds are altogether luminous up to the ultimate beyond where Vi~nu's third step touches the "source of honey." All these worlds are truly existent, factually or as inwardly beheld realities. By the act of Indra, each now is ordered according to the principle of creation, the principle of "three." "Three is the formula of the created worlds. It is the spiritual sign of creation," Balzac makes Louis Lambert say. This created world, the Sat, the existent, upheld by the demiurge and traversed by the "One-Foot," is above the residual, abysmal darkness below in the non-existent, where the dark waters of chaos flow over Vrtra, the arch-enemy, the Serpent, and his mother, Danu, both slain by Indra (1. 32. 9-10). Vrtra sinks into long darkness (dirgham tama). His body is buried in the midst of the never resting waters (1. 32. 10). This darkness (tamas) is as it was before the beginning of things, with the difference that creation lies between them. The dark waters of the asat, of chaos, fill the lap of Nirrti. She is decomposition (7. 57. 1), absence of order herself. Apud principium, when the cosmos had come to exist, the abyss of non-existence lies below creation. The ternary which comprises the state beyond creation, the cosmos, and that below creation derives its structure from the process of creation itself. At the source, beyond creation, there is neither existence nor nonexistence. Asat as well as Sat, monadically conjoint, occupy in the highest heaven the stage verging on creation, prior to existence, the Sat. Sat, the existent, has its own polarity in the disintegration in the dark, watery tomb, without rta or cosmic order, where Nirrti rules, decomposition, disorder, decease (cf. 1. 164. 32). The polarity of the One and the abysmal flood before creation give way, after creation, to the polarity of the thrice triple cosmos, the Sat, the existent, upheld and traversed by the One, and the abysmal darkness of chaos below the existent. The darkness of Nirrti is disintegration in the deepest pit, below
156

this earth. The darkness which was in the beginning is timelessly above and beyond the entire creation. It borders on the light of the highest heaven. It was and is the superluminous darkness which holds the secret and the source of the light of creation. The three triple worlds, the entire creation, are contained in God. As the Impeller, God "Savitr in his greatness incloses the three midspaces, the three extents, the three light spaces. He sets moving the three heavens, the three earths. By three commitments he protects us" (4. 53. 5). The three midspaces, the three light spaces, are the three extents between heaven and earth of each world.9 They are the realms of consciousness, of everything that moves between heaven and earth of each world. Two of the three heavens are the "lap of Savitr, the one is in the world of Yama who rules over men" (1. 35. 6). Yama rules over mortal men. Their death in this, our world, is also "impelled" by Savitr. If Savitr, the Impeller, sets the triple world in motion, TvaStr-Visvarupa makes each being in its proper form. The three heads of Visvariipa, the Father, mean rulership over the triple creation. Visvarupa, the Son, forfeited it. His heads were cut off. The three heads are not exclusive to the Visvarfpa family and their mastery or loss of it over all forms to be in the triple creation. Soma, the elixir of life and drink of inspiration, also has three heads. Soma operates on all three levels within man which are the three worlds which he commands with his three heads (9. 73. 1). He is a bull, a power that has also three backs (7. 37. 1; 9. 71. 7; 9. 75. 3; 9. 90. 2; 9. 106. 11), for the Soma drink is prepared thrice a day for the three sacrifices of morning, midday, and evening. Three lifts the sacrifices from their position in time, into the three abiding realms. The homology of cosmic space is with sacred time and not with the passing hour of temporality. Because the three worlds are in God, God is in each of them. Agni, who, like Soma, has three heads (1. 146. 1), has three dwellings (5. 4. 8; 5. 11. 2; 6. 8. 7; 6. 12. 2; 8. 94. 5; 10. 61. 14) in the three worlds, whose equivalents here below are the three daily sacrifices and the three hearths of the sacrifice. Brhaspati (4. 50. 1), Lord of hymnal elation, and Sarasvati, the goddess of hymnal expression (6. 61. 12), too, have each three dwellings; they are realized and are active on all three levels of consciousness. Because there are three worlds, three glorious bulls are said to be their inseminators (5. 69. 2). "Three seed the three worlds; three [are the] loyal issues with their leading light" (7. 33. 7). Viewed from above,
9 This midspace here in this world is assimilated to that of the light worlds. 157

The Triple Structure of Creationin the Rg Veda

the One traverses and carries the diversified creation in its triple structure. Viewed from here below he is fully apprehended on each level. The vertical, descending, and ascending perspectives show the leading light in the highest heaven as one in its comprehensive grandeur and as three in its activity in the three worlds. The special activity in each world manifests under a special name. It is Surya, the Sun in the sky, Vata, the Gale-with the lightning-in the midspace, and Agni, the Fire on earth. In each stratum the respective divinity protects from the dangers, from the destructive possibilities particular on that level (cf. 10. 158. 1). There are also three Nirrtis (10. 114. 2), three awful goddesses or principles of disintegration, which seize the cosmos and the faculties in man that are exercised on each of the three levels. Against and in spite of them, there is the loyal triple progeny (7. 33. 7) with their leading light. Theirs are the "three voices" (tisro vdcah;7. 101. 1).10They are led by Agni, the illumination, who is the charioteer of the chariot, which is the Sacrifice. The three voices express the insight into cosmic and sacrificial law (rtasya dh7tim)and the wisdom of the sacred, magic word (brahma.o man.sdm; 9. 97. 34). They are the voices of the priests, of the cows, and of Soma (9. 33. 4). The cows are the hymns (9. 50. 2). The three voices are the audible voice of the inspired priest, the form in which this voice is heard as song or poem and the inner voice of Soma, the source of inspiration. The total of these voices constitutes the three bodies (tanu) of Light (sukra; 10. 107. 6). They are the seed (sukra) of the three inseminating bulls. At the beginning of things, by forces antagonistic to creation, the cows were withheld by Visvariipa, the son, and primordial darkness was made to stay on. The Panis, moreover, the misers and fiends, held imprisoned in a cavern the dawn, the sun, and the song. The song or hymn is a cow. From the dark waters of the cave, Brhaspati releases
10Tisra prajd dryd jyotiragrdh are generally taken to be three Aryan creatures or three Aryan generations. Who are these Aryan exponents and their leading light? Geldner doubts whether they are the three voices (op. cit., II, 212). Arya is derived from ari, whose meaning ranges from "true" to "inimical," from ar or r, to set into motion. (See 7. 33. 7.) The three voices with their leading light (tisra vdcah jyotiragrdh; 7. 101. 1) are the three voices specified in 9. 33. 4 and 9. 97. 34. They are those of the priest, of the "cows" and of the Soma-stream preceded by illumination, that is, led by Agni, the "light," who is their charioteer. They are also called the three Vidathani or domains of knowledge of which Sfrya is cognizant (6. 51. 2). There are many gods with the eye of Sirya and the tongue of Agni who govern the three Vidathani with insight (7. 66. 10). On the terrestrial plane, the three Vidathani are the three daily sacrifices (cf. 3. 56. 5) at sunrise, midday, and sunset (5. 76. 3; 8. 1. 29; 10. 151. 5). In the cosmos, three Usases, three dawns of the three worlds (3. 17. 3; 8. 41. 3; 7. 33. 7), correspond to the three voices. In the beginning, song and the dawn are liberated by Brhaspati (10. 67. 5). 158

the three, the dawn, the sun, and the song-cow. He opened the three doors of the cave-fortress and let out, by the two doors below and one above, the cows who had been fettered and hidden in the chaos of lawlessness (anrta; 10. 67. 3-5). The two doors below let the sun shine and the dawn arise for this world; the door above, the third, lets the song soar to its destination. Indra then, by his roar, cuts up Vala, the "incloser," the Pani, the guardian of the cows, and drives away his
cows.

Indra's strength is inexhaustible. He absorbs it by drinking from three vessels (1. 32. 3; 2. 11. 17; 2. 15. 1; 2. 22. 1) Soma, the elixir of life, which is pressed on earth, and grows on the mountain-top of the world near the firmament1lin the air space; its inexhaustible well is in the third Light space (9. 74. 6). Each of these three worlds is impelled by Savitr and redeems the commitments (vrata) of Varuna (4. 53. 5). They are binding for all, for Sunas~epa who, imprisoned, was tied to three stakes (drupada; 1. 24. 13) and for the sacrificial horse, the solar horse, whose three bonds are on the firmament and in the ocean of light and the waters of the flood, at the source (cf.
1. 163. 1-4).12

Three, the number of creative connectedness, is also that of the physical unit of three human generations (prajdh;8. 90. 14). This bond is forged for mortal man by Varuna-its name is Time. From his standpoint in time, man extends his perspective into the timelessness of creation. He sees beyond the time when the gods were born, three aeons before them when the herbs came to exist (10. 97. 1) under Soma, their king (10. 97. 18). Committed to the world of time, man ties the sacred number three to the passing show of life, where three generations form a unit of lived time below the sun and the light spaces of heaven. "Threefold are the highest light spaces, difficult to reach" (3. 56. 8). They are nearest to the darkness before creation. Its waters feed the well of Soma (1. 154. 5) in the third and highest light space, while Agni, the Fire, is born in their lap (10. 45. 3). Indra, who creates the cosmos, is the "third." He divides the Sat and the Asat; he makes into two the dyadic monad of heaven and earth and keeps firm and separate these two bowls. He places this cosmos, the Sat, the existent, in its threefold structure of earth,
(9. 85. 10).
1 Soma is the mountain-dwelling bull; he is milked on the firmament of heaven

12 The sun-horse arises from the ocean, on the firmament, and from the waters of the source in the flowing light of heaven, where it is one with Trita ("the Third") and not far removed from Soma (1. 163. 3). The source of this Pegasus is at the beginning of things and time.

159

The Triple Structure of Creation in the Rg Veda

midspace, and heaven between the fathomless beyond which is prior to the beginning of things and the asat, the abyss of non-existence. With the four-edged Vajra as his weapon, god Indra consolidates his rule over this world, in the four directions, with the course of the sun, against the Asuras. This is the tremendous (rghavan) spell voiced by the seers: "The terrible quadrilateral slays the trilateral. The godhaters aged first" (1. 152.2). They are the Titans, the Asuras, who were the Godhead. With the four-edged Vajra as his weapon (1. 152. 2; 4. 22. 2), Indra puts an end to the efficacy of the cosmogonic "three." The new world which he brought about is ordered by the number four.'3 In creating the world, Indra's sacred number is three, but he establishes his rule by the number four. Four are his names under which he performed his deeds (10. 54. 4; 8. 80. 9). He was helped by Trita, whose name means "the Third."
III. THE GREAT TERNARY: THE THREE BIRTHS OF AGNI, THE FIRE

Three, the number of creation, separates the two who are heaven and earth, makes them cognizant of each other and connects them by the same distance which it has caused between them, and filled. Three in its decisive value is the number of consciousness, confronting the polarities which it makes manifest. It is the first number of action, follows cosmogonically the being of One and the polarity of two. It is the number of Indra creating this cosmos.14 Agni, the Fire, is not only the twin brother of Indra (6. 59. 2), he forms a dual divinity with Indra; their duality shows them not only complementary to each other in the distinctiveness of their nature or mode of operation, but also conjoint in their function-the one sharing in the potency of the other. Agni is beheld in the orbit of Indra's activity (1. 109. 7, 8; 3. 12. 6; 5. 86. 2; 8. 38. 3), and Indra is beheld in that of Agni (1. 21. 5; 8. 38. 1; 8. 40. 3). They are united in the distinction of their conjoint nature. Their conjunction belongs to the second act of the drama of creation. In the first act, in the highest heaven, the dual divinity Heaven-and-Earth was a monadic dyad, undifferentiated in its wholeness. The dual divinity Indragni is neither
18 The supercession of three by four seems to run contrary to the role of three in Indra's operation and to the significance of three in the cosmic and metacosmic structure. The shifting of emphasis from three to four focuses on this manifest world under the sun, the tridhatu as it lies open to the eye. This tremendous truth (satya mantra; 1. 52. 2) has a foreboding undertone, a prescience by the seer of a lost home in the realm of the Asura. 14Cf. n. 13. While three is the number of Indra as creator, bringing about creation, the number of Indra by which he has established his creation, this world, is four (10. 54. 4). With all the jubilation about Indra a voice of doubt is raised: "About whom they ask: Where is he, the awesome? and they say of him: he is not" (2. 12. 5; cf. 8. 100. 3).

160

a monad nor a pair but a mixta persona in which these two great gods operate. Three in its cosmic and metacosmic pertinence is most essentially the number of Agni. He has three birth places (1. 95. 3). He is "first born from heaven, the second time from us, the Knower of beings has awakened (jdtavedas), the third time the seer's mind (nrma.nd)l5 him with awe" (svddhTh;10. 45. 1). "Thee, dwelling in the ocean has kindled, (samudra), in the waters (apsu), the seer's mind (nrmacna) has Thee, dwelling in the udder of the sky the seer's vision (nrcaksd)16 lighted. Thee, dwelling in the third realm (rajas), in the lap of the waters (apdm upasthe), the buffaloes brought up" (10. 45. 3). Agni, the Fire, "clads himself in flames and in the vital force of the waters" (ayur apdm; 3. 1. 5). He is the spark of life in the waters and in the plants (10. 51. 3). The vision of the seer beholds the Fire in the sun; the mind of the seer knows of the life-creating Fire in the water, in the ocean. The ocean represents water in sea and air, water in its totality in creation, under the sun. This ocean is the earthly correspondence to the primeval flood as it was before and in the beginning where it is the source of life to be. It is the maternal "lap of the waters" where Agni was brought up by buffaloes. The buffaloes seize Agni in the lap of the waters (6. 8. 4). It is a play of hide and seek for Agni is hidden, as secret knowledge, in the lap of the waters, where he, himself a buffalo, grew up (10. 8. 1). Buffaloes are large and mighty; their name, mahi?a, has this meaning. The gods generally are spoken of as bulls, but also as buffaloes; the latter designation the godlike seers and singers also arrogate to themselves. It is their mind which conceives Agni in the ocean and awakens him in the lap of the waters where the gods, the seers, and sages rear him. The lap of the waters, their womb, and origin none can see. It lies beyond the heavens and the sky where the sun shines. It extends in the darkness of the flood before creation whence everything was to come forth. This is the home of Agni. In its boundless width he grows
15For nrmanas, the hero's mind, cf. nrmedha (10. 80. 3; 10. 132. 7). The hero is the priest or singer or a god. Geldner, op. cit., III, 201, translates: "he who thinks like a ruler." Nr means man but also god and frequently designates gods and men. H. Grassmann (Worterbuch zum Rig Veda [Wiesbaden, 1955]), suggests hero as a comprehensive term. Nrmanas is one with the mind of a hero.
16 Nrcaksd here similarly means the glance of a seer and refers to the vision of the seer. Applied to a god, nrcaksd means "illuminating man." "Agni, in thy is the scintillating, flowing, shining light, illuminating man" (nrcakstrength... sdh; 3. 22. 2). Geldner translates: "Which has the eyes of a ruler," following the commentary's explanation "looking at man as spectator." In 10. 87. 10, Agni is invoked to defeat with his lordly eye (nrcaksd) the dark fiend (raksas). The transitive meaning only is given by Grassmann, op. cit.; L. Renou, Etudes vediques et padzinennes, IV, (Paris 1958), p. 46, calls the word equivocal, perhaps intentionally, 161

The Triple Structure of Creationin the Rg Veda

up in secret (3. 1. 14), sitting in the lap of the waters, wrapped in endless darkness (4. 1. 7) and generated by the singer (10. 46. 1); "the pure light, the radiant Lord" (4. 1. 7). The dark buffaloes, semiaquatic animals, sport in the flood of the cosmic night. There Agni was born firstl7 (jayata prathamah). "He was born first in the rivers on the ground (budhne) of the great, in the lap (yonau) of this dark space (rajaso),l8 without feet, without head, hiding both his ends, in the nest of the bull" (4. 1. 11).19As deus absconditusAgni is hidden,
17 In 10. 45. 1 Agni is born first from heaven, i.e., in the cosmos; he manifests first as sun. His highest birth, however, is his first birth in the Uncreate. Beheld from here below it is his highest or "third" birth. Whereas Agni is born first in the darkness before creation, ante principium, in cosmic darkness, Piusan arises in the pit, in man's dark hour. These two darknesses lie on the same line, opposed to each other. The darkness in the pit is apud principium in creation, in man, the creature, the microcosm; see Kramrisch, "Pfiuan," JAOS, LXXXI, 107. The dark color is that of cosmic night, thence of the enemy of light. The shape of the buffalo (mahisa), a powerful semi-aquatic animal of dark color, is in Hinduism the Vahana of Yama whose meaning in post-Vedic times is "Death." The buffalo as embodiment of the world evil is Mahisasura, the antagonist of the Great Goddess. He is defeated by her, the Mahisasuramardani, and this conquest is celebrated each year in the Dfurgapuja, one of the greatest Hindu festivals. 18 The dark space (krsnam rajas) is that of cosmic night, before creation and thus above the light worlds to be created. It is the same dark space whence Savitr moves hither (1. 35. 2) to this cosmos, to this heaven of ours (1. 35. 9) in his might (1. 35. 4), [which is that of] the dark (fathomless) spaces (krsnd rajdisi tavis.m dadhdnah). To these dark superluminous spaces lies "opposite" the darkness on earth, at the feet of Agni Jatavedas (8. 43. 6), which he leaves behind in his course. They are both designated by the same words (krsnd rajdinsi). This has led Geldner, following Sayan.a, to locate in the "waters" on the ground of the air space on earth, the ground of the great dark space (maho budhne rajaso asya yonau; 4. 1. 11); and note by Geldner, I, 414. This fundamental misunderstanding of the situation is inexplicable, for Geldner refers to the "first birth" of Agni in his notes to 4. 1. 11. This first birth is hymned in 2.35 and its place is pade parame; in the highest realm (2. 35. 14). The misunderstanding of the cosmogonic myth and its ontological structure has a very long history. It is established by Yaska, Nirukta, 7. 26 who explains Agni "seated in the lap of the waters" as "in the mighty world of the atmosphere." He assigns the beyond to the midspace or air of this our world. Grassmann, op. cit., "tanfnapat", equates Apam Napat with lightning. Apam Napat, the transcendental Fire is "clad in lightning" (vidyutam vasdnah; 2. 35. 9). This is his selfassumed, visible raiment. If Agni as Apam Napat would be the lightning in the midspace or atmosphere, the lap of rta, the source of cosmic order (3. 1. 11) would also be situated in midspace. The three births of Agni exceed this tridhdtu, this manifest world of heaven, air, and midspace. From the darkness where Agni has his highest birth stems also the darkness by which are impregnated those whom Indra destroys (1. 101. 1; 2. 20. 7). Darkness, as the color of chaos, belongs to those who, as its embodiments, are the enemies of the light of creation. They are part of the dark, inimical side of the Asura. The downward direction hitherward from the heights where Agni is first born, has its counter-movement in Agni Jatavedas ascending as flame from t he burnt, dark fuel and smoke which Agni leaves behind as his "black track" (krsa jaihas; 1. 141. 7; cf. 2. 4. 7; 8. 23. 19; 8. 43. 6; 1. 141. 7; 7. 8. 2; 1. 140. 3; 1. 140. 5; 6. 6. 1). 19The "nest of the bull" is also the "lap of Rta" (4. 1. 12; rtasya yoni) or the source of cosmic order. The homology with the Fire altar (rtasya ndbhi; 10. 13. 3) rings through these words.

162

withdrawn into himself, inactive. In this third and highest birth which is not manifest, he is his own embryo in the "nest of the bull," the transcendental realm. He neither sees-he has no head-nor brings the light-he has no feet. He is hidden and withdrawn, seed and embryo of the waters (apdm garbha; 3. 1. 12),2?realized in his transcendental origin and birthplace. It is there that the seer's mind has awakened him with awe (10. 45. 1). The place of birth indicates the level on which the nature of a god is realized. The highest birth place is transcendent or beyond creation. And he is born again in creation, not far from his first birthplace. He is born in the highest heaven (6. 8. 2) at the crest of the noumenal cosmos (see Fig. 1). In creation Agni is born in the highest heaven (parame vyoman) as Vaisvanara, "belonging to all men." He drove apart heaven and earth (rodasz; 6. 8. 2-3) as Indra did; he also measured out the air space which lay in darkness (tamas) between heaven and earth. He separated this darkness by light. He is the light that shines in and around the sun, a flood of sun (10. 8. 3), and he is the light of inspiration (bhargah). "His name is Bhargah... his name is Agni and Jatavedas" (10. 61. 14). In creation, Agni, the Fire, is Vaisvanara whose light fills the heavens. From heaven it shines and enlightens men. His glory is the sparkling, flowing light, by which he illumines man (3. 22. 2). And he is Jatavedas, of many births (3. 1. 20), the knower of births (1. 70. 1), the knower of all that lives, where the mind of the seer kindles him in the ocean, in the waters (10. 45. 3), for he is in the plants and in the waters (3. 22. 2), the spark of life, the vital force of the waters (cf. 3. 1. 5) that sustains all living beings. As Vaisvanara, he illumines them. As Jatavedas, he knows them from the inside, from within their sap; he is the knower of beings, Jatavedas, who knows all beings (visvd veda janimd jatavedas; 6. 15. 13). Him, who knows them all (visvavedasam),the Bhrgus, the "effulgent", the seers, had found (10. 46. 2) on his flight. They put him who is in the wood of the tree (vanaspati; 6. 15. 2) in the "navel of the earth" (1. 143. 4), the place of sacrifice. So he was "born" on earth from the seers (10. 45. 1). He is in plants and trees, in their sap, which is part of the water on earth. Agni's domain is in the waters. It is there that Varuna, who placed the sun in the sky and the milk in the cows, had placed him (5. 85. 2). Agni, the vegetative fire, sustains all living beings; as Jatavedas he knows them in their substance, he is their living, burning fire which also burns them up, extinguishes them and is born again
20 To this day in India, the age of a person is not counted from his birth, but from his conception, the first coming into existence-corresponding to the first birth of Agni. 163

The Triple Structure of Creation in the Rg Veda in new wombs and fresh shoots (cf. 8.43. 7, 9). In his ageless knowledge he sings of himself: "I am Agni, by birth Jatavedas-ageless, glowing Fire; sacrifice I am" (3. 26. 7). As sacrifice he flames up on "the navel of the earth," the sacrificial altar, leaving below him what has been burned up, a darkness reminiscent of that at the bottom of the "great space," the lap of darkness (4. 1. 11), where he was born first, in the flood. The sacrificial Fire on earth has its archetype before creation, when Agni, the seed of life, glowed in the restless waters, full of potentiality in the darkness of the flood. There Agni has his "highest name" which is secret (ndma paramam guha), known only to the seers and poets-as is the source (utsa) whence he came (10. 45. 2). The "dear (cdru) name" of Agni at the source (purisya; cf. 3. 22. 4), his person, grows in secret (ndmdpicyam; 2. 35. 11) as son of the waters (apdm napat). He shines in the water (of the flood) without kindling (10. 30. 4). This son of the waters born in the beginning, is "ancient," precedes all ages, is the origin of any fire that ever was to burn on earth. From even existing, the child of the waters is the "hoary king" (pratna rajan; 10. 4. 1) of all the fires that burn on earth. Each one of them, as it is kindled by man is the youngest (yavi.tha; 10. 4. 2; 3. 9. 6). Agni, the Fire, the ever ancient, and ever youngest, as knower of beings (Jatavedas) is a triple radiance (cf. 3. 26. 7), out of chaos, in the cosmos, with its light worlds on high and this earth below. These are his three domains. The wavy dark flood of chaos before and beyond creation; the flowing light of heaven; and this earth, with its plants and trees and stones even whence the spark springs forth, their child (garbha; 1. 70. 4; 2. 1. 1) and life (ayu; 10. 20. 7), this earth where the sacrificer fathers Agni on the altar of the sacrifice (1, 27. 2; 2. 1. 9; 2. 13. 4; 5. 3. 9, 10).21Here, too, on earth, Agni, who is "One Fire only that is kindled manifold" (1027. 2), is born as Yama, the god who chose to become mortal (10. 13. 4), the lover of maidens, the husband of women. As Yama he causes the coming generations (1. 66. 8), transmits the spark of life to men in whom the flame of desire will lead to life and death. This is how Jatavedas, the knower of generation, is known to living beings. He is known to them in the flame of the sacrifice whence he ascends to heaven. His birth here below on the sacrificial altar is prefigured by
21 The ground here on earth, the altar, is the "ground of the buffalo" (1. 95. 9; 1. 141. 3). Here Agni is freed from the shape of the buffalo, his shape in the Uncreate, by the SQri on whose behalf the sacrifice is performed by Matari?van, the priest who kindles the fire. It is here, on the ground of this space (budhne rajasah) that the gods appointed Agni as ordainer of heaven and earth (2. 2. 3), an eternal avatarana and sarvajnana" A. K. Coomaraswamy, Recollection, Indian and Platonic, JAOS, Supplement 3 (1944), p. 33. 164

his birth in the waves of the flood. This is ontologically Agni's first birth, the third and ultimate in his hierarchy, before creation, in transcendental darkness. The transcendental Agni, the causal Fire hidden in its source, secret in its name, is Apam Napat, Son of the Waters. The celestial Agni, "born in the highest heaven" (6. 8. 2; cf. 7. 13. 3) is Vaisvanara, who belongs to and enlightens all beings, from the flood (arnam) of the light of heaven (cf. 3. 22. 3) where he was born and, incandescent in his might, his flame illumined heaven and earth" (1. 143. 2). Agni, born in the highest heaven, revealed himself to Matarisvan (1. 143. 2). He is said to be first born from heaven (10. 45. 1). This does not contradict his highest birth in the flood, in the Uncreate (4. 1. 11). In creation, he is first born from heaven. His highest birth is the one before creation, the hidden birth of mystery. It is there that he has been "awakened with awe" (10. 45. 1) by the mind of the seer. This, his highest birth, in cosmic night, beyond and before any light of heaven, is also called the third (10. 45. 1), the highest attainable to the mind of the seer, the most remote, most secret and sacred (1. 95. 3,4).
IV. AGNI AS SON OF THE WATERS, APAM NAPAT, IN THE GREAT DARK SPACE ("RAJAS")

Agni "was first born in the rivers, at the bottom (budhne)of the great, in the lap of this space (rajas), without feet, without head, hiding both his ends, in the nest of the bull" (4. 1. 11). "In the rivers established, Trita [Agni] sat ensconced in the lap" (10. 46. 6).22 The rivers at the bottom of the great, in the lap of this space (maho budhnerajaso) are situated in the ominous dark space beyond creation, in the ground of being, the cause of existence, the realm of the Asura, beyond, before, and where he became Light.23This is the "great space" or transcendental space. In the ground of this space (budhne rajaso; 2. 2. 3) arises he "who shines in the waters without fuel, whom the deeply moved seers (vipra) invoke as Apam Napat (10. 30. 4), the
22 Agni is here called Trita, for not only was he found by Trita, which means "the Third," but this number has its special reference to the hidden Agni, his birth, the "third." 23 Rajas means originally "dark space" (Grassmann, op. cit.). Its darkness is deepened by the adjective kr.nam (1. 35. 2, 4, 9). The dark, dark space of cosmic night, before and beyond creation, in the above passages designates the transcendental space whence Savitr descends into the world of man. This transcendental space has its symbol on earth in the darkness from which the flame of the sacrificial fire arises (8. 43. 6). Budhna means the ground. Yaska, (Nirukta, 10. 44), refers it to the air space (rajas), the waters or vapors of the air. Sayana similarly thinks of the bottom of the air space, on earth, or in the waters, respectively, in 7. 34. 16.

165

The Triple Structure of Creationin the Rg Veda

Son of the Waters.24He is asked to "give the sweet water" (10. 30. 4), the drink of immortality, the drink of life. This son and germ of the waters (apam garbha; 3. 1. 12), in the lap of the waters (10. 45. 3; apdm upasthe), "has grown, as it were, secretly in his home, in the midst of the sea (urva) that has no yonder shore" (3. 1. 14). The lap of the waters is the lap of .Rta,cosmic order and the norm of existence. The lap of Rta is a secret place, in the ground of the limitless flood. This secret place is also known as the nest of the bull (rtasya yond vrsabhasya n7de; 4. 1. 12; cf. 4. 1. 11). It is the place where life is hatched and sprouts, the place of mystery or creation. As germ of the waters (apdm garbha), he who is their son, Apam Napat, enters the plants (7. 9. 3). The plants are known to have come into existence three ages before the gods (10. 97. 1). Their sap ascends near to the waters of the flood; they hold the vital spark which will be coaxed from the dry wood and flame up as fire on earth. He who is the "germ of the waters, germ of the trees, germ of what stands and moves (1. 70. 3) is Apam Napat, son of the waters," who fecundates the waters (7. 35. 13) who surround him, the seven voices or melodies 3. 1. 6).25 The fecund streams, the voices or melodies are (sapta vdZaih; in number (3. 1. 6; 1. 164. 24). The seven flowing currents seven sisters, in transcendency are the shape of the seven voices of the I.sis, the seers, (9. 103. 3), their melodies flow in their meters. They carry the sevenfold sacred concentration (dhzti) of the seven officiating priests of the sacrifice.2 As their expression, they are the seven concentrations (dhFtayah;9. 8. 4; 9. 15. 8). They are the seven sisters of the Hotr, the main priest, the sacrificer (9. 10. 7). The seven sisters sing (asvaran sapta jdmayah; 9. 66. 8), their harmony is that of the musical scale
24 Apam Napat, from the Nirukta of the fifth century B.C. to recent Western p. 40), is classifiedas an "atmosinterpretation(A. A. Macdonell, VedicMythology, pheric god" and "appearsto representthe lightning form of Agni," or he is consideredan ancient water god (L. Renou, L'lnde classique[Paris, 1947],I, 326). The triple abode of fire is seen in the flame on the (sacrificial)hearth, the lightning, and the sun. As shown, Agni appears clothed in lightning. Lightning is to him as a raiment of manifestation;it is not his third station in creation. The three stations of Agni are not contained within this physical world. Even A. Bergaigne (La Religionvedique,II [Paris, 1882], 17), speaks of the celestial ocean and the clouds by which Apam Napat is enveloped, for he is lightning itself (p. 19). Although Bergaigne distinguishes the station of Apam Napat as the supreme station as opposed to his birth in heaven and that on the altar, the supreme station necessarily is above heaven and earth and not between them. It is before and above the dawn of this world, at the source, in the waters of the flood, which precede the waters in creation whether in heaven, in the air, or in the ocean. 25 The identity is establishedof the waters (rivers,streams,or currents) (3. 1. 11; 2. 35. 4, 5) with the seven restless streams (3. 1. 4) and the seven voices (vanZh; 3. 1. 6). 26 The seven priests are the Hotr, Potr, Nestr, Agnidh, Prasastr,Adhvaryu,and

Brahman (cf. Satapatha Brahmana, 6. 3. 7. 11).

166

made of seven notes27 (svara). These sounding streams or currents of sacred concentration flow around the Son of the Waters, Apam Napat. They flow in the beyond, steeped in their resonance in undefined space. Their vibrations are those of the golden light in which Apam Napat begins to glow, whom they surround (cf. 2. 35. 3). Now they are themselves fiery golden (2. 35. 9), the restless currents, the seven melodies. They are made of the "inexhaustible" (aksaren^a mimate 1. Waves of the music of 164. the 24).28 sapta vd.nth; spheres-to-be encircle the Son of the Waters, the Light of illumination. His relation to these mermaids of the flood of transcendency is sung in hymn 2.35:29 2. Apam Napat, the Son of the Waters,the gracious,in his Asura-might30 has generatedall the beings. 3. Whilesome riversflowtogether,othersflow into the ocean;the riversfill the commonpool. This shining,radiantSon of the Waterssurround the shiningwaters. 4. Without a smile the maidens,the waters, surroundhim and adornthe youth.... 5. Threewomeneagerlygive nourishment to him, the goddessesto the god, that he may not falter.31 He reachedout in the watersas for his mothers he suckedtheir first milk who had bornefor the first time.
6. There is the birthplace of the horse and of this sun....32

7. The Son of the Waters,full of the sap in the waters,glowsto give treasures to the devotee. 8. He whoshinesfarin lucent,godly[glory], trueandinextinguishable, propagates as his branchesthe other beingsand the plants,with their progeny. 9. For the Son of the Waters,clad in the light of lightning[vidyat],has mountedtheir lap, standing erect while they lie. Carryinghis greatest restlessmaidensencirclehim. majesty, the golden-glowing,
27These bring to mind the seven planets and the harmony of the spheres.
28 Ak?ara,a-ksarameans inexhaustibleas the water of a spring. It also signifies syllable and speech. Geldner, I, p. 232, translates: mit der Silbe bildetensie die sieben Stimmen. This translation takes the seven voices literally as those of the priests. The physical reality of the seven voices is the audible symbol of the flowing splendor of the transcendentalwaters. This meaning is not onilyimplied. It is expressed in the following verse (1. 164. 25) where it is said that the priest fixed the stream in heaven with the Jagat song-or verse of twelve syllables-and discovered the sun with the Rathantara verse or melody. 29Verses and parts of verses which in this hymn refer to the sacrificialfire on earth only are not translated. 30The might or power of the Asura is maya, from /ima, "to measure," the magic act of measuringor of creating all measurablethings. 31 The three river goddesses are Ila, Sarasvati, and Bharati (Say), the goddess Libation (I.a), the goddess of forth-pouringabsorptionin god (Bharati), and the goddess Speech or Song. 32 The horse as solar animal and as the sun are one. Their origin or birthplace is near the waters of the flood beyond the heavens, at the source, in the highest heaven.

167

The Triple Structureof Creationin the Rg Veda

is the Son of the Watersalso 10. Goldenin his beauty, of fiery appearance when he has taken his stand here below,from the goldenlap. as also the dear name of the "Sonof the Waters" 11. This, his countenance ghee is his grow in secret; him the maidenshere inflame. Gold-colored food.33 13. As bull he generatedin them the embryo.As child he sucks them; they lick him. The Son of the Waters,of unfadingcolor, acts here as if with another'sbody. 14. Havinghis station in this most remoterealm,shiningunobscured forever, the restlesswatersflowaroundthe Son, offering in raimentsself-assumed, him their creamas nourishment.34 The Son of the Waters, of songs, melodies, and contemplations, mounts their lap and generates the germ and embryo in them. He generates himself, brings about his own nativity in the self-sufficiency of autonomous creation, the spark of illumination in a substance cognate with him (cf. 3. 1. 10-12). It sustains him while the "maidens" caress him who is their lover and son, in the waters of the flood whose currents they are. He is clad in their life force (dyus; 3. 1. 5). In the miraculous moment of his self-begetting he spreads his wings which had been folded and hidden (3. 1. 5, 7; 4. 1. 11). When Agni is born, the living spirit (asu) of all the gods condenses into being (sam avartat; 10. 121. 7). Agni, the germ of the waters (apam garbha)-and son of 10. 121. 7). Born in himself-is a fiery golden germ (hira.nyagarbha; white heat and fiery radiance, he assumes all colors (visvaripa). He has entered the stage of Visvariipa, in the highest heaven, one degree nearer to created beings-to-be around whom, in the sun, he will draw his circles. As creator and generator he is the Bull, the Father whose germ he carries (3. 1. 10). Being Visvarupa in whom all forms are, before discrimination and dichotomy, he is bull and cow, the "First, born of RIta,"in the first age (10. 5. 7). "Glorious, sapient (pitumat)35 Agni sleeps with the bringers of nurture as their lawful spouse. Second, he is in the seven gracious ones, his mothers. Third, the young women generated him for his, the bull's, milking" (1. 141. 2). Agni, the Bull,
33 In verses 10 and 11, the equivalence of the flaming countenanceof the sacrificial fire and of Agni's secret name and nature as Son of the Waters is expressed by the "maidens"who inflamehim. They are not the waters. They are the fingers of the sacrificingpriest. 34 "In the most remote realm" (pade parame)means "in transcendency."The self-assumedraimentsare the flashesof lightning (2. 35. 9) in which Agni manifests, at the moment of impregnation.To this day the couplingpairs, or Mithun sculptures, on the walls of temples in Orissa are believed to ward off lightning. This apotropaiceffect would be due to the presenceof the act itself, akin as it is to the stroke of lightning. The lightning is thus incorporatedin the walls of the temple and leaves no room for their being struck from out of the sky. 36As pitumatmeans provided with nourishmentor sap, it has here been translated as "sapient." 168

fathers himself as the child of the seven gracious ones. They are closely related to him, and he is born from them bisexual, monadic, bull and cow in one. "In accord with divine law (rta), Agni, the Bull, the male, has been anointed with the milk of heaven. Unwavering he proceeded, strength-bestowing. He, the Bull, the (mottled) Prsni-cow, has milked his bright udder" (4. 3. 10).36Agni, the male, the fiery bull, milks himself, the mottled cow, beginning and end of a self-fertilization and gestation of self. The streams of milk with which he is anointed and which he yields are the flowing words (dhenah) of R.ta, the divine Law, the Norm of the cosmos to be. Fire generates fire; Agni is son and grandson of himself. He sleeps with the singing mermaids, his mothers, and is born from them, whom he generates. "The calf, according to its will (svadhdbhih)generated his own mothers" (1. 95. 4). This self-conditioning productiveness of the Fire is a ceaseless flame. Agni, the great sage (1. 95. 4) "having grown old, is born again as a youth" (2. 4. 5). This is the miracle of the hidden (ninya; 1. 95. 4) Agni. "The sublime one was generated in awe and contemplation (dhiya); he received the germ of all beings" (3. 27. 9), himself the germ of all beings. In one continuous, fiery, self-generated body, Agni, the Fire, Son of the Waters, Apam Napat, is the son of himself, Tanunapat. "The seven restless streams brought up the lovely one, of white and fiery hue, born in majesty" (3. 1. 4). "Pervading the dark space with his shining limbs, clarifying his will (kratu) with the filters of wisdom of the seers, clothing himself in incandescence and the life force of the waters, he manifests his exalted, perfect glory" (3. 1. 5). "He entered them who do not eat and are not deceived, the restless daughters of heaven, who do not dress and are not naked. There the primeval ones, eternally young and having one lap in common, the seven melodies (sapta vdanh),received the one germ" (3. 1. 6). "Spread out are his folded wings, of all colors (visvaripa), in the lap of ointment,"37 in the stream of sweet. There stood the cows, swelled with milk. The parents of the Wonder-working one are the great pair Heaven and Earth" (3. 1. 7). Now Agni, the Firebird, the winged bull, enters creation and becomes the Son of Heaven and Earth (Fig. 1, p. 155).
36 Prsthya suggests milk of the peak of heaven rather than the top or cream of the milk. 37Literally of ghee (ghrta) or clarified butter; the reference is both to the transcendental source and to the actual flame of the sacrifice. Visvaripa (Fig. 1) denotes the stage from potentiality to act. It is an attribute of Agni at the same ontological juncture at which it is a name of the Asura putting on his splendors (3. 38. 4) and of his son forfeiting the lordship over the cosmos (10. 8. 9).

169

The Triple Structureof Creationin the Rg Veda

Beheld in his vital splendor, in animal shape, Agni, in his bisexual potency is bull and cow (10. 5. 7). In his manifest form as sun in heaven and fire on earth he is a bull. In his causal, unmanifest, or transcendental form, before creation, in the waters, he is a buffalo. "The bull roars at both the worlds. He extended up to the furthermost ends of heaven. In the lap of the waters the buffalo grew up" (10. 8. 1). He is a winged bull who spreads his wings (3. 1. 7), when he wings into creation. Inasmuch as he is born in the nest of the bull (4. 1. 11), the godhead, he is a calf (1. 95. 4). "Gestated, thou, Son of Might, radiatest far, assuming shining, vivid, wondrous appearances" (3. 1. 8). "As soon as born, he found the Father's udder, he discharged its streams, its voices"38 (3. 1. 9). "He carried the germ of the Father and generator, he, the unique one, sucked the many swelled with milk. The two related ones, Heaven and Earth, are wives in common to the shining bull" (3. 1. 10). "The Great One has grown up in the vast, uncoerced space. The waters reared Agni. The glorious has many wives together. The lord reclined in the lap of R.ta (rtasya yonau), Agni amidst the activity of the sisters, closely related to him" (3. 1. 11). "He who as generator brought forth the cows, the Germ of the Waters, the most virile, the youngest Agni" (3. 1. 12). "The beauteous Germ of the Waters, of the plants, has been born in another shape of the blessed firewood" (3. 1. 13). "High rays like bright lightning accompany Agni, resplendent in his fulgor. Him who grew up, as if in secret, in his home in the shoreless ocean, accompany the cows milking Amrta" (3. 1. 14), the drink of life. Anointed and strong by their substance which he has imbibed and whom he has engendered, he is "in the womb of the mother," "father of his father," (6. 16. 35) and, being himself bull and cow, "he carried the embryo of the Father and generator" (3. 1. 10). As he was before and is in the beginning, before the dawn of the world, so he is in heaven and on earth. Agni, though their son, became the father of the gods (1. 69. 2). And he is the child of heaven and earth, "germ (garbha) of the waters, of the trees, of what stands still and what moves (1. 70. 3). He is the child of the world (10. 45. 6) and he puts the germ into all the beings (3. 2. 10). Germ and child of the waters, ApramGarbha, son of the waters, Apam Napat, son of
38 Agni manifest is seen in the lightning, a garb which he first assumed when he mounted the lap of the waves of the flood (2. 35. 9). Cf. also 1. 128. 3. Neither in 3. 1. 9 nor in 1. 128. 3 does the word for lightning (vidyut) appear. If the udder of the sky is the cloud, its streams and voices (thunder) are discharged by Agni, or Agni as Bull, roaring, discharges his seed.

170

himself, Taninapat, is the transcendental Agni, in his highest domain. Thus he was before the beginning of things and is in all things. The descent to earth of Agni, the Fire, is from his home hidden in secret. The Son of the Waters, germ and child of all beings-to-be, becomes Jatavedas, the knower of all beings. From his secret station in the wholeness of creative innocence Agni is brought down to the level of toil and responsibility. The son of the waters becomes the knower of beings (cf. 10. 8. 5). The third and highest level of inner realization of creative fire is in direct contact with the level of life on earth. At the same time, Agni reveals himself from his secret abode, his highest station when he unfolds his wings. "The celestial eagle, the great bird, the visible Apam Garbha, child and germ of the waters, of the plants who from beyond the clouds refreshes with rain, Sarasvat" (1. 164. 52), traces its course on the firmament as sun.39 There Agni is Vaisvanara, Agni revealed to all men and gods.
V. VAISVANARA

As soon as Apam Napat, the Light in cosmic darkness, stretched out "his shining limbs in the dark space (rajas), clarifying his will through the filters of the seers and robing himself in flame and the vitality of the waters, he unfolded his exalted, perfect splendor" (3. 1. 5). His limbs had been folded up and hidden (4. 1. 11) in his embryonic stage, but now "his folded [limbs] are extended, the many-hued ones The parents of this wondrous one are the great pair" (visvarupa).... and ([Heaven Earth]; 3. 1. 7)40 for now Agni is born in creation. As soon as born, he overcame darkness (6. 9. 1) by his light. When the gods "generated" Agni in heaven, they [then] made him divide threefold (10. 88. 10-13).41 Now Agni guards the peak of the earth,42the track of the bird, the path of the sun and the udder of nurture, full of ghee (3. 5. 5-6). These are the three stations (6. 8. 7) of Agni manifest39 Rain comes from the sun accordingto Khila 3. 9. 3 (the A?vinsmade the sun shed water from the sky); Manu 3. 76 "adityaj jdyate vrstih"; Mahabharata, 12. 264. 11. The sun as rain-maker is the bird Sarasvat, "full of water." The vapors rise toward the sun whence they are precipitatedback to this earth. Sarasvat is the visible Son of the Waters; as their child he is full of their sap. When the hidden Son of the Waters unfolds his wings he becomes visible as the sun, the firebird. 40 Visvarupa,whether meaning "All-Form,"the shape of every thing to be, or "many-hued,"designates the threshold and entry into creation. e Here Yaska, Nirukta (7. 28) correctly sees the triple division of Agni Vai?vanara on earth, in the air, and in heaven. 42 Ripo agram, cf. rupo agram (4. 5. 8). Rup designates a cow. The cow is the Earth. The peak of the cow is the head of the cow or the altar where Trita found Agni.

171

The Triple Structureof Creationin the Rg Veda

ing.43In heaven, Agni is the guardian of Soma (10. 45. 12), the elixir of life. "Born in the highest heaven, Agni watches over the divine commitments (vrata), the guardian of commitments" (vratapd;6.8. 2). The divine commitments will be regulated by the flight of the bird, the sun, whose track Agni guards. The highest heaven is Agni's station as guardian of Soma (10, 45. 12) and of the divine vows. As he is the guardian in heaven, so he is the guardian on earth. There, at its peak, which is also the head of the cow, or "in the navel of the world," he guards the seven-headed one, that is, the sacrifice (3. 5. 5). In mid-air he guards the udder of nurture, full of ghee, the rain-charged cloud. As triple guardian, Agni watches over the triad of his manifestations as sun, lightning, and fire. This is his lower ternary, his triple function in manifestation. It is an unfolding of his triple nature which man sees with his eyes here on earth. In this lesser triad44Vaisvanara shines forth, himself the middle in Agni's Great Triad, which is Apam Napat at the source, the causal Fire; Vaisvanara in heaven, the archetypal Fire, and Jatavedas on earth (Fig. 1, p. 155). Vaisvanara is the guardian of the sun, of the lightning in the cloud, and of the sacrificial fire. Matarisvan brought him from heaven to earth (6. 8. 4).45 Vaisv&nara, who shines for each and every living being, is the guardian not only of the visible light and fire. He is the "guardian of immortality, who, moving here below, yet sees beyond any other" (6. 9. 3). God Vaisvanara "has taken to himself the treasures of the deep (budhnydvasani) from the ocean here below and from the ocean beyond. Agni has taken them, from heaven and earth" (7. 6. 7). That was at the beginning of creation. Gathering within himself the treasures, the power of illumination, at the source of creation, and all that in creation is of the nature of light and flame, he is the immortal Light among mortals and he is for seeing (6. 9. 4). "He is the Light sent here below abidingly for beholding, Mind, the fleetest of the flying" (6. 9. 5). The light of Vaisvanara is seen here in this world and it is the inner light of the seers. It passes through their filters, the "three filters of the song," in the heart, on the road of meditation (mati), on the road of illumination (3. 26. 8). Fire says
43 The three stations are, however, also the three altars, the Garhapatyain the West, the householder'sfire symbolizing the earth, the Ahavaniya in the East, where the gods are invoked, symbolizingheaven, and the Daksinagni, the southern altar where the Fathers are invoked. 44The three Agnis of the lower triad are called Agni Suci, Agni Vanaspati, and Agni Pavamana in heaven, midspace, and on earth (Brhad Devata 1. 66). 45The same verse (6. 8. 4) sings of the waters in whose lap the "buffaloes" seized Agni. This is a recounting of the total hierarchy of the Fire and does not refer to the ocean of air. 172

of itself "I am the threefold (tridhdtu) song that traverses space, the inextinguishable flame" (3. 26. 7). The flame on the altar, lambent toward heaven, carries the sacrifice, heart, and mind to Agni Vaisvanara. He is the head of heaven (1. 59. 2; 6. 7. 1; 8. 44. 16), leader of the earth (6. 7. 1), seer, priest, and universal king (7. 8. 1), guest of men, charioteer of the sacrifice (7. 7. 4), and guardian of immortality (cf. 6. 9. 1-3). Vaisvanara set up the banner of light in the fabric of days and nights, the banner of mornings and days (7. 5. 5). He is the guardian of light that the eye can see and the guardian of the inner light of man. He is the charioteer of the sacrifice whose chariot he conducts heavenward. His is the driving power of the flame and the radiance of the sun. "He unites with the sun" (1. 98. 1). Vaisvanara unites with the sun and identifies himself with the sun. "Vaisvanara as of old has mounted the firmament" (3. 2. 12). This is how he is seen from here below. "The gods put him in the sky, the sun" (10. 88. 11), and in a grandiose exclamation "the seers, the gods generated Agni Vaisvanara-the moving luminary" (10. 88. 13). By his visible movement, Vaisvanara as sun is the banner of days and nights, the sign of Time. The guardian of immortality wanders around this time-world of his making. Night and day are his domains (3. 55. 15). He brings forward to the east the dawns who rejoice in western darkness (7. 6. 4). He gives the sign of polarity in time and space. He is the Lord of Time (rtupati; 10. 2. 1). With his entry into manifestation, on being seen, his is the shape and movement of the sun,that great face of the great gods (4. 5. 9). The ambivalent nature of the Fire, creative and consuming, spark of life and measure of its days and nights, is beheld in the sun, seen from the world of time on which it shines. It is seen by mortal man who looks up to this great face and cannot see further with his physical eye. But the singer found this great visage "at the place of l.ta, the radiant face in secrecy, the speedily moving, the speeding" (4. 5. 9). There it was prefigured before it appeared on the firmament, where Agni Vaisvanara, who shines for all, guards the light of this world. Vaisvanara guards the sun and he is seen in the sun. The reality Vaisvanara has its appearance in the sun. Similarly, "the high light of Vaisvanara, the bright thunder of heaven" (9. 61. 16) is his manifestation in mid-air, in the storm, roaring, rushing in the lap of the parents (3. 27. 9), thunderous light of the storm between heaven and earth. "A gale he became" (3. 29. 11). From the udder of Father Heaven he spurted forth its streams and voices (3. 1. 9). The ancient, ever young ones-heaven and earth (3. 1. 6)-who had received Agni in their lap, the germ and child of the waters, see him when he, as
173

The Triple Structureof Creationin the Rg Veda

soon as born, finds the udder of the Father (3. 1. 9). High rays accompany Agni, bright like lightning (cf. 3. 1. 14). Agni is like lightning, he is robed in lightning (2. 35. 9, 14), he manifests in the light of the storm in mid-air. "Golden-haired when space cleaves open, a rushing 1. 79. 1),46 serpent (ahi), roaring like a gale, sparkling light" (Sucibhrdjd; the bull, the Pr~ni-cow, has milked his bright udder (4. 3. 10; 6. 66. 1; cf. 1. 79. 2). Pr~ni means the sun.47 Agni, who is bull and cow, acts bisexually and has himself for his object complete in his nature and in his operation; he milks himself just as he begets himself. Sun, lightning, and the fire on hearth and altar are the trust which he guards and the forms in which Agni manifests as Vaisvanara from heaven. Sun, lightning, and fire are the three epiphanies of Agni Vaisvanara. As fire, "Agni is the head of the earth at night. Of him is born, in the morning, the rising sun" (10. 88. 6). Vaisvanara is the head of he is the support heaven, the navel of the earth; like a pillar (sthauZa) of men and his greatness reaches beyond heaven (1. 59. 1, 2, 5). Agni manifest coincides with Aja Ekapad, the Goat One-Foot, the nonproceeding, directing ray of creation. Agni raises his head on earth and he is the head of heaven; on earth he is Jatavedas, the Knower of all beings-their consciousness. In heaven he is Vaisvanara. He shines for and illumines all men. Thus he is invoked as Javatedas Vaisvanara (1. 59. 5; 7. 5. 8). He is Jatavedas by birth here on earth, the sacrificial fire, the sacrifice (cf. 3. 26. 7). Agni VaiSvanara has entered all the plants (1 .98. 2). Born in the highest heaven (parame vyoman), he has generated the beings, the Knower of beings, Jatavedas (7. 5. 7). He places his germ (garbha)in the beings here on earth (cf. 3. 2. 10), he propagates himself in manifold wombs (3. 2. 11). He implants the Germ of Fire, the spark of life, in all living beings. He fills both the worlds, he filled the great sun (3. 2. 7.)48 This is his work when he moves down from heaven, where the gods generated him (3. 2. 3), to earth, where the mortals have generated the immortal Fire (3. 29. 13). Thence, he ascends to heaven. Always on the move, intensely active, the wondrous one goes upward and downward (3. 2. 10), the messenger between both the worlds, appointed as sacrificer (hotr), as priest (purohita) of man (3. 3. 2). This office, essential to man, is irksome to the god. Agni flees and is found. He carries over into creation the
46 The t1g Veda has no specific name for the middle of the lower ternary of Agni (cf. n. 38). 47Yaska, Nirukta, 2.14; whereas Grassmann,op. cit., gives the meaning "mottled, scintillating" and assigns this quality to the cloud. 48 This refers to Agni manifestingand not to the inner nature of Agni by which he renews or engendershimself. It is the gods who placed Agni in the sky, the sun (10. 88. 11), for they are the celestial intelligence operatingin the cosmos. 174

reluctance of the Asura to spend himself. Unlike the serpent Visvaripa, the Son of Tvastr, and Vrtra-who had engulfed Agni-he does not obstruct creation, but brings to it hazard, uncertainty, and relief, for he allows himself to be found, not once but manifold, by many, so that again (dvita) the sacrificers achieve him in awe (3. 2. 1). He is the sacrifice (3. 26. 7) and he sacrifices himself, letting himself be found, in the sacrifice here on earth, just as the gods had "created Agni by sacrificing all the world" (10. 88. 9). Vaisvanara-Jatavedas are the reciprocal aspects of Fire, the messenger between heaven and earth. The Knower of beings-consciousness-arises from the altar on earth toward heaven, whence he, as Vaisvanara, shines for and illumines men. This is how he descends to, and dwells in, them. [To be concluded]

175