CHAPTER XII The Herds of the Dawn THE Seven Rivers of the Veda, the Waters, āpaḥ, are usually designated in the figured Vedic language as the seven Mothers or the seven fostering Cows, sapta dhenavaḥ. The word āpaḥ. itself has, covertly, a double significance; for the root ap meant originally not only to move, from which in all probability is derived the sense of waters, but to be or bring into being, as in apatya, a child, and the Southern Indian appā, father. The seven Waters are the waters of being; they are the Mothers from whom all forms of existence are born. But we meet also another expression, sapta gāvaḥ, the seven Cows or the seven Lights, and

FROM A VEDIC HYMN 1.15 O Indra, drink according to the law of truth the Soma- wine; let the nectar-sweetnesses enter into thee, rapturous, that have there their home. O Maruts, drink according to the truth, purify the Yajna by the process of purification for ye are steadfast and very bold. About the Yajna utter for us thy cry, active and exhilarated drink thou by the truth for thou art the disposer of delight. O Agni, bring hither the gods, make them to sit in the three wombs, surround all and drink by the truth.

A VEDIC HYMN VII. 60 O Sun, O Light, because today blameless in thy rising thou hast declared the Truth to the Lord of Love and the Lord of Purity, so may we abide in the godhead, dear to thee, O Mother infinite, dear to thee, O Lord of Strength, in all our speaking. O Mitra, O Varuna, this is he that seeth for the soul, the Sun that rises over earth and heaven in the pervading wideness, and he guards all that is in motion and all that is stable; for he beholds the straight things and the crooked in mortals. Seven shining energies has this Bright One yoked today in the world of our achievement and they bear him on in their clarity, and he beholds the homes of the sou

THE ORIGINS OF ARYAN SPEECH INTRODUCTORY Among all the many promising beginnings of which the nineteenth century was the witness, none perhaps was hailed with greater eagerness by the world of culture and science than the triumphant debut of Comparative Philology. None perhaps has been more disappointing in its results. The philologists indeed place a high value on their line of study, — nor is that to be wondered at, in spite of all its defects, — and persist in giving it the name of Science; but the scientists are of a very different opinion. In Germany, in the very metropolis both of Science and of philology, the word philology has become a term of

THE SEVENTH HYMN TO AGNI THE DIVINE WILL, DESIRER, ENJOYER, PROGRESSIVE FROM THE ANIMAL TO BLISS AND KNOWLEDGE Agni is hymned as the divine Force that brings the bliss and the ray of the truth into the human being and light into the night of our darkness. He leads men in their labour to his own infinite levels; he enjoys and tears up the objects of earthly enjoyment, but all his multitude of desires are for the building of an universality, an all-embracing enjoyment in the divine home of the human being. He is the animal moving as the enjoyer by the progressive movement of Nature, as with an axe through the forest, to the achievement and the bliss. This p

HYMN TO BRAHMANASPATI 1.18 MASTER OF THE SOUL O Master of the Soul, make Kakshivan, Son of Ushij, a sweet soul and a good fighter. May he who is bold and impetuous, who slays all unfriendly things, the knower of substance of being, the increaser of fullness, cleave to us, he who is strong and swift. Let not the aspiration and the eagerness of mortal man in his struggle perish in us, O Master of the Soul, protect us. That hero smites and is not hurt, whom Indra and Brahmanaspati and Soma befriend, a mortal man.

CHAPTER X The Image of the Oceans and the Rivers THE three Riks of the third hymn of Madhuchchhandas in which Saraswati has been invoked, run as follows, in the Sanskrit: Pāvakā naḥ sarasvatī vājebhir vājinīvatī; yajñam vaṣtu dhiyāvasuḥ. Codayitrī sūnṛtānām, cetantī sumatīnām; yajñam dadhe sarasvatī. Maho arṇaḥ sarasvatī, pra cetayati ketunā; dhiyo viśvā vi rājati. The sense of the first two verses is clear enough when we know Saraswati to be that power of the Truth which we call inspiration. Inspiration from the Truth purifies by getting rid of all falsehood, for all sin according to the Indian id

THE FIRST HYMN TO AGNI A HYMN OF THE MORNING SACRIFICE [The Rishi hymns the awakening of Agni the Divine Force to conscious action in the coming of the Dawn. Agni rises towards the luminous Paradise, his goal, feeding on the works of the Discernment which distributes the gifts and activities of the sacrifice, becomes a pure energy leading our days and ascends to the Vastness and the Truth. By the Truth he fashions anew our two firmaments, the physical and mental consciousness. This is the golden Affirmation of him in our heavens.] Strength is awake by kindling of the peoples and he fronts the Dawn that comes to him as the Cow that fosters; like might

THE TENTH HYMN TO AGNI A HYMN OF THE SPLENDID SOULS WHO ATTAIN [The Rishi prays to the divine Flame to work in him by the triple force of Power, Knowledge and Delight. He speaks of the splendid souls of knowledge in our humanity who attain to the Truth and Vastness; they are the burning and overpowering flame-rays of this transcendent Conscious-Force of the Divine that is at work in us to climb to divine mastery. Some have become such souls, others are still hampered but growing. He desires the increasing affirmation of Agni so that all may advance to a rich and all-comprehending universality.] O Flame, O Ray in our limited existence, bring for u

CHAPTER XI The Seven Rivers THE Veda speaks constantly of the waters or the rivers, especially of the divine waters, āpo devīḥ or āpo divyāḥ, and occasionally of the waters which carry in them the light of the luminous solar world or the light of the Sun, svarvatīr apaḥ. The passage of the waters effected by the gods or by man with the aid of the gods is a constant symbol. The three great conquests to which the human being aspires, which the gods are in constant battle with the Vritras and Panis to give to man are the herds, the waters and the Sun or the solar world, gāḥ, apaḥ, svaḥ. The question is whether these references are to the rains of heave