Vrata divine and human in the early Veda.

• Author: Lubin, Timothy

The relationship between Rigvedic and post-Rigvedic usages of the word vrata has not been adequately explained, despite several studies of the concept. This paper distinguishes three aspects of the word's meaning in the Rg Veda and in the "mantra-period" texts: (1) 'rule' in the general sense of a fixed articulation of will or authority; (2) as the attribute of a god, it denotes the distinctive natural and social laws that the god ordains and maintains; (3) in verses in which the god's vrata is closely linked with specific rites (the morning and evening offerings, the three soma pressings) it acquires the sense of 'rule of ritual observance'. In these contexts, this rule of ritual performance is an obligation to be fulfilled by "descendants of Manu," who may be called vratyas of the god. RV 7.103.l and AV 4.11 foreshadow the narrower, technical application of the word in the prose yajus texts, the brahmanas, and the ritual sutras, viz., an ascetical regimen undertaken by a yajamana or student, under the super intendence of Agni Vratapati.

INTRODUCTION

BEGINNING WITH THE prose yajus mantras and the brahamana texts, the word vrata denotes a specifically defined, somewhat ascetic regimen (e.g., the vrata of an isti rite, the soma diksa, the observances of a student of Veda) intended to purify and empower the performer, giving him a quasi-divine capacity to accomplish special rites or to study. In the dharma literature (and in usage up to the present), vrara refers to a (mildly) ascetic regimen of behavior (such as a fast), often combined with a program of worship to a specified deity, by which the performer may obtain virtually any specified mundane or otherworldly objective-especially divine assistance in some matter, such as worldly prosperity or the expiation of guilt. In fact, vrata becomes the most generic term in Brahmanism for rules or regimens in which a fixed rule of behavior, involving restrictions as well as prescribed actions, is thought to produce specified results for whoever performs it.

Compared with the term's clear semantic contours in later times, the Rigvedic meaning has long been disputed. The current consensus derives vrata from PIE *wer-/wre- ('speak'); it thus closely parallels Av. uruuata ('command,' 'rule'). (1) A few studies have attempted to specify the Vedic meaning of the word. Hanns-Peter Schmidt has argued at great length that vrata in all cases means 'Gelubde' ('vow') in the sense of "a sort of promissory oath." (2) The gods' vratas in the Rg Veda would thus be promises they make to humanity, which their actions fulfill. Paul Hacker refuted Schmidt's findings in a long article. He notes first that even the vratas of the classical literature are not properly called 'vows' (despite similarities with Christian vows, and the ubiquity of this gloss in translations). Although the element of "act, service, or way of life" for a divine purpose represents the later idea of vrata well enough, the word "vow" preeminently denotes the promise or declaration of intent. The vrata per se co nsists in a set of regular activities, and the verbal or mental declaration of intent--when it is mentioned at all--is designated as the samkalpa, which is "what makes a series of actions or abstentions into a vrata." (3)

I would carry Hacker's objections on this point a bit further. In Classical Greek and Latin usage, a "vow" ([epsilon][upsilon][chi][eta], votum) was a promise to make an offering to a divinity, contingent upon first receiving a god's help--Marcel Mauss' do ut des. This contingency, in particular, is quite foreign to the Indian notion, which regards the actual regimen--and not the declaration of intention, or promise--as essential to producing the result. In fact, the "contingent vow" is attested in modem times in the Rajasthani bolari, bolma, or votana, and the Marathi navas, all of which are distinguished from vrata. (4)

Joel Brereton has adjudicated this debate, finding in Hacker's favor. He argues that a vrata is (1) a commandment, implying an obligation (and not a promise, as Schmidt claimed); (2) "an action which is governed by a commandment and so is considered an expression of that commandment"; and (3) "'authority', the power to command, to oblige someone to do something." (5) He shows that the vratas of the gods are authoritative: they determine the order of all things and beings in the world, and imply the idea of man's moral obligation to adhere to divine models. Although Hacker also stresses this point, he resists equating vrata with 'commandment', for this word points to the assertion of authority which is never (in the Rg Veda) directly referred to, and obscures the fact that divine will-represented by the vrata--is embodied in paradigmatic divine actions. Thus, he says, a god's vrata "is established through [that god's] concrete activity, i.e., not through an act of lawgiving." (6) It is an order or pattern, ari sing directly out of divine precedent, that is continually actualized in the world, such that creatures and things adapt themselves to it, and comply with it. The verbs taking vrata as their object most frequently in the Rg Veda define a coherent set of actions: on the one hand, the upholding or protection of, and compliance with, vratas; on the other, the destruction or violation of them. Hacker observes (7) that in most cases the vrata is something the gods follow ([anu-]sac-, anu-i-, [anu-]car-, etc.), keep (raks-, pa-, dhr-), violate ([pra-]mi-), or deceive (dabh-); he supposes "that the word originally and properly belongs to the sphere of the gods, and that the human vratas are so called perhaps only by analogy to those of the gods." (8)

I will show that the Rg Veda does sometimes envision the vrata as a regular course of ritual observance corresponding to the particular character of the deity to whom the rites pertain. This indicates a semantic extension of the term vrata from 'rule' in the sense of 'governance' or 'ordinance' to "rule of ritual action'. This paves the way for later, more narrow applications of the word to designate specific, initiatory regimens required for worship and Veda study. This semantic development shows that the usual gloss 'vow' or 'Gelubde' is not apt, since a ritual vrata is a rule adopted, not a promise made. (9) In what follows, I will review selected passages to illustrate the range of applications of the term, the ways in which divine vratas are distinctive of the gods to whom they belong, and ways in which the vratas of certain gods are closely associated with a course of ritual observance incumbent upon those "descendants of Manus" who have established a relationship with the gods.

THE GENERAL SENSE OF VRATA IN EARLY SOURCES

Before turning to passages in which a vrata figures as a law governing divine or ritual action (which might be called religiously "marked" usage, insofar as vrata becomes a technical term), we should note the contexts in which it appears to mean 'rule', 'standard mode of action', in a general sense. In such an unmarked context, there seems to be little sense of moral obligation; rather the vrata is what is characteristic of someone or something. The word vrata often has this meaning when it occurs in final position in adjectival (bahuvrihi) compounds. (10) "Let Heaven and Earth--they who drip honey, who milk out honey, whose rule is honey (i.e., sweet)--prepare honey for us" (madhu no dyavaprthivi mimiksatam madhuscuta madhudughe madhuvrate [RV 6.70.5ab]). "Let this bull, who follows the rule of the bull, purifying himself, striking those who curse (us), make riches for the worshiper" (esa vrsa a vrsavratah pavamano asastiha \ karad vasuni dasuse [9.62.11]). "Who follows the rule of the bull" means "who acts like a bull," who is virile by nature, or, perhaps more precisely, who, as a rule, is fecundating.

Agni is known by his golden demeanor: "Here the gods have set ... shining Agni of the shining chariot, of the yellow rule of conduct (harivratam) ... impatient, very splendid..." (candram agnim candraratham harivratam ... bhurnim devasa iha susriyam dadhuh [RV 3.3.5ad]). Harivratam is virtually glossed by the adjectives candram, candraratham, and susriyam, which all describe Agni's apparent form and action. The terms vivrata and savrata are antonyms meaning "following divergent rules, discordant" and "following the same rule, concordant," respectively. (11) These compounds in -vrata constitute a fixed idiomatic usage, in which the meaning of vrata is relatively constricted: 'rule' as an expression of authority is reduced to 'tendency' or 'manner'.

Numerous verse mantras from post-Rg Veda sources use vrata alongside words for interior, mental and psychological, states, which suggests that vrata crystallizes an act of will. Some of these verses are applied in the rite of initiation into Veda study, at the moment when the teacher touches the student's heart, e.g., RVkh 3.15:

mama vrata hidayam te dadhami mama cittam anu cittam te astu

mama vacam ekavrata (12) jusasva brhaspatis tva ni yunaktu mahyam (13)

I place your heart under my rule (vrata). Let your thought follow my thought. Take delight in my word as one who has a single rule (eka-vrata) (14) (or: single-minded [eka-manas]). Let Brhaspati join you to me.

In the initiation, the preceptor speaks these words so that the initiate will become amenable to his will. Almost the same words are uttered in the wedding ceremony to subordinate the bride to the groom (e.g., PGS 1.8.6-8); indeed, the marriage has frequently been styled the Vedic initiation of a woman, and she stands in the same relation to her husband as the student to the teacher--one of absolute obedience and humility. In the latter ritual application, the name of the "lord of progeny," Prajapati, is inserted in place of the name of the "lord of prayer," Brhaspati, since Prajapati is more directly concerned with the purposes of marriage, while Brhaspati governs the study of Veda.

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