The cosmology of the Rigveda, an essay

158 Pages·2011·7.87 MB·English

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http://www.archive.org/details/cosmologyofrigveOOwallrich
THE
COSMOLOGY OF THE EIGYEDA.

THE
COSMOLOGY OF THE RIGVEDA,
AN ESSAY
H. W. WALLIS, M.A,,
GONVILLEANDCAIUSCOLLEGE,CAMBRIDGE.
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WILLIAMlK^ifB KORGATE,
14, HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN, LONDON;
and 20, SOUTH FREDERICK STREET, EDINBURGH.
1887.
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GENERAL
HERTFORD
PRINTED BY STEPHENAUSTINANDSONS
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PREFACE.
The object of this essay is not so much to
present a complete picture of the Cosmology
of the Eigveda, as to supply the material from
which such a picture may be drawn. The
writer has endeavoured to leave no strictly
cosmological passage without a reference, and
to add references to illustrative passages where
they appeared to indicate the direction in
which an explanation may be sought. In
order to avoid any encumbrance of the notes
by superfluous matter, references which are
easily accessible in other books, such as
Grassmann's Lexicon, are omitted, and those
references which are intended to substantiate
statements which are not likely to be the
subject of doubt, are reduced to the smallest
number possible. The isolation of the Eigveda
156447
vi Preface.
is justified on linguistic grounds. On the
other hand, the argument which is drawn from
the Atharvaveda in the Introduction is based
on the fact, attested by the internal character
of that collection and by tradition, that the
Atharvaveda lies apart from the stream of
Brahmanic development on the testimony of
:
residents in India to the superstitious character
of modern Hindoos and on the striking
:
similarity of the charms of the Atharvaveda
to those of European nations. If, as seems
most probable, the cosmological passages and
hymns of the Eigveda are to be classified with
the latest compositions in the collection, the
conceptions with which the essay deals must
be regarded as belonging to the latest period
represented in the Eigveda, when the earlier
hymns were still on the lips of priests whose
language did not differ materially in construc-
tion from that contained in the hymns which
they recited.
The writer desires here to express his sincere
gratitude to those teachers who have assisted
him in his general Sanskrit studies, Professors