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02.zend Avesta
02.zend Avesta
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Atirātra
– Joel P. Brereton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ??
Some observations regarding the concept of Time in Vedic ritual as reflected in the
several Vedic schools
– Maitreyee Deshpande . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ??
The power of the printed Veda: on early Indian editions of the R . gveda
– Cezary Galewicz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ??
Survivals & Revivals: the transmission of Jaiminı̄ya Sāmaveda in modern south India
– Finnian M.M. Gerety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ??
A survey of new evidence as to the formation of the Yajurveda and Brāhman.a texts
– With special reference to recent Vedic studies in Japan –
– Toshifumi Gotō . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ??
The Development of the New- and Full-Moon Sacrifice and the Yajurveda Schools:
mantras, their brāhman.as, and the offerings
– Naoko Nishimura . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ??
– Asko Parpola . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ??
On Br.haspati’s name
– Georges-Jean Pinault . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ??
The Priests of the Avudaiyar Temple in Tamil Nadu: Promoters of the Āgniveśya-
gr.hyasūtra
– S.A.S. Sarma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ??
The language of sūktas and tr.cas shared by the R . k, Paippalāda and Śaunakı̄ya
Saṁhitās
– Elizabeth Tucker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ??
Roots and Branches: the Veda as an Inverted Tree?
Alexis Pinchard
This paper does not aim at giving a detailed account of the various Vedic
“branches”, but at understanding why the Brahmanic tradition viewed itself
as a kind of tree.
Of course, it is not a mere random if the various Vedic schools are called
śākhā- already in the early post-Vedic period, especially for the Yajur-Veda,
as it is evidenced in the Manu-Smrti III, and in Patañjali’s Mahābhās.ya:
˚
yatnena bh ojayet śrāddh e bahvrcam. vedapāragam /
śākh āntagam ath ādh varyum ˚
. c andogam. tu samāptikam //
h
Let him [take] pains [to] feed at a Śrāddha an adherent of the Rig-veda who has
studied one entire [recension of that] Veda, or a follower of the Yajur-Veda who
has finished one branche (śākhāntaga), or a singer of Sāmans who [likewise]
has completed [the study of an entire recension] (MSm III, , personal
translation).
But here it deals only with the chandas, which are the basis just of the
Rg-Veda, the Sāma-Veda and the Atharvaveda, so that the Yajur-Veda is
˚
excluded. Moreover these Chandas-Sam . hitās appear only at the level of the
leaves of tree; it follows that the Brāhman.as, Āran.yakas and Upanis.ads
depending on them are not mentionned. On the contrary, in the Manu-Smrti,
it was clear that a good brahmin, who completely knows by heart his śākhā, ˚
also knows the Brāhman.as, Āryan.yakas and Upanishads: the Sam . hitā is only
the beginning of the Śākhā. Therefore the śākhā-s of this Bhagavad-Gı̄tā tree
See the Appendix at the end of this paper, quoted from Witzel -, (fac-simile
from Deshpande and Śāstrı̄ ).
Roots and Branches: the Veda as an Inverted Tree?
seem not to be the various Vedic schools. According to this text, the Vedic
hymns are in a tree, but the Vedic tradition itself is not a tree. Moreover,
the tree is inverted and permanent, a conception which does not match the
Vis.n.u-Purān.a.
Alexis Pinchard
the guru, who understands that his disciples cannot learn by heart a whole
Veda. Hence the divisions of the Veda are conceived of as a sign of decadence.
It is not positively valued. This decadence comes to a head in the Kali-Yuga,
where are no new divisions anymore, but some Śākhās are forgotten. This
Purān.ic view about the progessive division of the Veda seems to be directly
inspired by Yāska:
sāks.ātkrtadharmān.a r.sayo babhūvuh. / te ’varebhyo ’sāks.ātkrtadharmabhya upa-
deśena˚mantrān sam ˚ ˚
. prādur / upadeśāya glāyanto ’vare bilmagrahan.āyemam .
grantham samām . nāsis.ur vedam
. ca vedāṅgāni ca / bilmam . bhilmam. bhāsanam
iti vā /
The primeval seers had a direct perception of the world order. By teaching
they transmitted the efficient incantations to their successors who did not
have a direct perception of the world order. The later ones, growing tired of
learning, in order to keep only small parts in their memory, organized the
oral transmission of the present sacred canon, i.e. the Veda and its auxiliaries.
Indeed bilma- means small part or explication (Yāska, Nirukta I, , personal
translation).
Are the Vedic schools the result of a division of an eternal and always
perfectly detailed revelation into different parts, or the result of a transfor-
mation (vikalpa, see above) of a single spiritual intuition in different ways ?
Even though it is not very clear, the image of the tree fits better with the
second interpretation. Moreover, in the Purān.ic texts, there still are some
traces of a creative power or, more exactly, of an intuitive faculty as the
source of the various Śākhās. For example, Yajñavalkya in Vis.n.u- Purān.a III,
is said to have rejected the teaching of his guru Vaiśam . pāyana and have
Roots and Branches: the Veda as an Inverted Tree?
obtained his own revelation from the sun. This revelation was the beginning
of the Kanva-school.
Of the tree of the Yajur-veda there are twenty-seven branches, which
Vaiśampāyana, the pupil of Vyāsa, compiled, and taught to as many dis-
ciples. Amongst these, Yājñavalkya, the son of Brahmarāta, was distinguished
for piety and obedience to his preceptor.
It had been formerly agreed by the Munis, that any one of them who, at a
certain time, did not join an assembly held on mount Meru should incur the
guilt of killing a Brahman, within a period of seven nights. Vaiśampāyana
alone failed to keep the appointment, and consequently killed, by an accidental
kick with his foot, the child of his sister. He then addressed his scholars, and
desired them to perform the penance expiatory of Brahmanicide on his behalf.
Without any hesitation Yājñavalkya refused, and said, “How shall I engage in
penance with these miserable and inefficient Brahmans?” On which his Guru,
being incensed, commanded him to relinquish all that he had learnt from
him. “You speak contemptuously,” he observed, “of these young Brahmans,
but of what use is a disciple who disobeys my commands?” “I spoke,” replied
Yājñavalkya, “in perfect faith; but as to what I have read from you, I have
had enough: it is no more than this--” (acting as if he would eject it from his
stomach); when he brought up the texts of the Yajus. in substance stained with
blood. He then departed. The other scholars of Vaiśampāyana, transforming
themselves to partridges (Tittiri), picked up the texts which he had disgorged,
and which from that circumstance were called Taittirı̄ya; and the disciples
were called the Caraka professors of the Yajus., from Caran.a, ‘going through’
or ‘performing’ the expiatory rites enjoined by their master.
Yājñavalkya, who was perfect in ascetic practices, addressed himself strenuously
to the sun, being anxious to recover possession of the texts of the Yajush.
“Glory to the sun,” he exclaimed, “the gate of liberation, the fountain of bright
radiance, the triple source of splendour, as the Rig, the Yajur, and the Sāma
Vedas. Glory to him, [. . . ] whose banners scatter ambrosia.”
Thus eulogized by Yājñavalkya, the sun, in the form of a horse, appeared to
him, and said, “Demand what you desire.” To which the sage, having prostrated
himself before the lord of day, replied, “Give me a knowledge of those texts of
the Yajus. with which even my preceptor is unacquainted.” Accordingly the
sun imparted to him the texts of the Yajus. called Ayātayāma (unstudied),
which were unknown to Vaiśampāyana: and because these were revealed by
the sun in the form of a horse, the Brahmans who study this portion of the
Yajus. are called Vājis (horses). Fifteen branches of this school sprang from
Kan.va and other pupils of Yājñavalkya (Vis.n.u-Purān.a III, ).
Alexis Pinchard
The remote past may be more consistant than the classical period and
may allow us to understand why the late tradition do not agree with itself.
My paper will be itself a kind of inverted tree since it progressively approches
the root of tradition.
Here no concret language element is mentioned. Are the śākhā-s of this tree
the Vedic schools? Seemingly it is not the case:
hy āhordhvamūlam tripād brahma śākhā ākāśavāyvagnyudakabhūmyadaya
eko ’śvatthanāmaitad brahmaitasyaitat tejo yad asā ādityah. om ity etad
aks.arasya caitat tasmād om ity anenaitad upāsı̄tājasram ity eko ’sya sam-
bodhayitety evam. prāha /
For, indeed, the brahman, inasmuch as it has three feet, is rooted upwards; its
branches are ether, wind, fire, water, earth, and so on. This brahman is called
“the unique fig tree”. His sap is what the sun is. The syllabe om̆˙ is also the
sap of this imperishable [fig tree]. Therefore the brahman is always worshiped
by uttering om̆.
˙ This syllabe is the only waker of this [world]. So does the
tradition speal (MaiU VI, ).
Here again the word śākhā- does not refer to Vedic schools, but to material
elements.
Nevertheless, in other well-known Vedic texts, brahman is somehow co-
extensive with vāc, Speech (cf. RV X, , d: yā´vad bráhma vís..thitam .
˚
tā´vatı̄ vā´k //). Even more precisely, in BĀU I, , , the brahman consists
in whatever is recited (anūktam). Moreover the bahuvrı̄hi tripād- which,
according to me, refers only to the roots of the inverted tree, reminds us of
the famous division of Vāc into four quarters in RV I, , :
˚
catvā´ri vā´k párimitā padā´ni tā´ni vidur brāhman.ā´ yé manı̄s.ín.ah. /
gúhā tr´ı̄n.i níhitā néṅgayanti tur´ı̄yam. vācó manus.yā` vadanti //
Cf. Skambha in AVŚ X, , d: tád u nā . caná ////
´ty kím
Roots and Branches: the Veda as an Inverted Tree?
Speech has been measured into four quarters. Those who are acquainted with
the brahman, thinking about it, know them. Three quarters have been laid in
secret and they do not move them; the human beings speak the fourth quarter
of Speech (RV X, , ).
˚
The fourth quarter might match the visible part of the brahman-tree, the
branches and the leaves, and thus the śākhā-s of MaiU VI, (quoted just
above) could also symbolize the speech as it is concretly spoken in time and
space. The bahuvrı̄hi tripād- also reminds us of the Purus.asūkta (RV X,
, d-a: tripā´d ˚ ˚
. diví // tripā´d ūrdhvá úd ait púrus.ah.) where
asyāmŕtam
it is said how Rc, Yajur˚and the Sāman were produced from the primeval
sacrifice: ˚
tásmād yajñā´t sarvahútah. sámbh rtam pr.sadājyám /
paśū
´n tā´m ˚ ˚
. ś cakre vāyavyā`n āran.yā´n grāmyā´ś ca yé // //
tásmād yajñā´t sarvahúta ŕcah. sā´māni jajñire /
ch ándām ˚
. si jajñire tásmād yájus tásmād ajāyata ////
From that great general sacrifice the dripping fat was gathered up. He formed
the creatures of the air, and animals both wild and tame. From that great
general sacrifice Rc- and Sāma-hymns were born. Therefrom were verse-meters
˚ had its birth from it (RV X, , -).
produced; the Yajus
˚
Indeed there is another Upanishadic passage where the inverted cosmic
tree is directly identified with the Purus.a:
vrks.a iva stabdho divi tis..thaty ekas tenedam pūrn.am purus.ena sarvam //
˚
He stands like a unique tree fixed in the sky; the universe is filled by this
Person (ŚvU III, ).
To sum up, these upanishadic texts do not invalidate our hypothesis of the
Veda as an inverted tree, although they are a little bit disapointing inasmuch
as they do not explicitly connect the inverted tree and the structure of the
Vedic tradition.
. Taittirı̄ya-Āran.yaka
In the TaiĀ, we can find almost the same text as in the Kat.hU, but in a
different context, which is very instructive for the interpretation:
striyas satı̄h. / tā u me pum̆sa
˙ āhuh. / paśyad aks.anvān na viceta andhas /
kavir yah. putras sa im ā ciketa //.// yas tā vijānāt sa pitus. pitāsat / andho
man.im avindat / tam anaṅgulir āvayat / agı̄vah. pratyamuñcat / tam ajihvo
asaścat / ūrddhvamūlam avākchākham / vrks.am yo veda samprati / na sa jātu
janah. śraddhadhyāt / mrtyur mā mārayād˚ iti / hasitam̆ ˙ ruditaṅ ı̄tam //.//
(personal edition) ˚
We already justified this translation in Pinchard , , footnote . Contra Falk
.
Alexis Pinchard
Although they are females, I am told that they are males. He who has eyes sees
them, but the blind one does not perceive them. The poet who is a [real] son
[of his father] understands this (solves the riddle). The one who acknowledges
them, he will be the father of his own father! Even if he is blind, he found
the necklace (= the mystic part of the soul, the ātman?); even if he has no
finger, he interwove [the jewels] on [it]; even if he has no neck, he put it on
himself; even if he has no tongue, he worshipped it [with speech]. The one who
exactly knows the tree with the roots upwards and the branches downwards,
he should absolutely not believe that Death will let him die: it would be a
ridiculous lament (TĀ I, , -)!
Since the identification with the primeval Rs.is is always the ultimate purpose
of an Upanayana, the decipherer of the riddle ˚ must actually be “the father
of his own father”, as it is said at the end of the riddle, because the Rs.is,
who the very origin of every priest lineage (brahmanic family) consists ˚ in,
are entitled “our first Fathers” (nah. pū´rve pitáras, RV I, , c = RV VI,
, a; cf. RV III, , b). ˚ ˚
˚
The fact that our Taittirı̄ya-Āran.yaka passage mentions the mystic in-
tuitive power of a blind man (andha) might be a supplementary proof of
the connection with the Pravargya Upanayana, because, during this special
dı̄ks.ā, the future initiate shall have his head and eyes covered by a veil, and
he has to keep silence, as if he were ajihva, “without any tongue”.
Houben and , -.
Roots and Branches: the Veda as an Inverted Tree?
In the syllabe of the stanza, in the highest firmament, on which all the gods
sat down: he who knoweth not that, what will he do with a stanza? They who
know that sit together yonder (= the seven Rs.is: cf. AVŚ X, , c). Shaping
with measure the step of the stanza, they shaped ˚ by the half-stanza all that
stirs; the bráhman of three feet (tripād ; cf. Mai VI, ), many formed, spread
out ; by that do the four quarters live (AVŚ IX, , -= AVP XVI, ).
This celestial and permanent origin of the sacred tradition is confirmed by
the late RV:
˚
mantráyante divó amús.ya pr.s.thé viśvavídam. vā´cam áviśvaminvām //
˚
On the back of that sky, [the Rs.is] claim the all-knowing speech, which can
not be moved by everybody (R˚V I, , , c-d).
˚
This uttering of the first sacred speech by the primeval seers still happens in
heaven: it is described with a verbe using the present tense.
Alexis Pinchard
In this Atharvan.ic fig tree, the language elements appear only at the last
level of the parn.as-s, not of the śākhā-s, just like in the Bhagavad-Gı̄tā XV,
(quoted above). And the fact that these leaves are equaled with gold likely
means that they are eternal. Nevertheless, if the word chandas- meant “verse
meter” instead of “hymn” (like in RV X, ), the creative power of each
next poets generation might be not˚denied.
Alas, the tree is not explicitly inverted. The impossibility that birds and
deers reach it might just mean that this fig tree is nothing material, nothing
visible. Moreover, if it were inverted, such a position could not be permanent
because it has also to “sustain the whole sky”.
The AVP furnishes another connection between sacred Speech and an
Aśvattha, marked with the same word samiti-. However the fig tree is now
more clearly inverted:
divo jāto divas putro yasmāj jātam . mahat sahas /
aśvattham agre jaitrāya--ācchā devam . vadāmasi ////
yo aśvatthena mitren.a samitı̄r avagacchati /
jayāt sa sarvāh. prtanā yāś ca satyā utānrtāh. ////
˚ ˚
The son of Sky is born from the sky. From him is born a great strength.
We firstly invoke the fig tree god for victory [. . . ] The one who goes in
a trial (or a philosophical debate ?) with the fig tree as an associate,
he will obtain victory in every strife, so well the true (fair) ones as the false
(unfair) ones (only AVP II, , -, to Aśvattha , ed. Zehnder).
tā
´bhyām
. yamásya sā´danam
. sámitı̄ś cāva gacchāt //
[I yoke for thee these two conveyers, to convey thee to the oher life ;] with
them you will attain Yama’s seat and his assemblies (AVŚ XVIII, , c-d).
Even when the word sámiti- does not occur, the thing is there:
yásmin v rk .sé supalāśé devaíh. sampíbate yamáh. /
˚
átrā no viśpáti h. pitā´ purān.ā´m̆
˙ ánu venati //
In the fair-leaved tree where Yama drinks together with the gods, until this
point our father, the chief of the tribe, follow the Ancesters with his spirit
(RV X, , ).
˚
This archetypal Aśvattha of Yama’s realm is clearly rooted in heaven,
and its branches, while being identified with the Kus.t.ha herb, may even go
downwards:
aśvatt h ó devasádanas trt´ı̄yasyām itó diví /
tátrāmŕtasya cák .san.am ˚
. tátah. kús..t o ajāyata /
h
sá kús.˚
t.h o viśváb h es.ajah. sākám. sómena ti .s.th ati /
takmā´nam . sárvam . nāśaya sárvāś ca yātud h
ānyàh. ////
The Aśvattha is the seat of the gods, in the third heaven from here. There is
the manifesation of immortality. From there Kus.t.ha was born: so, allhealing
Kus.t.ha stands together with Soma, causing all fever and all sorceresses to
vanish (transl. Arlo Griffiths modified, p. -, AVŚ XIX, , = AVP
VII, , ).
We have now to explain the close association between the fig tree and
Soma or the plants in general.
This Artharvan.ic Aśvattha, rooted in the “third heaven from here”, is not
viewed as a physical tree, even at the mythological level, but as a kind of
theological tree. It symbolizes the way the various divinities are articulated
together. The mutiplicity of gods is related to its single trunk, so that the
same sap, the same vital power enters every god. To be set in such a tree
means to have a divine power or a divine aspect. Such a seat has no physical
signification.
For example, the medicinal plants (os.adhi) are said to have their seat in
the Aśvattha:
padám ajanatā gabı̄rám //// “Prenant l’initiative comme des filles sans frères, se conduisant
mal comme des épouses qui trompent leur mari, alors même qu’ils sont pécheurs [dans leurs
actes], faux [dans leur discours] et dépourvus d’être [dans leur personne], ils ont engendré ce
symbole profond (RV IV, , , personal translation)!”
˚
Alexis Pinchard
This is why the Os.adhis are rooted in heaven, just like Yama’s Aśvattha:
divo mūlam avatam . prthivyām ota āhitah. /
˚ pari nah pātu viśvatah //
dharbhah. sahasravı̄ryah. . . .
The root [of it] is stretched down from heaven, it is placed on, woven into
the earth: let the darbha, having thousand powers, protect around us from all
sides (AVP VII, , , transl. Arlo Griffiths, p. ).
Roots and Branches: the Veda as an Inverted Tree?
perfectly eternal, because at least the secondary gods may endure growth
and exhaustion. The theological tree is so alive as a physical tree.
As we can see in the last quoted stanza (), the operation of apa-TAKS.-
does not exclude the idea that Skambha is a tree with many branches. On the
contrary, the ritual dismembering of the material pillar allows the constitution
of a theological tree which is perfectly alive but invisible, just like the ritual
killing of an animal allows the constitution of a new immortal ātman for
him, which shall be organized in accordance with the law of thought and
language: such an ātman will be chandomaya, “made of hymns”.
The part of the yajamāna that goes to the gods is just the hypostasis of the ritual process
itself, i.e., a new ātman consisting in the mantra-s of the RV, YV and SV. This ritually constituted
ātman is said chandomaya or vāṅmaya, “made of [Vedic] ˚ speech” (KauB II, ). Cf. AiB I, :
so’agner devayonyā āhutibhyah. sam . bhavati rgmayah . sāmamayo vedamayo brahmamayo ’mrta-
mayo sam bhūya devatā apy eti ya evam veda ˚yaś caivam vidvān anena yajñakratunā yajate (“He
˚
. . .
who knowing this, sacrifices according to this rite, is born from the womb of Agni and offerings,
and since he now is made of Vedic stanzas and songs, of Veda, of brahman and of immortality, he
goes to the divinities themselves.”) See Lévi , , Malamoud , and Pinchard ,
Alexis Pinchard
the higher thing [is] closer, the lower more distant. This, O Savitar, do thou
distinguish: six are twins, one [is] sole-born; they seek participation in him
who is the sole sole-born. A bowl with orifice sideways, bottom-side up — in
it is deposited glory of all forms; there sit together the seven Seers, who have
become the keeper of it, the great one (AVP XVI, , - = AVŚ X, , , ,
to Skambha, transl. by Whitney).
Indeed, in param nedı̄yo avaram davı̄yah., the word nedı̄yah. might refer to the
roots of the cosmic tree, and the word davı̄yah. to the leaves. This paradoxical
sentence might be a riddle that alludes the inversion of the cosmic tree.
Alexis Pinchard
I suppose that this Brāhman.a text conveys an old and authentic story of the
cosmic tree inversion, but it may give a wrong explanation for this religious
fact. I suppose that the Rs.is received the knowledge of sacrifice precisely
˚ was inverted, and not in spite of its inversion.
because the sacrificial stake
The idea of an “obstacle” is just motivated by the search for an etymology of
the word yūpa-. This story should be compared with Śunh.śepa’s liberation
from the sacrificial stake by Varun.a who had been pleased by his songs (RV
I, , ): did the sacrificial stake act as a means of knowledge? Anyway ˚the
topic of the sacrificial stake leads us to the Rg-Veda-Sam . hitā.
˚
Roots and Branches: the Veda as an Inverted Tree?
In the RV the metaphor of the poetic tree is based on the idea that time is
˚ into space. The origin distinguishes itself from the present solely
converted
by its place in the tree, but not by the fact that it does not exist anymore.
To compare the development of poetry with the growth of a tree is a way to
deny the fleeting nature of each word:
prá vo yajñés.u devayánto arcan dyā´vā námobh ih. prth iv´ı̄ i .sádh yai /
˚ ná śā´kh āh //
yés.ām bráhmān.y ásamāni víprā vís.vag viyánti vaníno .
During your sacrifices, may [the poets] who desire the gods praise Heaven
and Earth with homage so that they come: their best poetic formulae, never
similar to each other, excited by inspiration, go apart in all directions like the
branches of a tree (RV VII, , ).
˚
Here the diversity of songs is very positively valued and takes over a cosmic
dimension. There is a poetic etymological pun on the syllab vi-. The time
of the various poetic utterances during a single sacrifice is converted into
a space as large as the world . This diversity, generating the greatness of
the world, manifests the creative power of each Kavi and is necessary to the
achievement of sacrifice. The single bráhman-s have to reach the gods in
every point of the sky in order to have them hear the invitation of men and
come to their sacrifice on the earth. This is why the tree is not inverted: the
final goal of its growth is the sky where the gods have their abode. Moreover
the fact that the word bráhman occurs in this stanza constrasts with the
Upanishads where the brahman-tree is clearly inverted.
Such a conversion of ritual from time into space is also to be found in the later Vedic tradition.
The various kinds of successive oblations in a single ritual performance may be compared with
the various parts of a tree, especially the world-tree by which each being is sustained, because
each sacrifice is a new cosmogony. For example, in the BGPS I, .-, there occurs a certain
yajñavrks.a, of which upper part only is identified with Vedic speech: “As a tree, spung from
˚ with good roots, firm grounding, with many branches, fine blossoms, full of fruit, is
good soil,
used by gods, titans, angels, by sages and by ancestors, by birds, bees, flies, and ants, so too in
the simple worship rites (pākajajñes.u), all this [world] stands firm: the huta is to be recognized
as the good soil; the prahuta is called the root, the āhuta is the firm grounding; the tree of
worship (yajñavrks.a) is lofty! Numerous are its branches (śākhā), laden with blossoms and fine
˚
fruits. Those [branches] are easily perceived by the worshippers who really know the mantras
and brāhman.as, for he who understands the tree of worship is deemed learned” (Quoted and
translated by Lubin , ).
Alexis Pinchard
Thanks to the intuitions of their heart, they enter together the secret that
has thousand twigs. While weaving the wood frame stretched by Yama, the
Vasis.t.has worship the Apsaras (RV VII, , ).
˚
Here the mention of Yama enables us to understand that the various places
in the tree match various moments of the poetic tradition. Nothing excludes
that the tree is inverted. The thousand twigs are the various poetic creations
of Vasis.t.ha’s pupils. Each new Kavi tries to formulate through the best
riddle the same ultimate mystery of the cosmos: he thus becomes closer to
his own real origin. This mystery may be identified with Agni “in the heart”,
as a source of inspiration (cf. RV VI, , b), because Agni, in other texts, is
˚
identified with the cosmic Aśvattha.
Roots and Branches: the Veda as an Inverted Tree?
that nourrish and reinforce the celestial gods are poured into āhavanı̄ya
fire on earth. Therefore fire is the common principle of the gods (AiĀ II, :
agnir vai devayonih.). Hence Agni, despite of consuming the fig tree wood, is
somehow identified with the symbolic Aśvattha of sacrifice:
aśvattho jātah. prathamo ’gneh. priyatamā tanūh. /
The Fig Tree, who is born at first, is Agni’s most intimate aspect (only AVP
VII, , a-b).
But Agni is also a god! He is the immortal among the mortals. The fact
that Agni himself is the dvijánman par excellence, the main “twice-born”,
and even śatā´tman, “endowed with hundred visible or invisible personalities”
(RV I, , a and c, to Agni), has contributed to the gathering of the
˚
invisible ātman-s or tanū-s of the various secondary gods around him, in the
shape of a tree. Agni was a part of the process that promoted henotheism
and this god is also the law of the whole process. Nevertheless the theological
tree was originally not rigid, it was growing like the gods themselves during
the sacrifice and like the poetic performance.
Alexis Pinchard
soon as this sun in question sets, then the fire is the light; as soon as the sun
rises, then the sun is light. That is not reproach towards him (the sacrificer).
Just this is the reproach that [the Agnihotra] is offered not evidently towards
that divinity which is the divinity of Agnihotra. [One says:] “The fire is light,
the light is fire, svāhā”; in that case not, “for the fire, svāhā”. Now [one says]
in the morning, “The sun is the light, the light is the sun, svāhā”; in that case,
not “for the sun, svāhā” (ŚB (M) II , , ).
Night is thus the very cosmic situation where gods are able to dispatch their
powers towards the mortal beings. Nevertheless the period of the alternation
may also be longer:
JB (I.) says that men press out Soma juice in the first fortnight and
the gods in the second fortnight. But those who perform the sacrificial session
press out Soma in both fortnights. When men press out Soma in the first
fortnight, they thereby increase the heavenly world and generate it, and
when gods press Soma in the second fortnight they thereby increase and
generate this world. So performers of a sacrificial session, by pressing Soma
in both the fortnights increase and generate the heavenly world as well as
this world.
Varun.a, the god of Rta, is responsible for the alternation of the tree,
˚ night and day alternation. During the night
especially when it fits the
he carries up into the sky the primeval waters in which the cosmic tree is
rooted.
abudhné rā´jā várun.o vánasyordhvám . stū
´pam. dadate pūtádaks.ah. /
nı̄cı̄nā sthur upári budhná es.ām asmé antár níhitāh. ketávah. syuh. //
´
In the bottomless [space], the King Varun.a, whose mind is purified, holds
upwards the stūpa (the set of the roots?) of the tree. [The branches] stand
downwards whereas their bottom is above. May the flags [of the sacrificial
stake] be deposited among us (RV I, , , by Śunah.śepa)!
˚
Theses waters appear as the Milky Way: they are the rivers in the night
sky. Such a daily alternation is also to be found in the double movement
of the sun himself:
The sun never really sets or rises. In that they think of him “He is setting”,
verily having reached the end of day, he inverts himself; thus he makes evening
below, day above. Again in that they think of him “He is rising in the morning”,
verily having reached the end of night he inverts himself; thus he makes day
below, night above (AiB III, .).
Quotation and translation by Sakamoto-Gotô , -.
Quotation from Deshpande , -.
See Kuiper .
See Witzel . The bahuvrı̄hi adjective tripād- which applies to the inverted tree in MaiU
VI, might have an astronomical meaning. The three roots of the inverted tree may symbolize
three stars which stood round the polar star in the old Vedic age. See Janda , -.
Roots and Branches: the Veda as an Inverted Tree?
As Asko Parpola rightly noticed, the sun is compared with the single
wheel of the sun’s chariot, revolving horizontally (parallely to level ground),
and is understood to have a bright side and a dark side: when the chariot
comes back to its starting point, in the east, by turning round the axis mundi
in the opposite direction, its unique horizontal wheel has to be inverted,
so that it presents its dark side to mortal beings. Thus everything in the
universe is inverted when the night happens.
When the sacrificial stake is inverted and the poetic tree is rooted in
heaven, the movement of its vital sap is going downwards :
tvád víśvā sub h aga saúb h agāny ágne ví yanti vaníno ná vayā´h. /
Every auspicious happiness coming from you, o Agni, goes apart in all directions
like the branches of a tree (RV VI, , a-b, to Agni).
˚
The gods themselves are the trunk of a tree rooted in heaven, which every
help for the mortal beings comes from:
v rk .sásya nú te puruhūta vayā´ vy ū
`táyo ruruhur indra pūrv´ı̄h. //
˚
Like the branches of a tree, O many-invoked [god], your manyfold helps grew
in all directions (RV VI, , c-d, to Indra).
˚
This divine favor happens during the night because when the eyes are not
excited by light, one can pay attention to invisible things with one’s mind.
But, during the night, the time that is changed into space by the symbol of
the poetic tree is not the same. There are two scales of time: during the day,
it deals with the duration of a single poetic performance, whereas during the
night it deals with the duration of the whole poetic tradition, from “our first
Fathers” (nah. pū´rve pitáras, RV I, , c = RV VI, , a; cf. RV III, ,
˚
b) until the current Kavis. During ˚ primeval waters˚— I mean
the night, the
the origin of everything — become visible as Milky Way, also called Saravası̄,
the goddess of learning and eloquence. During the day, when a Kavi utters
the last word of his poem, the first word still exists but in heaven, among
See Parpola , and .
In this respect, we agree with Bhattacharya , when he writes: “The reversion is an
Indian development out of soteriological need (underlined by us). One must go back to the root
of the world, which is divine and must be farthest away from the mundane world.” But we do not
think that this reversion is only Indian and quite late in the Vedic tradition (see Bhattacharya
, and , -). A similar reversion occurs also in Siberia among the Shamanes, in
Plato and in the Iranian Manicheism, likely without influence from India. See Jacoby , ,
Kagarow and Pinchard , -.
Anquetil-Duperron , II: , while translating KauU I, gives unusual details about
the Ilya-tree which stands in heaven: “Et ex illā ut transierunt, una arbor est, quod nomen ejus
‘al’ est; id est, quilibet fructus qui in mundo est, in illa arbore est.” These details do not directly
occur in the Sanskrit text. Maybe they come from a brahmanic oral comment still alive at the
time when the Sanskrit text was translated into Persian language. See also Jacoby , ,
footnote .
Alexis Pinchard
the gods whose lives are saved by it. The poetic diversity that is praised
with the image of the growing normal tree concerns a single poem, with a
lot of stanzas, or a single sacrifice with sāman and rc.
On the contrary, during the night, the current ˚ Kavis are brought in
touch with the immortal speech of the seven Rs.is. Night is the moment of
communication with the divine ancesters who are ˚ drinking soma with Yama
“in the third heaven from here”. At this moment, the tree of sacred speech is
also a genealogical tree. The inverted tree symbolizes the moment when a
poet is looking at the very origin of his person, which remains as a kind of
internal center, and of his art. Such a spiritual activity is directed toward
past and unity. The experienced duration of life is being concentrated in a
single point, called “immortality” (amrta). Diversity in speech is not anymore
˚ as means to express the primeval unity.
directly valuated, but it is praised just
The religious upwards movement is no longer a creative process, but a return
to the eternal origin. Indeed the process through which the divine powers or
tanū-s come down (the inverted tree) is the same one as that through which
the human soul turns to the unique source of its inspiration. Both bring
salvation. During the night, each generation of poets lets the tradition grow
and diversify although respecting the common rules of poetic composition.
The novelty results from new combinations of the inherited elements. The
best way to imitate the primeval poets and to remain faithful to tradition
consists in acting creatively just like they did, instead of merely repeating
their poems word for word. Therefore the primeval speech is still alive while
the current Kavis are finding out new poems and thus this primeval speech
is sustaining the actual inspiration. The origin of tradition is not past away
although the present is not a mere repetition of the origin. The seven Rs.is
are still speaking “on the back of the sky” (divás pr.s.thé). ˚
˚
. Logical transformation
Now we can explain why the periodic inversion of the cosmic tree stopped
in the later stages of the Vedic thought and why the brahman-tree was
mainly conceived of as rooted in heaven, whereas it was no longer clearly
identified with the structure of the poetic tradition, this latter remaining
quite normally rooted in earth. So we can explain the discrepancy in the
Brahmanic tradition about the symbol of the Tree. Three factors are to be
considered:
) The gods need no longer the human help because they are absolutely
immortal. This new conception results from a logical process. In the original
religious system, the perpetual life of the gods was viewed as due to the
periodic performance of a sacrifice which conveyed food to them. But each
Roots and Branches: the Veda as an Inverted Tree?
Alexis Pinchard
brings nothing new. Therefore the creative power of a poet does not manifest
anymore his being in touch with divinity. The Veda may be viewed as
an eternal text rather than a living tradition. This is why the progressive
diversification of the poetic canon was considered as a sign of decadence, due
to a lack of memory and mental energy. Faithfulness and loyalty towards
the revelation of the primeval Seers were understood as a mere repetition
instead of a variation.
) The tree symbolizing the Vedic canon and its various schools was
distinguished from the cosmic tree, which was rooted in heaven and called
brahman because the brahman-tree had to be absolutely eternal whereas
it was still remembered that the division of the Vedic canon into various
recensions was the result of history. In accordance with this late distinction,
the Veda-vrks.a was almost always presented as rooted in earth. The image
of the tree˚for the Vedic canon and its schools was saved, but its original
meaning was lost.
This secret name will be publicly revealed for the first time at the Upanayana,
when the child accesses the Vedic speech. It announces the fact that the
ritual new ātman of the sacrificial victim will be chandomaya whereas the
sacrificer is potentially the main victime of every sacrifice. For example, in
AiB II, , when the sacrificial stake is entirely thrown into fire, the sacrificer
directly obtains svarga instead of cattle on earth. This is why the sacrificer’s
ritual body has the shape of a tree, just like the ritual body of the sacrificial
stake which is vāṅmaya. Such a tree is inverted because the sacrificer is
vrks.a iva stabdho divi tis..thaty ekas tenedam pūrn.am purus.ena sarvam // “He stands like a
˚ tree fixed in the sky; the universe is filled by this Person (ŚvU III, ).” For the role of the
unique
tree symbol in the yoga-physiology, see also Uttarā Gı̄tā II, -.
Roots and Branches: the Veda as an Inverted Tree?
sacrified for himself, for his own transcendental immortality, but not for the
gods; of course the sacrificer goes to the gods through sacrifice, but for his
own sake only. Such a sacrifice does not occur in order to nourrish the gods.
It has an individual soteriological goal, although it also has a cosmogonic
power like every sacrifice.
Inasmuch as the figure of an inverted tree symbolizes the Vedic tradition,
is constitutes the common mark that brings the Macro-cosmos and the
human Micro-cosmos into correspondence. Veda is a power that organizes
the relations between Sky and Earth, as well as the relations between the
various parts of the human body, because on the one hand no human thought
would be possible without the Veda, and on the other hand the human body
gets its specificity among the other living beings out of the manifestation of
our self-consciousness.
Such an interpretation of the assimilation between the human being and
an inverted tree, inasmuch as it is focused on language and poetic tradition,
lets foresee some comparative perspectives. The image of the inverted tree
is also to be found in Plato, where the upper part of soul, i.e., the rational
part, works as a root that fixes the human head in the direction of the sky;
the sky itself is moved by a divine soul which is perfectly rational:
τὸ δὲ δὴ περὶ τοῦ κυριωτάτου παρ΄ ἡμῖν ψυχῆς εἴδους διανοεῖσθαι δεῖ τῇδε, ὡς
ἄρα αὐτὸ δαίμονα θεὸς ἑκάστῳ δέδωκεν, τοῦτο ὃ δή φαμεν οἰκεῖν μὲν ἡμῶν
ἐπ΄ ἄκρῳ τῷ σώματι, πρὸς δὲ τὴν ἐν οὐρανῷ συγγένειαν ἀπὸ γῆς ἡμᾶς αἴρειν
ὡς ὄντας φυτὸν οὐκ ἔγγειον ἀλλὰ οὐράνιον, ὀρθότατα λέγοντες· ἐκεῖθεν γάρ,
ὅθεν ἡ πρώτη τῆς ψυχῆς γένεσις ἔφυ, τὸ θεῖον τὴν κεφαλὴν καὶ ῥίζαν ἡμῶν
ἀνακρεμαννὺν ὀρθοῖ πᾶν τὸ σῶμα.
And we should consider that God gave the sovereign part of the human soul
to be the divinity of each one, being that part which, as we say, dwells at
the top of the body, inasmuch as we are a plant not of an earthly but of a
heavenly growth, raises us from earth to our kindred who are in heaven. And
in this we say truly ; for the divine power suspended the head and root of us
from that place where the generation of the soul first began, and thus made
the whole body upright (Plato, Timaeus, a).
Alexis Pinchard
So, does the representation of the human being as an inverted tree constitute
an Indo-European inheritance? It is quite difficult to answer, because there are
also inverted trees which represent a human being in the shamanic culture,
whereas the Manichean evidence, on the Iranian side, might be due to some
Platonician influence. But, at least, Plato has transmitted to the West a very
old wisdom. He transmitted this wisdom not because it was Indo-European
or from any other origin, but because it was, according to him, meaningful
and true. The result of such a free, conscious and selective transmission
may retrospectively appear to us as what we use to call an “Indo-European”
inheritance. But, at Plato’s time, there was no “Indo-European” culture
which would have constituted as a real unity transcending individual minds.
only internal (anamnèsis). Philosophy does not require to learn by heart the speech of any guru.
The Platonician inverted tree does not convert the time of any human successive generations into
space, but converts the relation between time and eternity in general into space. Upanis.ads will
rejoin Plato when the only real guru of a man will be identified with his ātman which contains
the whole brahman symbolized by an inverted tree.
For the correction and the exact translation of the Greek text, see Jacoby , .
See Kagarow . The author furnishes the picture of a strange wood sculpture which is
made of an inverted tree with a human face just under the roots. These roots work as a kind
of hairs. We have no proof that such an inversion was connected with the development of any
poetic tradition.
. Appendix: Witzel : .
Abbreviations
AiĀ = Aitareya-Āran.yaka, ed. and tr. A.B. Keith. Oxford: Clarendon Press, .
AiB = Aitareya-Brāhman.a, ed. Th. Aufrecht, Bonn ; tr. A.B. Keith in
Rigveda-Brāhman.as, Cambridge (Mass.), ; M. Haug and S. Jain, Śrı̄ Aitareya
Brāhman.am. Delhi: New Bharatiya Book Corporation, ( vols).
——— . ed. and tr. A. Lubotsky, Atharvaveda-Paippalāda. Kan.d.a Five: Text, Transla-
tion, Commentary. Cambridge (Mass.): Harvard Oriental Series (Opera Minora vol.
), ;
Other kān.d.as:
——— . ed. Dipak Bhattacharya, The Paippalāda Sam . hitā of the Atharvaveda. Volume
One, Consisting of the first fifteen Kān.d.as. Calcutta: The Asiatic Society, ;
——— . ed. Dipak Bhattacharya, Paippalāda-Sam . hitā of the Atharvaveda. Volume Two,
Consisting of the Sixteenth Kān.d.a. Calcutta: The Asiatic Society, ;
Remaining kān.d.as:
——— . Witzel, Michael et alii. Electronic text of Leiden (unpublished).
AVŚ = Atharvaveda (Śaunaka), ed. R. Roth, W.D. Whitney and M. Lindenau, rd
reprint Bonn ; tr. W.D. Whitney, Harvard Oriental Series -, .
BĀU = Brhad-Āran.yaka-Upanis.ad, ed. and tr. É. Senart. Paris: Belles Lettres, .
˚
BG = Bhagavad-Gı̄tā, ed. and tr. É. Senart, Paris: les Belles Lettres, .
JB = Jaiminı̄ya-Brāhman.a, ed. Raghu Vira et Lokesh Candra. Nagpur ; tr. H.R.
Bodewitz, Jaiminı̄ya Brāhman.a I, -. Translation and Commentary, with a Study
on Agnihotra and Prān.āgnihotra. Leiden: Brill, .
KauU = Kaus.ı̄taki-Upanis.ad, ed. and tr. L. Renou, Paris: Adrien Maisonneuve, .
MaiU = Maitry-Upanis.ad, ed. and tr. A.-M. Esnoul. Paris: Adrien Maisonneuve, .
MS = Maitrāyan.ı̄-Sam
. hitā, ed. L. von Schroeder, Leipzig - ( vols.).
MSm = Manu-Smrti, ed. and tr. P. Olivelle, Manu’s Code of Law. Oxford: Oxford
˚ .
University Press,
TS = Taittirı̄ya-Sam
. hitā, ed. A. Weber, Indische Studien -, -; tr. A.B.
Keith, Harvard Oriental Series -, .
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