PART 3 10724
25 The role of Savitr̥ as psychopomp is illustrated by such passages
as Rig-Veda 10.17.3-6: according to the Kalpa to Taittirīya-Āraṇyaka 6.1.1,
this text is a prayer for the dead at the ritual of cremation; Savitr̥ is
implored to place the dead man into the abode of the pitŕ̥-s:
yátrā́sate sukŕ̥to yátra té yayús tátra tvā deváḥ savitā́ dadhātu
Rig-Veda 10.17.4 where the doers of good abide, where they have gone,
there may the Deva [god] Savitr̥ put you [the dead man.
In the function of psychopomp, Savitr̥ has a thematic correlate called
Pūṣan; in the same Savitr̥ passage (10.17.5) this Pūṣan is implored to
guide the dead man “along the least dangerous path” (ábhayatamena), being a
“bestower of well-being” (svastidā́). Like Savitr̥, Pūṣan is associated
with the path of the sun (Rig-Veda 2.40.4-5, 6.56.3, 6.58.2); in fact, it
is the theme of the sun’s path that makes Savitr̥ and Pūṣan overlap in
identity: utá pūṣā́ bhavasi deva yā́mabhiḥ Rig-Veda 5.81.5
and you, Deva [the god Savitr̥] become Pūṣan by your movements.
Previously, the movements of Savitr̥ had just been described:
utá rā́trīm ubhayátaḥ páriyasa Rig-Veda 5.81.4 and you [Savitr̥] go around
e night on both sides.
26 From the other contexts, we may assume here that Savitr̥ goes
east to west when night is below us and west to east when night is above
us. Savitr̥ and Pūṣan are correlates elsewhere, too, in the Rig-Veda
(3.62.9-10, 10.139.1), but it will suffice here to consider only their
correlation in solar movement. In the same hymn where Savitr̥ and Pūṣan
function as correlate psychopomps, the solar movements of Pūṣan are
described in the following mystical language:
prápathe pathā́m ajaniṣṭa pūṣā́ prápathe diváḥ prápathe pr̥thivyā́ḥ
ubhé abhí priyátame sadhásthe ā́ ca párā ca carati prajānán
Rig-Veda 10.17.6 at the extremity of paths was Pūṣan born, at the
extremity of the sky, at the extremity of the earth; over both most dear
sadhástha-s he goes to and fro, knowing [the way].
27 Two basic questions are: (1) what is the extremity of sky/earth and
(2) what are the two sadhastha-s ‘abodes’ of the sun?
A bivalent answer can he derived from the Indic concept of Sky and Earth as
surrounded by Ocean, on all sides. This concept is implicit in a Rig-Vedic
theme that has it that all streams and rivers flow into the Samudra ‘Ocean’
(1.32.2, 1.130.5, 2.19.3), as also in another theme, {98|99} which has it
that there is an East Ocean and a West Ocean (10.136.5), or that there are
four Oceans (9.33.6). These concepts seem to be based on mythopoeic
patterns of cosmic order rather than geographical experience, so that there
is room for believing also in an upper Ocean matching the Sky as well as a
lower Ocean matching the Earth (cf. 10.98.5, 12). But this distinction is
just a sophisticated elaboration: the basic idea remains that the Ocean
comes between where the Earth stops and the Sky begins. It follows, then,
that the sun submerges in the Ocean at sunset and emerges from it at
sunrise; in fact, this concept is explicit in the testimony of the
Taittirīya-Āraṇyaka (4.42.33) and the Aitareya-Brāhmaṇa (4.20.13; cf. also
Atharva–Veda 13.2.14). Thus the birth of Pūṣan from the extremity of
Sky/Earth (again, Rig-Veda 10.17.6) must mean that the sun was born of the
Ocean. It must be for this reason that Pūṣan’s solar correlate Savitr̥ is
specifically called apā́ṃ nápāt ‘progeny of the waters’ (1.22.6);
furthermore, Savitr̥ as Apām Napãt even knows such secrets as where the
fountainhead of the Ocean gushes forth (10.149.2). As for the two
sadhástha-s ‘abodes’ of Pūṣan (10.17.6), they must be the Sky and the
Ocean: as he travels to and fro (ā́ ca párā ca carati), he goes cast to
west in the Sky at day and, somehow, west to east at night after having
plunged into the Ocean.
28 To be contrasted with the two sadhástha-s of Pūṣan are the three
sadhástha-s of the fire-god Agni (Rig-Veda 3.20.2, etc.); in fact, one of
Agni’s epithets is tri-sadhasthá– ‘having three sadhástha-s’ (5.4.8, etc.).
Unlike the fire of the sun, which has abodes only in the sky and in the
water, Agni as sacrificial fire abides also on earth. The word agní– itself
means ‘fire’, cognate with Latin ignis. Agni as god links the microcosm of
sacrificial fire with the macrocosm of celestial fire. As sacrificial fire,
Agni is kindled on earth at dawn so that the sun may rise (4.3.11, 5.6.4).
If there were no sacrificial fire at dawn, there would be no sunrise
(Śatapatha–Brāhmaṇa 2.3.1.5). From a cosmic point of view, Agni himself
caused the sun to rise (Rig-Veda 10.156.4).
The three sadhástha-s ‘abodes’ of Agni correspond to three different
proveniences of Agni, and the Rig-Veda reveals them in the following order
(10.45.1):
First, Agni is born in the Sky, as lightning;
Second, Agni is born on Earth, as sacrificial fire;
Third, Agni is born in the Ocean, as the sun.
Let us examine in more detail the third provenance of Agni. Like the
sun-god Savitr̥, the water-born third Agni is also called apā́ṃ nápāt
‘progeny of the waters’ (Rig-Veda 3.1.12-13, 3.9.1, etc.). Elsewhere, Apām
Napāt seems to exist as a separate entity (10.30.3-4, etc.); he is
celebrated in one whole hymn (2.35), but even here he is identified with
Agni in the last stanza. Just as Savitr̥ as specialized sky-god has
features derivable from Dyaus ‘Sky’ so also Apām Napãt: whereas Savitr̥ is
called the prajā́pati-, the creator of the universe (4.53.2), Apām Napāt
is described as the one who “created all things” (víśvāni…bhúvanā jajāna
2.35.2).
End of Part 3 KR IRS 10724 11724
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