Artic Home of the Aryans by Lokamanya Bal ... - Mandhata Global

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question one way or the other; but if the composition of the hymns is
once ascribed to human effort, and one to divine inspiration or to the
gods directly, it is clear that at least some of these old يishis believed
the hymns to have been sung under inspiration or generated directly
by the goddess of speech or other deities. We may reconcile the
former of these views with the passages where the hymns are said to
be made by human effort, on the supposition that the poets who sang
the hymns believed themselves to be acting under divine inspiration.
But the explanation fails to account for the statement that the يik, the
Yajus, and the Sâman, all emanated from the Supreme Purusha or
the gods; and we must, therefore, conclude that the tradition about
the eternity of the Vedas, or their divine origin is as old as the Veda
itself. Accordingly, when we come to the Brâhmanas and the
Upanishads, we naturally find the same view prevailing. They tell us
that the يig-Veda proceeded from Agni (fire), the Yajur-Veda from
Vâyu (wind), and the Sâma-Veda from Sûrya (the sun), and that
these three deities got their warmth from Prajâpati who practiced
lapas for the purpose (Shat. Brâh, XI, 5, 8, 1 ƒƒ; Ait. Brâh. V, 32-34;
Chhân. Up. IV, 17, 1); or that the Vedas are the breathings of the
Supreme Being (Bṛih. Up. II, 4, 10); or that Prajâpati by means of the
eternal Vâch created the Vedas and everything else in this world; and
the same view is met with in the Smṛitis like those of Manu (I, 21-23)
and others, or in the Purânas, several extracts from which are given
by Dr. Muir in the volume above referred to. It is admitted that the
Vedas, with other things, are destroyed, at the end of a Kalpa, by the
deluge (pralaya) which overtakes: the world at the time. But we are
told that this does not affect the question of the eternity of the new
Kalpa by Brahmâ himself after the grand deluge, and by the يishis,
who survive, after minor deluges. The authority generally quoted in
support of this view is a verse from the Mahâbhârata (Shânti-Parvan,
Chap. 210, v. 19) which says, “The great يishis, empowered by
Svayambhû (the self-born), formerly obtained, through tapas
(religious austerity), the Vedas and the Itihâsas, which had