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Re: Fw: Images of Religion

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Mani Varadarajan • November 7, 2002 


--- In bhakti-list@y..., "D Bala sundaram"  wrote:
> This is the response I got from Ms Nandita Krishna. I would like to 
> know the views of the members.
>

srimate ramanujaya namah

Dear Sri Bala Sundaram,

I agree that a detailed linguistic analysis of the Rg Veda
is really beyond the scope of this list. Moreover, I would
wager that none of us are really knowledgable enough in
Vedic Sanskrit to give you a helpful answer on this
matter. I can, however, offer a few words about the views of
traditional scholars on the language of the Rg Veda.

In the Vedic tradition, and by this I include the acharyas
of Vedanta such as Sri Sankara, Sri Ramanuja, and Sri Madhva, 
the very words of the Veda are eternal, constituting the
very breath of the Paramapurusha.  In every kalpa, the 
Paramapurusha himself "remembers" the prior word order of
the Veda and propagates it through rishis, who "perceive"
the mantras in their meditation. The rishis are therefore
known as "mantra-drashTas".  A corollary of this idea
is that the Vedic language is also something divine and
eternal.  Hence, the idea that some Veda mantras are later
than others on a linguistic basis does not hold much water
with traditional scholars because belief in the eternality
of the very words is axiomatic.

It is not that scholars in those days did not see some of the
difficulties involved in such a view. If I recall
correctly, many outside the orthodox Vedic fold, themselves
good Sanskritists as Sanskrit was the lingua franca of 
the day, criticized the idea of the Veda's eternality
as being outside the realm of common sense and logic. 
Though some, such as scholars of the Dvaita school, tried
to establish the Veda's eternity and unauthoredness on
logical grounds, the arguments are not very convincing and
one must fall back on the axiomatic nature of such a 
belief to stay on unassailable ground.

In this day, some traditional scholars of all schools
reinterpret this idea in a manner that does not give pause
to those of a more historical or linguistic mindset.  Their
belief is that it is not the very _word_ of the Veda
that is eternal but the truth behind it. The truth itself
is revealed by the Paramatman through rishis and saints
over different periods of time -- a continuing revelation
as it were.  Hence, there is no trouble if the 10th mandala
of the Rg Veda is slightly different linguistically from
other sections, since it is all divinely revealed. There is
no hierarchy based purely on the age of the words.

The latter argument is also supported by the traditional
Sri Vaishnava belief that the Divya Prabandham is also a
divinely revealed scripture, sung through the Alvars in
a relatively modern tongue by the Paramapurusha for the 
benefit of modern humanity.  This explicit equation is made
by Sri Azhagiya Manavala Perumal Nayanar in the "Acharya
Hridayam". The idea here is that just as the Vedas are
eternally revealed truths of a sort, the Tamil Vedas are
also revealed, eternal truths, the Alvars being the rishis.
The recent acharya and scholar Sri Srirama Desikacharya of 
Oppiliappan Kovil has pointed out that acharya Sri Vedanta Desika
shared this opinion, as he invariably called the Divya 
Prabandham "maRai" and wrote that the sacred hymns were "seen", not 
composed, implying that they too were of standing similar to the
Veda.

 || namah paramarshibhyah ||

adiyen ramanuja dasan,
Mani


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