Post No. 10,236
Date uploaded in London – 20 OCTOBER 2021
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In the first part posted yesterday, I gave the full hymn on agriculture (RV 10-101). Let us take the first three mantras from it for discussion:
RIG VEDA 10-101
.1. WAKE with one mind, my friends, and kindle Agni, ye who are many and who dwell together.
Agni and Dadhikras and Dawn the Goddess, you, Gods with Indra, I call down to help us.
2. Make pleasant hymns, spin out your songs and praises: build ye a ship equipped with oars for transport.
Prepare the implements, make all things ready, and let the sacrifice, my friends, go forward.
3. Lay on the yokes, and fasten well the traces: formed is the furrow, sow the seed within it.
Through song may we find bearing fraught with plenty: near to the ripened grain approach the sickle.
My Comments
This hymn is sung by a Rishi called Budha, Son of Soman . it is very interesting to see Budha, son of Soma, because this occurs in mythological stories in the Puranas and the Nava Graha Stuti/hymn.
Budha , planet Mercury, is praised as the Son of Moon in the later Sanskrit hymns. There is some science behind it. I have already explained in one of my articles about the scientific theories on the origin of moon. They are called Daughter Theory, Sister Theory, Friend theory etc. Now let us take the daughter or Son Theory. Moon was thrown out of earth when Mercury crashed on earth millions or billions of years ago.
The diameter of the moon is similar to the diameter of the Pacific ocean. So scientists believe that a big chunk of earth was thrown out of earth from the area of Pacific ocean. But scientists never said anything about Mercury dashing against the planet earth. But Hindus believe so. Hindus will be proved right in course of time. So Hindus may boast that they were scientists from the days of Rig Veda, when the fact is proved.
In the first mantra, Rishi Budha calls his comrades to ‘wake up’ and do the job. Rig vedic rishis claim in many Mantras they always enjoy speaking in mysterious language, may be coded or symbolic language. So all the mantras can be explained in spiritual, philosophical, scientific, literal, symbolic ways. Here the rsihsi’s (Seer’s) call ‘Wake Up’ is similar to ‘Uththishta’ in Upanishad and Bhagavad Gita. Krishna wakes Arjuna in at least five places in the Bhagavad Gita with the word ‘Uththista’ (Arise).
Andal , the mystic Tamil woman, also says to her colleagues, ‘O Ladies What is this long sleep? Wake up’. Philosophers interpret it as a clarion call to the spirt (Atma) in the body. So Andal was not speaking about the ordinary sleep. In the same way we may interpret it as a clarion call to the Atma in every human being.
The word ‘Dadhikra’ in the first mantra is also mysterious. Brahmins do a mantra with this name in their Sandhaya Vandhana thrice a day. It is interpreted as a ‘Special Horse of Indra’ or a’ Flying Horse’. One researcher interpreted as an Ostrich and showed ostrich eggs were discovered in ancient beds of India. Others interpreted as the one horn ‘Unicorn in Indus seals’ as Dahikran. It may be a flying horse. Even for Indus Valley researchers, Unicorn seal has been a mystery!
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Get ready with Ships!
The second mantra is also interesting which talks about ships or boats. He asks workers to get ready with the tools, equipment or implements. Like first mantra it asks Brahmins to get ready with Fire Sacrifice.
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My comments
I think the rishi is addressing the sections of community:-
Brahmins ,Go forward with Agni/fire. It means do your daily fire rituals.
Business men, Go around the ocean and bring us treasures. Actually there is a Tamil saying ‘By Sailing the Oceans, Look for Treasures’.
Then it addresses the agriculturists; get ready with your tools. From third mantra onwards it is purely agricultural.
There are two more points:-
It is a farmers song which is well featured in Tamil literature such Tamil epic Silappadikaram, Tamil Kavya Kamba Ramayanam. It is called Uzavar Odhai.
Readers who have seen the beautiful song in the Hindi film ‘Mother India’ would know what it is. Farmers sing songs while doing harvest or sowing in groups.
The second point is ‘Spin out Your Songs!’ Throughout the Rig Veda poetry is described with various similes. It shows they are culturally advanced. Here the poet says ‘Spin out your Songs’; in another hymn a poet says ‘ Fire Your Arrows of Songs/poems.
Another point is also worth mentioning here. The Poet’s name may be imaginary. In Tamil Sangam literature, at least 20 poets have some strange names! The names are crated with the expressions or cliché they used in their poems. We See Kaakai Padiniyar, the woman who sings Crows, They puri Pazankayranar , the poet Worn out Rope, Sempulap Peyar Neerar,the poet Red Earth Water Mixing etc. For this and for the arrangement of poems in Tamil anthologies Tamil compilers followed Rig Veda. They arranged the poems like Vyasa did with the four Vedas. Budhan, son of Soma/Moon, may also be an imaginary name because here he is saying something about Soma.
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MUSIC HELPS PALNTS TO GROW RICHER
The third mantra is very important. It describes stages in farming from seeding to harvesting. More importantly it says ,
‘Through song may we find bearing fraught with plenty: near to the ripened grain approach the sickle’.
Songs increase Harvest. That is music helps plants to grow faster and healthier. Harvest is increased by songs. Another point emphasized here is It is a Farmers Song.
SCIENCE BEHIND SOMA PALANT
The name of the Rishi throws more light on the mysterious Soma plant. Soma is used in many senses, meanings in the Rig Veda. But the meaning of Soma, mostly, is Moon or Soma herb. In a passage in the Rig Veda Soma herb is called Number 15, i.e. Pancha Dasa Soma. Sayana explains the reason for it. The Soma plant grows like Moon for 15 days and then decreases for 15 days in the dark half of month. Probably this is the reason to call Moon and the herb with the same name.
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KRISHNA ON SOMA PLANTS
Now this quality of Soma plant is new to botanists . Hindus are the only community in the whole world who connects Moon and Plants. Soma is punned in Rig Veda to mean the mystery herb and Moon.
Lord Krishna also links Moon with plants; Soma Herb and the Moon; he also confirms the magical qualities of Moon and Soma herb.
In Bhagavad Gita 9-20 , Lord Krishna says,
“The knowers of the three Vedas who drink the Soma juice and are cleansed of sin , worshipping Me with sacrifices, pray for the way to heaven “.
In Bhagavad Gita 15-13 , Lord Krishna says,
“And entering the earth, I support all beings by My vital energy; and becoming the sapful soma/ moon , I nourish all herbs/plants”.
Here we come across some scientific matter yet to be confirmed by science.
1.Soma is not a narcotic or hallucinatory drug as claimed by the vicious, half baked Westerners. It is an elixir and tonic. It purifies one’s mind. Alcoholic drinks spoil one’s mind and body are known facts. But the juice of Soma is healthy. It is confirmed by Tamil Inscription Dalavaipuram Copper Plates of Parantaka Veera Narayanan, the Pandya king of Ninth Century CE. Here a person known as Kataka Somayaji of Somasikurichi is described as ‘Mano Sudha Soma yaji’, ‘one who was purified in mind’ by SomaYaga/ fire sacrifice. That person existed long before this Pandya king, says the inscription.
From this we know the belief of Tamils about the Soma herb. Kanchi Paramacharya also says that a person who has done Soma Yaga is given a White Umbrella, which is held only by Three Great Kings of Tamil Nadu (and in other parts of India, the emperors of Hindu India).
The second point is the link between the plants and the moon. It has been described throughout Sanskrit literature and confirmed by the Rig Veda and the Bhagavad Gita. Modern botanists have never found or reported any link between the Moon and Plant growth. But Even Lord Krishna reports it in the Gita. Scientists will one day find such a ink and Hindus , then, can boast that we have already reported it in the Vedas.
In this context I would like to draw the attention of my readers to read Soviet scientist Ya Perelman’s book ‘Astronomy for Entertainment’. He says what would happen if earth had no moon. It is very interesting. Perhaps that may explain our theory about Moon and plants.
Now we know why Hindus named both the mysterious herb and Moon with the same word SOMA!
To be continued …………………………..
tags- farmers song, Rig Veda, Soma, Panchadasa, Moon-plant link, Bhagavd Gita, Botany in Veda, Music plants link
Tamil and Vedas 