hindu-texts

"Put simply, the main insight of the Vaiśeṣika is that consciousness is not to be found as a property that emerges out of matter. The best analogy to understand it is to take reality as a coin of which one side is physical matter and the other side is consciousness, and ordinarily neither may be reduced to the other. Kaṇāda says that consciousness cannot be a substance for it is not something that is modified by time or space, and therefore it should be a separate ontological category."

"Kaṇāda speaks of nitya as a property that does not change or is invariant. From the perspective of physics, the idea of nitya is astonishingly modern. The property of nitya guarantees that the atom is spherical since it cannot have different characteristics along different directions."

"As I began to study the VS I was astonished by the sophistication of the system. Concluding that Kaṇāda’s work is a masterpiece of world science, I decided to spend all the time I could get to do a new translation along with a commentary."

"The Vaiśeṣika Sūtra (VS) is a central Indian text, but somehow it was ignored by scholars during the past century or so. I have seen books mention that Kaṇāda presented an atomic theory of matter independent and prior to the atomic doctrine of Democritus and leave it at that."

"The Vaiśeṣika system has categories not only for space-time-matter but also for attributes related to perception of matter. It starts with six categories (padārthas) that are nameable and knowable, asserting that nothing beyond these six is necessary."

"There are nine classes of substances (dravya), some of which are non-atomic, some atomic, and others all-pervasive. The non-atomic ground is provided by the three substances of ether (ākāśa), space (dik), and time (kāla), which are unitary and indestructible; earth (pṛthvī), water (āpas), fire (tejas), and air (vāyu) are atomic composed of indivisible, and indestructible atoms (aṇu); self (ātman), which is the eighth, is omnipresent and eternal; and, lastly, the ninth, is the mind (manas), which is also eternal but of atomic dimensions, that is, infinitely small."

"The VS takes the world to be atomic, with atoms of four kinds. Each material substance is composed of these atoms, two (or perhaps three) of which have mass and the remaining do not. The ordinary molecules of matter have all the four basic atoms present in them for by heating a solid substance changes into liquid, and later into gas; with still further heating it burns, converting into heat and light."

"The VS considers reality to have two aspects: physical and consciousness, with the two interacting when an observation is made. It anticipates the principle of psychophysical parallelism that lies at the basis of the Copenhagen Interpretation of quantum theory."

"The VS anticipates most of Newton’s laws of motion, including the one on how an object continues in its state of rest or motion unless impressed with forces and that each action has an equal and opposite reaction."

"The intuition behind the theory is that one atom is indicative of solidity and this is the heaviest; the second atom makes the liquid state possible and therefore it should be lighter; the third atom represents decay and it has (probably) no mass (this is not expressly stated); and the fourth is the constituent of light and heat and it definitely has no mass. It is astonishing that these atoms have turned out to be similar to proton, electron, neutrino, and photon."

"Like a flash his love vanished A trinket gets dangled in your world you reach for it and it’s gone"

"You may think you have much to say about the night spent with your lover. The whisperings, the teasings, the little quarrels, and even how he smelt. But my friends, in truth from the moment his hand felt my skirt I remember nothing."

"Mother, were he abroad I’d bear the separation but to live in separate houses in the same village is worse than death"

"The cord stretched in the diagonal of an oblong produces both [areas] which the cords forming the longer and shorter sides of an oblong produce separately."

"In case of multiples from the units place, the value of each place (sthana) is ten times the value of the preceding place."

"The diagonal cord of a rectangle makes both (the squares) that the vertical side and the horizontal side make separately."

"Long ago there was a King called Kakutstha in the Ikṣvāku dynasty. When he was ruling over the kingdom of Ayodhyā, a war broke out between Devas and Asuras. In that war, the Devas were not able to defeat the Asuras. Seeing no other way, Indra assumed the form of a bull and Kakutstha, riding on the back of the bull fought against the Asuras and defeated them."

"Yuga-yitam nimo-shena Chakshusha pravrisha-yitam Shunya-yitam jagat sarvam Govinda-virahena me"

"Moments drag on for ages Eyes shower storms of tears The whole world is an empty void Without you, Govinda"

"As far and wide the vernal breeze Sweet odors wafts from blooming trees, So, too, the grateful savor speeds To distant lands of virtuous deeds."

"Uttara Phalguni is the mouth of the year. Purva Phalguni is its tail, just as two ends of a thing meet so these two ends of the year meet together (GB I.19)."

"The Nakshatras are the houses of the Gods ... the Nakshatras of the Gods begin with the Krittikas and end with Vishakha, whereas the Nakshatras of Yama begin with Anuradha and end with the Apabharani (TB 1.5.2.7)."

"The level of agricultural operations is suggested vividly by TS.IV.2.5: The well with buckets fastened with strong straps that yieldeth abundantly... yoke the ploughs, stretch apart the yokes. May the ripe (grain) be brought low by the sickle. The plough, of keen share, propitious, with well-polished handle."

"Battles are graphically described in TS.IV.6.6: He whizzeth as he goes to battle/ The quiver, slung on the back, yielding its content/Doth conquer every band and army./Standing on the chariot he guideth his steeds before him..../ Skilfully the strong- hooved horses neigh/As with the cars they show their strength;/Trampling with their fore feet the enemy?They unflinchingly destroy the foe."

"Chitra is the head of Prajapati (the God of the sacrifice or the year), Swati the heart, Hasta the hand Vishakha the thighs, and Anuradha the foot (TB I.5.2.2).'"

"This entire (universe) has been created by Brahma. Men say that the Vaishya class was produced from rig verses. They say that the Yajur Veda is the womb from which the Kshattriya was born. The Sama Veda is the source from which the Brahmins sprang. This word the ancients declared to the ancients."

"Brihaspati as he was born revealed Tishya Nakshatra (TB 111. 1.1.5)."

"One should consecrate the (sacred) fire in the Krittikas; ... the Krittikas are the mouth of the Nakshatras (TB 1.1.2.1)."

"The Sun, therefore, goes by the south for six months and for six months by the north."

"The year has two halves, white and black; two sides, right and left. Hence is this verse (of the Rig Veda), "White is one, holy is the other, two days diverse in form are yours, you are like Heaven ... Pushan let your blessing be here.""

"Whoso worships God under the thought, "He is the foundation," becomes founded; under the thought, "He is great," becomes great; under the thought, "He is mind," becomes wise."

"The written law of the śāstras and the customary laws of the different groups of humanity thus existed side by side, equally respected though often in notable disagreement with each other. The former acted upon the latter and restricted its mobility; but the latter also acted upon the former through the medium of interpretation. The result was an extremely variable and diverse law."

"To place the two Indian epics on a par with Homer or Virgil is to ignore how the Indian poems have been adored and how they have moulded the character and faith of the people."

"An Arya is one who hails from a noble family, of gentle behavior and demeanor, good-natured and of righteous conduct."

"When Kovalan and Kannagi are married, they “walk around the holy fire,” a typically Vedic rite still at the centre of the Hindu wedding. Welcomed by a tribe of fierce hunters on their way to Madurai, they witness a striking apparition of Durga, who is addressed equally as Lakshmi and Sarasvati—the three Shaktis of the Hindu trinity. There are numerous references to legends from the Mahabharata, the Ramayana, and the Puranas. After worshipping at two temples, one of Vishnu and the other of Shiva, the Chera king Shenguttuvan goes to the Himalayas in search of a stone for Kannagi’s idol, and bathes it in the Ganges—in fact, the waters of Ganga and those of Cauvery were said to be equally sacred."

"Let us briefly turn to the famous Tamil epic Shilappadikaram (second to sixth century AD), which relates the beautiful and tragic story of Kannagi and Kovalan ; it opens with invocations to Chandra, Surya, and Indra, all of them Vedic Gods, and frequently praises Agni, Varuna, Shiva, Subrahmanya, Vishnu-Krishna, Uma, Kàli, Yama and so forth. There are mentions of the four Vedas and of “Vedic sacrifices being faultlessly performed.” “In more than one place,” writes V. Ramachandra Dikshitar, the first translator of the epic into English, “there are references to Vedic Brahmans, their fire rites, and their chanting of the Vedic hymns. The Brahman received much respect from the king and was often given gifts of wealth and cattle.”"

"The “Eight Anthologies” of poetry (or eññuttokai ) abound in references to many gods : Shiva, Uma, Murugan, Vishnu, Lakshmi (named Tiru, which corresponds to Sri) and several other Saktis. The Paripàóal, one of those anthologies, consists almost entirely of devotional poetry to Vishnu. One poem begins with a homage to him and Lakshmi, and goes on to praise Garuda, Shiva on his “majestic bull,” the four-faced Brahma, the twelve âdityas, the Ashwins, the Rudras, the Saptarishis, Indra with his “dreaded thunderbolt,” the devas and asuras, etc., and makes glowing references to the Vedas and Vedic scholars. So does the Puranànåru, another of the eight anthologies, which in addition sees Lord Shiva as the source of the four Vedas and describes Lord Vishnu as “blue-hued” and “Garuda-bannered”. Similarly, a poem of a third anthology, the Akanànåru, declares that Shiva and Vishnu are the greatest of gods."

"The Tolkàppiyam also formulates the captivating division of the Tamil land into five regions (tiõai ), each associated with one particular aspect of love, one poetical expression, and also one deity : thus the hills (kuriji ) with union and with Cheyon (Murugan) ; the desert (pàlai ) with separation and Koççavai (Durga) ; the forests (mullai ) with awaiting and Mayon (Vishnu-Krishna) ; the seashore (neytal ) with wailing and Varuna ; and the cultivated lands (marutam) with quarrel and Ventan (Indra). Thus from the beginning we have a fusion of non-Vedic deities (Murugan or Koççavai), Vedic gods (Indra, Varuna) and later Puranic deities such as Vishnu (Màl or Tirumàl). Such a synthesis is quite typical of the Hindu temperament and cannot be the result of an overnight or superficial influence ; it is also as remote as possible from the separateness we are told is at the root of so-called “Dravidian culture.”"

"It is unfortunate that the most ancient Sangam compositions are probably lost for ever ; we only know of them through brief quotations in later works. An early text, the Tamil grammar Tolkàppiyam, dated by most scholars to the first or second century AD,35 is “said to have been modelled on the Sanskrit grammar of the Aindra school.”"

"Its content, says N. Raghunathan, shows that “the great literature of Sanskrit and the work of its grammarians and rhetoricians were well known and provided stimulus to creative writers in Tamil.... The Tolkàppiyam adopts the entire Rasa theory as worked out in the Nàtya øàstra of Bharata.”"

"It also refers to rituals and customs coming from the “Aryans,” a word which in Sangam literature simply means North Indians of Vedic culture ; for instance, the Tolkàppiyam “states definitely that marriage as a sacrament attended with ritual was established in the Tamil country by the Aryas,”"

"Only relative chronology has been well argued for."

"We may reasonably argue that such a fixed form and substance would not easily be possible in the beginnings of thought and psychological experience or even during their early progress and unfold- ing. We may therefore surmise that our Sanhita represents the close of a period, not its commencement, nor even some of its successive stages. It is even possible that its most ancient hymns are a comparatively modern development or version of a more ancient lyric evangel couched in the freer and more pliable forms of a still earlier human speech... The Veda itself speaks constantly of 'ancient' and 'modern' Rishis tpurvebhib... nutanaihy. the former remote enough to be regarded as a kind of demigods, the first founders of knowledge."

"Max Muller's dating of the Veda illustrates the arbitrariness involved in the production of theories that are then propagated as "facts" in generations of schoolbooks."

"It is quite clear that we cannot fix a terminum a quo, whether the Vedic hymns were composed 1000 or 2000 or 3000 years BC, no power on earth will ever determine."

"It was once said that dates in Indian studies are like bowling pins, set up only to be knocked down later. I do not think that this ought to stop us from making suggestions."

"I need hardly say that I agree with almost every word of my critics. I have repeatedly dwelt on the merely hypothetical character of the dates which I ventured to assign to the first three periods of Vedic literature. All I have claimed for them has been that they are minimum dates, and that the literary productions of each period which either still exist or which formerly existed, could hardly be accounted for within shorter limits of time than those suggested."

"These dates Mueller later insisted were minimum dates only, and latterly there has been a sort of tacit agreement... to date the composition of the Rigveda somewhere about 1400-1500 BC, but without any absolutely conclusive evidence."

"As to the actual date of the Veda … if we were to place it at 5000 BC, I doubt whether anybody could refute such a date, while if we go back beyond the Veda, and come to measure the time required for the formation of Sanskrit … I doubt whether even 5,000 years would suffice for that. There is an unfathomable depth in language, layer following after layer, long before we arrive at roots, and what a time and what an effort must have been required for their elaboration, and for the elaboration of the ideas expressed in them."

"It is amazing to note that all the supporters of the date 1200-1000 B.C. for the Veda very conveniently ignore the caution which Max Muller had initially observed."