Writings on the Veda and philology, and translations of Vedic hymns to gods other than Agni not published during Sri Aurobindo's lifetime.
On Veda
Writings on the Veda and philology, and translations of Vedic hymns to gods other than Agni not published during Sri Aurobindo's lifetime. The material includes (1) drafts for 'The Secret of the Veda', (2) translations (simple translations and analytical and discursive ones) of hymns to gods other than Agni, (3) notes on the Veda, (4) essays and notes on philology, and (5) some texts that Sri Aurobindo called 'Writings in Different Languages'. Most of this material was written between 1912 and 1914 and is published here for the first time in a book.
THEME/S
VEDIC AND PHILOLOGICAL STUDIES consists of writings by Sri Aurobindo on the Veda, his translations of and commentaries on Vedic hymns to gods other than Agni, a selection from his notes on the Veda, and his writings and selected notes on philology. None of this material was published during his lifetime. Writings on the Veda and translations of Vedic hymns that he published between 1914 and 1920 are reproduced in The Secret of the Veda with Selected Hymns, volume 15 of THE COMPLETE WORKS OF SRI AUROBINDO. His translations of and commentaries on hymns to Agni, whether published during his lifetime or not, are reproduced in Hymns to the Mystic Fire, volume 16 of THE COMPLETE WORKS.
Sri Aurobindo took up the study of the Rig Veda within a year or two after he arrived in Pondicherry in 1910. Meanwhile he had begun working on the philology of the so-called "Aryan" languages. Between 1912 and 1914 he wrote a number of incomplete works on the Veda and philology, produced many translations of Vedic hymns, and took extensive Vedic and philological notes. In August 1914 he began to publish essays on the Veda and translations of Vedic hymns in the Arya, a monthly journal of which he was the editor. The essays, most of which appeared under the title The Secret of the Veda, and the translations, which appeared with commentaries and notes mainly under the titles Selected Hymns and Hymns of the Atris, were newly written for the Arya, though they made use of ideas and interpretations first sketched in the earlier manuscript writings. Though unrevised and often incomplete, the manuscript material is of considerable interest to students of the development of Sri Aurobindo’s thought and contains some insights that he did not incorporate in his published works.
Sri Aurobindo wrote these pieces between the beginning of 1912 and
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August 1914, when he began to publish The Secret of the Veda in the Arya. Although he did not have the final form of that book in mind when he began to write expositions on the Veda, we may with hindsight regard some of these pieces as drafts for the work published in the Arya from 1914 to 1916. Many ideas and examples that occur in The Secret of the Veda are found in these earlier pieces.
The Veda and European Scholarship. Early 1912. Heading in the manuscript: “Veda.” This piece follows directly after entries for the Record of Yoga dated 13 January to 8 February 1912.
The Hymns of Madhuchchhandas. Early 1912. These two versions of “Chapter I” of a proposed book whose working title was “The Hymns of Madhuchchhandas” were written one after the other in a notebook used a little later for entries for the Record of Yoga dated July 1912. [A] The first version begins with a reference to an earlier work by the author expounding Vedantic philosophy as found in the Isha Upanishad. This is probably what is published as “Chapters for a Work on the Isha Upanishad” on pages 311 to 349 of Isha Upanishad, volume 17 of THE COMPLETE WORKS OF SRI AUROBINDO. No work with the title mentioned in the last paragraph, “God & the World”, is known to have survived. In the third paragraph Sri Aurobindo writes that he intends to examine “the eleven hymns of Madhuchchhanda Vaiswamitra & his son Jeta with which the Rigveda opens”, since these hymns form “a favourable ground for the testing of my theory”. The same approach was later taken up, but not completed, in The Secret of the Veda, volume 15 of THE COMPLETE WORKS. [B] The second and longer version of “Chapter I” is entitled “Surya, Sarasvati and Mahi”, but as far as it was completed it does not discuss any of these deities.
The Colloquy of Agastya and Indra. Circa 1912. No title in the manuscript. Sri Aurobindo wrote this item later in the same notebook as “The Hymns of Madhuchchhandas”
The Gods of the Veda. Late 1912. These chapters were written in a single notebook in the order in which they are published. Their approximate date is suggested by the fact that the commentary on RV I.5 found a few pages later in the same notebook seems to be the one mentioned on 7 January 1913 in the Record of Yoga (volume 10 of THE COMPLETE WORKS, page 184).
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Ritam. 1912 – 13. These two chapters are related in subject matter to the discussion of the Vedic term ṛtam in the last chapter of the previous item. [A] The word “Ritam”, written in the upper left corner of the first page, was probably meant to serve as a subject heading rather than a title. This chapter is evidently a continuation of something already written.It is not clear whether it was intended to be worked into “The Gods of the Veda”, though it seems to have been written around the same time. [B] The second chapter, headed “Chapter III” in the manuscript, follows directly after [A] in the same notebook.
A Chapter for a Work on the Veda. 1912 – 13. Sri Aurobindo did not give this piece a title, but headed it simply “Chapter I.” No further chapters for this unnamed work have been found.
Note on the Word Go. Circa 1913. Editorial title. This essay-length “note” is found in a large notebook, used primarily for Vedic and philological work, whose few dated contents were written in 1913. The writing referred to on page 107, in which Sri Aurobindo mentions having “already discussed the relations of Indra, Surya and the Mountain”, has not been identified.
The Gods of the Veda / The Secret of the Veda. Circa 1913. This work is found in the same notebook as the preceding piece, which it immediately follows. Sri Aurobindo evidently wrote these five chapters after the three chapters previously written under the title “The Gods of the Veda”, as discussed above. He gave the same heading to the first chapter of the present version; but when he reached the second chapter, he substituted a new title, “The Secret of the Veda”. He rewrote the beginning of Chapter II, but did not work the new opening into the chapter. The editors have kept the original opening of this chapter in piece [B] and published the revised opening separately as [C].
A System of Vedic Psychology. Circa 1913. Sri Aurobindo wrote these two passages immediately after the last chapter of the previous item. After completing passage [A] he left a half a page blank, then commenced passage [B].
The Secret of Veda: Introduction. 1913 – 14. Sri Aurobindo jotted down the title “The Secret of Veda” on the cover of the notebook in which he wrote this incomplete “Introduction”.
A Fragment. Circa 1914. Neither the beginning nor the end of this piece has been traced. It is found on a sheet of perforated letter paper of the
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type used by Sri Aurobindo between 1914 and 1921 to draft material for the monthly review Arya. Handwriting and content suggest a date near the beginning of this period.
This part comprises the translations of Vedic hymns to gods other than Agni found among Sri Aurobindo’s manuscripts, except for those accompanied by substantial annotation or commentary, which are included in Part Three. Sri Aurobindo translated these hymns between 1912 and 1940, mostly towards the beginning of this period. He translated some hymns two or more times. In such cases, only the last version is reproduced. The translations have been arranged by the editors according to the order of the Rig Veda. Verse numbers have been supplied editorially when the verses are not numbered in the manuscript. Ampersands in the manuscript are spelled out as “and” in this part.
Suktas 2 – 4. Rishi: Madhuchchhandas Vaishwamitra. These translations were written on a set of sheets used also for work connected with the revision of The Life Divine(1939 – 40).
Suktas 5 – 7. Rishi: Madhuchchhandas Vaishwamitra. These translations were done at the same time as the translation of RV I.1 reproduced as item [10] in the Appendix to Part Two of Hymns to the Mystic Fire (volume 16 of THE COMPLETE WORKS, page 458). The format of that translation, with title, argument and explanatory footnote, resembles that of the translations published in the Arya in 1915 – 17 in Hymns of the Atris (see The Secret of the Veda, volume 15 of THE COMPLETE WORKS, pages 393 – 470 and 518 – 56), suggesting that it and the other translations found with it belong to that period.
Sukta 8. Rishi: Madhuchchhandas Vaishwamitra. Reproduced from a notebook of a type that Sri Aurobindo was using mostly in 1913 and early 1914.
Suktas 9–11, 13, 15. Rishis: Madhuchchhandas Vaishwamitra (9, 10), Jeta Madhuchchhandasa (11), Medhatithi Kanwa (13, 15). Reproduced from a ledger Sri Aurobindo used around 1912 – 13 for much
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of his early work on the Veda. He wrote the text in Devanagari above the translation of each verse.
Sukta 18. Rishi:Medhatithi Kanwa. Reproduced from the same ledger as the preceding. This translation was written as a single paragraph, without the Devanagari text, under the heading: “The Eighteenth Hymn/Medhatithi Kanwa’s Hymn to Brahmanaspati,/Master of the Soul.”
Suktas 24 – 25, 28 – 30. Rishi: Shunahshepa Ajigarti. These translations were written under the heading “Hymns of Shunahshepa Ajigarti” in a notebook used by Sri Aurobindo around 1913. Each hymn was translated as a single paragraph without verse numbers. The translations of Suktas 26 and 27, addressed to Agni, are published in Hymns to the Mystic Fire, Part Two.
Suktas 51, 52.1 – 3. Rishi: Savya Angirasa. Circa 1918 – 20. Heading in the manuscript: “Hymns of Savya Angirasa”.
Sukta 56. Rishi: Savya Angirasa. Written under the heading “A Hymn of the Divine Mind-Power” in a notebook whose next few pages contain entries for the Record of Yoga dated March 1918.
Suktas 61 – 64. Rishi: Nodhas Gautama. Circa 1919. Sri Aurobindo translated these four hymns together with the three preceding hymns to Agni on loose sheets of paper under the heading “Hymns of Nodha Gautama”. His translation of Suktas 58 – 60 is reproduced in Hymns to the Mystic Fire, Part Two.
Suktas 80 – 81. Rishi: Gotama Rahugana. Circa 1918 – 20. Translated on loose sheets of paper under the heading “Hymns to Indra / Hymns of Gautama Rahugana” around the same time as the preceding items. Sri Aurobindo left space at the bottoms of the pages for footnotes on both hymns, but added the notes (abbreviating Sayana as “S.”) only for Sukta 81.
Suktas 90 – 92. Rishi: Gotama Rahugana. Entries of 23 and 24 May 1914 in the Record of Yoga mention that these hymns were translated on those days. The translation of Sukta 90 is headed “Hymn of Gotama Rahugana to the All-Gods.”
Suktas 100 – 111. Rishis: Rijrashwa-Ambarisha-Sahadeva-Bhayamana- Suradhas Varshagira (100), Kutsa Angirasa (101 – 11). Circa 1918 – 20. Suktas 100 – 107 were translated under the heading “Hymns to Indra”, Suktas 108 – 9 under the heading “Hymns to Indra-Agni” and
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Suktas 110 – 11 under the heading “Hymns to the Ribhus”. There is no separate heading in the manuscript for Suktas 105 – 7, addressed to the Vishwadevas.
Sukta 123.1 – 6. Rishi: Kakshivan Dairgatamasa. Circa 1913. Heading in the manuscript: “Hymn of Kakshivan Dairghatamasa to Dawn— I.123”.
Sukta 179. Rishis: Lopamudra, Agastya Maitravaruni and a disciple of Agastya. Circa 1924. A draft of the translation was taken down by A. B. Purani at the dictation of Sri Aurobindo, who revised it in his own hand.
Suktas 23 – 28. Rishis: Gritsamada Bhargava (23 – 26), Kurma Gartsamada or Gritsamada (27 – 28). This series begins with the manuscript heading: “Veda. Hymns of Gritsamada. Second Mandala /Hymn 23. To Brahmanaspati. The Master of the Soul”. The headings for Suktas 24 – 26 repeat “To Brahmanaspati” after the hymn number. Sukta 27 is headed “Hymn to the Adityas—27.” and Sukta 28 “Hymn 28. To Varuna.” Entries of 29 and 30 March 1914 in the Record of Yoga mention that Suktas 23 – 26 were translated on the 29th and Sukta 27 on the 30th. Sukta 28 was presumably translated soon afterwards.
Sukta 54.1 – 12. Rishi: Prajapati Vaishwamitra or Vachya. Circa 1915.
Sukta 18. Rishi: Vamadeva Gautama. A slightly different version of the first two verses of this translation was published in the Arya in December 1919 as part of The Future Poetry (volume 26 of THE COMPLETE WORKS OF SRI AUROBINDO, page 223). The translation of the entire *hymn was probably done around that time.
Sukta 25.1 – 6. Rishi: Vamadeva Gautama. The entry of 26 June 1914 in the Record of Yoga mentions that this Sukta was translated on that day along with Suktas 13 and 15, translations of which precede
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this one in the same manuscript. (Those hymns are addressed to Agni and therefore are not included here, but a later translation of them is reproduced in Hymns to the Mystic Fire.)
Suktas 39.1 – 2, 40. Rishi: Vamadeva Gautama. Translated together with Suktas 90 – 92 ofMandala One, which were translated on 23 and 24 May 1914. Sukta 40 was translated under the heading “The Horse Dadhikravan”.
Between August 1915 and December 1917, Sri Aurobindo published translations, with introductions and commentaries, of forty-three hymns from Mandala Five of the Rig Veda in his monthly review Arya under the title Hymns of the Atris. The hymns chosen for publication in this series were all twenty-eight hymns to Agni, V.1 – 28; all eleven to Mitra-Varuna, V.62 – 72; both hymns to Usha, V.79 – 80; one to (Surya) Savitri, V.81; and one to Varuna, V.85.In Selected Hymns, another series in the Arya, he had published a different translation of V.81 and a translation of V.82, to Bhaga Savitri, with commentaries. A paraphrase rather than a translation of V.52 – 61, addressed to the Maruts, was published under the title “A Hymn of the Thought- Gods” in the issue of February 1916. In all, Mandala Five contains eighty-seven hymns. Sri Aurobindo published translations of more than half of them; these are reproduced in The Secret of the Veda with Selected Hymns, volume 15 of THE COMPLETE WORKS. His notebooks contain translations of many of the remaining hymns in this Mandala, some of which he may have intended for the Arya but did not publish. These previously unpublished translations are reproduced here from his manuscripts. A manuscript version of a hymn for which a later translation was published in the Arya is not normally included here, unless it was necessary to keep a manuscript series intact.
Suktas 29 – 39. Rishis: Gauriviti Shaktya (29), Babhru Atreya (30), Avasyu Atreya (31),Gatu Atreya (32), Samvarana Prajapatya (33 – 34), Prabhuvasu Angirasa (35 – 36), Bhauma Atri (37 – 39). These hymns were translated in a notebook of a type used by Sri Aurobindo during the Arya period. Another translation of most of them is found in a
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notebook of a type that he was using mostly in 1913 and early 1914. The latest translation of each hymn is reproduced here.
Sukta 40. Rishi: Bhauma Atri. Reproduced from a notebook of a type that Sri Aurobindo was using mostly in 1913 and early 1914.
Suktas 42.1 – 5, 52. Rishis: Bhauma Atri (42), Shyavashwa Atreya (52). Reproduced from a notebook used by Sri Aurobindo around 1913.
Suktas 54 – 60. Rishi: Shyavashwa Atreya. Reproduced from a notebook of a type that Sri Aurobindo was using mostly in 1913 and early 1914.
Sukta 61. 1914. Rishi: Shyavashwa Atreya. Reproduced from a notebook used for the Record of Yoga from April to June 1914.
Suktas 73 – 87. Rishis: Paura Atreya (73 – 74), Avasyu Atreya (75), Bhauma Atri (76 – 77), Saptavadhri Atreya (78), Satyashravas Atreya (79 – 80), Shyavashwa Atreya (81 – 82), Bhauma Atri (83 – 86), Evayamarut Atreya (87). Circa 1915. Different translations of a few of these hymns were published in the Arya, as reproduced in The Secret of the Veda with Selected Hymns.
Sukta 56.1 – 10, 12, 14 – 15. Rishi: Vasishtha Maitravaruni. Reproduced from a notebook whose other contents include material published in the Arya in 1918.
Sukta 54.1 – 2, 5 – 8. Rishi: Matarishwa Kanwa. The handwriting of this translation, written on a sheet from a small note-pad, is that of the early or mid-1940s. The translation of verse 8 is cancelled in the manuscript.
Suktas 94 – 95, 97 – 101. Rishi: Bindu Putadaksha or Angirasa (94), Tirashchi Angirasa (95), Rebha Kashyapa (97), Nrimedha Angirasa (98 – 99), Nema Bhargava (100), Jamadagni Bhargava (101). Translated with notes on a few words under the heading “Rigveda. Selected Hymns. Provisional Translation.” in a notebook of a type used by Sri Aurobindo during the early Arya period.
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Suktas 1 – 3, 31 – 37, 41 – 50. Rishis: Madhuchchhandas Vaishwamitra (1), Medhatithi Kanwa (2), Shunahshepa Ajigarti (3), Gotama Rahugana (31), Shyavashwa Atreya (32), Trita Aptya (33 – 34), Prabhuvasu Angirasa (35 – 36), Rahugana Angirasa (37), Medhyatithi Kanwa (41 – 43), Ayasya Angirasa (44 – 46), Kavi Bhargava (47 – 49), Uchathya Angirasa (50). Reproduced from a notebook in which Sri Aurobindo also began to copy and annotate hymns from this Mandala, as described below in the note on item [24] of Part Four. This work is mentioned in the Record of Yoga on 25 January 1915.
Sukta 54. Rishi: Brihaduktha Vamadevya. Circa 1912 – 13.
Sukta 129. Rishi: Prajapati Parameshthi. The entries of 15 July and 5 August 1914 in the Record of Yoga mention the drafting and completion of the translation of this Sukta. The manuscript of the final version is damaged at the right edge of the page. What is missing has been supplied from the draft.
Selected Verses. Sri Aurobindo translated these and other passages for use as chapter-opening epigraphs for The Life Divine when the first edition was being prepared in 1939 – 40. The verses reproduced here from the manuscript were not used (or only partially used) for the purpose for which they were originally translated. They have been arranged by the editors according to the order of the Vedic texts.
In the course of his study of the Rig Veda, Sri Aurobindo translated many hymns with notes or wrote commentaries to explain or justify his interpretation of them. This work went through several stages and reflected various aspects of his approach to understanding the Veda: philological, psychological and mystical. The resulting commentaries
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and annotated translations may be viewed in many cases as stepping stones toward the interpretation presented in The Secret of the Veda and the development of that interpretation in the years after the Arya ceased publication.
In this part the editors have collected the commentaries on and significantly annotated translations of hymns to gods other than Agni found among Sri Aurobindo’s manuscripts. Lightly annotated translations have been placed in Part Two. Commentaries and translations that appeared in the Arya are published in The Secret of the Veda with Selected Hymns, volume 15 of THE COMPLETE WORKS. Commentaries on and translations of hymns addressed to Agni are included in Hymns to the Mystic Fire*, volume 16 of THE COMPLETE WORKS.
The items in this part have been arranged according to Mandala and Sukta of the Rig Veda (RV).Square brackets have been used in the headings to number each item and indicate the Mandala and Sukta to which it pertains; verse numbers are given where only part of a hymn has been translated or commented on. Items consisting of different treatments of the same hymn or group of hymns are arranged chronologically. Sri Aurobindo’s headings are reproduced as they occur in the manuscripts.
[1] Circa 1912. Text of RV I.2, followed by a word-by-word philological analysis of the first three verses. This item occurs between the commentaries on RV I.1 published as items [3] and [4] in Part Three of Hymns to the Mystic Fire.
[2] Circa 1912. Text, philological analysis and translation of the first verse of RV I.2. This item occurs immediately after the commentary on RV I.1 published as item [6] in Part Three of Hymns to the Mystic Fire.
[3] Text, translation and interpretative analysis of the first three verses of RV I.2, verse by verse, with an incomplete summary of “the first movement of the hymn”. Reproduced from a notebook of a type that Sri Aurobindo was using mostly in 1913 and early 1914.
[4] Circa 1914 – 17. Translation of RV I.3, followed by an incomplete commentary explaining the psychological symbolism of the Vedic sacrifice.
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[5] 1913 – 14. Elaborate commentary on the first six verses of RV I.4. Sri Aurobindo wrote “Indra Maker” at the top of the first page. “Maker” is an incomplete translation of surūpakṛtnu, a Sanskrit compound whose alternative interpretations are discussed in the second and third paragraphs. This piece is followed in the manuscript by the Introduction to “The Secret of Veda” published at the end of Part One.
[6] Verse-by-verse translation and analysis of RV I.5. This seems to be the “grammatical commentary on the fifth hymn of the Rigveda” mentioned in the Record of Yoga on 7 January 1913.
[7] Circa 1918 – 20. Text of the first verse of RV I.82 in Devanagari and transliteration, with word-by-word gloss in Sanskrit and English, followed by a translation and commentary.
[8] 1912 – 13. Commentary on the first three verses of RV I.86, with the analysis of each verse preceded by the text in transliteration and followed by a translation.
[9] Circa 1913. Commentary on the first three verses of RV I.122. The text of each verse is followed by extracts from Sayana’s commentary and a rendering according to Sayana, then Sri Aurobindo’s own interpretation.
[10] 1913 – 14. Text of the first verse of RV I.123 with Sayana’s commentary, slightly rearranged, and Sri Aurobindo’s explanation.
[11] December 1913. Text and translation of RV I.176.3 – 4 with an experiential commentary, followed by a translation of the rest of the hymn. The commentary is related to Sri Aurobindo’s Record of Yoga, which contains many citations from the Rig Veda that he treated as “sortileges” related to his current sadhana.
[12] Circa 1914. Commentary on RV II.11 and the first verse of II.12, including extracts from Sayana (usually abbreviated “Sy.”), notes on words and phrases in the text and translations according to Sayana’s and Sri Aurobindo’s interpretations.
[13] Circa 1913. Word-by-word gloss on RV II.28 with “conjectural” notes on words in the first three verses and a “provisional” translation of the hymn.
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[14] Circa 1912. Text of the first two verses of RV IV.28 with a translation of the first verse and notes on the interpretation of words and phrases in both verses.
[15] Translation of RV IV.31, 32, 26, 27, 28, 29 and 19 (incomplete), annotated with reference to Sayana. Reproduced from a notebook of a type that Sri Aurobindo was using mostly in 1913 and early 1914.
[16] Circa 1914. Notes on and translations of RV VII.41 – 50. The series begins as notes without translation, continues as an annotated translation, and ends as a translation with little or no annotation. The notes often refer to Sayana’s commentary or to the Bengali translation of the Rig Veda by Romesh Chunder Dutt, based on Sayana.
The twenty-six sets of notes that comprise this part are a selection from the large body of notes that Sri Aurobindo took while studying the Veda during much of his first decade in Pondicherry. The most substantial sets of notes found in his notebooks have been selected and arranged here according to the ten Mandalas of the Rig Veda. Sri Aurobindo himself sometimes identified this material as “Vedic Notes” or “Notes on Veda”. Some of these notes resemble material in Part Three, but they generally contain fewer passages of discursive prose and are less systematically arranged and developed than the commentaries in that part. Some of the notes also include translations of individual verses, without amounting to annotated translations of whole hymns like some of the items in Part Three. Since there is no corresponding section in Hymns to the Mystic Fire, notes on some hymns to Agni are included here.
[1] 1912 – 13. Notes on words occurring in hymns to the Ashwins, with translations of verses in a few hymns of Mandala One.
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[2] 1912 – 13. Sri Aurobindo first wrote these notes on RV I.51 – 52 in a notebook used mostly for the Record of Yoga and poetry. Later he copied and expanded them slightly, as reproduced here, in another notebook which he used for Vedic and philological work.
[3] Circa 1914. These notes on RV I.58 include a translation of the first four verses. For the remaining verses there are only notes based on Sayana. A complete translation is published in Hymns to the Mystic Fire, Part Two.
[4] Circa 1917 – 20. Notes on words and phrases in RV I.65 – 66, referring to Sayana’s commentary, with space left blank for further notes and “parallel passages”. A translation of these Suktas is published in Hymns to the Mystic Fire, Part One.
[5] Circa 1915. Notes on selected words and phrases in RV I.74 – 77. Translations of Suktas 74 and 77 and commentaries on Suktas 74 – 76 and 77.1 – 2 are published in Hymns to the Mystic Fire, Parts Two and Three.
[6] Circa 1913. Notes on words and phrases in RV I.94 – 99 and the first verse of I.100, with many references to Sayana. Translations of Suktas 94 – 97 and a commentary on the first ten verses of Sukta 94 are published in Hymns to the Mystic Fire, Parts Two and Three.
[7] Circa 1917 – 20. Text and translation, pāda by pāda, of the first two verses of RV I.100, with notes referring to Sayana.
[8] Notes on RV I.152 – 54, found in a notebook also used for the Record of Yoga in March 1918.
[9] Circa 1917 – 20. Notes on RV II.1.1 – 2, with a translation of the first verse. Sri Aurobindo’s final translation of this Sukta is published in Hymns to the Mystic Fire, Part One.
[10] Circa 1917. A general note on RV II.5, followed by a note on the word bhuvanam referring to the first two verses of RV II.3. Sri Aurobindo’s final translation of these Suktas is published in Hymns to the Mystic Fire, Part One.
[11] Circa 1913 – 14. Notes on RV II.30 – 34.
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[12] Circa 1913. Notes on selected words and phrases in RV III.37 – 51, often with reference to Sayana (variously abbreviated as “S.”, “Say.”,“Saya.” or “Sy.”).
[13] Circa 1920. Notes on the meanings of three words in the first two verses of RV IV.2, with references to Vaman Shivram Apte’s Sanskrit- English dictionary.
[14] Circa 1917. Notes on words and phrases in RV V.1 – 2. Sri Aurobindo’s final translation of these Suktas is published in Hymns to the Mystic Fire, Part Two.
[15] Circa 1917. Another set of notes on RV V.1 – 2, written a few pages later in the same notebook.
[16] Circa 1917. A few notes on RV V.11, including a translation of the last verse. Sri Aurobindo’s final translation of this Sukta is published in Hymns to the Mystic Fire, Part Two.
[17] 1913 – 14. Lexical and grammatical notes on RV VI.1, often with reference to Sayana (usually abbreviated “S.”). Sri Aurobindo’s translation of this Sukta is published in Hymns to the Mystic Fire, Part One.
[18] Circa 1914. Notes on a few words and phrases in RV VI.45.
[19] Circa 1914. Brief notes on RV VII.41 – 45, often with reference to Sayana (abbreviated “S.” or “Sy.” and in one instance cited from the Bengali translation by R. C. Dutt).
[20] Circa 1917. Interpretative notes on RV VII.61 – 63.
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[21]Notes on the interpretation of a few words in RV VIII.1 – 4, written in a notebook whose later pages contain entries for the Record of Yoga from 15 February to 31 March 1917.
[22] Circa 1914. Two sets of notes on RV VIII.76 – 78, headed “Words” and “Ideas”. The first set consists mainly of Sayana’s glosses on selected words in the Vedic text, copied in Bengali from the translation by R. C. Dutt. The second set, which does not include Sukta 78, is largely a verse-by-verse list of topics in English.
[23] Notes on words and phrases in RV VIII.82 – 91, written in the same notebook as item [21].
[24] “Critical Notes” on words and ideas in RV IX.1, the text of which was copied out on the facing page. These notes seem to be referred to in the Record of Yoga in the entry of 25 January 1915, where Sri Aurobindo speaks of taking up “the Ninth Book which is being copied and annotated”. Two more hymns were copied, but the annotation was discontinued. The translations from Mandala Nine reproduced in Part Two were written in this notebook.
[25] Circa 1915. Notes on RV IX.1 – 3 written on thirty-five pages of a notebook also used for a version of the play Vasavadutta. Apart from the lists of words and references under the general headings “Epithets”, “Phrases”, “Doubtful words” and “Fixed words”, most of the entries consist only of one or two lines at the top of an otherwise blank page in the notebook. The space left blank was apparently intended to be used for collecting further references to occurrences of selected words and phrases in Mandala Nine.
[26] Circa 1913. Notes on RV X.1 – 2 and the first two verses of X.3, mostly with reference to Sayana’s Sanskrit commentary or the Bengali translation by R. C. Dutt (abbreviated “S.” and “D.”).
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The beginnings of Sri Aurobindo’s research into the origins and nature of the languages of South Asia and Europe that were formerly called the “Aryan” family of languages (now the “Indo-European” languages), and their relationship to the “Dravidian” languages, preceded his work on the Veda. He wrote in The Secret of the Veda (volume 15 of THE COMPLETE WORKS, pages 37 – 39):
It was my stay in Southern India [from April 1910] which first seriously turned my thoughts to the Veda. . . .
[O]n examining the vocables of the Tamil language, in appearance so foreign to the Sanskritic form and character, I yet found myself continually guided by words or by families of words supposed to be pure Tamil in establishing new relations between Sanskrit and its distant sister, Latin, and occasionally, between the Greek and the Sanskrit. Sometimes the Tamil vocable not only suggested the connection, but proved the missing link in a family of connected words. And it was through this Dravidian language that I came first to perceive what seems to me now the true law, origins and, as it were, the embryology of the Aryan tongues. I was unable to pursue my examination far enough to establish any definite conclusion, but it certainly seems to me that the original connection between the Dravidian and Aryan tongues was far closer and more extensive than is usually supposed and the possibility suggests itself that they may even have been two divergent families derived from one lost primitive tongue. . . . It was, therefore, with a double interest that for the first time I took up the Veda in the original, though without any immediate intention of a close or serious study.
Judging from Sri Aurobindo’s manuscripts, he began his philological work in 1910 or 1911 and continued it until 1915 or so, by which time the focus of his scholarly interest had shifted to the Rig Veda itself. During this period he wrote extensive notes on various root-sounds as attested by words in Sanskrit, Tamil, Greek, Latin and other languages. He also wrote two drafts of a substantial essay on the “origins of Aryan speech”, and several shorter essays in which he
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developed specific philological topics. Some of his first notes and essays on this subject are found in a single large notebook, the first page of which is inscribed: “Origines Aryacae [Aryan origins]. / Material for a full philological reconstruction / of / the old Aryabhasha / from which the Indo Aryan and Dravidian languages / are all derived.” The term he usually used for this “old Aryabhasha” was “Old Sanscrit”, which he often abbreviated “O.S.” or “OS”.
In Part Five, all of Sri Aurobindo’s essays on philology and a generous selection of his notes on this subject are reproduced. The editors have arranged the material in three sections, the first containing the drafts of The Origins of Aryan Speech, the second containing other examples written by Sri Aurobindo in transliteration have been editorially italicised and spelled with diacritics according to the system of transliteration used in works he prepared for publication.
Sri Aurobindo wrote in the Record of Yoga, in the entry of 1 July 1913, that he was working on a writing entitled “Aryan Origins”. In the entry of 15 November 1913 he listed “Origins of Aryan Speech” as one of several works he intended to complete. (See Record of Yoga, volume 10 of THE COMPLETEWORKS, pages 275 and 314.) He also mentioned a work entitled “Origins of Aryan Speech” in a letter published in the Hindu of Madras on 27 August 1914. In a footnote to a chapter of The Secret of the Veda published in the Arya a few months later, he indicated his intention of presenting the results of his philological research “in a separate work on ‘The Origins of Aryan Speech’.” (See The Secret of the Veda, volume 15 of THE COMPLETE WORKS, pages 596 and 51.) However, he never completed or published this work.
The Origins of Aryan Speech. Circa 1912 – 14. Sri Aurobindo began this draft on blank pages at the end of a notebook containing material he had written fifteen or twenty years earlier in Baroda. He continued it in another notebook also used previously in Baroda, then in Pondicherry for other writings including entries in the Record of Yoga for 13 January to 8 February 1912.
Aryan Origins: Introductory. Circa 1913 – 14. Written in a notebook
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used first for philological, then for Vedic work. The pages following this draft contain work on the an roots (see the next section) which seems to have been done in August 1914.
The writings in this section, except for the discussion of the an family, are reproduced from the “Origines Aryacae” notebook mentioned above. Entries for the Record of Yoga dated July 1912 occur later in the same notebook, suggesting a date of early 1912 for this material.
Word-Formation. This fragment is evidently all that was written of the proposed treatise mentioned in the second paragraph.
Aryan Origins: The Elementary Roots of Language. When this piece was written, Sri Aurobindo had been studying for some time the evidence of Sanskrit and the other ancient languages on which his conclusions were based and had taken some of the notes compiled in the next section, which he continued to collect. The “six substantial ideas” enumerated in the fourth paragraph correspond partially to the “group-significances” of the an roots listed in the next piece, probably written a couple of years later.
The An Family. Heading in the manuscript: “An”. An entry in the Record of Yoga on 10 August 1914, mentioning philological work on the “An family”, presumably refers to this item.
Roots in M. “M” in the heading was written in Devanagari in the manuscript.
The Root Mal in Greek. This item is one of the first in the “Origines Aryacae” notebook, preceded only by the title page, the notes on the root mal in Greek reproduced in the next section, and “Word- Formation”.
The notes published in this section are a selection from a larger body of Sri Aurobindo’s philological notes dating from the period between 1910 and 1920, mostly around 1912 – 13. Notes consisting only of unprocessed philological data, such as lists of words copied from dictionaries without commentary or significant categorisation, have generally been omitted. The notes have been organised in two
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categories: a large set of notes on root-sounds arranged in Sanskrit alphabetical order, followed by a few notes on phonetic transformations between languages.
General. [1] This list of simple root-sounds and their most general meanings is found in a notebook used for the Record of Yoga in 1912. The letters “r” and “s” in the first column may stand for “rajasic” and “sattwic”. [2] Circa 1910 – 12. This list of consonants and vowels that occur in Sanskrit, grouped under five headings, is found in a notebook used by Sri Aurobindo first in Baroda and later in Pondicherry for what appear to be some of his earliest philological and Vedic notes.
Roots in a. [1] Circa 1910 – 12. This list of the significances of a few a-roots occurs on the same notebook page as the preceding item. [2] Circa 1912. This analysis of the meanings of the root-sounds at the very beginning of the Sanskrit alphabet occurs in the middle of the “Origines Aryacae” notebook, shortly after entries in the Record of Yoga for July 1912. The meanings of Sanskrit words listed in these and many of the subsequent notes largely follow Apte’s Sanskrit-English dictionary. [3] 1914. This listing of the meanings of the roots an and an. and their derivatives was written just before the discursive treatment of the “An” family published in the previous section. [4] Circa 1910 – 12. These notes related to Sri Aurobindo’s attempt to reconstruct a lost form of Old Sanskrit are found at the end of the same notebook as item [1]. [5] Circa 1912 – 13. These notes on the Greek verbs airō and airomai occur towards the end of the “Origines Aryacae” notebook.
Roots in i. Circa 1914 – 16. Meanings of Sanskrit roots of the i family and their derivatives have here been arranged by Sri Aurobindo under significance-headings. Various significances of a single root are sometimes listed under several headings.
Roots in k. These four sets of notes on the ka- and ku-families of k-roots were written by Sri Aurobindo at different times in different manuscripts, but in a similar format. They illustrate an approach to the collection and analysis of philological data from Sanskrit that can also be seen in similar notes on other root-families which have not been reproduced in this volume. [1] Circa 1917 – 20. These notes on the ka-
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family can only be dated very approximately by the handwriting, but appear to be later than the other notes in this series. [2] Circa 1913 – 14. [3] Circa 1912. These notes on the ku-family are found immediately after entries in the Record of Yoga for July 1912. [4] Circa 1912. The format of these more extensive notes on the same family is reproduced as far as possible according to the manuscript, including symbols in the margin whose meanings are not known.
Roots in ch. Circa 1912. These notes occur shortly after those reproduced in item [3] of the preceding series. Here a preliminary list of Sanskrit words and their meanings, largely copied from Apte’s dictionary with some rearrangement of the order, is summarised and followed by a numbered classification of significances.
Roots in j and jh. [1] 1912 – 13. Sanskrit words arranged by significance- groups. [2] Circa 1914. These notes on *jṛ, jṝ and related roots and their derivatives are preceded by a statement about the “fundamental sense” of this root-group.
Roots in ṭa, ṭha, ḍa, ḍha. 1912 – 13. Sanskrit words arranged by significance-groups.
The Root dal. These notes on the “secondary root” dal in Sanskrit and its cognates in Greek, Latin and Tamil are found together in a single notebook containing material probably written in 1912. Sri Aurobindo used this root-family as one of his first examples in both drafts of The Origins of Aryan Speech. [1] Sanskrit words with dictionary definitions.[2] Greek words with dictionary definitions.[3] Latin words with dictionary definitions. [4] Tamil words with definitions in French or English or both.
Roots in n. Circa 1911 – 12. This paragraph of philological speculations occurs along with several pages of rough lists of Sanskrit and Greek words belonging to the n-family. This material was written in the available space in part of a notebook previously used first in Baroda and then for material related to the Record of Yoga which can be dated January – February 1911.
Roots in p. Circa 1911 – 12. This attempt to reconstruct “OS” (Old Sanskrit) forms corresponding to a set of Greek words is found earlier in the same notebook as the preceding item.
Roots in m. [1] Circa 1912 – 13. This summary of the meanings of roots of the m-family is found on the last page of the “Origines Aryacae”
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notebook; the next two items occur near the beginning of the same notebook. [2] Circa 1912. Lists of Sanskrit words formed from the “primary” m-roots: ma, mā , mi, mī, mu, mū and mṛ. “Roots in M” in Section Two, which is an analysis of this data, occurs immediately after this item in the manuscript. [3] Circa 1912. Lists of Sanskrit words formed from a group of “secondary” m-roots, each consisting of a primary root combined with a guttural consonant. [4] Circa 1910 – 12. Tamil words formed from mak or mah with definitions in French and English.
The Root mal. [1] Circa 1910 – 12. Words derived from various forms of this root in different languages, listed without definitions. [2] Circa 1912. Notes on the root mal in Greek with derivations from reconstructed Old Sanskrit forms. This analysis of words in which the a remains unmodified was evidently meant to be completed by a similar treatment of words with a modified vowel. This is the first writing in the “Origines Aryacae” notebook, followed by “Word-Formation” and “The Root Mal in Greek” (Section Two), then the next item. [3] Circa 1912. Notes on the root mal in Sanskrit, along the same lines as item [2], followed by a detailed listing of derivatives of mal and related roots in Sanskrit and Greek with dictionary definitions. [4] Circa 1912 – 13. A list of Greek words with English definitions, partly duplicating the list of Greek words in the previous item; Sri Aurobindo also wrote a few similar Tamil words on facing pages (reproduced here in the right margin).
The Root val. [1] Circa 1910 – 12. A few Latin words with reconstructed Old Sanskrit forms for some of them. [2] Circa 1912. Latin words with reconstructed Old Sanskrit forms, amplifying the first part of the preceding list. Sri Aurobindo wrote these notes in a notebook and later typed a copy of the first two pages. The notes he did not type out are reproduced here from the draft.
Roots in s. Circa 1912. Greek words with English meanings, preceded by a brief note on the correspondence of Greek s to Sanskrit t.
These notes represent a preliminary attempt to work out rules of phonetic change between Old Sanskrit—the proto-language that Sri
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Aurobindo wanted to reconstruct—and attested languages whose derivation from it he was trying to establish.
Old Sanskrit to Greek. Circa 1911 – 12. Rules governing the main phonetic correspondences between reconstructed Old Sanskrit and ancient Greek.
Sanskrit to Tamil. Circa 1910 – 12. Notes on Sanskrit loanwords in Tamil and other observations on Tamil phonology, with spaces left blank for further examples. The two lists, consisting largely of generally accepted rules, seem to belong to an early stage of Sri Aurobindo’s comparison of Tamil with Sanskrit and do not involve the reconstruction of hypothetical Old Sanskrit forms.
None of the items in this book were published during Sri Aurobindo’s lifetime. A few appeared in books and journals between the early 1950s and the publication of the Sri Aurobindo Birth Centenary Library in the early 1970s. “Aryan Origins: Introductory” in Part Five was published under the title “The Origins of Aryan Speech” in the 1956 and 1964 editions of On the Veda and in the 1971 edition of The Secret of the Veda. A few of the translations included in Part Two of the present volume also appeared in the 1971 edition of The Secret of the Veda, as did the commentary published as item [6] in Part Three. “Word- Formation” in Part Five was published in the 1971 edition of Hymns to the Mystic Fire. Most of this material had previously been published in journals associated with the Sri Aurobindo Ashram. The incomplete essay “A System of Vedic Psychology” in Part One and part of the first draft of “The Origins of Aryan Speech” were published in the Supplement to the Sri Aurobindo Birth Centenary Library in 1973. Most of the remaining essays in this book, many of the translations, and some of the Vedic and philological notes came out in the journal Sri Aurobindo: Archives and Research between 1977 and 1985. The rest of the material is being published here for the first time. A new title, Vedic and Philological Studies, was created to accommodate the published and previously unpublished material collected in this volume.
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