Dasyus : adversaries of the seekers of Light & the Truth. There are two main branches of the Dasyus: the Pānis & the Vritras.
... for contra-Dasyu action, shared only by the sun-god Sūrya in 10,170,2: he is apostrophized as "the Dasyus' most destructive foe" and "best slayer of the Dasyus" 255 - dasyuhántama, superlative of dasyuhán. Surely, Agni no less than Indra and Soma is evidently one of the gods whom the Dāsa-Dasyus do not 'regard'. So how could Dashly-3, a temple of Agni, have been a Dāsa-Dasyu fort? And it seems... Ibid. Page 328 in general as Dāsa-Dasyus and calls (e.g. 7,5,3) "the dark peoples". 312 But our immediate concern is not with the broad issue of the Rigvedics' entry into India. We shall tackle it at the proper time. Now we must concentrate on the question of the historicity of the Dāsa-Dasyus. Were any Dāsa-Dasyus human beings? To his list of "individual... Divodāsa are also most realistic, and apparently the oldest, in book VI. Book VI has 8 references to Dāsas in 7 hymns and 7 references to Dasyus, while book VII (whose central figure is Sudās) has 4 references to Dāsas in 4 hymns and 3 references to Dasyus. On this basis it has been suggested 183. Pp. 214-15. Page 283 that the enmity between the Dāsas and the Aryans was ...
... master-clues to the real character of Dasyus in general: agnir jāto arochate, ghnan dasyün jyotiṣā tamah, avindad ga apah svah - "Agni born shone out slaying the Dasyus, the darkness by the 24. Op. cit., I, p. 347. 25. Op. cit., pp. 220-21. 26. Ibid., p. 218. Page 114 Light, he found the Cows, the Waters, Swar." 27 All Dasyus are here identified with the darkness... asserts that the Dāsas and Dasyus against whom the Rishis wage war are not human beings at all. This assertion of a thorough-going symbolism may sound fantastic. But it can be upheld even by choosing to meet the proponents of the current historical and naturalistic theory on their own ground with just a few sidelights from Sri Aurobindo. No doubt, the Dāsas and Dasyus are characterized by the ... Mother, the Goddess of Infinity? This question brings up a most momentous point. As Sri Aurobindo remarks, the Dasyus (or Dānavas) are born from Ditī (or Danu) in contrast to the gods who are born from Aditī. 16 Ditī is the Mother, the Goddess, of division and finitude. Thus the Dasyus belong, on the opposite side, to the same universe of discourse as the gods, though they are the enemies not only ...
... spiritual Light. We may take as the master-clue to the general character of these Dasyus the Rik V.14.4, "Agni born shone out slaying the Dasyus, the darkness by the Light; he found the Cows, the Waters Swar," agnir jāto arocata, ghnan dasyūn jyotiṣā tamaḥ; avindad gā apaḥ svaḥ . There are two great divisions of the Dasyus, the Panis who intercept both the cows and the waters but are especially associated... atirac chukram ; in doing so he slays the Dasyus and protects or fosters and increases the Aryan "colour", hatvī dasyūn pra āryaṁ varṇam āvat . Moreover these Dasyus are the crooked ones, vṛjinān , and are conquered by Indra's works or forms of knowledge, his " māyā "s by which, as we are elsewhere told, he overcomes the opposing " māyā "s of the Dasyus, Vritra or Vala. The straight and the crooked... Darkness. It is quite true that the Panis are Dasyus or Dasas; they are spoken of constantly by that name, they are described as the Dasa Varna as opposed to the Arya Varna, and varṇa , colour, is the word used for caste or class in the Brahmanas and later writings, although it does not therefore follow that it has that sense in the Rig Veda. The Dasyus are the haters of the sacred word; they are those ...
... Sri Aurobindo's denial of Dasa-Dasyus as human beings 109 The words anas ("noseless") and kṛiṣṇa-tvāch ("black-skinned") for Dasa-Dasyus 109 Macdonell and Keith on Dasa-Dasyus as demons at times 109 Their argument for Dasa-Dasyus as human beings at other times 109-110 Even Dasa-Dasyus with individualizing names and... Dasa-Dasyus as Asuras 110-111 Gods also have individualizing names and parents 111 Dasyus born of Diti, like the Gods from Aditī, and opposed both to the Gods and the Gods' followers 111 Dasa-Dasyus called "non-men" 111-112 "Non-men" no mere hyperbole for "inhuman" 112 Panis as Dasa-Dasyus ... 112 All Dasa-Dasyus characterized as non-worshippers 113 The true sense of anas and kṛiṣṇa-tvāch 113 Macdonell and Keith on another meaning than "noseless" 114 Dasa-colour and Arya-colour 114 Page 142 A master-clue to the real character of Dasyus 114-115 ...
... The Secret of the Veda Chapter XXII The Conquest over the Dasyus The Dasyus stand in opposition to both the Aryan gods and the Aryan seers. The Gods are born from Aditi in the supreme Truth of things, the Dasyus or Danavas from Diti in the nether darkness; they are the Lords of Light and the Lords of Night fronting each other across the triple world... n is entirely impossible because in the hymn I.33 in which these distinctions are most clearly drawn and the battle of Indra and his human allies with Page 234 the Dasyus most elaborately described, these Dasyus, Panis and Vritras, cannot possibly be human fighters, tribes or robbers. In this hymn of Hiranyastupa Angirasa the first ten verses clearly refer to the battle for the Cows and... the supreme realm, parākāt ; she has to cross the waters of the Rasā, she meets the night which gives place to her for fear of her overleaping it, atiṣkado bhiyasā ; she arrives at the home of the Dasyus, dasyor oko na sadanam , which they themselves describe as the reku padam alakam , the world of falsehood beyond the bound of things. The supreme world also surpasses the bound of things by exceeding ...
... are constantly spoken of as Dasyus and Dāsas, and he adds: "We may take as the master-clue to the general character of these Dasyus the Rik V.14.4. 'Agni born shone out slaying the Dasyus, the darkness by the Light: he found the Cows, the Waters, Swar', agnir jāto arocata, ghnan dasyün jyotiṣā tamah avindad gaapah svah. There are two great divisions of the Dasyus, the Panis who intercept both... whole struggle is between the Light and the Darkness, the Truth and the Falsehood, the divine Maya and the undivine, all the Dasyus alike are here identified with the Darkness; and it is by the birth and shining of Agni that the Light is created with which he slays the Dasyus and the Darkness. The historical interpretation will not do at all here, though the naturalistic may pass if we isolate the passage... and the waters but are especially associated with the refusal of the cows, the Vritras who intercept the waters and the light, but are especially associated with the withholding of the waters; all Dasyus without exception stand in the way of the ascent to Swar, and oppose the acquisition of the wealth by the Aryan seers. The refusal of the light is their opposition to the vision of Swar, svardṛś, ...
... and the story of the struggle with the Dasyus is a parable, so also should be the other legendary stories we find in the Rig Veda of the help given by the Gods to the Rishis against the demons; for these also are related in similar terms and constantly classed by the Vedic poets along with the Angiras story as on the same footing. Similarly if these Dasyus who refuse the gift and the sacrifice,... for man by winning for him the complete spiritual wealth, object of the sacrifice. Therefore Agni, Indra, Brihaspati, Soma are all described as winners of the herds of the Sun and destroyers of the Dasyus who conceal and withhold them from man. Saraswati, who is the stream of the Word or inspiration of the Truth, is also a Dasyu-slayer and winner of the shining herds; and they are discovered by Sarama... the divine existence, led over it by the thinkers like a ship over the waters, till it reaches its farther shore. The Panis who conceal the herds, the masters of the nether cavern, are a class of Dasyus who are in the Vedic symbolism set in opposition to the Aryan gods and Aryan seers and workers. The Aryan is he who does the work of sacrifice, finds the sacred word of illumination, desires the Gods ...
... impel our thoughts. So too the enemies in the Veda are spoken of as robbers, dasyus , who steal the cows, or Vritras and are taken literally as human enemies in the ordinary interpretation, but Vritra is a demon who covers and holds back the Light and the waters and the Vritras are his forces fulfilling that function. The Dasyus, robbers or destroyers, are the powers of darkness, adversaries of the seekers... all kinds, protection, victory in battle, or to bring down rain from heaven, recover the sun from clouds or from the grip of Night, the free flowing of the seven rivers, recovery of cattle from the Dasyus (or the Dravidians) and the other boons which on the surface seem to be the object of this ritual worship. The Rishis would then be men with some spiritual or mystic knowledge but otherwise dominated... significant legends and figures on which they constantly return, the conquest over Vritra and the battle with the Vritras, his powers, the recovery of the Sun, the Waters, the Cows, from the Panis or other Dasyus, the whole Rig Veda reveals itself as a body of doctrine and practice, esoteric, occult, spiritual, such as might have been given by the mystics in any ancient country but which actually survives for ...
... is of interest, because I realized that what I had seen the other day (I told you about it) and then what I saw yesterday—that whole domain—was connected to what the Vedas call the dasyus —the panis and the dasyus 4 —the enemies of the Light. And this Force that came was very clearly a power like Indra's 5 (though something far, far greater), and at war with darkness everywhere, like this... kept on going, a formidable power, so great that my hands were like this ( Mother clenches her fists ). Later when I read (I happened to be reading just the chapter concerning the fight against the dasyus ), this proximity to my own experience became interesting, for it was not at all intellectual or mental—there was no idea, no thought involved. The remainder of the evening passed as usual. I... [January 26] that I perceived this, and it was quite interesting.' × In the Vedas, the panis and dasyus represent beings or forces hidden in subterranean caves who have stolen the 'Riches' or the 'Lights', symbolized by herds of cows. With the help of the gods, the Aryan warrior must recover these lost ...
... is of interest, because I realized that what I had seen the other day (I told you about it) and then what I saw yesterday—that whole domain—was connected to what the Vedas call the dasyus— the panis and the dasyus ² — the enemies of the Light. And this Force that came was very clearly a power _______________________________________ ¹. A few days later, Mother rectified: 'I have looked at... civilization and the Indian civilization which grew out of the Vedic Age. It was g yesterday [January 26] that I perceived this, and it was quite interesting.' " ². In the Vedas, the panis and dasyus represent beings or forces hidden in subterranean caves who have stolen the 'Riches' or the 'Lights', symbolized by herds of cows. 'with the help of the gods, the Aryan warrior must recover these lost... kept on going, a formidable power, so great that my hands were like this (Mother clenches her fists). Later when I read (I happened to be reading just the chapter concerning the fight against the dasyus), this proximity to my own experience became interesting, for it was not at all intellectual or mental—there was no idea, no thought involved. The remainder of the evening passed as usual. I ...
... ruthlessly enemy after enemy. His whole progress is a warring of Gods and Titans, Gods and Giants, Indra and the Python, Aryan and Dasyus." Old friends and helpers "turn into enemies, the kings of Aryan states he would conquer and overpass join themselves to the Dasyus and are leagued against him in supreme battle to prevent his free and utter passing on." The Vedic deities are "names, powers... human Fathers who were the first founders of knowledge. Thus assembled the hosts of heaven set out. They knew, of course, who the cow-stealers were: the Dasyus. But the road to their country was beset with peril. For this home of the Dasyus, which they themselves describe as the world of falsehood beyond the bound of things, is the stronghold of the Panis, the lair of Vala, the Titan. Who among ...
... forts Dasamiya, 283 Dāsas (Dasa-Dasyus, Dasyus), 165, 175, 195-7, 206-8, 211, 216, 282-5, 287, 290-92, 294, 296-7, 299, 302, 304-10, 313, 326-40, 346, 348-54, 356, 358-66, 369-70, 374, 376, 383-4, 386, 390-91, 406, 408 Dashly, 211, 227, 305-8, 310 Dasyave Vrka, 294 dasyu-/dahyu-, 207 Dasyus, see Dāsas dasyuhan, dasyuhantama, ...
... the acquisition of this wealth as a conquest effected against certain powers, the Dasyus, some times represented as possessing the coveted riches which have to be ravished from them by violence, sometimes as stealing them from the Aryan who has then to discover and recover the lost wealth by the aid of the gods. The Dasyus who withhold or steal the cows are called the Panis, a word which seems originally... Page 141 in the field as it were a happy herd ranging continuously, many, shining; they seized them not, for he was born; even those (cows) that were old, become young again." But if these Dasyus who have not Indra, nor the word, are at present powerless to seize on the luminous herds, it was otherwise before this bright and formidable godhead was born. "Who were they that divorced my strength... passage is associated in this victory with Indra; "This god born by force stayed, with Page 142 Indra as his comrade, the Pani" and performed all the exploits of the gods warring against the Dasyus (VI.44.22). The Ashwins also are credited with the same achievement in VI.62.11, "Ye two open the doors of the strong pen full of the kine" and again in I.112.18, "O Angiras, (the twin Ashwins are ...
... in the getting of our desire, Indra always when felicity is the result of our active consciousness, Indra always when our gettings & our felicity are attacked & our city has to be held against the dasyus, the robbers, the foes. He comes to us always bringing fresh substance to our mental faculties, increased resources of mental force for our active consciousness.भुवत्, गमत्,—the habitual past, formed... which contains & protects, the city, the adhara, this nine-gated city of ours in which we guard our gettings and enjoy our felicity; धिः is holding, supporting. Always attacked by spiritual enemies, Dasyus, Rakshasas, Daityas, Vritras, Panis, it has to be maintained and upheld by the strength of the gods, Indra first, Indra always, Indra foremost. यस्य संस्थे न वृण्वते हरी समस्तु शत्रवः । तस्मा इन्द्राय... कृष्णात् from the black is a description of the tamoguna which is always represented in Yoga by the black colour. Dakshina or Usha is अर्या, noble, one of the high gods that help as opposed to the Dasyus, the dark & ignoble enemies of the spirit; she is विहायाः, either wide or various in her motion or wide & vast in her being, बृहती, a power of the Mahas, a birth from the wideness of the truth of things ...
... affinities than common linguistics can suspect. Finally, there is the general view of the Rigveda as the record of a fight between Aryan Rishis and devilish-seeming non-Aryans who were dubbed D ā sa-Dasyus. Here nobody thinks of asking: "If the Rigvedics did not destroy the Harrappā Culture, what enemies did they fight - enemies credited by them with an array of 'forts' (purah)?" None answering to... of the Harrappā Culture in c. 1500 B.C. and the postulated Aryan advent. Nor, if we make the Rigveda anterior to the Harrappā Culture, do we have evidence of a confrontation of fortified D ā sa-Dasyus by Rishi-led fighters. A spiritual and symbolic interpretation of the Rigvedic hymns such as Sri Aurobindo has worked out in detail seemes to be necessary: it would see the "forts" as centres of demoniac... most systematic treatment, on both archaeological and literary grounds, of the whole Indo-Aryan problem - his highly original concept of who the Rigvedics as well as their enemies, the Dāsa-Dasyus, might be and where, how and when their conflict could take place. Here my chronology has been forced by many factors to go further back into the past than I had once thought necessary. The first ...
... the enemies of Aryanism is Dasa-Dasyu and, as not only Sri Aurobindo but even Western authorities like A.A. Macdonell and A.B. Keith" 32 inform us, the Panis are also designated as Dasas and Dasyus in some passages. Hence what Sri Aurobindo says in connection with the Panis must hold throughout the Rig-veda, and Sri Aurobindo himself intends it to hold when he" writes apropos of the Panis:... there only while ignoring the numerous other passages in which that sense is patently inapplicable." The situation which arises when we take as a whole all the references in the Veda to the Dasa-Dasyus and adopt the conclusion which issues from all the passages thus taken together - the total situation may be formulated with indications from Western scholarship itself. Macdonell and Keith"... spiritual Light." Perhaps sympathisers with Monchanin's stricture on the Aurobindonian attitude may try to make a dent in the latter by asking: "Are there not any passages where the Dasa-Dasyus are definitely something else than demons?" - and then by citing Macdonell and Keith's opinion 37 about their being human: "this may be regarded as certain in those passages where the Dasyu ...
... Aurobindo than Mother in this occurrence, as if He said in His irrefutable tone: This is enough). We will see how it develops, but we are sure to have to face all sorts of obscure “panis” and “dasyus” rising out of their caves. 47 And when the full Work — sacrificial Work — concretizes in Matter under the form of a book, we will see a lot of things happen. What is being played is only a... symbolic vision these last few days: a big fallen tree, from where scorpions and snakes were teeming down. This is exactly the tree of Auroville, which is being shaken in order to make all the small “dasyus” come out. A cleanup, in fact. Lord, when will we have finished cleaning those muddy holes? It seems to be endless and innumerable. If you only knew what kind of letters I receive! — I seem to hear... The official Bulletin of the Ashram, which I was editing. × 47 In the Rig-Veda, panis and dasyus are the beings of darkness who hide in their caves the “herds of lightâ€� that they have stolen. × ...
... took up the Veda in the original, though without any immediate intention of a close or serious study. It did not take long to see that the Vedic indications of a racial division between Aryans and Dasyus and the identification of the latter with the indigenous Indians were of a far flimsier character than I had supposed. But far more interesting to me was the discovery of a considerable body of profound... is a battle between the powers of Light and Truth, the Gods who are the Immortals and the powers of Darkness. These are spoken of under various names as Vritra and Vritras, Vala and the Panis, the Dasyus and their kings. We have to call in the aid of the Gods to destroy the opposition of these powers of Darkness who conceal the Light** from us or rob us of it, who obstruct the flowing of the streams ...
... perfection and drive him continually to the Infinite, either by the uttama gati to Vasudeva or, if he will not have that, by the adhama gati to Prakriti. The Vedic Aryans sought to overcome the Daityas or Dasyus by the aid of the gods; afterwards the gods had themselves to be overcome in order that man might reach his goal. Agni in the sphere of material energies is the master of tejas, the third and central... battle between the Devas and Daityas, the gods being the warriors who fought the Daityas for man and were made strong and victorious by the क्रिया or effective practices of Yoga, the Daityas being the Dasyus or enemies of Yajna and Yoga. This will become clearer and clearer aswe proceed. This view of life as well as Yoga, which is only the sublimation of life, as a struggle between the Devas & Daityas ...
... affinities than common linguistics can suspect. Finally, there is the general view of the Rigveda as the record of a fight between Aryan Rishis and devilish-seeming non-Aryans who were dubbed Dasa-Dasyus . Here nobody thinks of asking: "If the Rigvedics did not destory the Harappa Culture, what enemies did they fight - enemies credited by them with an array of 'forts' (purah)?" None answering to the... end of the Harappa Culture in c. 1500 B.C. and the postulated Aryan advent. Nor, if we make the Rigveda anterior to the Harappa Culture, do we have evidence of a confrontation of fortified Dasa-Dasyus by Rishi-led fighters. (Foreword to the Second Edition, 1992: PAO) Having set this background, Sethna then goes on to point out: In the field of history we must face the crucial ...
... "It did not take me long to see that the Vedic indications of racial division between Aryans and Dasyus were of a far flimsier character than I had supposed..." 16 Sri Aurobindo is not alone in his non-racial reading. A.A. Macdonell and A.B. Keith admit: "The great difference between the Dasyus and the Aryans was their religion... It is significant that constant reference is made to difference ...
... proper to a divine nature, which comes to man as the grace of the gods, sumati . × The harms of the Dasyus, destroyers of our being and enemies of its divine progress, the sons of Limitation and Ignorance. × ... Divine as the master of our evolution by violence and battle, smiting and destroying the Sons of Darkness and the evil they create in man. Varuna and Mitra as helpers in the upward struggle against the Dasyus assume this Rudrahood. × That is, any of the Destroyers. ...
... opposite faction, Dasyus, Vritras, Panis, Rakshasas, later called Daityas and Asuras, between the powers of the Truth or Light and the powers of falsehood, division, darkness. It was a journey, because the sacrifice travelled from earth to the gods in their heaven, but also because it made ready the path by which man himself travelled to the home of the Truth. This journey opposed by the Dasyus, thieves, robbers ...
... stirred if I hadn't had that experience of January 24 and the body didn't need to be made ready. For the body to be 'ready,' a host of things belonging to the dasyus , as the Vedas say, can't be stored inside it! These are very nasty little dasyus ( laughing ), they have to be chased away! When the disease came back, I said to myself, 'Very well, this means it must be dealt with in a new way .' ...
... all the gods is invoked. Indra comes down to help with the thunderbolt in which enter the powers of all the gods. Indra is the hero and fighter, and the battle is waged against certain powers, the Dasyus and the Panis and Vala. Sarama, the heavenly hound runs forward and finds out the cows in the cave of the Panis. Indra strong with the soma-wine and the Angirasas, the Rishis, who are his companions... search it finds that our life is a battle between the powers of Light and the powers of Darkness, between the Gods who are the immortals and adversaries of various names, Vritra, Vala and the Panis and Dasyus and their Kings. To fight successfully, the Yogi is required to seek the help of the powers and beings of light and to build the way of ascent to the goal. There are four features of the process ...
... all the gods is invoked. Indra comes down to help with his thunderbolt in which enter the powers of all the gods. Indra is the hero and fighter, and the battle is waged against certain powers, the Dasyus and the Panis. Sarama, the heavenly hound runs forward and finds out the Cows in the cave of the Panis. Indra strong with the Some-wine and the Angirasas, the Rishis, who are his companions,... none- theless an effective covering of light. This covering is the Night of Darkness, but there is in it a secret light, which is the cherished possession of the forces of darkness, described as Dasyus and Panis, of whom Vritra and Vala are the Chief leaders. This is the distinctive feature of the Vedic idea of evil and darkness. For in this view, evil and darkness have in their deepest profundities ...
... The Ribhus are the "artisans of Immortality", Vishnu is the all-pervading godhead, Soma is Lord of delight and also the divine food. As for the conquest of the Panis or the Dasyus by the Aryans, "it is clear that these Pani dasyus are crooked powers of the falsehood and ignorance who set their false knowledge, their false strength, will and works against the true knowledge, the true strength, will and ...
... which assist us in the getting, keeping or increasing of our dhanáni, the yoga, s áti & vriddhi, are the gods; the powers which oppose & labour to rob us of this wealth are our enemies & plunderers, dasyus, and appear under various names, Vritras, Panis, Daityas, Rakshasas, Yatudhanas. The wealth itself may be the substance of mental light and knowledge or of vital health, delight & longevity or of material ...
... cheerful Pagans seeking the good things of life, afraid of drought & night & various kinds of devils, sacrificing persistently & drinking vigorously, fighting the black Dravidians whom they called the Dasyus or robbers,—crude prototypes these of Homeric Greek and Scandinavian Viking.All this with many details of the early civilisation were supposed to be supplied by a philological—and therefore scient ...
... gate of the Veda into the thoughts and realities of a prehistoric wisdom. Page 33 × It is urged that the Dasyus are described as black of skin and noseless in opposition to the fair and high-nosed Aryans. But the former distinction is certainly applied to the Aryan Gods and the Dasa Powers in the sense of light ...
... descended from the Truth-Consciousness which build up the harmony of the worlds and in man his progressive perfection, so the influences that work against these objects are represented by hostile agencies, Dasyus and Vritras, who seek to break up, to limit, to withhold and deny. Varuna in the Veda is always characterised as a power of wideness and purity; when, therefore, he is present in man as a conscious ...
... contrast with the wealth of myth which crowds about the names of Indra and the Ashwins. He participates in the legendary actions of Indra, the Python-slaying, the recovery of the herds, the slaying of the Dasyus; his own activity is universal but in spite of his supreme greatness or perhaps because of it he seeks no separate end and claims no primacy over the other gods. He is content to be a worker for man ...
... whether human or superhuman, is he who is void of these diviner workings, opposes them in his darkened consciousness and tries to destroy them in the world. The Lords of Darkness are therefore called Dasyus, the Destroyers. ...
... and Dasyu. Aryan adversaries even he has to face in the open field; for old friends and helpers turn into enemies; the kings of Aryan states whom he would conquer and overpass join themselves to the Dasyus and are leagued against him in supreme battle to prevent his free and utter passing on. But the Dasyu is the natural enemy. These dividers, plunderers, harmful powers, these Danavas, sons of the ...
... Indra and Agni and Surya — the pleasure of all kinds of wealth including a strange kind which was hidden within wonderful oceans and rivers — the pleasure of smiting dusky Dravidians whom they dubbed Dasyus and Dasas ("ene-mies" and "slaves") and even sometimes described as quite nose-less! This view of the ancient Rishis has satisfied Indians and, much more, Europeans who have turned scholars of Indian ...
... Kambojas as a foreign people. We have already seen the Manusamhitā (X.43-44) grouping them with some other tribes as degraded Kshatriyas, tribes who lost Vedic rites and customs and thereby became "Dasyus". The Mahābhārata (XIII. 33, 21) calls them an Indian people that became Vriśalas (degraded castes) from seeing no Brāhmanas. Buddhist literature too tells the same story, a loss of original ...
... path of the truth," panthām rtasya yātave tam īmahe. It is by the power of the Soma that the hill in which herds of treasures of light are concealed is broken open, and sons of darkness, Vala and Dasyus, are overthrown. But along with the Soma wine, it is the Word that the Angirasas possess. The Angirasa rishis are brāhmanāsa pitrarah somyāsah, 34 the fathers who are full of the Soma and have ...
... movement which has been described in 1.104.5 brings out two essential characteristics of Sarama. When this guide (Sarama) became visible, she went, knowing, towards the seat that is as if the home of the Dasyus. The knowledge comes to her beforehand, before vision springs up instinctively at the least indication and with that knowledge, she guides the rest of the faculty and divine power. Sarama is the power ...
... cosmic consciousness and all that transcends the cosmic consciousness. The conquest of immortality, the Vedic Rishis discovered, involved also a long and difficult battle with formidable powers, Dasyus, Panis, Vritra; and the courage and heroism required in this battle imparted to the Vedic Rishis intimate knowledge of the intricacies of the web of the world as also of the knowledge of inner means ...
... or less complete union with the One and Divine or full emergence of the individual soul in the Absolute. The Vedic idea of the battle between gods and their adversaries, Vritra, Panis, and Dasyus is retained m the Purano-Tantric system, although names are different and the stories and legends of their battles as also their victories are varied and described in great detail. The Vedic message ...
... going on. What is this battle? In the Veda you find the great story of the forces of Light and the forces of Darkness. The forces of Light are called the Gods. The forces of Darkness are called Dasyus, Panis, Pishachas, Rakshasas, Asuras. There is a great battle between the two. If you want to fight the battle, this battle can be fought, and it can be fought systematically. This is the yoga of ...
... out of the four faculties of the intuitive reason, — revelation, inspiration and intuition... ...It did not take long to see that the Vedic indications of a racial division between Aryans and Dasyus and the identification of the latter with the indigenous Indians were of a far flimsier character than I had supposed. But far more interesting to me was the discovery of a considerable body of profound ...
... wanting and I was obliged to suppose an identity of name without any identity of the symbol. .. "... It did not take long to see that the Vedic indications of a racial division between Aryans and Dasyus and the identification of the latter with the indigenous Indians were of a far flimsier character than I had supposed. But far more interesting to me was the discovery of a considerable body of profound ...
... but Gurus?" Sri Aurobindo: "No, sir, I don't eat your fish. I have oceans of fish at my disposal and have no need to consume your little sprats. It is Messrs. Hostile Forces who do that - the dasyus, robbers." 32 2. NB: To think that five or six years more of barren desert stretch between me and the Divine Grace, coagulates my blood! Sri Aurobindo: Coagulate! coagulate! coagulate! ...
... and its details. The scientist tried and the magician tried to save the girl. The magician failed. Then the scientist tried; he found himself baffled by the opponents as they (the dasyus, hostile vital powers) were not struck down by the blows of the sword or of anything. The opponents were going to a king's capital. Then they fled and the girl was taken away. The scientist was a ...
... and it may not mean "nose-less" or "flat-nosed." Sri Aurobindo : "Anasa" is not flat-nosed, it means nose-less. Disciple : I consulted the Rigveda and found that it refers only to the Dasyus and not to non-Aryans. Sri Aurobindo : The Orientalists also wanted to prove the Page 245 existence of Linga worship in the Rigveda by citing a Rik in which the word " ...
... Aryan and Dasyu. Aryan adversaries even he has to face in the open field; for old friends and helpers turn into enemies; the kings of Aryan states he would conquer and overpass join themselves to the Dasyus and are leagued against him in supreme battle to prevent his free and utter passing on. But the Dasyu is the natural enemy. These dividers, plunderers, harmful powers, these Danavas, sons of the ...
... altogether. At the same time the tejas has become constant & indifferent to failure, even to continued and persistent failure. The opposition now comes not from the personal environment, but from the Dasyus in the outside world and they fight not close (anti), but dure, from a distance. Their effort is to preserve the obstruction, to prevent Ananda from establishing itself and to enforce Asraddha by defeating ...
... "divine being" does not give a clear and sufficient & the best sense. No doubt, the Vedic poets never left out of sight its root meaning; the gods are the Shining Ones, the Lords of Light as are the Dasyus the Dark or Black Ones, the sons of Darkness. ऋत्विजं. "He who sacrifices at the right season" is the outward or ritualistic sense; but ऋतु in the Veda, as we shall see, is the order of the truth ...
... The mind of a man may be likened to a buffer state, now enveloped by the beseiging powers of the darknessses and now overpowered by the strength of the luminous forces. It is a field where sometimes Dasyus , sometimes Devas , sometimes both wage their battles and play out their amusements according to their likes and their dislikes. The field of mind is a field of finiteness — one side of this ...
... Gurus?" "No, Sir," Gurudev retorted, "I don't eat your fish. I have oceans of fish at my disposal and have no need to consume your little sprats. It is Messrs. Hostile Forces who do that — the dasyus, robbers." He was always like that — had never any weakness for lording it over the weak whom he actually invited to "discuss things" familiarly with him. And he did it so unostentatiously that ...
... acquaintance. November 4,1931 The new version is much better; it now reads as an even whole. Please send the money on to me. Pondicherry houses are not safe and it is no use tempting the Dasyus—even when Indra is coming down with the rain in seven rivers. P.S. Can you send me back the German article? I shall read it with the half of your translation, it may bring back some of my forgotten ...
... which nobody does today. In another place he asks us to "look at the uniformly Aryan culture" of India. His pièce-de-résistance is, of course, when he firmly asserts that the whole issue of Devas and Dasyus, the recurring theme in the Rgveda of Aryas versus "black-skinned, snub-nosed, phallic-worshipping" Dāsas, and the monstrous Asuras, is merely allegorical - not something which was a dramatization ...
... (Abhyavartin), 126 Dakshina, 39 Dales, G.R., 4, 57, 96 Danavas, 111 Danu, 111 Dani, A(hmad) H(assan), 7, 13, 98, 100 Danish, 91 Dasa-Dasyus, iv, vi, 25, 109-117, 118, 125, 127, 133 Dasa varna, 113 "Decline of the Harappāns", 4 Dhuni, 110 Dirghatamas, 108 Diti, 111 Doctrine of Brahman, i ...
... the ruined site? Burrow regards them as human beings. But as soon as we ask who the followers of Vala, the hider of cows in the Great-holed-place, are, the idea of human beings starts fading. "The Dasyus who withhold or steal the cows," says Sri Aurobindo, "are called the Panis, a word which seems originally to have meant doers, dealers or traffickers; but this significance is sometimes coloured by ...
... among names whose Aryanism is indubitable. Even if they had been openly called foes of Indra, they would not have necessarily turned non-Aryan. Some of the epithets applied to the Dāsas and Dasyus - ayajvan, "non-sacrificing", adevayu, "not worshipping the Vedic gods", anyavrata, "follower of strange ordinances" - find their analogues in designations flung at unquestionably Aryan leaders ...
... the original, though without any Page 38 immediate intention of a close or serious study. It did not take long to see that the Vedic indications of a racial division between Aryans and Dasyus and the identification of the latter with the indigenous Indians were of a far flimsier character than I had supposed. But far more interesting to me was the discovery of a considerable body of profound ...
... mind, intuition & discernment; the thunderbolt is the electric flashing of the divine mind, and we see in the next line that it is in the worshippers अस्मे that the god-mind increases & overpowers the Dasyus. Cf also v. 10 where it is Indra as the human being who slays Vritra. अस्मे.अस्मासु & never as Sy. takes it = अस्माकं. 5) अपीवृतं । तिरोहितं ।। अहिं । असुरं मेघं वा ।। वीर्येण । सामर्थ्यभूतेन ...
... heavenly lightning overthrow the established things, the artificial obstructions, kṛtrimāṇi rodhāṁsi , in which the sons of Darkness have entrenched themselves, and aid Indra to overcome Vritra and the Dasyus. They seem to be in the esoteric Veda the Life-Powers that support by their nervous or vital energies the action of the thought in the attempt of the mortal consciousness to grow or expand itself into ...
... Coverers or besiegers, its hundredfold activities of will and of thought; in this strength it protected afterwards the rich and various possessions already won in past battles from the Atris and Dasyus , devourers and plunderers of our gains. Although, continues Madhuchchhandas, that Intelligence is already thus rich and variously stored we seek to increase yet more its force of abundance, removing ...
... rendering agrees better with the general sense of the hymn and with its previous use of the word. × The Dasyus who hack and cut up the growth and unity of the soul and seek to assail and destroy its divine strength, joy and knowledge. They are powers of Darkness, the sons of Danu or Diti the divided being. ...
... called avanayaḥ , which has the same root-sense as dhenavaḥ , the fostering cows. × Against the Dasyus. ...
... By destroying the enemy, the hurters, who pervert and diminish our being, will and knowledge, they increase in us the largenesses proper to the "vast Truth". When they govern, the control of the Dasyus is removed and the knowledge of the Truth increases in our thoughts. ...
... शंबरं भेत्. If, therefore, the कृष्ठयः of the last verse are the assailing peoples who attack on the path & the same battles are referred to here, they cannot be men, but must be Vritra-powers. The Dasyus are called दासीर्विशः, but not thus vaguely कृष्ठयः. उत probably brings in a new idea; not only is the sacrificer to be guarded in his march to the goal of the Page 562 Truth, but Vritra ...
... those photos I distributed on the 21st for the Saraswati Puja) Amrita told me he was going to send them to X, 1 I but I told him, 'No, don't bother.' (The 21st was a terrible day for me. All the dasyus of the world were in league against me, trying to stop me—I understood this afterwards, when I saw those things. 2 'So that's what it is!' I said to myself, 'That's what has been going on!') Then ...
... fathers may not, but Gurus? No, Sir, I don't eat your fish. I have oceans of fish at my disposal and have no need to consume your little sprats. It is Messrs. H.F. (hostile forces) who do that—the Dasyus or robbers. You display your fine new penknife and they say "Ah! he's proud of his fine new penknife, is he? We'll show him!" and they filch it at the first opportunity. Do tell us how the Supermind ...
... first time I took up the Veda in the original, though without any intention of a close or serious study. It did not take long to see that the Vedic indications of a racial division between Aryan and Dasyus and the identification of the latter with the indigenous Indians were a far flimsier character than I had supposed. But more interesting to me was the discovery of a considerable body of profound ...
... has the grasp of the spirit but not the process and details. "First the magician tried to save the girl. He failed. Then the scientist tried. He found himself baffled by the opponents as they (the Dasyus – powers of the vital plane) were not struck down by the blows of the sword or anything else. They were all going to some King's capital. Then they fled and the girl disappeared. The scientist was ...
... teeming of larvae caught in a ray of light. It is the world that swarms. It is the whole world swarming all over and starting little revolutions right and left, without knowing why. It is the little dasyus, as the Vedas call them, thrashing about: the cave dwellers of the depths. They do not like oxygen at all, they do not like the ray of light: they like their mud, and that is that. And everything ...
... whole of India is Aryan, nothing else." Then Sri Aurobindo, taking a straight look at the Veda, observed, "It did not take long to see that the Vedic indications of a racial division between Aryans and Dasyus and the identification of the latter with the indigenous Indians were of a far flimsier character than I had 1. Voltaire is a notable exception; he saw in India the source of much of Europe's ...
... general and the Rgveda in particular" about "the indigenous inhabitants (dasa or dasyu) " with whom the Rigvedics fought: "Against these enemies, not always distinguishable from demoniac enemies...." The moment this admission is made, Gonda lies vulnerable to Sri Aurobindo's argument apropos of the dasa-dasyu. We may put the argument as follows. Instead of looking at the Rigveda piecemeal... other alternatives, is never completely excluded but always remains possible in all the rest of the cases, stands out as the most logical, the single consistent and sufficient explanation of the dasa-dasyu. In an earlier instalment sent by you of Gonda's writings I come across the statement: "Natural phenomena and their mythological, symbolical or esoterical interpretation are often interwoven:... . But Gonda does not see his Aryan invaders as destroyers of cities like Mohenjodaro and Harappa. He even has the phrase about the enemies of the Rigvedics: "The indigenous inhabitants (dasa or dasyu) - often but without sufficient evidence identified with the survivors of the Indus culture" (p. 24). In no way does Gonda show us any link between the Indus Valley Civilisation and his Aryan invaders ...
... creators by the divine rhythm. It is by their cry that Brihaspati breaks Vala into fragments. As Vritra is the enemy, the Dasyu, who holds back the flow of the sevenfold waters of conscient existence,—Vritra, the personification of the Inconscient, so Vala is the enemy, the Dasyu, who holds back in his hole, his cave, bilam, guhā , the herds of the Light; he is the personification of the subconscient ...
... Angirases or Panis, yet the line describes accurately enough the part attributed to her in the Veda:—"When this guide became visible, she went, knowing, towards the seat that is as if the home of the Dasyu," prati yat syā nīthā adarśi dasyor, oko na acchā sadanaṁ jānāti gāt . These are the two essential characteristics of Sarama; the knowledge comes to her beforehand, before vision, springs up instinctively... diffuses all the strength and glory of its light, the inner Dawn comes from the luminous wideness instinct with knowledge,— jānatī gāt , the same phrase that is used of her who leads to the house of the Dasyu in I.104.5; and of Sarama in III.31.6,—the rivers of the Truth, representing the outflow of its being and its movement ( ṛtasya preṣā ), descend in their rushing streams and make a channel here for ...
... dynamic mentality, Surya from the pure reflective mentality. As for the pasture of the cow we are already familiar with it; it is the field or kṣetra which Indra wins for his shining comrades from the Dasyu and in which the Atri beheld the warrior Agni and the luminous cows, those of whom even the old became young again. This field, kṣetra , is only another image for the luminous home ( kṣaya ) to which ...
... destruction, a part, share or gift. We find in the sibilant subfamily das , to destroy, bite, overpower ( dam ); to decay, waste, perish; to cast away (cf daṅgh , to abandon) & its derivatives, notably dasyu , an enemy; daśana , tooth & daṣṭa , bitten; daṁś , to bite, sting; daṁśa , bite, sting, cutting, tearing, tooth, pungency; a limb or joint; dandaśa , a tooth; daṁṣṭrā Page 531 &... refuge, an island (to divide, cut off, separate), a division of the world, continent; dvīpin , a tiger, leopard (to tear, rend); dvṛ , to cover, hinder (obstruct), disregard, misappropriate (cf dasyu , a robber). Again, an absolute confirmation. We have completed our survey of this great D clan of Aryan words, so far as the Sanscrit language holds them & introduces them to us in its classical ...
... and the astronomical theory of Aryan myth is the new interpretation given to a host of Vedic vocables by the comparative philologists. The Aryan theory rests on the ingenious assumption that anarya, dasyu or dasa in the Veda refer to the unfortunate indigenous races who by a familiar modern device were dubbed robbers & dacoits because they were guilty of defending their country against the invaders &... tions of Vedic words and riks in which with the progress of scholarship the authority of Sayana and Yaska has been more & more set at nought and discredited. My contention is that anarya, dasa and dasyu do not for a moment refer to the Dravidian races,—I am, indeed, disposed to doubt whether there was ever any such entity in India as a separate Aryan or a separate Dravidian race,—but always to Vritra ...
... sacrifice and a battle continued in the Purano-Tantric tradition also. According to the Veda, the struggle of life is a warring of Gods and Titans, Gods and Giants, Indra and Python, Aryan and the Dasyu. In the Puranas and Tantras also life is conceived as a struggle and battle between Devas and Asuras, Devas and Rakshasas, armies of Gods and Goddesses and those of Asuric, Rakshasic and Paishacik ...
... of sacrifics and a battle continued in the Purano Tantric tradition also. According to the Veda, the struggle of life is a warring of Gods and Titans Gods and Giants Indra and Python, Aryan and the Dasyu. In the Puranas and Tantras also life is conceived as a struggle and battle between Devas and Asuras, Devas and Rakshasas' between the armies of Gods and God- desses and the armies of Asuric, Rakshasic ...
... things and the crooked in mortals he looks down upon their movements." It is by this eye of light that Indra, who has made him arise in heaven for far vision, distinguishes the Aryan powers from the Dasyu, separating the children of light from the children of darkness so that he may destroy these but raise those to their perfection. But seerhood brings with it not only the far vision but the far hearing ...
... September . (successively, the first then again repeated) 2) Tonight .. light . (the second word replacing light ). 3 The physical ananda of pain (heat) has suddenly been taken away by the Dasyu and its place is taken by imperfect titiksha. Lipi 3) In antardrishta. I am formless and thoughtless in my essentiality, but personality is my real (being) and my essentiality is only the initial ...
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