were miserable,―reflected with unerring insight on the means of benefitting the several castes and orders. 19. Discerning that the pure Vedic ceremonies ought to be performed for men by the agency of four classes of priests, he divided the one Veda into four parts, with a view to the performance of sacrifice. 20. Four Vedas, called the Rich, Yajush, Saman, and Atharvan, were drawn forth from it; while the Itihāsas and Purānas are called the fifth Veda. 21. Of these the Rich was held by Paila, the sage Jaimini chanted the Saman, Vaisampayana alone was versed in the Yajush, (22) the dreadful muni Sumantu in the verses of Atharvan and Angiras, and my father Romaharshana in the Itihāsas and Purāņas. 23. Each of these rishis arranged his own Veda in many ways; and by the successive generations of their disciples the Vedas were separated into branches (śākhās). 24. The venerable Vyasa, kind to the wretched, acted thus in order that the Vedas might be recollected by men of enfeebled understanding. 25. And as women, S'ūdras, and the inferior members of the twice-born classes were unfitted for hearing the Veda, and were infatuated in desiring the blessings arising from ceremonies, the muni, with a view to their felicity, in his kindness composed the narrative called the Mahabharata."

But notwithstanding the magnitude of the great legendary and theological repertory which he had thus compiled, Vyasa, we are told, was dissatisfied with his own contributions to sacred science until he had produced the Bhāgavata Purana consecrated to the glory of Bhagavat (Krishna)." The completion of this design is thus narrated, Bhag. Pur. i. 7, 6:

Anarthopaśamam sākshād bhakti-yogam Adhokshaje | lokasyājānato vidvāmś chakre Satvata - samhitam | 7. Yasyām vai śrüyamāṇāyāṁ Krishne parama-pūrushe | bhaktir udpatyate pumsaḥ śoka-moha-bhayāpaha 8. Sa samhitām Bhāgavatīm kṛitvā 'nukramya chātmajam | S'ukam adhyāpayāmāsa nivṛitti-niratam muniḥ |

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'Knowing that devotion to Adhokshaja (Krishna) was the evident means of putting an end to the folly of the world, which was ignorant of this, he composed the Satvata-Sanhita (the Bhagavata). 7. When a man listens to this work, devotion to Krishna, the supreme Purusha, arises in his mind, and frees him from grief, delusion, and fear. Having

"See Wilson's Vishnu Purana, Preface, p. xlvi.

completed and arranged this Sanhita, the muni taught it to his son Suka, who was indisposed to the pursuit of secular objects."

Towards the close of this Purana also, in the sixth section of the twelfth book (verses 37 ff.), there is to be found what Professor Wilson (Vish. Pur. Pref.) calls "a rather awkwardly introduced description of the arrangement of the Vedas and Purānas by Vyasa."

The passage (as given in the Bombay lithographed edition) is as follows:

Sūta uvācha | samāhitātmano brahman Brahmanaḥ parameshthinaḥ | hṛid-ākāśād abhūd nādo vṛitti-rodhad vibhāvyate | yad-upāsanayā brahman yogino malam ātmanaḥ | dravya-kriyā-kārakākhyaṁ dhūtvā yānty apanurbhavam | Tato 'bhūt trivṛid omkāro yo 'vyakta-prabhavaḥ svarāṭ | yat tal lingam Bhagavato Brahmanaḥ paramātmanaḥ | sṛinoti yaḥ imam sphotam supta-srotre cha sunya-dṛik | yena vāg vyajyate yasya vyaktir ākāśe ātmanaḥ | svadhāmno brahmaṇaḥ sākshād vāchakaḥ paramātmanaḥ| sa-sarva-mantropanishad-veda-vījam sanātanam | tasya hy āsams trayo varṇāḥ a-kārādyāḥ Bhṛigūdvaha | dhāryante yais trayo bhāvāḥ gunāḥ nāmārtha-vṛittayaḥ | tato 'kshara-samāmnāyam asṛijad bhagavān ajaḥ | Antassthoshma-svara-sparsa-hrasva-dirghādi-lakshanam | tenāsau chaturo vedāms chaturbhir vadanair vibhuḥ | sa-vyāhṛitikān soṁkārāmś chāturhotra-vivakshayā | putrān adhyāpayat tāms tu brahmarshin brahmakovidän | te tu dharmopadeshṭāraḥ sva-putrebhyaḥ samādiśan | te paramparayā prāptās tat-tach-chhishyair dhrita-vrataiḥ | chaturyugeshv atha vyastāḥ dvāparādau maharshibhiḥ | kshīṇāyushaḥ kshīnā-sattvān durmedhān vikshya kālaṭaḥ | vedān brahmarshayo vyasyan hṛidisthāchyuta-noditāḥ | Asminn apy antare brahman bhagavān loka-bhāvanaḥ | brahmeśādyair lokapālair yachito dharma-guptage | Parāśarāt Satyavatyām aмśāmśa-kalayā vibhuḥ | avatirno mahābhāga vedam chakre chaturvidham | rig-atharva-yajuḥ-sāmnām rāśīn uddhṛitya vargaśaḥ | chatasraḥ samhitas chakre mantrair maniganāḥ iva | tāsām sa chaturaḥ śishyān upāhūya mahāmatiḥ | Ekaikām sam̃hitām brahman ekaikasmai dadau vibhuḥ | Pailāya sam̃hitām ādyām bahvṛichākhyām uvācha ha | Vaiśampāyana-sanjnāya nigadākhyam yajur-ganam | sāmnām Jaiminaye prāha tatha chhandoga-samhitām | Atharvāngirasīm nāma sva-śishāya Sumantare |

"Sūta speaks: From the æther of the supreme Brahma's heart, when he was plunged in meditation, there issued a sound, which is

perceived [by the devout] when they close their organs of sense. By adoring this sound, devotees destroy the soul's threefold taint, extrinsic, inherent, and superhuman," and become exempt from future birth. From this sound sprang the omkāra, composed of three elements, selfresplendent, of imperceptible origin, that which is the emblem of the divine Brahma, the supreme spirit. He it is who hears this sound (sphoța), when the ears are insensible and the vision inactive,—(this sphoța or omkāra) through which speech is revealed, and which is manifested in the æther, from the Soul." This [omkāra] is the sensible exponent of Brahma, the self-sustained, the supreme spirit; and it is the eternal seed of the Vedas, including all the Mantras and Upanishads. In this [omkāra] there were, o descendant of Bhrigu, three letters, A and the rest, by which the three conditions, the [three] qualities, the [three] names, the [three] significations, the [three] states are maintained. From these [three letters] the divine and unborn being created the traditional system of the letters of the alphabet, distinguished as inner (y, r, l, v), ushmas (ś, sh, 8, h), vowels, long and short, and consonants. With this [alphabet] the omnipresent Being, desiring to reveal the functions of the four classes of priests, [created] from his four mouths the four Vedas with the three sacred syllables (vyāhṛitis) and the omkāra. These he taught to his sons, the brahmarshis, skilled in sacred lore; and these teachers of duty, in turn declared them to their sons. The Vedas were thus received by each succeeding generation of devout pupils from their

48

45 Dravya-kriyā-kāraka, which the scholiast interprets as answering to adhibhūta, adhyātma, and adhidaiva. See the explanation of these terms in Wilson's Sankhyakārikā, pp. 2 and 9.

46 I quote the scholiast's explanation of this obscure verse: Ko'sau paramātmā tam āha 'sṛinoti' iti | imam sphoṭam avyaktam om̃kāram | nanu jīvaḥ evo tam̃ sṛinotu | na ity āha | supta-srotre karna-pidhānādinā avṛittike 'pi śrotre sati|jīvas tu karaṇādīnatvād na tadā śrotā | tad-upalabdhis tu tasya paramātma-dvārikā eva iti bhāvaḥ | Īsvaras tu naivam | yataḥ śūnya-dṛik sūnye’pi indriya-varge dṛik jnānaṁ yasya | tathā hi supto yadā sabcam śrutvā prabuddhyate na tadā jīvaḥ śrotā linen` driyatvāt | ato yas tadā sabdam s'rutvā jīvam prabodhayati sa yathā paramātmā eva tadvat | ko 'sāv omkāras tam višinashṭi sārdhena yena vāg bṛihatī vyajyate yasya cha hṛidayākāśe ātmanaḥ sakāśād vyaktir abhivyaktiḥ. The word sphota will be explained below, in a future section.

47 These the scholiast explains thus: Gunāḥ sattvādayaḥ | nāmāni ṛig-yajuḥ-sāmāni | arthāḥ bhūr-bhuvaḥ-svar-lokāḥ | vṛittayo jāgrad-ādyāḥ |

48 If I have translated this correctly, the omkara is both the source of the alphabet, and the alphabet of the omkara!

predecessors, and in each of the systems of four yugas were divided by great sages at the beginning of the Dvapara." The Brahmarshis, impelled by Achyuta, who resided in their hearts, divided the Vedas, because they perceived that men had declined in age, in power, and in understanding. In this manvantara also,50 the divine and omnipresent Being, the author of the universe, being supplicated by Brahma, Iśa (S'iva), and the other guardians of the world, to maintain righteousness, became partially incarnate as the son of Parāśara and Satyavatī, and divided the Veda into four parts. Selecting aggregates of Rich, Atharvan, Yajush, and Saman verses, and arranging them in sections (vargas), he formed four sanhitas (collections) of the hymns, as gems [of the same description are gathered together in separate heaps]. Having summoned four disciples, the wise lord gave to each of them one of these sanhitās. To Paila he declared the first sanhita, called that of the Bahvṛichas; to Vaisampayana the assemblage of Yayush verses, called Nigada; to Jaimini the Chhandoga collection of Saman verses; and to his pupil, Sumantu, the Atharvāngirasī,"

The Bhāgavata Purana, however, is not consistent in the account which it gives of the division of the Vedas. In a passage already quoted in the First Volume of this work, p. 158, it speaks of that division as having been the work of the monarch Pururavas, and as having taken place in the beginning of the Treta age. From the importance of this text I will extract it here again at greater length.

in

The celestial nymph Urvasi, the Purana tells us, had been doomed, consequence of a curse, to take up her abode upon earth. She there

49 Dvāparādau can only mean the "beginning of the Dvāpara;" but the scholiast undertakes by the following process of reasoning to show that it means the end of that yuga: Dvāparādau dvāparam ādir yasya tad-antyāms'a-lakshaṇasya kālasya | tasmin dvāparānte veda - vibhāga - prasiddheḥ S'antanu-sama-kāla - Vyāsāvatāra-prasiddhes cha | vyastā vibhaktāḥ | “Dvāparādau means the period of which the dvāpara was the beginning, i.e. the time distinguished as the concluding portion of that yuga; since it is notorious that the Vedas were divided at the end of the Dvapara, and that the incarnation of Vyasa was contemporaneous with S'antanu. Vyastāḥ=vibhaktāḥ, divided."

50 From this it appears that hitherto the account had not referred to the present manvantara. The scholiast remarks: Evam sāmānyato veda-vibhāga-kramam uktvā vaivasvata-manvantare vis'eshato nirūpayitum āha | "Having thus [in the preceding verses] generally described the manner in which the Vedas are divided, [the author] now states [as follows], with the view of determining particularly [what was done] in the Vaivasvata manvantara."

fell in love with King Pururavas, the report of whose manly beauty had touched her heart, even before she had been banished from paradise. After spending many happy days in the society of her lover, she forsook him in consequence of his having infringed one of the conditions of their cohabitation, and Pururavas was in consequence rendered very miserable. He at length, however, obtained a renewal of their intercourse, and she finally recommended him to worship the Gandharvas, who would then re-unite him with her indissolubly.

The Purana then proceeds (ix. 14, 43 ff.):

Tasya samstuvatas tushṭāḥ agnisthālīm dadur nṛipa | Urvaśīm manyamānas tām so 'budhyata charan vane | Sthālim nyasya vane gatvā gṛihān ādhyāyato nisi | Tretāyām sampravṛittāyām manasi trayy avarttata | Sthālī-sthānam gato 'śvattham śamī-garbhaṁ vilakshya saḥ | Tena dve araṇī kṛitvā Urvaśī-loka-kāmyayā | Urvaśīm mantrato dhyāyann adharāranim uttarām | Ātmānam ubhayor madhye yat tat prajananam prabhuḥ | Tasya nirmathanāj jāto jātavedāḥ vibhāvasuḥ | Trayyā cha vidyayā rājnā putratve kalpitas trivṛit | Tenāyajata yajneśam bhagavantam adhokshajam | Urvasi-lokam anvichhan sarva-devamayam Harim | Ekaḥ eva purā vedaḥ pranavaḥ sarva-vāñmayaḥ | Devo nārāyano nānyaḥ eko 'gnir varnaḥ eva cha | Pururavasa evāsīt trayī tretā-mukhe nṛipa | Agninā prajayā rājā lokam gandharvam eyivān |

"The Gandharvas, gratified by his praises, gave him a platter containing fire. This he [at first] supposed to be Urvaśī, but became aware [of his mistake], as he wandered in the wood. Having placed the platter in the forest, Pururavas went home; and as he was meditating in the night, after the Treta age had commenced, the triple Veda appeared before his mind." Returning to the spot where he had placed the platter, he beheld an aśvattha tree springing out of a sami trce, and formed from it two pieces of wood. Longing to attain the world where Urvasi dwelt, he imagined to himself, according to the sacred text, Urvasi as the lower and himself as the upper piece of wood, and the place of generation as situated between the two.52 Agni was produced from its

51 Karma-bodhakam veda-trayam prādurabhūt | "The three Vedas, expounders of rites, were manifested to him," as the scholiast explains."

52 Allusion is here made to a part of the ceremonial for kindling a particular sacrificial fire; one of the formulas employed at which, as given in the Vāj. Sanhitā, 5, 2, is, "thou art Urvasī" (Urvasy asi), and another, "thou art Pururavas” (Purūravāḥ