Veda06- Is there a white Veda and a black Veda?

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The words ‘white’ and ‘black’ have become taboo words these days. They are reminders of atrocity committed to some races merely based on skin color. I am not talking about those dark ages. I am discussing about Vedas and their possible composers.

 

In the previous episode, I talked about the ancient Iranians who had a language called Zend that was very similar to Sanskrit, the language of the Vedas and also a set of scriptures called Avesta, which are very similar to the Vedas. This similarity is deep rooted.

 

Many of the Gods worshiped in Avesta had names very similar to the Gods that one comes across in the Vedas. The Vedic God Yama appears as Yima in the Avesta. Varuna of the Vedas becomes Verana in Avesta. Even the most prominent God Indra of the Vedas appears as Verathaghna in Avesta. Initially people thought that this is some difference. But not so. Indra is also called Vrthraghna – the slayer of Vrthra, an evil daemon.

 

The Vedas have the fire rituals called the Yajnya. The Iranians had similar rituals which they called as Yasna. Indians had Soma, a special drink offered to the Gods during rituals. And the Iranians had Haoma!

 

If you look at the stories that appear in these two scriptures namely Avesta and Veda, one finds similarities there too. One finds the story of Vishnu who measured the entire universe just by his three steps, both in Avesta as well as Veda. One also finds the story of Vrthra who blocked the waters and was finally slayed by Indra or Verathaghna.

 

Not just the scriptures. These two people had lot more in common. Iranians had similar social classes like the Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shoodra of the Vedic Indians. Like the Vedic Brahmins, even their Iranian counterparts wore sacred thread or girdle on their body.

 

It was a taboo in ancient India to cross the seas. One is not supposed to cross the sea since that was a great sin. Even the ancient Iranians had a similar belief. When one of the priests of Iran was invited to Rome by the then Roman emperor, it is said, the priest chose to reach Rome following a circuitous land route, to avoid crossing the sea which was forbidden!

 

Anyone who sees these similarities comes to the conclusion that Iranians were just an extension of Indians or they may be Indians who migrated to Iran as I suggested in the Yayaati story that we discussed in previous episode.

 

But our Aryan invasion theorists disagree. They would like to see Iranians and Indian Aryans as two branches of what originally had a single root. Iranians did not come from India. But both Iranians and Indian Aryans came from the same central Asian place inhabited by the original Aryans. Some of them went to Iran and some migrated to India. That is their argument.

 

These Aryan invasion theorists say that the so-called Iranians were not really native to Iran. They migrated to Iran from outside. They say that these people came from a place called Maedia. Accordingly, their religion was called Mazdeism.

 

I am not a philologist, but I have an interesting counter to this theory of Aryan invasion.

 

If we go back to the Indian scenario and the origins of Vedas in India, we come across a great sage called Yajnyavalkya. Yajnyavalkya was a great scholar in Yajur Veda – the ritualistic part of the Vedas. Once this Yajnyavalkya had a difference of opinion with his teacher Vaisampayana who had taught him the Yajur Veda. At the heat of the arguments Vaisampayana ordered Yajnyavalkya to vomit out the Yajurveda that he had taught him. Yajnyavalkya complied with his teacher’s order.

 

Other students of Vaisampayana took the form of Tittari birds and ate away the vomit. As a result, these disciples revived the old Yajurveda which was known only to Yajnyavalkya. This revived Yajurveda came to be called Taittareeya Yajurveda since it was revived by Tittari birds.

 

Now Yajnyavalkya was without any Veda for himself. So, he worshipped the Sun God seeking the knowledge of Yajurveda from him. The Sun God appeared to Yajnyavalkya in the form of a horse and gave him a new version of Yajurveda. Since it was given by a horse or Vaaji as it is called in Sanskrit, this new Yajurveda came to be called VaajasanEya Yajurveda. So, there are now two Yajurvedas – Taittareeya version and the VaajasanEya version. VaajasanEya version is also called Maadhyandina version.

 

Looking at the symbolism in the entire story, many things seem probable.

 

Is the symbolic story of Yajnyavalkya getting his version of Yajurveda from Sun God who appeared in the form of a horse is indicative of the fact that either Yajnyavalkya travelled to Maedia or someone from Maedia came to India and taught him the Veda which they too had from the beginning? The ancient Iranians were great worshippers of the Sun God. They also used horses for travel. And more than anything else, this new version of Yajurveda is called Madhyandina version indicating its Maedia origin.

 

There is a further interesting aspect of these two Vedas. The one got by Yajnyavalkya is called Shukla Yajurveda meaning White Yajurveda and the other Veda revived by other disciples of Vaisampayana is called Krishna Yajurveda or Black Yajurveda. Are ‘white’ and ‘black’ indicative of the color of respective people? White Iranians Vs relatively dark Indians? May be.

 

 

Personally, I have no interest in either proving or disproving the Aryan invasion theory, though I don’t like distortion of facts by vested interests. The fact is that the intermingling of various people in and around ancient India was so complex to derive a simple linear narrative.

 

In the next episode I will discuss an interesting story to illustrate how Indians view the origins of the Vedas. Please do join me then.

 

 

A series discussing the most ancient of the Indian scriptures, nay the world scriptures namely the Vedas. © Dr. King, Swami Satyapriya 2021