Transition of Memory of Grandest ‘Nourisher Sarasvatī’ River to ‘Not to be Kindled Anāhitā’ Celestial deity
Ilā, Aditī and Sarasvatī
Sarasvatī is well known to us as a grand river from the shrutis and smritis preserved in Rg Veda and its Samhita. Anahita means “not ignited/kindled (like fire)” when viewed through a Sanskrit perspective.
Interestingly, we find a name Anāhitā preserved in Yasht as a famous phrase “ Arədvī Sūrā Anāhitā,” and similarly, we find that this composition can be read in Sanskrit as ‘ana-ahitā/āhitā’ in आर्द्रावी शूरा अनाहिता ( उपसर्गाः क्रियायोगे P. I. 4.59), and I’ve been wondering what Anāhitā could possibly mean or what information this word could contain about Sarasvatī.
Incidentally, I came across Prashna 4. Anuvak 8.3 & 4.8.8 of Taittiriya Aranyaka which invokes Sarasvatī with the other two ( God’s names) cows, i.e., Ila and Aditi. These Goddesses or Gods- ,“ devanāmāni” are the goddesses of “Divine Truth-Vision”, Vast Truth — Consciousness and Divine Truth, Audition or Inspiration :
Lets read between the lines below.
“O Ilā, come hither. O Aditī, come hither, O Sarasvatī, come hither”-
Here the cows are invited for the rituals to be accomplished with Yajush mantra.
“By that word of thine, that is asleep, (O Sarasvatī) (1), And another one rising in the world of delight(2), you nourish all adorable felicities(3).The word which holds ecstasy(4) holds the treasure and which well-dispenses gifts (5) O Sarasvatī, you establish that in us for our support.(6); Sarasvatī-the Goddess of inspiration is prayed to awaken the word in us which is asleep. [ This is the quote of RV 1.164.49 — Sarasvatī, Goddess of inspiration is prayed to awaken the word in us which is asleep, also see RV 1.3.10, 12]
The grandest of Ilā, Aditī and Sarasvatī as living rivers are used as metaphors to ṛtavaḥ. This can be seen from 4.8.4 “asau ehi, asau ehi, asau ehi”, used thrice, with some common names for cow making them six in number. 5.7.4 says śaṭ sampadyante, śaṭa ṛtavaḥ, ṛturbhirivaināmāhvayati; states that thus the number of names assign are six(1), the cow is verily addressed by the names of the seasons(3). The 6 seasons were deemed as yielding cows that brought substantial abundance of respective seasons. By the time this Prashna and Anuvak was realized, Sarasvatī had already gained the third position and a metaphor for the word asleep similar to her physical river appearance, still the Agni-fire would had been kindled under her, she being one of the pointers to seasons must have been near or at one of the cardinal points. Rg-Veda V 4.8.12 says Ashvibhyaa.m pinvasva(1) sarasvatyai pinvasva , and indeed this shows that once fire was kindled under Celestial Saraswati also, that would mean Aahita in Sanskrit.
As discussed earlier that Persians also remember this grandest river and call it Anāhitā. Sanskrit version of would mean “of the waters( Arədvī Sūrā Anāhitā, the name आर्द्रावी शूरा अनाहिता ardra-moist), mighty, and immaculate (Given in wiki) / or the one for whom the fire is not kindled( my version of understanding)”. Like the Indian Sarasvatī, Anāhitā nurtures, crops and herds; and she is hailed both as a divinity and as the lost mythical river which she had been personified as , “ as great in bigness as all these waters which flow forth upon the earth” (Yasht 5.3). Here we find that Rg-Veda also has similar parallels on memory of Saraswatī as a mighty river.
One is as under.
sarasvatī sarayuḥ sindhurūrmibhirmaho mahīravasā yantuvakṣaṇīḥ | devīrāpo mātaraḥ sūdayitnvo ghṛtavat payomadhuman no arcata// Rv.10.64.9
“Let the Sarasvatī, the Sarayu, and the Sindhu, with their waves; let the great [rivers] come swiftly, strengthening us with their succor. Divine waters, mothers, flowing, impart (?) to us your waters with butter and honey.”
As she lost her place due to the shift of cardinal point or season assigned to her she also lost the identity to be kindled and this information seems to be in the name Anāhitā posterior to grand river situation. The word faced diachronism and transformed its characteristics from “not being kindled; an-āhitā” to “immaculate — an-ahitā” under the guise of Sanskrit and Persian sandhi rules. Thus it appears that the Persian Yasht contains memory of once Saraswati being a mighty river, then was used for seasons which was invoked for the later transformed deity from goddess of Waters. Moreover, later remembered as a deity of season, inspiration, consciousness and truth in Rg-Veda itself.
We see that how an etymology of Persian word, which is an absolute Sanskrit word in itself, can bear an important information.
The question remains, “Where to place the celestial Sarasvatī on the ecliptic?” since she is an astronomical entity. Does Aditī gives us a clue? In the Indian nakṣatra system Aditī is the deity of Punarvasu. The Punarvasu nakṣatra lies within Castor and Pollux, in the western chart. There is a celestial river Eridanus which appears to be a distorted name of Ila or Ira. Is it possible that we had a constellation after Punarvasu which is none other than the milky way itself. We do have a new name for the milky way which we call as Akāśagaṅgā. Is there a hidden story of mighty Sky-Saraswati narrative being replaced by Akāśagaṅgā.
Takeaways —
- We can only guess on the lost constellations. Ilā, Aditī and Sarasvatī, with the help of their association with six seasons, are three sets of Agni and are some lost constellations near the Milky Way.
- Apparently there were two Saraswatis in Rg-Veda, The Physical river and the Constellation.
Originally published at http://rupabhaty.blogspot.com on February 11, 2019.
