z:\ ambedkar\vol 04\vol4 04.indd MK SJ YS 23 9 2013/YS 8 11 2013 143
APPENDIX I 143
SUKTA XII (CLXIII)
The deity is the cure of Phthisis; the Rishi is Vivrihan, the son of Kasyapa; the metre is Anushtubh.
I banish disease from thine eyes, from thy head, from thy nose, from thy ears, from thy chin, from thy brain, from thy tongue.
I banish disease from thy neck, from thy sinews, from thy bones, from thy joints, from thy upper arms, from thy shoulders, and from thy fore-arms.
I banish disease from thine entrails, from thy anus, from thine abdomen, and from thy heart, from thy kidneys, from thy liver, from thy (other viscera).
I banish disease from thy thighs, from thy knees, from thy heels, from thy toes, from thy loins, from thy buttocks, from thy private parts.
I banish disease from thy urethra, from thy bladder, from thy hair, from thy nails, from thy whole person.
I banish disease from each limb, from each hair, from each joint where it is generated, from thy whole person.
As Prof. Wilson observes there is in the Rig-Veda (which is the stock Veda) scarcely any indication of doctrinal or philosophical speculation, no allusion to the later notions of the several schools, nor is there any hint of metempsychosis, or of the doctrine intimately allied to it, of the repeated renovation of the world. The Vedas may be useful as a source of information regarding the social life of the Aryans. As a picture of primitive life it is full of curiosity but there is nothing elevating. There are more vices and a few virtues.
Given the nature and substance of the contents of the Vedas it is a riddle why the Brahmins claimed infallibility for such superstitious writings as the Vedas.
There would have been some justification for this doctrine of infallibility if the Rishis who made the hymns had claimed it for themselves. But it is quite clear that the Rishis have made no such pretentions. On the contrary they have occasionally confessed their ignorance of matters in which they had interest and curiosity. Compare the following utterances of the Rishis as given in the Rig-Veda:
“Ignorant, not knowing in my mind, I enquire after these hidden abodes of the gods; the sages have stretched out seven threads for a hoof over the yearling calf (or over the sun, the abode of all things).
- Not comprehending, I ask those sages who comprehend this matter; unknowing (I ask) that I may know; what is the one thing, in the form of the uncreated one, who has upheld these six worlds?