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40 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
lastness ultimately coincides with the firstness and as there is a triple repetition of the words, this sentence is tautological. Now since these particular sentences have no authority, the entire Veda will be proved by these specimens to stand in the same predicament, since all its other parts have the same author, or are of the same character, as these portions.”
Coming to Jaimini. He summarises the views of the opponents of the Vedas in the first part of Sutras 28 and 32 of his Purva Mimamsa. Sutra 28 says [1] :
“It is also objected that the Vedas cannot be eternal, because we observe that persons, who are not eternal, but subject to birth and death, are mentioned in them. Thus it is said in the Veda ‘Babara Pravahani desired’, ‘Kusurvinda Auddalaki desired’. Now, as the sentences of the Veda in which they are mentioned, could not have existed before these persons were born, it is clear that these sentences had a beginning, and being thus non-eternal, they are proved to be of human composition.”
Sutra 32 says [2] :
“It is asked how the Veda can constitute proof of duty when it contains such incoherent nonsense as the following: ‘An old ox, in blanket and slippers, is standing at the door and singing benedictions. A Brahman female, desirous of offspring, asks, ‘ Pray O King, what is the meaning of intercourse on the day of the new moon?’ or the following: ‘the cows celebrated this sacrifice’.”
This is also the view of Yaska the author of Nirukta who says:
(Of the four kinds of verses specified in the preceding section), (a) those which address a god as absent, (b) those which address him as present, and (c) those which address the worshippers as present and the god as absent, are the most numerous, while (d) those which refer to the speaker himself are rare. It happens also that a god is praised without any blessing being invoked, as in the hymn (R. V. i. 32). “I declare the heroic deeds of Indra,” etc. Again, blessings are invoked without any praise being offered, as in the words, ‘May, I see well with my eyes, be resplendent in my face, and hear well with my ears’. This frequently occurs in the Adhvaryava (Yajur), and in the sacrificial formula. Then again we find oaths and curses as in the words (R.V.vii. 104, 15), ‘May I die today, if I am a Yatudhana,’ etc. Further, we observe the desire to describe some particular state of things, as in the verse (R. V. x. 129, 2). ‘Death was not then, nor immortality,’ etc. Then there is lamentation, arising out of a certain
1 Muir III. p. 77.
2 Muir III. p. 80.