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The Terminology of the Vedas and European Scholars 21
discovering the story of
Shunah-shepa
in the Rig Veda. Shepa, which
means 'contact', (Nirukta, iii, 2-- *1: qt' t
9
1
4it
sts-4u4), being suffixed
to 7: or WI which means knowledge, MT qcitia:
717-aqf
+hms-4w:
iT-q) means one who has come into contact with knowledge
i.e.
a
learned person. It shall appear, in the progress of this article, how
mantra
after
mantra
is misinterpreted by simply falsifying this law of
Nirukta.
To an unprejudiced mind, the correctness of this law will never
be doubtful. For, independently of the authority of
Nirukta,
the very
antiquity of the Vedas is a clear proof of its words being
yaugika.
And
even Professor Max Muller, in his mythological moods, is compelled
to confess, at least concerning certain portions of the Vedas, that their
words are
yaugika.
Says he, "But there is a charm in these primitive
strains discoverable in no other class of poetry. Every word retains
something of its radical meaning; every epithet tells; every thought, in
spite of the most intricate and abrupt expressions, is, if we once
disentangle it, true, correct, and complete."*
Further again says Max Muller, "Names....are to be found in
the Veda as it were in a still fluid state. They next appear as
appellatives
not yet as
proper
names; they are organic, not yet broken or smoothed
down."**
Can there be anything clearer than this? The terms
occurring in the Vedas are
yaugika,
because "they never appear as
appellatives, nor yet as proper names," and because "every word
retains something of its radical meaning." It is strange to find that
the self-same Max Muller, who has perceived the
yaugika
character
of words in some
mantras
of the Vedas, should deny the same
characteristic in other portions of the Vedas. Having said that
words are
yaugika
in these primitive strains the Vedas, he proceeds
to say, "But this is not the case with all the poems of the Veda. It
would be tedious to translate many specimens of what I consider
the poetry of the secondary age, the
Mantra
period. These songs are
generally intended for sacrificial purposes, they are loaded with
technicalities, their imagery is sometimes more brilliant, but always
* Max Muller, A History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature, pp. 506-507.
** Ibid. p. 511