WIXLIB

THE DOCTRINE OF MAYA4relationtoitshistoricaldevelopment.This willfurnish an insight into the Doctrine of Maya itself,which has always been a crux to the student ofof the word we shallandtrace the developmentproceed chronologically,of Sankara, whenthetimestoof its meaning downit acquired a rigid and technical sense, which survives even to-day.Bothlingk and Roth (in St. Petersburg DictionInphilosophy.treatingary] give the following differentword Kunst, ausserordentliches:meanings of theVermogen, Wun-derkraft, Kunstgriff, List, Anschlag, Trug, Gaukelei,kiinstlicheseinBlendwerk,Gebilde, Trugbild,NowTauschung.theirthese do not help us much byIn order to be free frommere juxtaposition.the fault of false analogy and hasty etymologizingand we now beginshall proceed inductivelyto view the meanings in connexion with the contextin which the word occurs.we;Geldnerwordasit*assigns the following meanings to theoccurs in the Rgveda and the A.V.(i):GestaltVerwandlung, angenommenesich und andere zu verwandeln,;dieKunst,Verzauberung,Zauberkraft, Zauberkunst, die Macht Wunder zu(2)tun, AllwissenheitBetrug, List, Schlauheitder(3)Illusion, Tauschung, Schein, Erdichtung;;;in das1Verborgene eindringende Geist, Phantasie.Karl F. Geldner, Der Rigveda in Auswahl, Stuttgart,1907.

HISTORY OF THE WORDUhlenbeck1takesalso5mean Wunderkraft,toitGrassmann"MAYA"2Trug, Trugbild.(after referring it tothe root ma man, vgl. mdti, Grk. ris) givesthe equivalentsiibermenschliche Weisheit oder:List, gottlicheKunst oder Zauber-Kunst, Zauber-bild, Trugbild.3Following Bohtlingk and Roth, Monier Williamsalso says that the meanings re onlyextraordinary or supernatural powerfound in the earlier languagebut when he adds:that in R.V. also"trick,"he"sornot accurate,Some shade ofisusing these words loosely.these is of course in R.V., and their further development is noticed in A.V., but to say that all theseisare found in R.V.isnot correct, but a hasty anderroneous generalization.The Nighantu, which is one of the earliest collechomonyms, mentionsmaya as4one of the eleven names of prajna(intelligence).The great commentator on the Nighantu, Yaska, 5"tions of Vedic"""1Uhlenbeck, Etymologisches Wdrterbuch der AltindischenSprache, Amsterdam, 189899.Grassmann, Wdrterbuch zum Rig-Veda.Monier Williams, Sanskrit-English Dictionary,edition, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1899, p. 811.234Nighantu, vol.see p. 324, ch.iii.6iii.i.ofsec. 9.Bibl.Cf.Ind. ed.Roths ed.9 (p. 19).See The Nirukta, Bibl. Ind. ed., vol.new1882;Gottingen, 1852;Calcutta,ii.,published 1885,

THE DOCTRINE OF MAYA6same sense ofwhile exprajna1caratiplaining adhenvamayayaisah (Nir. i. 6, 4),imam u nu kavitamasya may am(Nir. vi. 3,32utu(Nir. vii. 7, 5),4),mayamyajniyanamandvisva hi may a avasi svadhavah(Nir. xii.4We shall have occasion to see presently2, 6)."brings out ;"mental commentary on R.V.meaning in his monuWithout citing anymoreus approach directlyhowfarSayanaofliststhe Sanskritsticks to thisletmeanings,and the Vedasliteraturefirstinorder to judge the meaning correctly from the usagein the context.After a careful examination of all the passageswhere the word occurs in any of its forms in thehuge bulk of R.V., we arrive at the following conclusions:As regards frequency of occurrence the formmost commonly met with is may ah 5 (nom. andi.ace. pi.).Nextinp. 134,1.10i.2081.;vol.iii.,published 1886,vol. iv., p. 278, 1. 10.Cf. Roth s ed. of Yaska sp. 190,1.2;p. 427,;13,no less than twenty-four times.order comes may ay a 6 (instr. sing.), whichIt occurs(p. 39).R.V."Nirukta"2Cf. Ibid. vi. 13 (p. 95-96).3Cf. Ibid. vii.*Cf. Ibid. xii.27176Cf.R.V.i.32.4,2.9,31.53. 8;v.Gottingen, 1852;x. 71. 5.(p. 124).(p. 174).117.7,R.V. v. 85. 6.R.V. x. S8. 6.R.V. vi. 58. i.3;40.6,ii.ii.40. 8;10, 27. 16 ; iii. 20.vi. 18. 9, 20. 4,22. 9, 44. 22, 45. 9, 58. i ; vii. I. 10, 98. 5, 99. 4 ; viii. 41. 8x. 53-9, 73- 5, 99- 2, in. 6.6Cf. R.V. i. 80. 7, 144. i, 160. 3 ; ii. 17. 5 ; iii. 27. 7;;

HISTORY OF THE WORDoccurs nineteen times(instr.thirteen timespi.),mdyl7mdyinam6(nom.occursalso7and gen.2mdydbhify;8mdyinam (ace.the word may a * itselfthe forms may am *of mdyin}, ten times ;oftimes, and eachsing.),(ace. pi.occurs fifteen timesof ng,three(ace.andmdyin},times.Mdyinl isand mdyindfound twice (R.V.v. 48. i ; x. 5. 3),ofsing,mdyin} only once (R.V. vi. 63. 5).(instr.Other forms, including compounds, which occurv. 48. 3), mdydvind (R.V.once are mdyini (R.V.x. 24. 4),mdydvdn (R.V. iv. 16. 9), mdydvinam (R.V.and mdydvinah (R.V. x. 83. 3).ii. 9),ii.There are altogether seventy-five hymns in2.R.V. in which the word appears incompounddressed to Indra21iv. 30. 12, 30.24viii.;of these thirty-five are adeight to Agni (R.V. i. 144 ;8;v. 63. 3, 63. 7;15, 41. 323.ix. 73. 5,;82. 3 ;2Cf.60.x.i;39. 2, 51. 5, 54. 4, 64.38. 7, 38. 9, 56. i ; v. 44. iiviii. 3. 19, 23. 14 ; x. 138. 3.R.V.147. 2.3Cf. R.V.6, 58. 2*66ii.i.;i.10,33.7,v. 30. 6, 44. 2, 78.6;51.;73. 9, 83. 3iii.;6vi. 22.;85. 18, 177. I.1Cf. R.V. i.ii. 10simple oritsOutforms.5,7,151.ii. 7, 53. 7, 56. 3, 80. 7 ;14 ; viii. 76. i ; x. 147. 2.vii.54139.ii.9;jiii.viii.n.104.x. 71. 5vi. 61. 3;vi. 47. 18, 63.;5ii.;;vii.6,34.14. 14;R.V. iii. 61. 7v. 63. 4x. 54. 2.R.V. v. 85. 5, 85. 6 x. 88. 6.Cf. R.V. vii. 28. 4x. 99. 10, 147. 5.Cf. R.V. i. 32. 4iii. 20. 3,34. 3.Vide R.V. i. n, 32, 33, 51, 53, 54, 56, 80, 144, 160;Cf.;;;7;8;v. 30.vi. 48.Cf.;;

THE DOCTRINE OF MAYA8v. 2vii. iviii. 23x. 5, 53)27to the Asvins (R.V. i. 117v. 78vi. 63as well as to the Maruts (R.V. i. 39, 64vi. 48)three to Visve-devah (R.V. iii. 56iii.20,;;;;;;;;;48)x. 24)v.Varuna (R.V.to(R.V.v.85viii.;Mitravarunau (R.V.ix. 73, 83),58;v. 44,;two each;Somafour;41),151i.;and Dyava-prthivyau (R.V. i. 100, 159) andone each to Usas (R.V. iii. 61), Sarasvati (R.V. vi.61), the Adityas (R.V. ii. 27), Pusan (R.V. vi. 58),v. 63),;RbhusSomarkauAtri (R.V. v. 40), Jfianam (R.V. x. 71), the60), Indravarunau (R.V.(R.V.(R.V. x. 85), Mayabheda (R.V. x. 177), Indravisnuvii. .38), and Surya-vaisvanarau (R.V. x. 88).3. The wordMaya is not employed in one andthe same sense throughout R.V. The Indian tra""dition itself bearsample testimony to this fact.As a rule, following Yaska, Sayana in most casesgives the meaning prajnd i.e., energy, mentalpower as distinguished from physical but he isin fact, he could not be so.not always definiteIt would be a gratuitous assumption on our partto expect the same word to be used in one and thesame rigid sense by so many different Rsis, whowere by no means all contemporary. Tradition;asii.preservedii, 1744, 45, 47138, 147.iii.;;in34, 53vii.;Sayanasiv. 16,3028, 98, 104;commentary;v. 30, 31viii. 3,14,76;;tellsusvi. 18, 20, 22,x. 73, 99,in,

HISTORY OF THE WORDand sometimes runmost common,land kapatathat the two meanings prajndinstance, even in the very firstc"MAYA"are theForparallel.hymn(R.V.i.n.7).which the word appears as mdyabhih (and mdyinam), Sayana seems to waver between these twomeanings, and leaves the reader to make his owninHe explains mdyabhih by kapatavisesaihbut addsby special stratagems, artificesat the same time that it may also meanprajWilsonnabhihby wondrous powers/ uot;by stratagems/ Ludmeaning,durch ubernatiirliche Kraft."translates it asadopts thewig2Rosen"first"3But these"also rendersitaspraestigiis."are not the only meanings acceptedIn R.V.tradition.by""mdyaydSayana explains4by knowledgeby karmavisaydbhijndnena," i.e.,This meaning appears to us toof sacred rites."hi.27.7"be rather far-fetched.the samewordIn R.V.as In60. ihe renders61. 7,iii.""mdyd"gloryin the form of effulgence or light.power,"prabhaIn R.V.Which mean artifice, deception, cunning.Germ. List,Betrug, Kunst, Kraft, etc.2Ludwig, Der Rigveda. Prag, 1878.3Fridericus Rosen, Rigveda-Samhita,Liber Primus,Sanskrite et Latine, London, 1838.4mimite jamteSayana derives this meaning thus1:karma miyate anayeti va maya karmavisayajnanam(rootma, to know), 3rd conj. mimite, or ma, to measure, miyate.5Sayana addsmiyante jfiayanta iti mayah karmani.Cf. also R.V. x. 53. 9, where Sayana saysKarmana:":maitat."

THE DOCTRINE OF MAYAo.v.and30. 21,themeaningv. 30. 6,Sayana emphatically givessakti (power).moment Mandalas i. andwhich are now supposed on good evidenceto have been subsequently added to the originalcollectionwe find the same want of fixity of themeaning conveyed by the term in the other books ofR.V. For instance, according to Sayana s traditionthe word is used in the sense ofin R.V.deceptionAgain, keeping aside for ax. ofR.V.""ii.ii. 10,iii.34. 6, iv. 16. 9, vi. 20. 4, vii. 104. 24,and so forth, while both the meanings "power"and deception" are taken in v. 30. 6 simultaneously.In v. 31. 7 the word is taken to meana young""This meaning too has its own justificanot unconnected with the other twowoman."tionandismeanings. In what sense a woman can be calledis not to be discussed here, but will find itsmaydappropriate place in the sequel.The two chief meanings, therefore, which theword is assigned in R.V. are power(Prajna, lit.andKapata/ Vanknowledgedeceptionthevarious pasTheaboveexaminationofcana).sages in which the word occurs has shown us thatwherever it means power the idea of mysteryi.e., it does not mean anynecessarily goes with t;""";"""a mysterious power of thewill" which we would translate into such SanskritInexpressions as sankalpa- sakti or icchd-sakti.R.V. iii. 53. 8, for instance, Indra is spoken of asphysicalpower, ot

HISTORY OF THEdone r but simply bywonderful and extraordinaryhis""(aneka-will-powerHe wills that he mayrupagrahanasamarthya)assume such and such forms and it is realizedhence Indra is very frequently termed mdyin in.;the Vedic hymns.results areand theseCertain mysterious things orproduced bythis mysterious will-power,results being wrfra-ordinary by their verybe said to set at naught the ordinarynaturemayhumanunderstanding, which because of its inherentdeceivedis apt to beby such pheno""limitationsHence, the idea ofmysterybeing comto both these meanings, it is quite easy tomena.mon"""understand the transition from the idea ofmys""to that ofInterious will-powerdeception."fact the two ideas interpenetrate each other, somuch so that it seems to us rather a forced distinction tomake when we speakdistinctions are to beof the transition.made, especiallyStill,when theyhelp us to a clearer understanding of that whichreallyWebeyond them.may, however, note herewhere Indra(cf.isespeciallyspokeniii.of as53. 8ispassing thatvariousformsassumingandinvi. 47.18)itappearsand Indians of theVedic age in general were not unaware of a distinction between the one and the many, of thepossibility of the one becoming the many and ofthat the singers of thehymnsthe latter being a deceptive creation of a mysteriouspower.

THE DOCTRINE OF MAYA12This inference seems to us to be reasonable andThe fact is very important, as we shall havethe opportunity to speak more of it later. Herevalid.we cannot do anything more than simply mentionit, since we are now concerned only with the meanings of the word so far as it can be determined bya collocation of ancient texts in a more or lesschronological order.Now, the word does not so often occur intheYajurveda and the Samaveda. This cannot surThese two Vedas containprise us in any way.themantrasthe Rgveda which areofmostlyandtosuittheir particular funcadaptedarrangedtionsIn the Y.V.as well as some new mantras.all ideas are subservient to sacrifice (yajfia) and itsvarious elaborate ceremonieswhile in the S.V.;chanting or singing the mantrasisThe R.V. is the chief sourcewhich along with it form whatof thesevidya,"i.e.,tripleabsence of the wordthe chief function.two Vedas,known as trayiThe comparative"isknowledge.Maya fromthe Y.V. and theS.V. does not affect our examination, as the R.V.can be safely taken to be an index to the ideas andviews of the ancient Indians of that age. It wasnot very long before these two Vedas sprang intoexistence, to beranked with the R.V. as to theirimportance and authorityin the tradition of theAryans. In fact these three Vedas seem to havebeen brought into existence almost simultaneously,thoughitmust be admitted thatittook a consider-

HISTORY OF THE WORD13"MAYA"ably long interval of time to give them the shapewhich they are found at present, i.e., as a completeinset of books.The Atharva-Veda was added to the trayl-vidydmuch later. The fact has been amply proved bya critical examination of both external and internalnot for us to enter into the questionThe A.V. represents a different state ofevidence.here.It issociety from that described in theare satisfied to note that the wordcivilization ofAnd weR.V.not missing in it. Altogether the wordoccurs in ten books only, in sixteen hymns 1 andMayaisin all (in A.V. viii. 9. 5 and viii. 10. 22word occurring twice in each of the hymns andtwice also in xiii. 2 and xix. 27).The form may a occurs only once (A.V. viii. 9. 5).The instrumental singular, may ay a, occurs mosttwenty timesthefrequently, viz., eightthree times and may dmtimes.42Mdyinah5and may ah3occurstwice each.Other forms which occur only once are mdye10. 22), may ay ah (viii. 9. 5), mdydbhih (xii.and may I1A.V.vii. 81. Ixiii.2.ii.;n.(v.iv. 23. 5, 38. 3 ; v. n. 4 ; vi. 72. I ;;24, 4. 24, 9. 5, 10. 22 ; x. 8. 34 ; xii. i. 8.ii ; xix. 27. 5,27. 6, 66. i, 68. i.29. 6viii. 3.3,2.sIndex VerborumWhitneytheAtharva-Veda, New-Haven,A.V. iv. 38. 3 ; vi. 72. i;8.8)4).Cf.2(viii.I.xiii. 2. 3, 2. iixix. 68.343A.V. xix. 27. 5, 27. 6, 66.1.4A.V. ii. 29. 6viii. 10. 22.6A.V. iv. 23. 5viii. 3. Text ofp.4.24225.;x.

THE DOCTRINE OF MAYA14Fromthe very nature of the contents of theAtharva-Veda it is easy to judge the meaning of theword mdydHere the mysterious orpowerspoken of in theRgveda is more emphasized, and there hardly seemsany scope for doubting the meaning. It meansmagicthroughout, and is even translated asillusion(the great controversial word in our1The two passages in whichsubject) by Whitney.it is rendered so are found in the well-knownMysas used inmagical element of uot;tichymn,extolling the Viraj, e.g., in A.V., 10. 22,Asuras called to her, O Illusion 2 (maya),comeIt may also be stated, by the way, thatA.V. vii. 81. i, viii. 3. 24, viii. 4. 24 are taken fromR.V. x. 85. 18, v. 2. 9, vii. 10. 4 respectively."The"!Now we have seen so far that mdyd in"R.V. meansan extra"a wondrous or supernatural power/supernaturalordinary skill," and that the""element is more strongly emphasized in A.V., whereit meansand henceillusion."magicWith regard to the word occurring in the Brahmanas it would be useless for us to enter into any"""Cf. Atharva-Veda Samhitd, trans, by W. D. Whitney(Harvard Oriental Series), 1905, vol. ii. p. 507, 514. Fortranslation see also Les Livres viii, et ix. de VAtharva Veda Traduits et Commentes, par Victor Henry, Paris,1894 ;and Griffith s The Hymns of the Atharva-Veda, andLudwig s Der Rigveda, Band iii., Einleitung, Prag,11878, p. 4932We woulduse of therather .instead ofWhitneys

HISTORY OF THE uot;15treatises,fundamental importance for our purpose, are the final portions of the Brahmanas, calledthe Upanisads.But before we take up the Upanisads proper, we may quote a few references fromwhich areofBrahmanas toothenydya.Thein formsthe436maya (xi. 69), mayam, mayaya and mayayam,and Mahidhara in his commentary gives the wordsand buddhi as synonyms of maya."prajnaThe Aitareya Brahmana 6 has mayaya (vi. 36),mayam, mayavant, and mayavattarah (viii. 23),where the word clearly meanssupernatural orThe formmayaya also quot;"skill."in the TaittiriyamaximBrahmana 7(iii.10. 8. 2)where,the cooking-pot and the boilingfinding one grain well-cooked we infer the samewith regard to all the others. So the conditions of the class1i.e.,rice."theof"Bybe inferred from that of a part, if the whole is made uphomogeneous and similar parts. Cf. Patanj all s MahaParyapto hi ekah pulakahbhasya, i. 4. 23 (Vart. 15).mayof"sthalyanidarsanaya."Weber, The White Yajurveda, part I, The VajasaneyiSamhita, in the Madhyandina and the Kanva-Sakha, withthe commentary of Mahidhara. Berlin and London, 1852.3V.S. xiii. 44. Mahidhara adds,Ibid., p. 420.miyatejndyate anaya iti maya,"2"*Ibid., p. 728, V.S. xxiii. 52.5Ibid., p. 841, V.S. xxx. 7.Das Aitareya Brahmana, herausgegeben von TheodorAufrecht, Bonn, 1879. See p. 184 and 230.7The Taittiriya Brahmana of the Black Yafurveda,8

THE DOCTRINE OF MAYA16asSayanaalso adds,meansit"by2. 4. 25), andmaye(iii.mayavant (xiii. 5. 4. 12) where the wordthe formsmeansdivine*Further the""mayam""The Paficaword mayaya (xiii.6. 9) in the same sense.Mayavant (as an adj

PREFACE THEDoctrine ofMaya is the pivotal principle in the Advaita Philosophy the final pronouncement ofIndian speculation ontheconception ofReality andAppearance. During the last thirty years a good deal has been written onthe Vedanta, and naturally this doctrine has also been treated of, though only inpassing andbytheway.That itis richly supported inthe later Vedanta is