87
Number Symbolism in the Vedas
S. S. N. Murthy,
School of Physical Sciences,Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi-110067, INDIA.E-mail: ssnm0700@mail.jnu.ac.in Numbers became very sacred to all cultures since the time man started feelingthe need to use numbers in daily life and started observing that the events related tonature/cosmos had a preference for certain numbers. Thus came a stage when mathematicsstarted evolving along with philosophy. All this activity ultimately led to the evolution of themodern ‘numerology’ (science of numbers), the credit for which goes to Pythagoras. During this process, all cultures, independent of each other, had shown preference for certain numbers intheir religious beliefs and activities
1
. Similarly, in the Vedas too, one finds numbers such as 1, 3,7 and 10 as the most used numbers; at least on a few hundred or perhaps even more than athousand occasions to describe various events. {The other single digit numerals like 4 and 5 etc.are also preferred although to a lesser extent (Murthy, 2003)}. The symbolism associated withthe single digit numerals was very well established in virtually all cultures, since counting beganon the ten fingers. [The reader may consult: Beidermann, (1996); Bunce, (2000); and Schimmel(1993), for more a general reading. And for symbolism in the Vedic context, the reader may refer to: Bhattacharya, 1969, Parameswaranand, (2002), Macdonnell & Keith, (1995), and Blazek (1999)].The Vedic
«œis
also used large compound numbers like 21, 33, 34, 99, and 100 etc.very frequently (which were previously explained by the translators of RV, to mean ‘many’), butno serious attempt has been made far to see whether there is any hidden symbolism in thesenumbers. Because of lack of information on this front
2
, there is often confusion or lack of agreement among the scholars, in the interpretation of the verses. One interesting case, whichhad become a subject of heated debate in the recent years, is the Vedic verse referring to thesacrifice of horse (RV.I.162.8, YV.25.41), which gives an (outward) impression that the ribs of the sacrificial horse are 34 in number. Rajaram
3
(and also Kak, 2002; Frawley, 2002) quote theabove verse to identify the Vedic horse with the native horse
4
, which is said to have the samenumber of ribs. Witzel has hotly contested this
5
on the grounds that the usual horse has 36 ribs
1
The numbers 1-5, and 10 are natural numbers in the sense that they are related to natural phenomena. But it is not sowith number seven. It appears to have become important, as ‘the seven largest and brightest of the luminaries of thenight sky’ are believed to have a profound influence on the life on earth. See the Internet article by H. P. Blavatsky,“The number seven”, athttp://www.blavatsky.net/blavatsky/arts/NumberSeven.htm
2
The reader may refer to Miyakawa, (2001) in this context.
3
Rajaram.N.S.,http://sathyavaadi.tripod.com//truthisgod/archives/harappa.html.http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/op/2002/02/19/stories/2002021900040100.htm
4
According to the article on Internet by Seymour. K and Watson. A., (www.Hindunet.org/saraswati/horse5.htm
);the usual number of ribs in horses is 36 although horses with 38 or 34 ribs are not unknown.
5
Witzel:http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/op/2002/05/21/stories/2002052100060200.htm.And also, see Witzel (2001).
Electronic Journal of Vedic Studies (EJVS) 12-3, August 2005, 87-99. (©) ISSN 1084 - 7561.
88not 34, and since the sacrificial horse is a symbol of the heavens, the numeral symbolism has arole to play. In the same set of hymns {ascribed to the sage
Dðrghátamas
(as per the
anukramaµð
)}, there is a mention (RV.I.164.48) of 360 days and 12 months of a year etc. whereit appears that we get the meaning of the numbers in a straight forward manner. This observationadds some more confusion to the entire discussion as in one case (the former) the number has asymbolic meaning and in the other (latter) it does not. The suggestion of some scholars that thesehymns could be a later addition to RV also does not solve the problem. The answer to this puzzle, in all probability also lies in numeral symbolism itself. Hence, a necessity has been felt tosee the meaning and the ideas of the Vedic
«œis
in the use of compound numbers in their verses.I completely agree with Witzel that that the numeral 34 does not correspond to the ribs of thesacrificial horse and numeral symbolism has a very major role in that context. This statement is based on my analysis of the compound numbers (used in the Vedas), the details of which are asgiven below.
Discussion
For the sake of convenience of discussion, I have tabulated almost all the compound numbersmentioned in RV in three separate groups as: Appendices I, II, and III. Keeping in mind that theVedic
«œis
followed the decimal system and were acquainted with some basic arithmeticoperations like additions and multiplications etc. of smaller numbers (at least!)
6
, the first thingthat strikes our mind on looking at the Appendices is that there is a pattern or method in the useof numbers as given below. [At this point, one must keep in mind that the concept of zero did notexist at that time and also there was no script (Witzel, 1998, 2001)].(i). Very large numbers are either rounded-up to the nearest hundred or thousand (or tens of thousands). Examples given are 100000, 99000, 90000, 60000 and 30000 etc. (Also see:Miyakawa, 2001. I have not included some of these numbers in the Appendices).(ii). Some numbers can be expressed as simple addition/subtraction of specific numbers like 99,90, 33, 10, 7, 6, 3 and 1, to the rounded-up number
7
. For example 60099 can be expressed as60000 + 99, retaining the significance of 99 in the compound number. At this point, we have todoubt that the Vedic
«œis
have an absolute idea of how big the number ‘60099’ is, as this kind of understanding is not needed for them (immediately), and what all they require is that the rules of ‘ch
á
ndas’ are not violated on using these numbers in their verses (which are oral in nature).(iii). Numbers above 100 do not appear to involve multiplication and the Vedic
«œis
seemed to be very comfortable with summation of larger numbers. In some cases (shown in Appendix II),the numbers are mentioned simply as product of the sacred numerals, like 3 x 7 x 70; but it isdoubtful that the Vedic bards know the end result of the multiplication.In view of the above observations, it can be concluded the level of mathematics thatis demonstrated in the compound numbers given in the Vedic hymns, is very basic in nature, andthis is especially true for the
«gved
ic period.
6
K.L.Kashyap,www.vedah.com/vedah/maths/maths.htm#a7.
7
Witzel, in his private communication, points out that Miyakawa (2001), understands sahasra
›atá (RV.IV.32.18) as‘1100’,
based on similar cases, not as 100,000.
89
(a). The numbers 90, 99, 100, and 1000 in RV:
In Appendix I, I have tabulated those numbersthat can be expressed as a simple summation and have a preference for 1, 7, 10, 33, 90, 99, 100,and 1000, in the compound number (also see, Appendix III). The use of certain numbers like 99(or 90) forts of
‹
ambara, 99 arms, 99 rivers, 99
Våyu
’s horses etc. is interesting. These numbersoccur many times in the Vedas. The preference for number 9 (and hence, 99 or 90), can beunderstood from the mathematical aspect of this particular number which is easier to handle because it is ‘10 – 1’
8, 9,10
. And also it is 3 x 3, where 3 is considered by the Vedic
«œis
to be themost sacred among the single digit numerals. In addition, it is also worth noting that allcombination of 3 like 6 (2 x 3); 33 (30 + 3); 90 (3 x 30) and 99 (3 x 33) are all very well used.In the Vedas, the number 10 or 100 or 1000 are no doubt used to ‘mean many’, butat the same time the basic unit is retained as 10 / 100 / 1000 to illustrate the fullness of whatever is in view. Hence, these numbers mean ordinal perfection and order. It is perhaps, with this viewthat the number of books of RV is kept at 10 (this of course must have taken place at a muchlater time) and the normal duration of human life is recognized to be 100 years at many places inRV. The same literary trend continued in the later
Puråµ
ic legends where people were oftenquoted to have meditated for 100 or 1000 years, although the
Puråµa
s (also) recognize thatnormal duration of human life is not more than100 years.In view of what is said above, the number 99 can be understood as ‘one short of perfection’
11
. The
Puråµa
s have dramatized this aspect in an interesting way linking Indra to the
Á›vamedha
sacrifices (AMSs) where the 100
th
one in some of the cases was interrupted byIndra
12
restricting the total to 99
13
’
14
. A similar disruption of the 100 years of penance of Ditiduring the 99
th
year can also be linked to a similar trend (also, see the next section). It is said that
Yudhiœ»hira
had performed 3 AMSs;
Parðkœit
3; Janamejaya 3;
Råma
, the hero of
Råma
ya
µ
a 10;
8
Multiplication involving 9 and 11 can very easily be performed by the methods mentioned in the books of the “so-called” (modern) Vedic Mathematics. No other number is so magical as 9. Modern numerology also recognizes thisaspect in the form of fadic number, (which is the sum of the individual numbers in the compound number); andmultiplication of 9 with any number results in a number whose fadic number is always 9. The fadic number of 99 is18, which reduces further to 9. Note that both 18 and 9 are favored in later
Puråµa
s (see Murthy, 2003(a)).
9
In Rmn.(VII.10.10-12), R
å
va
µ
a cuts off his 9 (out of a total of 10) heads to please
‹iva. Similarly i
n Chinesemythology, the archer Yi shoots down 9 of the 10 (too hot) Suns (cf. Witzel, 2004).
10
Witzel is of the opinion that the numeral 9 is due to old north Asian shamanic ideas; while the numeral 7 is atypical near Eastern number! (7 is already found in the Indus civilization on seals etc.) in RV, we have both: oldnorthern origins & near Eastern/Indus influences. (The reader may also refer to: Blazek, 2001). Note that even the“primitive” Stone Age Andamanese have a complex way of counting things-not their bare numbers, which aredifferent from this system: the system goes up to 31 and then starts again ; thus 1X31, 2x31 etc. (Witzel, 2002).
11
This point is emphasized in a mystic fashion in TS.V.5.2.5-7; VII.1.5.2-3 where (3 x 333) + 1 is shown to be equalto 1000.
12
This can be seen as a sign of the decreasing importance of Indra in the post Vedic mythology.
13
The reader may refer to, Dikshitar (1951), Bg.P, Garrett, 1999 and Debroy & Debroy for more details.
14
The linking of Indra to AMS might be due to the Vedic myth connecting him to
Dadhyañc
, the
A›vins
and thehorse head (see, Griffith’s foot note for RV.I.84.13). The Vedic epithet “
›atákratu
” (lord of hundred powers) of Indra, had become a title to be conferred on those who had performed 100 AMSs and it had become a minimumqualification to the post of Indra.
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Number Symbolism in the Vedas
Number Symbolism in the Vedas
S. S. N. Murthy
S. S. N. Murthy
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