THE Doctrine of Maya - HolyBooks.com

""""""""""""""""""""14 THE DOCTRINE OF MAYAFrom the very nature of the contents of theAtharva-Veda it iseasy to judge the meaning of theword mdyd as used in it. Here the mysterious ormagical element of the power spoken of in theRgveda is more emphasized, and there hardly seemsany scope for doubting the meaning. It meansmagicillusionthroughout, and is even translated as(the greatcontroversial word in oursubject) by Whitney. 1 The two passages in whichit is rendered so are found in the well-knownticMyshymn, extolling the Viraj, e.g., in A.V., 10. 22,"The Asuras called to her, O Illusion 2 (maya),come !It 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.Now we have seen so far that mdyd in R.V. meansa wondrous or supernatural power/ an extraordinary and that theskill," supernatural element is more strongly emphasized in A.V., whereit means magic and hence illusion."With regard to the word occurring in the Brahmanasit would be useless for us to enter into any1Cf. 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 VAtharvaVeda 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,1878, p. 493-2We would rather sayuse of the word illusionmysteryhere.instead of Whitney s