Dasa
Encyclopedia
Dasa is a term used with the primary meaning 'enemy', especially relating to tribes identified as the enemies of the Indo-Aryan tribes
in the Rigveda
.
The word later acquired other connotations, meaning "servant" or "slave", or in a religious sense a "devotee" of a deity.
The Dasa are often identified as the non-Indo-European populations subdued by the people practicing Vedic rituals in the course of the Indo-Aryan migration
.
Asko Parpola proposed that the original Dasas were fellow Indo-Iranians
of the BMAC, who initially rejected Aryan religious practices but were later merged with them.
A similar term for enemy people, Dasyu, is also used in the Rig Veda. It is unclear whether the Dasa and Dasyu are related.
calls his enemies "Dasyu" which included Vedic peoples like the Anus, Druhyus, Turvashas, and even Purus. (RV 7.6, 12-14, 18)
There is also a Dasa Balbutha Taruksa in RV 6.45.31 who is a patron of a seer and who is distinguished by his generosity (RV 8.46.32). There are several hymns in the Rigveda that refer to Dasa and Aryan enemies and to related (jami) and unrelated (ajami) enemies (e.g. 1.111.3, 4.4.5); still, in the battle of the ten kings, there are Dasas and Aryas on both sides of the battlefield and in some Rigvedic verses, the Aryas and Dasas stood united against their enemies.
ese dialect, is "man". The word "dasa" is contained in the name of a famous Vedic king, Divodāsa (meaning "heaven's slave").
Several other protagonist people in the Rig Veda also have "dasa" in their name. These include King Sudasa and Grtsamadas.
, sunshine
, wealth, language, Aum
etc. Words like "black" have similarly many different meanings in Sanskrit, as it is in fact the case in most languages. Thus "black" has many symbolical, mythological, psychological and other uses that are simply unrelated to human appearance. Bhagavan Shri Shanmukha Anantha Natha is the first scholar to define that the 'blackness' of Krishna is not a racial interpretation but refers to the Absolute in its phase of manifestation as denoted by Samkhya philosophy. The Rg Veda does not refer to ethnic terms but philosophical realities. Krishna too is described as an Asura and this does not mean that he is a 'black Indigene' waiting on the banks of the Amshumati river to fight with Indra (RVIII. 85. 13-15) but that the Absolute is in a stage of manifestation allegorically depicted by the 'black drop' in the Rg Veda.
Also Iyengar (1914) commented on such interpretations: "The only other trace of racial reference in the Vedic hymns is the occurrence of two words, one krishna in seven passages and the other asikini in two passages. In all the passages, the words have been interpreted as referring to black cloud
s, a demon
whose name was Krishna, or the powers of darkness
." (6-7, Iyengar, Srinivas. 1914.)
The term krsnavonih in RV 2.20.7 has been interpreted by Asko Parpola as meaning "which in their wombs hid the black people". Sethna (1992) writes, referring to a comment by Richard Hartz, that "there is no need to follow Parpola in assuming a further unexpressed word meaning "people" in the middle of the compound krsnayonih", and the better known translation by Griffith
, i.e. "who dwelt in darkness" can be considered as essentially correct. Another scholar, Hans Hock (1999), finds Karl Friedrich Geldner
's translation of krsnayonih (RV 2.20.7) as "Blacks in their wombs" and of krsnagarbha (RV 1.101.1) as "pregnant with the Blacks" "quite recherché" and thinks that it could refer to the "dark world" of the Dasas.
In RV 4.16.13, Geldner has assumed that "krsna" refers to "sahasra" (thousands). But this would be grammatically incorrect. If krsna would refer to "sahasra", it should be written as krsnan (acc. pl. masc.). Hans Hock (1999) suggests that "krsna" refers to "puro" (forts) in this verse.
For sure the Vedic writers wrote of the Dasa-Dasyus as people who lived in evil or darkness. The RV 2.2.7http://www.ishwar.com/hinduism/holy_rig_veda/book02/book02_02.html says, "Indra the Vrtra-slayer, Fort-destroyer, scattered the Dasa hosts who dwelt in darkness."
Hymm XXIV reads of Brahmanaspati defeating the Dasyu demon Vala, "He drave the kine forth and cleft Vala through by prayer, dispelled the darkness and displayed the light of heaven."
The Vedic seers pray evil or darkness stay away from them: "May I obtain the broad light free from peril: O Indra, let not during darkness seize us."
Hymn XL, speaking of Devas Soma and Pusan reads, "At birth of these two Gods all Gods are joyful: they have caused darkness, which we hate, to vanish."
Hymn 3.1.3 reads of Agni, "Bull, who beholdest men, through many mornings, among the dark ones shine forth red, O Agni."http://www.ishwar.com/hinduism/holy_rig_veda/book03/book03_01.html
Hymn 3.2.17 reads that dark (metaphor for evil) people are purified through Deva Surya: "To thee proceed the dark, the treasure-holders, both of them sanctified by Surya's bounty."
Hymn 3.3.3 writes of Indra and his twin brother Agni killing darkness with light: "Killing the darkness at the light's foundation, the Couple newly born attain their beauty."http://www.ishwar.com/hinduism/holy_rig_veda/book03/book03_03.html
Tvac "skin" does, however, also take a secondary, more general meaning of "surface, cover" in the Rigveda, in particular referring to the Earth's surface. For this reason, there can be debate on whether instances of krsna tvac should be taken to refer literally to a "black skinned people
". Maria Schetelich (1990) considers it a symbolic expression for darkness. Similarly, Michael Witzel (1995b) writes about terms like krsna tvac that "while it would be easy to assume reference to skin colour, this would go against the spirit of the hymns: for Vedic poets, black
always signifies evil, and any other meaning would be secondary in these contexts". Hans Hock
argues along similar lines
The Rigvedic commentator Sayana
explains the word tvacam krsna (RV 1.130.8) as referring to an asura
(demon) called Krsna whose skin was torn apart by Indra.
translated anasa as "without mouth or face" (anas = an "negative" + as "mouth"). Sayana's translation is supported by the occurrence of the word mrdhravacah in the same verse. Sayana explains the word mrdhravacah as "having defective organs of speech" (Rg Veda 1854-57:3.276 n.). The description of Dasas as "nose-less" and "mouth-less" is method of associating the demonic Dasa as disfigured beings, who are covered by ignorance (black).
s, or labourers, who served the three higher classes of Brahmin
, Kshatriya
(warrior), and Vaishya
(mercantile), from whose ritual communion they were excluded.
The main difference between the Aryas and the Dasas in the Rig Veda is a difference of religion. Already A. A. Macdonell and A. B. Keith (1912) remarked that: "The great difference between the Dasyus and the Aryans was their religion... It is significant that constant reference is made to difference in religion between Aryans and Dasa and Dasyu." The Dasas and Dasyus are also described as brahma-dvisah in the Rig Veda, which Ralph T.H. Griffith
translates as "those who hate devotion" or "prayer haters". Thus Dasa has also been interpreted as meaning the people that don't follow the same religion as the Aryans. Rig Veda 10.22.8 describes the Dasa-Dasyus as a-karman (non-performers of Aryan sacrifices), anya-vrata (observers of other rites) and in Rig Veda 10.105.8 they are described as anrc (non-singer of laudatory hymns). In RV 8.70.11 they are described as a-deva-yu (not regarding Deva ).
, or Sat guru in various traditions of Hinduism
is given the name Dasa, Servant of God
, as for example the pure teacher, also called Uda ka Das, meaning the servant of the one God. The other Sanskrit
word meaning of servant, is retained in all Indian languages where monotheistic devotion to personal God
is practiced. In Tamil
tontai, dasa, servant or "slave," commonly used to refer to devotees of Vishnu
or Krishna
. According to Gaudiya Vaishnava theology Smriti
statement means that living entities (bhuto) are eternally in the service (dasa) of the Supreme Lord (Hari
). Thus designation for Vaishnava followers of svayam bhagavan
Krishna was the status title dasa as part of their names as in Hari dasa.
, the blind Brahmin poet. 'Das' is one of the common surnames of Brahmins, especially in East India. '. As any other proper word to translate the word "slave" is absent in Sanskritized Hindi, the word Dāsa is used for the same.
Further more in the bhakti yoga
a person can be in a relationship with God in any of the 5 ways and one of the relationships is Dasyu-bhakta, meaning being a "slave of God" as said before. All initiated male members of ISKCON have the word "dasa" at the end of their initiated names, meaning "servant", and all initiated female members of ISKCON have the words "devi dasi", which means "goddess servantess" (dasi is the feminine form of das) Example: Urmila devi dasi
. Then the first part of their names is a name for something connected with divinity: often a name of Radha Krishna
or Chaitanya Mahaprabhu
.
believe that words like Dasa are used in the Rig Veda symbolically and should be interpreted spiritually, and that Dasa does not refer to human beings, but rather to demons who hinder the spiritual attainment of the mystic. Many Dasas are purely mythical and can only refer to demons. There is for example a Dasa called Urana with 99 arms (RV II.14.4), and a Dasa with six eyes and three heads in the Rig Veda.
Sri Aurobindo
commented that in the RV III.34 hymn, where the word Arya varna occurs, Indra is described as the increaser of the thoughts of his followers: "the shining hue of these thoughts, sukram varnam asam, is evidently the same as that sukra or sveta Aryan hue which is mentioned in verse 9. Indra carries forward or increases the "colour" of these thoughts beyond the opposition of the Panis, pra varnam atiracchukram; in doing so he slays the Dasyus and protects or fosters and increases the Aryan "colour", hatvi dasyun pra aryam varnam avat." Thus, Aurobindo sees the Arya varna or lustre of the thoughts that Indra increases as psychological. In several Lord Indra is also said to be a white bull with and his friends are the Maruts, who are horses so when the Rig Veda speaks of a certain color they mean the color of god as an animal. For example, the twin deities Nastya and Dasra are said to be "horse princes." In some Rig Vedic verses, even Lord Agni
is said to be the red bull that stands out from the dark bulls.http://www.hinduwebsite.com/sacredscripts/hinduism/rigveda/rigveda3_2.asp
According to Aurobindo (The Secret of the Veda), RV 5.14.4 is a key for understanding the character of the Dasyus:
Aurobindo explains that in this verse the struggle between light and darkness, truth and falsehood, divine and undivine is described. It is through the shining light created by Agni, god of fire, that the Dasyus, who are identified with the darkness, are slain. The Dasyus are also described in the Rig Veda as intercepting and withholding the Cows, the Waters and Swar ("heavenly world"; RV 5.34.9; 8.68.9). It is not difficult, of course, to find very similar metaphors, equating political or military opponents with evil and darkness, even in contemporary propaganda
.
K.D. Sethna (1992) writes: "According to Aurobindo,(...) there are passages in which the spiritual interpretation of the Dasas, Dasyus and Panis is the sole one possible and all others are completely excluded. There are no passages in which we lack a choice either between this interpretation and a nature-poetry or between this interpretation and the reading of human enemies." And according to Koenraad Elst
: "When it is said that Agni, the fire, “puts the dark demons to flight”, one should keep in mind that the darkness was thought to be filled with ghosts or ghouls, so that making light frees the atmosphere of their presence. And when Usha, the dawn, is said to chase the "dark skin" or "the black monster" away, it obviously refers to the cover of nightly darkness over the surface of the earth."
Dasa and related terms have been examined by several scholars. While the terms Dasa and Dasyu have a negative meaning in Sanskrit, their Iranian counterparts Daha and Dahyu have preserved their positive (or neutral) meaning. This is similar to the Sanskrit terms Deva
(a "positive" term) and Asura
(a "negative" term). The Iranian counterparts of these terms (Daeva and Ahura
) have opposite meanings. The terms Dasyus and Asuras as negativity personified in the Rg Veda (RVIII. 85.9) (RV. VIII. 66.3), and especially personified by Vrtra, the slayer of Indra, positivity personified, was first put forward by Bhagavan Shri Shanmukha Anantha Natha in his work Divine Initiation (Singapore, Shri Kali Publications, 2001), 19. This concept, as he outlines it, is similar to the Yin-Yang concept of the East Asians. The Aryans are also personifications and this idea is also put forward by Anantha Natha in the above work.
Rigvedic tribes
The Indo-Aryan tribes mentioned in the Rigveda are described as semi-nomadic pastoralists; when not on the move, they were subdivided into temporary settlements . They were headed by a tribal chief assisted by a priestly caste...
in the Rigveda
Rigveda
The Rigveda is an ancient Indian sacred collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns...
.
The word later acquired other connotations, meaning "servant" or "slave", or in a religious sense a "devotee" of a deity.
The Dasa are often identified as the non-Indo-European populations subdued by the people practicing Vedic rituals in the course of the Indo-Aryan migration
Indo-Aryan migration
Models of the Indo-Aryan migration discuss scenarios of prehistoric migrations of the proto-Indo-Aryans to their historically attested areas of settlement in the northwest of the Indian subcontinent...
.
Asko Parpola proposed that the original Dasas were fellow Indo-Iranians
Indo-Iranians
Indo-Iranian peoples are a linguistic group consisting of the Indo-Aryan, Iranian, Dardic and Nuristani peoples; that is, speakers of Indo-Iranian languages, a major branch of the Indo-European language family....
of the BMAC, who initially rejected Aryan religious practices but were later merged with them.
A similar term for enemy people, Dasyu, is also used in the Rig Veda. It is unclear whether the Dasa and Dasyu are related.
Dasa, Dasyu and Arya
Dasyu is a term that could also be applied to Vedic kings, if their behaviour changed. In the battle of the Ten Kings (Dasarajna) in the Rig Veda the king SudasSudas
Sudās was a king in the Rig Veda. His name means "worshipping well", an s-stem, either from a root dās, or with the extra s added to avoid an archaic root noun in ā, Sudā-, which would easily be mistaken for a feminine name....
calls his enemies "Dasyu" which included Vedic peoples like the Anus, Druhyus, Turvashas, and even Purus. (RV 7.6, 12-14, 18)
There is also a Dasa Balbutha Taruksa in RV 6.45.31 who is a patron of a seer and who is distinguished by his generosity (RV 8.46.32). There are several hymns in the Rigveda that refer to Dasa and Aryan enemies and to related (jami) and unrelated (ajami) enemies (e.g. 1.111.3, 4.4.5); still, in the battle of the ten kings, there are Dasas and Aryas on both sides of the battlefield and in some Rigvedic verses, the Aryas and Dasas stood united against their enemies.
Dasa
The meaning of the word dāsa, which has been long preserved in the KhotanKhotan
Hotan , or Hetian , also spelled Khotan, is the seat of the Hotan Prefecture in Xinjiang, China. It was previously known in Chinese as 于窴/於窴 and to 19th-century European explorers as Ilchi....
ese dialect, is "man". The word "dasa" is contained in the name of a famous Vedic king, Divodāsa (meaning "heaven's slave").
Several other protagonist people in the Rig Veda also have "dasa" in their name. These include King Sudasa and Grtsamadas.
Racial interpretations
In the Rig Veda, Dasa, Dasyu and similar terms (e.g. Pani) occur sometimes in conjunction with the terms krsna ("black") or asikni ("black"). This was often the basis for a "racial" interpretation of the Vedic texts. But Sanskrit is a language that uses many metaphors. The word cow for example can mean Mother EarthEarth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
, sunshine
Sunlight
Sunlight, in the broad sense, is the total frequency spectrum of electromagnetic radiation given off by the Sun. On Earth, sunlight is filtered through the Earth's atmosphere, and solar radiation is obvious as daylight when the Sun is above the horizon.When the direct solar radiation is not blocked...
, wealth, language, Aum
Aum
Om or Aum Om or Aum Om or Aum (also , written in Devanāgari as and as , in Sanskrit known as (lit. "to sound out loudly"), ', or ' (also as ') (lit. "Auṃ form/syllable"), is a sacred/mystical syllable in the Dharmic or Indian religions, i.e...
etc. Words like "black" have similarly many different meanings in Sanskrit, as it is in fact the case in most languages. Thus "black" has many symbolical, mythological, psychological and other uses that are simply unrelated to human appearance. Bhagavan Shri Shanmukha Anantha Natha is the first scholar to define that the 'blackness' of Krishna is not a racial interpretation but refers to the Absolute in its phase of manifestation as denoted by Samkhya philosophy. The Rg Veda does not refer to ethnic terms but philosophical realities. Krishna too is described as an Asura and this does not mean that he is a 'black Indigene' waiting on the banks of the Amshumati river to fight with Indra (RVIII. 85. 13-15) but that the Absolute is in a stage of manifestation allegorically depicted by the 'black drop' in the Rg Veda.
Also Iyengar (1914) commented on such interpretations: "The only other trace of racial reference in the Vedic hymns is the occurrence of two words, one krishna in seven passages and the other asikini in two passages. In all the passages, the words have been interpreted as referring to black cloud
Cloud
A cloud is a visible mass of liquid droplets or frozen crystals made of water and/or various chemicals suspended in the atmosphere above the surface of a planetary body. They are also known as aerosols. Clouds in Earth's atmosphere are studied in the cloud physics branch of meteorology...
s, a demon
Demon
call - 1347 531 7769 for more infoIn Ancient Near Eastern religions as well as in the Abrahamic traditions, including ancient and medieval Christian demonology, a demon is considered an "unclean spirit" which may cause demonic possession, to be addressed with an act of exorcism...
whose name was Krishna, or the powers of darkness
Darkness
Darkness, in contrast with brightness, is a relative absence of visible light. It is the appearance of black in a color space. When light is not present, rod and cone cells within the eye are not stimulated. This lack of stimulation means photoreceptor cells are unable to distinguish color...
." (6-7, Iyengar, Srinivas. 1914.)
The term krsnavonih in RV 2.20.7 has been interpreted by Asko Parpola as meaning "which in their wombs hid the black people". Sethna (1992) writes, referring to a comment by Richard Hartz, that "there is no need to follow Parpola in assuming a further unexpressed word meaning "people" in the middle of the compound krsnayonih", and the better known translation by Griffith
Ralph T.H. Griffith
Ralph Thomas Hotchkin Griffith , scholar of indology, Son of B.A. of Queen's College was elected to the vacant Sanskrit Scholarship on Nov 24, 1849. He translated the Vedic scriptures into English. He also produced translations of other Sanskrit literature, including a verse version of the...
, i.e. "who dwelt in darkness" can be considered as essentially correct. Another scholar, Hans Hock (1999), finds Karl Friedrich Geldner
Karl Friedrich Geldner
Karl Friedrich Geldner was a German linguist best known for his analysis and synthesis of Avestan and Vedic Sanskrit texts.-Biography:...
's translation of krsnayonih (RV 2.20.7) as "Blacks in their wombs" and of krsnagarbha (RV 1.101.1) as "pregnant with the Blacks" "quite recherché" and thinks that it could refer to the "dark world" of the Dasas.
In RV 4.16.13, Geldner has assumed that "krsna" refers to "sahasra" (thousands). But this would be grammatically incorrect. If krsna would refer to "sahasra", it should be written as krsnan (acc. pl. masc.). Hans Hock (1999) suggests that "krsna" refers to "puro" (forts) in this verse.
For sure the Vedic writers wrote of the Dasa-Dasyus as people who lived in evil or darkness. The RV 2.2.7http://www.ishwar.com/hinduism/holy_rig_veda/book02/book02_02.html says, "Indra the Vrtra-slayer, Fort-destroyer, scattered the Dasa hosts who dwelt in darkness."
Hymm XXIV reads of Brahmanaspati defeating the Dasyu demon Vala, "He drave the kine forth and cleft Vala through by prayer, dispelled the darkness and displayed the light of heaven."
The Vedic seers pray evil or darkness stay away from them: "May I obtain the broad light free from peril: O Indra, let not during darkness seize us."
Hymn XL, speaking of Devas Soma and Pusan reads, "At birth of these two Gods all Gods are joyful: they have caused darkness, which we hate, to vanish."
Hymn 3.1.3 reads of Agni, "Bull, who beholdest men, through many mornings, among the dark ones shine forth red, O Agni."http://www.ishwar.com/hinduism/holy_rig_veda/book03/book03_01.html
Hymn 3.2.17 reads that dark (metaphor for evil) people are purified through Deva Surya: "To thee proceed the dark, the treasure-holders, both of them sanctified by Surya's bounty."
Hymn 3.3.3 writes of Indra and his twin brother Agni killing darkness with light: "Killing the darkness at the light's foundation, the Couple newly born attain their beauty."http://www.ishwar.com/hinduism/holy_rig_veda/book03/book03_03.html
Tvac
There are three instances in the Rig Veda where the phrase krsna (or ashikni) tvac occurs, literally translating to "black (or swarthy) skin":- 1.130.8de
- — "Plaguing the lawless he [Indra] gave up to ManuManu (Hinduism)In various Hindu traditions, Manu is a title accorded to the progenitor of mankind, and also the very first brahman king to rule this earth, who saved mankind from the universal flood. He was absolutely honest which was why he was initially known as "Satyavrata"...
's seed the dusky skin" (trans. Griffith) - 9.41.1
- — "(Praising the Soma-juices) which descend like streams of water, swift, brilliant, rapid driving off the black covered (Rakshasa who are darkness)"
- 9.73.5cd
- — "Blowing away with supernatural might from earth and from the heavens the swarthy skin which Indra hates." (trans. Griffith)
Tvac "skin" does, however, also take a secondary, more general meaning of "surface, cover" in the Rigveda, in particular referring to the Earth's surface. For this reason, there can be debate on whether instances of krsna tvac should be taken to refer literally to a "black skinned people
Black people
The term black people is used in systems of racial classification for humans of a dark skinned phenotype, relative to other racial groups.Different societies apply different criteria regarding who is classified as "black", and often social variables such as class, socio-economic status also plays a...
". Maria Schetelich (1990) considers it a symbolic expression for darkness. Similarly, Michael Witzel (1995b) writes about terms like krsna tvac that "while it would be easy to assume reference to skin colour, this would go against the spirit of the hymns: for Vedic poets, black
Black
Black is the color of objects that do not emit or reflect light in any part of the visible spectrum; they absorb all such frequencies of light...
always signifies evil, and any other meaning would be secondary in these contexts". Hans Hock
Hans Hock
Hans Henrich Hock is Professor Emeritus of Linguistics and Sanskrit at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.Hock holds a Ph.D. in linguistics from Yale University. His research interests include general historical and comparative linguistics, as well as the linguistics of Sanskrit...
argues along similar lines
The Rigvedic commentator Sayana
Sayana
' was an important commentator on the Vedas. He flourished under King Bukka I and his successor Harihara II, in the Vijayanagar Empire of South India...
explains the word tvacam krsna (RV 1.130.8) as referring to an asura
Asura
-In Hinduism:In Hinduism, the Asuras constitute a group of power-seeking deities, sometimes considered sinful and materialistic. The Daityas and Danavas were combinedly known as Asuras. The Asura were opposed to the Devas. Both groups are children of Kasyapa...
(demon) called Krsna whose skin was torn apart by Indra.
Anasa
In RV 5.29.10, the word anasa is in connection with the Dasyus. Some scholars have translated anasa as "noseless". But the classical commentator SayanaSayana
' was an important commentator on the Vedas. He flourished under King Bukka I and his successor Harihara II, in the Vijayanagar Empire of South India...
translated anasa as "without mouth or face" (anas = an "negative" + as "mouth"). Sayana's translation is supported by the occurrence of the word mrdhravacah in the same verse. Sayana explains the word mrdhravacah as "having defective organs of speech" (Rg Veda 1854-57:3.276 n.). The description of Dasas as "nose-less" and "mouth-less" is method of associating the demonic Dasa as disfigured beings, who are covered by ignorance (black).
The religion of the Dasas/Dasyus
A Dasyu is a member of an aboriginal people in India encountered and embattled by the invading Aryans (c. 1500 bc). They were described by the Aryans as a dark-skinned, harsh-spoken people who worshiped the phallus. This allusion has persuaded many scholars that worship of the linga, the Hindu religious symbol, originated with them; it may, however, have referred to their sexual practices. They lived in fortified places from which they sent out armies. They may be considered the original SudraShudra
Shudra is the fourth Varna, as prescribed in the Purusha Sukta of the Rig veda, which constitutes society into four varnas or Chaturvarna. The other three varnas are Brahmans - priests, Kshatriya - those with governing functions, Vaishya - agriculturalists, cattle rearers and traders...
s, or labourers, who served the three higher classes of Brahmin
Brahmin
Brahmin Brahman, Brahma and Brahmin.Brahman, Brahmin and Brahma have different meanings. Brahman refers to the Supreme Self...
, Kshatriya
Kshatriya
*For the Bollywood film of the same name see Kshatriya Kshatriya or Kashtriya, meaning warrior, is one of the four varnas in Hinduism...
(warrior), and Vaishya
Vaishya
Vaishya is one of the four varnas of the Hindu social order. According to Vedic tradition, this caste primarily comprises merchants, farmers, cattle-herders and artisans.-Duties of Vaishyas:...
(mercantile), from whose ritual communion they were excluded.
The main difference between the Aryas and the Dasas in the Rig Veda is a difference of religion. Already A. A. Macdonell and A. B. Keith (1912) remarked that: "The great difference between the Dasyus and the Aryans was their religion... It is significant that constant reference is made to difference in religion between Aryans and Dasa and Dasyu." The Dasas and Dasyus are also described as brahma-dvisah in the Rig Veda, which Ralph T.H. Griffith
Ralph T.H. Griffith
Ralph Thomas Hotchkin Griffith , scholar of indology, Son of B.A. of Queen's College was elected to the vacant Sanskrit Scholarship on Nov 24, 1849. He translated the Vedic scriptures into English. He also produced translations of other Sanskrit literature, including a verse version of the...
translates as "those who hate devotion" or "prayer haters". Thus Dasa has also been interpreted as meaning the people that don't follow the same religion as the Aryans. Rig Veda 10.22.8 describes the Dasa-Dasyus as a-karman (non-performers of Aryan sacrifices), anya-vrata (observers of other rites) and in Rig Veda 10.105.8 they are described as anrc (non-singer of laudatory hymns). In RV 8.70.11 they are described as a-deva-yu (not regarding Deva ).
Use of religious "devotees"
GuruGuru
A guru is one who is regarded as having great knowledge, wisdom, and authority in a certain area, and who uses it to guide others . Other forms of manifestation of this principle can include parents, school teachers, non-human objects and even one's own intellectual discipline, if the...
, or Sat guru in various traditions of Hinduism
Hinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
is given the name Dasa, Servant of God
Servant of God
Servant of God is a title given to individuals by various religions, but in general the phrase is used to describe a person believed to be pious in his or her faith tradition. In the Catholic Church, it designates someone who is being investigated by the Church for possibly being recognized as a...
, as for example the pure teacher, also called Uda ka Das, meaning the servant of the one God. The other Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
word meaning of servant, is retained in all Indian languages where monotheistic devotion to personal God
Personal God
A personal god is a deity who can be related to as a person instead of as an "impersonal force", such as the Absolute, "the All", or the "Ground of Being"....
is practiced. In Tamil
Tamil language
Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...
tontai, dasa, servant or "slave," commonly used to refer to devotees of Vishnu
Vishnu
Vishnu is the Supreme god in the Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism. Smarta followers of Adi Shankara, among others, venerate Vishnu as one of the five primary forms of God....
or Krishna
Krishna
Krishna is a central figure of Hinduism and is traditionally attributed the authorship of the Bhagavad Gita. He is the supreme Being and considered in some monotheistic traditions as an Avatar of Vishnu...
. According to Gaudiya Vaishnava theology Smriti
Smriti
Smriti literally "that which is remembered," refers to a specific body of Hindu religious scripture, and is a codified component of Hindu customary law. Smṛti also denotes non-Śruti texts and is generally seen as secondary in authority to Śruti. The literature which comprises the Smrti was...
statement means that living entities (bhuto) are eternally in the service (dasa) of the Supreme Lord (Hari
Hari
Hari is an Avatar, another name of and , and appears as the 650th name in the Vishnu sahasranama of Mahabharata. In Sanskrit "hari" sometimes refers to a colour, green, yellow, or fawn-coloured/khaki. It is the colour of the Sun and of Soma...
). Thus designation for Vaishnava followers of svayam bhagavan
Svayam Bhagavan
Svayam Bhagavan , "The Lord" or Lord Himself, is a Sanskrit theological term. The term refers to the concept of absolute representation of the monotheistic God as Bhagavan within Hinduism....
Krishna was the status title dasa as part of their names as in Hari dasa.
As a surname or byname
The present day usage of Dasa in Hinduism has respectful connotation and not derogatory. It always means 'slave of god'. In the past, many saints from all castes added it in their names signifying their total devotion to god. An example is Mohandas Gandhi. Another example is SurdasSurdas
Surdas, the 15th century sightless saint, poet and musician, is known for his devotional songs dedicated to Lord Krishna. Surdas is said to have written and composed a hundred thousand songs in his magnum opus the 'Sur Sagar' , out of which only about 8,000 are extant...
, the blind Brahmin poet. 'Das' is one of the common surnames of Brahmins, especially in East India. '. As any other proper word to translate the word "slave" is absent in Sanskritized Hindi, the word Dāsa is used for the same.
Further more in the bhakti yoga
Bhakti yoga
Bhakti yoga is one of the types of yoga mentioned in Hindu philosophies which denotes the spiritual practice of fostering loving devotion to a personal form of God....
a person can be in a relationship with God in any of the 5 ways and one of the relationships is Dasyu-bhakta, meaning being a "slave of God" as said before. All initiated male members of ISKCON have the word "dasa" at the end of their initiated names, meaning "servant", and all initiated female members of ISKCON have the words "devi dasi", which means "goddess servantess" (dasi is the feminine form of das) Example: Urmila devi dasi
Urmila Devi Dasi
Urmila Devi Dasi, , was born in 1955 in New York City. Her father was president and later, CEO, of the Manischewitz food company, founded by his grandfather. She joined the International Society for Krishna Consciousness in 1973 in Chicago and became a disciple of A. C...
. Then the first part of their names is a name for something connected with divinity: often a name of Radha Krishna
Radha Krishna
Radha Krishna is a Hindu deity. Krishna is often referred as svayam bhagavan in Gaudiya Vaishnavism theology and Radha is a young woman, a gopi who is Krishna's supreme beloved. With Krishna, Radha is acknowledged as the Supreme Goddess, for it is said that she controls Krishna with Her love...
or Chaitanya Mahaprabhu
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was a Vaishnava saint and social reformer in eastern India in the 16th century, believed by followers of Gaudiya Vaishnavism to be the full incarnation of Lord Krishna...
.
In Hindu revivalism
Hindu revivalist authors like Sri AurobindoSri Aurobindo
Sri Aurobindo , born Aurobindo Ghosh or Ghose , was an Indian nationalist, freedom fighter, philosopher, yogi, guru, and poet. He joined the Indian movement for freedom from British rule and for a duration became one of its most important leaders, before developing his own vision of human progress...
believe that words like Dasa are used in the Rig Veda symbolically and should be interpreted spiritually, and that Dasa does not refer to human beings, but rather to demons who hinder the spiritual attainment of the mystic. Many Dasas are purely mythical and can only refer to demons. There is for example a Dasa called Urana with 99 arms (RV II.14.4), and a Dasa with six eyes and three heads in the Rig Veda.
Sri Aurobindo
Sri Aurobindo
Sri Aurobindo , born Aurobindo Ghosh or Ghose , was an Indian nationalist, freedom fighter, philosopher, yogi, guru, and poet. He joined the Indian movement for freedom from British rule and for a duration became one of its most important leaders, before developing his own vision of human progress...
commented that in the RV III.34 hymn, where the word Arya varna occurs, Indra is described as the increaser of the thoughts of his followers: "the shining hue of these thoughts, sukram varnam asam, is evidently the same as that sukra or sveta Aryan hue which is mentioned in verse 9. Indra carries forward or increases the "colour" of these thoughts beyond the opposition of the Panis, pra varnam atiracchukram; in doing so he slays the Dasyus and protects or fosters and increases the Aryan "colour", hatvi dasyun pra aryam varnam avat." Thus, Aurobindo sees the Arya varna or lustre of the thoughts that Indra increases as psychological. In several Lord Indra is also said to be a white bull with and his friends are the Maruts, who are horses so when the Rig Veda speaks of a certain color they mean the color of god as an animal. For example, the twin deities Nastya and Dasra are said to be "horse princes." In some Rig Vedic verses, even Lord Agni
Agni
Agni is a Hindu deity, one of the most important of the Vedic gods. He is the god of fire and the acceptor of sacrifices. The sacrifices made to Agni go to the deities because Agni is a messenger from and to the other gods...
is said to be the red bull that stands out from the dark bulls.http://www.hinduwebsite.com/sacredscripts/hinduism/rigveda/rigveda3_2.asp
According to Aurobindo (The Secret of the Veda), RV 5.14.4 is a key for understanding the character of the Dasyus:
- Agni born shone out slaying the Dasyus, the darkness by the light, he found the Cows, the Waters, Swar. (transl. Aurobindo)
Aurobindo explains that in this verse the struggle between light and darkness, truth and falsehood, divine and undivine is described. It is through the shining light created by Agni, god of fire, that the Dasyus, who are identified with the darkness, are slain. The Dasyus are also described in the Rig Veda as intercepting and withholding the Cows, the Waters and Swar ("heavenly world"; RV 5.34.9; 8.68.9). It is not difficult, of course, to find very similar metaphors, equating political or military opponents with evil and darkness, even in contemporary propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
.
K.D. Sethna (1992) writes: "According to Aurobindo,(...) there are passages in which the spiritual interpretation of the Dasas, Dasyus and Panis is the sole one possible and all others are completely excluded. There are no passages in which we lack a choice either between this interpretation and a nature-poetry or between this interpretation and the reading of human enemies." And according to Koenraad Elst
Koenraad Elst
Koenraad Elst is a Belgian writer and orientalist .He was an editor of the New Right Flemish nationalist journal Teksten, Kommentaren en Studies from 1992 to 1995, focusing on criticism of Islam, various other conservative and Flemish separatist publications such as Nucleus, t Pallieterke,...
: "When it is said that Agni, the fire, “puts the dark demons to flight”, one should keep in mind that the darkness was thought to be filled with ghosts or ghouls, so that making light frees the atmosphere of their presence. And when Usha, the dawn, is said to chase the "dark skin" or "the black monster" away, it obviously refers to the cover of nightly darkness over the surface of the earth."
Dasa and related terms have been examined by several scholars. While the terms Dasa and Dasyu have a negative meaning in Sanskrit, their Iranian counterparts Daha and Dahyu have preserved their positive (or neutral) meaning. This is similar to the Sanskrit terms Deva
Deva (Hinduism)
' is the Sanskrit word for god or deity, its related feminine term is devi. In modern Hinduism, it can be loosely interpreted as any benevolent supernatural beings. The devs in Hinduism, also called Suras, are often juxtaposed to the Asuras, their half brothers. Devs are also the maintainers of...
(a "positive" term) and Asura
Asura
-In Hinduism:In Hinduism, the Asuras constitute a group of power-seeking deities, sometimes considered sinful and materialistic. The Daityas and Danavas were combinedly known as Asuras. The Asura were opposed to the Devas. Both groups are children of Kasyapa...
(a "negative" term). The Iranian counterparts of these terms (Daeva and Ahura
Ahura
Ahura is an Avestan language designation for a particular class of Zoroastrian divinities.-Etymology:Avestan ahura derives from Indo-Iranian *asura, also attested in an Indian context as RigVedic asura...
) have opposite meanings. The terms Dasyus and Asuras as negativity personified in the Rg Veda (RVIII. 85.9) (RV. VIII. 66.3), and especially personified by Vrtra, the slayer of Indra, positivity personified, was first put forward by Bhagavan Shri Shanmukha Anantha Natha in his work Divine Initiation (Singapore, Shri Kali Publications, 2001), 19. This concept, as he outlines it, is similar to the Yin-Yang concept of the East Asians. The Aryans are also personifications and this idea is also put forward by Anantha Natha in the above work.
Further reading
- Bhagavan Shri Shanmukha Anantha Natha and Shri Ma Kristina Baird for the correct, nonracial meaning of the terms Dasyus and Asuras in their work "Divine Initiation" (ISBN 0-9582324-0-7) by Shri Kali Publications
- Ambedkar, B.R. (1946) Who were the Shudras?Who were the Shudras?Who Were the Shudras? is a book written by B.R. Ambedkar. Ambedkar dedicated the book to Mahatma Jyotiba Phule .In this book, Ambedkar argues that the Shudras were originally Aryans belonging to the Kshatriya class...
- Aurobindo, Sri. 1971. The Secret of the Veda. Pondicherry: Shri Aurobindo Ashram.
- Bryant, Edwin: The Quest for the Origins of Vedic CultureThe Quest for the Origins of Vedic CultureThe Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture: The Indo-Aryan Migration Debate is a book by Edwin Bryant published at Oxford University Press in 2001 ....
. 2001. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-513777-9 - J. Bronkhorst and M.M. Deshpande. 1999. Aryan and Non-Aryan in South Asia. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
- Elst, KoenraadKoenraad ElstKoenraad Elst is a Belgian writer and orientalist .He was an editor of the New Right Flemish nationalist journal Teksten, Kommentaren en Studies from 1992 to 1995, focusing on criticism of Islam, various other conservative and Flemish separatist publications such as Nucleus, t Pallieterke,...
Update on the Aryan Invasion DebateUpdate on the Aryan Invasion DebateUpdate on the Aryan Invasion Debate is a book by Koenraad Elst. The book discusses various aspects of the Indo-Aryan migration debate and concludes by proposing a chronological order for the events in the spread of Aryans Out of India....
. 1999. ISBN 81-86471-77-4 http://koenraadelst.bharatvani.org/books/ait/index.htm, http://koenraadelst.bharatvani.org/articles/aid.html - Frawley, DavidDavid FrawleyDavid Frawley is an American Hindu author, publishing on topics such as Hinduism, Yoga and Ayurveda. He is the founder and director of the American Institute for Vedic Studies in Santa Fe, New Mexico, which offers courses on Yoga philosophy, Ayurveda, and Hindu astrology...
The Myth of the Aryan Invasion of India, 1995. New Delhi: Voice of India; In Search of the Cradle of CivilizationIn Search of the Cradle of CivilizationIn Search of the Cradle of Civilization: New Light on Ancient India is a 1995 book by Georg Feuerstein, Subhash Kak, and David Frawley that argues against the theories that Indo-European peoples arrived in India in the middle of the second millennium BC and supports the concept of "Indigenous...
, Chapter 6 - Hock, Hans. 1999b, Through a Glass Darkly: Modern "Racial" Interpretations vs. Textual and General Prehistoric Evidence on Arya and Dasa/Dasyu in Vedic Indo-Aryan Society." in Aryan and Non-Aryan in South Asia.
- Iyengar, Srinivas. 1914. "Did the Dravidians of India Obtain Their Culture from Aran Immigrant [sic]." Anthropos 1-15.
- Macdonell, A.A. and Keith, A.B. 1912. The Vedic Index of Names and Subjects.
- Parpola, Asko: 1988, The Coming of the Aryans to Iran and India and the Cultural and Ethnic Identity of the Dasas; The problem of the Aryans and the Soma.
- Rg Veda 1854-57. Rig-Veda Samhita. tr. H.H. Wilson. London: H.Allen and Co.
- Schetelich, Maria. 1990, "The problem ot the "Dark Skin" (Krsna Tvac) in the Rgveda." Visva Bharati Annals 3:244-249.
- Sethna, K.D. 1992. The Problem of Aryan OriginsThe Problem of Aryan OriginsThe Problem of Aryan Origins is a book by K.D. Sethna. The first edition was published in 1980. A second enlarged version was published in 1992....
. New Delhi: Aditya Prakashan. - Talageri, Shrikant G. 2000. The Rig Veda - A historical analysis. http://www.voi.org/books/rig
- Trautmann, Thomas R. 1997, Aryans and British India. Berkeley: University of California Press.
- Witzel, Michael. 1995b, 325, fn, "Rgvedic History" in The Indo-Aryans of South Asia.