Nietzsche and Rig Veda

[witzel at HUSC3.HARVARD.EDU]

Looking through my critical edition of Nietzsche 
(ed. Giorgio Colli und Mazzino Montinari: Fr. Nietzsche, Kritische 
Studienausgabe,vol. 3 Berlin ( DTV/de Gruyter) 1980, and vol. 14 p.
(commentary),
it appears that the motto

"Es  giebt so viele Morgenroethen, die noch nicht geleuchtet haben"   
Rigveda 

was a suggestion of N's friends Peter Gast of January/Febr. 1881 which he 
added to his handwritten copy of N's "Morgenroethe" and which N. liked so 
much that he changed the name of the volume from "the ploughhare" to 
"dawn"/daybreak; he added the quote on the title page.


As for the exact Rgveda quotation -- that may take a little bit of time, 
as there are hundreds of references which allude to this myth: 

The dawn(s)  (USAS = Eos, Aurora, Ostera) will reappear every morning
as they have  done since the primordial "first dawn" was released by 
INDRA,leader of the new powers that be, from its rocky cave (vala),- after its 
location  at the end of the world, beyond the eastern ocean had been 
spied out by Indra's bitch, SARAMA, "the jumper (across the ocean)" who  
promptly reported the location of the cave, so that Indra could break open 
the Vala and "liberate" the dawns (= cows/riches) from their erstwhile 
owners, the PANI, who belong to the ancien regime of the earlier 
generation of gods.

It is the hope of the Rgvedic poets that the reappearance of Usas  will 
continue, especially at the time of winter solstice, and they ask Usas 
to return, or they  frequently praise her beautiful reappearance comparing 
her to a beautiful young woman.

Vedic poets also look forward to the future, to  future generations by whom 
their words may still be heard -- as they  indeed are, to this very 
day...  in the strict oral transmission in India.


For the myth you may compare, H.-P.Schmidt, Brhaspati und Indra, 
Wiesbaden 1967 which deals with all relevant passages from the Rgveda.
For Usas see also Boris Oguibenine, Usas. Paris (c.1980).

Examples are: the Usas hymns of  Rgveda 4.51-52 or 7.75-81 -- 
see translation by Griffith (end of teh last century) or the more recent  
one by K.F.Geldner, Der Rig-Veda, (Harvard Oriental Series vol. 33-36) 
Cambridge MA 1951. - There  is no recent complete and up to date Engl. 
translation.However, there is a partial French one by Louis Renou, Etudes 
vediques et panineennes.(according to subjects, such as Indra, Usas hymns 
--  not with me, at home, right now) (published in the sixties, reprinted 
recently, 18 vol.s)

If I will find the exact quotation -- it sound a bit untypical- I will 
let you know.

M.W.

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            durjanasya ca sarpasya varam sarpo na durjanah |

            sarpo dazati kaalena durjanas tu pade-pade    ||

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Michael Witzel                               Department of Sanskrit
Wales Professor of Sanskrit                  and Indian Studies
Chair, Committee on South Asian Studies      53 Church Street
Harvard University                           Cambridge MA 02138, USA

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On Sun, 20 Aug 1995, John GROVES wrote:

> Greeting Indology list members. I am a philosopher teaching Nietzsche's
> _Daybreak_ this fall, and I'm wondering about a quotation from the Rig
> Veda that Nietzsche uses at the very beginning of his book. "There are
> so many days that have not yet broken." What is the context? What are
> some of the interpretations of the line? Where is it?  I hope the list
> members don't mind being asked what may bea very stupid question from a
> non-Indologist, but I thought you people would give me the best and
> quickest answer. Randy Groves, Associate Professor of Humanities, Ferris
> State University, Big Rapids, MI 49307, E-mail: yd56 at music.ferris.edu
>  
>