An important source for these kinds of Vedic
interpretation is the very old Nirukta.
There, Yāska contrasts the adhidaivatam interpretation with the adhyātmam
interpretation at 3.12, 10.26, 12.37, 12.38, 13.11, 14.12, 14.13, 14.14, 14.15,
14.16, 14.18, 14.19, 14.21, 14.23, 14.24, 14.25, and 14.27. He contrasts the
adhiyajñam interpretation with the adhidaivatam interpretation at 11.4. A term
such as adhibhūtam or ādhibhautikam is not used by Yāska.
Vasudeva S. Agrawala wrote about the adhyātma interpretation of the Vedas in his early article, “The Vedas and Adhyātma Tradition,” in Indian Culture, vol. 5, no. 3, January 1939, pp. 285-292. I have scanned this article and posted it here: http://prajnaquest.fr/blog/wp-content/uploads/Vedas-and-Adhy%C4%81tma-Tradition.pdf. He later applied the adhyātma interpretation to some Vedic hymns and themes in four English books, and several journal articles. The four books are:
Sparks from the Vedic Fire [A New Approach to Vedic Symbolism]. Varanasi: School of Vedic Studies, Banaras Hindu University, 1962.
Vedic Lectures [Proceedings of the Summer School of Vedic Studies], May-June 1960. Varanasi: School of Vedic Studies, Banaras Hindu University, 1963.
Hymn of Creation (Nāsadīya Sūkta, Ṛigveda X.129). Varanasi: Prithivi Prakashan, 1963.
The Thousand-Syllabled Speech [Being a Study in Cosmic Symbolism in Its Vedic Version]: I. Vision in Long Darkness, Introduction and Analysis, Text and Translation of the Asya-Vāmīya Sūkta of Ṛishi Dīrghatamas (Ṛigveda 1.164.1-52). Varanasi: Vedāraṇyaka Ashram, 1963.
This last book must be considered his magnum opus on this topic. In it he gives a sustained and detailed interpretation of this difficult Vedic hymn according to the adhyātma interpretation. To do this, he draws the meanings of terms from the Vedic writings, especially the Brāhmaṇas.
Best regards,
David Reigle
Colorado, U.S.A.
Dear Prof. Hauben and Prof. Reigle,I am excited to follow your discussion on Adhyatman interpretations.Particularly because aadhibhautika, aadhidaivika, aadhyaatmika as levels of meaning /interpretation were proposed by me in my PhD dissertation (1998 , covering the proposal of an Indian version of myth criticism ) for the interpretation of 'myth' ('puraaNa kathaa'). At that time , I did not know that there was already a strand of scholarship using the words such as aadhibhautika, aadhidaivika, aadhyaatmika as levels of meaning /interpretation. Now that I see you scholars using these words taking such a usage for granted, I guess there must be publications with such use of these words. Can you please guide me towards that bibliography.I was curious to see adhiyajna included into this group by Prof. Hauben.Adhiyajna is not included in groupings such as taapatraya. But it figures in the list brought in by Arjuna in the eighth chapter of the Gita. I wanted to know if Prof. Hauben's inspiration was from this occurence in the Gita only or if there is any other precedence of usage of adhiyajna along side aadhibhautika, aadhidaivika, aadhyaatmika as levels of meaning /interpretation.Sri Aurobindo, Kavyakantha Ganapatimuni and others among those who freely resorted to non-Vedanta style aadhyaatmika interpretations of words/concepts of Vedic mantras.Anyway thanks for the discussion.Nagaraj--Nagaraj PaturiHyderabad, Telangana, INDIA.Former Senior Professor of Cultural StudiesFLAME School of Communication and FLAME School of Liberal Education,(Pune, Maharashtra, INDIA )
_______________________________________________
INDOLOGY mailing list
INDOLOGY@list.indology.info
indology-owner@list.indology.info (messages to the list's managing committee)
http://listinfo.indology.info (where you can change your list options or unsubscribe)