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September     Last updated: September 16, 5:00 p.m.

VEDAS are the lighthouse of revealed knowledge. Most ancient and still verily fresh like the dawn, this knowledge has many dimensions. Vedic Prithvi Sukta is also a breather of the same. The word Veda originates from the Sanskrit root “Vid” meaning knowledge, gain, power and thought. All the four meanings of the root “Vid”, are the ingredients of science, philosophy and art which is the trident of the revealed truth.

The language of each revealed verse is known as mantra. It has been explained in many a way. It combines in itself the depth of inborn thought leading to redemption from the scourge of the vagrant unreal, the devil darkness and the hovering death. It reveals the reality of the individual self in relation to the real cosmic self.

The matnra tradition of the Vedas, and naturally also of the Prithivi Sukta, provides us with a lively and lovely base to understand the legacy, which has showered its bliss on the creativity of later periods militating for its radiant recurrence. Japujee in Guruvani is chanted by its devotees throughout the world as mantra, christened also as Japujee mantra. Sursagar, the immortal work of poet Surdas of the Krishna Bhakti tradition, is the poetry rendering of Sri Bhagwat Purana in Braj. Its Vedic origin is not in the limelight despite the fact that poet Surdas categorically concedes in the eleventh verse of his Sur Sarawali that the navel-lotus of Narayan, the divine abode of human species, is the reincarnation of its Vedic base.

All the Puranas are the extension of Vedas. To be more precise they are the recurrence of Vedic lore. Surdas candidly muses the fact that all the gopis of Bhagwat Purana are the reincarnation of mantras while Lord Krishna Himself is the parabrahma or the all-pervading omniscient Lord of Lords. This is a clear exposition of the transformation of mantras into puranic parables and symbols representing the science of rebirth as a constituent of Aryan or Hindu view of life. Its relationship with Prithivi Sukta needs no dilation or detail since reincarnation or rebirth and blighting out of evil from earth shine apart as distinct characteristics of Bharat as a rashtra.

Vedic Prithivi Sukta constitutes the first part of the 12th canto of the Atharvaveda. There are 63 mantras in this Sukta which owes its flash to the seer saint Atharva. The whole Sukta is an invocation to Mother Earth who is supreme in material, mental and spiritual spheres. Earth is a living entity, an active member of the stellar family. It is a beautiful illustration and enchanting display of man's consecration and commitment to the caressing compassion, boon and benediction of Mother Earth. It sparkles a unique combination, rather confluence, of the gross and subtle as indivisible entities of one and the same reality.

The words Bhumi, Vasudha and Aditi in the Sukta represent Prithivi. This needs an elucidation of the subtle shades of Prithivi, Bhumi, Vasudha and Aditi. Soil, land and earth are the three words which bear kinship with Prithivi, Bhumi and Vasudha. Just as an agriculturist is well-nigh aware of the soil and its varieties, an economist spells out land as one word for the free gifts of nature such as gases, fire, water and air; and astronomer normally uses the word earth for a planet oribting in the void as member of a solar system. Similarly the seer saint Atharva is concious of the subtle variations connoting the words Prithivi, Bhumi, Vasudhani, Vasudha or Aditi. The word Bhumi means the seat of being and becoming.

It is Prithivi since it extends the facilities of fire, energy, air, water, soil, gases, vegetation, shelter etc. as also the frontiers for habitat and the like to meet the ever increasing needs of life. Likewise, it is Vasudhani since it dons and bears the life-giving riches known as Vasus as per mantra six of the Sukta. Lord Krishna proclaims in Gita (11/23) that I am the purifying fire for the safety and welfare amongst the eight Vasus or riches. The same fire has its origin in Agni right from the first mantra of Rigveda to the Prithivi Sukta of Atharvaveda (mantras 6, 19 to 21, 37).

The Vedic Prithivi Sukta is the world's earliest known national anthem lighted and orchestrated by Bharat radiating also the seer saints invocation to Mother Earth.