The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 1) — Page lxxxvi
GENERAL INTRODUCTION (v) In Atharva-Veda (XIX, 28:4-10) we have: Cleave through, O Darbha, amulet, my foes, mine adversaries' heart. Rise thou and batter down their heads like growth that covereth the earth. Cleave thou my rivals, Darbha, cleave the men who fain would fight with me. . . Tear thou my rivals, Darbha. . . Hew thou my rivals, Darbha,. . . Cleave thou my rivals, Darbha. . . Pierce thou my rivals, Darbha. . . Pierce the men who hate me, Amulet. (vi) In Atharva-Veda (XIX, 29:1-9) we have: Split thou my rivals, Darbha. . . Crush thou my rivals, Darbha,. . Burn thou, my rivals. . . Consume thou my rivals,. . . Slay thou my rivals, Darbha,. . . Slay all who wish me evil. (vii) In Yajur-Veda (27:2) we have: "Agni, be those uninjured who adore thee, thy priests be glorious and none beside them. (viii) In Yajur-Veda (11:80) we have: Agni, him who would seek to injure us, the man who looks on us with hate, turn thou to ashes. Besides the Vedas, other Hindu books also contain the same sort of teaching. In the Manu Smrti, admitted by all Hindu schools as a reliable Hindu scripture, we have:* (i) Whatever man of the three highest classes, having addicted himself to heretical books, shall treat with contempt those two roots of law, he must be driven as an atheist and a scorner of revelation from the company of the virtuous (II: 11). Are the critics of the Vedas to be banished from the country? (ii) A man of the lowest class, who shall insolently place himself on the same seat with one of the highest, shall either be banished with a mark on his hinder parts, or the king shall cause a gash to be made on his buttock (VIII: 281). (iii) A Brahman may seize without hesitation, if he be distressed for a subsistence, the goods of his Sudra-slave; for as that slave can have no property, his master may take his goods (VIII: 417). (iv) But a man of the servile class whether bought or unbought, he may compel to perform servile duty; because such a man was created by the Self-Existent for the purpose of serving Brahmans (VIII: 413). (v) A Sudra, though emancipated by his master, is not released from a * The quotations are from the translation by Sir William Jones, 1869. lx