The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 1)

The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 1) — Page lxxxix

GENERAL INTRODUCTION (i) The Vedas raise the question: Who made the sun? To this, quite different answers are proposed in different parts of the Vedas. In the Rig-Veda (IX, 96:5) we are told that the sun was made by the Soma god. But in the Rig-Veda (VIII, 36:4) we are told the sun was made by the god Indra. The same book teaches one thing in one chapter and quite another in another chapter. It teaches in one chapter that the sun was made by the Soma god, and in another, that it was made by the god Indra. When we turn to the other Vedas the contradiction becomes more and more serious. In the Yajur-Veda (31:12) we read that the sun was made by Brahma from his eye. The Atharva-Veda further contradicts this. In it (XIX, 27:7) we find that all the gods joined together and made the sun. This is different from, and contradicts, all the other accounts. (ii) The Vedas teach that the sun at first was on the earth, it was then taken to the skies. This account may be ridiculous from the point of view of astronomical science; we are concerned only to point out that even this extraordinary statement is couched in very different terms in different parts of the Vedas. In Krishna Yajur-Veda Taittiriya Samhita (7:1) we read that the sun was on the earth and gods then carried it on their backs to the heavens and placed it there. In the Rig-Veda (X, 156:4) we read that the fire-god carried the sun and placed it in the sky. But in the Rig-Veda itself in another place (VIII, 12:30) we read that god Indra alone carried the sun to heaven. And in yet another place, (X, 62:3) it is stated that the sun was carried by the sons of Angira Rishi to heaven. In the Atharva-Veda (XIII, 2:12) it is given that the sun was carried unaided by the Atri Rishi to heaven that it should create the months. In Shukla Yajur-Veda (4:31) we have that it was the god Varuna who set the sun on the sky. The belief that the sun was carried from the earth to the heavens is ridiculous enough. But contradictory versions of it are even more ridiculous. The Rig-Veda alone gives three contradictory accounts. One is that the sun was taken by the fire-god from the earth to the heaven. A second is that it was the god Indra who did so. A third is that the sons of Angira Rishi performed this feat. The Yajur-Veda also gives contradictory versions. According to one, all this duty was performed unaided by the god Varuna. The Atharva-Veda gives quite a different account, declaring that it was the Rishi Atri who carried out the task. lxiii