Editing Maya (religion) (section)

====The Vedas====
Words related to and containing ''Māyā'', such as ''Mayava'', occur many times in the [[Vedas]]. These words have various meanings, with interpretations that are contested,<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z3ksBrWoZm0C|title=Vedic Civilization|last=Pruthi|first=Raj|publisher=Discovery Publishing House|year=2004|isbn=9788171418756|pages=222–223|language=en}}</ref> and some are names of deities that do not appear in texts of 1st millennium BCE and later. The use of word Māyā in Rig Veda, in the later era context of "magic, illusion, power", occurs in many hymns. One titled [[Mayabheda|Māyā-bheda]] (मायाभेद:, Discerning Illusion) includes hymns 10.177.1 through 10.177.3, and the battle which unfolds between good and evil is as follows:<ref name=lauriepatton/>

{{quote|<poem lang="sa">
पतंगमक्तमसुरस्य '''माय'''या हृदा पश्यन्ति मनसा विपश्चितः ।
समुद्रे अन्तः कवयो वि चक्षते मरीचीनां पदमिच्छन्ति वेधसः ॥१॥
पतंगो वाचं मनसा बिभर्ति तां गन्धर्वोऽवदद्गर्भे अन्तः ।
तां द्योतमानां स्वर्यं मनीषामृतस्य पदे कवयो नि पान्ति ॥२॥
अपश्यं गोपामनिपद्यमानमा च परा च पथिभिश्चरन्तम् ।
स सध्रीचीः स विषूचीर्वसान आ वरीवर्ति भुवनेष्वन्तः ॥३॥
</poem>

<poem>
The wise behold with their mind in their heart the Sun, made manifest by the illusion of the [[Asura]];
The sages look into the solar orb, the ordainers desire the region of his rays.
The Sun bears the word in his mind; the Gandharva has spoken it within the wombs;
sages cherish it in the place of sacrifice, brilliant, heavenly, ruling the mind.
I beheld the protector, never descending, going by his paths to the east and the west;
clothing the quarters of the heaven and the intermediate spaces. He constantly revolves in the midst of the worlds.
</poem>
|[[Rigveda|Rig veda]] X.177.1-3, Translated by Laurie Patton<ref name=lauriepatton>{{cite book|title=Bringing the Gods to Mind:Mantra and Ritual in Early Indian Sacrifice|author=Laurie L. Patton|publisher=University of California Press|page=132|date=2005}};<br>Sanskrit Original: [http://sa.wikisource.org/wiki/ऋग्वेद:_सूक्तं_१०.१७७ ऋग्वेद: सूक्तं १०.१७७] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150503210229/http://sa.wikisource.org/wiki/%E0%A4%8B%E0%A4%97%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%B5%E0%A5%87%E0%A4%A6:_%E0%A4%B8%E0%A5%82%E0%A4%95%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%A4%E0%A4%82_%E0%A5%A7%E0%A5%A6.%E0%A5%A7%E0%A5%AD%E0%A5%AD |date=3 May 2015 }} Wikisource</ref>}}

The above Maya-bheda hymn discerns, using symbolic language, a contrast between mind influenced by light (sun) and magic (illusion of Asura). The hymn is a call to discern one's enemies, perceive artifice, and distinguish, using one's mind, between that which is perceived and that which is unperceived.<ref>{{cite book|title=Bringing the Gods to Mind:Mantra and Ritual in Early Indian Sacrifice|author=Laurie L. Patton|publisher=University of California Press|pages=137, 187|date=2005}}</ref> Rig Veda does not connote the word Māyā as always good or always bad, it is simply a form of technique, mental power and means.<ref name=beamsc>Ben-Ami Scharfstein (1998), A Comparative History of World Philosophy: From the Upanishads to Kant, State University of New York Press, {{ISBN|978-0791436844}}, page 376</ref> Rig Veda uses the word in two contexts, implying that there are two kinds of Māyā: divine Māyā and undivine Māyā, the former being the foundation of truth, the latter of falsehood.<ref>Sri Aurobindo (1917, Reprinted 1998), The Secret of the Veda, Volume 15, Sri Aurobindo Ashram Press, page 399, also see pages 225, 76, 89, 97, 512</ref>

Elsewhere in Vedic mythology, [[Indra]] uses Maya to conquer [[Vritra]].<ref name="williams">Williams, George M., (2008). Handbook of Hindu Mythology, p.214. Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|9780195332612}}</ref> [[Varuna]]'s supernatural power is called Maya.<ref name="sb"/> ''Māyā'', in such examples, connotes powerful magic, which both ''devas'' (gods) and ''asuras'' (demons) use against each other.<ref name="sb"/> In the [[Yajurveda]], ''māyā'' is an unfathomable plan.<ref>Desai, Gandabhai Girijashanker (1967). Thinking with the Yajurveda, p.16. Asia Publishing House.</ref> In the [[Aitareya Brahmana]] Maya is also referred to as Dirghajihvi, hostile to gods and sacrifices.<ref name="agrawala">Agrawala, Prithvi Kumar (1984). Goddessess in Ancient India, p.121-123. Abhinav Publications, {{ISBN|0391029606}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=8BmDIbNuD0gC&dq=maya+asura+goddess&pg=PA122]</ref> The hymns in Book 8, Chapter 10 of Atharvaveda describe the primordial woman ''Virāj'' ({{lang|sa|विराज्}}, chief queen) and how she willingly gave the knowledge of food, plants, agriculture, husbandry, water, prayer, knowledge, strength, inspiration, concealment, charm, virtue, vice to gods, demons, men and living creatures, despite all of them making her life miserable. In hymns of 8.10.22, ''Virāj'' is used by Asuras (demons) who call her as Māyā, as follows,

{{quote|
<poem>
She rose. The Asuras saw her. They called her. Their cry was, "Come, O Māyā, come thou hither" !!
Her cow was Virochana Prahradi. Her milking vessel was a pan of iron.
Dvimurdha Artvya milked this Māyā.
The Asuras depend for life on Māyā for their sustenance.
One who knows this, becomes a fit supporter [of gods].
</poem>
|[[Atharvaveda|Atharva veda]] VIII.10.22 <ref>Original Sanskrit: [http://sa.wikisource.org/wiki/अथर्ववेदः/अथर्ववेद:_काण्डं_8 अथर्ववेद: काण्डं 8] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150606112653/http://sa.wikisource.org/wiki/%E0%A4%85%E0%A4%A5%E0%A4%B0%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%B5%E0%A4%B5%E0%A5%87%E0%A4%A6%E0%A4%83/%E0%A4%85%E0%A4%A5%E0%A4%B0%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%B5%E0%A4%B5%E0%A5%87%E0%A4%A6:_%E0%A4%95%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%A3%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%A1%E0%A4%82_8 |date=6 June 2015 }} Wikisource;<br>English Translation: [https://archive.org/stream/hymnsatharvaved03unkngoog#page/n186/mode/2up Atharva Veda] Ralph Griffith (Translator), verse 22 (page 423), pages 421-426</ref>}}

The contextual meaning of Maya in Atharva Veda is "power of creation", not illusion.<ref name=beamsc/> [[Jan Gonda|Gonda]] suggests the central meaning of Maya in Vedic literature is, "wisdom and power enabling its possessor, or being able itself, to create, devise, contrive, effect, or do something".<ref name=teun>Teun Goudriaan (2008), Maya: Divine And Human, Motilal Banarsidass, {{ISBN|978-8120823891}}, page 1, and 2-17</ref><ref>J. Gonda (1952), [https://www.jstor.org/stable/40879558 Maya] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210909110317/https://www.jstor.org/stable/40879558 |date=9 September 2021 }}, Tijdschrift voor Philosophie, 14de Jaarg., Nr. 1 (MAART 1952), pages 3-62;<br>English excerpted version: J. Gonda (1962), [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1062054 Some Notes on the Study of Ancient-Indian Religious Terminology] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210909110321/https://www.jstor.org/stable/1062054 |date=9 September 2021 }}, History of Religions, Vol. 1, No. 2 (Winter, 1962), pages 243-273; Gonda's interpretation of Maya in Vedic texts is on page 248</ref> Maya stands for anything that has real, material form, human or non-human, but that does not reveal the hidden principles and implicit knowledge that creates it.<ref name=teun/> An illustrative example of this in Rig Veda VII.104.24 and Atharva Veda VIII.4.24 where Indra is invoked against the Maya of sorcerers appearing in the illusory form&nbsp;– like a ''[[Fata Morgana (mirage)|fata morgana]]''&nbsp;– of animals to trick a person.<ref>Teun Goudriaan (2008), Maya: Divine And Human, Motilal Banarsidass, {{ISBN|978-8120823891}}, page 4</ref>