One Three Five Fires

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David M. KnipeONE FIRE, THREEFIRES, FIVE FIRES:VEDIC SYMBOLS INTRANSITIONIn the famous "five-fire doctrine" of Chandogya-upanisad 5,1Gautama, the conservatively learned father whose son, Svetaketu,the establishment graduate, has just been put down in the localassembly for his inability to answer five far-out questions, hearsfor the first time about the journey of the self (purusa) after death.He discovers that the cosmos is really five great sacrificial fires inwhich the gods make a series of offerings. The gods offer "faith" inthe "heaven" fire in order to produce soma, then soma in theParjanya fire to produce "rain," then rain in the "earth" fire toproduce "food," then food in the "man" fire to produce "semen,"and finally semen in the "woman" fire to complete the journeywith a new embryo. This final ritual product, the garbha, will beborn some ten months later and, Gautama is informed, will liveuntil it makes its appointment with the (funeral) fire "from whichhe came."2Now the curious thing about this teaching of the divine ritualproduction of a new being is the matter of five sacrificial fires. WhyAn earlier version of this article was presented as a paper to the Asian Religions'

section of the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion in New York,October 23, 1970.* The following abbreviations will be employed for frequently cited Vedic texts:AiB., Aitareya-brahmana; AV., Atharvaveda-samhita; BAU., Brhadaranyaka-upaniaad; ChU., Chandogya-upanisad; KB., Kausltaki-brahmana; KS.,Kathaka-samhita; MS., Maitrayanl^amhita; PB., Paficaviip&a-brahmana; RV.,Rgveda-samhita; SB., Satapatha-brahmana; TB., Taittiriya-brahmana; TS.,Taittirlya-saiphita; TU., Taittiriya-upanisad; and VS., Vajaaaneyi-sarphita.2 ChU. 5.4-9. The five fires are loka, parjanya, prlhivi, purusa, and yosd. Thefive offerings are sraddhd, soma, varsa, anna, and relas,28History of Religionsfive, when the whole range of ancient Indian expressions demon-

strates a predilection for triads modeled upon the triadic cosmos,when the Vedic doctrine of sacrifice seems largely to be dependentupon trivalent forms, and when the brahmanical system, everpreoccupied with the creation of new beings from old and theproper establishment of man in the universe, relies for its greatsrauta ritual schema upon three fires that are at once the projectionof the sacrificer's single household fire, identical to his "self," and areplication of the triadic cosmos, identical to his "Self-to-be"?In fact, if we turn to the very next lesson of the Chandogya text,we find the same Gautama, now transfigured to an articulate andesoterically knowledgeable father-guru, categorically declaringto Svetaketu an orthodox triad of elements as the essential basis ofall beings. Everything, insists ChU. 6.1-5, is of a threefold form

(rupa), although one in origin.Does this suggest that the "five-fire doctrine" in ChU. 5 is aunique statement, an innovation in upanisadic numerical symbol-ism ? On the contrary, pentadic expressions and systems arepresent in most Vedic and upanisadic texts, if not equitablydistributed among them. The Taittkiy a-upanisad, for example,propounds a different five-staged journey of the self after death.On leaving this world, the selves (of man-)3 consisting of food,breath, thought, knowledge, and bliss are attained in succession.4Elsewhere (TU. 1.7), there is collected an aphoristic list of three


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pentadic series each to explain the fivefold (pdnkta) nature ofmaterial objects (adhibhutam) and of the self (dtman). First amongthe ratter's three series is the well-known list of five vital breaths.In another important upanisad, BAU. 1.4.17 declares "thissacrifice is fivefold [pdnkta], the sacrificial animal is fivefold, aperson [purusa] is fivefold, all this world, whatever there is, isfivefold. He who knows this, attains this."5 And Aitareya-upanisad 3.3 defines the dtman not only as Brahma, Prajapati,Indra, and all the gods, but also as the five great elementsearth, air, space (dkaAa), water, and light.63 For the benefit of the general reader, plural inflections in one-word citationssuch as this are replaced by a hyphen.4 TU. 2.8, a prefiguration of the influential "five sheaths" {panca-kosa-) doctrineof the Paingala-upanisad, Vedanta-sutras, etc. The series here is anna-, prdna-,mano-, vijnana-, and dnanda-maya.6 sa esa pdhkto yajnatt pdnktak pa&ufy pdnktak purusafy pdnktam idam sarvam yadidam kim ca f tad idam sarvam apnoti ya evam veda.6 .. . panca mahabhutdni prthivi vdyur dkdsa dpo jyotimsUy .... Prasna-upanisad 4.8 has tejag for jyotis, while TU. 2.1, which derives the five in successionfrom the dtman to make a fivefold purusa, has agni.29

One Fire, Three Fires, Five FiresCenturies earlier the brahmanas had made statements concerningthe "fivefold" (pahkta, pahcin, pancadhd, pancavidha, etc.) natureof man (AiB. 2.15; PB. 14.5.26; etc.), his cosmic correspondences(niddna-, bandhu-, sampad-, etc.) with the pentadic winds (vdta-),vital breaths (prana-), regions or directions (did-), seasons (rtu-),the sacrifice (yajna), meters or syllables (e.g., the pahkti meter), etc.,on to the very five layers (dkatu-) or forms (rupa-) of the cosmositself. Although each brahmana reveals such expressions, it isabove all the Satapatha-brahmana, one-third of which is devotedto the agnicayana (the ritual construction of and speculationupon the five-layered fire altar), that is preoccupied withpentavalent symbolisms. To this brahmana and its rites we shall

return.Nor is there a lack of pentads in the samhitas. Cosmogony,according to TS. 4.3.11.5? (and MS. 2.13.10;' KS. 39.10), was afivefold process. The sacrificer's part in the new-and-full-moonrites (TS. 1.6.1.2; MS. 1.4.4; KS. 5.6) begins by establishing gheeas the cosmic ground for the five winds, five seasons, five quarters,five peoples, etc. Elsewhere, in the rites for renewing the sacredfires, the sacrificer represents himself in five grain-cake offerings onfive potsherds, the sacrifice (yajha) itself being declared fivefold(TS. 1.5.1-2; MS. 1.7.2-5; KS. 8.15; cf. Kapisthala 8.3-5), and onthe grandest of srauta scales, in the Taittiriya-samhita version asin the Satapatha-brahmana, the agnicayana demonstrates the five-layered macro-microcosmic correspondence. The Atharvaveda also

reveals a share of pentadic rites and speculations, as in thecombinations of five grain-cake offerings (on limbs and navel) ofthe sacrificial goat (9.5) or white-footed sheep (3.29), or in specu-lations upon such divinities as the androgynous primordial being,Viraj (8.10).The Rgveda itself is more reluctant than the ritual texts toreveal pentadic expressions, and those that occur, such as allusionsto the fivefold sacrifice (yajnam .. . pahcayamam) in 10.52.4 and10.124.1, are characteristically susceptible to more than oneinterpretation, lacking as they do the liturgical context and self-


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analysis of many later texts. A mystical series of five (pahkti)seems also to be indicated by 10.117.8. In 9.86.29 the five directions(pradid-) are mentioned, and again obliquely in 2.13.10. The fivedirections may be implied in the obscure verse 1.164.12. On theother hand, some twenty-five references to the "five peoples" (or7 paHcabhir dhata vi dadhdv idarn yaL30History of Religionstribes, races, nations?) occur throughout the ten mandalas. Someappear to indicate a mythical or historical set of five Aryan tribes(Yadus, Turvasas, Druhyus, Anus, Purus), while other referencesmay be to mankind in general, located at the "five directions"(cf. AV. 3.24.3).8Thus, we see that the Chandogya five-fire doctrine, howeverinnovative for upanisadic prefigurations of samsdra, is by nomeans a unique departure from orthodox tripartite man-fire-sacrifice-cosmos homologies, for it is precisely upon such a Refoldstructure (pentavalent man, fire, sacrifice, cosmos) that the abovemystico-liturgical passages appear to center, from the samhitas tothe upanisads. This is important not only for our understanding ofVedic rites and speculations, but also for making sense of thesignificant legacy of pentadic symbols and expressions in earlyHinduism, in Buddhism, Jainism, Samkhya-Yoga, etc.9 Such later8 See A. A. Macdonell and A. B. Keith, Vedic Index of Names and Subjects

(London: J. Murray, 1912), vol. I, s.v. tlpanca-jandh," for various opinions andthecitations for the term and its counterparts, paiica hj-sfayah, panca ksitayab, pancacarsanyab, and panca mdnusdh.9 Important series or groups of fives (pancavarga- or pancaka-) are everywhere,but there is not space to discuss them here. Even the sacred texts themselves maybe constructed pentadically, as in the case of the puranas with their traditionalfive topics. See also the pancasastras of the Vaisnavas, and especially the Pafi-caratra sect. Ritually speaking, there come first to mind the classical five dai

lysacrifices (pafica-yajfla- or mahdyajnci-) of orthoprax Hinduism. One of the five,devayajOa {devapuja), has regional variants, such as pailcdyatanapuja, thatdemonstrate the tenacity of the fivefold structure of man and sacrifice, althoughpujd has long since replaced yajnct. Basic paiicdyatana to the five deities (VisnuSiva, Brahma, or their counterparts, etc.) may be celebrated with the use of fivestones, five colors, five combinations of the deities in each of the five directions,etc. Then, too, there are the five ritual products of the cow (paiica-gavya), th

e fivefoods of immortality (pancdmrta), the ritual use of the five jewels (panca-ratna) orfive sacred leaves (panca-pallava), and occasionally the five-stranded bramanicalthread (parXca-vata) in place of the usual three-stranded one. Man's final sacrifice(antyespi) or funeral, as well as the later Srdddha-, involves symbols of five andreveals the fact that "death" itself is a literal return to "fiveness," that is,


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a resump-tion of the preexistent fivefold space-time. The marriage samskdra also has a shareof pentadic symbols, some regional variants including the ascension of a five-stepped platform. In Samkhya-Yoga and in the ascetic traditions, the five breathshave ritual significance as do the five heating fires {panca-tapas) of the ascetic.There are also the famous five "M's" of tantric ritual (pancamalcdra). The medi-tational division of the syllable om into a, u, and m, plus the pair ndda and bindu,creates a familiar mystical series. Pentads also occur in Sikh rites, and technicallythe Ichdlsa is said to exist "where five are gathered," a conception found elsewhereas well. In the context of myth and iconography, there are the five faces {pancd-nana) of Siva and Brahma in a type of orientation padcavarga with the fifth facetoward the zenith, the five eyes (panca-caksus) of the Buddha, who is also frequentlydepicted with five rays of light emanating from his head, and the five Pandavabrothers of the Mahabharata as an expressive pancavarga. Most important insectarian Hinduism are the explanations for the five-staged manifestations ofsupreme being (e.g., the vyuha doctrine of the Pancaratras) or the five actions

(pancafcrtya) by which the sacred projects itself. Architecturally, there arepancdyatana temples with four shrines surrounding a fifth central one. The divine31One Fire9 Three Fires, Five Firespancavarga- are, of course, no more remarkable in themselves thanthe triads, tetrads, or heptads so frequently encountered in thesame schools or sects and their literatures. What should be note-worthy, however, are the principles that operate in the growth andformation of these symbols and the religious statements andnotions they seek to convey. It is imperative for historians ofreligion to review the Vedic substrata and perceive essentialreligious structures and meanings, especially since large and fertile

areas of the Vedic corpus have lain fallow, neglected by herme-neutics, after a rough century's harvesting with the implements ofthe textual critics.THE IMAGERY OF "x PLUS ONE"It is remarkable, considering our foregoing review, that theEncyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics article on number symbolismby Keith,10 who, along with his contemporary Caland, displayedand/or brahmanical partition of the sacrificial body (animal, human, divine) intofive, as we have seen, is part of the background of upanisadic elaborations, andthese are continued with fivefold divisions of the subtle as well as the grosselements, the organs of action and of sense (paHcendriya), the declaration of the

five colors (paHca-varna) corresponding to the five gross elements, and so forth.The five subtle elements (tanmdtra-) of the Samkhyan tradition (sdbda, spars'a,rupa, rasa, and gandha) produce the five gross elements {mahabhuta-; see n. 6above), while some Vedanta traditions explained the suksma-sdrira as a threefoldset of pentads {jnana-, karma-, and prana-) distinct from the ethuta-sarira's singleseries of five bhuta-. Although the Buddhists did not include dkdsa among themahabhuta-, allowing but four, the five aggregates (skandha-) that make up whatthe non-Buddhist calls the individual became a point of departure for every


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school of metaphysics, demonstrating a clear continuity with Vedic cosmologyand ontology. We recall, too, that the Buddha passed through the five forms ofexistence (apparently a parallel of the post-samhita paHca-jana-) and was thereforePaneagatisamatikranta. There is also the lesser known Fivefold Path, the pan-cahgika-magga of the Pali texts. Pentads occur in the ethical texts as well, such asthe paiica-Ma, the fundamental code of the Buddhists, and the five vows of theJains, both following the brahmanical pattern. At the monastic level the Buddhaalso advised the proper use of the pafleabala, the five forces. The panca-mahdpdtaka,the "five deadly sins" of the dharma-aastras (also known to the Buddhists), arewell known, and Manu discusses as well the five life-destructive kitchen imple-ments, including fire, for which expiation must be made.10 A. B. Keith, "Numbers (Aryan)," Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, ed.J. Hastings (Edinburgh; T. & T. Clark, 1917), 9:407-13. Here he follows E. W.Hopkins, "Numerical Formulae in the Veda and Their Bearing on Vedic Criticism,"Journal of the American Oriental Society 16 (1896):27581, which also omits five.At the other end of the Indian chronology, the chapter on "The Power of Numbers"in J. Abbott, The Keys of Power: A Study of Indian Ritual and Belief (London:Methuen, 1932), pp. 284-309, assembled a great deal of information on con-temporary Hindu, Muslim, and assorted village and regional beliefs and practicesconcerning "five," but made no attempt to connect them with anything beyondcurrent popular articulation. See also Abbott's Appendix E, "The Power of the

Cardinal Points," ibid., pp. 528-29. E. Polome, in his brief remarks on "The Indo-European Numeral for 'five* and Hittite panku- 'all,*" in Pratiddnam, ed. J. C.Heesterman et al. (The Hague: Mouton & Co., 1968), pp. 98-101, discusses thehand with its five fingers as the basis for the proto-Lido-European systom of32History of Religionsthe greatest acumen of any Western scholar in the full literaryexpanse of sruti, discusses "three" and "seven" at length butignores "five" entirely. Oldenberg's sections on "die Zahlen"11and "das eine und die drei Opferfeuer"12 are of little use whereunderstanding five is concerned, and the same is true of the worksof Hillebrandt and MacdoneU. And Eggeling's twenty years of

labor on the Satapatha-brahmana translation, with its lengthyintroductions and notes, left the basic pentadic symbolism of theagnicayana for the probing of others.13 Actually, we must go backto Bergaigne's "Farithmetique mythologique"14 for some funda-mental insights into the Vedic world view. Despite his preoccupa-tion with a few favored themes, including a stringent impositionof the characters of Agni and Soma and a male-female dichotomyupon the Vedic ideology, and his focus upon the Rgveda insplendid isolation from its ritual and speculative textual col-leagues, Bergaigne's great effort deserves far more attentionthan it has received. In general, Bergaigne was the first to articu-late clearly and comprehensively the Vedic doctrine of cosmiccorrespondences. In particular, two of his insights concern us

herefirst, the formation of sacred numbers by a principle that weshall label "x plus one":Plusieurs des nombres mythologiques du Rg-Veda paraissent s'etre formespar addition d'une unite* a un nombre deja consacre, ou sont du moins, cequi revient au meme pour 1'etude des conceptions religieuses des Rishis,decomposes dans certains passages en deux parties, dont Tune est unnombre consacre et l'autre Funite.16And second, his understanding of Vedic man's quest for cosmicorientation and an interpretation of the correspondences that thenumeration and offers parallels in Bantu and Nama, the latter a Hottentot


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language in which the numeral "five" is also the word for "whole." SanskritpaUca does not enter his discussion, but he does relate Hittite panku, "all, whole,"originally an adjective and often used substantively to express "totality." I amindebted to Alfred Hiltebeitel for bringing this article to my attention.11 H. Oldenberg, Vorwissenschaftlicke Wissenschajt: Die Weltanschauung derBrahmana-Ttxte (Gottingcn: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1919), pp. 46-50.12 H. Oldenberg, Die Religion des Veda, 4th ed. (Stuttgart: J. G. Cotta'sche,1923), pp. 346-51.13 Including P. Mus's remarks in the preface and elsewhere in his Barabudur(Paris: Paul Geuthner, 1935).14 A. Bergaigne, La religion vedigue d'apris les hymnes du Rig- Veda (Paris:F. Vieweg, 1883), 2:114-56.15 Ibid., p. 123. Among the familiar examples of the extension of the principleinto the brahmanas are the numbers thirteen (twelve plus one), as with thethirteenth month being the "total" year (&B-); seventeen (sixteen plus one), thesacred totality that is Prajapati (KB.); twenty-five (twenty-four plus one), aswith the transcendent half-month that again comprises a new, complete year.33One Fire, Three Fires, Five FiresRgveda establishes between the five directions and the "fiveraces."16Among the few who have appreciated and utilized Bergaigne'scontributions at these points have been the prolific Vedic scholars

in the Netherlands, the successors to Caland.17 In his "Excursus onthe Symbolism of Numbers" it is Heesterman who ventures to saythat numbers are "neutral" and "have no specific value in them-selves. ... As a number is in itself neutral, the size of the numberis irrelevant."18 Although his point is clear, that the formation of anumber (i.e., x plus one equals totality) is of greater significancethan its size, I beg to differ on the matter of neutrality. It isapparent that a Vedic delight in numerical symbolism and thedoctrine of homologies combine to assure an incredible fluidity inthe application of numerology within the rites and speculations.One need only consult the "offerings to the numbers" utilized in theaSvamedha (TS. 7.2.11-20), where numbers from one to 100 and1,000 to "ten hundred thousand million," with only moderate

omissions, are praised. But if all numbers are (neutrally) equal,some are decidedly more "equal" than others. There is little doubtthat three, four, and five have priority in Vedic texts. It is thepoint of our essay here that the major religious expressions of theVedic texts reveal these basic triads, tetrads, and pentads preciselybecause they declare the ontology and cosmic orientations ofVedic man. It is readily apparent that specific numbers havespecial mythico-ritual spheres of influence; for example, Visnuadmits a mystical relationship to the series three, and the numberseventeen is the nearly private domain of Prajapati. "Die Zahlen-reihe," as Oldenberg expressed it, "wurde als ein brdhman (heiligeFormel) geehrt." But we must also recognize that the series mostfrequently resorted to in Vedic expression, the dyads through the

pentads and septads, have deliberately private experiences toreveal. They are there because they are departures from unity,16 Ibid., pp. 125-27, 129 ff.17 See, for example, G. J. Held, The Mahdbharata: An Ethnological Study(London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner, 1935), pp. 123 ff.; J. C. Heesterman, TheAncient Indian Royal Consecration (The Hague: Mouton & Co., 1957), pp. 34-39,176-77; F. B. J. Kuiper, "The Three Strides of Visnu,*' in Indological Studies inHonor of W. Norman Brown, ed. E. Bender (New Haven, Conn.: AmericanOriental Society, 1962), pp. 137-51; J. A. B. van Buitenen, The Maitrdyaniya


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Upanisad: A Critical Essay, with Text, Translation and Commentary (The Hague:Mouton & Co., 1962), and "The Large Atman," History of Religions 4 (1964):103-14; J. Gonda, "The Number Sixteen," in Change and Continuity in IndianReligion (The Hague: Mouton & Co., 1965), pp. 115-30, and The Savayajnas,Verhandelingen der Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, Afd.Letterkund, N.R. 71 (Amsterdam, 1965): 130-31, 240, and passim.18 Heesterman, pp. 3435.34History of Religionseach in a special mode, and Indian expressions are a constantreminder that this should be so.It is our contention here that each of the basic triadic, tetradic,and pentadic series makes a unique statement, still discerniblewithin the convolutions and contradictions of the texts. "Three" isthe vertical cosmos, the cosmos envisioned in elevation, reaching asit does to the third and highest world; "four" is the horizontalcosmos, the cosmos in plan, stretching to the four points of space;and "five" is quite simply both at once and therefore the mostcomplete expression of all, one that provides transcendent closureto the world view. The facility of five lies in this expansion andcomprehension: at its center it expands the verticality of the triad,and by the very declaration of a protected and integrated center,a navel (nabhi, a cynosure that four, reaching outward, cannotprecisely disclose), it surpasses the orientational values of the

tetrad. If the religious statement of three is ascension, and of fourorientation, then the true expression of five is, as we shall see,orientation for ascension. The center of five then is in communica-tion, and therefore correspondence (bandhu), with all three worldsand all four quarters. At such a point of comprehension, no furtherhomology can be allowed.Satapatha-brahmana 1.5.4.6-16 relates a myth to seize thispoint exactly. The devas and asuras became engaged in a verbalcontest, having previously failed to decide a physical one, and thecompetition took the form of matching numerical pairs. Indra,gamesman for the gods, said eka, "one" (masculine), and theasuras matched it with eka, "one" (feminine). Indra said dvau,"two" (masculine), and the asuras doggedly countered with dve,

"two" (feminine). The match continued through "threes" and"fours" until the moment when Indra uttered panca, "five"(masculine and feminine), and the asuras, helpless without acorrespondent to panca, were forced to surrender.TRANSCENDENCE OR SUBORDINATIONThree is of course the dyad plus one and, therefore, a totalitysucceeding duality. "Wide-striding" Visnu's third step, after heranges from earth to heaven, is one into the zenith, into the totalmystery, the unitive source that lies beyond the pale of humanperception (RV. 1.155.5; 7.99.1).19 But it is also mythically true19 See Kuiper, pp. 139-40, and, in the same volume, S. Kramrisch, "Two; ItsSignificance in the Rgveda," pp. 109-36. On the "primordial totality" see alsoM. Eliade, Mephistopheles and the Androgyne (New York: Sheed & Ward, 1966),

pp. 114^17.36One Fire, Three Fires, Five Firesthat, after That One (tadekam) became two, heaven and earth, thereoccurred between this pair that was no longer one, between theheaven that was "propped up" and the earth that was "spreadout," the mid-space, the atmosphere (antariksa). Now antariksacan scarcely be a "totality" that encompasses, succeeds, and com-pletes the duality of heaven and earth, in the same manner asVisnu's third invisible stride. It is a gap, an interstice, a breathing


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space. There is then perhaps another dimension to consider in "xplus one," that is, "x plus a subordinate or interstitial one" aswell as "x plus a transcendent one."If we look to "four," the number that completes the triad as wellas the number of primary orientation to the quarters of the earth,it is remarkable to see how this bifurcation took effect. Theaddition of a subordinate fourth to a cosmic triad is easily illus-trated. In various discussions of cosmogony, Vac, Purusa, andbrahman, the absolute creative power, are all hidden triads thathave, in creation, extended themselves by a "manifest" fourthwithout disturbing their primordial integrity. In RV. 1.164.45, Vachas three parts that are hidden (guhd), while a fourth (turiya),obviously debased, is human speech. Similarly, in the cosmogonicPurusasukta (RV. 10.90), only a fourth of Purusa's real extent ismanifest. In that manifestation, the upper three parts of theprimordial sacrifice victim, the mouth, arms, and loins that pro-duce the upper three varna-, are augmented by a diminutivefourth, the feet that are the source of the lowly s'udra class.20With this model, we can see other vulnerable tetrads, that is to say,significant Vedic or Hindu series of fours that reveal an essentialtriad complemented by a subordinate fourth. For example, theclassical set of "four vedas" is really an artificial construction bythose who appended the Atharvaveda-samhita to an existingtriadic canon.

The transcendent or unmanifest fourth, on the other hand, isillustrated in Vedic ritual by the role of the brahman, the fourthmahartvij whose supervisory capacity demonstrates his summationof and superiority over the other three, the hotr, adhvaryu, andudgdtr, just as brahman summarizes and surpasses the re-, yajus-,and sdman-. Later, in the set of dirama-, the samnydsin displayssuch a transcendent role in a (fourth) stage of life that is literally a20 TS. 7.1.1.4-6 and TB. 6.1.6-11 provide illustrations of the incompleteness ofsuch a fourth. Matching the three upper parts of the god and the three upper socialclasses of men are three deities (Agni, Indra, and Visve Devah) and (in TB.) threeseasons (spring, summer, and rains). But the feet/swdra varna have no deity and

noseason.36History of Religionsreturn to the unmanifest, to the invisibility that lies beyond thebrahmacdrin, the grhastha, and the vanaprastha. So, too, in theHindu caturvarga, moksa is the transcendent aim over and abovethe trivarga, the three aims of life (icama, artha, dharma). Andturiya is well known, with no further definition, as "the fourth(state)" of the yogin who attains total reintegration and thetranscendence of conscious states.21Turning again to "five," it is apparent that many of the pentadswe reviewed above are also vulnerable in that an essential tri-

partition is barely concealed within them. This means that, inaddition to being the figure of terrestrial orientation par excellencea tetrad plus the completing, centering fifthfive can also be aformation of (1) an extended triad, either (a) three plus a trans-cendent pair or (6) three plus a subordinate pair, or (2) an expandedtriad, three opened up to include two insertions. We have alreadywitnessed with our point of departure in the ChU. five-fire doctrine,such a pentad constructed by extending an accepted triad: in thatcase, a subordinate pair of divine "fires," man and woman, wereappended below the triad of cosmic fires, heaven-atmosphere (in


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the guise of "Parjanya")-earth. The common series of five seasonsmay also reveal such a reduction to an essential triad (spring,summer, and autumn or rains) with a subjacent pair.22 On theother hand, the triad with a transcendent pair is illustrated in thepsycho-physical series of the five "sheaths" or fcosa- (n. 4 above),in which, taking the TU. 2.8 listing, vijudna-maya and ananda-raaya surmount the anna-maya, prdna-maya, raano-maya series.2321 See also van Buitenen, "Large Atman," p. Ill, on rnahaa as the transcendentfourth beyond the vydhfti-, the three great ritual utterances (bhur, bhuvas, andsuvas), and for other upanisadic tetrads from TU. 1.5.14. See also G. Tucci, TheTheory and Practice of the Mandcda (London: Rider, 1961), p. 117, for parallelsofVac as the fourth sound beyond the vydhrti-; brdhman as the macrocosmic fourthbeyond earth, atmosphere, and heaven; brahmarandhra as the microcosmic fourthbeyond sexual organs, heart, and brain; and turiya as the psychical fourth beyondjdgrat, svapna, and susupti.22 Again, as in the example in n. 20 above, illustrations occur with comparativehierarchies for guidelines; e.g., Bharadvaja-srauta-sutra 5.2 gives the seasonswhen members of the varrta- should set up their srauta fires. After the brahmana,rajanya, and vaisya classes are assigned, respectively, the spring, summer (orwinter), and autumn, the next two, rathakdra in the rains and "all varna-'y in the

cool season (siHra), seem to be artificially tacked on. Bauomayana-dharma-sutra2.18.8 declares the correspondence between the five breaths and the five ritualfires, both within the sacrificer's own body: prana, apdna, and vydna and gdrhapatya,daksindgni, and dhavaniya are the two essentially correlative triads, appended byuddnalsabhya fire and samdnafdvasathya fire. One notes that traditional prioritieshave been changed, as prarta, the supreme breath, is not here assigned to the east,the supreme quarter and the locale of the offering fire.23 Another type of "extension" may also be considered. In a communication tome on this subject, Alex Wayman, of Columbia University, has pointed out that

the five Buddhist ekandha- can be seen as a triad {vedand, samjfla, and samskdra)with extensions at each end (rupa and vijndna).37One Fire, Three Fires, Five FiresThe third type of hidden triad, and the one that best illustrates theexpansive character of the pentad when employed as a kind ofaxis mundi linking the lowest and highest modes of being, can beseen in the five elements themselves (n. 6 above). We see again, inthe order in which they occur in Aitareya-upanisad 3.3, the earth-afco^a-heaven (jyotis, "light") triad, this time spaced out to allowvdyu ("wind" or "air") and dpas ("water") in the second andfourth "levels," respectively.

FIVE IS THREE IS ONEIt is in the clarity, growth, and continuity of the doctrine ofsacrifice that we may best perceive the meaning of this "spaced-out" pentadic stepladder to the beyond. The mysterious five steps(panca paddni) upward from the navel of rta are in the primaryVedas already a subject of speculative contrast with the threesteps (trinipaddni) upward (cf. RV. 10.13.3; AV. 18.3.40; 2.1.2; VS.32.9). Persistently, the major sWauta rites maintain the visibility ofthe essential triadic skeleton: Agni is threefold (RV. 3.20.2) andhas three sacred locations (RV. 2.36.4). Since man is "in yajna-


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bandhu" with Agni (RV. 4.1.9), man is also tripartite fire. Insetting out his sacrificial fires (the agnyddhdna), he simultaneouslyrepresents Agni, the triadic cosmos, the three classes of men, andhis own sacrifice-self. The domestic fire (gdrhapatya) is the earth;the prophylatic fire (daksindgni) is atmosphere, mid-space; theoffering fire (dhavaniya) is heaven (cf. SB. 12.4.1.3). At the sametime, the fivefold structure of the agnyddhdna is underscored (SB.2.1.1.2), including the five ingredients and the fivefold nature of theattendant animal sacrifice (as in AV., above). The animal victim,like the sacrificer, Vedic man himself, is "heaven bound" (svar-ga).A long Atharvaveda-samhita hymn (9.5) stresses this ascensiontheme of the triad with the sacrifice of a goat and five rice offerings.The goat, too, is a tripartite body, his breast, his innards, and hisback corresponding to earth, mid-space, and heaven, and all threebeing "fire." At the same time, the victim is declared "fivefold"and an integrator of the quarters. And the goat, as sacrifice-being,as unity, represents the sacrificer.Most expressive of all the rites that display this unity in trinityin fivefoldness is the agnicayana, the ceremonial reconstitution infive sections (in plan)24 and five layers (in elevation) of Agni-24 Again, as in the Atharvavedic goat sacrifice or the agnyddhdna, the design oforientation for ascension is prominent. The sacrifice victim is laid out in planwitha navel (ndbhi) or central body (dtman) surrounded by an oriented tetrad of a

head, two limbs or "wings," and a tail, the assembled fire altar thus permittingthe38History of ReligionsPrajapati, the cosmic Person who once projected (dismembered)himself into being. "If Agni is one (sacrificial brick, istakd, orcourse of bricks), how does it happen that he is five (bricks,courses)?" asks SB. 6.1.2.30, and it is the task of the agnirahasya,the mystery of the fire altar, to explain such correspondence. Thefive layers are in SB. 6.1.2.31 declared as earth, animal, gold ( =sun, in mid-space), wood, food ( = soma, in heaven). Thus, the"animal" and "plant" layers have become interstices expandingthe triad. The skeletal nature of courses one, three, and five is

reinforced by the references to "naturally perforated" bricks.These svayamdtrnnd- are placed at the center of three of the fivelayers in order to allow the sacrifice person "to breathe" and also,according to TS. 5.2.8.1, to permit the sight of heaven. Theimplication is that layers two and four are ephemeral stuff,interfering with neither breathing nor sighting through. The con-struction, its symbolic declarations, and its skeleton of the normalthree-fire system and three-leveled cosmos appear in figure 1.Taittiriya-samhita 4.1.2 concerns itself with the search forAgni25 in preparation for the agnicayana and affords a variation in3 Offering fire HEAVEN-r2 Southern fire ATMOSPHERE

T""1c1 Domestic fire EARTH5 Soma (food)] 4 Plant (wood)3 Sun (gold)2 Animal1 EarthFjg. Ianthropomorph-bird (syena, the eagle who flies to and from heaven) homology to


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be declared. For the continuation of this speculation on the pentadic purusavidhafyin the upanisads (TTJ. 2.2; Maitrayaniya-upanisad 6.33; cf. ChU. 4.11-13), seevan Buitenen, Maitrayanxya Upanisad, pp. 29-33, 65, passim. For example, theprefiguration of the pancakosa- series in the TU. is paralleled in the Maitrayaniya-upanisad: a vertical triad is extended from its pentadically defined base into avertical pentad by the addition of the transcendent pair (4) atmavid and (5)brahman, equivalent to (4) vijhanamaya cUman and (6) anandamaya dtman, respec-tively, of the TU. series. This speculation appears in a part of the Maitrayaniya-upanisad understood by van Buitenen to be older than the TU., although stillderivative from such SB. expressions as that of 10.5.4.3, where the triad of worldsbecomes a pentad by the addition of a transcendent pair of citi-.25 One of the more intriguing but unstudied motifs in Vedic myth-ritual is thatof the "earth diver," particularly in connection with the search for Agni. Zoo-logical figures (ant, boar, tortoise, rat, mole, crab, goat, antelope, etc.) andbotanicalsymbols (soma, soma substitutes, lotus) form a cosmogonic complex that explainsthe findings of a micropresence and from it the establishment of a foundation(pratisphd) of earth upon the primeval waters.39One Fire, Three Fires, Five Fires

this pentadic tower, with water in the atmospheric (third) leveland gold in the second level. In order, from the bottom up, thelayers are established on a lotus leaf "afloat" on a black antelopeskin: earth (clay from an anthill), gold, water, plants, and food.Still another variant of this ritual collection of layers is that ofthe sutras which set out the details of the pravargya. If we aremeant here to understand a hidden correspondence between goldand the earth procured from an anthill (the classical nuggetsmined by ant miners ?), we have the following pentad: earth (claydug up by a boar), gold (anthill earth), plants (pMika, a somasubstitute), animal (hairs from a goat or black antelope), and food(goat's milk).26 These five substances are the components of theclay that is ritually lumped together to form three balls and,

consequently, the iconic mahdvira figure. The mahavira pot, withits head, trunk, and loins modeled from the three clay balls, is ananthropomorphic, trileveled cosmos. His creation, then, if ouranalysis of the five substances in series is not mistaken, is parallel tothe reconstitution of Agni-Prajapati; it is an assembly of five tomake three to make one.2726 Apastamba-srautaautra 15.1.8-14 (see J. A. B. van Buitenen, The Pravargya:An Ancient Indian Iconic Ritual Described and Annotated [Poona: Decean College,1968}, pp. 56-57) actually specifies only the first four of these ingredients. ButBaudhayana, Manava, and Katyayana all supply goat's milk; for Baudhayana themilk is the fifth ingredient and is addressed when placed as "the seed of Prajapati."

27 We have made no mention of pentadic symbols older than the Rgvedicexpressions. There is little to suggest proto-Indo-European substrata. Astonish-ingly, however, the Avesta, while in general displaying far less interest than theRgveda in pentadic expressions, does suddenly deliver in the midst of all thefavored triadic formulas a precise cosmogonic speculation based upon a hierarchyof five fires! This occurrence creates an intriguing problem, since we have notedthat Vedic and then Hindu myths, rites, and speculations develop an increasingproliferation of fivefold symbols while holding onto the preeminent triadic and


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unitive structures. Yasna 17.1-10 (cf. the further elaboration in the PahlaviBundahisn 18) opens with a standard invocation of Fire, d^ar, the son of AhuraMazda, then continues with the praise of the fires torozi&avah, vohufrydna,urvaziSta, vdziSta, and spSniSta. Respectively, these are the fire that is before theLord, i.e., in heaven; the fire in the bodies of men and animals; the fire in trees andplants; the fire of lightning in the clouds, the fire that strikes the demon spdnjagryawho hinders rainfall (cf. Videvdat 19.135); and the fire that works on earth. Itrequires no stretch of the imagination to see that we have here the five ingredientscollected in the cosmogonic search for Agni in TS. 4.1.2 and the same pentadicseries, with parts rearranged, that we discussed in the agnicayana and the pravargyamyth-rites. The SB. pattern assigns gold (the sun) as the representative of theatmospheric mid-space, while in the Yasna it is the rain clouds, the atmosphericwaters:3. Heaven bzrozisavah 5. HeavenurvaziSta 4. Plants2. Atmosphere vdziSta 3. Watervohufrydna 2. Animals1. Earth spsniSta 1. Ea

rthThus, the statement here, unlike that well-known hierarchy of the amoSa sp9nta-(in which fire is specifically in correspondence with asa, cosmic order, truth,and40History of ReligionsAgain, to return to the Satapatha-brahmana and the agnicayana,the former attempts to reconcile the hidden triad by declaringthat "they [the three parts of Agni] become five through thecorrespondences [te panca sampadd bhamnti...]" (6.3.1.25). Thegreat rite dissolves then into a recognition that the "search" forAgni, the "collecting" and reassembly of Agni (and the sacrificerand the cosmos), amounts to an affirmation of his very presence

in every element. To realize his unity, the five seasons (time), thefive regions (space), the five victims (mankind), the five breaths,the five elements, and the five bodily parts all were collected toestablish the one great fire signaling a return to the mystery ofunmanifest being. The sacrificer then has become one fire (Agni),returned from his nature as Visnu with one body in three places(VS. 23.50) and from his nature as Purusa with one spirit in fiveplaces (VS. 23.52; cf. SB. 13.5.2.11 fF.). He has collected and con-trolled and transcended the fivefoldness, and there is no death forhim whose body is made of the one fire of yoga.28justice), is that fire is in all the cosmic elements. This is precisely the Vedic state-ment regarding Agni. There is not space here to discuss other important dimen-

sions such as the Iranian correspondence of three hierarchical fires and socialclasses, with a highest "king of fires" that could be seen as transcendent fourth, orthe myth-ritual collecting of sixteen (or seventeen) fires, a drama as complicated asthe agnicayana itself. See chap. 2 of my Tapas and Correspondence: The ReligiousSignificance of Heat in Ancient India (Ph.D. diss., University of Chicago, 1971;University Microfilms, Ann Arbor, Mich.).28 Svetaivatara-upanisad 2.12: prthvyapyatejo'nilakhe eamutthite pancdtmakeyoga-gune pravrtte / na tasya rogo na jard na mrtyuh prdptasya yogagni-inayam


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4artram,41

One Three Five Fires

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