Sacredness of Mother Earth in Sanskrit literature

Happy Earth day to everyone.

 [Image Source: NASA]

Let me discuss what mother earth meant to ancient Indians who considered this earth a sacred place, their mother and provider of their lives. Worship of mother earth was a regular part of Indian philosophy and there are numerous reference to that. Worship of Bhumi Devi, Prithvi Devi and Bharat Mata has been done concurrently and at most of the places their meaning is the same. For them earth was sacred and Bharat bhoomi was given special emphasis.

This worship goes as back to Vedic Age, which if you read makes it clear that those were written by a highly philosophically developed group of people and not by some wandering tribe. Their depth of thoughts can make any modern mind wonder.

There is an entire Sukta of 63 mantras worshiping Mother Earth in Atharvaveda's 12th Kaand. Here are some gems from that -

1.“यत् ते मध्यं पृथिवि यच्च नभ्यं, यास्त ऊर्जस्तन्व: संबभूवु:,

तासु नो धेह्याभि न: पवस्व, माता भूमि: पुत्रोऽहं पृथिव्या:,

पर्जन्य: पिता स उ न: पिपर्तु”

अर्थात “हे पृथ्वी, यह जो तुम्हारा मध्यभाग है और जो उभरा हुआ ऊधर्वभाग है, ये जो तुम्हारे शरीर के विभिन्न अंग ऊर्जा से भरे हैं, हे पृथ्वी मां, तुम मुझे अपने उसी शरीर में संजो लो और दुलारो कि मैं तो तुम्हारे पुत्र के जैसा हूं, तुम मेरी मां हो और पर्जन्य का हम पर पिता के जैसा साया बना रहे”

2. “विश्वस्वं मातरमोषधीनां ध्रुवां भूमिं धर्मणा धृताम्.
शिवां स्योनामनु चरेम विश्वहा..”

हम ऐसी पृथ्वी पर सदा विचरण करते रहे, जो औषधियो को उत्पन्न करने वाली, संसार की ऐश्वर्य रूप, धर्म के द्वारा आश्रित कल्याणमयी एवं सुख देने वाली है.

3. “निधिं बिभ्रती बहुधा” - निधियों को धारण करने वाली पृथ्वी 

4. “शान्तिवा सुरभिः स्योना कीलालोध्नी पयस्वती” - सुख और शांति प्रदान करने वाली, अन्न और दूध देने वाली,

5. “भूमे मातर्नि धेहि मा भद्रया सुप्रतिष्ठितम्”- हे भूमि माँ! मुझे मंगलमय प्रतिष्ठा प्रदान करो.

Not only this, for them earth was so sacred and important the they used to even apologies to the mother for digging her, for causing her pain:

“यत् ते भूमे विखनामि क्षिप्रां तदपि रोहतु.

मा ते मर्म विमृग्वरि मा ते हृदयमर्पिपम्..”

हे पृथ्वी! मैं तेरे जिस स्थल को खोदूं, वह शीध्र ही पहले जैसा हो जाए. मैं तेरे मर्म को पूर्ण करने में समर्थ नहीं हूं.

Yajurveda too contains praise for the mother earth:

 “नमो मात्रे पृथिव्ये, नमो मात्रे पृथिव्या:”

पृथ्वी माता को नमस्कार है, पृथ्वी माता के लिये नमस्कार है. [Yajurveda 9:22]

[Translations by Dr. JaiPrakash Gupta and Dr. Ganga Sahay Sharma]

Such was the sacredness of the mother earth for our ancestors. Later on, the same feeling evolved ito the Shloka which one was supposed to chant every morning before getting off the bed and touching the earth:

“समुद्रवसने देवि पर्वतस्तनमण्डले।
विष्णुपत्नि नमस्तुभ्यं पादस्पर्शं क्षमस्वमे॥”

O Goddess! She have Ocean as her Garments and Mountains as Her Bosom, [she] is the Consort of Sri Vishnu, I Bow to her; Please Forgive me for Touching You with my Feet.

हजारों वर्ष पुरानी इस परम्परा का वंशज के तौर मैं पुन: उदगोष करता हूं.

“माता भूमि:, पुत्रो अहं पृथिव्या:”