The Vedas: An Exploration

The Braahmanas

LAKSHMI DEVNATH

(Continued from previous issue...)

reflects on the intellectual activity of a gifted and devout race.

The Sama Veda has the largest number of Braahmana texts attached to it. Pertinently, only a few amongst these can lay claim to the nomenclature of Braahmana. The others are more like appendices. The Braahmana with its name Jaiminya or Talavaakara with its 1252 sections is one of the bulkiest among Vedic texts. A fund of information is detailed regarding the techniques used by Samagas – the officiating priests of this Veda. The textual matter isolates legends and ritualistic data, making the reading of it a comparatively formidable task. Another Braahmana of this Veda called Tandya is also familiar with the name of Pancavimsa probably on account of the 25 chapters of which it is made. This has earned itself the name of Maha Braahmana. Hymns of praise, the Soma sacrifice and Sattras – sacrificial sessions, are included in its subject matter. The Sanskrit names of months like Chaitra, Vaisakha and so on also figure in this. Reference is found to two rivers Saraswati and Drisadvati that form the two boundaries of Kurukshetra. The historical and geographical information from this Braahmana deserves to be collected. Yet another Braahmana of this Veda, goes by the name of Sadvimsa, meaning 26 chapters. It is only a completion of the Tandya or Pancavimsa. It concentrates on omens and portents and earns for itself the name of Adbhuta Braahmana or Braahamana of Wonder. The Chandogya Braahmana is also attached to

The two branches of the Yajur Veda – Krishna and Shukla have their own respective Braahmanas distinct in information and content. One of the Braahmana of the Krishna Yajur Veda is called Taittriya and is a continuation of the Taittriya Samhita of the same Veda. It does not appear as a separate text but is found mingled with the Samhita portion. The Taittriya Braahmana contains a good deal of astrological and astronomical information. It is interesting that even the Yajur Vedic hymns speak of 12 months and 360 days in a year. The Sukla Yajur Veda however has its own Braahmana called Satapatha. A remarkable work in more ways than one, it is one of the most important texts in its genre. It may be recalled that the Samhita portion of this Veda came in two versions – Madhyandina and Kanva. The Braahmanas of this Veda also subscribe to the same divisions. The Madhyandina version has 100 chapters from which probably it derived its name - Satapatha or 100 parts. Its subject matter apart from the customary explanations pertaining to liturgy has interesting portions like Agnirahasya, where it unravels the mysteries of the fire altar. It also details the Upanayana or the initiation ceremony relevant to certain castes. Prayaschitta – acts of atonement for sins committed, death ceremonies, legends like those of the Manu and the fish and the story of Pururavas and Urvashi heighten the mystical aura of this Braahmana. The geographical and ethical allusions in this text almost exclusively point to the regions along the Ganga and the Jamuna. The Satapatha Braahmana The author is a researcher and writer with various books and articles to her credit on Indian music and culture. lakshmidevnath@gmail.com

the Sama Veda. In this are also given mantras pertaining to birth and marriage rites. The last three chapters of these are the Chandogya Upanishad.

The Samavidhana Braahmana, of the Sama Veda talks of the seven musical notes, last one being called Antya instead of the earlier term Atisvarya. A point to be noted is that unlike the Braahmanas of the Rig Veda, Braahmanas of the Yajur and Sama Veda, while specifying the duties of their priests—Adhvaryu and the Udgatr respectively, stick to the original order of the mantra.

There is only one extant Braahmana of the Veda of the magic – Atharva Veda. It is called the Gopatha Braahmana. It has two parts Purva Gopatha and Uttara Gopatha. This Braahmana begins with a legend that narrates as follows – the rishis saw the mantras that formed the Atharva Veda. From Atharva Veda came Om, from it the three worlds – Earth, Sky and Heaven, from them the three Gods Agni, Vayu and Sun, from them the three Vedas Rig, Yajur and Sama, from them the Sea, from them Varuna the Atharva Vedic rishi Angiras and so on. Naturally, its contents contain myths, legends and parables that explain the various Vedic ceremonies. Angiras of the AtharvanAngirasah fame is glorified as the ‘sage of sages’. This Braahamana also warns that Vedic sacrifice performed without the help of a priest of the Atharva Veda is bound to fail. One of the appendices of this Veda called the Caranavyuha says that the Gopatha Braahmana consisted of 100 divisions out of which today only two are present. Quite possible, when one finds that many statements, referred to in other Vedic texts, as being derived from the Gopatha Braahmana cannot be traced to the present two books available.

The Braahamanas, as a whole, represent the religious, and intellectual activity of the Vedic age. The Sanskrit is also Vedic distinct from Panini Sanskrit. There is a constant and tiresome repetition of sentences. It is quite possible that this meandering style may have subsequently led to the composition of sutras that are encapsulated forms of elaborate texts. However, the language of the Braahmanas is vivacious and graceful. The Braahmanas were further subdivided into the Aranyakas and its last chapters are the famous Upanishads. (To be continued….)

Interesting Information

Panini the Sanskrit grammarian, refers to the Satapatha Braahmana also as Sashtipatha meaning 60 parts. The first 9 sections of this Braahmana have 60 chapters. The remaining 40 are contained in the remaining 5 sections. The famous Brihadaranyaka Upanishad is but the concluding portion of this Braahmana.

The Madhyandina version of the Satapatha is divided into 14 books while the Kanda version has 17 books.

The name of Yagnavalkya occurs frequently in the Satapatha Braahmana. Interesting dialogues of a metaphysical nature between Yagnavalkya and Janaka of Videha are narrated.

The Taittriya Braahmana talks about 14 Devanakshatras beginning with Krittika and 14 Yamanakshatras beginning with Anirudha. The etymological application of Nakshatra is given as – na kshtra, ‘that which does not diminish in anyway’.

Mahidasa Aitareya is said to be the compiler of the Aitareya Braahmana of the Rig Veda.

The oft quoted sentence of the Braahmana is – ‘the soul of all beings, all gods is this sacrifice.’ In the Braahmanas, sacrifice is treated with the utmost respect – whether an act has to be performed towards the left or right side, whether a pot is placed at this or that point of the sacrificial place, whether a stalk of grass shall be placed with its tip pointing to the north or North East, whether the priest goes to the front or to the back of the fire, to which direction he must have his face turned, in how many parts the sacrificial cake is to be cut, whether the butter shall be

poured in the Northern or in the southern half or in the middle of the fire, in which moment the recitation of some text, the singing of some song has to take place. These are thoroughly treated in the Braahmanas

The story of the Matsya Avatar is present in the satapatha Braahmana.

Eggeling in his Sacred Books of the East Vol.12 p.10 reminds that in the case of ancient Romans also, the Pontifics attained power and influence exactly by virtue of the fact that they alone understood all the details of the sacrificial ceremonial which although small, were declared to be extremely important. It happened in Rome that a sacrifice had to be repeated 30 times because some small mistake was committed in the course of a small ceremony; and in ancient Rome also a ceremony was considered null and void if a word was pronounced wrongly or an act was not performed quite right or if the playing of the music was not stopped at the right moment.

What is Religion?

(Continued from page 48...)

vanished selfishness, and, at the apex, he found that Love, Lover, and Beloved were One.’ 6

‘There are two things which guide

the conduct of men: might and mercy. The

exercise of might is invariably the exercise of selfishness.’ 7

‘It is selfishness that we must seek to

eliminate. I find that whenever I have made a

mistake in my life, it has always been because

self entered into the calculation. Where self

has not been involved, my judgment has gone straight to the mark.’ 8

‘But we have to begin from the beginning, to take up the works as they come to us and slowly make ourselves more unselfish every day. We must do the work and find out the motive power that prompts us; and, almost without exception, in the first years, we shall find that our motives are always selfish; but gradually this selfishness will melt by persistence, till at last will come the time when we shall be able to do really unselfish work. We may all hope that someday or other, as we struggle through the paths of life, there will come a time when we shall become

perfectly unselfish; and the moment we attain to that, all our powers will be concentrated,

and the knowledge which is ours will be manifest.’ 9

‘Yet it is work through the sense of duty

that leads us to work without any idea of duty; when work will become worship – nay, something higher – then will work be done for its own sake. We shall find that the philosophy of duty, whether it be in the form of ethics or of love, is the same as in every other Yoga – the object being the attenuating of the lower self, so that the real higher Self may shine forth – the lessening of the frittering away of energies on the lower plane of existence, so that the soul may manifest itself on the higher ones.

This is accomplished by the continuous denial of low desires, which duty rigorously requires. The whole organization of society has thus been developed, consciously or unconsciously, in the realms of action and experience, where, by limiting selfishness, we open the way to an unlimited expansion of the real nature of man.’ 10

References: 1) The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda [hereafter CW]: Vol-5: Sayings and Utterances 2) CW. Vol-1: Karma-Yoga: Ch-VI: Non-Attachment Is Complete Self-Abnegation 3) See for instance Swamiji’s words: ‘Religion is a long, slow process’; CW: Vol-4: Addresses on Bhakti-Yoga: The Need of Symbols 4) Brihadaranyaka Upanishad: 2.4.1-5 5) CW. Vol-2: Bhakti Or Devotion 6) Ibid 7) CW. Vol-1: Karma Yoga: Ch-III: The Secret of Work 8) CW. Vol-8: Sayings and Utterances 9) CW. Vol-1: Karma Yoga: Ch-I: Karma in Its Effect On Character 10) CW. Vol-1: Karma Yoga: Ch-IV: What Is Duty?