March 2019
The Vedas: An Exploration
The Vedanta Kesari
48
The word Aaranyaka can roughly be introduced as the third section of the vast body of religious literature called the Vedas. Etymologically, it traces its origin to the Sanskrit word Aaranya meaning forest. The Aaranyaka texts, in the literal sense, hold a special position in Vedic literature. They form the end portions of their respective Braahmanas and they also have concluding parts known as the Upanishads. It forms a continuation of its Braahmana and is a precursor of the Upanishadic thought. The purpose of the Aaranyaka is to understand the reason as to why yajnas have to be done. It explains the ritualistic portion of the Vedas in all its connotations that includes both the esoteric and the modalities of the actual performance of the ritual. There is a school of thought that these texts were meant to be studied by those entering the third stage of life according to the Varnashrama Dharma of the Hindu religion. The number of Aaranyaka texts are few. The Rig Veda has the Aitareya and Sankhayana Aaranyakas. The Aitareya Aaranyaka belongs to the Aitareya recension of the Krishna Yajur Veda. The Brihadaaranyaka is attached to the Satapatha Braahmana of Sukla Yajur Veda. The Katha Aaranyaka has been discovered in recent times by the scholar M. Witzel. The Aitareya Aaranyaka that belongs to the Rig Veda has five books. The second and the third books are specifically attributed to one Mahidasa Aitareya and its contents are broadly theosophic in nature. We do not have any authentic information on who this Mahidasa Aitareya is, but there is however, a story in circulation that attempts to reveal the family lineage of Mahidasa Aitareya. Yajnavalkya had two wives. The elder was called by him as Priya and the other was
The Aaranyaka LAKSHMI DEVNATH (Continued from previous issue...)
called Itara. Itara means the other. Since this Aaranyaka has been revealed and taught by this sage, it is called Aitareya Aaranyaka. Ananda Theertha in his commentary describes him as the son of Vishala and an incarnation of Narayana. In the Chandogya Upanishad there is a reference that he lived for 116 years. At any rate he must have been a philosopher of some distinction. Otherwise his name would hardly have come down to us. Aaranyaka seems originally to have existed to give secret explanations of the ritual and to have presupposed that the ritual was still in use and was known. Originally an Aaranyaka must have merely meant a book of instruction to be given in the forest.
The author is a researcher and writer with various books and articles to her credit on Indian music and culture. lakshmidevnath@gmail.com
