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Age of the Nandas and Mauryas c12.s8: Brahmanism

Age of the Nandas and Mauryas c12.s8

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Brahmanism

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The Vedic and domestic ritual certainly occupied the most important place in the Brahmanical religion of this period. The account of Megasthenes bears clear testimony to it. Megasthenes tells us (Frag. I. B : Diod. III, 63) that the philosophers, by which he means the priestly class, although inferior in number, were prominent over all the classes in point of dignity and that they were engaged by private persons to offer sacrifices. Aśoka's reference to the Deva-worshippers relates to this class of priests who were engaged in sacrifices and not to the popular religious movements which do not seem to have as yet gained any considerable importance.

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The references to the Vedic lore and ritualism in the canonical Buddhist texts clearly bring out their importance in the Nanda-Maurya period. The Vedic Ṛṣis such as Aṭṭhaka, Vāmaka, Vāmadeva, Vessāmitta, Yamataggi, Aṅgirasa, Bhāradvāja, Vāseṭṭha, Kassapa and Bhagu were popularly claimed to be the ancestors of the Brahmins and the seers of the Vedic mantras (*mantānām kattā*). Some of these Ṛṣis were actually composers of the hymns. Vāmadeva was the composer of the hymns of the fourth Maṇḍala of the Ṛgveda, Bhāradvāja of the sixth maṇḍala, and Vāseṭṭha (Vasiṣṭha) of the hymns of the seventh maṇḍala. The sage Aṭṭhaka (Aṣṭaka) is mentioned in the *Aitareya Brāhmaṇa* (VII, 17) and the *Śāṅkhāyana Śrauta Sūtra* (XV, 26) as one of the sons of Viśvāmitra. Vāmaka and Bhagu (Bhṛgu) appear as teachers and sages in the *Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa* (X. 6. 5. 9; VII, 2, 1, 11). Yamataggi (Jamadagni) was a rival of the famous sage Vasiṣṭha. Aṅgirasa is mentioned as a famous teacher in the *Taittirīya-saṃhitā* (III, 1. 7. 3; VII, 1.4.1). It is further said in the Buddhist texts that the Brahmins of the period not only claimed descent from those ancient teachers but also were capable of reciting the ancient mantras. They were serious students and teachers of the sacrificial literature and were proficient in the three Vedas. Those who were engaged for the performance of sacrifices were famous for their knowledge of the Vedic lore and purity of origin. Purity implied purity in descent up to the seventh generation both on the father's and the mother's side, and proficiency in the Vedic lore not only meant proficiency in the three Vedas but also in the Nighaṇḍu (etymology), the Keṭubha (ritual), Itihāsa, Veyyākaraṇa (grammar), Lokāyata etc. (*Vedānaṃ pāragū sanighaṇḍu-keṭubhānaṃ sākkharappabadhānaṃ itihāsa-pañcamānaṃ padako veyyākaraṇo lokāyata-mahāpurisalakkhaṇesu anavayo*—Majjhima II, p. 210; Digha I, p. 128.)

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The Buddhist texts mention a class of Brahmins named Brāhmaṇa-mahāśālas who used to receive revenues of lands granted to them by the king of the country. These Brahmins were rich and capable of undertaking for themselves the most expensive sacrifices. They also used to entertain a large number of students, sometimes 300 to 500, coming to them from different parts of the country and to impart to them the knowledge of the Vedic lore. These Brahmins were the most respected and are described as not only pure in descent but also as possessing a divine colour (*brahmavaṇṇi*), a divine radiance (*brahmavaccasi*) and of agreeable speech and language (*kalyāṇavāco*, kalyāṇavākkaraṇa). The names of some of these Brahmins are given in the Buddhist texts : Caṅki, Tārukkha, Pokkharasāti, Jānussoni, Todeyya, Kuṭadanta etc.

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The Buddhist literature also knows the names of the various Vedas and the number of their śākhās. Thus in the Pāli texts (Digha I, 237) there is mention of the Addhariya, the Tittiriya, the Chandokā and the Bavharija (Bahvṛca). The Sanskrit Buddhist texts know more of the Vedic lore. In the Śārdūlakarṇāvadāna (Divyāva. xxxiii) there is a detailed description of the Vedic literature. Besides, it mentions the 21 śākhās of the Ṛgveda, 100 of the Yajurveda and 8000 (sic. 1000) of the Sāmaveda. The tradition is old as it is also recorded in the Mahābhāṣya of Patañjali (xv, 10, 11 : ekaśatam adhvaryuśākhāḥ sahasravartmā sāmavedaḥ ekaviṃśatidhāḥ bahvṛcam). The principal Vedic śākhās are also mentioned by names in the same text.

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The Pāli canon mentions some of the Vedic sacrifices by names such as : Aśvamedha, Naramedha, Sammāpāsa, Vājapeyya and Niraggalam (Samyutta, p. 299). The same are mentioned in the Sanskrit Buddhist texts as Vājapeya, Aśvamedha, Puruṣamedha, Śamyāprāsa, Nirargadam and Samāprābharam. It is not clear which sacrifices were meant by the Śamyāprāsa, Nirargadam and Samāprābharam. They were no doubt Śrauta rituals as there is question of gains by the priests from those sacrifices. No big gain could be expected from the Gṛhya rituals. As they are mentioned along with the important Soma sacrifices such as Aśvamedha, Vājapeya and Puruṣamedha, they seem to have been also Soma sacrifices which entailed large expenditure.

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But this ritual had also a darker side. The huge gains offered by them must have increased the greed of at least some of the priests. The large sacrifices required the immolation of a large number of animals of the herds and the felling of big trees possessed by the villagers. These meant a further taxation of the poor people by the nobles who were the real performers of the sacrifices. It is therefore impossible not to believe in some of the charges levelled against ritualism in the Buddhist texts. The Buddhist attitude is well presented in the Brāhmaṇa-dhammikasutta (Sutta-nipāta p. 50).

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‘The ancient Ṛṣis were ascetics (tapassino) and practised self-control and avoided the five pleasures of the sense. Their riches consisted not of cattle, gold or grains but of learning and purity. They lived on food left at the door by the faithful and used the bed and clothes offered to them reverentially by the rich people. They were never harmed nor dominated, protected as they were by the dhamma, and their access to any house was never barred. They spent 48 years of their life as brahmacārins in quest of knowledge and good conduct. Even after their marriage they lived a life of restraint. They held austerity, rectitude, tenderness, love and forbearance in high esteem. They performed sacrifices with rice, beds, clothes, ghee or oil, which they could collect by begging and never killed cows in sacrifices.

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‘They possessed a noble stature and a tender and bright mien and remained always engaged in their own pursuits. In course of time, however, they began to covet a king’s riches and splendour and objects of pleasure such as women with ornaments, chariots yoked with stately horses. With an eye to these gains they approached king Okkāku (Ikṣvāku), persuaded him to celebrate aśvamedha, puruṣamedha, śamyāprāsa and vājapeyya and received as fees from him wealth, women and chariots, horses and cows, beds and clothes. Coveting more and more they again persuaded him to celebrate sacrifices by the offering of cows, which they said, constituted also the wealth of men as are land, gold or grains, and such were equally fit objects for offering. The slaughter of cows enraged the gods Brahma, Indra and even the Asuras and Rākṣasas and multiplied the diseases which were originally three, viz. desires, hunger and decrepitude, to ninety-eight and further caused to appear discord among the people and within the household, and acts improper and impious among the various classes of men.’

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In the *Majjhimanikāya* (I, pp. 342-44) there is the true picture of how sacrifices used to be performed. It is in way of explaining that kind of puggala (individual) which practises self-mortification, and for self-chastisement sacrifices animals and causes sufferings to other beings. ‘This kind of puggala’, the text says, ‘includes the king or the kṣatriya noble whose head has been anointed (muddhāvasitto) as well as the wealthy Brahmins (Brāhmaṇo mahāsālo). He gets a sacrificial shed (santhāgāra) built outside the town, shaves his hair and beard, puts on deer skin, lubricates his body with mustard oil and enters the sacrificial shed, accompanied by his chief queen and his Brahmin priest, rubbing his body with an antelope horn. He then prepares his own bed on the bare ground and lives on cow's milk. The queen and the priest also live on milk. A part of the milk goes to the sacrificial fire and the rest goes to the calves. He then orders : kill so many bulls for the sacrifice, kill so many he-calves, so many she-calves, so many goats, so many rams, all for the sacrifice ; fell so many trees for the yūpa, pluck so much kuśa grass for the barhis. His servants, messengers, workers, all make the preparation either with tears in their eyes or weeping for fear of punishment or chastisement.' The confirmation of this account is found in the Śrauta manuals. They clearly show that the Pāli description is a true and objective picture of the Śrauta ritual as practised in those days.

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But this aspect of the Vedic religion was confined, as we have already said, to aristocratic classes, the nobles and the wealthy Brahmins. The intellectual aspect of the Vedic religion was also not without its force. The Upanishadic ideal of life still moved the hearts of many people and they lived up to it.

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The life of the forest-dwelling Brahmin philosophers has been described by the contemporary Greek writers. It was, we are told, a life of great simplicity and hardship. The philosophers had their cottages in front of the city within an enclosed space. They lived in simple style, used beds of rushes and deer skins and abstained from animal food and sexual pleasures. They passed their time in listening to serious discourses and in imparting their knowledge to those who would follow them. In the story of Mandanis, as told by Megasthenes, we get the true picture of a Brahmanical sage of those times. The story runs that Alexander while in India was attracted by the reputation of a sage named Mandanis and sent a messenger inviting him and promising him great reward. But Mandanis, although threatened with death, refused to accept his invitation and sent the following reply :

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'God, the supreme king, is never the author of insolent wrong, but is the creator of light, of peace, of life, of water, of the body of man, and of souls and these he receives when death sets them free, being in no way subject to evil desire. He alone is the god of my homage, who abhors slaughters and instigates no wars....Know this, however, that what Alexander offers me and the gifts he promises, are all things to me utterly useless; but the things I prize, and of real use and worth, are these leaves which are my house, these blooming plants which supply me with dainty food, and the water which is my drink, while all other possessions and things which are amassed with anxious care, are wont to prove ruinous to those who amass them, and cause only sorrow and vexation, with which every poor mortal is fully fraught. But as for me, I lie upon the forest leaves, and having nothing which requires guarding, close my eyes in tranquil slumber; whereas had I gold to guard, that would banish sleep ....Should Alexander cut off my head, he cannot also destroy my soul. My head alone, now silent, will remain but the soul will go away to its Master, leaving the body like a torn garment upon the earth, whence also it was taken. I then, becoming spirit, shall ascend to my God.' (cf. Megasthenes, Frag. LV; also Frags. xli, xliv, xlv.).

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The account doubtless had a real basis as we come across such types of Brahmanical sages not infrequently in the Buddhist texts. The true Brahmins are distinguished from the false ones by Buddha and are well spoken of by him. Such Brahmins were expected to observe the five dhammas: truthfulness (saccam), austerity (tapam), continence (brahmacariyam), study (ajjhenam) and gifts (cāgam). These alone could conduce to the attainment of the Brahma-sahavyatā or the attainment of the world of Brahman (Majjhima ii, 199; Sutta Nipāta, p. 79).

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This makes it clear that in the Nanda-Maurya period both the Vedic ritual and Upanishadic thought were active forces in the religious life of the country. There were the kings, nobles and wealthy Brahmins who believed in the efficacy of sacrifices and used to perform them with the help of hired priests. These priests who formed a class by themselves were the custodians of the Vedic lore. Many of them were attracted by the fees for officiating at the sacrifices and had become almost professional. But there were others too who saw no attractions in such gains and lived a simple life of austerities, far away from the inhabited localities, in the forests, striving hard to realise the Brahman through tapasya or asceticism.

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