The Orion, or Researches into the Antiquity of the Vedas c10.38

c10.38

sahaja,* born with the limbs of Prajâpati, conveys the same meaning as mainyu-tâstem. The coincidence between these verses cannot be accidental, and it appears to me that the sacred thread must be derived from the belt of Orion. Upavîta, from ve to weave, literally means a piece of cloth and not a thread.† It appears, therefore, that a cloth worn round the waist was the primitive form of yajnopavîta, and that the idea of sacredness was introduced by the theory that it was to be a symbolic representation of Prajâpati's waist-cloth or belt. In the Taittirîya Sanhitâ (ii. 5. 11. 1.) nivîta, prâchînâvîta and upavîta, three words which at present denote the position of the sacred thread on the body of a Brâhman, are defined, but the Mîmânsakas‡ understand them to apply not to the sacred thread, as we now wear it, but to a piece of cloth or dear-skin, which everyone must use at the time of sacrificing. It appears, therefore, that in the oldest times the Brâhamans wore a piece of cloth or deer-skin and not a thread. This conclusion is further strengthened by the fact, that according to the ritual given in the Sûtras, no sacred thread is mentioned in the description of the ceremony of Upanayana; § while the investiture with the thread is looked upon at present as the principal part of that ceremony. We have still retained a memory of this old practice in the performance of obsequies and at the time of performing sacrifices, when a piece of cloth is worn in addition to the sacred thread. Devala* says that out of the three sacred threads to be worn, one is a substitute for the upper garment, thus clearly indicating what the old practice was. But this is not the place to go into these details. It is enough for our purpose to notice that *yajñopavīta* originally, meant a piece of cloth, and that in the times of the *smṛti*-writers, it came to be symbolically represented by the sacred thread, thrice twisted and thrice folded. There is, however, another difficulty which must be here noticed. The Parsis wear their sacred thread round the waist, while the Brâhmans usually wear it over the left shoulder and across the body, leaving the right arm free (*i e.*, *upavīta*). The Parsis may thus be said to wear their sacred thread after the manner of *nivīta*; but in the case of the Brâhmans, it may be questioned if their manner of wearing the thread corresponds to the position of Orion's belt. From the passage in the Taittirīyâ Saṃhitâ referred to above, it will, however, be seen that *nivīta* and not *upavīta*, is the position of the thread there prescribed for all human actions, or, in other words, for doing the ordinary business of life. *Nivīta* has been defined by all later writers to mean the position of the sacred thread passing round the neck, over both the shoulders and dropping down in front. A reference to Kumârila Bhaṭṭa's Tanra Vârtika (I. 4. 2.), will, however, show that *nivīta* also meant "tying round the waist," and Kumârila observes that "tying round the waist is the most convenient position for all kinds of work.”* Ânandagiri and Govindânanda in their commentaries on Shankara’s Bhâshya on the Brahmasûtras (iii. 4. 19.), give the same explanation, from which it appears that the Brâhmans, like the Parsis, once wore the thread around the waist, thus literally girding up their loins when they had to do any work. The sacred thread of the Parsis and the Brâhmans thus seems to be a symbolical representation of Prajâpati’s girdle or Orion’s belt in every respect. The various stages, by which the original piece of cloth round the waist dwindled into a thread, are interesting and instructive from a ceremonial point of view, but not being relevant to the present inquiry, I do not mention them here.