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A History of Indian Literature v1.c8.s10: The Vedāṅgas

A History of Indian Literature v1.c8.s10

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English

The Vedāṅgas

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In one of the Upaniṣads we are told that there are two kinds of knowledge, a higher and a lower. The higher is that which teaches us to know the imperishable Brahman, but the lower consists of "*Ṛgveda*, *Yajurveda*, *Sāmaveda*, *Atharvaveda*, *phonetics*, *ritual*, *grammar*, *etymology*, *metrics* and *astronomy*."¹ This is the oldest enumeration of the so-called *six Vedāṅgas*, *i.e.* the six "limbs" or supplementary sciences of the Veda.² Originally this meant neither special books nor special schools, but only subjects of instruction, which had to be learned in the Vedic schools themselves, in order to understand the Vedic texts. The beginnings of the Vedāṅgas may therefore already be sought in the Brāhmaṇas and Āraṇyakas, where along with the explanations of the sacrificial ritual we also occasionally find discussions on matters of phonetics, grammar, etymology, metrics and astronomy. In the course of time, however, these subjects were treated more and more systematically, and separate special schools, though still within the Vedic schools, arose for each of the six supplementary sciences of the Veda. These then evolved special school texts, "manuals," the Sūtras, composed in a peculiar prose style intended for memorization.

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¹ Muṇḍaka-Up., 1, 1, 5: ṛgvedo yajurvedaḥ sāmavedo 'tharvavedaḥ śikṣā kalpo vyākaraṇaṃ niruktaṃ chando jyotiṣam.

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² Cf. above p. 56. and Ludwig, Der Rigveda, III, pp. 74 ff.

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The word *sūtra* originally means "thread," then a "short rule," a precept condensed into a few words. As a fabric is made out of several threads (thus the transition of meaning might be explained), so a system of instruction³ is woven together out of these short precepts. A larger work consisting of a number of such sūtras strung together is then also called *Sūtra*.¹ These works serve a purely practical purpose. They are to present some science systematically in concise brevity, so that the pupil can easily commit it to memory. There is probably nothing like these sūtras of the Indians in the entire literature of the world. It is the task of the author of such a work to say as much as possible in as few words as possible, even at the expense of clearness and intelligibility. The saying of the grammarian Patañjali has often been quoted that the author of a sūtra rejoices as much over the saving of half a short vowel as over the birth of a son. An idea of the unique sūtra style, the aphoristic prose of these works, can only be given by means of examples. The words in *brackets* in the two following passages in our translation must be supplemented in order to make the sense of the detached words intelligible :

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³ Similarly, the word *tantra* originally signifies "web," then a system of instruction, a literary work, a book. In Chinese, too, the word "*king*" means "originally the warp of a texture, then standard, canon, and finally, in a metaphorical sense, any book which is considered as a rule or canon," s. W. Grube, Geschichte der chinesischen Litteratur, Leipzig, 1902, p. 31.

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¹ Compare the word *brāhmaṇa*, which originally means "dictum of a theologian" and is then used collectively for the collections of such dicta, and the word *upaniṣad*, which signifies first a secret doctrine, then later means a larger work, a collection of secret doctrines. (See above pp. 187 f. and 243 f.)

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Āpastambīya-Dharmasūtra I, 1, 1, 4-8 :

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*Sūtra 4:* (There are) four castes: Brahmans, Kṣatriyas, Vaiśyas and Śūdras. *Sūtra 5:* Of these the preceding one (is) always better, according to birth (than every succeeding one). *Sūtra 6:* For (them who are) not Śūdras and have not committed bad actions, (is prescribed:) initiation as a pupil, Veda-study, fire-laying; and (these sacred) acts (are) productive (in this world and the next). *Sūtra 7:* Obedience towards the other castes (is the duty) of the Śūdras. *Sūtra 8:* With each preceding caste which he serves the bliss is greater (*i.e.* the higher the caste which a Śūdra serves, the greater is the bliss which shall fall to his share in the next world).

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*Gobhila-Gṛhyasūtra, I, 5, 1-5; 8-9.*

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*Sūtra 1*: Now at the new and full moon (*i.e.* on the day of the new moon and on the day of the full moon the following ceremonies are to be performed) :

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*Sūtra 2*: On the day of the full moon (when the moon rises) at (the time of the evening) twilight he shall fast.

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*Sūtra 3*: Some (teachers say) ; on the following (day, *i.e.* when the moon rises shortly after sunset, he shall fast).

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*Sūtra 4*: Furthermore (he shall fast) on the day on which the moon is not seen, (regarding) this day as the day of the new moon.

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*Sūtra 5*: At the end of the half-months one shall fast, at the beginning of the half-months one shall sacrifice (*i.e.* a day of fasting shall always precede the sacrifices on the day of the new moon or on the day of the full moon).

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*Sūtra 8*: But the day on which the moon is not seen, shall be made the day of the new moon (*i.e.* is to be celebrated as the day of the new moon).

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*Sūtra 9*: Even if (the moon) is seen only (a little) once (in the day), (this day can be celebrated as the day of the new moon; for then one says) that (the moon has already) completed her course.

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The Sanskrit-text, in the above, contains only the unbracketed words. The pupil memorised only these aphoristic sentences receiving the necessary explanations from the teacher. In later times these explanations by the teachers were also written down, and we have them in the extensive commentaries on all the sūtra-texts, without which the sūtras would mostly be unintelligible to us. This peculiar sūtra-style originated in the prose of the Brāhmaṇas. This prose of the Brāhmaṇas consists almost exclusively of short sentences; indirect speech is entirely absent; the sequence of principal sentences is but rarely interrupted by a relative or conditional clause, and its monotony is only relieved to some extent by participial constructions. Furthermore, in spite of a certain prolixity showing itself especially in awkward repetitions, much that is taken as a matter of course in oral presentation and instruction, remains unsaid, while we have to complete it in our translations.¹ Prose of this nature could easily, by more and more exaggerated simplification, be turned into such lapidary, detached sentences, connected only by the most essential particles, as we find in the sūtras. For the purpose of the greater saving of syllables and still shorter summarising only *one* new element was introduced: the formation of long compound words, with which we meet for the first time in the Sūtras, and which then became particularly characteristic of the classical Sanskrit literature and gained ever greater ascendancy at later periods. The frequent quotations from the Brāhmaṇas in the oldest Sūtra-texts, and even when there is no direct quotation, the many Brāhmaṇa-like passages in the midst of the Sūtras² make it apparent that the sūtra-style was developed from the prose of the Brāhmaṇas.

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¹ See above, p. 203, Note 1.

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² Thus certain sections of the Śāṅkhāyana-Śrautasūtra are similar in style and character to the Brāhmaṇas (Weber, HIL., p. 54. Hillebrandt in the preface to his edition of the Śāṅkhāyana-Śrautasūtra). In the Baudhāyana-Kalpasūtra, too, there are numerous passages which read just like Brāhmaṇas. The Śrautasūtras were not however, written on the basis of the Brāhmaṇs, but on that of a long oral tradition; s. R. Löbbecke **Uber das Verhältnis der Brāhmaṇas und Śrautasūtren** Diss., Leipzig, 1908.

Cites (8)