History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c24.s1.112

v2.c24.s1.112

*Sāvitryupadeśa*:—It will be seen from the passage of the Śat. Br. quoted above (in note 625) that the sacred Gāyatrī verse was imparted in very ancient times to the student by the teacher a year, or six months, 24, 12 or 3 days after upanayana and that the Śat. Br. prescribes that in the case of brāhmaṇa students this must be done immediately. This ancient rule was probably due to the fact that students in those far-off times when they came to the teacher at the age of seven or eight had hardly any previous instruction and so must have found it difficult to pronounce properly and correctly the sacred verse immediately on initiation. It is for this reason that so modern a work as the S. R. M. (p. 194) says that such mantras as 'Śaṁ-no devīrabhiṣṭaye' (Ṛg. X. 9. 4) which have to be repeated by the brahmacārī in the rites of upanayana should be taught to him even before upanayana, just as the wife (who being a woman had no upanayana performed) was taught the Vedic mantras accompanying such acts as that of examining ājya in sacrifices.⁷¹⁰ The same rule⁷¹¹ of postponing the instruction in Gāyatrī is stated in Śāṅ. gṛ. II. 5, Mānava gṛ. I. 22. 15, Bhār. gṛ. I. 9, Pār. gṛ. II. 3. The general practice however seems to have been to impart the Gāyatrī that very day. According to most of the sūtras the teacher sits to the north of the fire facing the east and in front of him the student sits facing the west and then the student requests the teacher to recite to him the verse sacred to Savitṛ and the teacher imparts to him first one pāda at a time, then two pādas and then the whole. According to Baud. gr. II. 5. 34-37 the student places on the fire four fuel sticks of the palāśa or other sacrificial tree anointed with clarified butter and repeats mantras to Agni, Vāyu, Āditya and the lord of *vratas* with '*svāhā*' when offering⁷¹² them. Various intricate modes occur in the sūtras and the commentaries thereon about how this first instruction in Gāyatrī is to be carried out. The differences are due to the place assigned to the vyāhṛtis⁷¹³ (bhūḥ, bhuvaḥ, svaḥ). Two illustrations are set out below from Sudarśana⁷¹⁴ on Āp. gṛ. II. 11. The syllable '*om*' has been looked upon as very sacred from ancient times and is a symbol of the Supreme Being. The Tai. Br. II. 11 contains a eulogy of '*oṁkāra*' and quotes Ṛg. I. 164. 39 in support '*ṛco akṣare parame &c.*' taking the word '*akṣara*' to mean the '*oṁkāra*'. The Tai. Up. I. 8. says '(syllable) om is Brahma; om is all this (universe)'. A brāhmaṇa about to begin the teaching (of the Veda) says '*om*' with the idea that he may reach near *brahma*. 'Om' is called *praṇava*. Āp. Dh. S. I. 4. 13. 6 says '*oṁkāra* is the door to heaven; therefore one who is about to study the Veda, should start his study by first repeating *om*.' Manu (II. 74) prescribes the repetition of praṇava at the beginning and at the end of daily Vedic study and further on (II. 76) says that the three letters 'a', 'u', 'm' (in om) and the three vyāhṛtis were distilled from the three vedas by Prajāpati as the essence. Medhātithi on Manu (II. 74) says that 'om must be uttered at the beginning of the daily Vedic study by the student or by the householder (when performing brahmayajña), but it is not necessary in japa' &c. In the Mārkaṇḍeya-purāṇa chap. 42, Vāyu chap. 20, Vṛddha-Hārīta-smṛti VI. 59-62 and in numerous other places there are hyperbolical or esoteric identifications of the three letters of *om* with Viṣṇu, Lakṣmī and the jīva, with the three Vedas, with the three worlds, with three fires &c. In the Kaṭhopaniṣad I. 2. 15-17 om is said to be the end of all Vedas, the source of the knowledge of *brahma* and also its symbol.