History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c26.244
History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c26.244
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Though the word pravara does not occur in the Ṛgveda, the word 'ārṣeya' occurs therein and the system of pravara goes back almost to the Ṛgveda. Ṛg. IX. 97. 51 has 'thereby may we acquire wealth and ārṣeya resembling Jamadagni's.' Sometimes the idea of invoking Agni is conveyed without using the word pravara or ārṣeya. In Ṛg. VIII. 102. 4¹¹³⁵ it is said ‘I invoke Agni just as Aurva, Bhṛgu and Apnavāna did.’ It is remarkable that these are three of the five pravara sages of the Vatsa-Bhṛgus according to Baud. (3). Ṛg. I. 45. 3 has ‘O Jātavedas (Agni), give heed to the summons of Praskaṇva, as in the case of Priyamedha, Atri, Virūpa and Aṅgiras.’¹¹³⁶ In Ṛg. VII. 18. 21 it is said ‘they who from house to house gladdened thee, being desirous of thee, viz. Parāśara, Śatayātu and Vasiṣṭha, will not forget the friendship of a liberal patron (like thee)’.¹¹³⁷ It deserves to be noted that this mantra mentions Parāśara (who in later mythology is the grandson of Vasiṣṭha and son of Śakti), Śatayātu (who is Śakti according to Sāyaṇa), and Vasiṣṭha. Parāśara, Śakti and Vasiṣṭha constitute the pravara of Parāśara gotra (according to Āśv. and Baud). In the Atharvaveda (XI. 1. 16, XI. 1. 25, 26, 32, 33, 35, XII. 4. 2 and 12, XVI. 8. 12-13) ārṣeya means ‘descendants of sages or those who are related to sages’. In the Tai. S. both ārṣeya and pravara occur in the sense of the sūtras. In the Tai. S. II. 5. 8.
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7 (which refers to the recitation of the Sāmidhenī verses) we read “he says ‘choose (or invoke) ye the fire called *havyavāhana*’; he chooses him (the fire) of the gods; he chooses the ārṣeya; in so doing he does not depart from the relationship (by blood) and doing so serves for continuity. He chooses the later ones beginning from the remoter ones”. In this passage ‘ārṣeyam’ appears to be used in the sense of ‘one or more illustrious ancestors of the sacrificer’ and reference is made to one of the two modes of mentioning the sages constituting the pravara. ‘Ārṣeya’ may also be taken here as an adjective (qualifying Agni), the meaning being ‘he invokes Agni by the names of the illustrious ancestor sages of the yajamāna’. In one mode the remotest ancestor is named first in a taddhita (derivative) formation, then his descendant and so on, the sage nearest the sacrificer being mentioned last. For example, the pravara of Bhṛgu Vatsa is ‘Bhārgava-cyavana-apnavānaurva-jāmadagnyeti’. This method is employed by the Hotṛ priest when he invokes fire as the divine Hotṛ with the pravara-mantra ‘Agne mahān-asi brāhmaṇa bhārata deveddha manviddha ṛṣistuta &c.' (vide Tai. S. II. 5. 9. and Śat. Bṛ. I. 4. 2, Aśv. Śr. I. 2. 27-I. 3. 6). In the other mode the affix 'vat' is used after the name of each pravara sage and the remotest one is mentioned last (e. g. Jamadagnivat, Ūrvavat, Apnavānavat, Cyavanavat, Bhṛguvat).
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This mode is employed by the *adhvaryu* when he chooses the Hotṛ priest.¹¹³⁸ The Tai. S. II. 5. 11. 9 appears to refer to one (i. e. 2nd) mode. The Kauṣītaki brāhmaṇa explains the purpose of taking the names of ancestors 'as the gods do not partake of the offering of him who has no list of (illustrious) ancestors, therefore he pronounces the ārṣeya of the sacrificer.' The Ait. Br. (34. 7) has an interesting passage on pravara. When a brāhmaṇa is initiated for a sacrifice, that fact is announced in these words 'a brāhmaṇa has been initiated for a sacrifice.' How is the initiation of the kṣatriya to be announced? The reply of the Ait. Br. is 'even in the case of the kṣatriya the announcement is to be in the same form (viz. a brāhmaṇa has been initiated); but with the pravara of the family priest. Therefore they should proclaim the kṣatriya's initiation as a sacrificer with the ārṣeya of his family priest and should invoke Agni with the pravara of his family priest.'¹¹³⁹ The Aśv. Śr. (Uttara ṣaṭka VI. 15. 4-5) and Baud. Śr. (pravarapraśna 54) say that in the case of kṣatriyas and vaiśyas the pravara of their purohita was to be employed or the pravara 'Mānava-Aila-Paurūravasa' or simply 'Manuvat.' The origin of that rule is to be found in the above passage of the Ait. Br. There is another similar passage in the Ait. Br. (35. 5). The Śat. Br.