History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c34.205.2

v2.c34.205.2

36–39) avers that *japa* should comprise sacred hymns, particularly the Gāyatrī and Puruṣasūkta, as nothing else is superior to these.¹⁶⁴² *Japa* is of three kinds, *vācika* (audibly uttered), *upāṁśu* (inaudibly uttered) and *mānasa* (mentally revolved), each succeeding one being ten times superior to each preceding one (Laghu-Hārīta¹⁶⁴³ chap. IV, p. 186, Jīvānanda I). Vide Manu II. 85 (= Vas. 26. 9, Śaṅkha XII. 29). *Japa* is one of the removers of sin (Gaut. 19. 11). *Japa* is to be performed sitting on a seat of kuśa grass, either in the house, or on a river bank, or in a cowpen, or in a fire room or at tīrthas or before images of gods or before an image of Viṣṇu, each succeeding place being many times superior to each preceding one.¹⁶⁴⁴ One is not to speak while engaged in japa. A brahmacārī or a householder who has consecrated sacred fires should mutter the Gāyatrī 108 times, while a *vānaprastha* and *yati* should repeat it more than 1000 times. Vide Manu II. 101 also about the extent of the time to be devoted to japa. When in the middle ages Vedic learning declined and Purāṇas came to the fore, the writers of the digests stated that one who has studied the whole Veda should repeat daily from the beginning of the Veda as much as he could; if one has studied only a portion of the Veda, then one should recite in his japa the Puruṣasūkta (Ṛg. X. 90) and similar hymns and a brāhmaṇa who knows only the Gāyatrī should repeat the texts of the purāṇas.¹⁶⁴⁵ Vṛddha-Hārīta (VI.