History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c89.3

v7.c89.3

The word Śānti is derived from the root 'śam', which has several meanings (such as 'to stop', 'to be appeased', 'to kill' rarely) and belongs to the 4th conjugation and also to the 9th. The word Śānti itself does not occur in the Ṛgveda, but it occurs in the Atharvaveda and the Vājasaneya Saṁhitā. The root 'śam', its several forms and derivatives and the indeclinable particle 'śaṁ' occur hundreds of times even in the Ṛgveda. The word 'śaṁ' is often conjoined in the Ṛgveda to 'yoḥ' either as 'śaṁyoḥ' (Ṛg. I. 93.7, I. 106.5, III 17.3, III. 18.4, IV. 12.5, V. 47.7, V. 53.14, V. 69 3, VI. 50.7, VII. 35.1, VII. 69.5, X. 9.4, X. 15.4, X. 37.11, X. 182.1–3) or as 'śaṁ ca yośca' (as in Ṛg. I. 114.2, 189.2, II. 33.13, VIII. 39.4, VIII. 71.15). In these places the words are generally rendered as 'happiness and welfare' or 'health and wealth' (by Keith in translation of Tai. S. II. 6.10.3) and these meanings generally suit the context, e. g. in Ṛg. VI. 50.7 'dhāta tokāya tanayāya śaṁ yoḥ' (confer on our sons and progeny happiness and welfare), in Ṛg. X. 182 the words 'athā karad-yajamānāya śaṁ yoḥ' (may Bṛhaspati confer happiness and welfare on the sacrificer) occur as the last quarter of all the three verses. 'Śaṁ' by itself occurs about 160 times in the Ṛgveda and it is somewhat remarkable that in Ṛg. VII. 35. 1–13 ¹¹³² the word śaṁ occurs in each verse from 4 to 7 times (68 times in all). Ṛg. I 114. 1 ¹¹³³ 'we bring these lauds to Rudra who is powerful, who has braided hair, who rules over valiant men, so that there may result welfare to our two-footed and four-footed beings and every thing in this village may be prosperous and free from distress' will bring out the import of ‘śam’. In some cases ‘śam’ and ‘yoh’ clearly appear to be employed like nouns in the objective case. For example, Ṛg. II. 33. 13¹¹³⁴ “I hanker after the ‘śam’ and ‘yoh’ of Rudra (i. e. under the power of Rudra), Ṛg. I. 114.2 “O Rudra! may we secure by your guidance that ‘śam’ and ‘yoh’ that father Manu procured through sacrifice”. Yāska (Nirukta IV. 21) while dealing with Ṛg. X 15. 4 ‘athā naḥ śaṁ yor-arapo dadhāta’ holds ‘śaṁyoḥ’ to be ablative or genitive of śaṁyu and explains as ‘śamanaṁ ca rogāṇāṁ yāvanaṁ ca bhayānām’ (allaying of diseases and warding off of dangers). This is an etymological explanation and is in some cases accepted by Sāyaṇa and in others he paraphrases ‘śam’ by ‘sukha’ (happiness) and ‘yoḥ’ as ‘duḥkha-viyoga’ (freedom from pain or distress) The word ‘yoḥ’ presents the appearance of the ablative or genitive singular of a noun from the root ‘yu’ which means ‘to bind’ or ‘separate’ or from ‘yā’ to go. ‘Yoh’ by itself occurs only three times in the Ṛgveda (i. e. in I. 74. 7, X. 105 3, X. 176. 3). The meaning of ‘yoh’ in these three cases is doubtful. In the Tai. Br.¹¹³⁵ we have the mantra ‘we choose that happiness and welfare and success (or progress) to the sacrifice and the sacrificer, may divine fortune be ours; let there be good fortune for (our) men; may medicine (or remedy) go up, may there be happiness to our men and quadrupeds’.