History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c92.173
History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c92.173
- Language
- English
v7.c92.173.1
The Purāṇas and some smṛtis prescribe short mantras of five, six, eight, twelve, thirteen and more syllables as very efficacious for securing all objects. A few of them are set out in the note¹⁷⁷⁵ below. Medhātithi on Manu says that the word mantra primarily means a part of the Veda comprising Ṛgveda, Yajurveda and Sāmaveda, treated as such by those who have studied the Veda, and that expressions like "Agnaye svāhā"¹⁷⁷⁶ employed in rites like Vaiśvadeva are called mantras in a secondary sense by way of praise. The vedic conception was that a mantra has great potency and that it must be correctly repeated to secure the desired result, that a mantra defective as to accent or as to a letter or wrongly applied did not convey the meaning intended and that becoming a thunderbolt in the form of a word or words it destroys¹⁷⁷⁷ the *yajamāna*. Vedic mantras are of four classes viz. *ṛk* (which is metrical), *yajus* (which has no restriction as to metre but which must be a sentence), a *sāman* (which is sung) and *nigada* (i. e. *praisa*, meaning words that are addressed by one person to another calling upon the latter to do a certain act, e. g. the words 'srucaḥ sammṛddhi, prokṣaṇīr-āsādaya'. Nigadas are yajus in form but are distinguished from yajus by the fact that the former are loudly uttered, while a yajus is ordinarily recited in a low voice.¹⁷⁷⁸ The most sacred mantra is the Gāyatrī (Ṛg. III. 62. 10 'tat-savitur' &c). The Atharvaveda (XIX. 71.
v7.c92.173.2
1) calls it Vedamātā (the mother of the Veda). The Bṛhadāraṇyakopaniṣad (V. 14) contains a grand eulogy of the Gāyatrī.¹⁷⁷⁹ *Om* is a very sacred syllable, a symbol of *brahma* and may be called in the language of the Tantras a *bīja*. There are only a few syllables such as *om, phaṭ, vaṣaṭ* in the Vedic literature that on the face of them have no meaning but are like *bīja* mantras in the Tantra sense. There is a *Bījanighaṇṭu* (a dictionary of *bīja* mantras) printed in 'Tāntrik texts' Vol. I. pp. 28-29 (where monosyllabic *bījas* such as Hrīm, Śrīm, Krīm, Hum, phaṭ, are set out and described in symbolic words indicated in note 1708 above. It is stated about a dozen times in the Aitareya Brāhmaṇa viz. it is the perfection of sacrifice when it is *rūpasamṛddha* (perfect as to its form) i. e. when the ṛk verse pointedly refers to the sacrificial act that is being performed.¹⁷⁸⁰ The Nirukta (I. 15-16) starts a lengthy discussion on Kautsa's view that mantras have no sense (or are purposeless) There is a long discussion in the Pūrvamīmāṁsāsūtra (I. 2. 31 ff) on the same lines as in the Nirukta. Jaimini states that there is no difference in the meanings of words employed in the Veda and those employed by people and Śabara adds in his *bhāṣya* (on P. M. S. I. 2.
v7.c92.173.3
32) that mantras are recited in sacrifices only for the purpose of conveying or manifesting the meaning.¹⁷⁸¹ It is difficult to define what a vedic mantra is and it is generally understood, as said by Śabara, that passages or verses are mantras that are recognised as such by the learned¹⁷⁸² The whole Veda is divided into five categories viz. *Vidhi* (hortatory passages as in 'Agnihotram juhuyāt'), *mantras*, *nāmadheya* (names such as Udbhid in 'Udbhida yajeta' or '*Viśvajit*' as in '*Viśvajitā yajeta*'), *niṣedha* (prohibition as in '*nānṛtaṁ vadet*') and *arthavāda* (explanatory or laudatory passages as in '*Vāyu* is a deity that is swiftest'). The Nirukta (I. 20) embodies the ancient view that the sages had an intuitive perception of Dharma and they transmitted the mantras by oral instruction to those that came after them and that had no intuitive perception of Dharma. The mantras and *stotras* were supposed even in the Ṛg. to induce the gods to come to the sacrifices and to bestow on those who recited them protection, valiant sons, cattle, wealth, victory and all sorts of things (e. g. vide Ṛg. I. 102. 1-5, II. 24. 15-16, II. 25. 2, III. 31. 14, IX. 20. 7, IX. 72. 9, X. 78. 8, X. 105. 1). It has been shown above p. 920 (in notes 4167-4168) how the Purāṇas prescribed their own mantras for many religious acts but those mantras also are significant and not meaningless.