History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c92.173.1

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.