History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c93.238

v7.c93.238

Mantra and Brāhmaṇa constitute the Veda. The P. M. S. ¹⁹⁸⁴ states that all those parts of the Veda that are not or cannot be called Mantra constitute Brāhmaṇa. Śabara notes that the Vṛttikāra, in order to enable students to decide what texts are Brāhmaṇa texts, pointed out certain characteristics found in Brāhmaṇa texts such as abounding in the word '*iti*' or '*ityāha*' (so it is said), anecdote, stating the reason for an injunction, etymology, condemnation, praise, doubt, injunction, instance where another did something of the same kind, what happened in past ages, changing the meaning after considering the context.¹⁹⁸⁵ Śabara also quotes two verses summarising under ten heads the characteristics of Brāhmaṇa texts, points out that all this is only illustrative and that the characteristics mentioned by the Vṛttikāra sometimes occur in mantras also, such as ‘iti’ in Ṛg. X. 119. 1, ‘ityāha’ in Ṛg. VII. 41. 2, ‘ākhyāyikā’ as in Ṛg. I. 116. 3, reason (*hetu*) in Ṛg. I. 2. 4. The Ṛgveda alone contains over ten thousand mantras. Hardly one-third of them are employed in all the Vedic rites. The rest are employed in *japa*. Besides, the other Vedas also have thousands of mantras. Therefore, no formal definition of mantra is attempted and all that is stated is that mantras are those which have been recognised as such by the¹⁹⁸⁶ learned.