Pramāṇa · Search · About · API

An Outline of the Religious Literature of India c6.s3: iii. Brāhmaṇas, Atharvan, Āraṇyakas.

An Outline of the Religious Literature of India c6.s3

Language
English

iii. Brāhmaṇas, Atharvan, Āraṇyakas.

c6.s3.1

Śaunakīya and Paippalāda. The former is the text in ordinary use, and it alone has been edited, translated, and examined in detail. A single birch-bark manuscript of the Paippalāda was found in Kashmir in 1874, and a facsimile reproduction has been published. There is a good deal of difference between the two recensions in the way in which the hymns are arranged; and about one-eighth or one-ninth of the contents of the Paippalāda MS. is fresh material, found neither in the Śaunakīya recension nor in any other Vedic collection. Since so little investigation has been carried out on the new text, we shall confine our attention to the Śaunakīya or Vulgate.

c6.s3.2

It is probable that the *Atharvaveda* was built up to its present proportions in various stages, but we do not know the history. Each of the two recensions consists of twenty books, but the order by no means corresponds. In the Vulgate it is clear that Books XIX and XX are late additions. Books I to XVIII fall into three divisions. The first covers Books I to VII, and consists in the main of short hymns, arranged in accordance with the number of stanzas they contain, and without reference to their subject-matter. The second contains Books VIII to XII and consists of long hymns on miscellaneous subjects. In the third division, Books XIII to XVIII, each book consists of hymns which are marked by essential unity of subject. Various attempts have been made to decide how these three groups were brought together, but no unanimity has yet been reached.

c6.s3.3

Scholars point out that a number of the shorter spells of the *Atharvaveda* agree in purpose and method, and to some extent also in form, with charms found in the folk-lore of other nations of the Indo-European race; so that the roots of the practices of this Veda go very far back indeed. About 1,200 of the 6,000 stanzas contained in the work are taken from the *Ṛigveda*. But the bulk of the fresh material is of later origin.¹ Part of it is in prose, the rest in verse. The compilation of the eighteen books took place long after the completion of the *Rigveda*, during the period of the *Brāhmaṇas*.

c6.s3.4

¹ So Oldenberg, *RV.* 15: Keith agrees.

c6.s3.5

For a long time the Atharvan collection held a very humble position as compared with the three sacrificial Vedas. It was not accepted as a Veda at all. The *trayīvidyā*, triple knowledge, was all that men recognized. To this day in certain parts of South India it is almost unknown.

c6.s3.6

§ 26. The priestly schools soon became great and learned associations each with a splendid reputation. The student had first of all to learn the Veda of his school with perfect accuracy from the lips of his teacher. He had then, in the second place, to receive a great deal of instruction as to his duties at the altar, and numerous explanations of the meaning of the hymns, the ritual acts, and such like. The instructions were called *vidhi*, the explanations *arthavāda*. For some time these lectures were given by the teacher in an unfettered way in his own language; but gradually in each school the material took more definite form, and finally was handed down in stereotyped language from teacher to pupil, generation after generation. Naturally, it was in prose. Every piece of instruction of this type was called a *Brāhmaṇa*, either as being the utterance of a *Brāhman*, or as an exposition of religious truth (*brahman*). In contrast with these *Brāhmaṇas*, the hymns and prose formulae which were recited, sung, or muttered during the sacrifices were called *mantras*. The word *mantra* means originally religious thought, prayer, sacred utterance, but from an early date it also implied that the text was a weapon of supernatural power.

c6.s3.7

Since these *Brāhmaṇa* lectures were expositions of the sacrifice, the hymns, and the prayers, the teachers of the *Yajurveda* took the very natural course of inserting them at various points among the material on which they were meant to throw light. In the schools of the *Rik* and the *Sāman*, however, this course was not followed. The teachers were probably so impressed with the divine character of the hymncollections that they felt they could not disturb the sacred arrangement of the text. In any case in both these schools the expository lectures were gathered into a separate collection, which was called Brāhmaṇa.

c6.s3.8

Then the teachers of the Vājasaneya school of the Yajurveda were led by this example to a similar course. They separated out all the Brāhmaṇa sections from the sacrificial formulae and the verses of their Veda, and formed a Veda and a Brāhmaṇa out of them. In this way the schools of the Yajurveda fell into two groups, and the old mixed collection of mantras and Brāhmaṇas was called the Black Yajus, while the new unmixed collection of hymns with its separate Brāhmaṇa was called the White Yajus. As the Brāhmaṇa material in each school was constantly growing, the Veda as handed down in the various schools of the Black Yajus soon showed considerable differences. It has come down to us in four distinct forms called Saṃhitās. See table below.

c6.s3.9

At a later date one of these schools of the Black Yajus, the Taittirīyas, followed the common practice thus far that, on the formation of a fresh body of Brāhmaṇa material, they did not introduce it into the already mixed Veda, but formed it into a separate Brāhmaṇa. This new book is really a continuation of the Brāhmaṇa material within the Saṃhitā of the school.

c6.s3.10

The continued branching of the schools, and the constant addition of fresh Brāhmaṇa material to the old, must have led in the long run to the existence of a very large number of Brāhmaṇas, differing more or less from one another. In the chances and changes of history, much of this literature has been lost. Thus, what survives to-day is but a small part of what once existed. The following table shows the various Saṃhitās of the Yajurveda which contain Brāhmaṇa material, and also the ancient Brāhmaṇas:

c6.s3.11

SAMHITĀS AND BRĀHMAṆAS

c6.s3.12

| Schools. | *Samhitās* containing *Brāhmaṇa* material. | *Brāhmaṇas*. |
| A. Ṛgveda | | |
| 1. The Aitareyins | | 1. *Aitareya* |
| 2. The Kaushitakins | | 2. *Kaushītaki* or *Śāṅkhāyana* |
| B. Sāmaveda | | |
| 1. The Tāṇḍins | | 1. *a. Pañchaviṃśa* |
| | | *b. Shaḍviṃśa* |
| | | *c. Chhāndogya* |
| 2. The Talavakāras | | 2. *Jaiminīya* or *Talavakāra* (including Upanishad B. and Ārsheya B.) |
| C. Yajurveda | | |
| 1. The Kāṭhakas | 1. *Kāṭhaka* | 1. *Kāṭhaka*, preserved in part in the *Taittirīya Āraṇyaka* |
| 2. The Kapishṭhala-Kaṭhas | 2. *Kapishṭhala-Kaṭha* | |
| 3. The Maitrāyaṇīyas | 3. *Maitrāyaṇī* | |
| 4. The Taittirīyas | 4. *Taittirīya* | 4. *Taittirīya* |
| 5. The Vājasaneyins | | 5. *Śatapatha* |

c6.s3.13

§ 27. One's first reading of a Brāhmaṇa is an extraordinary experience. It seems as if the men who composed these interminable gossiping lectures had left realities far behind them, and were living in a dreary realm of shadowy gods and men and topsy-turvy morality and religion, in which nothing belongs to the world we know except the sacrificial meats and drinks and the fees paid to the priestly dreamers. Yet in the midst of this waste of arid ritualism and childish speculation one finds the beginnings of grammar, of astronomy, of etymology, and of the philosophy of the Ātman. There are also legends and narratives which are forerunners of the Epic, and numerous rules of conduct out of which finally arose the Hindu dharma. The Indian mind was by no means dead, although sacerdotalism was drunk with supremacy and in its folly and arrogance was hastening the day of revolt.

c6.s3.14

§ 28. In addition to the Brāhmaṇa portions of the Black

c6.s3.15

*Yajurveda*, only the following six Brāhmaṇas are ritual textbooks of importance: *Aitareya*, *Kaushītaki*, *Pañchaviṃśa*, *Talavakāra*, *Taittirīya*, *Śatapatha*. The *Shaḍviṃśa* is an appendix to the *Pañchaviṃśa*, and the *Chhāndogya* deals only with domestic rites. It is impossible to set down this mass of material in strict chronological order, because each Brāhmaṇa is a collection of pieces of different age and origin; yet, if we omit the *Kapishṭhala-Kaṭha Saṃhitā* and the *Kāṭhaka B.*, which have survived only in fragments, the following represents, on the whole, the order in which these books arose: 1. The *Maitrāyaṇī*, *Kāṭhaka*, and *Taittirīya Saṃhitās*, which cannot be safely arranged in any chronological order; 2. the *Aitareya Brāhmaṇa*; 3. the *Pañchaviṃśa*; 4. the *Taittirīya*; 5. the *Jaiminīya*; 6. the *Kaushītaki*; 7. the *Śatapatha*.

c6.s3.16

§ 29. To the Brāhmaṇas there are appended chapters, written in the main in Brāhmaṇa language and style, but differing somewhat in contents. Usually these chapters begin with material scarcely distinguishable from the Brāhmaṇa itself, but gradually shade off through mystic allegory into philosophic speculation. Usually the ritualistic and allegorical parts are called *Āraṇyaka*, and the philosophic, *Upanishad*; but sometimes the whole receives the title *Upanishad*. The Upanishads will be dealt with in our next chapter; for in them first appears the mighty doctrine of transmigration and karma; but we consider the Āraṇyakas here. Parts of these ‘Forest-treatises’ (from *araṇya*, forest) describe the ritual and give incidental mystic explanations, and are thus indistinguishable from Brāhmaṇa teaching, except that here and there we meet chapters which add stringent rules to the effect that the rites are to be kept secret and carried out only for certain persons. Similar secrecy is sometimes enjoined in the Upanishads. Side by side with these are found chapters which are exclusively given up to allegorical expositions of the ritual, and are clearly meant not for ritual use but for meditation. Finally there are passages which teach the student to practise meditation on the allegorical meaning of certain sacrifices instead of

c6.s3.17

the actual performance of the ritual. In none of these ritualistic or allegorical chapters is the doctrine of transmigration and karma taught.

c6.s3.18

§ 30. All scholars agree that the Āraṇyakas were meant to be studied in the forest.¹ But who were the men who studied them? During the time when the Brāhmaṇas were coming into being, an order of hermits who resided in the forests of India appeared. They gave up all the business of the world and devoted themselves to a religious life. Their practice in general had three aspects, tapas, i. e. austerities, sacrifice, and meditation; but there was more than one rule, so that practice varied considerably. In some cases sacrifice was given up altogether; and the great and elaborate sacrifices must have been always impossible. These facts about the order are taken from the Dharmasūtras.² Very vivid pictures of the life occur in the Rāmāyaṇa,³ agreeing perfectly with what has just been said. When a student had completed his education, he was allowed either to remain with his teacher for life, or to marry and settle down as a householder, or to retire to the woods as a hermit.⁴ The earliest name used to designate a hermit seems to have been Vaikhānasa⁵ (from Vikhanas, the traditional author of the rule), but later Vānaprastha, forest-dweller, came into use. It was at a much later date that there came into use the ideal rule for the life of the twice-born man, that his life should be lived in four stages, āśramas as a student, householder, hermit, and monk.⁶

c6.s3.19

¹ The ancient evidence is conclusive. See Rāmānuja, Śrībhāshya, SBE. XLVIII. 645, and Sāyaṇa quoted by Keith in his Aitareya Ār. 15.

c6.s3.20

² Gautama, SBE. II. 195; Vāsisṭha, SBE. XIV. 45; Baudhāyana, SBE. XIV. 259; 291; Āpastamba, SBE. II. 155.

c6.s3.21

³ See II. lvi; III. i; v; vi; vii; xi; xii.

c6.s3.22

⁴ Chhāndogya U. II. 23, 1.

c6.s3.23

⁵ Gautama, DS. III. 26.

c6.s3.24

⁶ Deussen, ERE. II. 128 ff.

c6.s3.25

Now Sāyaṇa makes a remark which seems to mean that the Āraṇyaka was the Brāhmaṇa of the hermit;⁷ and certain modern scholars, especially Deussen, have accepted that view. The varied character of the contents of the Āraṇyakas—ritual, secret explanation, allegory, and internal instead of external sacrifice—fits perfectly into the varying practice of the hermits of the forest; so that one is tempted at first sight to conclude that these treatises were actually prepared for the Vānaprasthas. But Oldenberg¹ and Berriedale Keith² believe that the Āraṇyakas were held to be texts of such sacredness that they could with safety be repeated only in the seclusion of the forest. The Āraṇyagāna of the Sāmaveda would then be a parallel case. Professor Keith believes that the Āraṇyakas were taught to priests, just as the Brāhmaṇas were. The difference lay in the secrecy necessary for the forest treatises.

c6.s3.26

⁷ Āraṇyavratarūpam brāhmaṇam: see Deussen, PU. 2 n.; Keith AA. 15.

c6.s3.27

¹ LU. 148 ff.

c6.s3.28

² AA. 15, 257 n. 10.

c6.s3.29

For our purpose, however, it is unnecessary to decide the question. We require merely to distinguish those chapters which separate themselves from the Brāhmaṇas by their stress on allegory, secrecy, and meditation, and from the philosophic Upanishads by the absence of the doctrine of transmigration, whatever their original purpose may have been. The chief texts are:

c6.s3.30

Rigveda: {Aitareya Āraṇyaka. Kaushītaki Āraṇyaka. Black Yajus: Taittirīya Āraṇyaka, I–VI. White Yajus: Bṛihadāraṇyaka = Śatapatha B. XIV, i–iii.

c6.s3.31

§ 31. The point at which we take our third survey is just before the appearance of the doctrine of transmigration and karma in the literature. The literature in existence at that time and surviving to our day comprises the four Vedas, the six old Brāhmaṇas, and the Āraṇyakas. Since we have already dealt with the Ṛik, the Sāman, and the early Yajus, the literature which forms the source for this survey is:
1. The later portions of the Yajurveda.
2. The Atharvaveda.
3. The six old Brāhmaṇas.
4. The Āraṇyakas.

c6.s3.32

By the time to which our survey refers the Aryans had spread over North India at least as far as Behar, but the district between the Jumna and the Ganges was still the centre of Brahmanical culture. Probably all the books of our source arose in that region.¹ We cannot fix the date of our survey chronologically; for the estimates of scholars show considerable variation. At the time we seek to envisage there were already many petty princedoms in North India, containing numerous towns, and wealth and culture were growing. While the country between the Jumna and the Ganges was recognized as the central hearth of the religion and education of the time, there were seats of civilization in the Punjab, in the far North-West, and as far east as the modern Patna. Not only the four great castes but many of the modern mixed castes and sub-castes were already in existence. The Brahmanical schools had greatly increased in number. Each Veda had its own multitude of schools, divided into subordinate groups according to the recension of the Veda they used, and further subdivided according to the Brāhmaṇa they recognized. At some quite unknown date, but certainly before the end of the period, the work of the Vedic schools had become widened, so as not only to provide a specialized training for priests but also to give a religious education to all boys of the Brāhman, Kshatriya, and Vaiśya castes. Every boy belonging to these castes went to school immediately after undergoing the ceremony of initiation. Since this ceremony thus became the entrance to a spiritual training, it was called the boy’s second birth. Hence these three castes came to be spoken of as twice-born, and wore the sacred thread. Śūdras and women were excluded from the schools; and only Brāhmans could teach.

c6.s3.33

¹ Vedic Index, I. 165.

c6.s3.34

The priest and the sacrifice were now supreme and omnipotent, and in consequence the religion had become pitifully degraded. The sacrifice was conceived as a magic system irresistibly wielding all powers in earth and heaven, and the priests who held the system in their hands were regarded as gods on earth. Hence, though the gods nominally retain their old place, they have become of very little account, stripped of nearly all their real power by the priests and the sacrifice. Like the demons, they sacrifice, when they want to obtain anything. Viṣṇu, Rudra-Śiva, and Prajāpati alone are prominent, because of their relations with the new sacerdotalism. Magic is supreme everywhere, in the sacrifice, in the Atharvan rites in the home, and in the discipline of the Vānaprastha in the forest. Morality has almost altogether lost its hold in the cult. The result could not but be an unbearable inner dissatisfaction in the best men. Hence we find some eagerly pressing forward towards new light along philosophic lines, following the lead given by the poets of the speculative hymns mentioned in our second survey. Two concepts of great importance, the Brahman and the Ātman, were separately evolved and then identified, thus forming together a most significant philosophic term for the absolute.¹ There were other conceptions also which were undergoing modification: in the Brāhmaṇas there are a number of passages² in which there is reference to the possibility of repeated death in the other world, and men shudder at the thought.

c6.s3.35

¹ Oldenberg, *LU.* 44-59.

c6.s3.36

² Ib. 27 ff.

Cites (23)