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The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v2.c30.s1: § 1. General Characteristics

The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v2.c30.s1

Language
English

§ 1. General Characteristics

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THE rites of the Çrauta ritual have much essentially in common, in addition to the necessity of the use of the three or one at least of the three fires in place of the domestic fire. They necessitate the presence of priests numbering from one up to sixteen, or with the Kauṣītakins seventeen,¹ to whom should be added the actual performers of some of the minor actions in the more complicated forms of the ritual, whose number is not defined, and whose menial functions rendered them of no consequence in the eyes of the priests of the higher rank. It is obvious, for instance, that in the slaughtering of the victims there must often have been need for other aid than that of the Adhvaryu and his assistants proper, and the Çamitṛs are occasionally referred to as charged with the actual slaying: more often a general term like servant is used to apply to such helpers.

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¹ See Keith, *Rig-Veda Brāhmaṇas*, pp. 48, 498, n. 1.

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As a result of the constant development of the ritual, the festivals of the Çrauta type are full of details which are of no consequence with regard to the meaning of the sacrifice: practically in no case is an important rite addressed to one god only: the effort on the contrary was clearly to find as much room as possible for as many gods as possible. We find, too, many variations among the details of the rites, of which but a few can be reduced to any simple principle. Thus we know that some families like the Jamadagnis and the Bhṛgus made five divisions or layers of the offerings, while other families² made but four, whence the former are called *pañcāvattins*, and the latter *caturavattins*. Another distinction which has more religious value is the differences between families based on the distinction of the use of Tanūnapāt or Narāçaṁsa, as one of the deities invoked at the Āprī litanies of the animal sacrifice,³ while the difference of dressing the hair is also of interest from the point of view of social usages,⁴ having many parallels in other lands.

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² KÇS. i. 9. 3; Eggeling, SBE. xii. 192.

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³ Weber, *Ind. Stud.* x. 89 ff.

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⁴ Zimmer, *Altind. Leben*, p. 264; Hillebrandt, *Rituallitteratur*, pp. 7, 8.

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In the Sūtras the principle is laid down that the sacrifices are to be distinguished as Prakṛtis and Vikṛtis, the former being the base on which the later are built up; thus the new- and full-moon sacrifices are the model for other sacrifices of the type known as Iṣṭi, and for the animal sacrifice, in its form as an offering to Agni and Soma, on which further animal offerings are based. The Agniṣṭoma again is the fundamental form of the Soma sacrifice:

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on it are based other performances up to the Dvādaçāha inclusive, while on the latter are based the Sattras. Each sacrifice is divided into Pradhānas, the characteristics which mark it out as a special offering, and Aṅgas, the auxiliary parts which are common to many sacrifices, and which build the framework, Tantra, which serves to maintain the sacrifice. The distinction between the Yajatayas and the Juhotayas, the latter managed by the Adhvaryu alone and accompanied by the mere utterance of the word Svāhā, ‘hail’,¹ has already been noted.

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¹ Hillebrandt, *Rituallitteratur*, p. 100.

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In the Soma offering there is added the complications of the recitation of the Sāmans. The rule is that the Sāman is a melody, which is performed on a verse of the Rigveda, and the verses can be sung to different melodies, for which purpose they have to be eked out by the addition of letters, or even of whole syllables, which have themselves no meaning, and of which as many as fifteen are enumerated.² The nature of the tunes must have been varied in the extreme, to judge from the many names recorded, of which the Bṛhat and the Rathantara are the most notorious, but the nature of Indian music is an unsolved problem, and perhaps insoluble.³ Seven notes are mentioned, but their significance is much disputed. Each Sāman is divided into parts, the most usual being that into Prastāva, introduced by the word *hum* (*huṅkāra*), sung by the Prastotṛ, the Udgītha, introduced by *om*, sung by the Udgātṛ, the Pratihāra, introduced by *hum*, sung by the Pratihartṛ, and the Nidhana, or finale, sung by all together. In some cases the Pratihāra is divided into two parts, the latter, the Upadrava, being sung by the Udgātṛ, or the Hiṅkāra is made into a separate element. Moreover there are Upagātṛs, three in number, who accompany the song with the word *ho*. The contempt which through the Indian literature is more or less clearly shown for Sāman singers is justified by the extraordinary stupidity of the position assigned to them.

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² Cf. Felber, *Die indische Musik der vedischen und der klassischen Zeit* (1912); A. H. Fox Strangways, *The Music of Hindostan* (1914); Caland and Henry, *L'Agniṣṭoma*, pp. 461-7; Oldenberg, *GN.* 1915, pp. 522 ff. For the metre see H. Weller, *ZII.* i. 115-84.

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The singing of more than one verse on a tune is a Stotra, which usually is made up of a triplet or a Pragātha, a double verse, which is made into three for recitation purposes. From the Stotras are built up the Stomas, or forms of chanting Stotras. Of these there are many varieties. The simplest in some ways is the Trivṛt, which is the first used in the Agniṣṭoma: it consists of nine verses, which can be variously arranged in sets of three, either as *adg*, *beh*, *cfi*, which is the Udyatī form, or *abc*, *def*, *ghi*, the Parivartinī, and *abc*, *efd*, *igh*, the Kulāyinī. On the other hand the other Stomas, the Pañcadaça, Saptadaça, Ekaviṅça, which with the Trivṛt are the main Stomas of the Agniṣṭoma, and others such as the Pañcaviṅça, Triṇava, Trayastriṅça, Caturviṅça, Catuṣcatvāriṅça, and Aṣṭācatvāriṅça, are all based on three verses or a Pragātha made into three. The numbers of the Stomas are derived from the number of verses which are used: thus the Pañcadaça in one form is made up of *aaabc*, *abbbc*, and *abccc*, the Hiṅkāra being said before each set of three similar verses. Further complications will be noted later on.

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Before the Stotras can be performed the singers must obtain the approval of the Brahman and the Maitrāvaruṇa, who give it with the words *oṁ stuta*, the Brahman saying also one of the Stomabhāgas, certain formulae provided for the purpose. The Stotra is followed by a Çastra, a recitation of the Hotṛ or his fellows, the signal for it being given by the performer of the Stotra saying *eṣā*, ‘this is the last verse.’ The Hotṛ asks the Adhvaryu if he is to recite, the latter agrees. But at the morning litany in front of this dialogue are placed certain syllables, and a muttered prayer to Mātariçvan and the Kavis. This is followed by the silent praise, Tūṣṇīṁjapa, and by the Puroruc, ‘that which shines before’, but in the midday and evening Çastras the place of the Puroruc is taken by Nivids, which are inserted in the hymns of the Çastra. The Nivids are introduced by the procedure of asking the Adhvaryu’s authority to recite, but this formality is omitted in the case of the Puroruc at the first Çastra in the morning: at the second Çastra, on the other hand, we find seven Purorucs preceded by the dialogue of Hotṛ and Adhvaryu, and followed by a triplet. In the case of the midday Çastras there are further complications. In the first Çastra of the midday and the evening pressings there are found sets of three verses called Pratipad and Anucara, which are preceded by the usual dialogue; then comes in the case of the midday Çastra, the Māruta Çastra, a Pragātha addressed to Indra, which is recited as three verses, the last part of each verse being repeated with the first of the next: thus the Pragātha, which consists of a Bṛhatī¹ and Satobṛhatī² or Kakubh³ and Satobṛhatī, is made into a Bṛhatī and two Kakubh verses. This is followed by a Pragātha for Bṛhaspati, Dhāyyās, supplementary verses, a Pragātha for the Maruts, the hymn in which the Nivid is inserted, the Ukthavīrya formula, and then as in the other Çastras come the offering verse and the libation. In the case of the second Çastra of the midday and evening pressings, and all the Çastras of the assistants of the Hotṛ, the Hotrakas, the same sort of beginning is prescribed, but the verses are called Stotriya and Anurūpa, names which refer to the fact that they follow the strophe and antistrophe of the corresponding Stotra of the Sāman singers, which obey the rule that the Anurūpa, ‘corresponding verse’, should follow the Stotriya in metre, number of syllables, and deity. As usual the rule is obeyed that the two verses of the Stotriya are made into three in recitation, and so with the Anurūpa. Then in the second Çastra of the midday pressing, the Niṣkevalya, come Dhāyyās, a Sāmapragātha, the hymn with the Nivid, the Ukthavīrya and the offering verse with the libation.

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¹ A verse of 4 lines (8+8+12+8 syllables).

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² 12+8+12+8 syllables.

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³ 8+12+8 syllables.

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In the first Çastra of the evening pressing, the Vaiçvadeva, the Pratipad and Anucara are followed by a hymn with a Nivid, then a verse for Vāyu, then a hymn with a Nivid to sky and earth, a hymn with a Nivid for the Ṛbhus, three isolated verses, and a hymn with a Nivid to the All-gods. The second, the Āgnimāruta, is composed of a hymn with a Nivid to Vaiçvānara, a Dhāyyā, a hymn with a Nivid to the Maruts, the Stotriya and Anurūpa made from Pragāthas, a hymn with a Nivid to Jātavedas, and a mass of miscellaneous stanzas addressed to the waters, &c. The other Çastras are less important: the specimens given indicate the confusion and elaboration of ideas.

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In other cases there takes place an elaborate process of intermingling both verses and parts of verses of different strophes with one another. This is the rule with the recitation of the Vālakhilya hymns, which may be treated in two different but both complicated ways,¹ with the Mahānāmnī verses,² with the verse for the Āpyāyana or swelling out of the dry Soma stems, and so forth. It is only worth noting that as early as the Rigveda these puerilities seem to have been in vogue.

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¹ Cf. Oldenberg, *Prolegomena*, pp. 212 ff., 494 ff., 514 ff.; *GGA.* 1907, pp. 230 ff.; Scheftelowitz, *Die Apokryphen des Ṛgveda*, pp. 36 ff., 89 ff.

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² Cf. Oldenberg, *GN.* 1915, p. 377.

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The most important division of the sacrifices is that between the Soma offerings and the offerings which are sometimes classed as Haviryajñas, and which differ essentially from the Soma sacrifice as they do not employ the Sāman singers. With the latter may be classed the animal sacrifice, but it also forms an integral and important part of the Soma offering.

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