Ancient Indian Education (Brahmanical and Buddhist) c11.5

c11.5

As has been already explained, the *Brāhmaṇas* are works that deal with *brahma*, i.e. devotion and prayer, and are of the nature of textbooks for rituals or treatises on the "science of sacrifice". They are thus composed in prose. Their main purpose is to explain the relations between the Vedic texts and their corresponding ceremonial and also to explain their symbolical meaning with reference to each other. They are meant not for the lay-worshippers for whom they are too technical, but only for those who are already familiar with sacrificial performances so that the descriptions they give of such performances are not required to be exhaustive. Their subject-matter has been, as we have seen, analysed by Sāyaṇa into (1) *Vidhi* or practical directions for the performance of a *yajña* or sacrifice, and (2) *Arthavāda* or explanations, exegetical, mythological, or polemical, including theological or philosophical speculations on the nature of things (Upanishad). While its *Vidhi* portion thus makes of the *Brāhmaṇa* a liturgical work concerned with the cult and technique of sacrificial performances, its *Arthavāda* portion is free from the trammels of such technical practicalities of ritualism and freely introduces matters of general interest in the form of legends, ethical teachings, philosophical discussions, historical episodes, etymologies, myths, and the like, covering a wide range of intellectual activity that adds to the value, volume, and variety of this literature.