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Ancient Indian Education (Brahmanical and Buddhist) c9: Chapter II: Rigvedic Education

Ancient Indian Education (Brahmanical and Buddhist) c9

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Chapter II: Rigvedic Education

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**The Rigveda as the Source of Hindu Civilization.** The Rigveda is established as the earliest work not merely of the Hindus but of all Indo-European languages and of humanity. "One thing is certain," says Max Muller, "namely, that there is nothing more primitive, more ancient than the hymns of the Rigveda, whether in India or the whole Aryan world. Being Aryan in language and thought the Rigveda is the most ancient of our books" [*Origin and Development of Religion*]. But the great paradox that it presents is that though this is the oldest book of India, it does not mark merely the dawn of its culture, but rather its meridian. "We cannot tell how the religion of the Hindus came into being. When we become aware of it, we find it already complete in its broad outlines, its main principles. Not only is it complete, but the farther back we go, the more perfect it is, the more unadulterated, the more closely related to the loftiest speculations of our modern agnosticism" [Maurice Maeterlinck in *The Great Secret*].

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"What we read in the Vedas, those archives of Hindu wisdom, gives us only a faint idea of the sublime doctrines of the ancient teachers, and even so these are not in their original form. Only the gaze of the clairvoyant, directed upon the mysteries of the past, may reveal the unuttered wisdom which lies hidden behind these writings" [Rudolph Steiner quoted in *ib.*, p. 8]. According to the Hindu orthodox view, the Rigveda contains within itself the seeds and sources from which the entire course of Hindu thought through the ages has derived and flowed in so many streams. It lays the foundation upon which Hindu Civilization has been building up through the ages. Broadly speaking, it is on a foundation of plain living and high thinking. Therefore, though ancient India is lacking in great monuments of material progress achieved by some of the early civilizations of the world, like the Egyptian or the Assyrian, she is not lacking in monuments of intellectual or spiritual progress. Life was simple but thought high and of farthest reach, wandering through eternity.

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Art was late in coming under such conditions, but not the higher art of living. Some of the prayers of the Rigveda, like the widely known Gāyatrī mantram [iii, 63, 10; also found in *Sāmaveda* (Uttara, 6, 3) and *Yajurveda* (3, 35; 22, 9; 30, 27)] touch the highest point of knowledge and sustain human souls to this day, while no Hindu, however modernized, will allow a single alteration of their original accents, letters, syllables, or words.

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Its Evolution and Contents. The Rigveda itself exhibits an evolution and the history of the Rigveda is a history of the culture of the age. The Rigveda, in the form in which we have it now, is a compilation out of old material, a collection and selection (*saṁhitā*) of 1,017 hymns (or 1,028 hymns, if eleven of Maṇḍala viii, added later, are counted) out of the vast literature of hymns which had been accumulating for a long period. As Macdonell puts it: "Some hundreds of years must have been needed for all the hymns found in the Rigveda to come into being." Bloomfield [*JAOS*, xxix, 288] even considers the so-called oldest parts of the Rigveda as "the last precipitate, with a long and a tangled past behind it of a literary activity of great and indefinite length". Dr. M. Winteritz also concludes: "Centuries must have elapsed between the composition of earliest hymns and the Saṁhitā of the Rigveda." Accordingly, the Rigveda Saṁhitā itself refers to the works of the earlier and later authors [*pūrvaiḥ* and *nūtanaiḥ* (i, 1, 27)], to Agni being worshipped in bygone ages (*pūrve*) by Ṛishis by their hymns (*gīrbhiḥ*) [x, 98, 9] and also to hymns extemporized for the occasion [*stomaṁ jana-yāmi navyam* in i, 109, 2, etc.].

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In dealing with this vast and varied material belonging to different ages, the editors of the Rigveda Saṁhitā were called upon to evolve advanced and comprehensive principles in constructing their work. Firstly, it had to be a representative collection which could reflect the different types and kinds of literary achievements and religious speculation already current in the country. Thus the Saṁhitā is characterized by a remarkable variety in its contents, the topics dealt with in the hymns it brings together, which differ in their appeal and value. Thus there are many hymns which are pure and sublime expressions of faith and poetry, having no connection with any practical purpose or rituals. There are other hymns which are applied for sacrificial purposes. Some again are entirely prompted by the practical needs of the sacrifice and read like sacrificial songs and litanies, arranged in a businesslike manner, by the priestly poets conducting such sacrifices. Much of their poetry again depends upon their subjects. Those addressed to Varuṇa, for example, rank among the highest. Indra again inspires 250 hymns of a different character as the national god of war. These Varuṇa-Indra hymns, however, are marked by great pathos, vigour, and raciness. Agni, again, is the god of the householder, inspiring hymns that touch the heart and rouse tender feelings. There are pearls of lyric poetry in the hymns to Sūrya, Parjanya, Maruts, and Ushas. Among the sacrificial hymns and litanies may be mentioned as the best specimens the famous Āprī Sūktas (propitiatory hymns). Of a different class are what may be called the funeral songs in the tenth maṇḍala of the Rigveda (where there is the interesting reference to the erection of a mound over a corpse) [*Ṛv.* x, 18, 10-13]. There are also hymns referring to cremation and transmigration [x, 16, 1-6]. The hymn i, 164 reads like a riddle. It refers to a wheel of order with twelve spokes, revolving round the heavens, and holding within it in pairs 720 sons to signify the year of twelve months and 360 days and 360 nights. There is again the long and highly interesting wedding hymn [x, 85]. There are, further, hymns of a somewhat secular character. Instances of these are those called *Saṁvādas*, dialogues or ballads, such as x, 95 on Purūravas and Urvaśī, x, 10 on Yama and Yamī, or x, 85 known as the Sūryā Sūkta. There are also a few didactic poems. One of these, x, 117, is addressed to Dāna (Liberality) as its deity by Ṛishi called *Bhikshu* (Āṅgirasa). It enjoins charity as more meritorious than Yajña, sacrifice. The gift of food is a gift of life, for hunger is a form of death. Friends forsake him who does not help them in need, and leave him homeless, for a home means friends. Fortune also is unstable like the wheels of a rolling chariot. So one must not cling to it as a miser. Nor can it save him from death. Nor should one be proud of it, for a rich man finds another richer. Twins, looking alike, differ in mind (*chit*), strength (*vīrya*), and liberality. So there is no religion higher than charity. Similarly, x, 34, is a pathetic monologue in which a gambler bemoans the ruin he has brought to his wife, mother, and family by dicing, exclaiming: "Play not with dice: ply thy tillage: enjoy and value the property thou hast, thy cattle, and thy wife (*kṛishimit kṛishasva vitte ramasva tatra gāvaḥ tatra jāyā*). There are again some special hymns called *Dāna-stutis*, about forty in number, of which the best is the aforesaid x, 117. Lastly, we ascend to the highest level of philosophy in hymns like the song of creation in x, 129; x, 125 on Logos, or x, 90 on the sacrifice of the Virāṭ Purusha to sustain his creation.

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The advance of thought from the concrete towards the abstract is further shown in the conception of abstract deities. We have such names of the Supreme Being as *Dhātā*, *Vidhātā*, *Dhartā*, *Trātā*, *Netā*, *Tvashtā*, *Savitā*, *Viśvakarmā*, *Hiraṇyagarbha*, *Ka* (for which references are given below). We have also deities comprising personifications of abstract nouns like *Manyu*, Wrath; *Śraddhā*, Faith [x, 151]; *Anumati*, Favour of the Gods; *Aramati*, Devotion; *Sūnṛitā*, Bounty; *Asu-nīti*, Spirit-life; or *Nirṛiti*, Decease; and, lastly, *A-diti*, Liberation or Freedom, the Mother of *Ādityas*, who delivers from the bonds of physical suffering and moral guilt. There is also a goddess called *Araṇyānī* [x, 146], the goddess of Forest Solitude, who is invoked with much feeling: "Araṇyānī! Thou who seemest to lose thyself there, why dost thou not ask the way to the village? Dost not Terror seize thee at thy solitude!" She is described as at once harbouring wild beasts, feeding travellers on fruits, yielding abundant food, and fragrant with flowers!

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It will thus be seen that the hymns chosen for the Saṁhitās give a fair picture of the various aspects of a highly advanced cultural life and civilization.

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**Conservation of its Text.** Secondly, besides showing their skill of selection on the basis of their acquaintance with the vast body of hymns then extant, the editors of the Saṁhitā were at pains to think out some mechanical linguistic devices by which the sacred text handed down from time immemorial could be conserved in their pristine purity and original forms and ensured against the interpolations of later ages. The traditional orthodox respect for the sacred word was already responsible for the high standard of verbal authenticity which had been observed in the long interval between the rise of the hymns and the constitution, by grammatical editors, of the extant phonetic text called the Saṁhitā. These editors thus inherited an established tradition and literary practice which they further improved and confirmed. They began by a rigid adherence to the words of the old seers and even to their most minute irregularities of accent or alternate forms not supported by the grammatical rules of a later age, except where changes in phonetic forms were necessary to make them understandable. Thus, to take an instance, the word *sumna* was retained in the Saṁhitā text and not replaced by its later equivalent *dyumna* but the old expression *tuam hı Agne* was changed into *tvaṁ hy Agne*, "For Thou, O Agni."

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The principle by which the Saṁhitā text was thus constituted suggested in its turn other devices for its own conservation against changes or corruptions in time. These devices came later. The text of the Saṁhitā was originally presented in the form called *Nirbhuja-Saṁhitā*. It was followed by the formation of a new text of the Saṁhitā called the *Pratṛiṇṇa Saṁhitā* in which every single word is shown in its independent and phonetically unmodified form and compounds are separated into their elements. This is technically called the *Pada-pāṭha*, "Word-text." To make assurance doubly sure, a second device was resorted to in what is called the *Krama-pāṭha*, "Step-text," where every word of the *Pada-pāṭha* appears twice to be pronounced both after the preceding, and before, the following one. Thus *a b c d* as representing the first four words would be read as *ab, bc, cd*. The full scheme of Vedic recitation ultimately developed various forms as means of preserving the purity of the original Vedic texts. The *Saṁhitā* and *Pada* or *krama pāṭhas* are classed under *Prakṛiti*, while the other *Pāṭhas* come under what is called *Vikṛiti* and are of eight kinds, viz. ; (1) *Jaṭā*, (2) *Mālā*, (3) *Śikhā*, (4) *Rekhā*, (5) *Dhvaja*, (6) *Daṇḍa*, (7) *Ratha*, and (8) *Ghana*. Of these, the primary ones are the aforesaid *Jaṭā* and *Daṇḍa*. Under *Daṇḍa* are grouped Nos. (2), (4), (5), and (7), while *Jaṭā* includes (3). In *Jaṭā-pāṭha*, the two words *a b* will be pronounced as *ab, ba, ab*, (as in *Namo Rudrebhyo Rudrebhyo Namo Namo Rudrebhyaḥ*). The *Ghana-Pāṭha* combines the features of both *Jaṭā* and *Daṇḍa* as in *ab, ba ; abc, cba, abc*.

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These first essays in the editorial art and technique for securing textual purity laid the foundation of Linguistics or Metrics known as *Śikshā* recognized as one of the six sciences which were auxiliaries to the Vedas (Vedāṅgas). This literary art is elaborated in the later *Prātiśākhya* literature in which are presented with examples the euphonic modification necessary for turning the *Pada* into the *Saṁhitā* text, and also in the works known as *Anukramaṇīs*, or Indexes, giving the number of the hymns, verses, words, and even syllables of the sacred text as means of checking its integrity. As Macdonell (*India's Past*) has remarked, "these devices have secured a faithfulness of tradition unparalleled in any other ancient literature."

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**Arrangement of its Contents.** When the Rigvedic text was thus fixed and appropriated for purposes of the *Saṁhitā*, its editors had to think out the principles on which the hymns could be best arranged. These show considerable literary skill, originality of design, and insight into religious needs. First, six representative *Ṛishis* were chosen and their works were utilized to constitute six different *Maṇḍalas*, *Maṇḍalas* ii–vii, of the Rigveda. These Ṛishis are Gṛitsamada, Viśvāmitra, Vāmadeva, Atri, Bharadvāja, and Vasishṭha. Ṭo the nucleus of these six Maṇḍalas or "family-books" were added (1) the group of hymns contributed by other families of Ṛishis to form the second part of Maṇḍala i (51–191); (2) other hymns formed into the first part of the same Maṇḍala; (3) the hymns handed down by Ṛishi Kaṇva and his family, which were constituted into Maṇḍala viii; (4) the assignment of all the Soma hymns to ōne place; Maṇḍala ix, to prevent their being mixed up with other hymns on different subjects; and (5) miscellaneous hymns on a variety of topics brought together in Maṇḍala x, with their number (191) kept same as that of Maṇḍala i and marked by special features of language, metrical form, and contents.

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In this way, the whole compilation came to include 1,028 hymns and 10,580 verses in 70,000 lines of 153,826 words. Of these 70,000 lines, 5,000 lines are found to be repetitions. This shows that the makers of later hymns were only drawing upon a common source, the large stock or floating literature of older hymns which had already been in circulation in the country.

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**Two Ages and Types of Literary Activity.** We shall now go behind the Rigveda Saṁhitā into the fundamental question of the method and system of educatior. responsible for the remarkable literary output it presents and also the wider cultural background to which it is related. The Saṁhitā itself indicates that we have to distinguish between two ages of literary and educational activity which were widely separated in both age and character. The first was an age of creation, of the primordial Rigveda which came into being in the original hymns as they were revealed by their so-called seers or Ṛishis. The Vedic Aryans then found it necessary for their work amidst non-Aryans (whom the Rigveda calls Dāsas, Dasyus, or Asuras and distinguishes by several other physical and cultural characteristics) that they should fix their national sacred literature reflecting their own ideals of thought and life as a means of preserving their cultural integrity as a people. Thus was called for the collection and ordering into one body the floating mass of hymns, the composition of the *Rigveda Saṁhitā*. But the production of this work was not a mere religious [Figure: No. 1.—Images in stone of seven Vedic Ṛishis·.
(1) Vasishṭha
(5) Atri
(2) Viśvâmitra
(6) Kaṇva
(3) Vâmadeva
(7) Gṛitsamada
(4) Bharadvâja Local tradition names the Ṛishis somewhat differently in the following order: (1) Vasiṣhṭha, (2) Atri, (3) Durvâsâ, (4) Bharadvâja, (5) Viśvâmitra, (6) Jâmadagni, and (7) Parâśara. [Found at Rajgir Kund, old Râjagṛiha, in Bihar.]]

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No. 2.—Another isolated image of a Ṛishi [Rajgir].

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and political necessity. It was also a literary necessity. It was necessary to preserve the sacred text from the changes to which it was liable in the process of its oral transmission from teacher to pupil and from generation to generation. It was liable to be corrupted, modified, and modernized in the course of such transmission. It had to confront the compelling consequences of a natural linguistic evolution which would make the retention of its pristine purity and original, archaic form more and more difficult, unless it was fixed and standardized. The time soon arrived, as pointed out by Wilson [*Ṛv. Saṁhitā*, I, xix], "when the antiquity of the hymns, the obscurity of their style, the peculiarities of their language, and the number to which they had multiplied, with the corresponding difficulties of recollecting and teaching them, brought home the supreme necessity of rescuing the dispersed and obsolete Sūktas or Vedic verses from the risk of oblivion and moulding them into some consistent and permanent shape."

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Thus the age of the origination of Rigvedic hymns was primarily an age of creation which was necessarily followed by an age of criticism and compilation, of conservation and codification.

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**Yāska's Comment.** These two ages are very well described by the earliest Vedic commentator, Yāska, in his *Nirukta* (*c.* 700 B.C.). There were, firstly, according to Yāska, "the Ṛishis who were the direct seers of Truth. They were followed by the lesser men (*avara*) who were incapable of that direct perception of Truth, which comes from *tapas* or *yoga*, concentrated contemplation. These may be called *Śrutarshis*. The seers, therefore, had to impart their Truths (Mantras) to these inferior people, the Śrutarshis, by means of oral instruction (*Upadeśa*). The Śrutarshis are so called because they became Ṛishis or Seers only through *Śruti* or hearing the truths imparted to them as pupils by their teachers, the Ṛishis (Upadeśena = Śishyopādhyāyikayā vṛittyā) who imparted to them both the words of the Mantras and also their meaning (*granthataḥ arthataścha*). They could not attain to the truths directly by their own powers of *tapas* and insight. These, again, in view of later generations further deteriorating in their powers, as means of facilitating the study of the Veda, compiled the Veda (i.e. the Saṁhitā text), the Nighaṇṭu and the Vedāṅgas [i, 20 with Durga's commentary]." In commenting on Rigveda, x, 98, Yāska defines *Ṛishi* as the person "who is possessed of vision, to whom, practising austerities (*tapasyamānaṁ*), the self-born Brahma manifested himself" (i.e. "the Vedas revealed their meaning without their study by him", as explained by Durga).

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**'Tapas' as Method of Learning.** Thus the Rigveda Saṁhitā, the form in which the Rigveda is accessible to us, reveals two stages and types of education, and educational method. The matter of the Rigveda, its hymns, are the outcome of the first, the method of the pursuit of the highest Truth and of its direct realization on the basis of ascetic austerities and concentrated contemplation called *Tapas* which marks out the Ṛishi or "Seer". In Rigveda, x, 109, 4, there is mention of seven Ṛishis absorbed in *tapas* (*tapase ye nisheduḥ*) and of the power of *tapas* in raising the lowest to the highest. In x. 154, 2, there is a reference to Tapas of various forms as explained by Sāyaṇa, such as (1) austerities like *kṛichchhra-chāndrāyaṇa* whereby the ascetic is rendered invincible (*anādhṛishya*), (2) sacrifices whereby he attains heaven, and (3) penances of the highest order (*mahat*), e.g. Rājasūya, Aśvamedha, forms of *Upāsanā* (*yoga*) *like Hiranyagarbha*. X, 167, 1 refers to the conquest of heaven by *tapas* (*tapaḥ paritapya ajayaḥ*). X, 136, 2 refers to *Munis* (defined by Sāyaṇa as "the seers of Truths beyond the senses") "clad in barks of trees (*piśaṅgā vasate malā*), shining with the glow of *tapas*, attaining godly forms, and the free movement of the wind". The next verse describes the *Munis* as living in a state of divine afflatus, ecstasy, or supreme bliss (*Unmaditāḥ*) (due to renunciation of the world, as explained by Sāyaṇa), with their souls detached from their bodies which alone are seen by mortals, which means that they lived in a state of *Samādhi*, living in the spirit and not in the body. They are also described as assuming the subtle body resembling the wind (*Vātān ā tasthimā*). The following verse further extols the Muni who becomes all-pervading like the Vāyu, and all-seeing like the sun (by worshipping them), and the equal of the gods (*deva-sakhā*) by *sukṛiti*, pious deeds. The next verse again describes him as attaining to the forms of the gods (Vāyu or Sūrya) or as one whom the gods themselves wish to attain (*deveshita*). I, 55, 4 refers to Ṛishis dwelling in forests (*vane*) in contemplation of God. There is a reference to *Sannyāsa* in viii, 24, 26. The Ṛishi of x, 117 is named Bhikshu and the whole *Sūkta* is in praise of charity and gifts to one who begs in need. X, 190, 1 rises to the culminating conception of *Ṛita* and *Satya*, truth of thought and speech, as the fruit of *Tapas*, and of the whole creation

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ṚISHI ATRI AND HIS WIFE (ANASŪYĀ)

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This portrait of Atri and that of the next Plate IV of Rishi Vasistha have been taken from the portraits appearing in *Hobogirin's* Japanese-Chinese Dictionary of Buddhist Terms edited by Sylvain Levi and others, being in their turn reproductions from a Mahayana Manuscript.

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resulting from the *Tapas* of Brahma. Besides *Ṛishi* and *Muni*, other terms indicative of highest spiritual advancement are *Vipra*, *Vedhas*, and *Kavi* [i, 127, 1; 129, 1, 11; 162, 7; iv, 26, 1]. In i, 164, 45, there is a reference to seers called *Manīshīs* who comprehend *Vāk* or speech in all its' four forms, Brahma as *Śabda*, as *Yogīs*. Of these four forms of *Vāk*, three are stated to be hidden in *guhā*, i.e. in the depths of the soul, while the fourth is manifest as the speech of man, *laukikī bhāshā*. This states the philosophical position that what is rendered explicit in the creation is only a fragment of the Implicit or the Absolute. A similar idea is contained in the 41st verse describing *Śabda* as Brahma unfolding itself in gradual stages as *Ekapadī*, *Dvipadī*, *Chatushpadī*, *Ashṭapadī*, and *Navapadī* and ultimately pervading the Universe as *Sahasrākshara*. Only a part of this *Śabda* or *Vāk* is captured by man for his use as *laukikī* or *vyavahārikī bhāshā*. This verse also indicates that Vedic Sanskrit grew out of spoken language or popular vernacular Sanskrit.

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**Method of Learning according to capacity.** When highest knowledge was thus built up by these Seers and revealed and stored up in the hymns, there were necessarily evolved the methods by which such knowledge could be acquired, conserved, and transmitted to posterity. Thus every Ṛishi was a teacher who would start by imparting to his son the texts of the knowledge he had personally acquired and such texts would be the special property of his family. Each such family of Ṛishis was thus functioning like a Vedic school admitting pupils for instruction in the literature or texts in its possession. The relations between teacher and taught are well established in the Rigveda. The methods of education naturally varied with the capacities of pupils. Self-realization by means of *tapas* would be for the few.

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As the Rigveda itself points out [x, 71, 7]: "Class-mates [*sakhās*, i.e. those of same knowledge (samānaṁ khyānaṁ jñānaṁ yeshām) or who have studied the same *Śāstras* (samāneshu śāstreshu kṛitaśramāḥ)] may have equality in the possession of their senses like the eye and the ear, 'but betray inequality in respect of their power or speed of mind [*asamāḥ* manojabeshu = manasāṁ prajaveshu (Yāska, *Nirukta*, i, 9); or the knowledge or wisdom which is attained by the mind (Sāyaṇa)]. Some are like tanks which reach up to the mouth ('unfathomable, i.e. minds whose depths cannot be reached', as explained by Durgāchārya), others up to the breast only (i.e. 'shallow, whose bottom is within sight’). Some are fit for bath, others are to be seen only.” As Sāyaṇa points out, this passage refers to three grades of students, the *Mahāprajñān*, the *Madhyama-prajñān*, and the *Alpaprajñān*, students of high, medium, and low ability. In i, 112, 2 there is a reference to pupils (dhiyaḥ) approaching for instruction the teacher called *Vachas*, i.e. one possessed of sound learning. In i, 8, 6 there is a mention of *Vipras* being instructed in supreme knowledge as its seekers (dhiyāyavaḥ).

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**Recitation of Texts.** The subject of learning being these hymns, the first step was naturally to impart the sacred texts to the learners by recitation. The air was resounding with the recitation of the hymns in the Vedic Schools. It was such a familiar phenomenon that it has inspired even a hymn of the Rigveda [vii, 103] which compares the monotonous recitation of words by the teacher and his pupils [yadeshāmanyo anyasya vāchaṁ śāktasyeva (i.e. śaktimataḥ śikshakasya) vadati (anuvadati, repeats) śikshamāṇaḥ (i.e. śishyaḥ) ] to the croaking of frogs exhilarated by the approach of rain.

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As has been already indicated, recitation of Vedic texts was cultivated as an art by itself. A great value and potency attached to the very sounds of the letters and syllables by which the sacred words were uttered. Such utterance was not left to mere natural or individual pronunciation but was artificially regulated by metres. The passage i, 164, 24 is very explicit on this point. It states how by conjunction of letters (strictly syllables) are produced seven metres [akshareṇa mimate (i.e. nirmāṇaṁ kurvati, makes) *sapta vāṇīḥ* (i.e. sapta chhandāṁsi). These seven metres are known as (1) Gāyatrī, (2) Paṁkti, (3) Anushṭup, (4) Bṛihatī, (5) Virāj, (6) Trishṭup, and (7) Jagatī, being made up respectively of 24, 28, 32, 36, 40, 44, and 48 syllables. The same verse defines a *Chhandas* or *Metre* being made of *Pādas* or divisions and *Pādas* of *Aksharas*. Thus, as explained by Sāyaṇa, the Akshara is the root of the division of the Rigveda into *Varga*, *Sūkta* or *Anuvāka* [Aksharaiḥ pādāḥ parimīyaṁte | Parimitaiḥ pādaiśchhaṁdāṁsi | Tataḥ pādānāṁ chhaṁdasāmaksharaṁ mūlamiti | Tathā Ṛigvarga-sūktānuvākādīnāṁ chāksharaṁ mūlamiti akshara-praśaṁsā |].

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Every day the student started recitation of Vedic Texts before birds announced break of day’ [*purā-vayabhyaḥ* = pakshyādīnāṁ vāgvadanārambhāt prāk (*Taitti. Saṁ.*, vi, 4, 3, 1)]. The *Aitareya Āraṇyaka* [viii] mentions three ways of reciting the Rigveda, *pratṛiṇṇa*, *nirbhuja*, and *ubhayamantareṇa*, by taking the words singly, as in *Pada Pāṭha*, or in pairs, or in the continuous way, as in *Krama Pāṭha*. There was also already a sound system of phonology. The *Aitareya* and *Śatapatha Brāhmaṇas* distinguish sounds as *ghosha*, *ūshman*, and *vyañjana*, dental and lingual *n*, and the sibilants *ś*, *sh*, and *s*, and also discuss rules of *sandhi* or combinations of words. The Upanishads [e.g. *Taitti*, i, 1, 2] recognize phonological factors like *mātrā* (quantity), *bala* (accent), *sāma* (euphony), and *santāna* (relations of letters).

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**Evolution of Alphabets.** Thus Rigvedic education as its first step comprised the transmission of the sacred texts by the teacher to his pupil by means of regulated recitation and prescribed pronunciation which the pupil had to listen to as *Śruti* and commit to memory. Sāyaṇa [Introduction to Rigveda Commentary] quotes the saying that "the text of the Veda is to be learnt by the method of learning it from the lips of the teacher and not from a MS. (Adhyanavidhiścha likhitapāṭhādivyāvṛitya adhyayanasaṁskṛitatvaṁ svādhyāyasya gamayati)." Because this education was thus primarily a matter of hearing and memorizing by repetition of its texts in the manner of the croaking of frogs, it has been assumed that there was not evolved at that time the art of writing as an aid to memory and education, nor the conception of letters or alphabets as the basis of writing. It has been believed that *Śruti* or Veda should appeal to the ear and not to the eye, and was not to be reduced to writing. No doubt, the tradition of Vedic learning was to impart it to the ear as a secret doctrine to be contemplated and realized, and not to make it a visible object available to all, irrespective of their fitness, and this tradition has been continuing through the ages, even up to the time of Kumārila Bhaṭṭa (of about eighth century A.D.) who has described the writing of Veda as sacrilege. The *Mahābhārata* condemns to hell those who write the Veda (*Vedānām lekhakāḥ*). Kumārila [*Tantra Vārttika*, i, 3, p. 86] states: "That knowledge of the truth is worthless which has been acquired from the Veda, if the Veda has not been rightly comprehended or if it has been learnt from writing." But even if such learning had passed from ear to ear directly under a system of oral tradition and banned the individual method of its transmission through writing, it does not follow that a knowledge of writing or alphabets for use even for secular purposes was not then achieved. Several passages of the Rigveda have been already cited, showing definite reference to *Akshara* as the root¹ of the Rigveda as explained by Sāyaṇa (who considers this verse as intended to be *akshara-praśaṁsā*, stressing the importance of the letter to learning); or i, 164, 41 which refers to the expansion of speech in a thousand (i.e. innumerable) letters (sahasrākshara). Again, the verses vi, 53, 5-8 use metaphors which can only be suggested by the practice of writing then in vogue. In the first two, there is mentioned an instrument of writing called *ārā* which Sāyaṇa explains as a fine-pointed iron-tipped pencil or stylo (*sūkshmalohāgro daṇḍaḥ*) with which hard hearts may be pierced (*paritṛindhi* = *parividhya*). In the third verse, the god is asked to "write" (*ārikha* = *ālikha*) on such hard hearts, while in the fourth, the instrument of such "writing" is called again *ārā* or goad. Again, the verse x, 13, 3 refers to the utterance of *Akshara* (known as *Oṁkāra* or Praṇava) required in the performance of sacrifice, while x, 71, 4 refers to both the methods of learning, by seeing and hearing (Uta tvaḥ paśyanna dadarśa vācham uta tvaḥ śṛiṇvanna śṛiṇoti enām). Again, a Yajus is defined to be "that in which the number of letters is not fixed" by any metre (aniyata-aksharāvasāno yajuḥ). The evolution of letters, alphabets, and writing may, therefore, be assumed as an aid to learning for an age which had paid so much attention to the purity and rules of pronunciation of the texts taught.

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¹ According to Max Müller [*Ancient Sanskrit Literature*, p. 507], "*akshara* which is used for letter and syllable means what is indestructible, radical, or an element."

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**Efficacy of Recitation.** Thus the first step in Rigvedic education was correct recitation of the texts taught. Jaimini in his *Pūrva-Mīmāṁsā Sūtra* [i, 2, 32], has the dictum *Vākyaniyamāt* which means that the words of Mantras must be recited in the prescribed manner to achieve their full fruit. Mere recitation of the texts in the order prescribed has a spiritual efficacy of its own (Niyatapāṭhakramasāphalyāya uchhāraṇameva mantraprayojanam). Thus the recitation of Mantras has a mystical use by itself. A spiritual benefit flows from the observance of the strict order of words of the text recited. This tradition of the independent efficacy of the mere word and correct recitation of the Vedic text has found expression in the extreme position stated in a later text [*Pāṇini-śikshā*, v, 52] to the effect that the slightest lapse in uttering a letter or a word of the Vedic mantra on the part of a teacher will spell utter ruin and disaster to him [Mantro hīnaḥ svarato varṇato vā mithyāprayukto na tamarthamāha | sa vāgvajro yajamānaṁ hinasti yathendra-śatruḥ svaratoparādhāt]. But Jaimini does not deny that Mantras do convey their meaning with reference to the particular sacrifice with which they are connected and states that this function of a Mantra, though a non-spiritual one, should not be left out of account (Sāyaṇa's Introduction to Rigveda].

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In this connection Jaimini has an interesting Sūtra [i, 2, 48], *Vidyāvachana-Saṁyogāt*, on which he instances the case of a girl *Pūrṇikā* husking in a room where a student was reciting the words of the Veda without reference to their meaning. Here was thus the operation of husking going on to the accompaniment of the relevant Mantra being recited by a Vedic pupil without any connection between the two operations (Veda-Vidyāgrahaṇa -kāle arthasya yadavachanaṁ tadyajñasaṁyogādupapadyate | Na hi Pūrṇikāyā avaghāto yajñasaṁyuktaḥ | Nāpi māṇavako yajñamanutishṭhati).

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**Understanding Texts more important than their Recitation.** Rigvedic Education, however, was not confined to mere learning by rote the sacred texts. The contemplation and comprehension of their meaning was considered as more important and vital to education than their mere mechanical recitation and correct pronunciation. The Rigveda has several significant passages condemning and holding up to ridicule those whose knowledge is confined only to the repetition of its words without insight into their inner meaning, and emphasizing the supreme need of realizing that meaning by constant and concentrated contemplation.

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VII, 103, 1 refers to a period of such contemplation in silence, during which Brāhmaṇas achieve enlightenment. Then they burst out into speech (vāchaṁ avādishuḥ) like frogs quickened into activity by the clouds (parjanya) after a year's slumber. It is this enlightenment which fits the pupils (called *Brāhmaṇā* vratachāriṇaḥ explained by Yāska in his *Nirukta*, ix, 6 as *abruvāṇaḥ*, i.e. maintaining the vow of silence) for the task of expounding the sacred texts.

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Again: "I ask: what is the source of *Vāk*, Speech? Speech or Word is God (Brahmāyaṁ Vāchaḥ). That Word I cannot comprehend so long as I am bound by the senses and objectivity (niṇyaḥ sannaddho manasā charāmi). It is the dawn of *Ṛita* (Supreme Knowledge) which alone leads to the comprehension of *Vāk*" [I, 164, 37].

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"He who does not realize the ultimate Truth behind the *Ṛik* and *Akshara* (word and letter) in which rest all gods—what will he do by merely reciting and repeating the Ṛiks?" The Rigveda is *aparā* (inferior) *vidyā* to one who does not go behind its words to their inner meaning (Sāyaṇa) [i, 164, 35, 37, 38]. "(Among pupils studying together) there may be one who merely sees the Word but does not see its meaning. Another hears It, but does not hear It fully. [He only utters the sound without understanding its sense (*dhvanimātramevochchārayati*)]. But to a worthy pupil It fully unfolds Itself like the devoted wife appearing in her best dress before her husband (who can 'see' and 'hear' her fully)" [x, 71, 4 as interpreted by Yāska in his *Nirukta*, i, 19, and Durgāchārya].

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"He who is established (sthira) and has drunk in supreme knowledge (pītaṁ = pītārthaṁ) is counted as indispensable in the assemblies of the learned seeking such knowledge [sakhye = vidushāṁ saṁsadi, the assembly of those associated with knowledge (Sāyaṇa)]. But he [who merely recites the Word without a knowledge of Its hidden meaning (kevalapāṭhakaḥ)] wanders about with a barren cow (adhenvā), not yielding the milk of desires [nāsmai kāmān dugdhe vāgdohyān (Yāska)], with the mere symbol (māyayā) of speech [vākpratirūpayā (Yāska)], having only grasped its sound (śuśruvān) without its sense, like the tree not bearing any fruit or flower (Vāchaṁ ... aphalāmapushpāṁ) [ib. 5]. Sāyaṇa (in his Introduction to Rigveda Commentary) takes the *pushpa* (flower) of this passage to mean knowledge of *Dharma* as expounded in the *pūrva-kāṇḍa* of Rigveda and *phalam* (fruit) as knowledge of *Parabrahma* expounded in its *uttara-kāṇḍa*, and further explains that, as fruit brings us satisfaction, knowledge of Brahma fulfils all our desires. He also explains the other simile to mean that the *Veda* or *Vāk*, as a cow, does not yield its milk of Dharma and Brahma-jñāna, Religion and Supreme Knowledge, to one who is given only to recitation of its texts (pāṭhamātraparaṁ prati).

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"Those who are devoid of the meaning of the sacred word (arvāk) and of wisdom (aprajajñayaḥ) are fit only, by their cultivation of the imperfect popular speech (*Vāchaṁ abhipadya pāpayā = Vāchaṁ laukikīṁ prāpya tayā pāpayā pāpakāriṇyā vāchā*), to turn the plough or the loom (as peasants or weavers) [ib. 9].

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Yāska [*Nirukta*, i, 18] further condemns the mere reciter of the Veda who does not attend to its meaning by quoting the following two passages as translated below from *Saṁhitopanishad Brāhmaṇa* :

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"He is only the bearer of a burden, the blockhead (*sthāṇurayam bhārahāraḥ*), who having studied the Veda does not understand its meaning (like an ass, *sthāṇu*, carrying a load of sandal-wood whose weight it feels without enjoying its fragrance).

"Learning without understanding is called cramming (nigadenaiva śabdyate); like dry wood on ashes, which can never blaze."

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Sāyaṇa [ib.] explains this passage to mean that "the words of the Veda which are received from the teacher without their meaning, and are repeatedly recited as texts, do not kindle, and reveal their inner essence" (yad vedavākyamāchāryāt gṛihītaṁ arthajñānarahitaṁ pāṭharūpeṇaiva punaḥ punaruchchāryate tat kadāchidapi na jvalati svārthaṁ na prakāśayati).

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Sāyaṇa cites an opinion that the mere reciter of Vedic Text (kevalapāṭhaka) only does not lose his caste and does not count as a Vrātya. But he is incapable of performing any sacrifice or winning its fruit such as attainment of heaven.

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Other passages throw further light on the aims and methods of education in those days. These are mostly to be found in Sūkta 71 of Maṇḍala X.

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**Evolution of Vedic Sanskrit out of Secular and Spoken Tongue : Work of Learned Assemblies ('Brāhmaṇa-Saṁghas').** X, 71, 1 is itself addressed to the deity named Parabrahmajñāna. The *Bṛihaddevatā* states that "by this hymn Ṛishi Bṛihaspati invokes God as Supreme Knowledge and Blazing Radiance (sujyotiḥ) whom one can attain only through *yoga*". This hymn points out that the first step in education is the cultivation of popular speech, the spoken tongue or vernacular, by which individual objects are named (nāmadheyaṁ dadhānāḥ). But this language which deals with the objective cannot give expression to what is beyond the objective, the supreme (*śreshṭhaṁ*) and perfect (*aripraṁ*) knowledge hidden in the depths of the heart (*nihitaṁ guhāyāṁ*). That knowledge comes to light by the grace of Sarasvatī through Vedic learning (premnā āvirbhavati).

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This passage is also construed to mean that Vedic Sanskrit has grown out of the spoken tongue of the times as its root. This point is discussed by Yāska [*Nirukta*, i, 16]. Yāska quotes the objection of Kautsa that the Vedas have no meaning (anarthakā hi mantrāḥ) and answers it by pointing out that the Vedas *have* meaning because their words are identical with those of the spoken language (*arthavantaḥ śabdasāmānyāt: samāna eva hi śabdo loke mantreshu cha*, "Identical are the words of both spoken tongue and the Vedas, e.g. the word *go* which occurs in both"). Words which have meaning in the *bhāshā* (spoken language) must have meaning when used in the Veda. Yāska [xi, 29] also cites Rigveda, viii, 100, 11, which refers to *Vāk* as articulate and understandable in man and inarticulate in the lower creatures" [Tāṁ vāchaṁ viśvarūpāḥ paśavo vadanti—vyaktavāchāścha (manushyādayaḥ) avyaktavāchāścha (gavādayaḥ) (Yāska and Durga's Comment)].

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Another passage, x, 71, 2, indicates the method of evolution of Vedic Sanskrit out of the spoken tongue. The learned (dhīrāḥ) meet in their Assemblies where through their discussions language is refined into the language of the Veda, like groats through a sieve (saktumiva tita unā punanto). As fellow-seekers of Truth they are bound by a community of ideas (sakhāyaḥ sakhyāni jānate) to which they give expression in that language, the source of the highest good and knowledge (eshāṁ vāchi bhadrā lakshmīḥ nihitā). Thus this verse indicates that Vedic Sanskrit was hammered into shape out of spoken Sanskrit of the times at learned Assemblies where it was the vehicle of philosophical discussions. It may also be inferred that the Ṛishis used to gather in these Assemblies to disclose and discuss the hymns they had themselves individually attained as the result of their *tapas* and meditation. And this hymn, according to Sāyaṇa, thus refers to what may be called the Conference method, the method of discussion, for the development of this Vedic Language and Knowledge (Vidyat-Saṁghe vāchamakrata).

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The next hymn, x, 71, 3, makes the interesting addition that these learned Assemblies were held at the sacrifices. These sacrifices are therefore described as "opening up the way which the wise (dhīrāḥ = viditārthāḥ) tread for finding speech" [yajñena vāchaḥ padavīyam (= mārgaṁ) āyan]. The Ṛishis were the repository of such speech and they revealed it at such sacrificial gatherings of the learned. Their words thus acquired were then collected and spread far and wide. The system adumbrated here is that at the Yājña-Assembly each Ṛishi brought forward his individual contributions to Speech and then these were collected and codified. Then this standardized speech was suitable for being imparted to pupils and was thus propagated through the whole country. Th different processes in this method of learning and evolution of Vedic Sanskrit are indicated by the words *āyan*, *avindan*, *ābhṛitya*, and *adadhuḥ*, i.e. "attainment, mastery, collection, and propagation" of the words which were originally confined to the Ṛishis and brought to light by them at the learned assemblies accompanying the sacrifices. The *manner* of learning and teaching this Vedic Sanskrit is also indicated here. It was to be learnt in the form of metres. "Seven metres embraced Vedic speech and made it articulate, like warbling birds flocking to the speechless tree." I, 164, 24 even defines *Arka* or *Mantra* as being in the form of *Chhanda*, and *Sāma* as being made of such *Arka*. The Vedic hymns being thus revealed in the form of metres, it was easier to commit them to memory in that form than if they were in the form of prose. A metre can be more easily memorized than mere individual words in prose.

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The next verse, x, 71, 6, repeats the relationship of Vedic to spoken or secular speech. Without Vedic speech and knowledge, all speech is useless (*alakam*) and does not lead to any good in life. The student of the Veda is extolled as its friend (*sachī*) who conserves it by teaching it, and the Veda as the friend (*sakhā*) of man whom it benefits by awakening his insight into truth. The person forsaking these (*tityāja*) misses the way of performing any religious ceremonies or good deeds (*nahi praveda sukṛitasya panthām*). Not knowing Vāk or Vedic speech, "what he hears, he hears amiss; he cannot ascertain the path of virtue."

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The verse x, 71, 8 again mentions the learned Assemblies (*Brāhmaṇa-Saṁghas*, as Sāyaṇa calls them) where Brāhmaṇas united in fellowship in Vedic learning (*sakhāyaḥ*) come together (*saṁyajante*) for the purpose of developing further the truths they had realized in their hearts (*hṛidā tashteshu*) or reached by their minds (*manaso javeshu*). They exclude from such assemblies the ignorant who cannot follow their discussions, so that they may have full freedom to wander about unhampered in the realm of speculation (*vicharanti*) and work out their own conclusions (*yathākāmaṁ vedārtheshu viniśchayārthaṁ pravartante*).

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The next verse condemns those who are not fit to move with the Brāhmaṇas (*brāhmaṇaiḥ saha na charanti*) as being fit only for the plough or the loom, as already stated.

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The superiority of Vedic knowledge to all other knowledge is very well expounded by Sāyaṇa (in his Introduction to Rigveda Commentary). "The Veda expounds the truth about gods, *dharma*, and Para-brahma. He who does not recite the Veda but only utters secular speech full of slander, falsehood, and strife cannot have access to true knowledge (Sakaladevatānāṁ Dharmasya Parabrahmatattvasya cha pratipādakaṁ Vedaṁ anuchchārya para-nindā-anṛita-kalahādi-hetuṁ laukikīṁ vārtāṁ sarvatra uchchārayataḥ spashṭa eva vāchi bhāgyābhāvaḥ)." Again: "Let not a man study too many words, for that is waste of words (vācho viglāpanaṁ hi tat). Such a person may listen to poems and plays which lead to no good because they do not know of the right path (yadyapyasau kāvya-nāṭakaṁ śṛiṇoti tathāpi nirarthakameva tachchhravaṇam)." He also quotes the verse: "The *dvija* who, without studying the Veda, applies his labour otherwise degrades himself to the status of a Sūdra even in this life with his posterity." Sāyaṇa quotes *Purushārthānuśāsana* which points out that the subject-matter of the Veda is twofold: (1) *Dharma* and (2) *Brahma*.

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**Summary: Highest Knowledge attained by 'Tapas' and revealed in Veda.** To sum up: the system of education adumbrated in the Rigveda thus concerns only the acquisition of the highest knowledge and saving wisdom and not of ordinary secular knowledge or intermediate truths for purposes of worldly life. The method of this learning is determined by its aims and contents. The method of attaining the knowledge of the Absolute, "Parabrahma-jñāna," is not the method of acquiring a knowledge of the objective sciences, arts, and crafts. It is the method of realization of the highest and ultimate truths called *Ṛita* and *Satya* by inhibition of the senses and the objective, the method of meditation (*dhyāna*; cf. *dhīrāḥ*) sustained by a life of austerities, *tapas* or *yoga*. In a Rigvedic passage, *Tapas* is described in a literal sense as "the most radiant effulgence coming from the highest knowledge" (*tapaḥ uttamaṁ mahaḥ*), where the worshipper prays for the highest gift, the light of supreme knowledge or *Tapas* (the opposite of *Tamas* or ignorance). The vehicle, the language, of this learning, too, is different. The Rigveda describes the popular speech, the spoken tongue, as "imperfect" ("*pāpayā vāchā*") and "untrue" (*alaka*), because it cannot serve as the vehicle of Truth or supreme knowledge. It is the language of the field and factory, a fragment of Vāk or Brahma (*Brahmāyaṁ Vāchaḥ*), which cannot express the truths hidden in the depths of the soul (*nihitaṃ guhāyām*). These highest and ultimate truths are revealed by a different language, the language of the Vedic Mantras evolved out of the popular speech by means of *tapas* and *yoga* by learned men called *Vipras*, *Vedhasas*, or *Kavis*, *Ṛishis*, *Manīshīs*, and *Munis* who live in a state of trance (*unmaditāḥ*) and in the subtle body (*vātān ā tasthimā*) and are worshipped of the gods themselves (*deveshita*). We are further told that these learned men and seers developed Vedic knowledge and speech by their discussions at Assemblies or Conferences meeting on occasions of Sacrifices where this knowledge and speech were "attained, mastered, collected, and distributed". It was these Academies and learned Assemblies which were thus the agencies for the formulation and propagation of Vedic learning. The members of these bodies are described as *Sakhās*, i.e. those who come together by the bond of fellowship in learning, and are fellow-seekers after Truth.

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**Mastery of Vedic Texts and their Meaning.** When Vedic learning was thus brought to light and fixed in a comprehensible form by its great Masters, the creative geniuses of the Ṛishis, the need arose, and suitable methods were evolved, for conserving and teaching that learning. The first method naturally was that of committing to memory the texts of that learning as they were recited by the teacher. There was a method by which the teacher recited the texts. He recited them in the form of Metres, pronouncing every letter, syllable, and word according to standardized rules regulating accents and stresses and giving scope to the vibrations of every sound so as to call up its inner sense. The young pupils had thus to repeat the letters, syllables, and words of the text, as they fell from the lips of their teachers, with mechanical precision and monotony, like a body of "croaking frogs."

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But the mastery of texts was only the first step of learning. The more important step was the mastery of their meaning. As Sāyaṇa puts it by quoting the dictum "*Dṛishṭau prāpti-saṁskārau*", the mastery of texts, *akshara-prāpti*, is followed by *artha-bodha*, perception of their meaning [Introduction to Rigveda Commentary]. This mastery of meaning was a difficult and prolonged process, the result of severe thinking and concentration. Pupils had to undergo a proper discipline for it and are described as being *vratachāriṇaḥ*, practising vows. Yāska, as we have seen, interprets this *vrata* or vow as a vow of silence and meditation by which the pupil has to realize the truths imparted to him through the texts. The period of this silent meditation is likened to the season of slumber into which frogs fall till they are quickened into activity by the rains. The pupils also, after achieving enlightenment, burst into activity in discourses (*vāchaṁ avādishuḥ*) as teachers. Yāska describes this process of learning by stating that the Ṛishis by their *upadeśa* or teaching lead their pupils to become *Śrutarshis*. They become "seers" of Truth after "hearing" it from the lips of their teacher.

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The ideal of this learning was thus the realization of Truth, and not the mere mastery or recitation of its texts. Many passages are cited above from the Ṛigveda on this point. One of these, a most typical one [i, 164, 39], may be cited again for its profound and emphatic exhortation: "*Ṛicho akshare parame vyoman yasmin devā adhi viśve nisheduḥ | yastanna veda kiṁ ṛichā karishyati*"; on which Sāyaṇa forcefully comments: "*vedanasādhanena Vedena vedyamaviditvā kiṁ sādhayati iti.*" The Veda is useless learning to him who only recites its *Ṛik* without comprehending its meaning. The Veda is *aparā vidyā*, worthless learning, to him who does not achieve the knowledge of the *Paramātman*, the Reality behind its *Ṛiks* and *Aksharas*, its verses and letters! To such an ignoramus, even the words of the Veda, so big with meaning, are "barren of any fruit or flower" (*vāchaṁ aphalāmapushpām*)! The mere crammer of Vedic texts (the *Kevalapāṭhaka* as Yāska calls him), is condemned as *arvāk* by the Ṛigveda.

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