The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads

388 Pages·2006·27.7 MB·English

HAEVAED OEIENTAL
SEEIES
EDITED
WITH THE COOPERATION OF VARIOUS SCHOLARS
BY
CHARLES ROCKWELL LANMAN
Professor at Harvard University; Honorary Fellow of the Asiatic Society of
Bengal,ofFrance,ofEngland,andofGermany;CorrespondingMemberofthe
SocietyofSciencesatQottingen,theRussianAcademyofSciences, andthe
Acad4miedesInscriptionsetBelles-LettresoftheInstituteofFrance
Volume
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS
LONDON: HUMPHREY MILFORD
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
1925
THE RELIGION AND
PHILOSOPHY OF THE YEDA
AND
UPANISHADS
BY
ARTHUR BERRIEDALE
KEITIf
D.C.L., D.LTTT.
Of the Inner Temple, Barrister-at-Law, and of the Scottish Bar; Regius
Professor of Sanskrit and Comparative Philology at the University
ofEdinburgh;formerly of the Colonial Office
The second half, Chapters 20-29
Page 313 to page 683
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS
LONDON HUMPHREY MILFORD
:
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
1935
Keith's Religibn arfd li^uld&ophy ofthe Veda was printed in 1925
from monotype-matter, eaeh of the two volumes in 2000 copies
Printed (on paper made at its Wolvercote Mill) and bound
at the University Press, Oxford, England
by Frederick Hall, Printer to the University
CONTENTS OF VOLUME 32
CHAP. PAGE
......
20. Tfce sacrifices ofthe rauta ritual 813
1. General characteristics .... 818
2. Establishment and re-establishment ofth.e fi.res .. .. 816
3. The Fire-god oblation or Agnihotra .... \31S
4. The new-moon and full-moon sacrifices 319
3^The four-month or seas.onal .sacrif.ices .... 321
C. First-fruit sacrifice (agr.ayan.a is.ti) and others .. .. .. 828
7. The animal sacrifice .... 324
The Soma sacrifice 326
9. The Pravargya or hot-milk sacrifice 332
10. The Aikadaina animal offering . . . . 333
11. Other forms ofJyotistoma 384
12. Other Soma sacrifices of.one.day'.s dur.ation.. .. .. 336
13. The Vajapeya or drink-of-strength . . . .339
14. The royal consecration 340
...
ISy'The horse sacrifice 343
16i--The human sacrifice . 347
17. Other Ahina rites 848
18. The Sattras or sacrificial sessions 849
l^The Sautramafli t 352
20. The piling ofthe fire-altar 354
21. The Hotr formulae 356
22. Expiations 856
2ir\The domestic ritual 858
.......
^f. General character ofthe domes.tic s.acrif.ices .. .. . 358
2. The various offerings 859
3. Birth-ceremonies and others 366
4. Studentship 369
.378
5. Marriage
22T^Magic in the ritual ... . 379
1. The relations ofmagic to religion ... . 379
2.^he nature ofVedic magic 380
8. The removal of hostile influences .382
4. The attraction ofbeneficial substances and powers . . 886
vi Contents volume 32
of
........
CHAP. ...... PAGE
5. Mimetic magic .fJ88
...
6. Divination and ordeal ..... 890
T.Ahe magic spell .. ... ..... 398
8../The magic sacrifice . 896
9. Yoga practices 401
CONTENTS OF PART IV. THE SPIRITS OF THE DEAD
28. The abodes ofthe dead '.408
....
1. The nature ofthe dead .408
. .
2. The places ofthe dead . 406
8. The transmutation ofthe dead ......415
. . .
24. The disposal ofthe dead . 417
25y<fhe cult ofthe dead 425
1. The living and the dead 425
2. The offerings to the dead in the domestic ritual . . 427
8. The offerings to the dead in the rauta ritual . . . 429
CONTENTS OF PART V. THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE VEDA
26. The beginnings ofVedic Philosophy 488
27. The Theosophy of the Brahmanas 440
....
1. The general character ofthe Brahmana philosophy . . 440
2. The highest principle ofthe universe 442
syfhe theory ofthe sacrifice .... 454
4vThe ethics ofthe Brahmanas 468
. . .
5. Modes ofthought and categori.es .. 482
......
28. The Philosophy ofthe Upanisads 489
.
1. The origin ofthe Upanisa.ds.. ....... 489 .
2. The extant Upanisads 497
3. The interpretation ofthe Upanisads 507
4. The problem and conditions ofknowledge . . . 518
5. The nature ofthe Absolute 516
6. The Absolute and the Universe 522
7.i^Kfkya and Prakrti Illusion and Nature . . .529
(a) Illusion 529
(b) Nature 582
(c) The origin ofthe Samkhya and Buddh.ism.. .. ..585
8. The Supreme and the Individual Souls 551
Contents qf volume 32 vii
CJIAP. ..... PAGE
9. The four states ofthe Soul 567
10. The doctrine oftransmigration .... 570
11. The way ofsalvation 581
12. The ethics ofthe Upanisads and Yoga 584
......
18. The significance ofthe philosophy ofthe Upanisads . 592
294 Greece and the philosophy of India 601
APPENDIX .....
A. The age ofthe Avesta and the Rigveda 614
.....
B. The sacrifice ofPurusa and the.orig.in of.the w.orld.. .. .. 619
C. The Aryan conception ofthe heaven 621
.......
D. The drink ofimmortality 628
........
E. The Indo-European fire-cult 625
....
F. Cremation and burial 626
.......
G. The Dravidian element in Indian thought 629
H. Pythagoras a.nd Pa.rmen.ides....... 684
GENERAL INDEX .......... 689
SANSKRIT INDEX 675

CHAPTER 20
THE SACRIFICES OF THE RAUTA RITUAL
1. General Characteristics
THEritesofthefrautaritualhavemuchessentiallyincommon,inaddition
to the necessity of the use of the three or one at least of the three fires in
placeofthedomesticfire. Theynecessitatethepresenceofpriests numbering
fromoneuptosixteen,orwiththeKausitakinsseventeen,1towhomshouldbe
added the actualperformersofsomeofthe minor actions inthe morecompli-
cated 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
higherrank. Itisobvious,forinstance,thatintheslaughteringofthevictims
theremustoften havebeenneed forotheraidthanthat oftheAdhvaryuand
his assistants proper, and the amitrs are occasionally referred to as charged
with the actual slaying : more often a general term like servant is used to
apply to such helpers.
As a result ofthe constant development ofthe ritual, the festivals ofthe
frautatypearefullofdetails which areofno consequencewith regardtothe
meaningofthe sacrifice : practicallyinnocaseis animportantriteaddressed
toonegod only : the effort on the contrary wasclearly to find as muchroom
We
as possible for as many gods as possible. find, too, many variations
amongthedetailsoftherites, ofwhichbutafewcanbereducedtoanysimple
Thus we know that some families like the Jamadagnis and the
principle.
Bhrgus made five divisions or layers of the offerings, while other families a
made but four, whence the former are called pancdvattins, and the latter
caturavattins. Another distinction which has more religious value is the
differences betweenfamilies basedon thedistinction ofthe use of Tanunapat
or Naraaftsa, as one ofthe deities invoked at the AprI litanies ofthe animal
sacrifice,8 while the difference ofdressing the hair is also ofinterest from the
pointofviewofsocialusages,4havingmanyparallelsinotherlands.
In the Sutras the principle is laid down that the sacrifices are to be dis-
tinguished as Prakrtis and Vikrtis, 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 Isti, and for the animal sacrifice, in its
form as an offering to Agni and Soma, on which further animal offerings are
based. TheAgnistomaagain isthefundamentalform of the Somasacrifice :
1 See Keith, Rig-Veda Br&hmanas, pp. 48, 3 Weber, Ind. Stud. x. 89ff.
498,n. 1. 4 Zimmer, Altind. Leben, p. 264; Hille-
* KfS.i.9.8; Eggeling, SBE.xii. 192. brandt,Rituallitteratur, pp. 7, 8.
314 Vedic Ritual [Partm
onitarebasedotherperformancesuptotheDvada$ahainclusive, whileonthe
latter are based the Sattras. Each sacrifice is divided into Pradhanas, the
characteristicswhichmarkitoutasaspecialoffering,andAngas,theauxiliary
parts which are common to many sacrifices, and which build theframework,
Tantra, which serves to maintain the sacrifice. The distinction between the
YajatayasandtheJuhotayas,the lattermanagedbytheAdhvaryu alone and
accompanied by the mere utterance of the word Svaha, * hail ',l has already
been noted.
In the Soma offering there is added the complications ofthe recitation of
the Samans. The rule is that the Saman is a melody, which is performedon
a verse ofthe Rigveda, and the verses can be sung to different melodies, for
which purposethey have to be eked outby the addition ofletters, or even of
whole syllables, which havethemselvesnomeaning, andofwhichas many as
fifteenareenumerated.2 Thenatureofthetunesmusthavebeenvariedinthe
extreme,tojudgefromthemanynamesrecorded, ofwhichtheBrhat andthe
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 Saman is divided into parts, the
most usual beingthat into Prastava, introduced by ths word hum (hunkdra),
sungbythePrastotr, theUdgitha, introducedbyom, sungbytheUdgatr, the
Pratihara, introduced by hum, sung by the Pratihartr, and the Nidhana, or
finale, sung by all together. In some cases the Pratihara is divided into two
parts, the latter,theUpadrava, being sungby theUdgatr, or theHinkara is
madeintoaseparateelement. MoreoverthereareUpagatrs,threeinnumber,
who accompanythe songwiththeword ho. Thecontemptwhichthroughthe
Indianliteratureismoreorless clearlyshownforSamansingersisjustifiedby
theextraordinary stupidity ofthe position assigned tothem*
The singing of more than one verse on a tune is a Stotra, which usually
ismadeup ofatriplet oraPragatha, a doubleverse,which is madeintothree
forrecitation purposes. From the Stotras are built up the Stomas, or forms
ofchantingStotras. Ofthesetherearemanyvarieties. Thesimplestinsome
waysistheTrivrt, which is the firstusedintheAgnistoma: it consists ofnine
verses, whichcan bevariously arranged in sets ofthree, either as adg, beh, cfi,
whichistheUdyatiform, orabc, def,ghi,theParivartini, andabc,efd, igh, the
Kulayim. On the other hand the other Stomas, the Paftcada9a, Saptada$a>
Ekavi&a, whichwiththe Trivrt are the mainStomas ofthe Agnistoma, and
others such as the Paficavii^a, Trinava, Trayastrifcga, Caturvin9a, Catucat-
varififa, andAstacatvariftga, are allbasedonthreeverses oraPragathamade
intothree. ThenumbersoftheStomasarederivedfrom thenumberofverses
which are used : thus the Paficada?a in one form is made up ofaaabc, abbbc,
1 Hillebrandt,Hituallitteratur,p.100. Hindostan (1914); Calandand Henry,
Cf. Felber, Die indische Musik der vedi L'Agniftoma, pp. 461-7; Oldenberg,
schen und der klassischenZeit (1012) ; GN. 1915, pp. 522 ff. For the metre
A. H, Fox Strangways, The Music of see H. Weller,ZII.i. 115-84.