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THE four Vedas constitute the basic texts of the Vedic knowledge. But in ancient times, several works were composed to elucidate or explain this difficult and secret knowledge. Of these, Brahmanas are most important. It has been said that Vedas consist of the mantras of the Vedas and the texts of the Brahmanas. The word Brahmana is to be distinguished from the word Brahmin. Whereas Brahmanas are literary compositions. Brahmins are members of the varna called Brahmana. The literary works known as Brahmanas are so called because they are commentaries on the mantras of the Veda.

The total corpus of the basic Vedic literature is divided into four parts:

1. Samhitas—Rigveda, Yajurveda, Samaveda, Atharvaveda;

2. Brahmanas;

3. Aranyakas;

4. Upanishads.

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For each Samhita, there are corresponding Brahmanas, Aranyakas and Upanishads. Brahmanas, Aranyakas and Upanishads are closely related with one another.

The Rigveda is connected with Aitareya Brahmana, Aitareya Aranyaka and Aitareya Upanishad. Similarly, the Shankhayana branch of the Rigveda is closely connected with the Kaushitaki Brahmana, Kaushitaki Aranyaka and Kaushitaki Upanishad as well as the Shankhayana Brahmana.

The Krishna Yajurveda is closely connected with the Taittiriya Brahmana/ Taittiriya Aranyaka and Taittiriya Upanishad, while Taittiriya Aranyaka is also closely connected with the Mahanarayana Upanishad.

The Shukia Yajurveda is closely connected with the Shatapatha Brahmana. A part of this Brahmana is called Aranyaka and Upanishad both together, Brihadaranyaka Upanishad.

The Samaveda is closely connected with the Tandyabrahmana, which is also connected with the Chhandogyopanishad. It is also closely connected with the Jaiminiya Brahmanopanishad Brahmana. It is also known as Talavakara Aranyaka.

The Atharvaveda is closely connected with the Gopatha Brahmana, Prashna Upanishad and Mundaka Upanishad.

The Brahmana literature has many philosophical passages, but the bulk of the textual material is related to the explication of rituals. In explaining rituals, Brahmanas reveal a great deal of inner meaning of the relationship between supreme divine Reality, gods and goddesses, Asuras and Rakshasas and human beings who are agents of various kinds of sacrifice. Explanations are given in the form of formulas, explanatory statements, parables and legends.

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As an example, we may give below one of the longest legends that we find in the Aitareya Brahmana,which attempts to explain the nature of sacrifice, significance of sacrifice and also how father and son are interrelated with matters connected with merits and demerits of various actions.

This legend is related to King Harischandra of Ikshvaku dynasty. As he was issueless, two sages, Parvata and Narada visited his house. During the conversation, Narada advised the King to propitiate Varuna in order to get a boon from him for a son. Acting upon the advice, the King obtained the boon from Varuna, but the latter made a condition that the King would sacrifice his son soon after his birth. The King agreed to the condition.

In due course, the King was blessed with a son who was named Rohita. Very soon thereafter, Varuna demanded the sacrifice of Rohita. But the King had become deeply attached to Rohita and prayed to Varuna to allow him to postpone for some time the fulfilment of the promise. Under one pretext or the other, the King obtained postponement from time to time until Rohita was already in age. At this stage, when the King had no other alternative, Rohita was asked by him to be ready for the sacrifice. But now the son refused to oblige the father and absconded from home seeking resort in a forest. A serious disease was contracted by the King/ who felt that this was the result of the curse of Varuna. Harischandra then became desperate to find out his son so as to perform the required sacrifice.

At this stage, Rohita was advised by Indra to go on moving. He was told that movement, if it is performed steadfastly as the Sun, brings about a bright fortune. For six years, Rohita continued to move on, on and on. In the sixth year, he met a poor Brahmin called Ajigarta and requested

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him to offer his own son to Varuna for sacrifice in his place in exchange of 100 golden mudras. Ajigarta offered his middle son, Shunahshepa. Rohita took Shunahshepa to his royal palace and offered him to his father for sacrifice in lieu of himself.

Arrangements were made for the sacrifice, and Vishwamitra was appointed to act as the priest of the sacrifice. The question was as to who would tie Shunahshepa to the sacrificial post and who would perform the actual act of sacrifice. For both these crucial events, Ajigarta agreed in exchange of 100 golden mudras for each occasion. But when the moment of sacrifice arrived, Shunahshepa cried out to the gods. He prayed to Prajapati, then to Agni, then to Savitri and then to Varuna and all the other gods. Consequently/ Shunahshepa obtained boons from all these gods, and Varuna released him from the triple cord in which he was tied on the successful completion of the Soma sacrifice with the Divine blessings and permission of the priest.

Ultimately, Vishwamitra accepted Shunahshepa as his eldest son and named him Devarata (one who was given by gods).

The above legend has been a subject-matter of deep reflection, deliberations and interpretation. The most important message of this legend is that Shunahshepa represents the human being who is tied in the triple cord of body, vital desires and mind. Every human being has to learn the secret of attaining freedom from the bondage of this triple cord. The secret of freedom is to aspire for freedom and to gain the aid of Divine agencies such as Prajapati, Agni, Indra, Savitri, Varuna and other gods. The most important point is reached when one is able to perform such a severe tapas of purification that the highest delight of the Divine consciousness, which is symbolised by Soma,

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can be sustained in the human frame. When tapas is unripe, the body is not able to sustain the in-pouring delight of the Divine being, and leaks down as from the unbaked jar. Therefore, the most important test that one has to pass through is that of Soma sacrifice which can be performed only by attaining complete purity—purity from egoism, purity from desires and purity from ignorance. When these conditions are fulfilled and the grace of the priest or the Guru also is secured, one gets released from the triple cord of body, life and mind. The soul of the human being is then liberated and soars heavenward, even while continuing to ensoul the human body, like a swan in the open sky. This is perhaps the secret meaning of this legend, and much of the Vedic knowledge is contained in a symbolic way in it.

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THE literature of the Brahmanas is vast and deals with a number of subjects, which are ritualistic, philosophical, symbolic and spiritual in character. In it, there is a good deal of account relating to the human conduct, goal of life and practices by which the individual can rise to higher levels of consciousness and immortality. Nonetheless, ritualism plays a major role in the Brahmana literature. Most of the Brahmanas are in prose and provide a kind of commentary on the text of the Vedic Samhitas. The way in which this commentary is given can be illustrated by taking at random two or three examples from the Aitareya Brahmana.

The Aitareya Brahmana is so called because it is attributed to Rishi Aitareya. The story of the Rishi goes like this:

There was a Brahmin who had two wives. One of them was his favourite, while the other one was ignored by him. The ignored one was called Itara (which literally means

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"someone else"). Itara had just one son. Once, during his childhood, when he was weeping and crying, he was scolded by his mother and was asked to keep quiet. Since then, never did he speak. As a consequence, he was considered to be dumb. The sons from the favourite wife of the Brahmin, on the other hand, became learned scholars and good orators in course of time. Once they were invited to perform a sacrifice arranged for by another Brahmin. They impressed everybody present there with their learning and oration. When the matter was reported to Itara, she felt sad. She began to admonish her son for his muteness and backwardness as compared to the sons of the favourite wife. She even expressed her great dismay and in the state of depression, she said that she would prefer to put an end to her life. She said that life in hell would be better than the life she was living with a dumb son. Having heard this, the son at once broke his silence. He said that he had been keeping silent since the day he was admonished by his mother in his childhood to keep quiet. This he was doing in deference to the wishes of his mother. He also disclosed that he was all along mentally reciting all the mantras and practising all the disciplines for attainment of liberation. He then suggested that since he was once again admonished for his backwardness and muteness by his mother and asked by her to break the silence, he was prepared to do so. He also agreed to visit the site of the sacrifice where his brothers were already present and displaying their eloquence.

When this young boy appeared at the site of the sacrifice, the sons of the favourite wife jeered at him and asked him as to how he could dare to appear at the site of the sacrifice. They laughed at the physical appearance of the young boy and hurled insults at him pointing out that his body was smeared with ashes and was unclean. Without caring for these insults, the boy proceeded to sit in the lap

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of his father. But his father, too, turned him aside, uttering to him unkind words and thus humiliating him in the presence of all.

The shock of the humiliation and insult was so severe that even the insentient Nature could not tolerate it. The Mother earth shook violently and, all of a sudden, tearing her own bosom, she pushed forth a beautiful and ornamental throne and placed it before the boy. The Mother earth then told him, "Oh young boy! Of what use is this lap of your father which has been polluted by the sons of your step mother?" Mother earth further told him: "Occupy this throne which I have now placed before you, and God will bestow all His Grace on you as soon as you sit on this throne."

The boy then sat down on the throne and his recitations were so wonderful that even gods showered their blessings as well as beautiful flowers on him from the heaven. All the Vedas, Brahmanas, Aranyakas and Upanishads physically appeared before the assembly. Such was the glorious sight witnessed by every one.

His father realised his folly and came forward to worship his own young son. Sages and other Brahmins also worshipped him and gods blessed him. Even gods performed worship of him.

The boy then recited OM magnificently, and when he descended from the throne, all things seemed glorious. The trembling of the earth ceased, the throne disappeared once again into the bosom of the earth, and the boy was received with ovation.

It was this young boy who was then named Aitareya, i.e., the son of Itara, and was given the title Mahidasa, the servant of the Mother Earth.

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It may be noted that Aitareya has remained a famous name in Vedic literature and apart from Aitareya Brahmana, there is also a famous Upanishad named after him, which is called Aitareya Upanishad, both of them belonging to the Rigveda.

It may also be noted that the story of Aitareya is quite similar to the Puranic story of Dhruva, where Dhruva while trying to sit in the lap of his father was insulted by him. Dhruva had then retired to the forest and performed tapas until Narayana himself appeared before him, blessed him and placed him on the throne of the kingdom.

There seems to be a close connection between the experience of insult and humiliation and the attainment of glory. In this light, we can understand better what Manu has said in his Manusmriti.¹

Indeed, in the tradition of Wisdom, the path to glory lies through the gates of humiliation.

We may now relate a story, which explains the greatness of Gayatri, the metre in which the famous Savitri Mantra of Vishwamitra has been composed. This mantra is addressed to Savitri, who as the creator of the universe, has been invoked to direct and drive the human intelligence with its divine light.

'"We meditate upon the most luminous glory of god Savitri, so that He may drive and direct our intelligence."

According to this story, the question is about the significance of the symbolism of the three steps (padas) of the Gayatri mantra. The three steps of Gayatri are compared in

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this story with the three steps of Vishnu. It is very well known that Vishnu is supposed to pervade the entire universe and that this pervasion is accomplished by Vishnu iri his three strides. In the famous mantra of Dirghatamas (Rigveda, 1.154.), three steps of Vishnu are described as full of honey, and imperishable and as having ecstasy by the self-harmony of their nature. Vishnu, declares Dirghatamas, is the One who holds the triple principle and earth and heaven also, even all the worlds. Indeed, these three steps have nothing to do with the ideas proper to the later mythology of the dwarf Vishnu, the Titanic Bali and the three divine strides by means of which he took possession of the earth, the Heaven, and the sunless sub-terrestrial worlds of Patala. The Vedic Vishnu has three strides, the stride of the earth, heaven, and the triple principle, Tridhatu,—Tridhatu is the triple principle beyond earth,—(matter) and heaven, (mind), and it is what came later on to be known in the Upanishads as sat-chit-ananda. The three movements of Gayatri correspond to the three movements of Vishnu. As one recites the, Gayatri, one becomes as all-pervasive as Vishnu himself. This is the significance that seems to be insisted upon by Aitareya Brahmana.

The question at issue in this symbolic story is to identify the significance of the sacrificial cake, Purodasha, (which literally means "that which is given away in the divine presence"). Purodasha according to the tradition, is cooked in eight pans, and these eight pans symbolise eight syllables of Gayati. Hence, Gayatri is also visualised as a sacrificial cake. This cake is offered in three steps, which are the three steps of Gayatri, and these steps correspond to the three strides of Vishnu. In other words, the symbolism of Purodasha signifies an offering, which leads to a movement of the all-pervasive Vishnu.

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As an important part of this symbolism, it is underlined that the sacrificial cake needs to be cooked and that this cooking is effected by fire symbolised as Agni. Agni, according to the Vedas, is the messenger of gods and therefore represents all the gods. Vishnu also is supposed to represent all the gods. The symbolism, therefore, as a whole, describes the movement of aspiration mounting towards the Supreme, where aspiration is Agni, representing all the gods working through Agni from below, and where the sacrificial cake is the raw material of human elements cooked by aspiration of Agni, and where the sacrificial cake is offered to Vishnu who represents all the gods in the higher planes. In this movement of aspiration, there is a rhythm and that rhythm is symbolised by the three steps of Gayatri. Finally, since Gayatri has eight syllables, it is prescribed that the sacrificial cake should be cooked in eight pans so as to correspond to complete movement of Gayatri.²

We may refer to one more story. This is taken from the Shatapatha Brahmana. This Brahmana is related to the Shukia Yajurveda. As is well known, Yajnavalkya is the main proponent of the Shukia Yajurveda and Shatapatha is the only Brahmana available, belonging to the Shukia Yajurveda. This Brahmana has, towards its close, the famous Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, which is one of the most authoritative expositions of the knowledge contained in the Upanishads, and in which, again, Yajnavalkya figures very prominently.

The story that is being narrated here explains the significance of sacrifice by tracing its origin to the first sacrifice that was performed by Manu. According to the story, Manu was once washing his hands and found that a small fish came to his hands. The fish spoke to Manu: "Protect me, I shall cause your deliverance." Manu then put the fish in a jar of water, where it began to grow in size. When it could not

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be contained in the jar, Manu took it out and placed it in a pond of water. There, too, the fish began to grow, and when it could not be contained in the pond, Manu took it to the ocean and put it there. Under the directions of the fish, a boat was tied by Manu to the horns of the fish, which in turn, was tied to a tree. When the tides in the ocean began to rise, and did not abate, all creatures began to be submerged. But Manu was saved because of the boat, as promised by the fish earlier. When everything was wiped out, Manu alone survived and found himself on the top of a northern mountain (Uttaragiri). The tides of the ocean receded and everything became calm. Then Manu performed a sacrifice. From the sacrifice, there arose a damsel. The damsel was questioned by Varuna and Mitra:

"Who are you?" She replied: "I am the daughter of Manu." Manu also questioned the damsel, "Who are you?" She replied, "I am your daughter." Manu asked as to how she could be his daughter. The damsel then replied that since she came out of the sacrifice, which was performed by Manu, she naturally became Manu's daughter. The daughter came to be called Ila, which also symbolises all the creatures. Ila was then given in marriage to Varuna and Mitra and hence she is called Maitra-Varuni.

Ila also came to be known as Taturi, which means that which enables the individual to cross all the evils and sins of life.

This story, according to Shatapatha Brahmana, indicates why sacrifice should be performed, and how when performed, it produces the creative energy, which symbolises all the creatures.

In the Vedic symbolism, Ila is the source of power of revelation and, therefore, also that of the four Vedas. The Vedas are, therefore, considered in the Vedic tradition as the

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first emanation in the creation. The two great powers, which are subserved by the power of revelation, are the powers of universality and harmony which are symbolised respectively by Varuna and Mitra who occupy so prominent a place in the Vedic tradition. They represent the totality of the universe and the law of mutual relations, which brings harmony of all objects of the universe. But the important point is that neither Ila nor Varuna and Mitra could come into operation without the act of sacrifice on the part of Manu. In other words, the origin of the universe is traced in terms of the symbolism of the story of the original sacrifice performed by the mental being, Manu.

This story of the Shatapatha Brahmana (1.8.1) underlines the fact that all creatures of the universe are born of sacrifice, where sacrifice means the self-giving of the Lord. As a result of it, all the creatures are born of the substance of the Lord himself. And these creatures are, in effect, reflections of the original revelation, which is wedded to the original universality and harmony.

According to the ritualistic tradition of the Veda, all rituals are imitations of the original processes of creation. Rituals are, therefore, expected to repeat the rhythms of the original creation and it is believed that the repetition of these rhythms reinforces all the works of universe and it is by these works that the past is led towards the future and the creation is constantly getting transformed into the new one. Whoever, therefore, sacrifices, contributes to the renewal of the universe, to the creation of the universe, to the transformation of the universe, even to the annulment of the bondage to the past and birth into the future.

This seems to be the meaning of this symbolic story of Manu and sacrifice. It may also be noted that this story is retold in one form or the other in the Puranas and some elements

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of it are also to be found in the Old Testament, which is the source book of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

NOTES

1 A learned Brahmin should always keep himself aloof of honour which is not better than poison. He should always be ready to invite insult, which can be likened to nectar.

2. The above story is given in the Aitareya Brahmana, Chapter I.

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