yā 40, rū O tities, ya 40. Statement for equation, Hence by the first analysis, the value of yā is found 11, and the numbers are 11, 5, 4, 2. I should mention here that attached to each Veda there are certain works called Parisishta or 'Supplements,' intended to supply directions omitted in the Śrauta Sutras, &c. There are also the Anukramani or Indices,' giving the first words of every hymn, the metre, the names of the authors and of the deities addressed, the number of verses, &c. · There are also Upa-vedas or 'secondary Vedas,' which, however, have really little or no connection with either the Veda or Smriti. They are, 1. Ayur-veda, 'the science of life' or medicine (regarded as belonging to the Atharvaveda, and by some to the Rig-veda); 2. Gandharva-veda, 'the science of music' (as a branch of the Sama-veda) ; 3. Dhanur-veda, 'the science of archery' or military art (connected with the Yajur-veda); 4. Sthapatya-veda, 'the science of architecture,' including the Śilpa-śāstra : As to 1, Two great medical writers are Ćaraka and Su-śruta, whose works treat of anatomy, physiology, materia medica, pharmacy, surgery (salya), toxicology (visha), omens, and the evil influence of planets and demons (bhuta) in causing diseases. (See Wilson's Essays, vol. i. pp. 269-276, 380-393.) Su-śruta's work, in six books, has been well edited at Calcutta by Sri Madhusudana Gupta. As to 2, Works on music treat of notes, scales, melodies, singing, musical instruments, and sometimes of dancing. Six primary modes or modifications of melody, called Rāgas, are enumerated, which are personified, and each of them married to five or sometimes six Raginis. The chief musical works are the Sangitaratnākara, by Sarn-ga-deva; the Sangita-darpana, by Damodara; and the Sangita-dāmodara, by Subhankara. As to 3, This science is by some ascribed to Viśvāmitra, by others to Bhrigu. As to 4, Some assert that there are sixty-four treatises on the sixty-four Silpas or 'mechanical arts,' such as architecture, sculpture, carpentry, jewellery, farriery, &c. The principal work on architecture is the Māna-sāra, 'essence of measurement,' in fifty-eight chapters, giving rules for the construction of buildings, temples, ornamental arches (torana), &c. Other works, by celebrated Sthapatis or 'architects,' describe the soil suited for building and rites in honour of the Vastu-purusha, 'spirit presiding over sites.' IN LECTURE IX. II. The Smārta Sūtras or Traditional Rules. our classification of Smriti or Post-vedic literature, at the commencement of the last Lecture, we placed the Smarta Sūtras under the second head, and pointed out that they were to a great extent the source of the subsequent law-books which form, in our arrangement, the third head of Smriti. We also observed that the term Smārta-sūtra is a general expression for collections of aphoristic rules which are distinguished from the Śrautasūtra of the Kalpa Vedānga, because they do not relate to Śrauta or Vedic ceremonies, but rather to Grihya or 'domestic rites' and Samayācāra or 'conventional everyday practices.' Hence the Smarta Sūtras are commonly subdivided into, a. Grihya Sūtras, and b. Sāmayāćārika Sūtras. It will be desirable, therefore, before commencing our survey of Manu's celebrated Law-book, to advert briefly to these sources from which some of its materials were derived, and especially to the Grihya Sūtras'. Of these there are collections of different schools attached to each Veda. Thus to the Rig-veda belong the Aśvalāyana2 and Śānkhāyana Grihya Sutras; to the Sama-veda those of Gobhila2; to the Vajasaneyi-samhita or White Yajurveda those of Pāraskara; to the Taittiriya or Black Yajur 1 Probably, however, Manu owes more to the Samayāćārika than to the Grihya Sutras, although these latter are now best known to us by printed editions. We find that the authors of Grihya Sutras have often the same name as the authors of law-books. 2 There are also, as we have seen, Āśvalāyana Srauta-sūtra under the head of 'Kalpa,' and probably each school had all three sets of Sūtras complete, though they are seldom all preserved. The Aśvalayana Grihya veda those of Kathaka, Baudhāyana, Bhāradvāja, Āpastamba1, the Maitrāyaṇīya, Mānava (which last have perished, though some of their Kalpa-sūtras have been preserved, see p. 213), &c. In fact, every Brahmanical family or school (ćarana2) had probably its own traditional recension (śākhā, p. 161) of the Mantra and Brāhmaṇa portion of the Vedas as well as its own Kalpa, Gṛihya, and Samayācārika Sūtras; and even at the present day the domestic rites of particular families of Brahmans are performed in accordance with the Sūtras of the Veda of which they happen to be adherents. Since these Grihya and Samayaćārika Sūtras are older than Manu, they are probably as old as the sixth century B. C., but possibly the works we possess represent comparatively recent collections of the original texts. It has been already pointed out that the Śrauta Sūtras are a kind of rubric for the more public solemn sacrifices (Jyotishṭoma, Agnishtoma, Aśva-medha, &c.) enjoined by the Veda. The subject of the Grihya is rather that indicated by Manu when he says (III. 67) : Let the householder observe domestic rites with the sacred fire kindled at his marriage (called Gārhapatya) according to rule, and perform the five devotional acts and the daily domestic oblations. [Vaivāhike 'gnau kurvita grihyam karma yathā-vidhi Pañća-yajna-vidhānam ća paktim (=pākam) ćānvāhikīm gṛihī.] Sutras and part of the Pāraskara have been edited and translated into German by Professor Stenzler (Leipzig, 1864, 1865), and the former have also been edited by Pandits for the Bibliotheca Indica (Calcutta, 1869). The Gobhiliya Grihya Sutras are being edited for the Bibliotheca Indica. 1 The Apastambas appear to have preserved all three sets of Sūtras complete, for there are also Apastamba Srauta-sūtra and Sāmayāćārikasutra. According to Professor Bhandarkar there are numbers of Brāhmans in the south of India who are adherents of the Black Yajur-veda and who receive dakshina or 'fees' from rich men for repeating it with the Apastamba Sūtras. 2 A work called the Ćarana-vyuha gives catalogues of these schools. Indeed the word Grihya means 'household,' and these Sūtras do in fact give rules for the five diurnal acts of domestic devotion called Maha-yajna (or Panća-yajna, four of them being also Paka-yajna, Manu II. 86), as well as for the domestic ceremonies named Sanskaras, common to all the three higher classes, and not restricted to Brahmans. The twelve Sanskaras are described at p. 246. They are generally performed at the one domestic hearth, instead of with all the three fires (called collectively Tretā) of the Vitānas or 'hearths used at public sacrifices.' I proceed to give a brief account of Aśvalāyana's Gṛihya Sutras of the Rig-veda, making one prefatory remark that the Hindu race affords perhaps the only example of a nation who, although apparently quite indifferent to the registering of any of the great facts of their political life, or even to the recording of any of the most remarkable events of their history-as, for example, the invasion of the Greeks under Alexander the Great-nevertheless, at a very early period, regulated their domestic rites and customs according to definite prescribed rules, which were not only written down, but preserved with religious care, and are many of them still in force. Moreover, as this race belongs to the same original race-stock as ourselves, the antiquity of their customs must of necessity invest them with great interest in our eyes. The domestic oblations called Paka-yajna (Manu II. 86, 143) are distinguished from the Vaitānika in the first two Sūtras, thus (Stenzler's edition, I. 1. 2): 1 Kullūka, on Manu V. 84, derives vitana from vitan, 'to spread out,' and explains Vaitānika to be those Srauta oblations which are performed when the Garhapatya fire is spread over both the Ahavaniya and Dakshina hearths (vaitānam śrauto homaḥ gārhapatya-kuṇḍa-sthān agnīn āhavanīyādi-kundeshu vitatya kriyate). See also Manu VI. 9. There is much. difference of opinion as to the exact meaning of pāka-yajna. Stenzler translates it by 'Koch-opfer,' and thinks it means an oblation offered The Vaitānika oblations (performed with all the three sacred fires 1) have been explained (in the Srauta-sutra), we will now describe those (performed with the) domestic (fire only). There are three kinds of Pākayajna, viz. those that are offered in fire (such as oblations of butter, &c.) ; those that are presented without being offered in fire; those that are offered to the supreme Being (Brahmani) in the feeding of Brahmans (Brāhmaṇa-bhojane). Book I. ii. enumerates the gods to whom oblations are to be offered, such as Agni, Indra, Soma, Heaven and Earth, Yama, Varuna, the Viśve Devaḥ (cf. Manu III. 90, 121), Brahman, &c. These, it will be observed, are generally Vedic deities. The third prescribes the mode of preparing the place where oblations are to be made. The fourth commences with the following Sutra: = The ceremonies of tonsure (caula ćuḍā-karman), investiture with the sacred cord (upanayana), shaving the beard (go-dana), and marriage must be performed during the northern course of the sun (udag-ayane), in the light half of the month (āpūryamāne pakshe), and under an auspicious constellation (kalyāņe nakshatre). These Sanskara ceremonies are then described (beginning with marriage), and whenever Mantras or texts of the Veda have to be repeated during the performance of each rite, the first word or words of the several texts are cited. Thus before the marriage ceremony an oblation of clarified butter is to be offered with repetition of the text: Tvam on the domestic fire when the daily food is cooked. Some of the commentators, on the other hand, interpret pāka by 'small,' 'simple,' and some by 'good.' In Manu II. 86 four Pāka-yajnas or 'domestic oblations' are mentioned (which Kullūka explains by Vaisvadeva-homa, bali, nityaśrāddha, and atithi-bhojana), thus identifying them with four of the Mahā-yajnas, see p. 203. Seven different kinds of Pāka-yajǹa will be found enumerated in my Sanskrit-English Dictionary. 1 In Manu III. 100, 185, five sacred fires are mentioned, and a Brahman who keeps them all burning, called a Pancagni (=Agnihotrin), is regarded as peculiarly pious. They are, 1. Dakshina (Anvāhārya-paćana in the Brāhmaṇas); 2. Gārhapatya; 3. Āhavaniya; 4. Sabhya; 5. Avasathya. The three first fires are the most important and are collectively called Tretā. Agnihotrīs are still met with in India. |