English
They stood lowest in the estima- tion of the Brahmans, and, as the proper pronuncia- tion of the sacred texts required considerable study, they were allowed simply to mutter the verses which 174 KALPA. they used during the sacrifice. The recitation of Yedic verses was considered as so subordinate a part of their duty, that their Sanhit&y at least the most ancient Sanhitft^ of the Adhvaryu-veda priests, is not a collection of hymns, but rather a complete descrip- tion of the sacrifice, as performed by the Adhvaryus, interspersed with such verses and formulas as had to be muttered by the officiating priests. It was at a 1 According to some commentaries, this ancient collection of the Adhvaryn priests was called KrishiM, or the dark Tajur-veda, owing to its motley character, whereas the more recent version of the Yajur-veda was called hikla or bright, on account of the clear separation of hymns and rules, or, according to others, on account of its enabling the reader to distinguish clearly between the offices belonging to the Hotri and the Adhvaryu. A more popular explanation is given by Colebrooke from Mahtdhara*s Commentary on the Ytgaaaneyi-sanhita. It occurs also in the Pur&nas : '' The Vajush^ in its original form, was at first taught by VaiSamp&t/ana to twenty-seven pupils. At this time, having instructed V&fnavaikya^ he appointed him to teach the Veda to other disciples. Being afterwards oflfended by the refusal of V&fnavalkya to take on himself a share of the sin incurred by VaiSamp&yancL, who had unintentionally killed his own sister's son^ the resentful preceptor bade YajnavaUtya relinquish the science which he had learnt He instantly disgorged it in a tangible form. The rest of Vaiiamp&yana^s disciples receiving his command to pick up the disgorged Yeda, assumed the form pf partridges, and swallowed the texts which were soiled, and for this reason termed <' black ; " they are also denominated TaitHriya^ from tUiiri^ the name of a partridge. YajnavalkyOj overwhelmed with sorrow, had recourse to the sun ; and through the favour of that luminary, obtained a new revelation of the Yajush which is called '' white " or pure, in contradistinction to the other, and is likewise named Vetjasaneytn^ from a patronymic, as it should seem, of Y&jnavalkya himself; for the Veda declares, ''these purer texts, revealed by the sun, are published by T^jnavalkya, the offspring of VAjasanL*' But, according to the Vishnu-purana, the priests who studied the Yajush are called VS^in*^ because the sun, who revealed it, assumed the fcnrm of a horse (v^in)." It is KALFA. 175 much later time, and probably in imitation of the Sftma-veda-sanhit&, that a separate collection of the hymns of the Adhvaryu priests was made, and this we possess in the various j^&khds of the Y&jasaneyins, who have embodied the rules and the description of the sacrifice in a separate Br&hmana, known by the name of the l^atapatha. According to the same me- taphor, which assigns to the Adhvarjru priests the body of the sacrifice, its two most essential limbs fall to the lot of two other classes, the Hotri and Udgfi.tri priests; or, as S&yana says, in his introduction to the Taittiriya-sanhitd. : ^^ The Rig-veda and S&ma-veda are like fresco-paintings whereas the Yajur-veda is the wall on which they stand." The Udg&tri priests have little to do with the actual performance of the sacrifice. Their chief duty is to chant their hymns in a loud melodious voice, and these hymns, in the order in which they had to be chanted, were collected in a book of songs, called the Sfi.ma-veda-sanhit&. The third class of priests, who were equally free from purely manual labour, had to recite the sacrificial hymns, according to the strict and difficult rules of the ancient pronunciation and acce];ituation, but with- out chanting. No collection, however, was made for them, containing the hymns in their sacrificial order ; because the Hotri priests were supposed to be so thoroughly versed in the ancient Vedic poetry, as contained in the Rig-veda-sanhit&, that they were clear that these are nothing but late etymological legends. JHiHri and Vajin were proper names. Titiiri was the pupil of VAska, the pupil of VaiSamp^anOf and it is through them that the old or dark Yajur-veda was handed down. V&jnavalkya^ of the familj of the Vdjasaneifint^ was the founder of the more modem or bright Yajar-yeda. 176 KALPA. expected to know the whole of it, and to be able to repeat readily, without the help of a manual, whatever hymn was enjoined at any part of the sacrifice. This distribution of the ceremonial between the three classes of priests, which, after the collection of the ancient Sanhit^ of the Rig-veda, called forth the two Sanhit&s of the Sflma- andYajur-vedas, regulated from the first the composition of the Br&hmanas. Instead of one cpde of theology, we find three collections of Br&hmanas, treating respectively of the performance of those rites, which each of the three classes of priests was more particularly concerned with. The Adhvar- yu priests had originally, as we saw, no Brilhmana in the usual sense of the word, and what is called their Br&hmana is in reality a mere supplement and conti- nuation of their SanhitA; originally, therefore, neither of these names was correctly applicable to the Yajur- veda of the Charakas. In later times, however, the duties of the Adhvaryu were incorporated in a se- parate Brahmana, the Satapatha, at the same time that their hymns were collected in a small manual, the later Sanhitft of the Yajur-veda. In a similar manner the sacrificial duties of the Hotri priests were discussed in the Bahvricha-br£thmanas, and those of the Udg&tri priests, in the Chhandoga-br&hmana. Thus we see that the collection, if not the original composition, of the Brd.hmanas, was not entirely with- out system ; and that the remarks on certain parts of the sacrifice, although sometimes extremely diffuse, and mixed up with extraneous matter, were not thrown together at random. As most of the sacrifices were to be performed by two or three classes of priests in common, the same ceremony may be described in different Br&hmanas. The Agnishtoma, for instance, begins with the ceremony of the Ritvig-varana, the KALPA. 177 election of priests. This ceremony is performed by the Adhvaryu priests alone, and it was not necessary to explain it in the £r&hmana of the Hotri priests. It is wanting therefore in the Bahyricha-bi^hmanas. The next following ceremony, the Dikshanlyeshti, is likewise performed by the Adhvaryus together with the Chhandoga priests; but as here the Hotri priests also have to take a part (the y^jyfia and anuvfi-ky&s), it is described in the beginning of the Aitareya* br&hmana.^ The Ealpa-siitras, with which we are at present concerned, follow the same system as the Br&hmanas. They presuppose, however, not only the existence of > ^The Aifareja-brahmana consists of forty Adhjajas; the Aranjaka also is reckoned part of the Aitareja, and is equally ascribed to Mahid&sa, the son of Itara. " In the Brahmana, the first subject is the Jjotishtoma (cha- tnhsamstha) ; then the Grav&m-ayana, the Aditj&n&m-ajana, the Angirasam-ajana, and the Dvadaiaha. The Jyotishtoma stands first among the Somayagas, (such as the Groshtoma and Ayashtoma), and it comprises seven sacrifices (saptasamstha.) Four of these are the Agnishtoma, Ukthya, ShodaiSin, and Atir&tra ; and among these four the Agnishtoma is the model, the whole ceremony being here fully detailed, while for the other sacrifices the peculiar rules only are given, the rest being supplied from the modeL The Agnishtoma ought therefore to be explained first. Now it is very true, that at the beginning of the Agnishtoma the Ritvij priests are to be elected, for Apastamba says in his Sfitras, ' he who is going to sacrifice with Soma, let him choose Arsheya- br&hmans for Ritvij;' but as the Hotri priests have nothing to do in the ceremony of this election, and as the Big-veda ia only concerned with rules for the Hotri priests, the IMkshaniyeshti is ezpluned first. For although the Ishti, or the sacrifice itself, is performed by Adhvaryus, yet the Taj} &s and Anuvaky&s belong to the Hotri priests. In the Rig-veda we find the Yajyas, Puronu- v&ky&s, &c. ; in the Yajur-veda the Dohanas, Nirvapas, he. ; in the Sama-veda the Ajyastotras, Prishthastotras, &c." — Sayancu N 178 KALPA. three distinct collections of Br&hmanas, but of dif- ferent SftkhAs or recensions, which, in the course of time, had branched off from each of them.