The Purpose of the Samskaras

[JaneSmith105]

1. Introductory

An investigation into the real purpose and significance of ancient institutions like the Hindu Samskaras is beset with many difficulties. First of all, the peculiar circumstances under which they arose are buried deep under thick crusts of ages, and around them have clustered a mass of popular superstitions. So, at such a distance of time, it requires a well-trained imagination coupled with a through knowledge of facts to probe into the problem. The second difficulty is that of national sentiment, which looks only at the bright side of the past and clouds the critical vision so essential for any research work. But a more stubborn difficulty is presented by the a priori tendencies of the modern mind. It is apt to assume that any thing ancient must be superstitious it is suspicious of spiritual values of life; and it is impatient of understanding strict discipline, which is a great characteristic of ancient religions. A student of ancient culture has to guard himself against credulity on the one hand and the ultra skepticism on the other. It should study the Samskaras with due reverence to the past and full sympathy with human nature through its various stages of development.

2. Two fold Purpose

We can broadly divide the purpose of the Samskaras into two classes. The first class is popular and superstitious, which is motivated by unquestioned faith and naive simplicity of the unsophisticated mind. The second class is priestly and cultural. Its origin is due to conscious forces governing the development and evolution of society, when human beings try to improve upon nature. The priest, though not beyond the common run of people, was above the ordinary man in the Street, and he introduced considerable refinement and culture into social customs and rites in a variety of ways. Samskaras of both the types have continued to figure in society from the very beginning, they have reacted on each other and they are still represented in Hinduism.

3. The Popular Purpose

To begin with the popular purpose, the ancient Hindus, like other nations of the world, believed that they were surrounded by superhuman influences which were potent enough for good or evil consequences. They thought that these influences could interfere in every important occasion in man’s life. Therefore, they tried to remove hostile influences and attract beneficial ones, so that man may grow and prosper without external hindrances and receive timely directions and help from gods and spirits. Many items and ramifications of the Samskaras arose out of these beliefs.

(1) The Removal of Hostile Influences. For removing the unfavorable influences the Hindus adopted several means in their Samskaras. The first of them was propitiation. Goblins, demons and other uncanny spirits were offered praise, oblations and food, so that they may return satisfied with offerings, without causing injury to the individual. The householder was anxious to protect the life of his wife and children and regarded it his duty to deal with them. During the pregnancy of a woman, at the birth of a child, during childhood etc., such propitiation took place. In the birth ceremonies "if the disease-bringing demon, Kumara attacks the child, the father murmurs " Kurkura, Sukurkura, who holds fast children, Chet ! Chet ! doggy let him loose. Reverence be to thee, the Sisara, a barkar, a bender". The second method was that of deception. Sometimes propitiation was thought unnecessary or purposely avoided. For example, at the time of tonsure, the severed hair was mixed with cowdung and buried in a cowstall or thrown into a river, so that none could play magic upon it. Deception is also evident in the funeral ceremonies. At the approach of death the image of a man was burnt before his death to deceive it. The motive underlying this act was that death while haunting the proper body of its victim would mistake him for an already dead person. But when propitiation and deception both proved inefficient, a third drastic step was taken. Mischievous spirits were plainly asked to go away, threatened and directly attacked. During the birth ceremonies the father pronounces, May Sunda and Marka, Upavira and Saundikeya, Ulukhala and Malimlucha, Dronasa and Chyavana, vanish hence Svaha"! The householder also invoked the help of gods and deities to drive away foul influences. While performing the Chaturthikarma (the Fourth Day after marriage) the husband invites Agni, Vayu, Surya, Chandra and Gandharva to remove the injurious elements from the newly married wife. But sometimes, he himself, by means of water and fire, frightened and drove them off.

Other devices were also used for this purpose. Water was invariably used in every Samskaras. It washed away physical impurities and warded off demons and goblins. Noise was made at the time of burial to scare away lurking spirits. Sometimes the man himself asserted his boldness. He equipped himself with weapons to face any odds that might come in his way. For instance, the student was given a staff. He was forbidden to part with it and asked always to keep it close to his body. When this staff was thrown away at the end of studentship, he was provided with a stronger bamboo-staff at the time of Samavartana. It is clearly stated that it was used not merely for protection against animals and human foes but also against Raksasas and Pisachas. Shaking was also a means to remove evil influences. Combing the hair at the time of the Simantonnayana (Hair-parting) was done for the same purpose.Selfishness of man sometimes compelled him to transfer bad influences form his side to that of others. The marriage costume worn by the bride was given to a Brahman, as it was thought injurious to her. In this case, however, the Brahman was thought too powerful to be attacked by evil influences. The nuptial clothes were also put in a cowpen or hung on a tree.

(ii) Attraction of Favorable Influences. Just as untoward influences were tried to be got rid of, so the favorable influences were invited and attracted for the benefit of the recipient of a particular Samskara. The Hindus believed that every period of life was presided over by a deity. Therefore, on every occasion, that deity was invoked to confer boom and blessings on the man. At the time of the Garbhadhana (Conception) Visnu was the chief deity, at the time of the Vivaha Prajapati, and at the time of the Upanayana Brihsapati and so on. But there was no entire dependence on gods only. Men helped themselves also by various means. Suggestion and reference to analogous phenomena played a great part. Touch exercised a magic power. By touching things that were beneficial in themselves one expected good influences to follow. In the Simantonnayana ceremonies a branch of the Udumbara (fig) tree was applied to the neck of the wife. Here touch was believed to bring about fertility. Mounting a stone brought about firmness and was therefore prescribed for a student and a bride. Touching the heart was thought to be a sure means of union and producing harmony between student and teacher or husband and wife. As breath was a symbol of life, the father breathed thrice on the newborn child to strengthen its breaths. For securing a male child the expectant mother was required to eat a barley corn with two beans and curd attached to it.The reason is obvious. The things which the expectant mother took were symbolical of the male sex and were expected to impart it to the embryo. To produce off spring's the juice of a many-rooted and luxuriant banyan-tree branch was inserted into the right nostril of the wife. Anointment produced love and affection. In the marriage ceremonies the brides father anointed the couple while the bridegroom pronounced, May all gods, may water unite our hearts... Avoidance of ugly and inauspicious sights, and giving up contact with impure persons preserved the purity of an individual. The Snataka was forbidden even to pronounce a word beginning with an unlucky letter, or containing a repugnant idea. Sometimes dramatic utterances were also requisitioned to bring about the desired thing. In the Simantonnayan ceremonies the wife was asked to look at a mess of rice whereupon the husband inquired whether she was seeing into its off springs, cattle, prosperity and long life for him.

(iii) The Material Aim of the Samskaras. The material aims of the Samskaras were the gain of cattle, progeny, long life, wealth, prosperity, strength and intellect. The Samskaras were domestic rites and naturally during their performance things essential for domestic felicity were asked from gods. It was a belief of the Hindus that by prayer and appeal their desire and wishes were communicated to the deities who responded to them in form of animals, children, corn, a good physique and a sharp intellect. These material aims of the Samskaras are very persistent and they are found uppermost, even now, in the minds of common people. The priest has always welcomed and blessed the material aspirations of people. He has tried to sanctify and thereby make them legitimate for a householder.

(iv) Samskaras as Self-expression. The householder was not only an ever terror-stricken man, nor was he a professional beggar of gods. He performed the Samskaras also to express his own joys, felicitations and even sorrows at the various events of life. The possession of a child was a coveted thing, so on its birth the joy of the father knew no bounds. Marriage was the most festive occasion in the life of a man. Every land-mark in the progressive life of a child brought satisfaction and gladness in the household. Death was a tragic scene which brought forth much pathos. The householder expressed his happy feelings in the shape of decoration, music, feast and presents, his sorrows were manifested in the funeral ceremonies.

 

[JaneSmith105]

4. The Cultural Purpose.

While fully recognizing the popular purpose of the Samskaras, the great writers and lawgivers have attempted to introduce higher religion and sanctity of life into them. Manu says, "By performing the Samskaras, conception, birth-rites, tonsure, and Upanayana, seminal and uterine impurities are washed away. He again adds. "The bodily Samskaras of the twice-born sanctify this life as well as the other." Yajnavalkya also endorses the same view. Some kind of impurity was attached to the physical side of procreation and lying in the womb. Therefore, it was thought necessary to remove that impurity from the body by performing various Samskaras. The idea of sin (enas) associated with the physical process of birth as mentioned in the Manusmrti (11.27) is differently interpreted by different commentators. In the opinion of Medhatithi here ‘sin’ means mere impurity. According to Kulluka blemishes of seed are those arising from intercourse in a prohibited manner and the blemish of womb in that which arises from staying in the womb of an impure mother. The Mitasara commenting on the Yajnavalkyasmrti (I. I3) explain that the samskaras are calculated to remove the bodily defects transmitted from the parents but they are not intended to remove the tint of sin arising from immoral parents. The whole body was also consecrated to make it a fit dwelling place for the soul. According to Manu, "the body is made Brahmi by studies, observing vows, offering oblations, performing sacrifices, procreating children and undergoing the Panca-Mahayajnas."

Harita as quoted in the Samskaratattva (p. 857) maintains that ‘when a person has an intercourse according to the procedure of garbhadhana he establishes in the wife a fetus that becomes fit for the reception of the Veda. The theory was also current that every man is born a Sudra, who requires refinement and polish before he becomes a full-fledged Aryan; "By birth every one is a Sudra, by performing the Upanayana he is called a twice-born, by reading the Vedas he becomes a Vipra and by realizing Brahman he attains the status of a Brahmana."

Social privileges and rights were also connected with the Samskaras. The Upanayana was a passport for admission into the Aryan community and its sacred literature. It was also a special privilege to the twice born and denied to the Sudras.To mark the end of education and for entering the married life one had to perform the Samavartana Samskara. The Upanayana and the Vivâha Samskaras with Vedic hymns entitled a person to perform all kinds of sacrifices befitting an Aryan and increasing his status in the society.

Another purpose of the Samskaras was the attainment of heaven and even Moksa or liberation. When great sacrifices ceased to be mere propitiation of gods and became a means for securing heaven the Samskaras, which were domestic sacrifices, also rose in their efficacy. Hărita speaks about the fruits of the Samskaras, One who is consecrated with the Brahma Samskaras attains the status of Rsis, becomes their equal, goes to their world and lives in their close vicinity. One who is consecrated with the Daiva Samskaras attains the status of gods etc." As the heaven was regarded the ultimate goal of life by common people in ancient times, the Samskaras naturally became instrumental in the attainment of that coveted state of existence. Sankha-Likhita remarks "Purified by the Samskaras and always practicing the eight virtues of the soul, one gets, merits and heaven, he goes to the world of Brahman and reaches the state of Brahmanhood from where he never falls.

5. The Moral Purpose.

In course of time a moralizing feature emerged from the material body of the Sarmskaras. Gautama after enumerating forty Samskaras, gives ‘eight good qualities of the soul," viz., mercy, forbearance, freedom from envy, purity, calmness, right behavior, and freedom from greed and covetousness. He further says, "He that has performed forty sacraments but has not the eight good qualities enters not into union with Brahman. But he that has performed only a part of the forty Samskaras and has eight good qualities enters into union with Brahman and into the heaven of Brahman."

The Samskaras were never regarded as ends in themselves. They were expected to grow and ripen into moral virtues. For every stage of life rules of conduct were prescribed in the Samskaras. No doubt, in them there is much that is religious and superstitious, but ethical attempt for the moral uplift of an individual is also visible, This stage of the Samskaras marks a great advance over the individual benefits that were solicited in them.

6. The Formation and Development of Personality

The cultural purpose that evolved from the ancient rites and ceremonies of the Hindus was the formation and development of personality. Angiră giving the analogy of a painting says, "Just as a picture is painted with various colours, so the character of an individual is formed by undergoing various Samskaras properly". The Hindu sages realized the necessity of consciously moulding the character of individuals instead of letting them grow in a haphazard way. They utilised the Samskaras, already prevalent in the society, for this purpose.

The Samskaras cover the full span of life, and they even try to influence and impress the individual after his death through the cult of soul. They were arranged in such a way that they may produce suitable impressions from the very beginning of one’s life. The Samskaras were a guide that directed the life of an individual according to his growth. So a Hindu was required ‘to live a full life of discipline and his energies flowed into a well-guarded and purposive channel. The Garbhŕdhana Samskara was performed at the proper time when the couple were physically fit and in a healthy condition, when they knew each other’s heart and had intense desire for possessing a child. Their whole thought was concentrated towards the act of procreation and a pure and congenial atmosphere was produced by means of sacrifices and recital of apt hymns. Throughout her pregnancy the wife was guarded and protected against evil influences physical and super physical and her conduct was regulated to influence the growing child in the womb. At the time of birth, Ayusya (for long life) and Prajnajanana (for talent) ceremonies were performed when the new-born was blessed to become firm like a stone, strong and crushing like an axe and grow into an intellectual man. On every occasion during the childhood joys and felicitations of an optimistic life were thrown into atmosphere which was breathed in by the budding child. After the Chudakarana or tonsure when the child grew into a boy, his duties were prescribed and his responsibilities explained before him without encumbering his mind and body with book-knowledge and school discipline. The Upanayana and other educational Samskaras formed the great cultural furnace where the emotions, desires and will of the boy were melted and shaped and he was prepared for an austere but a rich and cultured life. The Samavartana was an entrance and probation for the life of a married householder. The marriage arrangement was a developed code of eugenics and the nuptial ceremony a homily on the life of a married couple. The various sacrifices and vows prescribed for a householder were introduced to remove selfishness clinging to ones individuality and make him realize that he was the part and parcel of the whole community.

The death of a man was made easy by previous arrangement and his soul was given solace and help in its journey to the other side of life. No doubt, there are many items in the Samskaras that may be called a matter of faith. But none can deny the operation of the cultural motive underlying the Samskaras, though one may not concede them a place for a perfect scientific scheme.

By making the Samskaras compulsory, the Hindu sociologists aimed at evolving a type of humanity uniform in culture and character and having the same ideal in life. They were successful to a great extent in their attempt. The Hindus form a peculiar race with a wide cultural background. They influenced and assimilated the people who came in contact with them by their cultural scheme, and they are still living as a nation.

 

[JaneSmith105]

7. Spiritual Significance

Spiritualism is a chief feature of Hinduism and every phase of Hindu religion is tinctured with it. This general outlook of the Hindus transformed the Samskaras into a spiritual Sadhana. The spiritual purpose and significance of the Samskaras cannot be given an open demonstration nor can it be evidenced with paper documents. It is the experience of those who have received the sacraments. To a Hindu the Samskaras conveyed more than their constituents. They were "an outward visible sign of an inward spiritual grace." He looked beyond the ceremonial performances and felt something invisible which sanctified his whole personality. So, for the Hindus the Samskaras were a living religious experience and not a dead formalism.

The Samskaras served a mean between the ascetic and the materialistic conception of the body. The advocates of the first school try to worship the spirit while discarding the body - an absurd procedure in the world of elements. The upholders of the second view do not go beyond the body and deny the spiritual aspect of man’s life, and therefore they are deprived of that peace and joy that are nestled in the calm recesses of the spirit.It was the business of the Samskaras to make the body a valuable possession, a thing not to be discarded, but made holy, a thing to be sanctified, so that it might be a fitting instrument of the spiritual intelligence embodied In It.

The Samskaras were a gradual training in spiritualism. Through them the recipient realized that all life, properly understood, is a sacrament and every physical action should be referred to, and connected with, the spiritual reality, it was the way in which an active life of the world was reconciled with spiritual realization. In this system of living the body and its functions ceased to be hindrance., and became helpers in attaining perfection. By performing these Samskaras the life of an ordinary Hindu, with whom the world would have been too much but for timely intervention of spiritual discipline, was made a grand sacrament. Thus, duly celebrating the rites and ceremonies, the Hindus believed that they escaped the physical bondage and crossed the ocean of death.

8. Different Stages

Such was the purpose of the Hindu samskaras, when they formed the part and parcel of the life of the Hindus, who fell and acted accordingly. The Samskaras in their creative period were true to life, a flexible and living institution and not a fixed rigid ritualism. They were adapted to different localities and different times. Every Vedic family performed the ceremonies in its own way. Then set in the intellectual classification of the Samskaras, when they were codified. At this time the creative period was drawing to its close and an attempt was made to settle every thing finally. There are numerous discussions and options about the various details of the Samskaras. Minutest details were recorded and no departure from them was desired. But change was still possible. The Hindu mind was not stagnant as yet. Then came a third period in the religious life of the Hindus. They thought that their energy was exhausted, they could not create any thing new and their only business was to collect and preserve. They regarded even a slight variation from the fixed course of the Samskaras a sin and they felt that they could not turn even a pebble, or utter a single word without the prescript on of the ancient Rsis. To make the matter worse, the language of the procedure and Mantras became unintelligible in course of time. This was the stage when the true spirit of the Samskaras departed and their sepulchures were left behind to be worshipped by their blind followers. The Samskaras ceased to be refined, elevated and adapted to the specific needs of the time. Therefore, they became, more or less, a defunct institution not serving their real purpose. In modern times reformist religious movements have tried to simplify and unify the Samskaras to serve the Hindu society as a whole. There have been also attempts at their rationalisation