THE SOURCES OF INQUIRY

[JaneSmith105]

THE SOURCES OF INQUIRY​

Introductory

The Grhyasutras, the oldest manuals of the Hindu Samskaras, do not cite their authorities as the Dharmasutras do for their contents. The cause of this silence is that the Samskaras, mostly being domestic rites and ceremonies, were based more on precedent and popular traditional usages than on any definite written code. The Dharmasutras, the Smritis and the mediaeval treatises produce authorities on Dharma or Law, both sacred and secular. But these works do not go deep into ritualistic details and are mainly concerned with the social aspects of the Samskaras. Therefore, for the full information about the Samskaras, we have to ransack other sources also ignored by them.

2. The Vedas

The Vedas are universally recognized as the primary source of the Hindu Dharma. According to the Gautama Dharmasutra "the Veda is the source of Dharma and the tradition and practices of those who know it." Other Dharmasutras and the Smritis endorse the above view. From the perusal of the Vedas also we arrive at the same conclusion.

The oldest document of the religious literature of the indo-Aryans is the Rigveda. Though the religious picture painted in it is by no means complete, as it contains hymns used by the priests in the sacrifices to high gods, we catch glimpses of popular religion at several places. Moreover, there are a few specific hymns that are particularly concerned with popular rites and ceremonies. The Wedding the funeral and the conception are narrated in them.

The narrations or descriptions may not be ritualistically exact but they are historically approximate. The later-day Samskaras, the Vivăha, the Antyesti and the Garbhădhăna were direct descendants of these hymns. Then, there are those hymns of the Rigveda that are of general applicability in the sacramental rituals. They are recited at different occasions, which show that they were not originally composed for a particular Samskara. But their connection with popular ceremonies cannot be denied altogether. Again, we find in the Grhyasutras many citations homonymous to the Vedic Mantras. This fact indicates that a large number of the items of the Samskaras were suggested by the Vedic verses in question and they originated in the later Vedic or the post-Vedic period.

As regards the details and regulations of the Samskaras, it must be confessed that the Rigvedic hymns do not contain positive rules. They contain many incidental references which throw light on the Samskâras. In fact, the Vedic hymns were composed under inspirations for invoking the help of gods in events, public and private, that immediately interested the Vedic people. There are invocations relating to a life of hundred years with children and grand children, securing wives, children and other domestic articles, and the destruction of the demon who kills offsprings. These and similar references have a great correspondence with the Samskăras that were performed at the various important occasions in the life of a man. Besides, there are other references in the Rigveda that bear on the social aspects of the Samskaras. For example, it was difficult to secure a husband for a brotherless girl. "Like a woman growing old in her parents’ house etc." Different forms of marriages are also hinted at. The purchase of a bride (Asura marriage) was prevalent in the Rigvedic period. The Vasistha Dharmasutra quotes a passage from the Maitrayaniya Samhita which runs, "she, who being purchased by husband." The Gandharva form is also referred to in these words, "when the bride is fine-looking and well-adorned, she seeks by herself her friend among many men.’’ The Rigveda praises the stage of a student.

The Sămaveda almost entirely borrowed from the Rigveda, supplies hardly any material worth the name for the history of the Samskaras. It is mainly interesting for its musical tune. It was sung at great sacrifices and other auspicious occasions, e.g. marriage etc. The Varaha-Grhyasutra prescribes Vandana and Găna (music) as a part of the marriage ceremonies. But as regards the form of the Samskăras, the Samaveda has nothing to contribute.

The Yajurveda represents an advanced stage in the progress of rituals. During the period of its composition the functions of different priests were specialized. In it all those formulas are fixed, which were used by the Adhvaryu and his assistants in the performance of the great sacrifices. But the Yajurveda is concerned with the Srauta sacrifices only. So we do not get any material help from it for the study of the Samskaras. The only useful reference found in it is to the shaving ceremony, a common feature, which preceded a Srauta sacrifice—where prayers are offered to the shaving razor and directions are given to the barber. This reference supplies a link between the Srauta and the Grhya ceremonies.

In contradistinction with the other Samhitas, the Atharvaveda is rich in information about popular religion, rites and ceremonies. Here we get mantras for almost every end of human life. The wedding and the funeral hymns are more elaborated in the Atharvaveda than in the Rigveda. To the praise of the Vedic Brahmachari a full hymn is devoted. The act of conception has found mention in a larger number of hymns than in the Rigveda. In the book XVIII of the Atharvaveda there are prayers for long life that are called Ayusyakarmăni, "hymns achieving long life." These prayers were used chiefly at domestic rituals, such as the first haircutting of the boy, the first shaving of the youth and the initiation. It also contains hymns that refer to marriage and love and form a separate class. Kausika calls them 'Strikarmani' or women’s rites. Through them a maiden tried to obtain a bridegroom or a young man a bride by stimulating love in indifferent lovers and unresponsive sweethearts, benedictions upon the bride were offered, conception was accelerated and the birth of a male child effected. These hymns have also got prayers for the protection of the pregnant woman, the unborn and the new-born child, and so on. Considering this popular character of the Atharvaveda, Ridgeway concludes that it is not a record of the Aryan religion but represents the beliefs of the aboriginal people. This view cannot be accepted. It is just possible that the Indo-Aryans assimilated many non-Aryan elements in their religion, but the lower strata of the Aryan community were not less interested in the lower side of religion than the non-Aryan population. The Atharvaveda reflects the faith and rites of the common people rather than the highly specialized religion of the priests.

3. The Brâhmanas

After the Vedas, we come to the Brahmanas as the source of our information. They are thorough treatises on the Vedic rituals. The Brahmanas give rules for the performance of the Srauta sacrifices and the Arthavada or explanation of the purpose and meaning of the sacrificial acts. They contain many discussions on the sacrifices, give interpretations of Vedic hymns, trace etymology of words and try to explain symbols. But the Brahmanas are mostly occupied with the Srauta sacrifices that were the supreme religious concern of the time. In them, however, we get sporadic references that supply some data for constructing the history of the Samskăras. A fragmentary account of the Upanayana is found in the Gopatha Brahmana. The Satapatha gives a different account of it and the word "Brahmacharya" used here denotes the condition of the life of a student. The word Antevasin’ (living with a teacher) in the sense of a student is used both by the satapatha and the Aitareya Brahmanas. Ajina ‘the deer-skin’ is mentioned in the Satapatha Brăhmana. Godana ceremonies are described in the same Brăhmana. Recognition of marriage within the third or the fourth degree is also found in it. The Tandya-Brahmana mentions the Vratyas and the Vratyastoma sacrifices through which they were reclaimed to the Aryan community. The satapatha-Brahmana, Books XI-XIV, besides appendices to the preceding books also contain a few interesting sections on the subjects which are otherwise not dealt with in the Brahmanas e.g. on the Upanayana, the initiation of a pupil, on the daily Vedic Study and on the death ceremonies or the raising of the mound.

 

[JaneSmith105]

4. The Aranyakas and the Upanishads

The Aranyakas and the Upanisads are mainly concerned with philosophical subjects and do not condescend to deal with rituals. But the Vedic sacrifices and rituals were still very popular in their times and they have found mention, here and there, in them. From the point of view of the Samskăras, the Taittiriya Aranyaka is important. From it we learn that late marriages were general, as unmarried pregnant girls were looked upon as sinful. The Brahmayajna or the Daily Study is praised. The sixth chapter called "Pare" gives the Mantras required for the Pitrmedha, ‘the burning of the dead’.

In the Upanisads we have many references relating to the Upanayana-Samskara. The theory of the four Asramas seems to have been established. The Brahmacharin resided and boarded at the house of the guru and in return rendered many personal services such as tending his cows. The importance of the guru was recognized even for studying the Brahmavidya and one had to approach a teacher for this purpose. Admission of a student to the guru is described in the Chăndogya-Upanisad. The restrictions on the teaching are found in the Maitrayaiyi-Upanisad, in the dialogue of Brihadratha and Sakăyana which runs thus: "This knowledge should not be imparted to a sceptic and so on." The usual period of Brahmacharya is mentioned in the Chandogya-Upanisad. In the Brhadaranyaka Upanisad, the sacred Gayatri Mantra is esoterically explained. Many practical instructions of very high value are given in the Taittiriya-Upanisad such as those to the student who leaves his college. As regards marriage, polygamy was possible as shown by the case of Yajnavalkya and his two wives. Early marriage is referred to in the Chandogya-Upanisad. Here Atiki wife is mentioned. The word is explained by later writers as a wife married when she was very young. It was, however, derided. The same Upanisad contains many references to the system of naming. In the Brhadaranyaka-Upanisad we have a detailed sacrificial rite for begetting a learned son versed in all the Vedas. The custom of not performing any funeral ceremony of an ascetic is mentioned in the Chandogya-Upanishada.

5. The Ritual Literature proper

Th first systematic treatment of the Vedic sacrifices and domestic rites is found in the Sutra literature. The Srauta sutras contain directions for the laying of the sacred sacrificial fire, for the Agnihotra, the Darsapaurnamasya, the Chaturmăsya, the Pasuyăga and the great Asvamedha, the Rajasuya and the Văjapeya sacrifices. But as they are mainly occupied with the Vedic sacrifices, they do not yield any material relating to the Samskaras. It is in the Grhyasutras that we find directions for all sorts of usages, ceremonies, rites, customs and sacrifices, the performance and observance of which were binding on the Hindu householder. Among these are found the Samskaras that were performed from the moment when the individual was conceived in the womb till the hour of his death and even further through the funeral ceremonies. The Grhyasutras generally begin with the Vivâha, marriage ceremonies and go on describing the Garbhadharana, the pumsavana, the Simantonnayana. the jatakarma, the Namakarana, Niskramana, the Annaprasana, the Chudakarma, the Upanayana and the Samavartana. Then, they describe the sacrifices and rites be performed by a married couple, and in the end deal with the Antyesti or funeral ceremonies. They give every detail of a samskara and lay down Mantras and formulas to be recited at different stages of a particular Samskăra. Many Grhyasutras omit the .funeral ceremony as it was regarded inauspicious and was described separate Parisistas or addenda and the Pitrmedha-sutras. The ritual aspects of the Samskaras are emphasized and minutely described the Grhyasutras. Their social sides are simply hinted at or briefly described. The Grhyasutras belong to the different Vedic schools; so, in matters of details, they differ from one another to some extent.

There are other branches of the ritual literature, which, though later date, should be classed with the Grhyasutras. These are various Kalpas, the Parisistas, the Kărikas, the Prayogas and the Paddhatis. The Sraddhakalpas and Pitrmedhasutras, which contain rules for funeral ceremonies and ancestral sacrifices follow many of the Grhyasutras. Next come Parisistas or "addenda" in which certain features of the samskäras are dealt with in a greater detail, that were briefly describing the Grhyasutras. Other works on the Samskaras are the Prayogas, "practical handworks", the Paddhatis "outlines", and the Karikas, "versified presentations of rituals". These works supplement the Grhyasutras and introduce new materials in course of time. They deal either with the complete rites and ceremonies of that tool, or are only concerned with special rites. There are also exhaustive works of this class of literature on important Samskaras like the marriage, the Upanayana, the funeral etc. There is a continuous stream of the ritual literature from the most ancient period to the present time.

6. The Dharmasutras

The Dharmasütras are closely connected with the Grhyasutras and they were perhaps written in continuation with them. By "Dharma" the Hindus mean ‘right, duty, law’ and also ‘religious custom and usage." So, at many places the contents of the Dharmasutras and the Grhyasutras overlap each other. The latter describe the domestic rites which the householder was required to perform in his individual capacity, whereas the former were concerned with rules and regulations about the conduct of men as the members of the Hindu community and do not describe rituals of any kind. The Dharmasütras deal with the Varnas (castes) and the Asramas (stages ashramas life) It is under the Asrama-Dharmas that the rules about the Upanayana and the Vivaha are given exhaustively. They also contain rules about the Samavartana, the Upakarma, the Anadhyăyas, Asaucha, the sraddhas and the Madhuparkas. They take up and develop the social aspects of the Samskaras that were simply suggested in the Grhyasutras.

7. The Smrtis

The Smrtis represent a later and a more systematic development of the Dharmasutras. Like the Dharmasutras, they are also mainly concerned with the social conduct of men rather than with rituals. Their contents can be classified under three heads, Achăra, Vyavahara and Prayachitta. Under the first head the Samskaras are (mentioned and the rules regulating them are) given. The most exhaustively treated Samskäras are the Upanayana and the Vivaha, as they inaugurated the first and the second stages of the life of an individual. The Pancha-mahăyajnas or five great sacrifices also figure very prominently in the Smritis. Manu gives a very important place to them and describes them at length. The Smrtis also offer us a mass of information about prayers and sacrifices, household duties. eschatology, funeral ceremonies and sacrifices to the dead. We find in them discussions on the right of performing the Samskăras, minor ceremonies and rites, the worship of new Pauranika deities at various occasions in life, all unknown to the Grhyasutras and the Dharmasutras. Not all the Smrtis deal with the Samskăras. Some, like the Narada-Smrti, are entirely devoted to Vyavahara or Law, while others like the Parasara, are given to the prescription of Prăyachittas. Under the Prayachitta, however, ceremonial impurity due to birth and death are described. The main features of the Smrtis, as regards the Samskaras, are that they mark the transition from the Vedic to Smărta and Pauranika Hinduism. They omit almost all the Vedic sacrifices and introduce new types of worship and ceremonies. Greater restrictions are placed on social sides of the Samskaras, e.g., the total rejection of intercaste marriages in the latest Smrtis.

The Epics

The epic literature also gives some information about the Samskăras. The Brahmanas, who were the custodians of literature, utilized the epics, as they became popular, for propagation of their culture and religion. So, many religious and ceremonial elements which did not originally belong to it, entered the huge body of the Mahâbharata and it became a reference book for the Hindu religion. The Mahabharata was regarded as a Samhita as early as before the fifth century AD. Profuse quotations from the Mahabharata are found in the commentaries and the treatises, bearing on the various topics of the Samskaras, "Bhărate" or in the "Mahabharata" is an often used phrase in the treatises on the Dharmasutra. Moreover, there is a close relation between the Mahăbharta and the Smrtis. The. Manusmriti and the Mahabharta possess many common verses. The Vruddha Gautama," the Brihaspati and the YamaSmrtis originally formed part of the Mahabharata. The Rămayana and other epics like the Raghuvamsa, the Kumărasambhava, and the plays like the Uttara-Rămacharita supply apt illustrations elucidating many tangled points in the Samskăras.

 

[JaneSmith105]

9. The Puranas

The Puranas are not less important than the epics for the study of the Samskăras. Their influence on the Dharmasastra literature is considerable. Even the earliest Dharmasutras bear witness to the popularity of the Puranas which they often quote. They are in many ways connected with the Smrtis. The Apastamba - Dharmasutra refers specially to the Bhavisya-Purana. Caland, while writing on Srăddha, traced close relation between the. Markandeya Purăna and the Gautama-Smrti, the Visnudharmottara-Purana and Visnusmrti, the Chaturvimsati-Purana. and the Manava-&sraddha-Kalpa, the Kurma-Purana. and the Usánas-Smrti, and the Brahma-purana and the rites of the Kathas. We also come across identical descriptions of many topics relating to the Samskaras in the Smritis and the Puranas. Thus, the sraddhakalpa of the Yajnavalkya Smriti is the same as given in the Agni and the Garuda Puranas. Long passages from the first three chapters of the Manusmrti are borrowed by the Bhavisya-Purana. The Laghu-Harita-Smrti is nothing but an extract from the Narasimha - Purăna

The Purănas deal with ceremonies, customs and usages and fasts and feasts of the Hindus and thus throw light on many parts of the Samskaras. Astrological consideration that played an important part in the Samskáras are developed in the Purănas. Divinations regarding different marks on the body, that determine the suitability of the bride or the bridegroom are given in the lingapurana. The Purănas also served is an abrogative agency and came to rescue the Hindu society in the middle ages. Many old customs and usages that had become obsolete or obnoxious to the society were tabooed under Kalivarjya by the Brahma and the Aditya-Puranas

10 The Commentaries


The commentaries on the existing Grhyasutras, the Dharmasutras and the Smritis also give further and later information about the Samskaras. Though they propose to explain and expound the ancient texts, they do some thing more. They not only explain, but they supplement and restrict also. Thus they reflect a new state of society where many of the old provisions of the Dharmasastra had become out of date, and new ones were urgently needed. They were able to do so by means of ingenious interpretations, extension, restrictions and overruling. Really speaking the commentators are more important than the texts, as the Hindus of the different provinces follow the particular commentary prevalent in them. Modern Pandits reject even sacred authorities if they are not quoted by the commentators.


11. The Mediaeval Treatises

The Nibandhas or the mediaeval treatises gave a new orientation to the Samskaras. The Grhyasutras and the Dharmasütra belonged to different Vedic schools and even the Smrtis were connected with them to some extent. But the Nibandhas do not owe allegiance to any single Vedic schooI. Rather they are scholarly works universal in their nature and treatment. The Nibandhas are huge compilations from ancient sources on various topics of Dharma. The Samskaras are treated under separate sections allotted to them and called Samskára - Kanda, Samskara-Prakasa etc. Many ancient and out of date Samskăras are also repeated in them. The texts are arranged according to the convenient opinions of the writers. They pay hardly any attention to the chronological differences and try to rationalize the ancient texts in their own way. Different Nibandhas are current in different provinces. So they contain divergent opinions on the same topics.

12. The Customs

Customs have been recognized from the very beginning as a source of the Hindu Dharma. The Gautama, the Baudhăyana, the Apastamba and the Vasistha Dharmasutras and the Manu and the Yăjnyavalkya-Smrtis all include customs in the lists of their authorities. But no branch of the Hindu Dharma is more based on customs than the Samskaras that originated from popular beliefs and usages, and developed independently without any state interference. The Grhyasutras generally refer to the customs of one’s own family in the performance of the Samskăras. Really speaking, customs were the only source of the Samskăras before they were codified in the Grhya manuals. But there was still a mass of floating customs that could not be codified but was recognized as authority on the Samskăras. The Asvalăyana Grhyasutra while laying down rules about the Vivaha Samskara says, "the customs and usages of different provinces and villages are high and low, that is variant. They should be all consulted in marriage. We prescribe what is common." The difference was bound to be in rites and ceremonies that were performed at such happy and joyous occasions like marriage, birth etc. according to the taste and refinement of the people concerned. In the funeral ceremonies Apastamba refers to the authority of ladies in particular as they are the most conservative elements in society. Baudhayana on Asaucha, says, " In the rest of the people should be referred to." for the funeral ceremonies were closely connected with local beliefs and superstitions: Thus, not written in a code book, customs were a dynamic force that introduced necessary and welcome changes from time to time. They also played an important part in determining the procedure of a rite of ceremony.

Customs can be broadly divided into three groups. The first group consists of the Desăchăras or customs prevalent in a particular province, e.g., marrying the daughter of a maternal uncle in the South, which is generally prohibited elsewhere. The second group includes the Kulacharas or the family customs, for example, the keeping of sacred knot or Sikhă was determined by the Pravara of a man, The last group coincides with the Jatyacharas or customs current in a caste, for instance, the Răksasa and the Gandharva forms of marriages were, on the whole, not desirable. Yet they were recommended for the Kshatriyas.

13. lndo-Iranian, Indo-European and Semitic Sources

The sources of information about the Hindu Samskaras are not exhausted with the Indian literature and customs. A few Samskaras, and many constituents of the Samskäras in general, can be traced back to the pre-Vedic times, when the Indo-Iranian and even some of the Indo-European people were living together, sharing the same beliefs and performing the same rites. The religion of the Avesta bears close resemblance with the Vedic religion and Parsism still preserves a few sacraments akin to the Hindu Samskăras, e.g., the birth ceremonies, the first eating of food and the initiation ceremonies. The worship of fire and the cult of sacrifice were common to Hinduism and Parsism both. The Greek and the Roman religions were also sacrificial and their rituals, in many respects, resembled the Hindu Samskaras. For example, the marriage ceremonies of the Greeks were similar to those of the Hindus in their broad outlines. For studying the Hindu Samskaras the knowledge of these religions supplies a proper perspective.

The religious ceremonies being universal in ancient times, we find many parallel rites in non-Indo-European races also. Semitic religions have many sacraments of very old origin which are performed at important occasions in the life of a man. The Christian sacraments evolved from Semitic sources, though later on they assimilated many Aryan elements in the course of this spread in Europe. Christianity and Islam both have religious ceremonies like baptism, confirmation, matrimony etc. These serve as means of comparison between the Hindu and the Semitic rites which originated from the same process of ideas.

 

[JaneSmith105]

14. The Relative Importance of Sources

The information derived from the Vedas, mostly being incidental, is highly reliable. Here the poet, unlike the priests, was not superimposing ceremonies on the people but drawing on the popular sources and incorporating the popular rites in his compositions. The specific hymns, e.g., the wedding and the funeral hymns reproduce very approximately their respective rites. Winternitz calls the wedding hymn "a narrative ballad." But even if we grant that it was so, we cannot deny that the narrating poet must have tried to be true to reality as far as it was possible. The theory also that the Vedic hymns were poetic outpourings of heart and had no connection with rituals, does not negate the possibility of the Vedic singers being influenced by ritualistic atmosphere they were breathing in. The same is also the case with other incidental references found in the Upanisads, the Puranas and the epics. They have corroborative as well as supplementary value. In the Brahmanas, the discussions on the rituals are very speculative and interpretation and explanations highly fantastic. Therefore, we cannot take them at their face value. Making allowance, however, for exaggeration and fancy, we get the mental picture of a people who believed in the miraculous efficacy of sacrifices and rituals. Ritualistic details found in the Brahmanas have been utilized and amplified by the later literature, the Sutras. So, there is hardly any doubt that these details are trustworthy for their times. In the ritual literature proper there is a great elaboration of the simple rites of ancient days. For the development of rituals the priest was responsible to a great extent. But rites and ceremonies were not his fabrications; rather he mainly drew on common practices, though he gave a polish and supplied a rationale to them. Had these rituals not been popular in their origin, they could not have become so universal and lasting. We have mostly relied on this class of literature while describing the Samskăras. The Dharmasutras and the Smritis that prescribe the rules and regulations are not so natural to the Samskăras as the Grhyasutras. In them there was much ideal and only partially followed by people. But as the hold of religion on men was very strong in ancient times, these rules and regulations were respected and observed to a great extent. The Dharmasutras and the Smritis were not closely connected with any Vedic School and they were followed universally. So, in the present thesis their rules and regulations have been understood and utilized as such. The views of the commentaries and the treatises are more reliable for their times than the texts, because the texts were written in a time far back in the past under different circumstances. Their interpretations, however, of ancient texts cannot be accepted for every time as they try to show.