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Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
1tly posit a sarvavidya1 which is superior to a knowledge of each of the Vedas. The most successful attempt at describing the religious literature and action as a whole is the word brahma, and, correspondingly, he who knows the religion as a whole is a brahman. Each of these words appears occasionally in the fourth place, brahma after the trayi ; brahman in company with the priests of the trayi. In a sense the brahma is a fourth Veda, but it is not co-ordinate with the other three ; it embraces and comprehends them and much else besides; it is the religious expression and religious action as a whole, and it is the learned esoteric understanding of the nature of the gods and the mystery of the sacrifice as a whole (brahma in brahmodya and brahmavadin). Needless to say, this fourth Veda, if we may so call it, has primarily no connection with the Atharvan, not even in the Atharva-sa^hita itself (XI, 8, 23 ; XV, 3, 7 ; 6, 3), nor in the Upanishads of that Veda (e.g. Nrzsi//zha- purvatapani Up. V, 2) : the claim that the Atharvan is the Brahma-veda belongs to the Atharvan ritual. In the Upanishads this brahma, still frequently contrasted with the ordinary Vedas, is taken up eagerly, extolled above all other knowledge, and in a way personified, so that it fur- nishes one of the main sources of the various conceptions which finally precipitate themselves in the pantheistic 1 Tait. Br. Ill, 10, 11, 4; Tait. Ar. X, 47; cf. Sat. Br. XIV, 6, 7, 18; 9,4. 17- lxiV HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA. Brahman-Atman. The knowledge of this brahma consti- tutes the brahmavidya, which is separated by the widest imaginable gap from the Brahma-veda in the Atharvanic sense ; cf. above, p. xliii. This broader religious knowledge exists again from earliest times, not only in the abstract, but centres in persons who grasped it in its entirety, in distinction from the technically qualified priests devoted to some speciality. What the brahma is to the trayi, that the brahman is to hotar, adhvaryu, &c. Thus the important stanza, RV. X, 71, ii, depicts the activity of four priests at a jrauta-sacri- fice, the hotar (rzkam posham aste pupushvan), the udgatar (gayatra/zz gayati ^akvarishu), the adhvaryu (ya^vzasya matram vi mimite), and the brahman. The latter is de- scribed in the words, brahma vadati ^atavidyam, ' the Brah- man tells (his) innate wisdom V The association of the first three priests with the three Vedic categories, rik, saman, and ya^-u^, is expressed with a degree of clearness com- mensurate with the character of the hymn, which is in the nature of a brahmodya.
2rah- man tells (his) innate wisdom V The association of the first three priests with the three Vedic categories, rik, saman, and ya^-u^, is expressed with a degree of clearness com- mensurate with the character of the hymn, which is in the nature of a brahmodya. But the brahman has no peculiar Veda ; certainly there is no allusion to the Atharvan. His knowledge is that of the entire Veda, the sarvavidya (Tait. Br. Ill, 10, 11, 4), religious knowledge as a whole. By means of this knowledge he is able to assume in the ritual practices the function of correcting the mistakes of the other priests, whose knowledge is more mechanical. The Brahman is as it were the stage-manager in the sacerdotal drama, the physician of the sacrifice when it is attacked by the disease of faulty execution (5at. Br. XIV, 2, 2, 19) ; he is the mind of the sacrificer (Sat. Br. XIV, 6, 1, j)2. As such he is also conversant with the mystic aspects of the divine powers, the powers of nature, and the details of the sacrifice. In the expression, brahma vadati ^atavidyam, the ' own wisdom ' is the brahma (neuter), and vadati ^ata- vidyam foreshadows the brahmodya, ' the holy, or theo- 1 Cf. RV. I, 10, 1 ; II, 1, 2 ; IV, 22, i ; VI, 38, 3- 4 J VII, 33, 14 ; X, 52, 2 ; X, 91, 10. 2 Cf. Weber, Ind. Stud. X, 135 ff. ; Hang, Brahma und die Brahmanen, p. 9 ff. ; Ludwig, Der Rigveda, III, 28 ff. INTRODUCTION. lxV logical mystery, or riddle V as well as the ritualist refine- ments which the Brclhma/za and Sutra-texts introduce times without end with the closely-related expression, brahma- vadino vadanti. In the non-Atharvanic Vedic texts it is never suggested that the Atharvan is the specific equip- ment, above all other things, which shapes the faculties of this all-round Vedic theologian. On the contrary, the Kaush. Br. VI, n raises the rather one-sided claim that a Rig-veda scholar is the proper Brahman 2. Vasish/^a was a celebrated Brahman and Purohita, and the qualifications for this office were said for a time (probably by the descen- dants of Vasish/^a themselves) to be especially at home in this family. But the B rah ma/za- texts declare explicitly that this is an ' iiberwundener standpunkt,' an obsolete custom : every one properly equipped may be a Brahman ; see Weber, Ind. Stud. X, 34. 35. 137. There is no original connection between Vasish/^a and the Atharvan 3, and it is not going too far to assume that the distinguished abilities demanded by the theory of this office were rare enough to admit every one that had intrinsically valid claims upon it.
3There is no original connection between Vasish/^a and the Atharvan 3, and it is not going too far to assume that the distinguished abilities demanded by the theory of this office were rare enough to admit every one that had intrinsically valid claims upon it. How, then, did the Atharvans come to raise the plea that the Brahman must be one of themselves, and that, consequently, the Atharva-veda was the Brahma-veda? Schematically this was suggested by an obvious proportion. As the hotar, &c, is to the Rig-veda, &c, so the Brahman is to the fourth Veda, and as the Atharvan is the fourth Veda, or rather a fourth Veda, it required no too violent wrench to identify it with that other comprehensive fourth Veda, the knowledge of the brahma. Thus the Atharvan 1 See the author, Journ. Amer. Or. Soc. XV, pp. 172, 184 ff. 2 A broader view, yet one that ignores the Atharvan claim, is taken by Apastamba, in the Ya^a-paribhasha-sutra 19. There the Brahman is said to perform with all three Vedas. Only the commentator admits that the Atharvan may be included. See Max Miiller, Ancient Sanskrit Literature, p. 470 ; Zeitschr. d. Deutsch. Morgenl. Gesellsch. IX, p. xlvii ; Sacred Books, vol. xxx, p. 321. Cf. also Sat. Br. XI, 5, 8, 7, and Madhusudana's statement of the final orthodox view, Max Miiller, ib. 445 ff. ; Ind. Stud. I, 4. 14. 3 The interesting association of VasishMa with the redaction of the Atharvan, reported by Mallinatha in his comment on Kiratar^uniya X, 10, may be founded upon this very title to the office of purohita, and thus show that purohitas were naturally supposed to be Atharvavedins ; cf. above, p. lv. [42] e lxvi HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA. became the Brahma-veda. The fact that there was no systematic sharply-defined provision for the Atharvanists in the scheme of the hieratic religion must have been galling at first, until this arrangement was completed to their own satisfaction. They may have, though we do not know that they did, gathered courage for this tour de force by the frequent mention in the AV. itself of the word brahma in the sense of charm, prayer, e.g. I, 10, i; 14, 44; 23, 4, &c. If this was done it was a proceeding both arbitrary and superficial: the word has in the AV. the meaning of charm only in so far and inasmuch as the hymns of that Veda happen to be charms ; the RV. employs the term freely to designate its own suktini (e.g. V, 85, 1 ; VII, 28, 1 ; 36, 1 ; X, 13, 1 ; 61, 1).
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
1tly posit a sarvavidya1 which is superior to a knowledge of each of the Vedas. The most successful attempt at describing the religious literature and action as a whole is the word brahma, and, correspondingly, he who knows the religion as a whole is a brahman. Each of these words appears occasionally in the fourth place, brahma after the trayi ; brahman in company with the priests of the trayi. In a sense the brahma is a fourth Veda, but it is not co-ordinate with the other three ; it embraces and comprehends them and much else besides; it is the religious expression and religious action as a whole, and it is the learned esoteric understanding of the nature of the gods and the mystery of the sacrifice as a whole (brahma in brahmodya and brahmavadin). Needless to say, this fourth Veda, if we may so call it, has primarily no connection with the Atharvan, not even in the Atharva-sa^hita itself (XI, 8, 23 ; XV, 3, 7 ; 6, 3), nor in the Upanishads of that Veda (e.g. Nrzsi//zha- purvatapani Up. V, 2) : the claim that the Atharvan is the Brahma-veda belongs to the Atharvan ritual. In the Upanishads this brahma, still frequently contrasted with the ordinary Vedas, is taken up eagerly, extolled above all other knowledge, and in a way personified, so that it fur- nishes one of the main sources of the various conceptions which finally precipitate themselves in the pantheistic 1 Tait. Br. Ill, 10, 11, 4; Tait. Ar. X, 47; cf. Sat. Br. XIV, 6, 7, 18; 9,4. 17- lxiV HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA. Brahman-Atman. The knowledge of this brahma consti- tutes the brahmavidya, which is separated by the widest imaginable gap from the Brahma-veda in the Atharvanic sense ; cf. above, p. xliii. This broader religious knowledge exists again from earliest times, not only in the abstract, but centres in persons who grasped it in its entirety, in distinction from the technically qualified priests devoted to some speciality. What the brahma is to the trayi, that the brahman is to hotar, adhvaryu, &c. Thus the important stanza, RV. X, 71, ii, depicts the activity of four priests at a jrauta-sacri- fice, the hotar (rzkam posham aste pupushvan), the udgatar (gayatra/zz gayati ^akvarishu), the adhvaryu (ya^vzasya matram vi mimite), and the brahman. The latter is de- scribed in the words, brahma vadati ^atavidyam, ' the Brah- man tells (his) innate wisdom V The association of the first three priests with the three Vedic categories, rik, saman, and ya^-u^, is expressed with a degree of clearness com- mensurate with the character of the hymn, which is in the nature of a brahmodya.
2rah- man tells (his) innate wisdom V The association of the first three priests with the three Vedic categories, rik, saman, and ya^-u^, is expressed with a degree of clearness com- mensurate with the character of the hymn, which is in the nature of a brahmodya. But the brahman has no peculiar Veda ; certainly there is no allusion to the Atharvan. His knowledge is that of the entire Veda, the sarvavidya (Tait. Br. Ill, 10, 11, 4), religious knowledge as a whole. By means of this knowledge he is able to assume in the ritual practices the function of correcting the mistakes of the other priests, whose knowledge is more mechanical. The Brahman is as it were the stage-manager in the sacerdotal drama, the physician of the sacrifice when it is attacked by the disease of faulty execution (5at. Br. XIV, 2, 2, 19) ; he is the mind of the sacrificer (Sat. Br. XIV, 6, 1, j)2. As such he is also conversant with the mystic aspects of the divine powers, the powers of nature, and the details of the sacrifice. In the expression, brahma vadati ^atavidyam, the ' own wisdom ' is the brahma (neuter), and vadati ^ata- vidyam foreshadows the brahmodya, ' the holy, or theo- 1 Cf. RV. I, 10, 1 ; II, 1, 2 ; IV, 22, i ; VI, 38, 3- 4 J VII, 33, 14 ; X, 52, 2 ; X, 91, 10. 2 Cf. Weber, Ind. Stud. X, 135 ff. ; Hang, Brahma und die Brahmanen, p. 9 ff. ; Ludwig, Der Rigveda, III, 28 ff. INTRODUCTION. lxV logical mystery, or riddle V as well as the ritualist refine- ments which the Brclhma/za and Sutra-texts introduce times without end with the closely-related expression, brahma- vadino vadanti. In the non-Atharvanic Vedic texts it is never suggested that the Atharvan is the specific equip- ment, above all other things, which shapes the faculties of this all-round Vedic theologian. On the contrary, the Kaush. Br. VI, n raises the rather one-sided claim that a Rig-veda scholar is the proper Brahman 2. Vasish/^a was a celebrated Brahman and Purohita, and the qualifications for this office were said for a time (probably by the descen- dants of Vasish/^a themselves) to be especially at home in this family. But the B rah ma/za- texts declare explicitly that this is an ' iiberwundener standpunkt,' an obsolete custom : every one properly equipped may be a Brahman ; see Weber, Ind. Stud. X, 34. 35. 137. There is no original connection between Vasish/^a and the Atharvan 3, and it is not going too far to assume that the distinguished abilities demanded by the theory of this office were rare enough to admit every one that had intrinsically valid claims upon it.
3There is no original connection between Vasish/^a and the Atharvan 3, and it is not going too far to assume that the distinguished abilities demanded by the theory of this office were rare enough to admit every one that had intrinsically valid claims upon it. How, then, did the Atharvans come to raise the plea that the Brahman must be one of themselves, and that, consequently, the Atharva-veda was the Brahma-veda? Schematically this was suggested by an obvious proportion. As the hotar, &c, is to the Rig-veda, &c, so the Brahman is to the fourth Veda, and as the Atharvan is the fourth Veda, or rather a fourth Veda, it required no too violent wrench to identify it with that other comprehensive fourth Veda, the knowledge of the brahma. Thus the Atharvan 1 See the author, Journ. Amer. Or. Soc. XV, pp. 172, 184 ff. 2 A broader view, yet one that ignores the Atharvan claim, is taken by Apastamba, in the Ya^a-paribhasha-sutra 19. There the Brahman is said to perform with all three Vedas. Only the commentator admits that the Atharvan may be included. See Max Miiller, Ancient Sanskrit Literature, p. 470 ; Zeitschr. d. Deutsch. Morgenl. Gesellsch. IX, p. xlvii ; Sacred Books, vol. xxx, p. 321. Cf. also Sat. Br. XI, 5, 8, 7, and Madhusudana's statement of the final orthodox view, Max Miiller, ib. 445 ff. ; Ind. Stud. I, 4. 14. 3 The interesting association of VasishMa with the redaction of the Atharvan, reported by Mallinatha in his comment on Kiratar^uniya X, 10, may be founded upon this very title to the office of purohita, and thus show that purohitas were naturally supposed to be Atharvavedins ; cf. above, p. lv. [42] e lxvi HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA. became the Brahma-veda. The fact that there was no systematic sharply-defined provision for the Atharvanists in the scheme of the hieratic religion must have been galling at first, until this arrangement was completed to their own satisfaction. They may have, though we do not know that they did, gathered courage for this tour de force by the frequent mention in the AV. itself of the word brahma in the sense of charm, prayer, e.g. I, 10, i; 14, 44; 23, 4, &c. If this was done it was a proceeding both arbitrary and superficial: the word has in the AV. the meaning of charm only in so far and inasmuch as the hymns of that Veda happen to be charms ; the RV. employs the term freely to designate its own suktini (e.g. V, 85, 1 ; VII, 28, 1 ; 36, 1 ; X, 13, 1 ; 61, 1).
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
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