The Aitareya Brahmanam of the Rigveda, containing the earliest speculations of the Brahmans on the meaning of the sacrificial prayers, and on the origin, performance and sense of the rites of the Vedic religion. Edited

1922·24.4 MB·English

by  Haug, Martin, 1827-1876

HAXDBOLND
AT THE
[w:
UN1\ERS1TV OF
TORONTO PRESS
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2008 with funding from
IVIicrosoft Corporation
http://www.archive.org/details/aitareyabrahmana04hauguoft

^"6^
; ^
The Sacred Books of the Hindus
Translated by various Sanskrit Scholars
AND
Edited by Major B. D. Basu, I. M. S. (Retired)
Extra Volume —
+.
THE
Brahmanam
Aitareya of the RIgveda,
C0NTA8NINQ THE
EARLIEST SPECULATIONS OF THE BRAHMANS ON THE
MEANING OF THE SACRIFICIAL PRAYERS,
AND ON
THE ORIGIN, PERFORMANCE AND SENSE OF THE
RITES OF THE VEDIC RELIGION
EDITED, TRANSLATED AND EXPLAINED, WITH PREFACE,
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY, AND A MAP OF THE
SACRIFICIAL COMPOUND AT THE
SOMA SACRIFICE
BY
I MARTIN HAUG, Ph. D.,
Superintendent of Sanscrit Studies in the Poona College, &c., &c.
M
REPRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY
SUDHINDRA NATH VASU, M. B., AT THE PANINI OFFICE,
BAHADURGANJ, ALLAHABAD.
1922.
^^,^
(J' 9'^ *^^ /4I r'v> Au
I
—
FOREWARD
BY
THE EDITOR.
Dr. Martin Hang's translation of ibe Aitareya BrUhmana has br?n nut
of print for a long time, and so it has been reprinted as an extra volume in
the series of the Sacred Books of the ^^lindns. To facilitate references to
the original edition, paging of that edition has been given in Sqnaie
brackets, thus [ ]. It has not been considered necessary to reprint the
Sanskrit text, as better editions of that text are now available.
Extracts'from Professor Max Muller's review of this work are repro-
duced below
:
The Aitareya-brahmana, coufcainingtheearliest speculations of the Brahmans on the
meaning of their sacrificial prayers, and the purport oftheirancient religious rites, is a
work which could be properly editednowhere but in India. It isonlya small work of
about two hundred pages, but it presupposes so thorough a familiarity with all the
externals of the religion of the Brahmans, the various ofBces of their priests, the times
and seasons oftheir sacred rites, the form of their innumerable sacrificial utensilSj and
the preparation of their offerings, that noamount of Sanskrit scholarship, suchas can
begained in England, would have been sufficient to unravel the intricate speculations
concerning the matters which form thebulkof tho Aitareya-brahmana
Theancient Indian ceremonial, however, is one ofthe most artificial and complicated
formsof worship thatcanwell be imagined and though its details are, no doubt, most
;
minutely described in theBrahmauas and the Sutras,yet, without havingseen the actual
site on which the sacrifices are offered, the altars constructed for the occasion, the
—
instruments employed bydifferentpriests the tout-ensemble, in fact, ofthesacredrites—
the readerseems to deal with words, but with wordsonly, and is unable to reproduce in
his imagination the acts and facts which were intended to be conveyedby them
Dr. Hangsucceeded, however, at last in procuring the assistance of a real Doctor of
Divinity, who had not only performed the minor Vedic sacrifices, such as the full and
new moon offerings, but had officiated at some of the great Soma sacrifices, now very
rarelyto be seen in anypart of India. He was induced, we are sorry tosay, byvery
mercenary considerations, to perform the principal ceremonies in a secluded part of
Dr. Hang's premises. Thislasted five days, and the sameassistance was afterwards ren-
dered by the same worthy andsome of hisbrethren whenever Dr. Haug was in any doubt
as to the proper meaningof theceremonial treatises which give the outlines of the Vedic
sacrifices. Dr. Haugwas actually allowed to taste that sacred beverage, the Soma, which
gives health, wealth, wisdom, inspiration, nay immortality, to those who receiveit from
thehands ofa twice-born priest
Afterhaving gone through all theseordeals. Dr Haug maywell say that his explana-
tions ofsacrificial terms, as givenin thenotes, can be relied upon as certain that they
;
proceed from what he himself witnessed, and what he was abletolearn from men who
had inheritedthe kowledge from the mostancient times
In the preface tohis edition of the Aitareya-brahmina, Dr. Haug has thrown out
some new ideas on the chronologyofVedic literature which deserve careful considera-
tion. Beginning with the hymns of the Rig-veda, he admits, indeed, that there are in
that collection ancient and modern hymns, but he doubts whether itwill be possible to
drawa sharp line between what has been called the Chhandas period, representing tho
free growth of sacred poetry, and the Mantra period, duringwhichtheancient hymns
were supposed to have been collected and new ones added, chiefly intended for sacrificial
purposes. Dr. Haug maintains that some hymns of a decidedly 5-acrificial character
should be ascribed tothe earliest period of Vedic poetry. He takes, for inBtanoo, the
hymus describing tho horse-sacrifice, andho concludeig from the factthatseven priests
11
onlyare mentioned in it by name,and that none of them belongs to the class ofthe
Udg&tars (singers)and Brahmans (superintendents), thatthishymnwas writtenbeforethe
estabiishmeut of these two classes of priests. As these priests are mentioned in other
Vedic hymns, he concludes that the hymn describing the horse-sacrifice is ofa very early
date. Dr. Haug strengthens his case bya reference tothe Zoroastrian ceremonial, in
which, ashesays,the chanters and superintendents are entirely unknown, whereas the
othertwo classes, the Hotars (reciters) and Adhvaryus (assistants) are mentioned by the
samenames asZaotarand Rathwiskare. The establishment of the two new classes of
priests would, therefore, seem to have taken place in India after the Zoroastrians had
separated fromthe Brahmans ; and Dr. Haug wouldascribe the Vedic hymns in which no
more than two classes of priests are mentioned to a period preceding,others in which the
othertwo classes ofpriestsarementioned toa period succeeding,that ancient schism
According to Dr. Haug, the period during which the Vedic hymns were composed
extends from1400 to 2000 B. o. The oldest hymns, hewever, and the sacrificial formulas
hewould place between 2000 and 2400 B. c. This period, corresponding to what has been
called the Chhandas and Mantra poriods, would be succeeded by the Brahmana period,
and Dr. Haugwouldplace the bulk of the Brahmanas, all written inprose, between 1400
and 1200 B. c. He doesnotattribute muchweight to the distinction made by the BrSh-
mansth3mselves between revealed and profaneliterature, and would place the Sfltras
almost contemporaneous with the Brahmanas. The only fixed point from which he
starts in his chronological arrangement is the date implied by the position of the
solstitial points mentioned in a little treatise, the Jyotisa. a date which has been
accurately fixed by the Rev.R. Main at 1186 B. c* Dr.Haug fully admits that such an
observation was anabsolute necessityfor the Brahmans in regulating their calendar:
Thisargumentof Dr. Haug's seems correctas faras the date of the establishment of
theceremonial is concerned, and it is curious that several scholars who have lately
writtenon the origin of the Vedic calendar,andthepossibility ofits foreign origin, should
not haveperceivedtheintimaterelationbetween that calendar and the whole ceremonial
systemofthe Brahmans. Dr. Haug is, no doubt, perfectly right when he claims the
inventionof the Naksatras,or the Lunar Zodiac of the Brahmans, if we may so call it,
for India ; he may be right also when he assigns the twelfth century as the earliest date
for the origin of that simple astronomical system on which the calendar of the Vedio
festivals is founded. He calls the theories ofothers, whohave lately tried to claim the
first discovery of the Naksatras for China, Babylon, or some other Asiatic country,
absurd, andtakes no notice of the sanguine expectations of certainscholars, who imagine
they will soon have discovered the very means of the Indian Naksatras in Babylonian
inscriptions. But doesitfollow that, because the ceremonial presupposes an observation
of the solstitial pointsin about the twelfth century, therefore the theological works in
which thatceremonial is explained, commented upon, and furnished with all kinds of
mysterious meanings,werecomposedat thatearly date ? We see no stringency whatever
in this argument of Dr, Haug's, and we think it will be necessary to look for other
anchors bywhichto fixthe driftingwrecks of Vedicliterature
However intertsingthe Brahmanasmay beto students of Indian literature, they are
ofsmall interestto the general reader. Thegreater portion of themis simply twaddle,
and whatisworse, theologicaltwiildle. No person who is not acquainted beforehand
with the place which the BrShmanas fill in thehistory of the Indian mind, could read
more than ten pages withoutbeing disgusted- To the historian, however, and to the
philosopher,they are of infinite importance—to the former as a real link between the
ancient and modern literature of India tothelatteras a most important phase in the
;
growthof human mind, initspassagefrom healthto disease.
*See prefacetothefoxirthvolumeofmyeditionoftheRigveda,