Brahmana: Difference between revisions

The '''Brahmanas''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|b|r|ɑː|m|ə|n|ə|z}}; [[Sanskrit]]: {{lang|sa|ब्राह्मणम्}}, [[International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration|IAST]]: ''Brāhmaṇam'') are [[Vedas|Vedic]] [[śruti]] works attached to the [[Samhita]]s (hymns and mantras) of the [[Rigveda|Rig]], [[Samaveda|Sama]], [[Yajurveda|Yajur]], and [[Atharvaveda|Atharva]] Vedas. They are a secondary layer or classification of [[Sanskrit]] texts embedded within each Veda, which explain and instruct on the performance of [[Yajna|Vedic rituals]] (in which the related Samhitas are recited). In addition to explaining the symbolism and meaning of the [[Samhita]]s, Brahmana literature also expounds scientific knowledge of the [[Vedic period|Vedic Period]], including [[observational astronomy]] and, particularly in relation to altar construction, [[geometry]]. Divergent in nature, some Brahmanas also contain mystical and philosophical material that constitutes [[Aranyaka]]s and [[Upanishad]]s.<ref name=":5" />

Each Veda has one or more of its own Brahmanas, and each Brahmana is generally associated with a particular [[Shakha]] or Vedic school. Less than twenty Brahmanas are currently extant, as most have been lost or destroyed. Dating of the final codification of the ''Brahmanas'' and associated Vedic texts is controversial, as they were likely recorded after several centuries of oral transmission.<ref>Klaus Klostermaier (2007), A Survey of Hinduism, Third Edition, State University of New York Press, {{ISBN|978-0791470824}}, page 47</ref> The oldest Brahmana is dated to about 900 [[BCE]], while the youngestmost recent are dated to around 700 BCE.<ref name="mw">[[Michael Witzel]], "Tracing the Vedic dialects" in ''Dialectes dans les litteratures Indo-Aryennes'' ed. Caillat, Paris, 1989, 97–265.</ref><ref name="bcp">Biswas et al (1989), Cosmic Perspectives, Cambridge University Press, {{ISBN|978-0521343541}}, pages 42–43</ref>

''Brahmana'' (or ''Brāhmaṇam'', [[Sanskrit]]: ब्राह्मणम्) can be loosely translated as '[[explanation]]s of sacred knowledge or [[doctrine]]' or '[[Brahmin|Brahmanical]] explanation'.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://spokensanskrit.org/index.php?mode=3&script=hk&tran_input=brAhmaNas&direct=se&anz=100|title=Sanskrit Dictionary for Spoken Sanskrit: 'brahmana'|website=spokensanskrit.org|access-date=2020-01-24}}</ref> According to the [[Monier Monier-Williams|Monier-Williams]] Sanskrit dictionary, 'Brahmana' means:<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://faculty.washington.edu/prem/mw/b.html|title=Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary – b: 'brāhmaṇa'|website=faculty.washington.edu|access-date=2020-01-24|archive-date=25 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180325053343/http://faculty.washington.edu/prem/mw/b.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

For ease of reference, academics often use common [[abbreviation]]s to refer to particular Brahmanas and other Vedic, post-Vedic (e.g. [[Puranas]]), and [[Sanskrit]] literature. Additionally, particular Brahmanas linked to particular Vedas are also linked to (i.e. recorded by) particular [[Shakha]]s or schools of those Vedas as well. Based on the abbreviations and Shakhas provided by works cited in this article (and other texts by [[Maurice Bloomfield|Bloomfield]], [[Arthur Berriedale Keith|Keith]], [[William Dwight Whitney|W. D, Whitney]], and H.W. Tull),<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.15782|title=A Vedic Concordance (1906)|last=Bloomfield|first=Maurice|date=1906|pages=xv–xxii|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PaH4uKI7MaEC&q=Chandogya+Brahmana+CB&pg=PR10|title=The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads|last=Keith|first=Arthur Berriedale|date=1970|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass PublishePublishers|isbn=978-81-208-0645-0|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":6">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xSMEUYzirNQC&q=Chandogya+Brahmana+CB&pg=PR26|title=Sanskrit Grammar: Including Both, the Classical Language and the Older Dialects of Veda and Brāhmaṇa|last=Whitney|first=William Dwight|date=1994|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass PublishePublishers|isbn=978-81-208-0621-4|pages=Abbreviations|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=auqGWz2l9pYC&q=KathB+Katha+brahmana&pg=PA123|title=The Vedic Origins of Karma: Cosmos as Man in Ancient Indian Myth and Ritual|last=Tull|first=Herman Wayne|date=1989-01-01|publisher=SUNY Press|isbn=978-0-7914-0094-4|pages=123|language=en}}</ref> [[Extant literature|extant]] Brahmanas have been listed below, grouped by [[Vedas|Veda]] and [[Shakha]]. Note that:

S. Sharva states that in 'the brahmana literature this word ['brahmana'] has been commonly used as detailing the ritualism related to the different sacrifices or [[yajna]]s... The known [[recension]]s [i.e. schools or [[Shakha]]s] of the [[Vedas]], all had separate brahmanas. Most of these brahmanas are [[Lost literary work|not extant]].... [<nowiki/>[[Pāṇini|Panini]]] differentiates between the old and the new brahmanas... [he asked] Was it when [[Vyasa|Krishna Dvaipayana Vyasa]] had propounded the Vedic recensions? The brahmanas which had been propounded prior to the exposition of recensions by [<nowiki/>[[Vyasa]]] were called as old brahmanas and those which had been expounded by his disciples were known as new brahmanas'.<ref name=":1" />

The [[Aitareya Brahmana|Aitareya]], Kausitaki, and [[Sankhyayana Brahmana|Samkhyana]] Brahmanas are the two (or three) known extant Brahmanas of the [[Rigveda]]. [[Arthur Berriedale Keith|A.B. Keith]], a translator of the Aitareya and Kausitaki Brahmanas, states that it is 'almost certainly the case that these two [[Sankhyayana Brahmana|[Kausitaki and Samkhyana] Brahmanas]] represent for us the development of a single tradition, and that there must have been a time when there existed a single... text [from which they were developed and diverged]'.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.84867|title=Rigveda Brahmanas The Aitareya And Kausitaki Brahmanas Of The Rigveda|last=Keith|first=Arthur Berriedale|date=1920|pages=22, 28, 37–38 (Kausitaki), 49 (Kausitaki date), 348 (Kausitaki quote: 1.2)}}</ref> Although S. Shrava considers the Kausitaki and Samkhyana Brahmanas to be separate although very similar works,<ref name=":1" /> M. Haug considers them to be the same work referred to by different names.<ref name=":4" />

[[File:1827 CE manuscript copy, Vedic era Aitareya Brahmana, Schoyen Collection Norway.jpg|left|thumb|Page from the [[Aitareya Brahmana]].]]

As detailed in the main article, the [[Aitareya Brahmana]] (AB) is ascribed to the sage Mahidasa Aitareya of the [[Shakala Shakha]] (Shakala school) of the [[Rigveda]], and is estimated to have been recorded around 600-400 [[Common Era|BCE]].<ref name=":3" /> It is also linked with the Ashvalayana Shakha.<ref name=":0" /> The text itself consists of eight ''pañcikā''s (books), each containing five ''adhyaya''s (chapters;), totallingtotaling forty in all). C. Majumdar states that 'it deals principally with the great [[Soma (drink)|Soma]] sacrifices and the different ceremonies of royal inauguration'.<ref name=":8" />

The [[Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts]] (IGNCA) states that the ''''Kaushitaki Brahmana''' [is] associated with Baskala [[Shakha]] of [the] [[Rigveda]] and [is] also called Sankhyayana Brahmana. It is divided into thirty chapters [adhyayas] and 226 Khanda[s]. The first six chapters dealing with food sacrifice and the remaining to [[Soma (drink)|Soma]] sacrifice. This work is ascribed to [[Sankhyayana]] or Kaushitaki'.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://vedicheritage.gov.in/brahmanas/kausitaki-shankhyayana-brahmana/|title=Kausitaki (Shankhayana) Brahmana|website=Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, Ministry of Culture, Government of India}}</ref> S. Shrava disagrees, stating that it 'was once considered that [the] Kaushitaki or Samkhayana was the name of the same brahmana... [but the Samkhayana] differs, though slightly, from the Kaushitaki Brahmana'.<ref name=":1" /> C. Majumdar states that it 'deals not only with the [[Soma (drink)|Soma]], but also other sacrifices'.<ref name=":8" />

Keith estimates that the Kaisitaki BrahmanaKaushîtaki-brâhmana was recorded around 600–400 BCE, adding that it is more 'scientific' and 'logical' than the Aitareya Brahmana, although much 'of the material of the Kausitaki, and especially the legends, has been taken over by the Brahmana from a source common to it and the Aitareya, but the whole has been worked up into a harmonious unity which presents no such irregularities as are found in the Aitareya. It is clearly a redaction of the tradition of the school made deliberately after the redaction of the Aitareya'.<ref name=":3" />

Caland states that the Samavidhana Brahmana of the Kauthuma Shakha is 'in 3 prapathakas [books or chapters]... its aim is to explain how by chanting various samans [hymns of the [[Samaveda]]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/saman|title=Saman, Sāman, Shaman, Śāman: 2 definitions|last=www.wisdomlib.org|date=2019-01-04|website=www.wisdomlib.org|access-date=2020-01-27}}</ref> some end may be attained. It is probably older than one of the oldest dharmasastras, that of Gautama'.<ref name=":7" /> M. S. Bhat states that it is not properly a Brāhmaṇa text, but belongs to the [[Vidhāna]] literature.<ref>{{cite book |last=Bhat |first=M. S. |title=Vedic Tantrism: A Study of Ṛgvidhāna of Śaunaka with Text and Translation |publisher=[[Motilal Banarsidass]] |year=1998 |orig-date=1987 |isbn=8120801970 |page=16}}</ref>

As detailed in the main article, theThe 'final form' of the Satapatha Brahmana is estimated to have been recorded around 1000–800 BCE, although it refers to [[Astronomy|astronomical]] phenomena dated to 2100 BCE, and, as quoted above, historical events such as the drying up of the [[Sarasvati River|Sarasvati river]], dryingwhich up,is believed to have occurred around 1900 BCE.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Kak|first=Subhash C.|title=Astronomy of the Satapatha Brahmana|url=https://www.insa.nic.in/writereaddata/UpLoadedFiles/IJHS/Vol28_1_2_SCKak.pdf|journal=Indian Journal of History of Science|year=1993 |volume=28|issue=1 |page=15 |bibcode=1993InJHS..28...15K |via=Indian National Science Academy}}</ref> It provides [[Science|scientific]] knowledge of [[geometry]] and [[observational astronomy]] from the [[Vedic period]], and is considered significant in the development of [[Vaishnavism]] as the possible origin of several [[Puranas|Puranic]] legends and [[avatar]]s of the [[Rigveda|RigVedic]] god [[Vishnu]], all of which ([[Matsya]], [[Kurma]], [[Varaha]], [[Narasimha]], and [[Vamana]]) are listed in the [[Dashavatara]].

[[File:Taittiriya Samhita Vedas, Devanagari script, Sanskrit pliv.jpg|left|thumb|Page of the [[Taittiriya Shakha|Taittiriya]] [[Samhita]].|alt=|217x217px]]

[[File:Atharva-Veda samhita page 471 illustration.png|thumb|250x250px|[[Atharvaveda|Atharva-Veda]] [[samhita]] page.]]According to [[Maurice Bloomfield|M. Bloomfield]], the following 9 [[shakha]]s – schools or branches – of the [[Atharvaveda]] are the:<ref name=":10" />

S.S. Bahulkar states that the 'Gopatha Brahmana (GB.) is the only brahmana text of AV [<nowiki/>[[Atharvaveda]]], belonging to both the recensions [<nowiki/>[[Shakha]]s], viz. Saunaka and Paippalada'.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z5AydkGbl5gC&q=Gopatha+Brahmana&pg=PA10|title=Vedic texts, a revision: Prof. C.G. Kashikar felicitation volume|last=Bahulkar|first=S. S.|date=1990|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass PublishePublishers|isbn=978-81-208-0806-5|pages=10|language=en}}</ref> Dalal agrees, stating the 'aim of this Brahmana seems to be to incorporate the Atharva [Veda] in the Vedic ritual, and bring it in line with the other three Vedas. This Brahmana is the same for the Paippalada and Shaunaka shakhas, and is the only existing Brahmana of the Artharva Veda'.<ref name=":0" /> C. Majumdar states that 'although classed as a Brahmana, [it] really belongs to the [[Vedanga]] literature, and is a very late work'.<ref name=":8" />

== References ==

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