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Book Iii. Chapter Vi

*
"The Vishnu Purana", translated by Horace Hayman Wilson, [1840],

p. 282

Chap. Vi.

Divisions of the Sma-veda: of the Atharva-veda. Four Paurnik Sanhits. Names of the eighteen Purnas. Branches of knowledge. Classes of Rishis.

You
shall now hear, Maitreya, how Jaimini, the pupil of Vysa, divided the branches of the Sma-veda. The son of Jaimini was Sumantu, and his son was Sukarman, who both studied the same Sanhit under Jaimini 1. The latter composed the Shasra Sanhit (or compilation of a thousand hymns, &c.), which he taught to two disciples, Hiranyanbha, also named Kaualya (or of Koala), and Paushyinji 2. Fifteen disciples of the latter were the authors of as many Sanhits: they were called the northern chaunters of the Sman. As many more, also the disciples of Hiranyanbha, were termed the eastern chaunters of the Sman, founding an equal number of schools. Lokkshi, Kuthumi, Kushd, and Lngali were the pupils of Paushyinji; and by them and their disciples many other branches were formed. Whilst another scholar of Hiranyanbha, named Kriti, taught twenty-four Sanhits to as many pupils; and by them, again, was the Sma-veda divided into numerous branches 3.

I
will now give you an account of the Sanhits of the Atharva-veda. The illustrious Muni Sumantu taught this Veda to his pupil Kabandha, who made it twofold, and communicated the two portions to Devadera and to Pathya. The disciples of Devadera were Maudga, Brahmabali,

p. 283

[paragraph continues] aulkyani, and Pippalda. Pathya had three pupils, Jjali, Kumuddi, and aunaka; and by all these were separate branches instituted. aunaka having divided his Sanhit into two, gave one to Babhru, and the other to Saindhavyana; and from them sprang two schools, the Saindhavas and Munjakeas 4. The principal subjects of difference in the Sanhits of the Atharva-veda are the five Kalpas or ceremonials: the Nakshatra Kalpa, or rules for worshipping the planets; the Vaitna Kalpa, or rules for oblations, according to the Vedas generally; the Sanhit Kalpa, or rules for sacrifices, according to different schools; the ngirasa Kalpa, incantations and prayers for the destruction of foes and the like; and the Snti Kalpa, or prayers for averting evil 5.

Accomplished in the purport of the Purnas, Vysa compiled a Paurnik Sanhit, consisting of historical and legendary traditions, prayers and hymns, and sacred chronology 6. He had a distinguished disciple, Sta, also termed Romaharshana, and to him the great Muni communicated the Purnas. Sta had six scholars, Sumati, Agnivarchas, Mitrayu, napyana, Akritavrana, who is also called Kyapa, and Sverni. The three last composed three fundamental Sanhits; and Romaharshana himself compiled a fourth, called Romaharshanika. The substance of which four Sanhits is collected into this (Vishnu) Purna.

The first of all the Purnas is entitled the Brhma. Those who are

p. 284

acquainted with the Purnas enumerate eighteen, or the Brhma, Pdma, Vaishnava, aiva, Bhgavata, Nradya, Mrkandeya, gneya, Bhavishyat, Brahma Vaivartta, Lainga, Vrha, Sknda, Vmana, Kaurmma, Mtsya, Grura, Brahmnda. The creation of the world, and its successive reproductions, the genealogies of the patriarchs and kings, the periods of the Manus, and the transactions of the royal dynasties, are narrated in all these Purnas. This Purna which I have repeated to you, Maitreya, is called the Vaishnava, and is next in the series to the Padma; and in every part of it, in its narratives of primary and subsidiary creation, of families, and of periods, the mighty Vishnu is declared in this Purna 7.

The four Vedas, the six Angas (or subsidiary portions of the Vedas, viz. iksh, rules of reciting the prayers, the accents and tones to be observed; Kalpa, ritual; Vykarana, grammar; Nirukta, glossarial comment; Chhandas, metre; and Jyotish, (astronomy), with Mmns (theology), Nyya (logic), Dharma (the institutes of law), and the Purnas, constitute the fourteen principal branches of knowledge: or they are considered as eighteen, with the addition of these four; the yur-veda, medical science (as taught by Dhanwantari); Dhanur-veda, the science of archery or arms, taught by Bhrigu; Gndharba-veda, or the drama, and the arts of music, dancing, and the Artha stram, or science of government, as laid down first by Vrihaspati.

There are three kinds of Rishis, or inspired sages; royal Rishis, or princes who have adopted a life of devotion, as Viswamitra; divine Rishis, or sages who are demigods also, as Nrada; and Brahman Rishis, or sages who are the sons of Brahm, or Brahmans, as Vaishtha and others 8.

p. 285

I
have thus described to you the branches of the Vedas, and their subdivisions; the persons by whom they were made; and the reason why they were made (or the limited capacities of mankind). The same branches are instituted in the different Manwantaras. The primitive Veda, that of the progenitor of all things, is eternal: these branches are but its modifications (or Vikalpas).

I
have thus related to you, Maitreya, the circumstances relating to the Vedas, which you desired to hear. Of what else do you wish to be informed 9?

Footnotes

282:1
The Vyu makes Sukarman the grandson of Sumantu, his son being called Sunwat.

282:2
Some copies read Paushpinji. The Vyu agrees with our text, but alludes to a legend of Sukarman having first taught a thousand disciples, but they were all killed by Indra, for reading on an unlawful day, or one when sacred study is prohibited.

282:3
The Vyu specifies many more names than the Vishnu, but the list is rather confused. Amongst the descendants of those named in the text, Rynanya (or Rnyanya), the son of Lokkshi, is the author of a Sanhit still extant: Saumitri his son was the author of three Sanhits: Parara, the son of Kuthumi, compiled and taught six Sanhits: and ligotra, a son of Lngali, established also six schools. Kriti was of royal descent: he and Paushyinji were the two most eminent teachers of the Sma-veda.

283:4
According to the commentator, Munjakea is another name for Babhru; but the Vyu seems to consider him as the pupil of Saindhava, but the text is corrupt.

283:5
The Vyu has an enumeration of the verses contained in the different Vedas, but it is very indistinctly given in many respects, especially as regards the Yajush. The Rich is said to comprise 8600 Richas. The Yajush, as originally compiled by Vysa, 12000: of which the Vjasaneyi contains 1900 Richas, and 7600 Brahmanas; the Charaka portion contains 6026 stanzas: and consequently the whole exceeds 12000 verses. The stanzas of the Sman are said to be 8014; and those of the Atharvan 5980. Mr. Colebrooke states the verses of the whole Yajush to be 1987; of the Salapalka Brahmana of the same Veda 7624; and of the Atharvan 6015.

283:6
Or of stories (khynas) and minor stories or tales (Upkhynas); of portions dedicated to some particular divinity, as the va-git, Bhagavad-gt, and accounts of the periods called Kalpas, as the Brhma Kalpa, Vrha Kalpa, &c.

284:7
For remarks upon this enumeration, see Introduction.

284:8 A
similar enumeration is given in the Vyu, with some additions. Rishi is derived from Rish, 'to go to' or 'approach.' The Brahmarshis, it is said, are descendants of the five patriarchs, who were the founders of races or Gotras of Brahmans, or Kayapa, Vaishtha, Angiras, Atri, and Bhrigu. The Devarshis are Nara and Nryana, the sons of Dharma; the Blakhilyas, who sprung from Kratu; Kardama, the son of Pulaha; Kuvera, the son of Pulastya; Achala, the son of Pratysha; p. 285 Nrada and Parvata, the sons of Kayapa. Brahmarshis are Ikshwku and other princes. The Brahmarshis dwell in the sphere of Brahm; the Devarshis in the region of the gods; and the Rjarshis in the heaven of Indra.

285:9
No notice is taken here of a curious legend which is given in the Mahbhrata, in the Gad Parvan. It is there said, that during a great drought the Brahmans, engrossed by the care of subsistence, neglected the study of the sacred books, and the Vedas were lost. The Rishi Sraswata alone, being fed with fish by his mother Saraswat, the personified river so named, kept up his studies, and preserved the Hindu scriptures. At the end of the famine the Brahmans repaired to him to be taught, and sixty thousand disciples again acquired a knowledge of the Vedas from Sraswata. This legend appears to indicate the revival, or more probably the introduction, of the Hindu ritual by the race of Brahmans, or the "people" called Sraswata; for, according to the Hindu geographers, it was the name of a nation, as it still is the appellation of a class of Brahmans who chiefly inhabit the Panjab. (As. Res. Vii. 219, 338, 341.) The Sraswata Brahmans are met with in many parts of India, and are usually fair-complexioned, tall, and handsome men. They are classed in the Jti mls, or popular lists of castes, amongst the five Gaura Brahmans, and are divided into ten tribes: they are said also to be especially the Purohits or family priests of the Kshatriya or military castes: (see the Jti ml, printed in Price's Hindi Selections, Ii. 280:) circumstances in harmony with the purport of the legend, and confirmatory of the Sraswatas of the Panjab having been prominent agents in the establishment of the Hindu religion in India. The holy land of the Hindus, or the primary seat, perhaps, of Brahmanism, has for one of its boundaries the Saraswat river: see p. 181, n. 7.
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