Section 1.10 (tenth khaṇḍa) (eleven texts)

Upaniṣad text:

At a time when the Kuru country had been devastated by thunder and hail, Uṣasti-Cākrāyaṇa, with his child-wife, lived in a deplorable condition, in village Ibhya ([?]) of the Elephant-man.—(1)

Commentary (Śaṅkara Bhāṣya):

In connection with the meditation of Udgītha, it becomes necessary to expound the meditation of Prastāva and Pratihāra (which are details relating to the Sāma-chant); hence it is with this that the Text now proceeds. The anecdote has been introduced for the purpose of making the subject easily intelligible.—At a time when the Kuru country—i.e, the crops growing in that region,—had been devastated—destroyed—by thunder and hail, and consequent scarcity of food prevailed;—Uṣasti—by name—Cākrāyaṇa—the son of Cakra,—with his child-wife,—i.e. his wife who had not yet developed her breasts or other feminine signs of youth; —in village Ibhya ([?]), of the elephant man—‘ibha’ is elephant, and ‘ibhya’ therefore stands for the owner, or rider, of elephants; hence ‘village Ibhya’ stands for village belonging to the owner, or rider, of elephants;—in a deplorable condition;—the root ‘drā’ (from which the term ‘pradrāṇaka’ is derived) connotes deplorable condition; the meaning therefore is that the man had been reduced to a most deplorable condition, reduced to extreme circumstances;—lived,—lodged, in the house of some one.—(1)

Upaniṣad text:

He begged of the Elephant-man who was eating Kulmāṣa grains.—The man said to him—“There are no other than these, which have been served to me”.—(2)

Commentary (Śaṅkara Bhāṣya):

Wandering about in search of food, by chance, he met the Elephant-man who was eating Kulmāṣa grain,—coarse grains of Māṣa,—and begged of him.—The man—the Elephantman—said to him—Uṣasti.—Other than these,—coarse grains that I am eating and which are therefore contaminated,—there are no grains; apart from what has been served to me—placed before me in the dish; what can I do?—Thus addressed, Uṣasti said—(as follows).—(2)

Upaniṣad text:

“Give me of these”—he said. He gave them to him, and said, “Well, here is water.”—He replied—“I would be drinking what is contaminated.”—(3)

Commentary (Śaṅkara Bhāṣya):

“Give me of these—i.e. give these, to me’—he said.—The Elephant-man gave them to Uṣasti.—“Well, water is here—near me; take this.”—He said in reply:—“If 1 drank this water, I would be drinking what is contaminated”.—When he said this, the other man said as follows.—(3)

Upaniṣad text:

“Are not these also contaminated?—He said—“Not eating these, I would not live; water I can get wherever I like.”—(4)

Commentary (Śaṅkara Bhāṣya):

“Are not these grains also contaminated?” Being thus addressed, Uṣasti said—“I would not live,—I shall —not eating these,—if I do not eat these grains. Water is not live, available wherever I wish.—The sense of all this is as follows:—(a) When a man, who is famous for learning and righteousness, and capable of doing good to himself and to others, does such an act as here decribed (of eating forbidden food for saving his life), he does not incur sin;—but (b) even for such a one, if he has recourse to discreditable means of saving life, while other unobjectionable means are available,—he does incur sin. In fact, if he did such an act, through arrogance born of learning, he would surely fall into hell. That such is the sense is clear from the epithet ‘pradrāṇaka’, ‘in deplorable condition’—(4)

Upaniṣad text:

Having eaten, he gave the remainder to his wife; she had already eaten before; having accepted the beans, she kept them.—(5)

Commentary (Śaṅkara Bhāṣya):

The sage having eaten the beans, gave the remainder,—the beans that remained after he had eaten—to his wife, through pity for her. She,—the child-wife,—had already eaten—obtained food and partaken of it—before— the beans were obtained (by her husband); and yet, in accordance with her womanly nature, she did not refuse the gift; she received them from her husband’s hands and kept them,—stored them.—(5)

Upaniṣad text:

Next morning, on rising, he said—“Alas! If I could get some food, I would get some wealth. The king here is going to perform a sacrifice and he would appoint me to all the priestly offices.”—(6)

Commentary (Śaṅkara Bhāṣya):

Next morning,—early at dawn,—on rising,— i.e. on relinquishing his bed, or sleep,—he, knowing what his wife had done, said,—within his wife’s hearing—“Alas";— saying this in anguish,—“if 1 could get some—even a littlefood, then having eaten it and recovering strength, I would go forth and would get some wealth,—a little wealth, and then our livelihood would be secured.”—He proceeds to explain his reasons for expecting to obtain wealth—“The king here,— not very far from this place,—is going to perform a sacrifice;—the verb ‘yakṣyate’ is put in the ātmanepada form because the king would be performing the sacrifice for his own benefit;—and this king, on finding a fit and proper person in myself, would appoint me to all the priestly offices,—the priestly functions, i.e., for the performance of priestly functions.—(6)

Upaniṣad text:

His wife said to him—“O, my Lord, here are those grains”.—Having eaten them, he repaired to the sacrifice that was being elaborated.—(7)

Commentary (Śaṅkara Bhāṣya):

When he had said this, his wife said to him— “O, my Lord, take these grains which had been deposited by you in my hands.”—Having eaten those grains, he repaired to the king’s sacrifice which; was being elaborated,— performed in great detail,—by the priests.—(7)

Upaniṣad text:

There he went and sat in the orchestra, near the Udgātṛ-Priest, when they were going to chant the hymns of praise. He said to the Prastotṛ Priest (as follows).—(8)

Commentary (Śaṅkara Bhāṣya):

Having gone there, he approached the subordinates of the Udgātṛ Priest, in the orchestra,—āstāva, orchestra, being the place where they sing hymns of praise (stuvanti asmin),—and sat near them, when they were going to chant the hymns of praise. Having sat there, he said to the Prastotṛ priest as follows:—(8)

Upaniṣad text:

O, Prastotṛ-Priset, without knowing the Deity connected with the Prastāva, if thou dost chant the Introductory words, thy head shall fall off.”—(9)

Commentary (Śaṅkara Bhāṣya):

“O Prastotṛ-Priest”—this address is for the purpose of attracting the Priest’s attention.—That Deity which is connected with the Prastāva—the Prastāva (Introductory portion of the Sāma),—if, without knowing this Deity of the Introductory section, thou dost chant the Introductory words,—in the presence of myself who know that Deity;—this qualification has to be understood; because, if the meaning were that the head would fall off even in the absence of a man knowing the Deity, then a person who knows only the act (but not the Deity) would not be entitled to the performance of the act at all; and this would not be right; because even unlearned persons are actually found to be performing acts;—also because the Śruti-text itself speaks of the ‘Southern Path’; if the unlearned were not entitled to the performance of such acts, then the Śruti would have spoken of the ‘Northern Path’ only; nor would it be right to argue that “the ‘Southern Path’ relates only to the acts prescribed in the Smṛtis (and not to those prescribed in the Śruti)”,—because the Śruti also speaks of ‘sacrifice, charity etc.’ (where charity is a pre-eminently Smārta act).—Further, the phrase ‘when so warned by me’ used by the Sage later on (at the end of Text 5 of next section) clearly indicates that it is only in the presence of the learned man that the unlearned man is not entitled to perform rites, and not in all cases of the performance of such acts as the Agnihotra, and other Smārta rites, as also Study and so forth; specially because permission for such performance (by the unlearned) is found to have been accorded in several texts. Thus it is established that even such a person is entitled to the performance of an act as is conversant with

that particular act alone (and is ignorant in regard to its details)—Thy head will fall off.—(9) *

Upaniṣad text:

Similarly he said to the Udgātṛ Priest—“O Udgātṛ Priest, without knowing the Deity connected with the Udgītha, if thou performest the chanting, then thy head shall fall off.”—(10)

Similarly, he said to the Pratihartṛ Priest—“O Pratihartṛ Priest, without knowing the Deity connected with the Pratihāra if thou performest the Pratihāra, tfiy head shall fall off.”—Thereupon, they stopped and sat down in silence.—(11)

Commentary (Śaṅkara Bhāṣya):

Similarly he spoke to the Udgātṛ and the Pratihartṛ.—The rest is as before. These Priests, Prastotṛ and the rest, thereupon stopped—desisted from their functions, and, through fear of their heads falling off, sat down in silence; not doing anything else, being desirous (of learning things from Uṣasti).—(10-11)

End of Section (10) of Discourse I.