Expiatory Rites in Keralite Tantra
by T. S. Syamkumar | 2017 | 59,416 words
This page relates ‘Expiatory Rites in Samhita Literature’ of the study on Expiatory Rites in Sanskrit literature and ancient Indian religion and society, with special reference to Keralite Tantra. Further references to texts include those found in Shaivism, Vaishnavism and Shaktism as well as Dharmashastra literature. This study also investigates temple records and inscriptions of Kerala in order to demonstrate the connection between social life and expiatory rites and its evolution.
5.1. Expiatory Rites in Saṃhitā Literature
The Vedas are the earliest literary source mentioning various forms of expiation. The Vedic seers considered that one has to perform expiation for the deliverance from sins and their bad effects. The roots of the concepts and features of sin and expiation seen in later Sanskrit literature can be traced out in Vedas. Generally the Vedic Prāyaścitta consisted of the performance of a variety of sacrifices, purificatory baths and recitation of the Vedic Mantras. The whole of Sanskrit literature reveals the existence of a social system based on different dimensions of this concept.
In the Vedic period,[1] it is believed that one can be free from sins only through the expiation. The Vedic people offered prayers, Havis and Soma to Agni, Varuṇa, Brahmaṇaspati and Aśviṃs for that purpose.[2] In Ṛgveda, Varuṇa has an elevated status as the divine entity active in rescuing human beings from sins and in maintaining a righteous legal system.[3] The concepts of purity and sin referred to in Ṛgveda attain more authority when they reach Atharvaveda.[4] The seers of Ṛgveda offered sacrifices to the gods for the removals of sins. Ṛgveda consists of a prayer to waters (Āpaḥ) to wash away all evil (Durita) arising from daring violence (Abhidudroha) or from speaking falsehood (Anṛta).[5] The Ṛgvedic people mostly used the expiations for removing their individual sins. While interpreting the word Saptamaryāda in a Ṛgvedic Sūkta, Yāska says that sins are seven in number. They are theft, violating the bed of the Guru, murder of Brāhmaṇa, murder of Bhrūṇa, drinking of Sura (liquor), continual performance of the same sinful act and telling a lie.[6] After the period of Ṛgveda the expiatory rites were used in ritualistic actions like Yāga and Yajña. The Yajurveda, Atharvaveda and Sāmaveda also use the word Prāyaścitta or Prāyaścitti in the sense of expiatory rites.[7] Taittarīyasaṃhitā states that the gods redeemed themselves from all sins by Aśvamedha sacrifice. Vājasaneyīsaṃhitā said that Agniṣṭoma destroys all sins.[8]
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
Ṛgveda is the oldest available literature in Sanskrit composed in the northwestern region of the Indian sub-continent, most likely in the period between 1500-1200 BCE. In addition, the initial codification of this text was complete in the period between 1200-900 BCE. Also the scholars determines the Vedic period is in between 1500-600 BCE. For a detail discussion on the topic vide Gavin, Flood, An Introduction to Hinduism, Cambridge University Press, 1936, p. 37, Michel Witzel, “Early Sanskritization Origins and Development of the Kuru State”, Electronic Journal of Vedic Studies (EVJS), 1995, pp. 1-26. According to Patrick Olivelle and McClish, the date of the early Vedic period is in between 1500-1000 BCE. Cf. The Arthaśāstra Selections from the Classic Indian Work on Statecraft, edited and translated with an introduction by Mark McClish and Patrick Olivelle, Hackett Publishing Company, Inc, Indianapolis/Cambridge, 2012, p. xxiv.
[2]:
See Ṛgveda, 1.18.1-5, 1.24.9, 1.24.13-15, 1.25.1-5, 1.36, 1.36.11-14 and 1.58.8-9.
[3]:
Ravindran, K.A.,“Varuṇa in Ṛgveda-The God of Virtue and Law”, Pratyabhijñā, Half yearly Journal of the Department of Sahitya, Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, Kalady, Vol. II, Issue I, ed. Dharma Raj Adat, pp. 128-132. Also, see Ṛta: The cosmic order, ed. Madhu Khanna, D. K. Print world (P) Ltd, New Delhi, 2004.
[4]:
Atharvaveda, 6.45, 6.26, 6.114, 6.115, 6.112, 6.113, 6.120, 6.27, 6.29, 7.24, 6.46 and 7.115.
[5]:
Ṛgveda, 1.23.22, 10.9.8.
[6]:
[7]:
Yajurveda, 39.12; Atharvaveda, 14.1.30; Taittarīyasaṃhitā, 3.1.3.2, 4.1.4.7, 5.1.9.3 and 5.1.12.9; Maitrāyaṇīyasaṃhitā, 1.4.8, 1.8.3, 1.8.7 and 2.1.4; Kāṭhakasaṃhitā, 6.3, 6.6, 6.11, 32.4, 35.16, 35.17, 35.18 and 35.19; Kapiṣṭalasaṃhitā, 4.2, 4.5 and 4.36.
[8]:
Vsam, 8.13.