Part 2: Vājasaneyī Saṃhitā (Introduction)

The Vājasaneyī Saṃhitā is the mantra saṃhitā of the Śukla Yajurveda. As stated in a legend in the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa, the sacrificial formulae (yajuṃṣi) found in the Vājasaneyī Saṃhitā were obtained by YājñavalkyaVājasaneya from the sun god-

Ādityāni imāni śuklāni yajuṃṣi vājasaneyena yājñavalkyenaākhyāyante^[1] /

Yājñavalkya’s father Devarāja was known by the name Vājasani^[2] and accordingly his son Yājñavalkya was called Vājasaneya^[3] i.e., Vājasaneya was his patronymic name and thus, the Vājasaneyī Saṃhitā gets its name from its seer Yājnavalkya Vājasaneya^[4].

According to some other scholars, vāja means rays of the sun and sani means donation of excellent wealth i.e., the Yajurmantras. Thus the Mantras obtained from the rays of the sun god as excellent wealth make up the Vājasaneyī Saṃhitā.^[5]

The Vājasaneyī Saṃhitā deals with the major Vedic sacrifices in its forty chapters. Winternitz holds that out of these chapters, the last fifteen are additions of later period^[6]. On the other hand, according to Gonda, the first eighteen chapters of the Mādhyandina Saṃhitā are older than the rest of the chapters, because only these chapters ‘coincide with the ancient parts of the Black Yajurveda’and only these have been commented upon in the first nine books of the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa^[7].The forty chapters are divided into 303 Anuvākas and 1951 Kaṇḍikās. The first two chapters have Mantras meant for Darśapurṇamāsa sacrifice and Piṇḍapitṛyajña. The third chapter contains prayers employed in Agnihotra and Cāturmāsya sacrifices. The Agnihotra sacrifice was performed twice daily by the Vedic Aryan and the Cāturmāsya thrice in a year i.e., after every four months. Then comes an Mantras applied in the Somayāga which covers the chapters from fourth to eighth. Among these Mantras, some are employed in the Agniṣṭoma sacrifice which is recognized as the prakṛti of all Soma sacrifices. The 9^th chapter deals with the Mantras meant for Vājapeya. Only the warriors or kings were entitled to perform this rite. The next chapter contains prayers for Rājasūya sacrifice which is a sacrifice connected with a king’s coronation. Apart from this, Mantras used in some minor rites such as magical rites, battle march, game of dice etc. have also been included in the 10^th chapter. The next eight chapters consist of prayers employed in the rite called Agnicayana. The next three chapters contain prayers for Sautrāmaṇī sacrifice where surā instead of soma juice is used. The next four chapters i.e., the chapters from 22^nd to 25^th have prayers for Aśvamedha sacrifice which only a sovereign king can perform. The prayers contained in the next ten chapters are not new at all. These are said to be additions to the prayers of the former chapters.^[8] The 30^th chapter contains litanies recited in Puruṣamedha sacrifice. The 31^st chapter contains the Puruṣasūkta. It however contains six extra verses more than the Ṛgvedic Puruṣa hymn. The chapters 32^nd, 33^rd and 34^th are related to the Sarvamedha sacrifice. The first six verses of the 34^th chapter are known as the Śivasaṃkalpa hymn. The 35^th chapter is on the Pitṛmedha sacrifice. The next four chapters are on Pravargya ceremony. The last chapter of the Vājasaneyī Saṃhitā contain the famous Upaniṣad known as Īśopaniṣad.

From the data gathered from the mantrabhāṣya of Uvaṭa on the Vājasaneyī Saṃhitā, it is known that the Vājasaneyī Saṃhitā contains fifteen schools or recensions.

The lucid datum is—

ādityāllabdhavānyastuśākhāḥ pañcadaśāparāḥ/^[9]

The Caraṇavyuha mentions sixteen recensions of the Śukla Yajurveda. These are Jāvāli, Baudheya, Kāṇva, Mādhyandina, Sātheya, Tāpanīya, Kālāpī, Paundravaṃsa, Āvatikī, Paramāvatik, Pārāśarīya, Vaineya, Audheya, Gālava, Vaijaba and Kātyāyanī.^[10] But, all these recensions are not available to posterity. The two extant recensions are Kāṇva and Mādhyandina and the text of the Vājasaneyī Saṃhitā has been preserved in these two recensions. Mahīdhara in his commentary of the Vājasaneyī Saṃhitā states that the mādhyandinīya recension has been named according to the name of the seer Madhyandina.

He says as follows–

tatra madhyandinena maharṣiṇā labdho yajurvedaśākhāviṣeso mādhyandinaḥ/^[11]

Thus it can be concluded that the Kaṇva recension is also named after the name of the seer Kaṇva^[12].This Saṃhitā of the Kāṇva recension too contains 40 chapters, 328 Anuvākas and 2086 Mantras. Its subject matter too has also similarity with that of the Mādhyandina Vājasaneyī Saṃhitā.^[13]

Different commentaries have been composed by the different commentators on both the recensions of the Vājasaneyī Saṃhitā. The well known commentator Sāyaṇa composed a commentary on the Kāṇva recension of the Vājasaneyī Saṃhitā. Halāyudha a predecessor of Sāyaṇa composed another commentary on the Kāṇva recension by the name Brāhmaṇasarvasvam. Anantācārya commented on the last half of this Saṃhitā under the title Bhāvārthadīpikā. The two famous commentators on the Mādhyandina recension of the Vājasaneyī Saṃhitā are Uvaṭa and Mahīdhara. Uvaṭa composed a commentary which is known as Mantrabhāṣya and on the other hand, Mahīdhara’s commentary is known by the name Vedadīpa.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa , 14.9.4.33

[2]:

Jagadish Chandra Mishra, op.cit., p.99

[3]:

Renu K Sarma, Śatapath Brāhamaṇ me Dārśanik Pratīk (Hindi), p. 47.

[4]:

Bhumikā of Jagdishlal Shastri, Jagdishlal Shastri (ed.), Vājasaneyī-Mādhyandina-Śukla-Yajurveda- Saṃhitā, p.v

[5]:

Jogiraj Basu, VedarParicay(Assamese), p.39

[6]:

M. Winternitz, A History of Indian Liturature, Vol. 1, pp.160,162

[7]:

J.Gonda, A History of Indian Literature,Vol.1,(Saṃhitās and Brāhmaṇas),p.328

[8]:

M.Winternitz, A History of Indian Liturature, p.162

[9]:

Introduction to the commentary of Uvaṭa, Jagdishlal Shastri(ed.),op.cit., p.1

[10]:

Jogiraj Basu, op.cit., p.57

[11]:

Introduction to the commentary of Mahīdhara, Jagdishlal Shastri (ed.), op.cit., p.2

[12]:

Bhūmikā of Vidyadhar Sharma, Vidyadhar Sharma(ed.), Kātyāyana Śrautasūtram, Part.1,p.16

[13]:

Thanesvar Sharma, Vedar Sourav (Assamese),p.11