BRAHMAN

BRAHMAN. – The word occurs in the Veda, with different gender and accentuation, in two distinct meanings. Brahman, neuter, is first the “prayer,” endowed with magical power, which, in conjunction with the rite, compels the gods to satisfy human desires. It then becomes the substance of the sacrifice (yajña), the mysterious force emanating from it, until in the Upaniṣad it frees itself from the external and material aspect of the rite and, separated from the sacrifice, rises to the status of the Absolute. It is then Being in itself (sat), eternal, infinite, unknowable, the principle and end of all things. In this meaning, B. is also the fundamental theme of the philosophy of Vedānta. Brahmān, masculine, is at first the one who possesses the brāhman, the priest, the brahman. Only in a few passages of the Rgveda does the brahmān appear invested with a particular function, alongside the hotar, the udgātar, and the adhvaryu. In the Atharvaveda and in the Brahmana (v.) he is assigned the task of “physician of the sacrifice.” He silently supervises the ceremony, and if the officiants fall into error in deed or word, he remedies it with appropriate expiations. He is required to know all the Veda, but his particular text is the Atharvaveda, the exorcist’s breviary (v. BRAHMĀ).

BRAHMAN. - This adjective, derived from Brahman (v.), means “concerning worship or the priesthood,” but when used substantivally, it takes on a different meaning according to its gender and (in the Vedic texts) also according to the accentuation of the word. Masculine and oxytone, it means “priest, theologian, brahman”; neuter and proparoxytone, it means “ritual explanation, rule relating to faith and worship” and, collectively, “the entirety of such explanations and rules,” the theological-liturgical treatise. The brahmans, regarded as gods on earth, belonged to the first of the three Aryan castes, and the Rgveda (X, 90, 12) says that they were born from the mouth of the cosmic man, with an evident allusion to the power of speech at their disposal. The first three Veda, and consequently the three principal priesthoods, each had their own B., belonging to different priestly schools, which transmitted them orally for centuries before committing them to writing. Many were lost, and only quotations from them remain in the surviving treatises. Those that have come down to us all bear the same imprint, differing only in the greater importance assigned to that part of the ritual corresponding to their purpose. The B. of the Rgveda give greater prominence to matters concerning the office of the hotar, just as those of the Sāmaveda and the Yajurveda respectively emphasize the duties of the udgātar and the adhvaryu (v. BRAHMANESIMO). The Aitareya and the Kauṣitaki-brāhmaṇa belong to the Rgveda; the Pañcaviṇṇa- and the Jaiminīya-brāhmaṇa to the Sāmaveda; the Taittirīya-brāhmaṇa to the black Yajurveda; and the Satapatha-brāhmaṇa to the white Yajurveda. The latter is the most important of all, both for its content and for its size: 100 chapters divided into 10 books. The Atharvaveda was originally without a liturgical treatise, but toward the end of the Vedic age the late Gopatha-brāhmaṇa was attributed to it, so that the fourth Veda too might have its ritual.