Brāhmaṇa

BRĀHMAṆA. - This adjective, derived from Brahman (v.), means "concerning worship or the priesthood," but when used substantively it takes on a different meaning according to gender and (in the Vedic texts) also the accentuation of the word. Masculine and oxytone, it means "priest, theologian, Brahmin"; neuter and proparoxytone, it means "ritual explanation, norm relating to faith and worship" and, collectively, "the body of such explanations and norms," the theological-liturgical treatise. The Brahmins, considered gods on earth, belonged to the first of the three Aryan castes, and the Rgveda (X, 90, 12) says they were born from the mouth of the cosmic man, with evident allusion to the power of the word, which they controlled. The first three Vedas, and consequently the three major priesthoods, each had their own B., belonging to different priestly schools, which transmitted them by memory for centuries before entrusting them to writing. Many were lost, and only the citations in the surviving treatises remain. Those that have come down to us all bear the same imprint, and differ only in the greater importance given to that part of the ritual which corresponds to their purpose. The B. of the Rgveda give greater prominence to what concerns the office of the hotar, just as those of the Sāmaveda and of the Yajurveda respectively emphasize the duties of the udgātar and of the adhvaryu (v. BRAHMANESIMO). To the Rgveda belong the Aitareya and the *Kauṣitaki-brāhmaṇa; to the Sāmaveda the Pañcaviṇṇa- and the Jaiminīya-brāhmaṇa; to the black Yajurveda the Taittirīya-brāhmaṇa and to the white Yajurveda the Satapatha-brāhmaṇa, which is the most important of all both for its content and for its bulk: 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.

Ferdinando Belloni Filippi