Brahmanism

BRAHMANISM. - B. derives from brahman, as Christianity derives from Christ, but while a Christian is one who professes the religion of Christ, a brahman is one who is in possession of the brahman, the sacred-magical formula which has the power to subject the gods to the will of men. The word "brahman" therefore has nothing to do with the cult of the god Brahmā (v.), a late masculine personification of the abstract idea of brahman, born from the realistic tendency to clothe metaphysical concepts in empirical forms, in order to make them susceptible of veneration and worship. In the Vedic age the faculty of disposing of the brahman already belonged to a limited number of brahmaṇas, evokers of the brahman, who are the forerunners of the brahmanic or priestly caste, of which the Rgveda makes explicit mention only in the hymn to the Cosmic Man, probably contemporary with the earliest Brāhmaṇa (v.). Moreover the word b. designates not only a form of worship and a body of philosophical-religious doctrines, but also a series of political and social institutions, whose elaboration goes back to the priestly caste. Religious conceptions changed over the course of the centuries, but the castes and civil institutions survived down to our own day. Certain rites that consecrate the most important acts of life, the saṃskāra or sacraments, are still celebrated with the Vedic ceremonial and the assistance of a brahman. A distinction is usually made between Vedism (v.), the religion of the Aryans settled in the "region of the five rivers" (Punjab), and b. (ca. 1000 B.C.-500 A.D.), which elsewhere, in the Ganges valley, substitutes for the omnipotence of the gods that of the sacrificial ceremonies, and for Vedic polytheism pantheistic monism; it introduces the caste system and initiates that philosophical speculation which will lead to the formation of the six orthodox systems. But this distinction is only in part justified. The seeds of b. are already in the Rgveda, while the "Veda of the sacrificial formulas" (Yajurveda) constitutes the link between the two ages. The word "Veda", sacred science, designates in the strict sense the four "collections" (saṃhitā) of hymns and formulas, which constitute the most ancient literary monument of India, considered revelation (śruti). But the Brāhmaṇa, the Āraṇyaka and the Upaniṣad (v.) are also revealed doctrines, and therefore Veda in the broad sense. The Vedāṅga, "accessory parts of the Veda", which consist of rules of sacred and profane content, especially liturgical, are the work of the priestly schools. Our treatment concerns b. properly so called, divided into two periods, the age of the Brāhmaṇa (1000-800 B.C.) and that of the Upaniṣad (800-500 B.C.), which correspond to two different ways of attaining supreme salvation: "the way of ritual works" (karma-marga) and the "way of knowledge" (jñāna-marga). A third way, that of love, of devotion toward God (bhakti-marga), opened when the brahman, conceived as Supreme Principle, creator of the gods themselves, was replaced by the theistic conception of Īśvara, the "Lord" who has created and governs the world. Faith in Īśvara belongs already to Yoga, a most ancient ascetic doctrine, which goes back to the 8th century B.C. The theory of the avatāra, "descents" or incarnations of a divinity on earth, then offered the crowds, eager for divine love, the means of deifying their heroes, and the brahmans the opportunity of assimilating non-Aryan cults. Brahmanic tolerance was in fact unlimited provided that the dogma was respected that the Veda was not a human work, but revelation. Belief in the avatāra and devotion are the characteristics of Hinduism, the modern phase of the Indian religions, also called neo-Brahmanism because in the religious syncretism from which it originated the brahmanic element always succeeded in prevailing.

KARMA-MARGA

Already in the Black Yajurveda there are found, mingled with prayers and formulas, those "ritual explanations" (brāhmaṇa) which were later collected in the liturgical treatises of the same name, the most important of which is the Brāhmaṇa called, from its hundred chapters, "of the hundred paths" (Satapatha-brāhmaṇa). Brahmanic religion hinges on sacrifice (yajña), which is no longer understood as propitiating the gods so that they may grant men prosperity on earth and bliss in heaven. These goods are produced by the sacrifice itself, by its mysterious power, which is magical in nature. The gods are called upon to contribute to the sacrificial rite only as instruments; they too availed themselves of sacrifice in order to obtain immortality (Sat. Br., X, 4, 3, 3, 8). The yajña resembles a mechanism, of which the gods, the officiating priests with their utensils, the sacred fires, the offerings, and the ritual acts and words represent the constituent parts. If these parts exactly fulfill their function, the brahman is produced, the mystic power that the magician-priest knows how to turn to the profit of the wealthy patron, at whose expense the ceremony is performed. In the Rgveda, III, 53, 12, the priestly family of the Viśvāmitra boasts of protecting the Bhārata with its brahman. Sacrifice exists ab aeterno, and is an emanation of the Father of creatures (Prajāpati), the supreme Being of priestly speculation. The most orthodox theologians of the Vedic age, the Mīmāṃsāka, maintain that the sole purpose of revelation was to teach the doctrine of sacrifice.

JÑĀNA-MARGA. - But this source of well-being in this life and the next could be drawn upon only by those privileged by birth and census. To others was open the way of knowledge, which demanded no other sacrifice than that of oneself out of desire for the Supreme Truths. The muni, "the ecstatic," who already appears in the Rgveda, X, 136, was usually an innovator, a rival of the brahmans, who, heedless of the sacrificial rite, sought within himself the power capable of working prodigies and conferring clairvoyance. This power is tapas, the ascetic ardor, aroused by methods among which chastity, fasting and the regulation of the breath hold first place. And since moral conduct was an indispensable condition of success in ascetic exercises, the first ethical precepts were born together with asceticism. The conciliatory attitude of the brahmans toward the ascetics is demonstrated by the fact that even the Āraṇyaka or "anchoritic treatises," the work of hermits, came to form part of revelation. They substituted for the exterior worship of sacrificial ceremonies, impossible for one living in solitude to perform, the interior worship of meditation on the symbolic meaning of the rites and on the relations that exist between psychic forces and cosmic forces, seeking by this path to grasp the principle from which all proceed. From these liturgical meditations, thought then rose to speculations of a metaphysical nature, which constitute the "arcane doctrine," the upaniṣad. The texts ana-

The core texts, which belong to the first three Vedas, are like the connecting link between the Brāhmaṇas and the Upaniṣads, also called Vedānta, "end of the Veda," because they are the last Vedic product. By way of comparisons between the microcosm man and the macrocosm universe, the philosophers of the Upaniṣads arrive at a new doctrine, that of the Unity of the cosmic principle (brahman) with the Subject of knowledge in us, the Self, the ātman. The cosmic powers are matched by the psychophysical powers; but these and those are manifestations of the immanent divinity, of the All-One, which is not knowable because, being the subject, it cannot at the same time be the object of knowledge. The mutual relations between the world and the Absolute, conceived at the same time as immanent and transcendent, are the subject of the Upaniṣadic speculations. Since the teachers of the new doctrine in the Upaniṣads are also princes and kings, it was thought that philosophical speculation had begun in the warrior caste in antagonism with Brahmanic sacrificial science. But of this we have no sufficient proof. The merit of the elaboration belongs in any case to the brahmans, the authors of the Upaniṣads.

ESCHATOLOGICAL DOCTRINES

It was once believed that the good, on dying, ascended to heaven to feast in the company of Yama beneath leafy trees, while the wicked were plunged into the darkness of deep abysses. No return from the other world to this one was envisaged. But the Brāhmaṇa of the hundred paths speaks of a "new death" in the afterlife, once the religious merit acquired in life has been exhausted. And it seeks escape from dying again either in ceremonies of extraordinary power, capable of rendering sacrifices and good works inexhaustible, or in various notions apt to preserve one from the second death. The belief in an otherworldly death and in the dependence of the fate of the deceased upon the works performed in life constituted the premises of the pan-Indian doctrine of the transmigration of souls, which already appears fully formed in the most ancient Upaniṣads. Life is no longer conceived as a brief journey from birth to death, but as a passing (saṃsāra) from existence to existence through infinite births and deaths, until liberation (mokṣa) from the long travail. With death the psyche dissolves, but the transcendent force of merit and demerit reconnects its elements into a new psychic organism, fit to receive, in another existence, human or bestial, the retribution of works in the form of joy or pain. After a period of uncertainty regarding the manner of attaining liberation from rebirth, the authors of the Upaniṣads ended by recognizing this means in the union of the ātman with brahman, the cosmic principle. Whether in this theocrasia the individuality of the liberated person continues to subsist or is lost is a question that was resolved only later by the philosophers of Vedānta. In the first sense by Rāmānuja (11th-12th century), who seems to profess the more ancient opinion; in the second by Śaṅkara (9th century).

RITES

Ancient India did not have, like ancient Rome, a public cult. The priests lent their services to wealthy private individuals, princes and kings, celebrating complicated ceremonies called śrauta, that is, founded on revelation, periodic or extraordinary. The sacrifice of Soma was annual and in spring, which involved the preparation of the sacred drink and required the use of three sacrificial fires and the presence of sixteen priests. Among the extraordinary ceremonies are reckoned the consecration of a king and the horse sacrifice. The priests officiating in the major sacrifices are: the Hotar or invoker, who at the beginning of the ceremony recites the verses of praise from the Rgveda; the Udgātar, the chanter, who accompanies the rites with song; the Adhvaryu or executor of the sacrifice, who murmurs exorcisms and prayers suited to ensuring the success of the work, and the Brahman, the inspector of the sacrifice, whose task it is to remedy any errors with appropriate expiations. For the performance of the family sacrifices, carried out by the father of the family, a single fire, the domestic one, is sufficient, which receives obligatory offerings of milk, morning and evening, and at midday, offerings of food for the Manes and all the gods. The principal sacraments or saṃskāra, which consecrate the passage from one condition of life to another, number about ten, but it will suffice to recall, without describing them, the most important, starting from the rites of birth, the last of which is the imposition of the name. The upanayana, or initiation into the spiritual life, conferred on the Aryan castes between the ages of eight and twelve, is invested with particular solemnity; after it the initiate wears the sacred cord and takes the name of dvija, "born twice." Then begins the period of apprenticeship, particularly hard for future priests, who must learn the veda by heart, devoting nine or more years to this study. Women and the non-Aryan castes are excluded from the upanayana. Once the apprenticeship is finished, the young man passes, through marriage, to the state of father of the family, and assumes its burdensome duties. The contemplative life befits old age, and therefore the Brahmanic theory of the āśrama or "stages" of the perfect life, sanctioned by the code of Manu (v. DHARMAŚĀSTRA), prescribes the abandonment of family and home, and retirement into the forest, once one has seen one's children's children. This is the third stage after apprenticeship and marriage. The fourth is that of "renunciation of everything" in order to give oneself to the wandering life and live on alms to obtain union with the brahman. This theory, it is not known to what extent it was practiced, was an evident compromise between the observance of the Vedic religion, founded on sacrificial rites, and the life of the ascetic.

MYTHOLOGY

The gods of the Rgveda are personifications of natural phenomena or of the mysterious forces that determine them. The god of the sun is called Sūrya, sun, and the Vedic seer celebrates his splendor and his power; the dawn reddens the sky, putting the darkness to flight, and is invoked as Uṣas, the goddess "dawn." But in the Brā-

hmaṇa, the Vedic divinities remain overshadowed by the predominance of others, which were secondary in the Ṛgvedic age. Prajāpati is a god mentioned only once in the Ṛgveda, and in a passage perhaps interpolated. In the Brāhmaṇa he is identified with sacrifice and made the father of the gods. Indra, Agni and Soma continue to be worshipped. Viṣṇu, a lesser solar deity, and Rudra under the euphemistic name of Śiva, "the benign," prepare to assume, in neo-Brahmanism, supremacy over all the gods. With them is associated Brahmā in a "triad" (trimūrti) that dates from the 5th century and has nothing to do with the Christian Trinitarian dogma. The three divinities are, according to the Mahābhārata, three forms of Prajāpati.

Ferdinando Belloni Filippi