by Roshen Dalal
AGRICULTURAL RITES
Agricultural rites are other rituals. Two of these take place before the shravana festival: one, a ceremony for the first ploughing, which should take place at the time of a particular nakshatra, usually rohini or jyeshtha, and two, an offering to Sita (deity of the furrow). Other rituals are performed when sowing, harvesting, threshing, storing the threshed grain, and eating the first produce of the harvest.
RITES FOR CATTLE
There are several rites for cattle. Some of these are explained here:
Shulagava, an ox sacrifice, had two forms. In one form, an ox was sacrificed and dedicated to the god Rudra. In another form, no animal was killed but boiled rice was offered to a bull, a cow, and a calf—or to representations of these. These also represented the deities Sharva, Madhushi, and Jayanta.
In baudhyavihara, boiled rice, sprinkled with ajya, was placed in a basket of palasha leaves and hung on a tree as an offering for Rudra.
Sthalipaka was an offering to Kshetrapati, lord of the fields, represented by a bull. The offering was wrapped in leaves, and placed in the path of the cows.
Vrishotsarga was a ceremony where a bull was loosened on the full-moon night of the month of Karttika. It was said to ensure that cows bred well.
On several occasions, mantras for the protection and safety of cattle were recited.
OCCASIONAL CEREMONIES
Guest Reception
This is for special guests, more elaborate than the daily manushya-yajna. A special area is prepared, and the guest is welcomed and seated. First the guest’s feet are washed, next the guest is offered arghya (water and items for worship), achamaniya (water for sipping), and madhuparka (a honey mixture). A cow is presented to the guest, after which food is offered.
House Construction
Various rituals are performed during the building of a house. When the building is complete, the vastu-shanti rite is performed, and special food is offered to Vastoshpati, the deity of houses. Brahmanas and relatives are then fed. Two Grihya Sutras state that an animal is to be sacrificed as part of the vastu-shanti ritual but others do not.
Chaitya Sacrifice
This is a special ritual where offerings are made to a religious shrine or a memorial monument.
FAMILY SAMSKARAS
Apart from these formal grihya sacrifices, there are the personal or family samskaras and rituals. Some of these are referred to in the Rig Veda while others came into use later. At a still later time, some authorities selected sixteen main samskaras to be practised: (1) garbhadana (conception), (2) pumsavana (quickening, ensuring a male offspring), (3) simantoyana or simantonnayana (ritual parting of the hair of the woman during pregnancy), (4) jatakarma (birth ceremony), (5) namakarana (naming ceremony), (6) nishkarmana (first outing), (7) annaprashana (first solid food given), (8) chudakarana (shaving the head of the child, normally between the first and third year; can be later for a kshatriya or vaishya), (9) karnavedha (piercing the ears), (10) vidyarambha (beginning to learn the alphabet), (11) upanayana (initiation), (12) vedarambha (beginning of Vedic study), (13) keshanta or godana (the male student’s first shaving or cutting of his beard, indicating maturity, accompanied by a gift to the teacher), (14) samavartana (end of studentship, and return to the parent’s home; he has a ceremonial bath, followed by other rituals, and is now ready for marriage and a life in the world; he is known as a snataka, ‘one who has taken a bath’), (15) vivaha (marriage ceremonies, several beginning with the betrothal), and (16) antyeshti (funeral ceremonies).
Not all these are observed today, except by the very traditional. However, namakarana, annaprashana, chudakarana, and upanayana are usually observed by many, while marriage and funeral ceremonies are performed by most. There are regional and caste-based variations of these ceremonies. In some regions, Vedic verses are recited at marriage and funeral ceremonies. All rituals conducted according to Arya Samaj rites use verses from the Vedas. Some details on marriage and funeral rituals are given here.
MARRIAGE
The vivaha or marriage was an important custom from ancient days, and is described in the Vedas, epics, Puranas, and other texts. Marriages took place not merely among ordinary people but also among the gods, and these are described in great detail.
In Vedic times, marriage seemed to be between two adults. Polygamy was known but polyandry was rare. Elder children were supposed to get married before younger siblings. Prohibitions regarding marriage are not clear, though brother–sister marriages were prohibited. Incest of any kind was frowned upon.
Acceptable forms of marriage are described in the Smritis and Sutras. Grihastha ashrama, the stage of a householder, was important in the fourfold scheme of Hindu life, and in the Grihya Sutras, marriage is the most important of the Samskaras. The Gobhila Grihya Sutra and the Dharma Sutras prohibit marriage within the gotra (extended family) within six degrees on the mother’s or father’s side, though earlier such prohibitions did not seem to have existed.
In later texts, there were recommendations that the girl be married at very young age, though this did not always happen. There were several different forms of marriage. According to the Ashvalayana Grihya Sutra, there were eight forms of marriage. Though other Grihya Sutras do not describe all these, they are referred to in stories in various texts, and described in the Smritis. The Manu Smriti states that, of these, four methods are approved or good (prashasta) and four are not approved (aprashasta).
Prashasta Forms of Marriage
Brahma: This is the best form, according to the Shastras. Here the girl is given by the father to a man who is learned and has a good character. The girl is gifted by the father with ornaments he can afford, and nothing is taken in return.
Daiva: In this form, the girl is given to a brahmana as dakshina (sacrificial fee) after he has conducted a sacrifice. This form was common in the old days when kings or rich and powerful people gave their daughters to prominent rishis.
Arsha: A form common among brahmanas and rishis of olden days, in this marriage, a pair of cattle was given by the groom to the brahmana father of the bride for the performance of a sacrifice. Another type of Arsha consisted of the marriage of a girl to a rishi in honour of his learning.
Prajapatya: In this form, the aim of the marriage is that both husband and wife together perform their social and religious duties. The father gives away his daughter to a man who will be suitable for this.
Aprashasta Forms of Marriage
The four aprashasta forms were at one time quite common but later frowned upon by Shastra writers.
Asura: According to the Manu Smriti, this was when the husband paid money to the bride and her relatives. Some ancient writers call this the manusha (human) form. The custom was criticized by Shastra writers, who said that selling a daughter led one into hell.
Gandharva: This form was when a man and a woman chose each other. The Manu Smriti states that a gandharva type is ‘where the bride and the bridegroom meet each other of their own accord, and the meeting is consummated in copulation born of passion’ (3.32). Kings, rishis, and others often had this type of marriage in ancient days, but it gradually fell into disfavour.
Rakshasa: In this form, a girl was captured by force while weeping and crying and her relatives were injured or killed (Manu Smriti 2.21). It was considered a good form for Kshatriyas (3.24). However, several instances of capture in the Mahabharata and other texts involved the consent of the woman, even though the relatives were against it. Thus Arjuna captured Subhadra with the support of Krishna, though Balarama and others were opposed to it. Later, they were formally married. Sita’s capture by Ravana in the Ramayana was in a different category, as she was already married. In times of war, Kshatriyas continued to capture women but otherwise this form became uncommon.
Paishacha: Shastra writers considered this the worst. It involved carrying away or ravishing the woman when she was alone, asleep, senseless, or intoxicated.
There were other forms of marriage in late
r times. Child marriage also became common.
FUNERAL CEREMONIES AND CUSTOMS
One of the main samskaras of Hindu life is the funeral ceremony, known as antyeshti. Cremation is the most common form of funeral ceremony performed today. However, certain groups are not cremated. Ascetics and children are generally buried or given a ‘water burial’ (floated down a river). Dalits and certain castes such as Lingayats also bury their dead.
Historically, both cremation and burial existed. The Indus Civilization has evidence of burial as well as post-cremation burial and symbolic burial. The Rig Veda seems to refer to both burial (10.18.10–13) and cremation (10.16.1–6), though cremation soon became the norm. Archaeological excavations indicate burial existed in various areas at both Neolithic and Mesolithic sites. Another early funeral practice was the erection of megaliths over graves or over ashes placed in urns.
Funeral ceremonies are described in different places in the Atharva Veda, the Aranyaka of the Krishna Yajur Veda, and later in some Grihya Sutras. Further texts on funeral practices termed Paddhatis and Prayogas were written in medieval and modern times. These were based on early sources but added some new elements.
For funeral ceremonies and offerings to the ancestors, only one fire, the dakshina, is used in both grihya and shrauta rituals. In the shrauta ceremonies, the other two have a nominal presence. There are two types of ancestral rites. The first are for the distant or ancient ancestors, the pitris, and the second for those recently dead, known as pretas. The Grihya Sutras describe shraddha ceremonies for both categories. For the pitris, there is the daily pitri yajna, the monthly shraddha, as well as offerings at the ashtaka and anvashtakya rituals. Ashtaka rituals take place on the eighth day of the dark fortnights after the full moon of certain months (more details below). The anvashtakya is performed the day after the ashtaka. Immediately after a person dies, there are funeral rituals and others come later. According to the Grihya Sutras, several Rig Vedic verses are to be recited during the funeral ceremonies. In a custom described in the Rig Veda, when a man dies, the wife lies down beside him on the funeral pyre, and then is asked to rise by someone from her husband’s family with the recitation of the verse 10.18.8. While the body of an ahitagni (one who has established the sacred fire) is being burnt, the following Rig verses are recited: 10.14.7, 8, 10, 11; 10.16.1–6; 10.17.3–6; 10.18.10–13. These ask him to follow the ancient paths of the pitris, which lead to Yama and Varuna, the two kings. He should leave behind all faults and go past the Sarameyas. If the dead person is not an ahitagni, no verses are recited when the body is burning. After the body is burnt, milk and water are sprinkled on the spot, and Rig Vedic verses 10.16.13 onwards are chanted. Either on the third or on the tenth day, the bones are collected and placed in an urn, which is buried in a pit. At this time, the verses (Rig 10.18.10) are recited, beginning, ‘Approach mother earth ...’ Some of the Rig Vedic mantras indicate that with the burning of the body and the chanting of verses, the preta (spirit of the dead person) went directly to abode of the pitris. But in the later sutras the sapindakarana (shraddha) leads the preta to this region. During this ceremony, the Rig Veda verses 10.191.3–4 are recited. The Shatapatha Brahmana and the Katyayana Shrauta Sutra state that a memorial is to be erected, after removing the bones from the place where they were buried, and reburying it outside the village. Then a mound was erected and a barrier placed on the mound, to separate the dead from the living. Rig 10.18.3–4 says a stone can be a barrier.
After the sapindakarana, offerings are made usually for one year after death, when the preta is considered a pitri and offerings are made accordingly. A monthly shraddha is performed. As this takes place in the afternoon of the day of the new moon, it is called parvana (both new-moon and full-moon days are called parvan). In the Shrauta cult, the equivalent is the pinda pitri yajna, in which only the dakshina fire is lit. Food, mainly rice, is cooked, and at least three brahmanas are invited, to represent the father, grandfather, and great-grandfather. Offerings are made to these three, along with the recitation of the Vedic verse 10.15.15. Various other rituals conclude the ceremony, which is followed by the ashtakas or eighth-day ceremonies. Usually, three ashtakas take place, on the eighth day following the full moon in the months of Pausha, Magha, and Phalguna. In the second ashtaka, part of the Rig Vedic hymn 10.15 is used. There are also other shraddha ceremonies described in the sutras.
Rites for cremation vary in different regions and among the various communities, and have been modified and simplified over time.
Some early sutras prescribe that a cow or goat should be sacrificed along with the dead person, as it was supposed to guide them over the Vaitarani river, the mythical river separating life and death. The sacrifice may have been only symbolic. According to later texts, a cow was made to walk around the funeral pyre, and then set free or gifted to a brahmana. Modern times have led to a modification or elimination of this practice.
Chapter 11
The Beginnings of Medicine
Dhanvantari, an incarnation of Vishnu, emerged from the kshir-sagara, the ocean of milk, carrying the vessel of amrita, the divine drink of immortality. Dhanvantari is said to be the physician of the gods, and the first of all physicians on earth. Though this is a later legend, medicine can be traced back to the Vedas and even earlier.
IN THE ANCIENT WORLD
Even in the Palaeolithic age, people would have suffered from diseases and injuries and attempts must have been made to cure them, to help them heal. We don’t know what these early attempts were but, by the Bronze Age, medicine and systems of healing, including surgery, use of herbs, and spiritual methods, were used in ancient Egypt, Iran, India, Mesopotamia, and other parts of the ancient world.
HARAPPAN CIVILIZATION
Some Harappan seals and artefacts have been interpreted from the standpoint of medicine. Kenneth G. Zysk, an Indologist at the University of Copenhagen, suggested that the extensive drainage system in Harappan cities indicates ‘a concern for public health and sanitation’, and that the Great Bath at Mohenjodaro could indicate the use of hydrotherapy as a therapeutic measure, though the latter seems unlikely. Some seals and sealings may have been used as amulets to ward off disease and ill-fortune. The short inscriptions on them may have been mantras. A seal of a woman standing in a pipal tree with seven devotees below suggests a tree goddess, and a reverence for plants that were used extensively to cure diseases in the Atharva Veda and later texts. The horned deity in another famous seal (see Chapter 8) could have been a shaman or medicine man. There are other possibilities too but, without the script having been deciphered, nothing can be said with certainty.
THE VEDAS
The Rig Veda and Later Vedic Samhitas, particularly the Atharva Veda, have references to the healing and curing of ailments. Bheshaja is the term used for medicine or a remedial measure in the Vedic texts; remedies included plants, water, and spells. A bhishaj or physician is frequently mentioned, right from the time of the Rig Veda. Among the gods, the Ashvins, Varuna, and Rudra are known as bhishaj. One hymn in the Rig Veda (10.97) refers to a physician with his plants and healing powers. In the same text, the Ashvins are the greatest healers, who could heal the lame and the blind, restore youth, and even replace a leg with a metal one. These miraculous cures may have been mythical or based on ancient stories and legends. They do not exist in the Atharva Veda, which describes different methods to treat illness and disease. However, the practice of medicine seems to have been a profession by the time of the Rig Veda. In the Yajur Veda, a physician is included among the purushamedha (human sacrifice) victims.
In the Dharma Shastras, the profession of physician is looked down upon; this attitude can be seen even in the Yajur Veda, where the Ashvins are condemned for practising medicine.
The Vedic texts also reflect a knowledge of the body and its functions, and some knowledge of the human anatomy.
The Atharva Veda provides information on the body, mentions diseases, and also indicates the plants a
nd herbs used to cure these. Herbs that can cure disease are also praised in prayers and invocations. There are prayers to water, which has healing powers, and to fire, which is believed to guard against demons. Both pishachas and rakshasas are believed to cause diseases. Healing rituals, accompanied by chants, are described. Diseases, personified as demons, were sent to far-off countries or peoples, carried away by birds, or transferred to the ground. These were not unusual practices. Even in the New Testament of the Holy Bible, people are said to be possessed by devils and, in one instance, these are transferred to a herd of swine.
Healing rituals were conducted at specific times, some performed when the stars were in a particular alignment, indicating the use of astrology. Amulets of wood and other items are referred to in the Atharva Veda.