Brihaddevata by Shounaka

[N.R.Joshi]

April 18, 2016

 

I thank Dr. Rani S Murthy, for his post on polytheism in Sanatan dharma.

 

Please understand. I am not presenting my religion to people of different religion. My research is for understanding my own religion.

Shounaka has compiled hundreds of Devatas from Rigveda. In Rigveda there are different mantras for these devatas.

Thank you Dr. V. sundersen and Dr. N. Paturi. I was not referring to mantra and Devata for Brahmajnaana. That is different.

Brihaddevata of Shaunaka contains a large number of devatas. His effort to bring these devatas and their names together in his book indicates that these names were current at his time (around 400BC) in the ancient society. At least some devatas come with their own Ris’is, mantras and chandas. Mantras and Devatas in Brihaddevata are from Rigveda. Oblations are given to a devata, example “ Agnim Jus’Tam nirvaapayaami”. Now there are other two names (devatas) for Agni-Jaataveda and VaisvaaNara. It is said that Agni is in the earth sphere, Jaataveda in middle sphere (of Indra and Vaayu) and Vaishvaanara is in the sphere of the sUrya.

My question was-Are the phala of giving oblations to these three is the same or different ? How to decide? Do the names Jaataveda and Vaishvaanara (digestive fire in stomach) offer any clue to their functions? Wherever it is possible Shaunaka offers etymology of their names. At other places he tells myth (aakhyayana, story) about their names. So the name of the book “Myth as argument” (scholars can correct me here).

I do understand devotion to one’s Is’ta devata (such as Raama and Krshna) may offer him god realization. Geeta says namaskar to all devas go to Keshava. Then what was the purpose of all these devatas ? Who imagined them? Do they really exist? Look at the names ---Apaam Napaat, Aja ekapaada, Vaata(wind), Pathya, Swasti, Laaks’a, and name of the historical king Taarks’ya is also included, Names of rivers are included as devatas. Other devatas SuparNa, Dadhikra and many more. Other names like Raaka Siniwali, Kuhu, Gungu etc already mentioned by me. The name of one devataa is ka (Prajaapati).This is interesting. Why k ?

Deva, Devataa, Daivata, Daivam. Are they derived from the root Div- to shine, be bright, to gamble, to throw, cast, (polysemy of Sanskrit roots). We often talk about Adhibhautika and Adhyatmika levels(Brahman, Aatman). What is the function of the level Adhidaivika?

In Rikvidhaana of Shaunaka, mantras are prescribed for very mundane problems (not for sacrifice).

Please enlighten us so we make progress in our understanding of our own religion. Please do not tell me that everything came from Brahman/Aatman. I know those answers. I have no intension to defend my religion against other religions. I did research on other religions long ago. For those religions I studied the history of ancient Middle-East countries. It was rewarding.Thanks. N,R,Joshi

 

____________________________________________________________
Affordable Wireless Plans
Set up is easy. Get online in minutes.
Starting at only $9.95 per month!
www.netzero.net

[Nagaraj Paturi]

> Thank you Dr. V. sundersen and Dr. N. Paturi. I was not referring to mantra and Devata for Brahmajnaana. That is different.

------- If these sentences are connected to each other and that means that I said/understood  that you referred to mantra and Devata for Brahmajnaana , let me clarify, I did not say /understand that you referred to mantra and Devata for Brahmajnaana.

Let me also clarify, for whatever it is worth, that I did not mention anywhere, even in the thread on polytheism related discussion that

" that everything came from Brahman/Aatman." .

" that everything came from Brahman/Aatman."  was not said by anyone in that thread. In that thread, no one made any attempt defend his religion against other religions.

With these, I leave the post here, to make way for the intended discussion to continue as intended.

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "भारतीयविद्वत्परिषत्" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to bvparishat+...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to bvpar...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

--

Nagaraj Paturi

 

Hyderabad, Telangana, INDIA.

 

Former Senior Professor of Cultural Studies

 

FLAME School of Communication and FLAME School of  Liberal Education,

 

(Pune, Maharashtra, INDIA )

 

 

 

[Nagaraj Paturi]

Sharing snapshots of the pages from the book Myth as argument. 

[Kalicharan Tuvij]

Agni:
Agni is a "D-देवता" (a term from the other thread), i.e. a composite of a particular set of deities "oriented along" one of its constituents- सूर्य देव.

So in the worship of Agni, सूर्य is the ultimate/ इष्ट देवता, also there are some other "intermediate stage deities" (as in a cumulative sum) involved, namely:
1. physical fire. Photon. धातृ । matter. material world. भग देवता ।
2. जातवेदस् । कुमारौ ।

Dynamics:

Worship of composite deities (ब्रह्मा, विष्णु, शिव, दुर्गा, गणेश, इत्यादि) is particularly helpful for -
a) lay persons who don't have the time/ energy to go into pointed sAdhanA,
and b) those who are into the integrating phase of their evolution.

A proper worship (or a shrine), therefore, should consist of-
Only one (or none) composite deity, plus any number (including none) of non-composite deities.

(Note: विष्णु is a composite, but his avatAra-s, e.g. Ram Krishna etc, are non-composites)


Who imagined the Devata-s?
The Rsis discovered them (as axioms). For example, अङ्गिरस् discovered ब्रह्मन्.

So many Devatas:
Only a few are fundamental, the rest are their -
a) differential manifestations
b) epithets

Why क:
Originally it was for ब्रह्मन्, since ब्रह्मन्, the one without an attribute, was supposed to be "not spoken of" (since the name itself is an attribute) in the ancient Vedic tradition.

Brihaddevata of Shaunaka:
It recollects the fragmented folk memories of Veda's anthropological dimension. In terms of thought, Brihaddevata is far more closer to us than to the Vedic people.

Myths:
These are the vague records of things that people can no longer relate to as real. More often than not these myths tell us about the very chain of incidents that caused the loss of those reals.

Adhibhautika, adhidaivika, adhyatmika:
This classification is not useful.


Regards,

[Nagaraj Paturi]

Dear Dr Joshi,

The 'was' in

"My question was-Are the phala of giving oblations to these three is the same or different ? .................................................................."

must be referring to a past post of yours.

Can you please guide us to that post where this was your question?

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "भारतीयविद्वत्परिषत्" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to bvparishat+...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to bvpar...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.