The Purusha Suktam
An A-religious Inquiry into a Sacred Text
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
Mantra Nine
Saṁhitā-pāṭha
tasmād yajñāt sarva-hutaḥ ṛcaḥ sāmāni jajñire
chandāṃsi jajñire tasmādyajustasmādajāyata
In the Śuklayajurveda this is found as the 7th mantra. While in the TaiĀr it is the 10t th mantra. In the AV śaunakīya tradition it is placed as the 13th mantra.
Padapāṭha
tasmāt yajñāt sarv-hutaḥ ṛcaḥ sāmāni jajñirem
chandāṁsi jajñire tasmāt yajuḥ tasmāt ajāyata
tasmāt —from that
yajñāt—from sacrifice
sarv-hutaḥ—all-called up
ṛcaḥ—the spark, splendour (√ṛc = to shine)
sāmāni—harmonies, conciliation (√so = t o c omplete, b ring t o
an end)
jajñire—in knowing, comprehension (√jña = to know, understand)
chandāṁsi—in free will, as desired (√chand = to be delighted in)
jajñire—in knowing, understanding
yajuḥ—ability to sacrifice (√yaj = to give, bestow, sacrifice)
tasmāt—from that
ajāyata—was born, produced
According to Wallis and Griffiths, “chandāṃsi” means “spells and incantations.” Therefore, they thought of it as referring to the AV, which consists mainly of spells and incantations. Vidyāranya takes the word to mean gāyatri and the other meters but gives no reason for this interpretation.428
Translation
From the victim, in whom the universal oblation was offered, the ṛc and sāmans were produced; from him the meters were born; from him the yajus was born.
Modern Interpretations
According to Swami Chinmayananda, ṛcs are the mantras of the RV, while sāma are the mantras of the SV, and yajus are the mantras of the YV. The mantra-seers who had seen the truths of the Vedas were all godly men.429
According to Yogi, ṛc means scientific knowledge, sāma means spiritual knowledge, while chandas means poetry, and yuj means temporal and liturgical acts. According to him, inherent knowledge is in the heart of the puruṣa. In every age, the mahapuruṣa is created and the world is guided by his voice. 430 According to Velankar, ṛc, sāma, and yajuṣ do not refer to the Vedas but rather to the three categories of texts. 431
The Vedas are regarded as eternal, but here they are expressly stated to have been born out of this sacrifice. According to Kameshwara Aiyar, these two statements are not to be taken as mutually conflicting. The Vedas have eternal truths or sacred knowledge, which is present in the Supreme Being. When the sādhyās and ṛṣis contemplated on Him and prayed to Him, He illumined their hearts with the divine knowledge, and the eternal truth flashed on their minds with such vividness and brilliancy that they seemed to see and hear it. Hence, the ṛṣis who were recipients of this divine knowledge were termed mantṛadṛṣtāraḥ, that is, those who saw the hymns. The present verse conveys this idea, namely, that Vedic truths came out of this sacrificed puruṣa and the recipients, sādhyās and ṛṣis, whose minds had been thus illumined, gave out these truths to the world in metrical form, whose harmonious outflow is also attributed to the same divine agency.
Classical Interpretations
According to ŚBr, from the yajña the three Vedic divisions were created, namely, ṛc representing the deity Agni and the terrestrial realm (bhūḥ); sāmans representing āditya and the realm of midair (suvaḥ) , and yajus represensting vāyuḥ and the realm of sky (bhuvaḥ); from the yajña were also created the metrical forms in which the seers expressed the Vedas. 433 According to the ChāU, they are the hymns (tha), chants (ut), and prose formulas (gī). The present mantras refer to the sequential emergence from the sacrifice; first the hymns (ṛcaḥ) arose and the chants (sāmāni), and from them the ritualistic passages (yajus).434
Though Atharva Veda is not mentioned specifically, scholars like Peterson interpret chand to mean AV. Swami Dayanand too has interpreted it as AV, while Grassmen has interpreted it as spells and charms; other scholars reject AV as the meaning of chand because its creation is mentioned before the creation of yajus, a fact which no scholar will accept. According to the other scholars, by the time the 10th maṇḍala of the RV was complied, the AV should have already existed. This mantra is important, because it supports the view of those scholars who accept only the three Vedas as eternal and do not consider the AV as part of the Veda Corpus. According to most of the scholars, chand definitely does not refer to AV in this mantra. 435
There was but one Yajur-veda; Vyāsa divided it into
four parts…This vast original tree of the Vedas, having
been divided by him into four principal stems, soon
branched out into an extensive forest. In the first place,
Paila divided the Ṛgveda, and gave the two saṁhitā (or
collections of hymns) to Indrapramati and to Báshkali.
Báshkali subdivided his saṁhitā into four, which he gave
to his disciples Baudhya, Agnimāṭhara, Yājñavalkya and
Parāśara; and they taught these secondary shoots from
the primitive branch (Viṣṇupurāṇa 3.4).
From the sacrificial oblation, which was completely offered, came out the ṛcs, sāmans, and yajus. Different meters too appeared from it. The word jajñire has been formed from √jan, to come out. The Vedic texts ṛcs, sāman, and yajus appeared from it. Gāyatri and other meters also appeared from it. Here the word yajus means the YV. The expression tasmāt has been used thrice. In the first case, it refers to the all-consuming sacrifice (sarvahut); the second time, it refers to hymns and chants, and the third time it refers to the metrical forms.
For Sāyaṇa, with that omnipotent sacrifice, the universal puruṣa was immolated; mentioning all creation, this mantra says that ṛc, sāman, and yajur, all the three vedas and the meters were created. The three Vedas, representing the collective knowledge, and the seven meters with which Vedic literature is linked, were created by the puruṣa.
According to Kamesvara Aiyar, “Richas, Samani and Yajus do not refer to the Vedas but simply to the Rik, Saman and Yajus verses and texts, all of which were and must have been in existence long before the time of their codification into separate treatises and each of which had a distinct purpose and application in sacrificial ceremonials [sic].
Liturgical Usage: In the liturgical rite, this mantra is recited by the worshiper while offering perfumes in the worship of Viṣṇu; the devotee places this mantra on the center of the navel.
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About the Book
The interpretation of the Vedic text has been a prerogative of the Hindu Brahmins, it has always been interpreted from the religious point of view. This book’s approach is from the socio-historical perspective. It is a subaltern reading of the Vedic text, which not only establishes the fact that Puruṣa-sūktam is an interpolation but also unveils the reasons for its interpolation. The authors approach is both emic and etic at the same time; a perspective which bringing out unique insights. He has used a diachronic approach to trace the history of interpretation thus revealing the various layers of interpretations of this text. Beginning with contemporary interpretations, he goes down in history pointing out how the orthodox and classical scholars interpreted this text and going further back in time to unravel its origin and usage in the context of yajnas and nature religion.
About the Author
Victor Borde teaches Psychology and Indology at R. M. College, Bangalore India. He has double master’s degrees in philosophy from the University of Pune and JDV, Pune. He has been active participant in the inter-religious dialogues between Christian, Hindus and Muslims both in India and Canada. Victor has used his knowledge and experience to bring about this distinctive and etic perspective as against the vast number of emic and religious interpretations of this Rigvedic text. For which he has also been conferred with Doctorate in Philosophy.