BRAHMANA

any of a number of prose commentaries attached to the Vedas, the most ancient Hindu sacred literature, explaining the significance of the Vedas as used in the ritual sacrifices and the symbolic import of the priests' actions. The word brahmana may mean either the utterance of a Brahman (priest) or an exposition on the meaning of the sacred word; the latter is more commonly accepted by scholars. The Brahmanas belong to the period 900700 BC, when the gathering of the sacred hymns into Samhitas (collections) had acquired a position of sanctity. They present a digest of accumulated teachings, illustrated by myth and legend, on various matters of ritual and on hidden meanings of the sacred texts. Their principal concern is with the sacrifice, and they are the oldest extant sources for the history of Indian ritual. Appended to the Brahmanas are chapters written in similar language and style, but with a more philosophic content, which specifically instruct that the matter of these chapters should be taught only in the forest, away from the village. These later works, called Aranyakas (q.v.), served as a link between the Brahmanas and the Upanishads. Of the Brahmanas handed down by the followers of the Rigveda, two have been preserved, the Aitareya Brahmana and the Kausitaki (or Sankhayana) Brahmana. Discussed in these two works are the going of the cows (gavamayana), the 12 days' rites (dvadasaha), the daily morning and evening sacrifices (agnihotra), the setting up of the sacrificial fire (agnyadhana), the new- and full-moon rites, the four months' rites, and the rites for the installation of kings. Properly speaking, the Brahmanas of the Samaveda are the Pacavimsa (25 books), Sadvimsa (26th), and the Jaiminiya (or Talavakara) Brahmana. They show almost complete accordance in their exposition of the going of the cows ceremony, the various soma (q.v.) ceremonies, and the different rites lasting from one to 12 days. Also described are the atonements required when mistakes or evil portents have occurred during sacrifices. The Brahmanas of the Yajurveda were at first inserted at various points in the texts alongside the material on which they commented. This was at variance with the practice followed by the teachers of the Rigveda and the Samaveda, who probably did not wish to upset the arrangement of such a sacred collection and who gathered the expository lectures together as the various Brahmanas. The Yajurveda fell into two separate groups, the later White (Sukla) Yajurveda, which separated out the Brahmanas, and the Black (Krishna) Yajurveda, whose Samhitas contain much Brahmanic material. Satapatha Brahmana (or 100 paths), consisting of 100 lessons, belongs to the White Yajurveda. Ranking next to the Rigveda in importance, this Brahmana survives in two slightly differing versions, the Kanva and the Madhyamdina. Elements more closely connected with domestic ritual are introduced here. Finally, to the Atharvaveda belongs the comparatively late Gopatha Brahmana. Relating only secondarily to the Samhitas and Brahmanas, it is in part concerned with the role played by the brahmn (pray-er) priest who supervised the sacrifice.