The Brahmanas

01Mantra and Brahmana, both Veda

Mantra-brahmanayor vedanamadheyam, says the Apastamba Shrauta Sutra: the name Veda belongs to the Mantra and the Brahmana together. The Samhita gives the words to be chanted; the Brahmana tells what to do with them, and why. So the Brahmanas are Shruti, apaurusheya like the hymns, and each belongs to a particular Veda and shakha, taught in the same families that keep its Samhita. Their prose is the prose of the teacher at the altar, plain and exact, full of the phrase iti ha smaha, so he used to say, as one rishi quotes another. The Aranyakas and Upanishads grow out of their closing parts.

02Mantra and Brahmana, both Veda

Mantra-brahmanayor vedanamadheyam, says the Apastamba Shrauta Sutra: the name Veda belongs to the Mantra and the Brahmana together. The Samhita gives the words to be chanted; the Brahmana tells what to do with them, and why. So the Brahmanas are Shruti, apaurusheya like the hymns, and each belongs to a particular Veda and shakha, taught in the same families that keep its Samhita. Their prose is the prose of the teacher at the altar, plain and exact, full of the phrase iti ha smaha, so he used to say, as one rishi quotes another. The Aranyakas and Upanishads grow out of their closing parts.

03Vidhi and arthavada

A Brahmana gives two kinds of teaching. Vidhi is the command: at this point, pour ghee with this mantra. Arthavada is the explanation that follows, often a katha of the devas and asuras that shows why the act works. The Mimamsa darshana of Jaimini was built to read exactly these texts, sorting command from praise. In Mimamsa, Mantra and Brahmana together make up the Veda.

04The Shatapatha, a hundred paths

The Shatapatha Brahmana of the Shukla Yajurveda is the largest of all: fourteen kandas and a hundred adhyayas in the Madhyandina recension, seventeen kandas in the Kanva. Its first nine kandas follow the Vajasaneyi Samhita rite by rite. The early kandas carry Yajnavalkya's teaching; the sixth to the tenth, on the fire altar, carry Shandilya's, and in 10.6.3 stands the Shandilya vidya, satyam brahmety upasita, meditate on Brahman as the truth. Here too is the katha of Videgha Mathava, who carried the sacred fire Vaishvanara in his mouth eastward to the river Sadanira. The fourteenth kanda ends in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad.

05One or more for each Veda

The Rigveda has the Aitareya Brahmana, taught by Mahidasa Aitareya, and the Kaushitaki or Shankhayana. The Shukla Yajurveda has the vast Shatapatha, whose teachers include Yajnavalkya and Shandilya. The Krishna Yajurveda has the Taittiriya Brahmana. The Samaveda has the Tandya, also called Panchavimsha for its twenty-five chapters, with the Shadvimsha and the Jaiminiya. The Atharvaveda has the Gopatha. The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad is the closing part of the Shatapatha.

06The five great daily yajnas

The Shatapatha (11.5.6.1) names the five great yajnas that every householder owes each day: to the beings (bhuta yajna), to men (manushya yajna), to the ancestors (pitri yajna), to the devas (deva yajna) and to Brahman (brahma yajna). Feeding birds and animals, feeding the guest, offering water to the pitris, the offering into the fire, and the daily recitation of one's own Veda: so the grand rites of the Brahmanas reach the smallest kitchen. The Taittiriya Brahmana (3.11.8) tells of Nachiketa and Yama, and of the Nachiketa fire altar, the katha the Katha Upanishad tells in full.

07Mimamsa and the commentators

Jaimini's Mimamsa Sutras give the rules for reading a Brahmana: how to tell a command from praise, how to settle two passages that seem to differ, which act is principal and which subsidiary. Shabara wrote the classic bhashya on those sutras, and Kumarila Bhatta and Prabhakara built the two great schools on it. For the texts themselves, Sayanacharya wrote on nearly every Brahmana. Harisvamin wrote on part of the Shatapatha, and Shadgurushishya wrote the Sukhaprada on the Aitareya. Shankaracharya and the Vedanta acharyas quote the Brahmanas often, for the Upanishads they explain stand on this ground.

08The yajna kept alive

The rites the Brahmanas describe have never stopped. Agnihotri families in Maharashtra, Andhra, Tamil Nadu and Kerala still keep the three fires and offer morning and evening. In 1975 at Panjal in Kerala, Nambudiri priests performed the twelve-day Atiratra Agnichayana, building the bird-shaped fire altar brick by brick as the Brahmanas and sutras lay down, and the rite has been performed again since. Somayajis, those who have performed a Soma yajna, still carry the title in their family names. Each time such a yajna is done, the Brahmana that explains it is recited and taught again.

What it contains

1. 1
   Aitareya Brahmana (Rigveda)

   Forty adhyayas in eight panchikas, taught by Mahidasa Aitareya, setting out the hotar's part in the Soma rites and the royal consecration. The seventh panchika tells of Harishchandra, his son Rohita, and Shunahshepa freed by his prayers to the devas, with Indra's counsel charaiveti, keep moving. The eighth describes the great anointing of kings.

2. 2
   Kaushitaki (Shankhayana) Brahmana (Rigveda)

   Thirty adhyayas on the duties of the hotar priest, covering the fire rites, the seasonal offerings and the Soma sacrifice. It is shorter and more ordered than the Aitareya, and its school also keeps the Shankhayana Aranyaka with the Kaushitaki Upanishad.

3. 3
   Shatapatha Brahmana (Shukla Yajurveda)

   The 'Brahmana of a hundred paths', fourteen kandas in the Madhyandina and seventeen in the Kanva. It holds the Manu and the fish katha (1.8.1), Pururavas and Urvashi, Videgha Mathava, the Shandilya vidya (10.6.3) and the five great yajnas (11.5.6). Its last kanda is the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad.

4. 4
   Taittiriya Brahmana (Krishna Yajurveda)

   Three ashtakas completing the Taittiriya Samhita, with rites the Samhita leaves out. It holds the Nachiketa katha and fire altar (3.11.8) and the nakshatra offerings that name each lunar mansion and its devata.

5. 5
   Tandya, Shadvimsha and Jaiminiya Brahmanas (Samaveda)

   The Tandya or Panchavimsha, in twenty-five chapters, sets out the Soma sacrifices and the samans sung at each, with the Shadvimsha as its twenty-sixth. The Jaiminiya Brahmana of the Jaiminiya school is among the largest Brahmanas, and its Upanishad Brahmana holds the Kena Upanishad.

6. 6
   Gopatha Brahmana (Atharvaveda)

   The one Brahmana of the Atharvaveda, in a Purva and an Uttara part. It upholds the place of the Brahman priest, who watches the whole yajna in silence and corrects its faults, and its first prapathaka holds a long teaching on Om.

Famous verses

मनवे ह वै प्रातः। अवनेग्यमुदकमाजह्रुर्यथेदं पाणिभ्यामवनेजनायाहरन्त्येवं तस्यावनेनिजानस्य मत्स्यः पाणी आपेदे॥

In the morning they brought Manu water for washing, as water is brought even now for washing the hands. As he was washing, a fish came into his hands.Shatapatha Brahmana 1.8.1.1

पञ्चैव महायज्ञाः। तान्येव महासत्त्राणि भूतयज्ञो मनुष्ययज्ञः पितृयज्ञो देवयज्ञो ब्रह्मयज्ञ इति॥

There are five great yajnas, and they are the great sessions: the yajna to beings, to men, to the ancestors, to the devas, and to Brahman.Shatapatha Brahmana 11.5.6.1

कलिः शयानो भवति संजिहानस्तु द्वापरः। उत्तिष्ठंस्त्रेता भवति कृतं सम्पद्यते चरंश्चरैवेति॥

Lying down, one is Kali; stirring, one is Dvapara; rising, one becomes Treta; moving on, one reaches Krita. So keep moving.Aitareya Brahmana 7.15

चरन्वै मधु विन्दति चरन्स्वादुमुदुम्बरम्। सूर्यस्य पश्य श्रेमाणं यो न तन्द्रयते चरंश्चरैवेति॥

The one who moves finds honey, finds the sweet udumbara fruit. See the glory of the sun, who never tires as he moves. So keep moving.Aitareya Brahmana 7.15