Sri Sadhguro Pahimam Parama Dayalu Rakshamam

[Guest guest]

Dear Members

" Hindu Dharma " is a book published by Bharatiya Vidya

Bhavan which contains English translation of two volumes of the Tamil

Book " Deivatthin Kural " ; which is a collection of invaluable and

engrossing speeches of Sri Sri Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswathi

MahaSwamiji.

 

http://kamakoti.org/hindudharma/part5/chap43.htm

 

Sadanga : Introductory Discourse. The Six Limbs of the Vedas

 

Among

the basic texts of Hinduism, the six Angas or limbs of the Vedas

are next in importance to the Vedas themselves. The Vedapurusa

has six limbs or parts- mouth, nose, eye, ear, hand, foot. These

are called " Sadanga " . The Tamil term

" cadangu " denoting any ceremony is derived from this

word. The Tamil Tevaram refers to Sadanga in this line,

" Vedamo(du) aru angam ayinan. "

 

In

the past all moral and religious edicts were inscribed on the

stone walls of temples. In a sense the temple in ancient and

medieval times was the " subregistrar's office " that

" registered " all [acts of, contribution to ] dharma. In

the princely state of Travancore there used to be an official called

" Tirumantira olai " . In the old days all kings in Tamil

Nadu had such an official. He was like the present-day private

secretary. His duty was to write down the ruler's orders or

communication and the royal message would be sent to the people

concerned.

 

In

those days the raja had to be informed about all private

charities. In fact they required the royal asent and were

instituted on royal orders. These were written down by the olai

with these concluding words, " to be inscribed on stone and

copper. " The royal command was passed on to the place which

received the charity. The authorities there had all this

inscribed on the walls of the local temple. Most of the stone

inscriptions to be found in temples are of this nature.

 

Inscriptions

were also made on copper- plates. If more than one plate was

needed, the plates were pierced and held together with a ring.

The local council or assembly had to accept these inscriptions.

The copper-plates were kept underground in the temple premises in

a place called " ksema " . The life of a land, its

destiny, was entrusted in the hands of the lord and it was

natural that the temple was considered the standing monument to

its life. It had something of the function of the registrar's

office, the epigraphy department, and so on.

 

Let

me now come to subject of the local assembly.

 

Every village had a Brahmin sabha or

assembly. Its membership was open to those who knew the Vedas and

the Mantra-Brahmana. People guilty of certain offences and their

relatives were debarred from membership. The names of candidates

wanting to be members were written on pieces of palm-leaf and a

child would be asked to pick one from the lot. The one whose name

was inscribed on it was adopted as a member. Details of such

elections to the local assembly are mentioned in theUttaramerur Inscriptions.

There were a number of divisions

of the sabha to look after different subjects like irrigation,

taxation, etc. All charities, whether in the form of land or

money, had to be made through the sabha. So too cattle offered to

the temple or the lamps to be lighted there. The members of the

sabha had to give their written consent for all this. This is how

we have come to know the names of some of them. We also learn the

titles conferred on some Brahmins like " Sadanganiratan "

and " Sadangavi " , the latter being an eroded form of

" Sadangavid " " Sad+anga +vid " = one who knows

the six angas or limbs of Vedic learning. From these old

inscriptions we come to know that there were many such Brahmins

even in small Villages, Brahmins proficient in the

" Sadanga " . That is why Vedic rites themselves came to

be called " cadangu " in Tamil Nadu. The Brahmin who gave

away his daughter in marriage to Sundaramurtisvami was called

" Cadangavi Sivacariyar. "

 

The

six Angas are Siksa (Phonetics); Vyakarana (grammar); Nirukta

(lexicon, etymology); Kalpa (manual of rituals); Chandas

(prosody); Jyotisa (astronomy-astrology). A Brahmin must be

acquainted with all. That he must be well- versed in the Vedas

goes without saying. He must first learn to chant them and

proficiency in the six Angas will later help him to gain insights

into their meaning.

 

Siksa

is the nose of the vedapurusa, Vyakarana his mouth, Kalpa his

hand, Nirukta his ear, Chandas his foot and Jyotisa his eye. The

reason for each sastra being identified with a part of the body

will become clear as we deal with the Angas individually.

JAYA JAYA SANKARA HARA HARA SANKARA

 

Thwameva Maathaa Cha Pithaa Thwameva Thwameva Bhandhuscha Sakhaa Thwameva

Thwameva Vidhyaa Dhravinam Thwameva Thwameva Sarvam Mama Dheva Dheva.