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Written by Sri Swami Chandrashekarendra
Saraswati |
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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
copperplates
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. |
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