With the passage of time, these huge literary collection grow to such a great extent that the Brahmacharies felt it very hard to learn and memorize the entire collections of this magnitude, within the time limit of their Brahmacharya, their studentship. Apprehended of deterioration of standard and gradual depletion of this precious heritage, Krishna Dvaipayana, on the request of Brahmarshis, living in the solitude of Himalayan resort classified and arranged these collections in the order their employment in sacrificial rites into four-fold as:
1. Rigveda-Samhita with collection of ricas that belonged to Hotr priest, (2) Samaveda-Samhita with collection of ricas on which Samans were rendered, together with two classes of melodies sung on these ricas which belonged to Udgatr priest, (3) Atharvaveda-Samhita with collection of miscellaneous ricas covering incantations magic spells etc., pertaining to Brahma priest and (4) Yajurveda-Samhita with collection of sacrificial formulas and ricas belonging to Adhvaryu priest. Krishna Dvaipayana after having taught these samhitas, to four of his chosen disciples viz., the Rigveda to Paila, the Yajurveda to Vaishampayana, Samaveda to Jaimini and Atharvaveda to Sumantu, - asked them to establish Asbramas and promote the Vedic learning all over the Aryavarta. For having thus accomplished this massive gigantic collection accumulated through centuries Krishna Dvaipayana became better known later as VEDAVYASA in Indian History.
Eventually some more works but of different classes were added to each of these four Samhitas. They are: Brahmanas, Aranyakas and Upanishads, on the one hand, and the Vedangas, on the other, comprising books on phonetics, etymology, grammar, metrics and astronomy and the Kalpasutras representing 1. Srautasutras dealing with the sacrificial rites, 2. Shulbasutras containing the rules for measurement and the building of Yajnashala (sacrificial hall), fire-altar etc. (3) Grihyasutras treating the domestic rites, and (4) Dharmasutras consisting of spiritual and secular law. Among these, the Sutras, the manuals of rules composed in euphoristic prose style, are peculiar to Indian literature and nothing like these sutras can be seen in the entire literature and nothing like these sutras can be seen in the entire literature of the world. In these sutras the science condensed into a few words as far as possible is so systematically arranged that a student can easily commit the entire subject to memory, recollect any number of sutras any time and act strictly according to the rules. Again among these the Shulbasutras are the oldest works in Indian geometry and also the oldest contribution of Vedic India to the history of Mathematical science.
This in brief is an outline of the history of the vast Vedic literature consisting of over one hundred books.
This book, as may be seen, focuses on the view held by the teachers of the ancients on the great heritage of India. The Vedic words etc., imply the great Vedic tradition, believed to have come through the ages and even the Kalpas prior to the present one, in which we live e.g. speaks of Agni’s previous birth in the far off ages, and refers to sojourn of the Sages in Naka, on their way to Eternity. The Vedas, it may be noted, are not the ballads of wandering bards nor are they folksongs of rustic merry workers of the early age. They are the solemn records in which the great heritage of this ancient land has been preserved. The Rishis endowed with medha, a mental faculty, which stores the experiences and memories of one’s previous incarnations, could feel and perceive things transcending space and time. The word medha is derived by Yaska as and the Avestan Mazda is a cognate terms of this word. The Brahmarshis derived inspiration from this heritage, the secrets of which were hidden in the ever-shining cave of their hearts:
Here is such a verse from the Samaveda itself which is regarded as a khila, supplement in the Rigveda:
Kanva, the sage, not satisfied with trite euologies sung by the singers asks them to recollect the glorious hymns, the melodious songs of the previous ages and he in despair with folded hands prays to God saying: “May the medhas of the singers (in which the past memories are preserved) be set open”. A Brahmachari, in his daily prayer while making offerings prays to Agni to confer on him this ‘medha,’ this mental faculty in which he could store the learnings acquired from his guru, by the study of scriptures, by practice of Sadhana, by experience in life.
I started my career as the Curator, Anup Sanskrit Library, Bikaner, in 1951. In the same year I got married to Miss Mohini Sabnis, B.Sc., B.T., Dip-in Physical Education, the second daughter of late Mr. Rama Rao G. Sabnis, Pleader, Dharwar. She was a teacher at the Higher Secondary School, Bijapur at that time. Latter she resigned the post and joined me at Bikaner and also worked as a Science teacher at the Maharani Sudarahan College, till we both moved together to Darbhanga in 1952. Here too she worked for a couple of years as a teacher at the Multipurpose Higher Secondary School, Laheriasarai and then resigned the post. In 1961 on the pursuation of local friends she accepted the post of the founder Principal of a newly started Public School at Darbhanga. In August 1962 I was appointed the Director of the Kendriya Sanskrit Vidyapeetha, newly started by the Government of India at Tirupati. We both, with our daughter Sadhana, who was at that time about 5 years old, moved down to Tirupati where we lived full 8 years.
I am happy that this book on our great heritage with its history and the sentiment attached thereto is being published in the series of the Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeetha now a deemed-to-be-University with which we both, I directly, Mrs. Sharma indirectly, were attached so much from its very inception.
He started his humble carrier as the Headmaster, Shri Shrinivasa Pathashala, Mangalore, 1936-1943. After having obtained the M.A. degree in Sanskrit from Madras University he worked for his doctorate at the D.C.R. Institute, Poona 1943-1948; was Curator, Anup Sanskrit Library, Bikaner, 1951-1952; Professor, Mithila Institute, Darbhanga, 1952-1962; Founder Director, K.S. Vidyapeetha, Tirupati, 1952-1970; first, Professor 1070-1972 and then, Professor-cum-Director, 1972-1975. Vishweshwaranand Vishvabandhu Institute, Punjab University, Hoshiarpur; Visiting Fellow, Nepal Research Centre, Kathamandu, Nepal, 1976; U.G.C. Awardee, Mysore University, 1978-1981; Shastra-Chudamini-Professor, Govt. of India, attached to the Institute of Indian Languages, Mysore 1981-1983.
In 1984 he was awarded the Certificate of Honour (Sanskrit) by the President of India; received many regional awards; was the Joint Secretary, A.I.O.C; President, Vedic Section, AIOC, Ujjaini; President, G.S.B. Sabda, Mysore and was associated with a number of learned bodies in various capacities in India.
He has contributed a large number of papers to research journals and felicitation volumes and his solid massive contributions are in the field of the Vedas, primarily, of the Samaveda, which he has made his own for over four decades. He has since brought out over twenty important Vedic texts with commentaries, critical notes, Introduction etc., and he has thus made an unerasable mark with his outstanding scholarly contributions in the history of Sanskrit literature. Besides the Sama-Brahmanas, among the works he has since brought out, the Puspasutra, all with commentaries,- are so me of the major works in this field to be noted. Above all he is the first person in the Vedic history to critically edit two major Samhitas viz., Kanva-Samhita of Shukla-Yajurveda (5 vol s), and the Samaveda (3 volumes), both with Padapatha and all available commentaries. He did all these works single-handed keeping awake late in the night, literally burning the midnight oil. Prof. Sharma, now an Octogenarian, still continues his work with unabated energy as before even at this ripe age.
In his present work, he has made an attempt to bring out some of the salient features of the Brahma-prstha, -a fascinating word meaning Vedic heritage, focusing the various aspects of this ancient literary monument, which he describes as an schools of thought, religious, philosophical and secular,- originated in the Aryavarta, the urheim of the Vedic Aryans.
Discussing the Vedic theories, as presented in various hymns of the Rigveda, on the origin of the universe, i.e., on the Bhava-vrtta, as it is called in the Veda, which, “in modern scientific terminology,” says Prof. Sharma “may mean both Cosmogony, ‘origin and history of the universe’ as well as Cosmology, ‘origin and theory of the universe’,- it is thus both combined in one word, in Vedic Sanskrit.”
Vedas (1293)
Upanishads (481)
Puranas (609)
Ramayana (834)
Mahabharata (330)
Dharmasastras (163)
Goddess (471)
Bhakti (241)
Saints (1289)
Gods (1273)
Shiva (341)
Journal (143)
Fiction (49)
Vedanta (324)
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