|
An article related to |
|---|
|
Practices
|
|
Other Topics
|
|
Hinduism Portal |
Śrauta (Devanagari श्रौत) traditions are conservative ritualistic traditions of the historical Vedic religion in Hinduism, based on the body of Śruti literature. They are still practiced in India today although constituting a small minority within Hinduism.
Contents |
Shrauta traditions presently alive are:
The Śrauta tradition places more emphasis on the performance of rituals rather than having a set of beliefs. The practices of the Śrauta tradition mainly consist of yajnas. The yajnas are divided into two categories, nitya-karma and kaamya karma. Nitya-karma refers to those yajnas that have to be performed daily or as per occasion. Kaamya-karma refers to those yajnas performed with a particular purpose, such as wishing for rain, cattle, overlordship or for a son (e.g. Putrakameshti).
The Vedas describe 400 Yajnas.[1] A (late) subset of them are the Pancha Mahayajnas (Five Great Yajnas, see Taittiriya Aranyaka 2.10):
The pantheon in the Śrauta tradition consist of various gods and goddesses, known as devas, who represent natural forces or deified social concepts. For instance, the deva Agni has one aspect as the flame.
Since Shrauta focuses on conservative Vedic rituals, the pantheon corresponds to the Rigvedic deities more than to that of mainstream (Puranic) Hinduism. Among the most prominent deities are Agni, Indra, and Soma, as well as the All-gods (Viśve devāḥ), Ashvin, Ushas, Surya, Savitar, Parjanya, Rudra or Sarasvati (cf. Chamakam 6):
The Śrauta tradition of transmitting the Vedas consisted solely of oral tradition from the Guru (teacher) to the shishya (student). Vedic scholars have made use of manuscripts in order to teach the Vedas to their students at least since the Middle Ages, and of printed books since the advent of Western philology in British India, but the use of writing has always been secondary to the oral tradition.
The oral tradition of the Vedas consists of several ways of recitation. The students are first taught the Samhita Patha. Here, patha means a way of recitation. The other methods of chanting include "pada", "krama", "jata", "mala", "sikha", "rekha", "dhvaja", "danda", "ratha", "ghana" etc.
Some Veda reciters, called ghanapaathins, have learned the recitation of the texts up to the advanced stage called ghana. Ghanapaathins recite a mantra in different ways, with individual words repeated back and forth. Similarly, in the other methods of chanting like krama, jata, sikha, mala, and so on. The chief purpose of such methods is to ensure that not even a syllable of a mantra is altered to the slightest extent. The words are braided together, so to speak, and recited back and forth.[3]
The Śrauta rituals continue to be practiced by Brahmins from all over India. The Aupasana [4] is performed in many houses. However the Śrauta tradition emphasises the Vedic form of the Agnihotra, New and Full Moon sacrifices and a few more complex rituals, including the Agnistoma (Soma) sacrifice.
Some recent major Śrauta Yajñas:
Athirathram2012 www.athirathram2012.com
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||