Dear Howard,

 

There are some useful, non-technical discussions of the brhat and rathankara samans in Frits Staal's last book : Discovering the Vedas.  These samans are prominent in the late RV hymn 1.164, the riddle hymn of Dirghatamas, a great late-Vedic poet.

 

Best wishes,

 

George

On Sat, Jul 20, 2013 at 12:00 PM, Howard Resnick <hr@ivs.edu> wrote:

Thank you!

Best

Howard

On Jul 19, 2013, at 8:35 PM, Dipak Bhattacharya <dbhattacharya200498@YAHOO.COM> wrote:

Dear Mr. Resnick,

I am sorry that I forgot to reply to your second query. I planned a reply but found little time and then the matter slipped from my mind.. It is more regrettable because in 1984 I had raised the issue of a Brahmana based interpretation of the Vedic ritual against one based on the mantras cited in the Srautasuutras. The Brhat and Rathantara were the illustrations where a Brahmana based interpretation could be misleading. Please see Mythological and ritual symbolism SPB Calcutta 1984:137-138. I caution you that Klaus Mylius wrongly remarked that I had taken the idea of a sutra based interpretation from Renou. You will yourself see the difference from Renou. I have no hesitation in saying that both Mylius (JIP 1989) and Karel Werner (JRAS 1987) were disappointed that they could not determine what I my intention was. I admit my short comings, but your question will be answered.

Best

DB

From: Howard Resnick <hr@IVS.EDU>
To: "Moore Gerety, Finnian" <fmgerety@fas.harvard.edu>
Cc: Indology List <indology@list.indology.info>
Sent: Saturday, 20 July 2013 4:04 AM
Subject: Re: [INDOLOGY] question on Bṛhat sāman

Finn,

Thank you very much for this valuable information. I appreciate it. 

Best wishes,

Howard

On Jul 19, 2013, at 1:35 PM, "Moore Gerety, Finnian" <fmgerety@fas.harvard.edu> wrote:

Howard--

Thanks to the Brāhmaṇa obsession with making correlations/identifications/correspondences, you can get some idea of what the Bṛhat represents in the Veda by examining the entities with which it is correlated. The Bṛhat and Rathantara are treated as a pair in some of these passages, so that you also get an idea of the entities to which each is opposed. For example (PB 7.6.17, trans. Caland): B is the mind, R  voice; B is the melody, R the verse; B is expiration, R is inspiration; B is yonder world, R is this world. 

Caland's translation of the Pañcaviṃśa-Brāhmaṇa has an index of sāman names, so you can easily find all the passages that mention Bṛhat. The Jaiminīya-Brāhmaṇa also has a lot to say about the Bṛhat; an accessible example is in Caland's Das Jaiminīya-Brāhmaṇa in Auswahl § 25 (p32).

yours,

Finn

Finnian Moore Gerety

Doctoral Candidate

Department of South Asian Studies

Harvard University

On 16-Jul-2013, at 3:53 PM, Howard Resnick wrote:

Thank you very much. Do you know why these verses were called the "Great Saman", brhat-saman?

Best,

Howard

On Jul 16, 2013, at 2:09 AM, Dipak Bhattacharya <dbhattacharya200498@yahoo.com> wrote:

Bṛhat and Rathantara are considered two important sāmans in the Pañcaviṃśabrāhmaṇa. Bṛhat is based on RV.6.46.1,2. See PB 5.1.10ff, 5.2.1,8.9.11 etc.

Best

DB

 

From: Howard Resnick <hr@ivs.edu>
To: Indology List <indology@list.indology.info>
Sent: Tuesday, 16 July 2013 3:42 AM
Subject: [INDOLOGY] question

In Bhagavad-gita 10.35, Krsna says, "Of sAmans, I am bRhat-sAman…"

Could someone kindly explain exactly what the bRhat-sAman is?

Thanks!
Howard
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