The Tamil phrase in question is mū ēḻ tuṟai, where tuṟai means ‘area of knowledge’. A comparable usage is ‘tuṟai pala muṟṟiya pai tīr pāṇaroṭu’ (Malaipaṭukaṭām 40), where ‘tuṟai’ is an area of knowledge of the bards. In fact, Puṟanāṉūṟu 152.20 has ‘mū ēḻ tuṟaiyum muṟaiyuḷik kaḻippi’, where the bards performed music encompassing 21(three times seven) areas/aspects. Here the commentator’s interpretation is that the bards were knowledgeable in the use of 7 notes in 3 octaves. The phrase could have referred to 21 different areas of knowledge (?) involved in making music. Similarly, in Puṟanāṉūṟu 166, the number 21 could refer to different areas of knowledge required of brahmins just like the number 6 usually referring to Vedāṅgas. Auvai Turaicāmi also mentions 21 areas of logic as a possible meaning. Are there other conventional areas of knowledge numbered as 21? Or did the number 21 simply mean a conventional way of saying ‘many’?

 

Thanks

 

Regards,

Palaniappan

From: INDOLOGY <indology-bounces@list.indology.info> on behalf of Indology List <indology@list.indology.info>
Reply-To: "Tieken, H.J.H. (Herman)" <H.J.H.Tieken@hum.leidenuniv.nl>
Date: Friday, February 4, 2022 at 2:45 PM
To: "Lubin, Tim" <LubinT@wlu.edu>
Cc: Indology List <indology@list.indology.info>
Subject: Re: [INDOLOGY] 22 sacrifices

 

Dear Tim, I made a mistake, the number is indeed 21, as you suggested. So I now have the information I need. Thank you very much.

Herman

 

Herman Tieken

Stationsweg 58

2515 BP Den Haag

The Netherlands

00 31 (0)70 2208127

 

Van: Lubin, Tim <LubinT@wlu.edu>
Verzonden: vrijdag 4 februari 2022 21:38
Aan: Tieken, H.J.H. (Herman) <H.J.H.Tieken@hum.leidenuniv.nl>; Indology List <indology@list.indology.info>
Onderwerp: Re: [INDOLOGY] 22 sacrifices

 

Dear Herman,

 

If the number is 21 rather than 22 (as the passage you quote indicates), it may refer to the 7 somayajñas + 7 haviryajñas (iṣṭi rites) + 7 pākayajñas, a comprehensive rubrication of Vedic ritual laid out in the Karmāntasūtra appended to the Baudhāyana Śrautasūtra (24.4).  Baudhāyana Gṛhyasūtra 1.1.1–12 describes the seven pākayajñas as:

huta: “when [the offering] is made in the fire” (yad dhūyate)

prahuta: “when, after a fire-offering, something is given” (yad dhutvā dīyate)

āhuta: “when, after a fire-offering and a gift, something is received” (yad dhutvā dattvā cādīyate)

śūlagava: “when they skewer pieces of cow-meat on spits and cook them” (yac chūleṣūpanikṣya[1] gavyāni śrapayanti)

baliharaṇa: “when they scatter food for the gods of the household” (yad gṛhyābhyo devatābhyo ’nnaṃ saṃprakiranti)

pratyavarohaṇa: “when they adopt the low bed from season to season” (yad ṛto ṛtuṃ pratyavarohanti)

aṣṭakāhoma: “when food is prepared during the ekāṣṭaka rite” (yad ekāṣṭakāyām annaṃ kriyate)[2]

 

The classification into seven here reflects a desire for symmetry with the two types of śrauta rites to yield three 7-member lists — pākayajña, haviryajña, somayajña — as stated in BGParibhāṣasūtra 1.6.22. 

 

For my discussion of this, see:

“Baudhāyanīya Contributions to Smārta Hinduism,” in: Vedic Śākhās: Past, Present, Future. Proceedings of the Fifth International Vedic Workshop, Bucharest 2011, edited by Jan E.M. Houben, Julieta Rotaru & Michael Witzel. Harvard Oriental Series, Opera Minora 9 (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard, 2016), pp. 591–606.

https://www.academia.edu/3250233/Baudh%C4%81yan%C4%ABya_Contributions_to_Sm%C4%81rta_Hinduism

Warm wishes,

Tim

 

Timothy Lubin
Jessie Ball duPont Professor of Religion and Adjunct Professor of Law
Chair of the Department of Religion
204 Tucker Hall
Washington and Lee University
Lexington, Virginia 24450

https://lubin.academic.wlu.edu/ 
http://wlu.academia.edu/TimothyLubin 
https://ssrn.com/author=930949
https://dharma.hypotheses.org/people/lubin-timothy

 

 

From: INDOLOGY <indology-bounces@list.indology.info> on behalf of INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info>
Reply-To: "Tieken, H.J.H. (Herman)" <H.J.H.Tieken@hum.leidenuniv.nl>
Date: Friday, February 4, 2022 at 3:21 PM
To: INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info>
Subject: [INDOLOGY] 22 sacrifices

 

Dear List members,

In Puṟanāṉūṟu 166 a brahmin is described who had "performed to perfection all twenty-one kinds of sacrifices" (trsl. Hart and Heifetz). I am at a loss which 22 sacrifices are referred to here; that is to say, I do not know where to look. I hope someone has a suggestion.

With kind regards, Herman

 

Herman Tieken

Stationsweg 58

2515 BP Den Haag

The Netherlands

00 31 (0)70 2208127


[1] em.; upanikṣyā N; upanitya Bh; folio missing in B; here and in similar contexts, M and C have upanīkṣya (M listing upanikṣipya as a variant).

[2] Mentioned already at BŚS 3.10.5.

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