Uma Shankara Samvada (उमाशङ्करयोः संवादः)

Uma-Sankara Samvada

There arises many an occasion in Indian classical literature to celebrate the centrality of the grhasthasrama amongst the four ashramas, the four stages of life that an Indian is expected to follow sequentially in a lifetime. One of the most attractive statements of this centrality occurs in the Anusasana parva of Mahabharata, where Bhishma narrates how in earlier times Sri Krishna undertakes great austerities on the Himalayas and an episode that occurs one day during the practice of these austerities. The great Rishis have assembled and at the urging of the tapasvin SriKrishna, Narada begins to recall a long discussion on different aspects of dharma that takes place between Sankara and Uma. Both are living the life of a happy man and wife on the Himalayas, which in the presence of the divine couple joyously blossoms with natural splendour and beauty.

According to Narada's recounting of the events, once Uma, standing behind Sankara, playfully covers his eyes with her hands. Instantly the whole world is enveloped in deep darkness. Soon Sankara opens his third-eye that bathes the world in its brilliant gaze. But the Himalayas, unable to bear the sun-like radiance of Sankara's third-eye, catch fire. And Uma, filled with compassion for the Himalayas, appears in front of Sankara with folded hands. Seeing her thus, Sankara recovers his benign tranquility. He looks at the world with a happy gaze. And the world becomes happy too.

It is then that Uma begins to ask Sankara various questions about the meaning of his forms and that of the various aspects of dharma. In the course of this dialogue between the divine husband and wife, Uma also seeks to know the dharma of asramas, of the way a man ought to lead his life at different stages during a lifetime. And, Sankara begins his answer to Uma's queries with the unequivocal assertion that of the four asramas the grhasthasrama is indeed the foremost:

grhasthah pravarstesam grhasthyam dharmamasritah (Maha anusasana 141, p. 5922).

Sankara then briefly describes the discipline of the four asramas, but his heart seems to be in describing the grhathasramadharma for Uma. Dealing with vanaprasthasrama, the discipline of the forest-dweller, and the sannyasasrama, the discipline of the renouncer, in just six and a half verses, Sankara soon returns to a very detailed description of the grhasthasrama. And the core of the discipline of grhastha that Sankara describes is in looking after and generously providing for the sustenance of all, and especially of the guests who arrive at the door of the householder. This opportunity to look after and sustain others is what makes the grhasthasrama so great that, as Sankara says, the severest austerities of vanaprasthasrama cannot measure up to even the one-sixteenth part of the merit acquired by properly fulfilled grhasthasrama: samyak tapascarantiha sraddadhana vanasrame grhasramasya te devi aldm ndrhanti sodasim? (Maha anusasana 141, p. 5923)

Yagya of the grihasthas

Sankara of course also describes in detail the various observances and fasts that a grhastha is expected to undertake, and even the rules of personal hygiene and social practice that he is expected to scrupulously follow. But he reverts again and again to the sustenance that flows from the grhastha in all directions, and concludes by an expansive listing of the diverse people and other living beings who keep looking up to the grhastha for their livelihood. Thus, says Sankara:3

yathd mdtaramdsritya sarve jivanti jantavah tathd grhasramam prdpya sarve jivanti casramah

Just as all living beings live under the protection of their mothers, so do all the asramas derive sustenance from the grhasthasrama. And further,

rdjdnah sarvapdsandah sarve rangopajivinah vyalagrahasca dambhasca cord rdjabhatastathd savidydh sarvas'ilajndh sarve vai vicikitsakdh durddhvdnam prapanndsca ksinapathyodand narah ete cdnye ca bahavah tarkayanti grhasramam

Kings, impostors, artists and acrobats, snake-charmers, cheats, thieves and officers of the king: all of them look up to the grhastha for their sustenance; so do the scholars, the wise, and the sceptics; so do the men on the road, who have travelled a great deal and have exhausted the victuals they carried for the journey; and, so do many others.

3 Maha anusasana 141, p. 5924.

marjara musikah svanah sukaraica sukastatha kapotaka karkatakah sansrpanisevanah aranyavasinascanye sangha ye mrgapaksinam evarh bahuvidhd devi loke'smin sacaracarah grhe ksetre bile caiva sataso 'tha sahasrasah grhasthena krtam karma sarvaistairiha bhujyate

Cats, mice, dogs, pigs, parrots, pigeons, crows, reptiles of all kinds, the bevies of birds and herds of animals that live in the forest, and also the hundreds and thousands of moving and unmoving creatures of diverse kinds that live in the house, the field or the burrow, all of them, O devi, live off what the grhastha earns through his karma, his actions. The merit of the one whose labours sustain so much of life on earth is of course great. It is no wonder that Sankara tells Uma:

upayuktam ca yat tesam matiman nanusocati dharma ityeva samkalpya yastu tasya phalarh s'rnu sarvayajnapranitasya hayamedhena yat phalam varse sa dvadase devi phalenaitena yujyate

Listen to the virtue earned by the one who does not spare a second thought for what has been used up by the men and other living beings that look up to him for sustenance, and who knows that sustaining them is indeed his dharma. Such a one, having fulfilled the dharma of grhasthasrama for twelve years, attains the merit that accrues to those who perform an asvamedha after having first accomplished all other yagya. Such is the glory of grhasthasrama. And such are the yagyas of the grhastha, that sustain the whole world day after day.

The five great Yagyas of Grihasthas (Pancaiva mahayajnah)

The responsibility of the grhastha to provide for the sustenance of the daily routine of life around him is celebrated in the Indian classical texts as the pancamahayajna. These are the five great yagyasthat a grhastha is expected to perform everyday. In fact, it is the performance of the pancamahayajna that defines a grhastha: one who does not undertake these yajhas everyday probably does not even qualify to be called by the name of a grhastha, a householder. And, as we shall see, through the performance of the pahcamahayajna, the householder shares his daily victuals with the representatives of different aspects of creation, and thus seems to remind himself afresh everyday of his responsibility towards all creation and re-dedicate himself to the sustenance of at least as much of creation as falls within his reach.

Pahcamahayajna is such an important observance for the Indians that references to it are found in all Indian literature: in the timeless Vedas, the ancient Itihasas and Puranas, and in the Smrtis and Dharmasastras of all ages. Amongst the references in the vedas, the one in the Satapathabrahmana is perhaps the most emphatic. In its authoritatively resonant phrases, the Satapathabrahmana lays down thus:

pancaiva mahayajnah. tanyeva mahasatrani bhutayajno manusyayajnah pitryajno devayajno brahmayajna 'iti.

aharaharbhutebhyo balim haret. tathaitam bhutayajnam samapnotyaharaharddadyddodapatrdttathaitam manusyayajnam samdpnotyaharahah svadha kuryyadodapdtrdttathaitam pitryajnam samdpnotyaharahah svdha kuryyada kasthattathaitam devayajnam samdpnoti.

atha brahmayajnah. svddhyayo vai brahmayajiiah (Satapatha 11.3.8.1-3, vol. 4 part 2 pp. 157-8).

Only five are the mahayajnas. These alone are the mahasatras. And these are: yajna for the bhutas, all created beings; yajna for manusyas, the human beings; yajha for pitrs, the ancestors; yajna for devas, the gods residing in various aspects of creation; and yajna for Brahman, the font of all knowledge. Take out shares for the bhutas everyday. That constitutes bhutayajha. Give away food everyday till the pot is exhausted. That constitutes manusyayajha. Give away food for the sake of the ancestors' everyday till the pot is exhausted. That constitutes pitryagya. Give into the fire till the wood is all consumed. That constitutes devayajna. Here follows the description of brahmayajna: svadhyaya, reverential and careful study of the branch of knowledge assigned for oneself, is indeed brahmayajna.

Sayanacarya, the highly respected fourteenth century commentator of the Vedas, explaining the various definitional phrases of the Satapatha prescription says that bhutayajha, etc., are called paficamahayajna, the five great yagyas, because these are to be undertaken always by everyone:

bhutayajnadayo vaksyamanah 'pancaiva mahayajnah' sarvada sarvairanustheyatvdt (Sayanacarya on Satapatha 11.3.8.2, vol.4 part 2 p. 157)

And these five are also the mahasatras, the great sessions, because these are performed everyday till the end of one's life, by the grhastha himself, without looking for a priest to conduct them: mahamti niscalani satrani 'mahasatrdni' yavajfivamanustheyatvadrtviganapeksatvacca (Sayanacarya on Satapatha 11.3.8.1, vol.4 part 2 p. 157).

Incidentally, the TaittirTyaranyaka lays down almost exactly the same discipline for the pancamahayajna, insisting that this is an observance that has to be initiated and accomplished every day: satati pratayante satati samtisthante ().7

Sayanacarya also explains that bhutayajna involves taking out a portion of food, with the resolve that it reach the bhutas, and keeping it aside for them. Devayajha involves offering of food to the fire, for the sake of different devas, with their ritual invocation. Pitryajha involves the giving away of food till the pot is empty, while ceremonially invoking the ancestors with the resolve that the food being given away may propitiate them. And manusyayajna involves the giving away of food till the pot is empty, without any invocation, and with the resolve that mankind as a whole may achieve satiation. Brahmayajha, Sayanacarya says, involves reverential and careful study, adhyayana, of one's own branch of knowledge, of the knowledge assigned as one's proper domain: svasakhadhyayanam brahmayajna ityarthah.6 And such study is a yajha because it propitiates the devas, pitrs and rsis — the gods, the ancestors and the seers.

Rnam ha vai jay ate yo'sti

This unqualified insistence of the vedas on the daily undertaking of an observance, that emphasizes human responsibility towards the sustenance of all, is of course related to the Indian understanding of human life as a gift that is constituted of and is sustained by all aspects of creation. Man is thus born in and lives in rna, debt, to all creation, and it therefore becomes his duty to recognize this debt and undertake to repay it everyday. Explaining the principle, the Satapathabrahmana says:

8 Sayanacarya on Satapatha 11.3.8.3, vol.4 part 2 p. 158.

rnam ha vai jayate yo'sti. sa jayamana 'eva devebhya 'rsibhyah pitrbhyo manusyebhyah.

sa yadeva yajeta. tena devebhya 'rnaih jayate taddhyebhya 'etat karoti yadendnyajate yadebhyo juhoti.

atha yadevanubruvita. tena'rsibhya 'rnam jayate taddhyebhya 'etat karotyarsinam nidhigopa iti hayanucanamahuh.

atha yadeva prajdmiccheta. tenapitrbhya 'rnam jayate taddhyebhya 'etatkaroti yadesam santatavyavacchinna prajd bhavati.

a*ha yadeva vvasayeta. tena manusyebhya 'rnam jayate taddhyebhya 'etat karoti yadenanvvasayate yadebhyo 'sanam dMati sa ya 'etani sarvvani karoti sa krtakarma tasya sdrvvamaptam sarvvam jitam? Whosoever is, is born in rna. In being born, he is in rna to the devas, rsis, pitrs and manusyas. He performs yagya, because he is born in rna to the devas. It is because of the rna that he does this for them; it is because of the rna that he performs yajfia for the devas and offers homa to them.

9 Satapatha 1.5.5.1-5, vol.1 part 1 pp. 250-1.

And he learns and recites what the rsis have taught, because he is born in rna to the rsis. It is because of the rna that he does this for them; learning and reciting thus, he is acknowledged by the wise as the protector of the treasure of the learning of the rsis. And he desires for progeny, because he is born in rna to the pitrs. It is because of the rna that he does this for them; it is because of this that he keeps the line of progeny of the pitrs continuing without a break.

And he offers hospitality, because he is born in rna to the manusyas. It is because of this rna that he does this for them; it is because of this that he offers hospitality and food to others. He, who does all this, fulfils all his obligations; for him all is attained and all is conquered.

Pancamahayajha, thus, is not an observance that is undertaken for the sake of earning merit or virtue. It is merely a matter of accepting and endeavouring to repay debts that are incurred by the fact of being born and living in the world. It is merely being humanly responsible.