Preservation of the Vedas (वेदपरिरक्षणम्)

परिचय || Introduction

Transmission of texts in the Vedic period was by oral tradition, preserved with precision with the help of elaborate mnemonic techniques. A literary tradition is traceable in post-Vedic times, after the rise of Buddhism in the Maurya period, perhaps earliest in the Kanva recension of the Yajurveda about the 1st century BC; however oral tradition of transmission remained active.

वेदपाठपद्धती || Vedapaatha Paddhati

Rushis (Vedic seers) devised means of protecting and preserving the text of Vedas letter by letter, with all their accessories and accents. Vedic mantras have स्वर || Swara (accents) which preserve its original form of word- construction. Prodigious energy was expended in ensuring that these texts were transmitted from generation to generation with inordinate fidelity. Memorization of the sacred Vedas included up to eleven forms of recitation of the same text. These texts were subsequently "proof-read" by comparing the different recited versions. This ensured their verbatim preservation through ages of time.

प्रकृति पाठ || Prakriti Pathas

These are three systems for memorizing Mantras most commonly known as:

1. संहिता पाठ || Samhita-Patha -   in which Mantra remains in its true form.
2. पद पाठ || Pada-Patha-   in which each word of a Mantra is separately spoken.
3. क्रम पाठ || Krama-Patha-  in which two words of a Mantra are spoken jointly as  Ka-kha, kha-ga.

विकृति पाठ || Vikriti Pathas

There were eight ways of memorizing Vedas. These are   

1. जातपाठ || Jatapatha
2. मालापाठ || Malapatha
3. शिखापाठ || Shikhapatha  
4. रेखापाठ || Rekhapatha  
5. ध्वजपाठ || Dhvajapatha
6. दण्डपाठ || Dandapatha
7. रथपाठ || Rathapatha,  and
8. घनापाठ || Ghanapatha

Among them Ghana Patha  is most difficult and the longest.

As its reach became wider, it helped in disseminating the knowledge of the Vedas, their student lineage also helped committing it to memory.

Without the use of writing a fool-proof method each Mantra was chanted in various patterns and combinations to prevent any errors creeping into the Vedas. The modes of chanting prescribe the basics like how much time one has to take for reciting a word, how to regulate breathing while reciting so that required vibrations are produced in the specific parts of the body which will yield pure word-sound.

Forms of recitation such as the jaṭā-pāṭha (literally "mesh recitation") is one in which every two adjacent words in the text were first recited in their original order, then repeated in the reverse order, and finally repeated again in the original order.

Another step was to prepare treatises known as अनुक्रमणि || Anukramanis in which the names of ऋषि || Rishi, देवता || Devata, छन्दः || Chandas  are mentioned in reference to each hymn of the Vedas. Chandas means meter which also helps in avoiding loss of content by enforcing number of syllables. 

That these methods have been effective, is testified to by the preservation of the most ancient Indian religious text, the Rigveda, as redacted into a single text during the Brahmana period, without any variant readings within that school.

Gurukulas

Gurushishya parampara was the main foundation that preserved Sanatana Dharma since ages. From upanayana or initiation until the age of 20, Brahmachaaris study vedas, conducting yagnas and yagas, collecting the samidhas (thus they learn Plant Sciences), raising and domestication of cattle (they learn Animal Sciences) and different ashrama dharmas (they learn Human Sciences) and living harmoniously with nature.

Pandavas and Kauravas in Mahabharata, were educated by the renowned Guru Dronaacharya, in a gurukula system. So did Bhagavan Srikrishna and Balarama under the aegis of Guru sandeepani.

The Vedas, Vedic rituals and its ancillary sciences called the Vedangas, were part of the curriculum at ancient Bharata universities such as at Taxila, Nalanda and Vikramashila.

The titles for scholars who mastered the Vedas were:

1. द्विवेदी || Dwivedi: two Vedas
2. त्रिवेदी || Trivedi: three Vedas
3. चतुर्वेदी || Chaturvedi: four Vedas.

These remain now as surnames of people in India. पण्डित || Pandits (priests) or people who perform pujas or rituals either in the temple, home or workplace offer mantras, called मन्त्र पुष्प || mantra pushpa (a collection of all the four Vedas). This clearly reveals that the four Vedas co-existed and not as the diabolical Indologist claimed, one after the other. The very fact that same mantras are available in different vedas in different formats indicate the oneness of all vedas.

The Vedas followed the traditional oral tradition until Vyasadeva’s great contribution of putting it into a written format do so.

A question may be, "all the मन्त्र || mantras, सूक्त || suktas, and अनुवाक || anuvakas that are being recited now did they exist then"? To answer the non-believer and non-discerning the example of the पुरुष सूक्त || Purusha suktas and other works can be used which makes it clear that the yagna related suktas were not in the same form as presently available but were available in another form. Also the fact that a यज्ञ || Yagna would not take place unless there was one Rik, one Yajasva and one Sama. The Rik must have expanded over time just as trees give us more flowers and fruits time goes yet belong to same species. Similarly, for posterity, the later Rishis invoked the new suktas or mantras based upon their particular इष्ट देव || Ishta Deva which then became a part of ऋक || Rik, यजस्व || Yajasva and साम || Sama Vedas. As they came more into usage they were integrated with the existing Suktas, so the foundational meaning remains as in the Vedas. Over different time periods the देव || Devas nor the क्रिया || kriyas (rituals) did not change their integral meaning. This is the nature of the the सम्प्रदाय || Sampradaya style of गुरु शिष्य || Guru sishya learning (disciplined succession).

This phenomenal system helped disseminate and retain knowledge widely without much difficulty. In the Rikvedic time all were not Rishis. Notably, Vedas were not common knowledge. If we understand the connection of pure lineage or गोत्र || Gotras, the strict disciplinary life in गुरुकुल || Gurukula, the austerity of the Rishis’ lifestyle, the process of protecting secret meanings of Vedas and process of right way of reciting the mantras - it helps us understand that it was possible to protect one integral voice of Vedas. Therefore while many Veda suktas disappeared, it is important to note that they were replaced by new suktas with the same meaning and function. All Acharyas accept that studying the Vedas is mandatory for understanding the integral meaning of Vedas. If every one had accepted every Upanishad has different import, every आचार्य || acharya has different conclusions and according to diversity of teacher there are different understanding of Vedas then there would have been no clash among different schools hence this shows that every one believes that there is only one essential understanding.

 Translation of Vedas

Translation in the ancient अर्ष || Arsha tradition as done by authentic Vedic scholars is factual and done without prejudice and with no extraneous motive or for an academic agenda. Vedam is verily the भगवत्वाणी || Bhagavat Vaani (Words of Brahma) revealed in scientific Vedic Language which is samskrit free from local color and historical acts, therefore Vedic language is to be interpreted and understood according to its own laws and structure, and the only key available for such interpretation is the निरुक्तम् || Nirukta of Maharshi Yaska and the grammar of Panini & Patanjali.

A literal translation of the Vedas creates confusions and contradictions as the English language is insufficient to express the deep inner meaning embedded in Vedas. A good commentator, should be adept in languages, carefully choose words, and explain with derivatives to analyse the hidden nuances of meaning within their context but not always can it be understood by the reader.

For example, the literal meaning of the verse,

सुमित्रिय न आप ओषधयः सन्तु || (Yaju. Veda. 36.23)

sumitriya na aapa oshadhayah santu || (Yaju. Veda. 36.23)

Meaning : May the waters, vital forces of life, and herbs be friendly to us and may they be enemies to those who hate us and whom we hate.

The literal meaning is incomprehensible and meaningless. The contextual meaning of this mantra is:

"May waters, tonics, pranic energies and medicinal herbs be good friends of our health system and immunity and let the same waters, tonics, pranic energies herbal medicines act against those ailments, diseases and negativities which injure us, which we hate to suffer and which we love to destroy, moreover let them have no side effects because side effects too help the negativities and injure us".

It becomes a powerful prayer for the well-being of an advanced society, and very logically the next Mantra expounds a prayer for a full hundred years and more of life and health.

तच्चक्षुर्देवहितम् पुरुस्तत् || (Yaju. Veda. 36.24)

tacchakshurdevahitam purastat || (Yaju. Veda. 36.24)

Swami Dayananda wrote in the post-colonized context after independence whereupon he called upon his countrymen "to go back to the Vedas" for eradication of social evils as he opined that the cause of degradation and slavery of Indian nation was the ignorance of true Vedic teaching on which our culture was based and also thrived. It is true that we became independent in 1947, but then we got freedom and not independence. We continue to function as an Anglo-Saxon cultural satellite mainly as a market for its ideology through the English language and a nursery to train a new generation of sepoys and Coolies.

Modern Vedic Education

The Vedas were likely written down for the first time around 500 BC. However, all printed editions of the Vedas that survive in the modern times are likely the version existing in about the 16th century AD.

Due to the ephemeral nature of the manuscript material (birch bark or palm leaves), surviving manuscripts rarely surpass an age of a few hundred years. The Sampurnanand Samskrit University has a Rigveda manuscript from the 14th century; however, there are a number of older Veda manuscripts in Nepal that are dated from the 11th century onwards.

With the discovery of paper and through the centuries improved stationery material, was the main means of preserving the vedic literature. Western Indologists have generated volumes of their interpretation of vedas and took many manuscripts from India to other places like Germany. However, the main drawback was the non-availability of a voice preservation method since early 18th century. Vedic language which primarily depends on the accents and pronunciation, was not preserved and thus many shakas have been lost with those learned scholars since few centuries. Today many manuscripts and valuable literary treasures can be found in remote corners of the world.

Computers and modern digital techniques revolutionized the way vedic knowledge is read and disseminated in the present day. Many works have been compiled lately as an attempt to reconnect our Vedic heritage to our people from which we have been disconnected since the 800-year foreign domination (first by the Arabs and then by the Anglo-Saxons) of our land. As many acharyas say unless our people give up the Asuric principles of Western economists and return to the Vedic path, no progress is possible in social,political, economic and spiritual spheres.

We need to revitalize our civilization like the call of Swami Dayananda post-independence to counter the Indologist’s narrative of Caste system, idolatry, untouchability, all types of superstitions and slaughtering of animals in the sacrifices, and even the नर-मेध || Nara-medha (human sacrifices), results of wrong Vedic interpretations, many such things that Hindus had to pay heavily for since the last 300 years.

The central importance of the new-age Vedic translations is that it presents the Vedas from its primary sources, especially in a context where knowledge systems are directed by propaganda from Internet sources and social media and not evidence-based facts. 

References

1. Narayanacharya, K. S. (2011). Veda Sanskritiya Parichaya, Part I. Hubli:​Sahitya Prakashana​.
2. http://ignca.nic.in/vedic_portal_introduction.htm