User:Jaykul72/Vijayanagara Empire

If Sayana, Vidyaranya’s brother, had not written a voluminous commentary explaining or paraphrasing every word of the Rig Veda, many traditional meaning would be unknown today. This alone was a remarkable revival of Hindu knowledge, even if only on the textual level. As Sayana’s commentary constantly referred to ancient authorities, it was thought to have preserved the true meanings of Rig Veda in a traditional interpretation going back to the most ancient times… Sayana has been of the greatest service in facilitating and accelerating the comprehension of the Vedas even though, with much labour and time-consuming searching, much could have been retrieved from various other sources in India and pieced together by others if Sayana had not done it. His work was an accumulated data bank on the Rig Veda referred to by all modern Vedic scholars. Jackson, W.J. (2017). Vijayanagara Voices : Exploring south indian history and hindu literature. Routeledge. ISBN 0754639509. Jackson, W.J. (2017). Vijayanagara Voices : Exploring south indian history and hindu literature. Routeledge. ISBN 0754639509. Chapter 3

Of all the commentaries on the Vedas, the most comprehensive and arguably the highest regarded is the one by Sayana from Karnataka in South India in the fourteenth century C.E. Damodar Ramaji Sardesai (2019). India : the definitive history. New York London Routledge. Pg 33

Modak quoting H.H.Wilson who translated the whole of Rigveda following the commentary of Sayana, says "Although the interpretation of Sayana may be occasionally questioned, he undoubtedly had a knowledge of his text far beyond the pretension of any European scholar and must have been in possession, either through his own learning or that of his assistants, of all the interpretations which had been perpetuated by traditional teaching from the earliest times." Modak, B.R. and Sahitya Akademi (1995). Sayana. New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi. pg 34

Some of the Western scholars like Roth and Grassman think that Sayana had only traditional learning, and he has removed from Vedic times by about three thousand years, he cannot give proper meaning of the Vedas. It is true that from the age of the Brahmanas to that of Sayana the pattern of ritualistic interpretation has not much changed. It is equally true that though there is a gap in the literary record, there has been absolutely no gap in the transmission of the Vedic tradition. Modak, B.R. and Sahitya Akademi (1995). Sayana. New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi. pg 35

Moreover the Western scholars and the Indian scholars differ in many respects in their outlook on life and literature. Hence it often becomes impossible for a Western scholar to enter into the spirit of India, which remains unapproachable and baffling to him. Modak, B.R. and Sahitya Akademi (1995). Sayana. New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi. pg 35

German scholars Pischel and Geldner have expressed in unequivocal terms their opinion that in the matter of Vedic exegesis greater reliance ought to be placed on the orthodox Indian tradition represented by Yaska and Sayana than on modern philological methods. Linguistics may help one to understand the bare meaning of a Vedic word, but the spirit behind that word will not be adequately realised without due appreciation of the indigenous tradition. Modak, B.R. and Sahitya Akademi (1995). Sayana. New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi. pg 35

Sayana mentions that he is going to present a vedarthaprakasha in order to cope with the situation of the lost meaning of the Veda. However, he does not mean to initialize a method but rather integrate existing methods in a way that might be accepted as a standard and canonical commentary able to protect the Veda from free and over-interception.

Complete list of works by written by Sayana: Subhashita-sudhanidhi Prayasuchitta-sudhanidhi Ayurveda-sudhanidhi Alamkara-sudhanidhi Purushartha-sudhanidhi Yajnatantra-sudhanidhi Madaviya-dhatuvritti Taitriyya-samhita-bhashya Taittriya-brahmnana-bhashya Taittriya-aranyaka-bhashya Aitareya-aranyaka-bhashya Samaveda-bhashya Tandya-brahmana-bhashya Samavidhana-brahmana-bhashya Arsheya-brahmana-bhashya Devatadhyaya-brahmana-bhashya Samhitopanishad-brahmana-bhashya Vamshya-brahmana-bhashya Aitareya-brahmana-bhashya Kanva-samhita-bhashya Atharvaveda-bhashya Modak, B.R. and Sahitya Akademi (1995). Sayana. New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi. pg 40

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In fact there may be several aspects of Hindu style involved in the confusion regarding Vijayanagara origins, motives and policies. First, Hindu eclecticism  is old and pervasive — from the Vedic prayer, ‘Let good through come from every side’ to Gandhi’s use of knowledge, wisdom and tradition from various traditions. Second there is a practice of hiding innovations, or not drawing attention towards them. Traditions often favours blending in rather than sticking out as an individual, not trumpeting one’s own originality but masking it with faces of the past…. Third, observing silence about awkward, embarrassing and ritually impure matters is a time honoured custom. The Hindu sense of discretion dictates that it is in bad taste in the mount, so to speak. “Don’t look back” is a response to traumas of the past, a way of not wallowing in sad memories. Traditionally Hindus have often preferred the timeless, trying to rise above history and not become attached to terrible events. This classic philosophical approach to deliberate silence forgets unpleasant historical matters as painful timenbound Maya, distractions from enjoying the possibilities in the present and ultimate beyond time. Jackson, W.J. (2017). Vijayanagara Voices : Exploring south indian history and hindu literature. Routeledge. ISBN 0754639509. Chapter 3

In the necessary marriage of spiritual wisdom and earthly power which classical Hinduism visualises and dictates there was a wisdom in selecting skilful sage and entrusting the founding to him. There was prescience in knowing that initial conditions augur, accurately predict and provide the seeds for later developments, whether disaster or visible polity. If inaugurated well, with the life way of a whole people organised in providences dharmic patterns, the kingdom could last a long time. If the tone was not set right at the outset, if heaven and earth failed to connect, if chance or what a strong man idiosyncractically happens to think were to prevail in the pattern setting origin, all would fall apart and the people of the realm would end up worse off than before. Jackson, W.J. (2017). Vijayanagara Voices : Exploring south indian history and hindu literature. Routeledge. ISBN 0754639509. Chapter 3

One of the problems he embarks on before that of defining one unique Veda is the internal relation of the main Vedic traditions in terms of hierarchy. It is clear that he does not think in terms of textual collections when considering the hierarchy amongst them. Himself probably from a Yajur-vedin family of Andhra, Sayana establishes the superiority of the Yajurveda over the Rgveda with reference to the aim of explaining the meaning of Veda. It is only a natural consequence after stating in the preamble that the meaning of the Rgveda shall be explained as concerning hotra, i.e that which pertains to Hotri priest during the sacrifice. And it is also already in the preamble where Sayana gives general reason for such a hierarchy. It is because of advaryavasya yajnesu pradhanyat that YV is given preference RV. And we have these peculiar expressions addressing domains of activity and a kind of ethos that we enter into by way of words like adhvaryava and hotra here. It is clear that not bodies of text but spheres of ritual competence are referred to. The uttara-paksa argument characteristically admits some preference to the RgVeda as a sphere of priestly competence, but eventually the siddhanta has it that for the very reason of knowing the artha of the Vedas as the artha of carrying out sacrifice. It is yajurveda which holds superior position as Sayana says artha-jnanasya tu yajnanusthanartatvat tatra tu yajur-vedasyaiva pradhanatvat (It is indeed due to the meaning of carrying the sacrifices for the apprehension of the Martha that we take the predominance of the Yajurveda).