The Fourteen Vidyāsthānas
Vidyāsthāna-s are simply translated as the lore of knowledge (which along with the 64 kalā-s, the fine arts, comprises the entire group of knowledge). But great saints have defined vidyāsthāna-s as dharmasthāna-s and in some cases dharma-pramāṇa-s, as they reveal how one may live in order to gain this knowledge. So, the study of the four Vedas is always complemented or accompanied by the study of ten other disciplines: the six Vedāṅga-s and the four Upavedas. Together, they are all called caturdaśa-vidyāsthāna-s.
Vidyā is from vid, ‘to know’. This same root ‘vid’ also becomes the derivative for ‘Veda’. These vidyāsthāna-s are the abodes of learning, and naturally include the knowledge of dharma.
Later in this lecture, Prof. Mahulikar speaks about inner (esoteric) and outer (exoteric) knowledge. We can now glean that inner knowledge points to inner dharma, Advaita, philosophy…. And the exoteric points to the principles that govern the outer world of man, principles again, but which define the dharma of things and beings.
The truth of a thing is necessary for us to know so that we allow ourselves to be governed by it in actions involving that thing. Our knowledge of the truth of electricity is what governs our actions in the matter of manufacturing electrical goods, in the matter of dealing with electrical problems. The truth of electricity is its pramāṇa . Likewise, the Vedas are the pramāṇa of Dharma.
As the roots, so the tree or plant. It is what goes into the soil and how deep, that determines how rich, vibrant and lush is what grows on the outside. This could verily help us understand why ‘vidyāsthāna-s’.
The culture of India begins at its roots, the Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS) which lie snug in three chief categories:
- the Four Vedas (ṛg, yajus, sāma and atharva),
- the Four Upavedas (Medicine or āyurveda; Weaponry or Dhanurveda, Fine Arts or gāndharvaveda, Political Science or arthaśāstra, Architecture or sthāpatyaveda;
- and the Six Vedāṅga-s: Phonetics or śikṣā ; Grammar or vyākarana , Prosody or Chandas; Etymology or Nirukta; Astrology or jyotiṣa ; Science of Rituals or Kalpa.
All knowledge, in short, can be traced to these 14 abodes.
We can see how they are all inter-related, and bloom out as subject matter for study (at university) in the form of Theatre, Astronomy, Surgery, Medicine, Supply Chain Management, Biology, Archaeology, Metallurgy, Commerce, Economics and so on. But at the root is the IKS.
There are two clear parts to the Vedas:
- the means to live in the outer physical world, the exoteric knowledge or karma as a means to achieving man’s innumerable ends (karmakāṇḍa), in the outer world,
- the means to esoteric knowledge (Vedānta)—to achieving freedom from any sense of limitation or inadequacy, hence dealing with the inner being of man.
What Came Before the Vedas?
Before we move ahead, a thought does arise: what knowledge existed before the Vedas? It would seem that before the Vedas, there were the Vedas. And before that, the Vedas again… what could this mean?
The Viṣṇu-purāṇa says, Twenty-eight times have the Vedas been arranged by the great Rishis in the Vaivasvata Manvantara… and consequently, eight and twenty Vyāsa-s have passed away, by whom, in the respective periods, the Veda has been divided into four.
We are in the Vaivasvata Manvantara. In every Dvāpara-yuga (in this Manvantara) a new Veda Vyāsa took charge and compiled the Vedas. The Veda Vyāsa specific to our Dvāpara-yuga, which is the 28th, the Veda Vyāsa is Kṛṣṇa-dvaipāyana .
The four yugas are periods of specific experiences for the evolution of the human, where, each yuga proffers rich experiences and the company of highly evolved and learned souls, for the evolution of man. Man’s mind is therefore rendered rich and vibrant. But in subsequent yugas, as the purity and proficiency of man drops, to make the highly abstract knowledge of the Vedas accessible to persons who do not have the necessary prerequisites, the compassionate rishis compile the knowledge and make it available to man.
Not Only an Indian pursuit
Foreign attraction to the Vedas
There is something to IKT, to the Vedic era and knowledge, to our heritage and culture that has attracted so many foreign scholars to its study and research.
Dara Shikoh, Emperor Shah Jahan’s son (and brother of Aurangazeb), a follower of the Qadiri order of Sufis and a disciple of Miyan Mir, believed that the quest for God was the same for every human, at all times, anywhere in the world. His fascination for the Upanishads (and hence eclectic Sanatana Dharma) won him the ire of his brother. While he was the lawful successor to Shah Jahan, his brother Aurangzeb grew inappropriately ambitious, so that Dara Shikoh had to keep fighting for his position.
But what seized his attention time and again was the mystical heritage of Hinduism and Islam. Dara began to see great similarities between the two religions, so much so that he felt ‘there was no need for spiritual traditions to live in isolation from each other and their mingling could produce a tradition that is healthier than either.’ And instead of protecting his right to the throne, Dara Shikoh was immersed in translating the Upanishads from Sanskrit into Persian (1657), which means he spent a great deal of time in learning Sanskrit too …!
Dara Shikoh named his translation Sirr-e-Akbar—The Greatest Mystery. He found the message of Oneness or Unity in the Upanishads so compelling that he even says in the introduction, that the reference to ‘the hidden book’ in the Quran—the ‘Kitab al-maknun— was, in fact, the Upaniṣad-s.
To conclude, Dara Shikoh lost his earthly kingdom (Aurangzeb beheaded him) but found the Higher kingdom through his spiritual pursuits.
Then there is Max Mueller whose study of languages led him to relate it to the study of religions and thus from Sanskrit he graduated to translating the ṛg-veda . Starting with his interest in Sanskrit, what happened was that during those times, there was a parallel movement studying Indo-European languages. India’s Vedic culture was thought to be the ancestor of European classical cultures. Naturally, many researchers and scholars wanted to probe deeper into these two languages—European and the Asian—to examine the root-language. It emerged that Sanskrit was the oldest among the Indo-European languages and that can be stated as the genesis of Max Mueller’s study of Sanskrit.
Interestingly, there were polytheists then in Europe (worshipers of more than one god) who were therefore called pagans. Muller felt the study of Vedic culture would open windows to understanding the emergence of this pagan culture in Europe. Research took him deeper and he made a case to the British East India Company to permit him to work on a critical edition of the ṛg-veda based on the manuscripts in their possession. Mueller devoted the 25 years from 1849–1874 to this translation and critical edition.
Closer to our times, many more westerners have immersed themselves in the study of the Vedas, albeit with a desire to synthesise the East and West… but the study has been born out of a great fascination for Vedānta. Numerous scholars have thereafter translated the ṛg-veda.
To be continued…
Read Part II here.
