Kātyāyana

Kātyāyana · kātya-āyana, “the descendant of Katya”

Kātyāyana Maharshi is a ṛshi learned in dharma and in the science of language. The Agni Purāṇa, the teaching that Agni Deva gave to Vasishṭha Maharshi, names him three times. He is the maharshi who told the munis the Śrāddha-kalpa, the full rite of the śrāddha offered to the pitṛs (the ancestors); he is one of the teachers by whom dharma was told; and he is the listener to whom Skanda, the son of Bhagavān Śiva, taught vyākaraṇa (grammar) “for the knowledge of children”.

The Śrāddha-kalpa that he told the munis

Agni Deva says: “I shall tell the Śrāddha-kalpa which Kātyāyana Maharshi told to the munis.” The rite that follows is Kātyāyana’s teaching, and it is told in full:

  • Place and time. Śrāddha is offered in tīrthas such as Gayā, at the saṅkrāntis, in the dark fortnight, under a good nakshatra. The brāhmaṇas are invited a day before: men without blame, each devoted to his own karma, of good conduct, gṛhasthas, sādhus, Vedic snātakas and śrotriyas. On the day the one who offers keeps brahmacarya, stays free of anger, does not travel far and does not study the Veda.
  • The invocation and arghya. The rite for the devas comes first, then the rite for the pitṛs. With the brāhmaṇas’ leave he invokes the Viśvedevas, scattering yava (barley), and then the pitṛs, scattering tila (sesame). Arghya is given from vessels of gold, silver, udumbara wood or leaves, with water, tila and flowers, and the devas and pitṛs are worshipped with sandal paste, flowers, incense, lamp and cloth.
  • The homa and the feeding. He offers food with ghee in the fire, with “agnaye kavyavāhanāya svāhā” and “somāya pitṛmate svāhā”. The brāhmaṇas are served and fed, Gāyatrī and the ṛk “madhu vātā” are recited, and he asks them, “Are you satisfied?” They answer, “We are satisfied.”
  • The piṇḍas and the blessing. He offers the piṇḍas (balls of rice), gives the water of imperishability, and asks for the blessing: that the gotra may grow, the reading and teaching of the Vedas continue unbroken, the line increase, śraddhā (faith) never fail and there be much to give in dāna. Then the devas and the pitṛs are given leave to go.
  • The other śrāddhas. The pārvaṇa śrāddha is offered on every amāvāsyā. The ekoddishṭa śrāddha, for one person, has one pavitra, one arghya and one piṇḍa. In the sapiṇḍīkaraṇa the preta’s vessel and piṇḍa are joined with those of the father, grandfather and great-grandfather, and so the departed one attains the state of a pitṛ. The ābhyudayika śrāddha for happy occasions is offered to the Nāndīmukha pitṛs, with yava in place of tila and without “svadhā”.
  • Its fruits. The chapter gives how long each offering satisfies the pitṛs, the brāhmaṇas who purify the row of diners, the fruit of the śrāddha on each tithi, the account of the seven hunters to be recited at the śrāddha, and the tithis and tīrthas (Gayā, Prayāga, the Gaṅgā, Kurukshetra, the Narmadā, Kāśī, the Godāvarī and others) where the śrāddha becomes imperishable.

The chapter promises that one who reads this Śrāddha-kalpa gains the fruit of the śrāddha.

Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 117

Among the teachers of dharma

When Pushkara begins his teaching on dharma, the dharma that gives both bhukti (enjoyment) and mukti, he names the teachers by whom it was told: Manu, Vishṇu, Yājñavalkya, Hārīta, Atri, Yama, Aṅgiras, Vasishṭha, Daksha, Saṃvarta, Śātātapa, Parāśara, Āpastamba, Uśanas, Vyāsa, Kātyāyana, Bṛhaspati, Gautama, and Śaṅkha and Likhita.

Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 162

Skanda’s teaching of vyākaraṇa

At the close of the chapter on the single-letter words, Agni Deva says: “Now I will tell the vyākaraṇa that Skanda told Kātyāyana.” This is the Kaumāra Vyākaraṇa, the grammar of Kumāra.

Skanda begins: “O Kātyāyana, for the knowledge of children, I will tell the siddha-śabda-svarūpa, the form of finished words, the essence of vyākaraṇa.” He first teaches the saṃjñās, the technical names needed for the working of the śāstra: the pratyāhāra-sūtras from “a i u ṇ” to “hal”, the it-saṃjñā (the marker letters), and the pratyāhāras, by which a first letter joined with a final marker takes in itself and all the letters between.

Then he says: “Kātyāyana! I shall tell the siddha-rūpas, the finished forms, of the vibhaktis.” He teaches the two kinds of endings, sup for nouns and tiṅ for verbs; the seven sup vibhaktis, each with its three endings; the noun stems ending in a vowel and in a consonant, in the masculine, feminine and neuter; and the model words for each, beginning with vṛkshaḥ, the tree.

Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 348–349, 351

Sources

  • Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 117, 162, 348–349, 351