Yajurveda

Yajurveda · yajur-veda, “the Veda of the yajus, the mantras of the yajña”

The Yajurveda is one of the four Vedas, the Veda of the yajus, the mantras with which the adhvaryu, the ṛtvij (officiant) who carries out the acts of the yajña, does his work. The Agni Purāṇa, taught by Agni Deva to Vasishṭha Maharshi, tells that Brahmā created it from his mouth, together with the Ṛg and Sāma Vedas, so that yajña could be performed. At the end of the Dvāpara yuga Bhagavān Vishṇu, descending as Vedavyāsa, divided the Veda, and gave the Yajurveda to the adhvaryu. His śishya Vaiśampāyana made twenty-seven śākhās (branches) of the tree of the Yajurveda, and Yājñavalkya and others received the Kāṇva and Vājasaneya śākhās. Pushkara, teaching Paraśurāma, gives its measure: 1,999 mantras, a thousand more in the brāhmaṇas, and eighty-six śākhās, among them the Kāṇva, Mādhyandina, Kaṭha, Maitrāyaṇī, Taittirīya and Vaiśampāyanika.

The Purāṇa counts the Yajurveda among the aparā vidyā, the knowledge of this world, and says again and again that the Vedas are the form of Bhagavān Vishṇu. Vāmana, son of Kaśyapa, is praised as adorned with the Ṛg, Yajur and Sāma Vedas. In pūjā the Yajurveda is placed on the fingers in nyāsa, worshipped on the north-eastern lotus of the maṇḍala and at the southern door of the yāga-maṇḍapa, and at a king’s abhisheka a Yajurvedī brāhmaṇa places the tilaka on the king. The śiras (head) of the Gāyatrī is a Yajurveda mantra. In the Yajur-vidhāna Pushkara teaches the uses of the Yajurveda mantras, each with its offering and its phala (fruit), for peace, health, wealth, sons, rain, victory and freedom from pāpa.

Created from the mouth of Brahmā

When Bhagavān Brahmā, Hiraṇyagarbha, had come forth from the golden egg and made the worlds, he created lightning, the thunderbolt, clouds, the rainbow, the birds and Parjanya. Then, for the accomplishment of yajña, he created from his mouth the Ṛg, Yajus and Sāma Vedas. With those Vedas he performed yajña to the Sādhyas and the devas.

Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 17

The division of the Veda and the śākhās

Agni Deva tells that at the end of the Dvāpara yuga Śrī Mahāvishṇu descends in the form of Vedavyāsa and divides the Veda. At first the Veda was one, with four caraṇas (quarters) and a lakh (100,000) of ṛks. “At first the Yajurveda was one; Vyāsa divided it into four.” Vyāsa determined that the Adhvaryu should conduct his office of ṛtvij with the Yajurveda, the Hotā with the Ṛgveda, the Udgātā with the Sāma mantras and the Brahmā with the Atharvaveda. The lexicon of the Purāṇa gives the same: the Adhvaryu is the ṛtvij who knows the Yajurveda.

Vyāsa’s śishya, the wise Vaiśampāyana, made twenty-seven śākhās of the tree of the Yajurveda. Yājñavalkya and others obtained the Kāṇva, the Vājasaneya and other śākhās.

Pushkara tells Paraśurāma that the Vedas are four, Ṛk, Yajus, Sāma and Atharva, and that their mantras number one lakh. Of the Yajurveda he says:

  • It has 1,999 mantras, and in the brāhmaṇas a thousand mantras.
  • It has eighty-six śākhās.
  • The Kāṇva, the Mādhyandina, the Kaṭha, the Maitrāyaṇī, the Taittirīya, the Vaiśampāyanika and other śākhās are in the Yajurveda.

Śrī Mahāvishṇu, descending in the form of Vyāsa, made the division of the Veda śākhās, and these divisions, the itihāsas and the Purāṇas are all forms of Vishṇu.

Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 150, 271, 365

The form of Bhagavān Vishṇu

At the very beginning of the Purāṇa, Agni Deva tells Vasishṭha Maharshi that both vidyās, the parā and the aparā, are forms of Vishṇu. The aparā vidyā is the four Vedas, Ṛg, Yajus, Sāma and Atharva, with the six Vedāṅgas, the lexicon, Mīmāṃsā, Dharma-śāstra, Purāṇa, Nyāya, Āyurveda, music, Dhanurveda and Artha-śāstra. At the very end, closing his teaching, Agni says it again: the vidyā in the form of the Ṛg, Yajus, Sāma and Atharva is Vishṇu, the cause of the world, and this is the aparā vidyā; the vidyā that teaches the supreme truth of the ātmā is the parā vidyā.

In the pavitrāropaṇa, as the sādhaka enters the yāga-maṇḍapa in the evening, he bows to Bhagavān Vishṇu with these words: “Namaskāra to Śrīdhara, of imperishable nature, who does good to the Vedas and the brāhmaṇas. The Ṛg, Yajus, Sāma and Atharva Vedas are of the form of Vishṇu. All śabda (sound and word) is of the form of Vishṇu. Namaskāra to that Bhagavān Vishṇu.”

In the Kuśāpāmārjana stotra, sung over one who is afflicted, Bhagavān Vāmana is praised: “Namaskāra to you, Vāmana, son of Kaśyapa, of very small body, adorned with the Ṛg, Yajur and Sāma Vedas.” And again: “O Vāmanamūrti! With your speech full of the hidden truths of the Ṛg, Yajur and Sāma Vedas, quieten all the sorrow of this afflicted one.”

Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 1, 31, 34, 383

In nyāsa and pūjā

  • Nyāsa. In the catur-vyūha nyāsa (the placing of the four-fold form on the body) taught with the mantras of Vāsudeva and the others, the Ṛgveda is placed on the hand as the pervading one, the Yajurveda on the fingers, the Atharva on the two palms, and the Sāmaveda on the head, the heart and the feet.
  • The maṇḍala. In the Bhadra maṇḍala, with Brahmā on the central lotus, the Ṛgveda and the Yajurveda are worshipped on the north-eastern lotus of the first enclosure.
  • The doors of the yāga-maṇḍapa. In the dvāra-yāga of the pavitrāropaṇa, the sādhaka worships at the south the Yajurveda, Yama and Subhadra, as he worships the Ṛgveda at the east, the Sāmaveda at the west and the Atharvaveda at the north.
  • The king’s abhisheka. In the rājābhisheka that Pushkara teaches Paraśurāma, after the abhisheka with the golden kalaśa of a hundred holes, a brāhmaṇa who is a Yajurvedī and a brāhmaṇa who is an Atharvavedī place a tilaka of gorocana (a yellow pigment) on the king’s head and throat with the mantra beginning gandhadvārām.

Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 25, 30, 34, 218

The śiras of the Gāyatrī

In the rite of sandhyā Agni Deva teaches that the head (śiras) of the Gāyatrī mantra is this mantra. Its ṛshi is Prajāpati and its devatās are Brahmā, Agni, Vāyu and Sūrya. It is a Yajurveda mantra without chandas (metre), because the Yajurveda is not bound in metre.

ओं आपो ज्योती रसोऽमृतं ब्रह्म भूर्भुवः सुवरोम्

oṃ āpo jyotī raso’mṛtaṃ brahma bhūr bhuvaḥ suvar om

Oṃ. The waters, the light, the essence, the amṛta, Brahman; Bhūḥ, Bhuvaḥ, Suvaḥ. Oṃ.

Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 215

The Yajur-vidhāna

Pushkara said to Paraśurāma: “Now I shall tell you the Yajur-vidhāna, which gives both bhukti (enjoyment) and mukti (moksha). Listen.” He then taught how the mantras of the Yajurveda are used, each with its homa or japa and its fruit.

Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 260

The mahāvyāhṛtis and the offerings for each wish

The mahāvyāhṛtis joined with the Oṃkāra destroy all pāpa and give all desires. The wise man should perform a hundred homas with them and worship the devatās, and the desires of his mind are fulfilled. The offering is chosen by the wish:

  • For śānti (peace): homa with yava (barley), or with milk.
  • For the destruction of pāpa: homa with tila (sesame).
  • With grains and white mustard: all desires are achieved.
  • For cattle: samidhs (fuel sticks) of udumbara. For food: curds. For much gold: samidhs of apāmārga.
  • For a maiden: jāti flowers tied two by two and soaked in ghee. For kāma: tila and rice.
  • For bringing under control (vaśīkaraṇa): samidhs of śākoṭa, vacā and apāmārga.
  • For the death of an enemy: the same samidhs, offered in anger.
  • A dvija who makes an image of the king from all the grains and offers it a thousand times brings the king under his control.
  • For cloth: flowers. Dūrvā grass destroys disease. For brahma-tejas: fine cloth.
  • For causing enmity (vidveshaṇa): in a fire laid as Pratyaṅgirā teaches, chaff and thorns, ash, and the feathers of crows and owls.

At a lunar eclipse one offers homa with the ghee of a tawny (kapilā) cow, with vacā powder in it; the vacā that remains, consecrated a thousand times with the Gāyatrī and eaten, makes one medhāvī, of great intelligence.

Mantras for protection, health and plenty

  • Dvishato vadho’si: a peg of iron or khadira wood, eleven aṅgulas long, buried in the enemy’s house with this mantra destroys the enemy.
  • Cakshushyā and the following: by japa, lost eyesight returns.
  • The anuvāka upayuñjate gives food.
  • Tanūnapād agne’si: dūrvā homa removes dangers.
  • Bheshajam asi: homa of curd and ghee removes the epidemics that come to cattle.
  • Tryambakaṃ yajāmahe: homa with it increases saubhāgya (good fortune); japa and homa with a maiden’s name in mind gain that maiden; daily recitation in times of fear frees one from fear; dhattūra flowers with ghee give all desires; guggulu offered with it gives a darśana of Bhagavān Śaṅkara in a dream.
  • The anuvāka yuñjate manaḥ: long life.
  • Vishṇor arāṭam asi: wards off all troubles, destroys rākshasas, increases fame and gives victory.
  • Ayaṃ no agniḥ and the following: victory in battle.
  • Idam āpaḥ pravahata: bathing with its japa destroys pāpa.
  • Viśvakarman havishā: an iron rod ten aṅgulas long, consecrated with it and planted at a maiden’s door, keeps her from being given to anyone else.
  • Deva savitaḥ: homa makes one rich in food.
  • Agnau svāhā: tila, yava, apāmārga samidhs and rice offered with it give strength; gorocana consecrated a thousand times with it and worn as a tilaka makes one dear to the world.
  • The Rudra mantras: japa destroys all pāpa; homa accomplishes every karma and gives śānti everywhere. When goats, sheep, elephants, cows, kings, children, women, villages, towns or a whole country are afflicted by troubles, disease, epidemic or fear of enemies, homa of pāyasa with ghee to Rudra-devatā brings great śānti. One who for a month eats only at night saktu (barley meal) and yava gruel is freed from the pāpa of brahmahatyā.

More mantras and their phala

  • Madhu vātā and the following: everything is obtained.
  • Dadhikrāvṇo: a gṛhastha who offers homa with it obtains sons without doubt.
  • Ghṛtavatī bhuvanānām abhi: ghee homa increases life.
  • Svasti na indraḥ: destroys all troubles.
  • Iha gāvaḥ prajāyadhvam: a thousand ghee homas destroy poverty; homa of ghee, curd, milk or pāyasa makes the buddhi (intelligence) grow.
  • Devasya tvā: apāmārga samidhs and rice offered with the sruva free one quickly from abhicāra (hostile rites).
  • Śivo bhava: homa of rice when fire breaks out.
  • Yā senā: removes the fear of enemies and thieves.
  • Yo asmabhyam arātīyāt: a thousand tila homas free one from terrible abhicāra.
  • Annapate: anna homa gives food.
  • Haṃsaḥ śucishat, catvāri śṛṅgā, and drupadād iva recited three times: japa standing in water destroys all pāpa.
  • Devā yajñam atanvata: one who does its japa is honoured in Brahmaloka.
  • Vasanto’syāsīt: Sūrya grants varas to one who offers ghee homa with it.
  • Suparṇo’si and ā kṛshṇena: the karmas are done with them as with the vyāhṛtis.
  • Namaḥ svāhā and the following, three times: freedom from bondage.
  • Śaṃ no devī: palāśa fruits offered with it give health, Lakshmī and long life.
  • Oshadhīḥ pratimodadhvam: homa at sowing and at harvest brings gain.
  • Aśvāvatīḥ: pāyasa homa gives śānti.
  • Tasmā aram and the following: a prisoner is released.
  • Yuvā suvāsāḥ: cloth is obtained.
  • Muñcantu mā śapathyāt: śāpas and the like are destroyed.
  • Namo’stu sarvebhyaḥ: ghee homa destroys abhicāra.
  • Kāṇḍāt kāṇḍāt: dūrvā homa a thousand times stills an epidemic spreading in a village or a land; the sick are freed from sickness and the sorrowful from sorrow.
  • Madhumān no vanaspatiḥ: a thousand udumbara samidhs give wealth, great saubhāgya and success in dealings and disputes.
  • Apāṃ garbhaṃ sīda: homa with it surely makes Parjanya send rain; and homa of curd, ghee and honey with apa pibat and the following brings a great rain at once.
  • Namas te rudra: removes all calamities, gives every śānti and destroys the mahāpātakas (the gravest pāpas).
  • Adhyavocad adhivaktā: the sick are protected, rākshasas destroyed, fame, long life and nourishment gained; a traveller who scatters white mustard on the road with it is happy.
  • Asau yas tāmraḥ: one who daily, morning and evening, stands in worship of Sūrya with it obtains inexhaustible food and long life.
  • Pramuñca dhanvanas and the five that follow: weapons consecrated with them bring fear upon the enemy in battle.
  • Mā no mahāntam: śānti for children.
  • Namo hiraṇyabāhave, seven anuvākas: homa of black mustard with oil destroys enemies.
  • Namo vaḥ kirikebhyaḥ: a lakh of lotuses offered with it gives royal fortune; bilva fruits give a heap of gold.
  • Imā rudrāya: tila homa gives wealth, dūrvā homa destroys all diseases.
  • Āśuḥ śiśānaḥ: protection of weapons and the destruction of all enemies in battle.
  • Vājaś ca me, five mantras: a thousand ghee offerings free one from eye diseases.
  • Śaṃ no vanaspate: homa in the house destroys the faults of the dwelling (vāstu-dosha).
  • Agna āyūṃshi: one who offers ghee homa with it has enmity with no one.
  • Apāṃ phenena: homa of parched rice gives victory.
  • Bhadrā hu…: one whose senses are weak becomes strong in them.
  • Ā… pṛthivī ca: a great mantra of vaśīkaraṇa.
  • Adhvanā: victory in dealings and disputes.
  • Brahma kshatraṃ pavate: japa at the start of an undertaking brings success.
  • Saṃvatsaro’si: a lakh of ghee homas free one from disease.

The mantras of battle

  • Ketuṃ kṛṇvan increases victory in battle, and indro’gnir dharmaḥ gives victory in a battle that accords with dharma.
  • On taking up the bow, dhanvanā gā; the arrows with ahir iva; the quiver with vahnīnāṃ pitā.
  • Yoking the horses to the chariot, yuñjanty asya; at the start of the march, āśuḥ śiśānaḥ; mounting the chariot, vishṇoḥ kramo’si; first driving the horses, ājaṅghanti; facing the enemy army, yāḥ senā abhitvarīḥ; when the war-drum sounds, dundubhyaḥ.
  • Homa is first done with these mantras, and then one acts in this way: victory is gained.
  • A crore of homas with yamena dattam: a chariot appears that gives immediate victory.

The mind, Lakshmī, protection and śānti

  • The Śivasaṅkalpa mantras beginning yaj jāgrataḥ: japa gives one-pointedness of mind.
  • Pañca nadyaḥ: five lakh homas bring Lakshmī.
  • Yad ābadhnan dākshāyaṇāḥ: gold consecrated a thousand times and worn wards off enemies.
  • Imaṃ jīvebhyaḥ: stones or clods consecrated with it and thrown on the four sides of the house: no fear of thieves at night.
  • Pari me gām aneshata: the best mantra of vaśīkaraṇa; even one who comes to kill submits, and food, tāmbūla or flowers consecrated with it bring the receiver under control.
  • Śaṃ no mitraḥ gives śānti everywhere and always; śaṃ no devīr abhishṭaye is the supreme giver of śānti.
  • Gaṇānāṃ tvā gaṇapatim: all grains offered at a crossroads bring the whole world under control.
  • Hiraṇyavarṇāḥ śucayaḥ is recited at the time of abhisheka.
  • The ekacakra mantra and the following, with ghee homa for the house: the grace of the grahas and śānti.
  • Bhaga praṇetaḥ: ghee homa brings cows.
  • Devebhyo vanaspate and the following are used in the rites for trees.

Pushkara closes the Yajur-vidhāna with the Gāyatrī: she is to be known as of the form of Vishṇu. The Gāyatrī herself is the supreme state (parama-pada) of Vishṇu, which calms all pāpas and fulfils all desires.

Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 260

The Yajurvedīya Śrīsūkta

Pushkara teaches that the Śrīsūkta, which increases Lakshmī, is found in each Veda. The Śrīsūkta of the Yajurveda is four mantras, among them those beginning rathe, vājī and catasraḥ. One who does japa and homa of the Śrīsūkta with bhakti surely obtains Lakshmī; for the grace of Śrī Devī the homa is done with lotuses, bilvas, ghee and tila.

Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 263

Karma enjoined by the Vedas

In the Yama-gītā, which Yama spoke to Naciketas, eight teachers give the highest śreyas (good). Jaigīshavya teaches: “Karma enjoined by the Ṛg, Yajus and Sāma, done with the sense of duty and without attachment, brings śreyas.”

Source: Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 382

Sources

  • Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 1, 17, 25, 30–31, 34, 150, 215, 218, 260, 263, 271, 365, 382–383