The Tamil phrase in question is mū ēḻ tuṟai, where tuṟai means ‘area of 
knowledge’. A comparable usage is ‘tuṟai pala muṟṟiya pai tīr pāṇaroṭu’ 
(Malaipaṭukaṭām 40), where ‘tuṟai’ is an area of knowledge of the bards. In 
fact, Puṟanāṉūṟu 152.20 has ‘mū ēḻ tuṟaiyum muṟaiyuḷik kaḻippi’, where the 
bards performed music encompassing 21(three times seven) areas/aspects. Here 
the commentator’s interpretation is that the bards were knowledgeable in the 
use of 7 notes in 3 octaves. The phrase could have referred to 21 different 
areas of knowledge (?) involved in making music. Similarly, in Puṟanāṉūṟu 166, 
the number 21 could refer to different areas of knowledge required of brahmins 
just like the number 6 usually referring to Vedāṅgas. Auvai Turaicāmi also 
mentions 21 areas of logic as a possible meaning. Are there other conventional 
areas of knowledge numbered as 21? Or did the number 21 simply mean a 
conventional way of saying ‘many’?

 

Thanks

 

Regards,

Palaniappan

From: INDOLOGY <[email protected]> on behalf of Indology List 
<[email protected]>
Reply-To: "Tieken, H.J.H. (Herman)" <[email protected]>
Date: Friday, February 4, 2022 at 2:45 PM
To: "Lubin, Tim" <[email protected]>
Cc: Indology List <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [INDOLOGY] 22 sacrifices

 

Dear Tim, I made a mistake, the number is indeed 21, as you suggested. So I now 
have the information I need. Thank you very much.

Herman

 

Herman Tieken

Stationsweg 58

2515 BP Den Haag

The Netherlands

00 31 (0)70 2208127

website: hermantieken.com

 

Van: Lubin, Tim <[email protected]>
Verzonden: vrijdag 4 februari 2022 21:38
Aan: Tieken, H.J.H. (Herman) <[email protected]>; Indology List 
<[email protected]>
Onderwerp: Re: [INDOLOGY] 22 sacrifices 

 

Dear Herman,

 

If the number is 21 rather than 22 (as the passage you quote indicates), it may 
refer to the 7 somayajñas + 7 haviryajñas (iṣṭi rites) + 7 pākayajñas, a 
comprehensive rubrication of Vedic ritual laid out in the Karmāntasūtra 
appended to the Baudhāyana Śrautasūtra (24.4).  Baudhāyana Gṛhyasūtra 1.1.1–12 
describes the seven pākayajñas as:

huta: “when [the offering] is made in the fire” (yad dhūyate)

prahuta: “when, after a fire-offering, something is given” (yad dhutvā dīyate)

āhuta: “when, after a fire-offering and a gift, something is received” (yad 
dhutvā dattvā cādīyate)

śūlagava: “when they skewer pieces of cow-meat on spits and cook them” (yac 
chūleṣūpanikṣya[1] gavyāni śrapayanti)

baliharaṇa: “when they scatter food for the gods of the household” (yad 
gṛhyābhyo devatābhyo ’nnaṃ saṃprakiranti)

pratyavarohaṇa: “when they adopt the low bed from season to season” (yad ṛto 
ṛtuṃ pratyavarohanti) 

aṣṭakāhoma: “when food is prepared during the ekāṣṭaka rite” (yad ekāṣṭakāyām 
annaṃ kriyate)[2]

 

The classification into seven here reflects a desire for symmetry with the two 
types of śrauta rites to yield three 7-member lists — pākayajña, haviryajña, 
somayajña — as stated in BGParibhāṣasūtra 1.6.22.  

 

For my discussion of this, see:

“Baudhāyanīya Contributions to Smārta Hinduism,” in: Vedic Śākhās: Past, 
Present, Future. Proceedings of the Fifth International Vedic Workshop, 
Bucharest 2011, edited by Jan E.M. Houben, Julieta Rotaru & Michael Witzel. 
Harvard Oriental Series, Opera Minora 9 (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard, 2016), pp. 
591–606.

https://www.academia.edu/3250233/Baudh%C4%81yan%C4%ABya_Contributions_to_Sm%C4%81rta_Hinduism
 

Warm wishes,

Tim

 

Timothy Lubin
Jessie Ball duPont Professor of Religion and Adjunct Professor of Law
Chair of the Department of Religion
204 Tucker Hall
Washington and Lee University
Lexington, Virginia 24450

https://lubin.academic.wlu.edu/ 
http://wlu.academia.edu/TimothyLubin 
https://ssrn.com/author=930949
https://dharma.hypotheses.org/people/lubin-timothy

 

 

From: INDOLOGY <[email protected]> on behalf of INDOLOGY 
<[email protected]>
Reply-To: "Tieken, H.J.H. (Herman)" <[email protected]>
Date: Friday, February 4, 2022 at 3:21 PM
To: INDOLOGY <[email protected]>
Subject: [INDOLOGY] 22 sacrifices

 

Dear List members,

In Puṟanāṉūṟu 166 a brahmin is described who had "performed to perfection all 
twenty-one kinds of sacrifices" (trsl. Hart and Heifetz). I am at a loss which 
22 sacrifices are referred to here; that is to say, I do not know where to 
look. I hope someone has a suggestion.

With kind regards, Herman

 

Herman Tieken

Stationsweg 58

2515 BP Den Haag

The Netherlands

00 31 (0)70 2208127

website: hermantieken.com


[1] em.; upanikṣyā N; upanitya Bh; folio missing in B; here and in similar 
contexts, M and C have upanīkṣya (M listing upanikṣipya as a variant).

[2] Mentioned already at BŚS 3.10.5.

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