STUDIA ORIENTALIA EDITED BY THE FINNISH ORIENTAL SOCIETY 30 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NORDIC SOUTH ASIA CONFERENCE HELD IN HELSINKI, JUNE 10—12, 1980 EDITED BY ASKO PARPOLA HELSINKI 1981 AKO PARPOLA ON THE PRIKARY MEANING ARD ETMIOLOGY OF THE SACRED svLLaARtE BY 1. Introduction The setigious importance of Sm fount representation of Brahe and pivot for meditation and con centration, the syllable Gu hae reasined tacrosanct An Hinduism for sone chree millenia, It is a prosinent religious sysbol in Tantric udéhi and in Jaioien well, 1.2. Previous research of Bn Rather surprisingly, @ comprohoneive study of the sacred syilabte Zn evil remains a tat to be undertaken. Even substantial articles deati pore extensively with this topic are few in number. Keith! has given « wsetul synopsis, and Boetea? has examined the written India and bole of an in road, The term akgara, which means both ‘ieperiel ble? and ‘syllable’ and is ysed with particular reference to Sm, has been resesret ed by van Buitenen?, other studi tow, fa 6 2.1. ed to bee 1.3, The saope of the prevent paper ‘The present paper reproduces the sence of « study fo be published else here in fuller form and documentation. Tt concentrates on the gost cen tral problem concerning the sacred syllable Gr, auely, sen peinary mean ing and etynology. The solution sketched here has been vory briefly nen tioned by the author on earlier occasions. 2. Barlier etymologteal explanations 2.1, A eynopeis of the explanations offered 00 far 1) Om is originatty jurt « meaningless sound.” 2) Om < Sanskrit Gp ‘co attain’ (Pragave 1,126) oF Sanskrit av- "to urge, to he chers]"2) Go < Sanskrit doom tenet’ Cor. $40.5 4 Om € sanskeie fy "yee" < Sanskeit 3 'intersection of rentatscence, ete." Gof § 4.23),7 5) Bn < 5p <3 « Proton ‘uropean fou ‘incsoductory particle® met t wentioned etypology Ls the one proposed by Yaurice Btooatield In 1889 in bis paper "on tne atyaology of the particte oi?®, and the only ontsmentioned by Manfred Mayrhofer ia his recently completed etynctogtcal dictionary of the Sanskrit Language’, a2 well ae by M.B, fuenoau dn 1959! Te is clearly ee currently valid etysotegy, ant dererves a closer serum 2.8, the prénary meaning aasording to Bloomfield: tm = atha i Bloonsieia"s opiaion, "om... may have Seen originally nothing bat an introductory word of sonevhat the sant vilut a8 ath." AC dence for his, he quotes tuo rather late references, CfhyGsapecaha 2,9 and neyi-PrBtisiktya 1,16-19 correlating the use of fw at che beginning of Vette text vith that of atha in weeks composed in prose. Marrant for such 2,87 om adhyine pluta) at the commencement (ef the rect= ute is found by Blooafield else in Pgini's ea in (is pronounced a8 prolongs ration of « sacred text)" 1m fact, there are also other (recent) sagen attesting to the pronvn- chon of dm ar the beginning ~ and end of a Vedic text to be recited, 8, Manu 2,74-75. From thin place i will hovever appear that dis not so mach an introductory particle a4 # means for mental concentra wich {9 accompanied by suppressions of breath. On ia evidently ssancta~ ted here with Topic practices, whose purpose it to enture that the text taught ~ oF recited at self-study - will be retained in the semory and not ship ev The beginnings of Yoga asem to be connected vith the word of the reine sun, representing Bahan, the creator and the vorld soul, At the eardhye vundona, the vorshipper pays Nonage to the nun vith the sacred syllable hineeLt with Beato. Thle deity level is the firat 0 be taught to che student at the {nleiation, the ‘with the ayllable 5, mand the eGoctsd verse, and identitie sontext in which Hany dea + represents creation, Ophydeamarata 2,9 oxpres ly Inks Be with creation Claberent in ereetion), Indicates that Ae conveys ausplciourness Fa L134 -1 explain that Se (conducive to heaven) should begin vith Se. The same text also stares hae "in eltee of welfare when belong to the ordinary “ife (outside the oleae Vedic ritual) auch sentences (of Benediction) ax those containing the words ‘auspicious day", "good luck", and ‘prosperity’ should scare swith Ge (oa. Ze)" (1,15,9). Ae the coomestator explaine, these benedtcn tome are pronounced in reply Co a request ade by the performer of the rite. They are.thus quice parallel co the prosavas of the érauta ritual ontloned ae beginning with Jr in the Gapediately prececing alten (1,13,¢ ‘he procava of the Brataan priest (see § 3.3,1) fe che earlLest context ln wich the asceed syllable 3 {e found in the Veste texte, and the eataan priest in the iaun cepressntative of che divine Bratea, ice. sod Savitar, the rising sun te be derivable from thie one the Instigator. Mast of the other ricuat mn any casey It Le from the parallelisw with On chet the iatcoductery cle atha appears to have acquired ite auspicious meaning, and this paratlelion seemt to be secondary and rtelevant to the etymology of Sr Dut before a essing the prinary seaning of Bn, Let us consider Bloom 2.3, Bloanfietd'e etyrotogy: Ge < Bg <2 < Protonindo Wich reference to Pigini"s rale on the prolongation of fn at the beginning of a recitation (cf. § 2.2), Blocatield continue wropean ta “tren ye the naal, Wich was aftervards fett an ss an independent n."” There ore, indeed, in prolonged syitabtes, ops in Faved 10,166,1 vindetTap for vtndare several Vedte esanptes of such a nazeliza Moongield, che considering 5 to be the origi 1 fore of the sscred e7l lable, derives 1€ from Proto-Indo-European fa preterved in such words a Greak aB (aBere, ateriG, aB-Bic), Latin aiet len), Gothic aunt, ete, ‘the meanings of which point 0 an orfginal adverset conarable to that of Sanskrit ata, Moontiotd further pointe out that if Greek a6 be the full: form corresponding to the reduced-grade particle v in rulv-u, chen 2 ae ablavt has the same relation to the comon edie particle u, ant u is alvays vritten Gy kn the petopitheMooafielé biosel£ does "not venture to attach any significance” co this Jase mentioned fact beyond Lee support for the hypothesis that the nasal zation of Sp ie ccondary, but Eneneau calls it srlour faet” which fe “appavently given nore weight by waskernager"!? Uackernagel, it is tracy singles out this reference, Yat at the reserves Bis own judgement, holding the nasatication as porsible but sot certain: "Vielleicht neeuht auch der Opfarruf dn, felts dies und afche fel here refers to JatwialysrUpmigad ratmage 1,24, a4 rejecting the promuneta fons Bn ard B, and accepting only Sp a corsect. Wowever, the manuscripts, and Bharat "5 quotet ion in the commentary on Jsinintya~ Srowtastere 1,11,9, 0 noe reed Op, but 3 (with a different intonation) naga 11,3 and 14,3 also discusses Be and Z aa variant forms, used for the ataionent of different wl syllable should be pronounced 3. In thenecives, auch statements by an ‘lene authors are ee proofe of the originality of a particular variant ‘The variation in fact seems to de based not only on teaporal but also oo 2 toeat: factors’ the origina form. I9 the Vedic (as veil ae 1 10x Bodabiet) tents there sre clear examples of the dropping of the final m, specialty betore 4 following vowel, cf, e.g. Alesreya-tritmens 7,27 aamdkdeti Tto for aavi- ean catt fro, oF 2,12,6 JhudDhe (radapigha Jhon abhi) for Jéhote abht ie Vajaseneyi-Saghitd 20,18 and TaitcietyerSephies 1,82. There are many cases in the Breda and especially in the Athar- vaveda for such an elision and contraction, though it is mostly recogate~ sable by means of metre on The phenomenon has been explained et result= {ng fon a preceding cheoge of -m > pj this ie regelar io Middle to 2. he prdmary moaning of Sm: ‘yen! ‘The weak point of Bleoufield’s etymology La in the meaning, and is the styunlogical study of partictes moaning it of crucial depertance. At the outset of Mie paper, Bleonficld declares that "che votd Gi, as we find te 4m Indian Literature, haw no organic connection vith the Language. ALL fice wees are cooschous and secondary." Tn particula he turns agsingt 0 often dropped before vowels a4 well as consonants!? the diferent view adopted by BaneLingk and Roth: “Ihe Petersburg Lexi con explaine of as a word of tole esseveration and reverent assent, com ce. Tabs explanation paring its staning with that of anon of the Seript involves the tranater of a Semitic conception, colored by Cerminic reli- 1 shalt try to show thet Blosofield is here quite wrong, and that there fave copsnt reasone for considering ‘yes! az the primary meaning of IE this ds the case, Bloonfield's stynology collapses. And the view that Bn ortainatty peane "yes! ia held by numerous authorities in adgition to inelingk and Roth, such ae Ueber, Moner-if2tians, clienberg, van Sultem 1.2, Bepliote statements tn anetent texte ohindogys-Upanigad 1,1,8 cqntaine an explictt statement on the meaning of tad 0 etad amaiRliganon; yad dat kip on ity oa tad Bh, Moontiel4 hineelf, adniteing cher this reference aight be cited in sup~ povt of the view he is oppting, translates! "YMis syllable de one of revaiesion; for vhen one permits anything he says of." Similar statement fre found in Npeighs-TSpanSyartpantgad 2,8,3 and 2.847) "au", says Bloomfield, “euch pateager must not be employed for the eluci= facion of the original value of the particle." Reason "The stateoent cones clrsctly from the ritual, in which formals of ausent or permission are introduced by of, Thin, however, Se equally rue of other formlas, sqeattons worse (Cand. Up. £.1.9)-" orders (prtiga), etc., a ix in fact atated in the very next Sod. Oy in the formitae and tturey of the Yeats minut It may readily be adaieee that fn, ehe Vedle ritual dn Is also used in ormlae vera it doae not grant permiseion such are for exaeple the very eerout mantras vber® St {4 coonected vith the "mystical words” BAZ bhi ah even, te thie cast St can be sown chat fn has Deen secondarily added co chis series (ef. $3.4). But this ang other secondary developnents (ct §°9.9.4-2) cannot disqualify all evidence sugessting that permisaton Le the primary nesning, alttough Bloontielé is remy to disaise ie in one broad sentence. The Lturgical veage of fn ia the oldest we have access to, and thus of the greatest iaportance for the detersination of the peix