Veda-bhāṣya-ratnam -- Śrī A. S. Subbukrishna Mahāgnicit (Somayājī)

Mahāgnicit

A brief biographical sketch by

Ramanathan P S

Bhāratavarṣa had a vibrant presence of great Vedic scholars in its diverse branches of learning in the past centuries. Its trace and continuity can predominantly seen in the South of India than the North. Reasons may be many. A few personalities are still living as the torch bearers of the ancient wisdom in this multi-cultural and multi-lingual land. Dedicated souls without any expectations or reward are undertaking study of the Vedas and Śāstras as an ordained duty. A countable number is seen engaged in the performance of the complicated Śrauta rituals too. The question is who inspires them for such kind of an attitude towards the relentless study? Probably it is the echo and vibration of the Śāstra that has been handed from generation to generation (pāramparya) that urges them not to break the continuity.

"Do not ask why" -- commands the Śāstra vouching the Sanskrit phrase  --

ब्राह्मणेन निष्कारणो धर्मः षडङ्गो वेदोऽध्येयो ज्ञेयश्च । (Mahābhāṣya, Paspaśānhika)
brāhmaṇena niṣkāraṇo dharmaḥ ṣaḍaṅgo vedo'dhyeyo jñeyaśca. 

That is, a Brāhmaṇa should practice the virtuous acts (Dharma), learn and study the Veda with its six limbs (Śikṣā, Kalpa, Vyākaraṇa, Nirukta, Chandas, and Jyotiṣa), for no reason whatsoever. Note the word used – niṣkāraṇah.

Manu dictates:

वेदः कृत्स्नोऽधिगन्तव्यः सरहस्यो द्विजन्मना । (Manusmṛti, 2.164)
vedaḥ kṛtsno’dhigantavyaḥ sarahasyo dvijanmanā.

"The twice-born must study the whole Veda with the Rahasya.

वेदाभ्यासो हि विप्रस्य तपः परमिहोच्यते । (Manusmṛti, 2.165)
vedābhyāso hi viprasya tapaḥ paraṃ ihocyate.
 
"Study of the Veda is declared to be the highest tapas for a Brāhmaṇa in this world."

and the Upaniṣad reminds:
 
स्वाध्यायप्रवचनाभ्यां न प्रमदितव्यम् । (Taittirīya-Upaniṣad, 1.11)
Svādhyāya-pravacanābhyāṃ na pramaditavyam.
 
“Never be indifferent to the study and imparting of the Veda.”

Fixing the Śāstra-prescribed goal they march on with unflinching faith. Result appears of its own. As the Braḥmībhūta Śri Chandrasekharendra Sarasvatī Mahāsvāmin puts it -- Money, power and fame will chase such a goal-setter walking through the path of Dharma, even if he does not want it. 

There is a hamlet called Arivitthurai, near Ponneri in Tiruvallur District of Tamil Nadu. Though this village cannot boast of the characteristics of an Agrahāra consisting of a Brāhmaṇa settlement, a prominent Somayājī family belonging to the Śrīvatsa-Gotra was living there keeping alive the Agnihotra tradition without break for the last four generations till the death of Śrī. A. B. Sītārāma Somayājin (1885-1949) at Arivitthurai. Sītārāma Somayājin was son of Śrī. Bhāskara Śrautin.  The life of an Āhitāgni is hectic with a tight schedule of worship of Agni.  He has to perform the nitya-agnihotra, iṣṭis (minor yajñas) on Amāvāsyā (New Moon) and Pūrṇimā (Full Moon) days, the vārṣika (annual – during “varṣā” season) yāga, etc., apart from the smārta (nitya – obligatory and naimittika – occasional) karmas. Sītārāma Somayājin had performed the Agniṣṭoma (Somayāga) in 1930s at Kāḷahastī (AP) proper and an Atyagniṣṭoma five years later. A Cāturmāsya too was conducted in the year 1948 at Nellore (AP).

Śrī Sītārāma Somayājin with Patnī

A renowned scholar of his times, his expertise spanned a significant number of different subject areas in Sanskrit apart from the Taittirīya-yajur-veda. He had 4 Sons and 2 daughters by his Patnī, Rāghava Lakshmī Somapīthinī. Śrī. A. S. Subbukrishna Mahāgnicit, now living in Tiruvānmiyūr (South Chennai), is his fourth son, born on 23.07.1937 (Āṣāḍha-Guru-Pūrṇimā). Two of his elder brothers, Svargīya Ramakrishna Śāstrin and Svargīya Viswanatha Śrautin were highly accomplished in the Veda and the Śrauta. Subbukrishna’s adhyayana of sva-śākhā started from his initiation into brahmacarya (Upanayana) at the appropriate age, under his father, elder brothers and the scholar, Śrī Melagaram (Tiruvaṇṇāmalai) Venugopala Śāstrin’s tutelage.

Śrī Sītārāma Somayājin was not against formal educational process and sent Subbukrishna to school, of course, without deviating from his rigorous svādhyāya (self study of the Vedic portions). Thus along with modern schooling Subbukrishna commenced learning Veda-lakṣana, basic Vyākaraṇa and Sanskrit literature with its branches like the Kāvya, the Nāṭaka and the Alaṅkāra, at home.
 
He had a flair for higher learning backed with a burning desire in acquiring a degree and with this aim in view left for Chennai to enroll at the University of Madras for doing BA (Hons) in Sanskrit. Alongside with his higher studies, he began the traditional adhyayana of Āpastamba-śrauta-sūtra with the bhāṣyās (commentaries) of Rāmāgnicit, Dhūrtasvāmin and Kapardisvāmin, the Āśvalāyana-śrauta-sūtra with the commentary of Gārgya Nārāyaṇa, the Drāḥyāyaṇa-śrauta-sūtra with the bhāṣya of Dhanvin and the Prayoga manuals of Āṇḍapiḷḷai, and the like from his father and elder brothers. 

Like the sayings –
 
एकशास्त्रमनेकशास्त्रानुबन्धि ।
ekaśāstram-aneka-śāstrānubandhi.

“Once you start learning something it will lead you to learn something else” – Subbukrishna’s pursuit of knowledge led him to the stalwart Śāstraratnākara Śrī. Polakaṁ Śrīrāma Śāstrin who was a store-house of a wide range of Śāstras. He learnt the various intricate concepts associated with the course of study in Nyāya, Advaita Vedānta and Sāhitya under him. Hand in hand, uninterrupted studies in Pūrva-mīmāṃsā, Vyākaraṇa, Veda-lakṣana and Jyotiṣa continued.
 

At Convocation

In the year 1958, he came out in flying colors from the Madras University earning the BA (Hon) degree, standing first in the State with First Class and distinction, bagging all the three medals allotted for the faculty, that year. Like any fresh graduate of those times he had an inclination to acquire a job and he joined the Accountant General’s Office in the year 1960. In the same year he married Smt. Venkatalakshmi.

Śrī. Subbukrishna Śrautin with Patnī

After putting in service for a considerably long period he reached up to the post of Senior Accounts Officer and attained superannuation in 1993. By this time he came to be known as a full-fledged Vedic scholar – Śrautin – a person who focuses his studies on the tradition of rituals as ordained by the Śruti (the Vedas) – to be true to the meaning of the word.

Soon after his retirement from mundane activities, he began to concentrate on his traditional studies in Śrauta without neglecting the subtle ācāras as enshrined in the Dharma-śāstras. It is said that the desire of knowledge, like the thirst of riches, increases ever with the acquisition of it. Subbukrishna Śrautin’s intensity of desire and emphasis to put into practice a fraction of what he had learnt from the śrauta texts went stronger and stronger. It culminated in the setting up of the tretāgni (three fires) through the Agnyādhāna ritual in May 1996, at his residence.

Yāga in progress

This paved way for the conduct of an Agniṣṭoma Somayāga in the year 2001 at Arigilikandiga (near Kāḷahastī, AP). A person who has established the three agnis known as the Gārhapatya, Dakṣinā and Āhavanīya by performing the ritual Ādhāna becomes an Āhitāgni. Subbukrishna Śrautī now having performed a Somayāga holding the post of a Yajamāna (Patron of the yajña) became a Somayāji. The wife becomes a "Patnī" only when she shares in the yajña of her husband. When she becomes wife of a Somayājin she gets an additional qualification of being called a “Somapīthinī”. 

The Śyena (Garuḍa) Citi - Āpastambīya Catuṣpatrikā

The Śyena Citi cemented and preserved.
- An aerial view.

After a gap of 7 years, he conducted an Atirātra with Cayana in the year 2008. For this cayana the fire altar has to be built with 5 layers of 200 bricks in each (1000 in all) made (of red earth) in different dimensions to finally form the shape of a flying Garuḍa (Śyena) or falcon. Since the size of this altar and ritual contents, etc., are all "mega" it is also called "Mahāgni-cayana". He who performs a Somayāga with Garuḍa-citi is called "Mahāgnicit". Śrī. Subbukrishna Somayājī now became a "Mahāgnicit" – the highest honorific title a Somayāji could hold in the field of karma-kānḍa.

Yajamāna at Dīkṣā with Patnī

Again after another 7 years a Ṣodasī was performed at the same place, near Kāḷahastī in April, 2015 (30.04.2015 to 05.05.2015) strictly as per the injunctions of the sūtras. Moreover Kṣudra-cayanas like the Pañca-kāṭhakas (Sāvitra, Nāciketa, Cāturhotra, Vaiśvasṛja, Āruṇa-ketuka) had also been undertaken during the above yāgas apart from a Cāturmāsya.

Special mention may be made that all the principal ritviks (officiating priests) in his Somayāgas have been his three sons, Sarvaśrī. Pāvakī Srinivasan (Hotā), Ganesa Śrautin (Adhvaryu) and Harihara Śarmā (Maitrāvaruṇa in Atirātra and Brahmā in Ṣoḍasī) except the Udgātā, which duty was assigned to Sri. C. S. Srikrishna Śrautin. The rest of the ārtvijya duties were entrusted to scholars from Āndhra-deśa. It is to be highlighted that Śrī. A. P. Srikanth who offciated as the Maitrāvaruṇa for the first time in the Ṣoḍasī, is his young grand-son.

Sāvitra-cayana

Āruṇa-ketuka-cayana

His life is totally dedicated to anuṣṭhāna, so much so, he doesn’t undertake much travel except where it necessitates. Rarely does he speak in the public. Śrī Subbukrishna Mahāgnicit is presently engaged in transmitting the Śruti – from memory to memory – to his grand-children, thus continuing an unbroken chain of family tradition.
 



His intensive research calibre can be observed in his first book, Prayoga-vicāra-muktāvalī. (released in 1985 on the occasion of his father, Śrī Sītārāma Somayājin’s birth centenary). Printed in manuscript form it contains classic discussions and refutations of certain intricate points in the existing practice mainly, in rituals – the best output.
 
The Second one is “Śiñjinīyaṃ” (1990) – The Story of the Anklet – a Sanskritized Drama based upon the famous epic poem “Śilappathikāram” by the great Iḷango Aḍigaḷ (2nd Century AD). This is the first of its kind in Sanskrit. This book has been introduced by the late scholiast Dr C. R. Swaminatha “Kāryakār” wherein he pays rich encomiums to the author for his “nātaka-racanā-śemuṣī”, describing its beauty with a quote from Vikramorvaśīya, 1.8 of Kāḷidāsa.
 
Commentary on Vipra-sandeśa, a Khaṇḍa-kāvya by Srīmuṣṇaṁ D. Srinivasacharya is yet another brilliant work in Sanskrit. Titled as Bhāvabodhinī, it is said in literary circles that this commendable commentary even excels the original. This was published in Chennai in the year 1997.

The fourth book, “தவிர்க்ககூடிய தவறுகள்” – निवारणीयाः दोषाः – (Vaidikaśrī, Chennai, 2009, pp. 156) is a compilation of a series of articles in Tamil that had been serialised in the religious monthly journal, "Vaidikaśrī", on the topic - Rectifiable Mistakes in Rituals.

Besides the above he has contributed scores of articles to journals and souvenirs written in Sanskrit, English and Tamil; but unfortunately not a single copy has been preserved in his personal library except two or three which are included in this Blog. His articles critically examine the topics -- which show his acumen and insight at their best.

Sri. Subbukrishna Śrautin was conferred with the title of “वेदभाष्यरत्नम्” (Veda-bhāṣya-ratnaṃ) in the year 1970 which can be called a greatest award in his life. It was not merely giving a title. Qualifying for this examination was not an easy task at all. It is a course of study of the Veda-bhāṣya of Sāyaṇācārya for 5 years. This tough test was started in 1958 by the Mahāsvāmin of Śrī Kanchi Kamakoti Mutt in order to revive the study of the commentaries on the Veda.
 
Śrī. Subbukrishna Somayājin (Mahāgnicit), though best known for his rigid views on Śāstraic issues, is highly endowed with ātmaguṇas. Above everything else, when approached with a paripraśna (searching question), he leaves no stones unturned or refrains from going the extra mile with his incredible knowledge of the Śāstra, to clear doubts which arise in the mind of a true seeker.

Now for the acquisition of such knowledge, which is the most proximate means?

This question has been answered in the Bhagavad-gītā (4.34) –

तद्विद्धि प्रणिपातेन परिप्रश्नेन सेवया।
उपदेक्ष्यन्ति ते ज्ञानं ज्ञानिनस्तत्त्वदर्शिभिः॥

“Acquire that through prostration (falling down completely, saluting by stretching oneself fully on the ground), searching questions and service. The wise ones who have realised the Truth will impart the Knowledge to you.”

Do not doubt, a praṇipāta unto the feet of such a Śrotriya will earn Puṇya. 

नमो महद्भ्यः।

Key words: Arigilikandiga, Mahagnichith, Srautin, Srotriya, Vedabhashyarathnam, Sinjiniyam, Udgata, Hota, Tretagni, Adhvaryu, Brahman, Maitravaruna, Arunakethuka, Chayana, Kshuddra Chayana, Kathaka, Dr. C. R. Swaminatha, ..........