Medha Suktam (Sanskrit: मेधासूक्तम्, romanized:Medhasūktam) is a suktam (set of mantras contained in the Vedas) addressed to Medha (wisdom), personified as a goddess. Because goddess Medha is considered as a form of Saraswati, Medha Suktam is quite popular as a hymn to goddess Saraswati; as a prayer seeking wisdom and capability to learn.
There are at least two popular versions of Medha Suktam.[1] One version is a set of six verses from Mahanarayana Upanishad, which forms part of Taittiriya Aranyaka in Krishna Yajurveda. There is one more version comprising nine mantras, which appears as a khila sukta (khilani) to the Rig Veda.[2] There is one more set of five verses in the Atharva Veda, which too reads like a hymn to goddess Medha, but this is not popularly recognized or chanted as such. In essence, Medha Suktam relates to the worship of knowledge visualized as a goddess, and has been commonly chanted as a prayer to Saraswati.[3]
The meaning of the world Medha (in the feminine gender, as used in Medha Suktam) is "power of understanding endowed with consciousness". The other meaning of Medha (in the masculine gender) is Yajna,[4] which is not applicable in this context.
Content
Medha suktam from the Mahanarayana Upanishad is a collective prayer, i.e., the supplicants refer to themselves in the plural. The context suggests that it is recited by a group of students who are pursuing education, spiritual education in particular.[bettersourceneeded][5] It praises the benevolent nature of goddess Medha.[6] It then describes how with the blessings of goddess Medha, one could become a rishi or a brahmajnani (knower of Brahman).[7] The hymn also beseeches Indra, Agni, the two Ashvins, Surya, and also goddess Saraswati to grant Medha (wisdom).[8]
Another popular version of Medha Suktam, which is a supplementary sukta to the Rig Veda, is an individual prayer.[9] It requests sage Angiras, the Saptarishis, Indra, Agni, Brahma, Varuna, the Ashvins, and goddess Saraswati to bestow Medha.
The five verses from Atharvaveda too address a goddess called Medha, and also seek Medha (wisdom) from Agni, Varuna, and Vayu.
The Medha Suktam from the Vedas are from the centuries before the common era, when the conceptualization of Saraswati as the goddess of knowledge. Though the two popular versions of Medha Suktam explained above also invoke a goddess called Saraswati, the emphasis is more on goddess Medha and on Medha (knowledge) itself. However, as goddess Medha commands the same role as Saraswati, the verses from the Vedas referred to as Medha Suktam, have been popularly accepted and recited as prayers to goddess Saraswati since millennia, with appropriate invocation and conclusive verses added to them.
Savitṛ, also rendered as Savitur, in Vedic scriptures is an Aditya i.e. off-spring of the Vedic primeval mother goddess Aditi. His name in Vedic Sanskrit connotes "impeller, rouser, vivifier."
The Brahmanas are Vedic śruti works attached to the Samhitas of the Rig, Sama, Yajur, and Atharva Vedas. They are a secondary layer or classification of Sanskrit texts embedded within each Veda, which explain and instruct on the performance of Vedic rituals. In addition to explaining the symbolism and meaning of the Samhitas, Brahmana literature also expounds scientific knowledge of the Vedic Period, including observational astronomy and, particularly in relation to altar construction, geometry. Divergent in nature, some Brahmanas also contain mystical and philosophical material that constitutes Aranyakas and Upanishads.
Saṃhitā literally means "put together, joined, union", a "collection", and "a methodically, rule-based combination of text or verses". Saṃhitā also refers to the most ancient layer of text in the Vedas, consisting of mantras, hymns, prayers, litanies and benedictions.
The Gāyatrī Mantra, also known as the Sāvitri Mantra, is a highly revered mantra from the Rig Veda, dedicated to the Vedic deity Savitr. Gāyatrī is the name of the Goddess of the Vedic meter in which the verse is composed. Its recitation is traditionally preceded by oṃ and the formula bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥ, known as the mahāvyāhṛti, or "great (mystical) utterance". The Gayatri mantra is cited widely in Hindu texts, such as the mantra listings of the Śrauta liturgy, and classical Hindu texts such as the Bhagavad Gita, Harivamsa, and Manusmṛti. The mantra and its associated metric form was known by the Buddha. The mantra is an important part of the upanayana ceremony. Modern Hindu reform movements spread the practice of the mantra to everyone and its use is now very widespread.
The Devi Mahatmya or Devi Mahatmyam is a Hindu philosophical text describing the Goddess Durga/Adishakti as the supreme power and creator of the universe. It is part of the Markandeya Purana.
The Vedas are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the oldest layer of Sanskrit literature and the oldest scriptures of Hinduism.
Purusha Suktam is hymn 10.90 of the Rigveda dedicated to the Purusha, the "Cosmic Being".
The seventh Mandala of the Rigveda has 104 hymns. In the Rigveda Anukramani, all hymns in this book are attributed to Vashista. Hymn 32 is additionally credited to Sakti Vashista, and hymns 101-102 are additionally credited to Kumara Agneya. It is one of the "family books", the oldest core of the Rigveda, which were composed in early vedic period.
Rigvedic deities are deities mentioned in the sacred texts of Rigveda, the principal text of the historical Vedic religion of the Vedic period.
The Taittirīya Shakha, is a shakha of the Krishna (black) Yajurveda. Most prevalent in South India, it consists of the Taittirīya Samhita ('TS'), Taittirīya Brahmana ('TB'), Taittirīya Aranyaka ('TA'), and Taittirīya Pratisakhya ('TP').
Mayabheda, (Sanskrit:मायाभेद:), means the breaching or removal of Avidya ("ignorance"). It means the destruction of the illusion caused by Maya which occurs coinciding with the gain/dawn of Right Knowledge, the knowledge of Brahman. The Rig Veda Sukta R.V.X.177 addressed to Mayabheda in its three Mantras in its own cryptic way serves this purpose. The central theme of this hymn is the discernment of Maya or illusion, the cause of material creation. Mayabheda is also one of the Rigvedic deities.
The Mahanarayana Upanishad, also BrihannarayanaUpanishad, is an ancient Sanskrit text, and is one of the minor Upanishads of Hinduism. The text is classified as a Vaishnava Upanishad.
The Rigveda or Rig Veda is an ancient Indian collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns (sūktas). It is one of the four sacred canonical Hindu texts (śruti) known as the Vedas. Only one Shakha of the many survive today, namely the Śakalya Shakha. Much of the contents contained in the remaining Shakhas are now lost or are not available in the public forum. Rigveda Samhita was composed in the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent
Avatsara was a Rishi of the Rig Veda. His name first appears in the Fifth Mandala which is older than the Second Mandala.
Dhi is a Sanskrit word meaning 'understanding', 'reflection', 'religious thought', 'mind', 'design', 'intelligence', 'opinion', 'meditation', 'imagination', 'notion', and 'intellect'. This word is directly connected with the word Vāc, meaning Speech, derived from Vac meaning, 'to speak'. Dhi is the voiced Vāc or 'Speech', it is the thought-mind or intellect. Dhi also means 'to hold' or 'to place', and indicates the activity of the intellect.
Hayagriva Upanishad or Hayagrivopanishad is one of 108 Upanishad, written in Sanskrit language. It is a minor Upanishad, dedicated to Hayagriva – the horse-faced avatar of the god Vishnu. It belongs to the Vaishnava sect, which worships Vishnu, and is associated with the Atharvaveda.
The Avyakta Upanishad is a Sanskrit text and a minor Upanishad of Hinduism. It is one of 16 Upanishads attached to the Samaveda, and classified under the 17 Vaishnava Upanishad.
Agni is a Sanskrit word meaning fire and connotes the Vedic fire deity of Hinduism. He is also the guardian deity of the southeast direction and is typically found in southeast corners of Hindu temples. In the classical cosmology of the Indian religions, Agni as fire is one of the five inert impermanent elements (pañcabhūtá) along with space (ākāśa), water (ap), air (vāyu) and earth (pṛthvī), the five combining to form the empirically perceived material existence (Prakṛti).
The Devi Upanishad, is one of the minor Upanishads of Hinduism and a text composed in Sanskrit. It is one of the 19 Upanishads attached to the Atharvaveda, and is classified as one of the eight Shakta Upanishads. It is, as an Upanishad, a part of the corpus of Vedanta literature collection that present the philosophical concepts of Hinduism.
The Tripura Upanishad is a medieval era minor Upanishad of Hinduism. Composed in Sanskrit, the text is classified as a Shakta Upanishad and attached to the Rigveda. It is, as an Upanishad, a part of the corpus of Vedanta literature collection that present the philosophical concepts of Hinduism.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
