prajā́kāma-とputrákāma-

抄録

This paper examines a usage of these compounds, prajā́kāma- ‘one who desires offspringʼ and putrákāma- ‘one who desires a son’ in the Veda, from the Saṁhitās to the Brāhmaṇas, in order to offer some materials to understand the family and social system in ancient India as well as the Vedic priests’ major role.

Obtaining of offspring is one of the most fundamental objects of the Śrauta ritual. A householder ̜as the head of a clan desires a son in order that the clan may persist and prosper. The Taittirīya-Saṁhitā and Śatapatha-Brāhmaṇa say that people are born with a threefold debt, a part of which they pay towards their fathers through offspring. This concept apparently indicates how much they considered their offspring, i.e., a son, to be important to them. The Dharma literature prescribes that a householder should have a son so that ancestral rites can continue to be performed hereditarily in a later period. Besides that, the birth of a son also plays a significant role in the discussion on the sacrificerʼs afterlife.

Vedic priests seem to have regarded offspring (prajā́-) as more important than a son (putrá-) in the context of arguments about ritual, because the number of example of prajākā́ma- is much greater than that of putrákāma- (prajākāma- : putrakāma-=105 : 13). Offspring means the future of community, while a son is an individual. We might infer that, in the process of systematization and standardization of Vedic ritual, the community’s continuity was a matter of interest much more than that of the individual, especially in the earlier stage.