Upodghatham - உபோத்காதம்

Following the footsteps of the Poorvacharyas, Sri Pillai Lokachariar begins this divine grantham Sri Vachanabhooshanam, with an Upodghatham or Introduction. This pattern of beginning a text with an Upodghatham can be witnessed in Vedartha Sangraham, Gita bhasyam, Divya Prabandha Vyakyanams etc.

The Upodghatham of this Grantham constitutes four choornikais. This portion can be said as the foundation for the rest of the Grantham. Because, the Pramanams(Authorities) for the valuable such as Purushakara Vaibhavam, Upaya Vaibhavam etc. which are to be elaborated later, are discussed in the Upodghatham.

Now we shall see briefly what is said in each sutram through the Vyakyanam of SriMamunigal. The first sutram states that the true meaning of the Vedas can be affirmed only by Smrutis, Itihasas and Puranas. 

வேதார்த்தம் அறுதி இடுவது ஸ்ம்ருதி   இதிஹாச புராணங்களாலே.(1)

Vedas are divided into Poorva bhagam and Uttara bhagam. The former, also known as the karma bhagam is the samhita portion and the latter also referred as Vedantam or Jnyana bhagam is the portion of Upanishads.The subject of the second part is Brahman. The Vedantam explain in detail, about the form, nature, qualities and the riches [vibhuthis] of Paramatma. 

The first part explains about karmam(Yagas & Yajyas), which is but the kainkaryam towards that Paramatma. This along with its allied matters have been discussed in the first portion. The valid cognition of these subtle meanings is possible only with the help of Smruthis, Itihasas and Puranas for they are the explanations of the Vedas. 

Here the question arises as to which artham should be affirmed by which one among the three and this is answered in the second choornikai. 

ஸ்ம்ருதியாலே பூர்வ பாகத்தில் அர்த்தம் அறுதி இடக்கடவது; மற்றை இரண்டாலும் உத்தர பாகத்தில் அர்த்தம் அறுதி இடக்கடவது.(2)

The second choornikai says that the meaning of the poorva bhagam has to be  affirmed  with the help of the Smrutis and the meaning of the uttara bhagam has to be affirmed by the help of the Itihasas and Puranas. 

Smruthis are but the Dharma shastras written by sages like Manu, Parasara and others. Itihasas are Valmiki Sri Ramayanam and Mahabharatam. Puranas are split into 3 categories(saatvika, rajasa and Tamasa) and number to eighteen(Vishnu Puranam, Padma Puranam etc).

Now that we know, that the Itihasas and Puranas have to be taken as an authority in deciding the meaning of Vedantam, a question may arise as to which among these two have more validity. That is to say, if one of them contradicts the other [which might be rare], then which one has to be taken into authority? The answer to this lies in the third Choornikai.

இவை இரண்டிலும் வைத்துக்கொண்டு இதிஹாஸம் ப்ரபலம்.(3)

The third Sutram says that among Itihasas and Puranas, the Itihasas have more authority. There are many reasons for taking the Itihasas as a higher authority than the Puranas. 

1. Itihasas have been highly regarded in the Puranas itself.
2. Itihasas speak about the subject matter unbiassed, unlike the Puranas. A puranic verse itself states that Brahma, the propagater of the Puranas, spoke, when the tamo guna was predominant in him, greatly about Shiva and Agni, the Tamasa demigods. During the time of the rajo guna dominance, he spoke about himself as the supreme entity. While the sattva guna was dominating the other two, he said that Sriman Narayana is the highest godhead. This is the reason for the classification of the Puranas as Saatvika, Rajasa and Tamasa Puranas. 
3. The authors of the Itihasas, Valmiki and Vyasa were great seers who speak what they saw through their divine eye as it happened. 

Due to these three reasons the Itihasas are considered as a superior authority than the Puranas.

The fourth choornikai says that due to this greater authority only, the term Itihasa has been mentioned before the term Purana in the second choornikai as well as in many authoritative verses. 

அத்தாலே அது முற்பட்டது.(4)

The Sanskrit grammar lays a rule that when forming a compound of two or more words, the one with the least vowels should be at the beginning of the compound. So, according to this this syntax the word Purana should be said first. But Sri Lokacharyar has framed it in the opposite way in sutram 3. The reason here is that the above said rule is only a general one which is overruled by a special syntax which says that the word with a meaning of higher importance than that of the other one should be mentioned first in the compound.   Hence the term Itihasa is mentioned first.

In this way the upoghata section mentions that the Vedas and their subject matter are of twofolds, and the Smrutis help in realizing the meaning of the first part while Itihasas and Puranas help in realizing the meaning of the second part and among these two(Ithihasas & Puranas), the former has a higher authority.

Dasan

Manivannan S, Thirukovalur