What is Brahmanism?

Background

Brahminism belongs to one of the oldest faiths in India. It deals with miracles and the holiness of various deities, who, as higher beings with their magical abilities, are responsible for everything that exists and are responsible for existence, and who, through their will, bind everything to their dependence. The worship and proclamation of these deities denotes the central line of faith of this religion. The spread of Brahmanism in the area of present-day Thailand, took place around 1500 years BC., a long time before the immigration of the Thai people.

According to tradition, one of the main rituals of the temple culture of Brahminism consists of the care and worship of their divine personalities. The priests of Brahminwere wore white robes and lived vegetarian. They had a meditation ritual in which they took different yoga positions, called yoga meditation.

With their meditation, they followed two directions.

• First, meditation, in which they made a self-created deity (vision) appear mentally.
• Secondly, meditation, which allows them to be controlled, or temporarily manipulated, by means of divine gift and magical abilities, during meditation, organs, the body and the functions of the body.

Hereby they proclaim the worship ritual about the magical abilities of the corresponding deity. The symbol of the deity is decorated with various flowers during the ritual according to the preference of the prayer and offerings of various kinds are presented.

In addition, the ritual includes the singing of the adoration text for the worship and the tranformation of other requests to the Godhead. In its original form, the Brahma worshipped up to 1017 gods, but only three gods existed as the leaders.

Dtraipetb (The Three Deities / Entities)

The traditional prayer reading of Brahmanism from ancient times with the name Dtraipetb (The Three Deities / Beings) essentially refers to his three main gods.

• Prom (God of Creation),
• Vishnu (God of Design) and
• Shiva (God of Power).

The worship of these three main gods begins with the word OM or OHM.

The prayer text is divided into four forms for worship:

1. MARUEH VETH (The prayer text for the worship of the deities)
2. YASCHURA VETH (The prayer text for the worship of the deities)
3. SAHM VETH (The prayer text for performing rituals)
4. ATAHN VETH (The prayer text for calls for help to the deities)

The prayer text for help with divinely magical powers is generally directed against dangers from inexplicable phenomena, against fellow human beings, against animals and evil. In later times, the form of worship for asking for help from the deities developed in two opposite directions.

• One direction is the so-called white ritual, for calls for help regarding a good cause.
• The other direction, in turn, is the black ritual, for calling for help for malicious purposes and manipulating the psyche of living beings.

According to the beliefs of Brahmanism, the deities are responsible for the entire universe, the earth and all existing beings, as well as for creation. Our existence as well as the entire order of existence is built up in a certain hierarchy, for whose different areas different gods are responsible.

Only through the magical powers and abilities of the gods can believers as mortals be freed from pain and sorrow. At the same time, the anger and wrath of the gods for insufficient respect and veneration can impair or even erase everything that exists in existence. As a result, their worship ritual is absolutely necessary. The Brahmin priests are personalities close to God. Through the worship ritual there is a direct connection to God for them and all believers and the requested help can be transmitted.

Brahmanism and the Thais

After the immigration of the Thai people to the area of today’s Thailand and the adoption of the local customs and customs, the contact with the faith of Brahmanism came about at the same time. The coronation ritual of the king, the inauguration ritual of the city as well as the scheduling of future predictions were carried out under the ceremonial rule of Brahmanism.

The naming of high-ranking personalities such as the king and his family members, as well as other objects and important places, is carried out by means of divine names from Brahmanism. In Thailand, the connection with Brahminism is mainly limited to the so-called higher-ranking group of persons. Essentially, the hierarchical structure of the deities of Brahmanism is an equal order compared to a monarchy society.

On the other hand, the reference to this hierarchy not only indicates belonging, but also protects the position of power by reverence for the gods in real life. Ultimately, the survival of Brahmanism in Thai society has been preserved through this connection.

Brahmanism and Saiyasart

Brahminism comes into contact with the Saiyasart only through the knowledge of the five fundamental existences in this sphere of existence (earth). These are:

• Fire
• Water
• Earth (Matter)
• Air (wind) and
• the emptiness.

In Brahmanism, they are individually personified by gods and often asked for help through worship.

The description of the five entities from the Saiyasart was rewritten by the priests of Brahmanism as magical abilities of the gods, which at the same time set the course for the development of the magical sayings.

A typical magic spell in Brahmanism consists mainly of three paragraphs of text, or three consecutive components.

1. The beginning with the word OM, followed by the name of the deity, whose magical abilities are requested, as well as a short description of it.
2. The text about the request or the expectation of the magic help.
3. The repetition of the first and second parts in a fixed ready-made abbreviation, respectively. a text code.

Magic Spells (Prah Veth)

The Magic Spell (PRA VETH). The effectiveness of magic remains to be seen for the time being. The self-determined magic spells (text codes) have defined Brahminism as its own magic, and since then they have been assigned to its faith.

The language expression of the text codes is not described in Thai, but in Indian, which makes access to a wider audience even more difficult due to the lack of language skills. Also due to this, the followers and believers of Brahminism are convinced of the divine existences and the magical sayings.

Classification of magical spells (Atahn Veth)

Brahminism has divided the magic spells into eight groups and written them down in a magical collection of texts (ATAHN VETH).

1. The magic spell for the healing or the generation of a disease (e.g. reducing pain; causing pain)
2. The magic saying for tying together or breaking off biological body structures (e.g. tying broken bones; tearing internal bloodstreams).
3. The magic spell for breaking up or attachment of molecular structures, or the biological body (e.g. unlocking a lock without a key, making a passage invisible, bringing the pregnancy to an abortion, preventing a miscarriage).
4. The magic spell for making invulnerable or vulnerability to conventional weapons or weapon elements (e.g., a magic knife that can cause injury without physical contact; or that does not cause a wound or injury despite a weapon attack).
5. The magic spell for the creation of miracles, or magical power (e.g. creating your own invisible making phantom image, running on the water or over fire, being able to appear in different places at the same time).
6. The magic spell for attacking foreign molecular or biological bodies (e.g. bringing objects such as nails, leather, rotten flesh or spirits into the body or taking them out).
7. The magic saying for the handling, or the domination of spirits of deceased bodies (soul), and the creation of magical objects (amulets), e.g. to force a spirit to become a personal servant or to free oneself from a servanthood.
8. The magical saying to be loved or honored (obedience magic), or to be hated (evil / demon magic), (e.g. to cause a woman to fall in love with you; to cause strangers to perform unconsciously evil deeds).

Despite its magical abilities, no description so far reveals that Brahminism was adopted as a general faith of the Thais.