have been lost even at an early
period of Sanskrit literature; for another is met with in the ancient
grammarians, enabling us to account for the mysticism which many
religious and theological works of ancient and medieval India suppose to
inhere in it. According to this latter etymology, Om would come from a
radical av; by means of an affix man, when Om would be a curtailed form
of avman or oman, and as av implies the notion of "protect, preserve,
save," Om would be a term implying "protection or salvation," its
mystical properties and its sanctity being inferred from its occurrence
in the Vedic writings and in connection with sacrificial acts, such as
are alluded to before.

Hence Om became the auspicious word with which the spiritual teacher had
to begin and the pupil to end each lesson of his reading of the Veda.

"Let this syllable," the existing Prati-sakhya, or a grammar of the Rig
Veda, enjoins, "be the head of the reading of the Veda; for alike to the
teacher and the pupil it is the supreme Brahman, the gate of heaven."
And Manu ordains: "A Brahman at the beginning and end (of a lesson on
the Veda) must always pronounce the syllable Om; for unless Om precede,
his learning will slip away from him; and unless it follows, nothing
will be long retained."

At the time when another class of writings (the Puranas) were added to
the inspired code of Hinduism, for a similar reason Om is their
introductory word.

That the mysterious power which, as the foregoing quotation from the
law-book of Manu shows, was attributed to this word must have been the
subject of early speculation, is obvious enough. A reason assigned for
it is given by Manu himself. "Brahma," he says, "extracted from the
three Vedas the letter a, the letter u, and the letter m (which combined
result in Om), together with the (mysterious) words Bhuh (earth), Bhuva
(sky), and Swah (heaven);" and in another verse: "These three great
immutable words, preceded by the syllable Om, and (the sacred Rig Veda
verse called) Gayatri, consisting of three lines, must be considered as
the mouth (or entrance) of Brahman (the Veda)," or, as the commentators
observe, the means of attaining final emancipation; and "The syllable Om
is the supreme Brahman. (Three) regulated breathings, accompanied with
the mental recitation of Om, the three mysterious words Bhuh, Bhuvah,
Swah and the Gayatri, are the highest devotion."

"All rites ordained in the Veda, such as