Tribes in Ancient India c51.9

c51.9

Great importance has rightly been attached to this passage which, since the days of Professor Weber, has been taken by scholars to indicate the progress of Vedic Aryan civilisation from N.W. India towards the east. Though we cannot be sure about this point, yet it shows at least that in which times the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa considers ancient, the Videha country had received Vedic civilisation, and the cult of offering sacrifices in fire had developed there. According to tradition, the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa was compiled in the Videha country by Yājñavalkya who flourished at the court of the Emperor (Samrāṭ) Janaka, though parts of it bear testimony to its having originated like the other great Brāhmaṇa in the country lying farther to the west.