A History of Sanskrit Literature c11.24

c11.24

In the *Black Yajurveda* the prose portions of the various Saṃhitās form the only Brāhmaṇas in the Kaṭha and the Maitrāyaṇīya schools. In the Taittirīya school they form the oldest and most important Brāhmaṇa. Here we have also the *Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa* as an independent work in three books. This, however, hardly differs in character from the *Taittirīya Saṃhitā*, being rather a continuation. It forms a supplement concerned with a few sacrifices omitted in the Saṃhitā, or handles, with greater fulness of detail, matters already dealt with. There is also a *Taittirīya Āraṇyaka*, which in its turn forms a supplement to the Brāhmaṇa. The last four of its ten sections constitute the two Upanishads of this school, vii.–ix. forming the *Taittirīya Upanishad*, and x. the *Mahā-Nārāyaṇa Upanishad*, also called the *Yājñikī Upanishad*. Excepting these four sections, the title of Brāhmaṇa or Āraṇyaka does not indicate a difference of content as compared with the Saṃhitā, but is due to late and artificial imitation of the other Vedas.