A History of Sanskrit Literature c11.27

c11.27

The ritual explanation of the *White Yajurveda* is to be found in extraordinary fulness in the *Çatapatha Brāhmaṇa*, the "Brāhmaṇa of the Hundred Paths," so called because it consists of one hundred lectures (*adhyāya*). This work is, next to the *Rigveda*, the most important production in the whole range of Vedic literature. Its text has come down in two recensions, those of the Mādhyamdina school, edited by Professor Weber, and of the Kāṇva school, which is in process of being edited by Professor Eggeling. The Mādhyamdina recension consists of fourteen books, while the Kāṇva has seventeen. The first nine of the former, corresponding to the original eighteen books of the *Vājasaneyi Saṃhitā*, doubtless form the oldest part. The fact that Book XII. is called *madhyama*, or "middle one," shows that the last five books (or possibly only X.–XIII.) were at one time regarded as a separate part of the Brāhmaṇa. Book X. treats of the mystery of the fire-altar (*agnirahasya*), XI. is a sort of recapitulation of the preceding ritual, while XII. and XIII. deal with various supplementary matters. The last book forms the Āraṇyaka, the six concluding chapters of which are the *Bṛihadāraṇyaka Upanishad*.