A History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature, so far as it illustrates the Primitive Religion of the Brahmans c9.s2.23

c9.s2.23

It is in the Śatapatha-brâhmaṇa, however, that we can best observe the gradual accumulation of various theological and ceremonial tracts which were to form the sacred code of a new Charaṇa. The text of this work has been edited by Professor Weber, and we can likewise avail ourselves of several essays on this branch of Vedic literature, published from time to time by that industrious scholar. According to Indian traditions, Yâjnavalkya Vâjasaneya, the founder of the new Charaṇa of the Vâjasaneyins is himself, if not the author, at least the first who proclaimed the Saṃhitâ and Brâhmaṇa of the Vâjasaneyins. We can see clearly that the composition of both the Saṃhitâ and Brâhmaṇa was guided by the same spirit, and it is not at all unlikely that in this, the most modern of all Vedas, the final arrangement of the Saṃhitâ may have been contemporaneous with, or even later than, the composition of the Brâhmaṇa.