The History of Indian Literature c8.178

c8.178

The fact of the Chhándogyopanishad and the Vṛihad-Áraṇyaka having in common the names Praváhaṇa Jaivali, Ushasti Chákráyaṇa, Śáṇḍilya, Satyakáma Jábála, Uddálaka Áruṇi, Śvetaketu, and Aśvapati, makes it clear that they were as nearly as possible contemporary works; and this appears also from the generally complete identity of the seventh book of the former with the corresponding passages of the Vṛihad-Áraṇyaka. What, however, is of most significance, as tending to establish a late date for the Chhándogyopanishad, is the voluminous literature, the existence of which is presupposed by the enumeration at the beginning of the ninth book. Even supposing this ninth book to be a sort of supplement (the names of Sanatkumára and Skanda are not found elsewhere in Vedic literature; Nárada also is otherwise only mentioned in the second part of the Aitareya-Bráhmana⁶⁹), there still remains the mention of the 'Atharváṅgirasas,' as well as of the Itihásas and Puráṇas in the fifth book. Though we are not at liberty here, any more than in the corresponding passages of the Vṛihad-Áraṇyaka, to understand by these last the Itihásas and Puráṇas which have actually come down to us, still we must look upon them as the forerunners of these works, which, originating in the legends and traditions connected with the songs of the Ṛik, and with the forms of worship, gradually extended their range, and embraced other subjects also, whether drawn from real life, or of a mythical and legendary character. Originally they found a place in the Bráhmaṇas, as well as in the other expository literature of the Vedas; but at the time of this passage of the Chhándogyopanishad they had possibly already in part attained an independent form, although the commentaries,∗ as a rule, only refer such expressions to passages in the Bráhmaṇas themselves. The Mahá-Bhárata contains, especially in the first book, a few such Itihásas, still in a prose form; nevertheless, even these fragments so preserved to us belong, in respect both of style and of the conceptions they embody, to a much later period than the similar passages of the Bráhmaṇas. They however suffice, together with the *ślokas*, *gáthás*, &c., quoted in the Bráhmaṇas themselves, and with such works as the Bárhaddaivata, to bridge over for us the period of transition from legend to epic poetry.