The History of Indian Literature c8.362

Language: English

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conclusion that its redaction could have taken place so late as the twenty-fifth generation from Yájnavalkya. The commentators never enter into any explanation of these Vañśas; doubtless, therefore, they too regarded them as supplements. The names themselves are naturally highly interesting, and, as far at least as the later stages are concerned, are probably strictly authentic.—The aim of the *Yájnavalkíya-káṇḍa* is the glorification of Yájnavalkya, and it recounts how, at the court of his patron Janaka, king of Videha, he silenced all the Brahmans ∗ of the Kurupañchálas, &c., and gained his patron's full confidence (like the corresponding legends in the twelfth book of the Mahá-Bhárata). The legend narrated in the eleventh *káṇḍa* (vi. 3. 1. ff.) may perhaps have been the model; at least the Yájnavalkíya here begins in exactly the same manner, and gives also, almost in the same words, the account of the discomfiture and punishment of Vidagdha Śákalya, which alone is given in the eleventh *káṇḍa*. It closes with a legend already given in the Madhu-káṇḍa, but with some deviations. The expressions *páṇḍitya*, *muni*, and *mauna*, occurring in this *káṇḍa*, are worthy of special notice as being new ¹⁴⁰ (iii. 2. 1, iv. 2. 25); further, *ekahaṅsa*, *śramaṇa*, *tápasa* (iv. 1. 12, 22), *pravrájin* (iv. 2. 25, where *bhikshácharya* is recommended), and *pratibuddha* (iv. 2. 17; the verb *pratibudh* occurs in this sense i. 2. 21), and lastly, the names *cháṇḍála* and *paulkasa* (iv.

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1. 22). I am now of opinion † that it is to this Yájnavalkíya-káṇḍa that the *várttika* to Páṇini iv. 3. 105 refers when it speaks of the *Yájnavalkáni bráhmaṇáni* as not *puráṇa-prokta*, but *tulyakála*, "contemporaneous," *i.e.*, with Páṇini. The wording of the *várttika* does not necessarily imply that these Bráhmaṇas originated from Yájnavalkya himself; consequently they might bear his name simply because treating of him. I prefer the latter view, for it appears to me very hazardous to regard the entire Śatapatha-Bráhmaṇa, or even its last books only, as directly bearing the name of Yájnavalkya,—however fully it may embody his system,—or to set it down as contemporaneous with, or but little anterior to, Páṇini. In regard to the Yájnavalkíya-káṇḍa, however, I have not the slightest hesitation in doing the latter.¹⁴¹—Finally, the *Khila-káṇḍa*, or *last káṇḍa* of the Vṛihad-Áraṇyaka, is uniformly described by the commentators as such a *khila*, or supplement; and as a matter of fact it is clearly enough distinguished from the other *káṇḍas*. Its first *adhyáya*—the fifth of the Vṛihad-Áraṇyaka—is made up of a number of small fragments, which contain for the most part mystical plays upon words, of the most clumsy description. The second *adhyáya* contains two *bráhmaṇas*, parts of which, as I have already remarked (p. 71), recur in precisely the same form in the Chhándogyopanishad vii. 1, 3.

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Of the third *bráhmaṇa*, which contains ritual injunctions, we also find another recension, *ibid.* vii. 2. It concludes with a Vaṅśa, not, however, in the form of a list, but of a detailed account. According to it, the first author of the doctrine here taught was Uddálaka Áruṇi, who imparted it to Yájnavalkya, here for the first time called Vájasaneya;[^asterisk] his pupil was Madhuka Paiṅgya, from whom the doctrine was transmitted to Chúḍa Bhágavitti, then to Jánaki Ayaḥsthúṇa, and lastly to Satyakáma Jábála. The name of the latter (a teacher often alluded to in the Chhándogyopanishad) is in fact borne in later works by a school of the White Yajus, so that we might perhaps ascribe to him the final adjustment of this doctrine in its existing form. The fourth and last *bráhmaṇa* of this *adhyáya* is, like the third, surprising, from the nature of its contents, which, consisting as they do of the rites to be observed before, and at the time of, coitus, as well as after the birth of a son, more properly pertain to a Gṛihya-Sútra. It too closes with a Vaṅśa,∗ this time of quite unusual length, and distinguished, as far as the more recent members are concerned, by this peculiarity, that their names are formed by the addition of *putra* to the mother’s name (see above p. 71), and that both parts of the names are accentuated. Ásuri is here called the pupil of Yájnavalkya, and the latter the pupil of Uddálaka.

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Then, having passed through ten more stages and arrived at Áditya, the sun-god, as the original author, we find the following words as the close of the whole Bráhmaṇa: *ádityání ’máni śukláni yajúṅshi Vájasaneyena Yájnavalkyená ’’khyáyante*, ‘these White Yajus-texts originating † from Áditya are transmitted by Vájasaneya Yájnavalkya.’ According to Śaṃkara and Dvivedagaṅga, this Vaṅśa does not refer to the Khila-káṇḍa, but to the entire Pravachana, the entire Veda (*i.e.*, the White Yajus). This view is at all events favoured by the fact that the Vaṅśa at the close of the tenth book (the only one which appears in the whole of the Śatapatha-Bráhmaṇa, besides those of the Madhu-káṇḍa, Yájnavalkíya-káṇḍa, and Khila-káṇḍa) ‡ evidently refers to this Vaṅśa, and presupposes its existence when at its commencement it says: *samánam á Sámjívíputrát*, ‘up to Sámjívíputra the teachers are the same.’ For, ascending from this Sámjívíputra, there are still in this Vaṅśa three steps up to Yájnavalkya, while in the tenth book, as before remarked, the doctrine is not traced up to the latter at all, but from Sámjívíputra through five steps to Śáṇḍilya, and through two more to Tura Kávasheya.§—This latter circumstance suggests to us, moreover, the possibility of yet another division of the Śatapatha-Brāhmaṇa with reference to the origin of the different *kāṇḍas*.

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For in the first five and the last four *kāṇḍas* the name of Yājnavalkya meets us exclusively, and very frequently, as that of the teacher whose opinion is appealed to as the decisive authority, whose system consequently is in any case there set forth.¹ Further, if we except the Yājnavalkīya-kāṇḍa and the *gāthās* in the thirteenth *kāṇḍa*, races settled in eastern or central Hindustān are the only ones mentioned in these *kāṇḍas*, viz., the Kurupañchālas, Kosalavidehas, Śviknas, and Sṛiñjayas. Once only the Prāchyas (eastern tribes) are opposed to the Vāhīkas (western tribes); again there is once mention made of the Udīchyas (inhabitants of the north); and lastly, the (southern) Nishadhas are once alluded to in the name of their king, Nala Naishadha (or, as he is here called, Naishidha). From this the remaining *kāṇḍas*—the sixth to the tenth—differ palpably enough. They recognise Śāṇḍilya as the final authority,² instead of Yājnavalkya, whom they do not even name; neither do they mention any but north-western races, viz., the Gandhāras with their king Nagnajit, the Salvas, and the Kekayas.³ May not the above-mentioned Vaṅśa apply not only to the tenth book, but to these five *kāṇḍas*?

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Since the latter treat specially of the fire-ritual, of the erection of the sacred fire-altars, their possible northwestern origin might be explained by the fact that the doctrine upon this subject had, though differing from that of the Persa-Aryans, been kept particularly pure in the north-west owing to the proximity of this latter people.∗ However this may be, whether the north-western origin of the doctrine of these five *káṇḍas* be well founded or otherwise,¹⁴² they at any rate belong, in their present form, to the same period as (the tenth possibly to a somewhat later period than) the first five *káṇḍas*. On this point the mention of Aruṇa Aupaveśi, Áruṇi, Śvetaketu Áruṇeya, and of Indradyumna (in the tenth book), as well as the frequent reprehension of the Charakádhvaryus, is decisive. That the various parts of the Bráhmaṇa were blended together by one arranging hand¹⁴³ is evident in particular from the repeated occurrence of phrases intimating that a subject has already been treated of in an earlier part, or is to be found presented more in detail in a later part. A closer investigation of the various instances where this occurs has not as yet been within my power.