A History of Indian Literature v1.c8.s7.30

v1.c8.s7.30

¹ Connected with the Sāmaveda, there is a special so-called "Brāhmaṇa," the Vaṃśa-Brāhmaṇa (edited and explained by A. Weber, Ind. Stud. 4, 371 ff.) which contains only a list of 53 teachers, the last of whom, Kaśyapa, is said to have received the tradition from god Agni. There are four different Vaṃśas in the Śatapatha-Brāhmaṇa. The one given at the conclusion of the work begins with the words: "We have this from the son of Bhāradvājī, the son of Bhāradvājī from the son of Vātsīmāṇḍavī," etc. Then follow 40 teachers, all only mentioned by their maternal names. Only as the 45th in the list does Yājñavalkya appear. Uddālaka, who is known to us from the Upaniṣads, being mentioned as his teacher. The last (55th) human teacher is Kaśyapa Naidhruvi, to whom the Brāhmaṇa is said to have been revealed by Vāc (the goddess of speech). She is said to have received it from Ambhiṇī (the voice of thunder) and the latter from Āditya (the sun).