History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c93.65

v7.c93.65

¹⁹⁰⁵ ऋषिभिर्बहुधा गीतं छन्दोभिर्विविधैः पृथक् । ब्रह्मसूत्रपदैश्चैव हेतुमद्भिर्विनिश्चितैः ॥ गीता 13. 4; the first half refers to the passages in the Vedas and Upaniṣads and the 2nd half to the Brahmasūtrapadas. ब्रह्मसूत्रपदैश्चैव must be connected with *gītam* according to all commentators The present writer feels that the word 'rṣibhiḥ' also must be understood in the second half of the verse. If *ṛṣibhiḥ* is required to be connected with 'chandobhiḥ', there is no reason why that word should not be connected with 'Brahmasūtrapadaiḥ' also. Two words in the instrumental are employed in the first half (viz. rṣibhiḥ (agents) and 'chandobhiḥ' (means); if we understand 'ṛṣibhiḥ' in the 2nd half, we shall have a symmetrical arrangement viz 'rṣibhiḥ' (agents) and 'Brahmasūtrapadaiḥ' (means). There is a contrast between Vedic and Upaniṣadic passages in the first half and Brahmasūtra passages that are well reasoned and definite in the 2nd half. Then the meaning will be that sages had composed several Brahmasūtras The author is inclined to hold that the Gītā refers to several Brahmasūtras current in its day and not to the extant Vedāntasūtra. Here commentators other than Śaṅkarācārya understand by the word 'Brahmasūtra' the work going under that name in these days The late Lokamānya Tilak in his Marathi 'Gītārahasya' discusses (in appendix part 3 pp 527-534 of the ed. of 1915) the question of the relation of the Gītā and Brahmasūtra and puts forward his own surmise *(Continued from last page)* that the author who composed the extant Brahmasūtra redacted the original Mahābhārata and Gītā and gave them both the present form. The present writer regrets that he cannot accept this surmise of the late Lokamānya It may be pointed out that Prof R D Karmarkar in (ABORI vol III pp. 73-79) did not accept Lokamānya's explanation of 'Brahmasūtrapadaiḥ' and held that in Gītā 13. 4 the word 'Brahmasūtrapadaiḥ' does not refer to the Bādarāyaṇa sūtras but refers to some similar other works. But he did not pursue that matter further.