Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v1.c3.s4.81

v1.c3.s4.81

Uddālaka Āruṇi.—Uddālaka, son of Aruṇa, is one of the most prominent teachers of the Vedic period. He was a Brāhmaṇa of the Kurupañcālas, according to the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa.¹ This statement is confirmed by the fact that he was teacher of Proti Kausurubindi of Kauśāmbī,² and that his son Śvetaketu is found disputing among the Pañcālas.³ He was a pupil of Aruṇa, his father,⁴ as well as of Patañcala Kāpya,⁵ of Madra, while he was the teacher of the famous Yājñavalkya⁶ Vājasaneya and of Kauṣītaki,⁷ although the former is represented elsewhere⁸ as having silenced him. He overcame in argument Prācīnayogya Śauceya,⁹ and apparently also Bhadrasena Ājātaśatru,¹⁰ though the text here seems to read the name as Āraṇi. He was a Gautama,¹¹ and is often alluded to as such. As an authority on questions of ritual and philosophy, he is repeatedly referred to by his patronymic name Āruṇi in the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa,¹² the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad,¹³ the Chāndogya Upaniṣad,¹⁴ and occasionally in the Aitareya,¹⁵ the Kauṣītaki,¹⁶ and the Ṣaḍviṃśa¹⁷ Brāhmaṇas, as well as the Kauṣītaki Upaniṣad.¹⁸ In the Maitrāyaṇī Saṃhitā he is not mentioned, according to Geldner,¹⁹ but only his father Aruṇa; his name does not occur, according to Weber,²⁰ in the Pañcaviṃśa Brāhmaṇa, but in the Kāṭhaka Saṃhitā²¹ he is, as Āruṇi, known as a contemporary of Divodāsa Bhaimaseni, and in the Jaiminīya Upaniṣad Brāhmaṇa²² he is mentioned as serving Vāsiṣṭha Caikitāneya. In the Taittirīya tradition he seldom appears. There is an allusion in the Taittirīya Saṃhitā²³ to Kusurubinda Auddālaki, and according to the Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa,²⁴ Naciketas was a son of Vājaśravasa Gautama, who is made out to be Uddālaka by Sāyaṇa.²⁵ But the episode of Naciketas, being somewhat unreal, cannot be regarded as of historical value in proving relationship. Aruṇa is known to the Taittirīya Saṃhitā. A real son of Uddālaka was the famous Śvetaketu, who is expressly reported by Āpastamba²⁶ to have been in his time an Avara or later authority, a statement of importance for the date of Āruṇi.