Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v2.c4.s8.965

v2.c4.s8.965

Śveta-ketu Āruṇeya¹ (‘descendant of Aruṇa’) or Auddālaki² (‘son of Uddālaka’) is mentioned repeatedly in the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa and the Chāndogya Upaniṣad. In the Kauṣītaki Upaniṣad³ he appears as Śvetaketu, son of Āruṇi, and as a Gautama. In the Kauṣītaki Brāhmaṇa⁴ he is quoted as an authority on the vexed question of the duty of the Sadasya, or the seventeenth priest, at the ritual of the Kauṣītakins, to notify errors in the sacrifice; Āruṇi, his father, is also cited. He was a person of some originality, for he insisted on eating honey despite the general prohibition of the use of that delicacy by Brahmacārins or religious students.⁵ He was a contemporary of, and was instructed by the Pañcāla king Pravāhaṇa Jaivala.⁶ He was also a contemporary of Janaka, of Videha, and figured among the Brahmin disputants at his court.⁷ A story is told of him in the Śāṅkhāyana Śrauta Sūtra:⁸ Jala Jātūkarṇya was lucky enough to become the Purohita of three peoples or kings, of Kāśi, Kosala, and Videha. Seeing this, Śvetaketu felt annoyed and reproached his father with his excessive devotion to sacrifice, which merely enriched and glorified others, not himself. His father replied, forbidding him to speak thus: he had learned the true method of sacrificing, and his ambition in life had been to discuss it with every Brahmin.