Early Buddhist Theory of Knowledge c9.37

c9.37

(269) It is this reality sometimes referred to as Brahman (neut.) and more often as Brahmā (masc.) who is the first teacher of the Vedas. We see in the list of successive teachers at Bṛh. 2.6.1–3 and again at Bṛh. 4 6 1. and 6.5.1–4 that the line is traced right up to Brahman (neut.) which is translated by Radhakrishnan, inconsistently with the grammar and consistently with the meaning as Brahmā (PU. p. 210). The Upaniṣads themselves are not consistent in this usage.² At Ch. 8.15 we find it expressly stated that Vedic knowledge comes from Brahmā (masc.) who discloses it to Prajāpati who in turn tells Manu who tells human beings (taddhaitad brahmā prājāpatye uvāca . . .). Even when in the Middle and Late Upaniṣads the personal conception of Brahmā (masc.) came to be sharply distinguished from Brahman (neut.), the importance of this personal conception of Brahmā as the first deliverer of the Vedas and the creator of the world was so great that the earlier idea was still retained. At Muṇḍaka 1.¹.1 all knowledge is traced to Brahmā (masc ) the first born of the gods and the maker of the universe (brahmā devānām prathamaḥ sambabhūva viśvasya kartā . . .). Similarly at Śvet 6.18 the ultimate source of all knowledge (i.e. Brahman (neut.)) (cp. Śvet. 1.7) creates Brahmā (masc.) and delivers the Vedas to him. We may, therefore, conclude from this that at some time after the period of the AV. and before the Middle Upaniṣads there was a strong belief that the Vedas were created or taught by an omniscient personal Being, who came to be identified with Brahmā; at this time the Vedas were considered to be a sacred tradition and its sanctity lay primarily in the fact that it was ultimately heard from and handed down by Brahmā (or Prajāpati who is identified with Brahmā) in an unbroken tradition. When anussava is thus used by the brahmins versed in the Vedas as represented in the Buddhist texts to refer to the ground on which the Vedic scriptures were accepted, it seems to signify that the authority and veracity of the scriptures lay in the fact that they have been systematically heard (anu-śruta) by each generation of teachers going right back to the teacher, namely the omniscient Brahmā himself (cp. sarvavid brahmā, Gopatha Br. Pūrvabhāga, 2.18).