The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v2.c40.s1.26

v2.c40.s1.26

This argument rests on facts recorded in the texts themselves, in which kings appear as authorities on philosophy. In the Chāndogya Upaniṣad³ five learned Brahmans desire to learn from Uddālaka Āruṇi the nature of the Ātman Vaiçvānara: he doubts his ability to explain it, and as a result all six betake themselves to the king Açvapati Kaikeya, who gives them instruction, after first demonstrating the inaccuracy of their knowledge. In a narrative which is preserved in the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad⁴ and in the Kauṣītaki Upaniṣad⁵ a scholar, Gārgya Bālāki, undertakes to set out the nature of the Brahman to the king Ajātaçatru of Kāçī: he propounds twelve views—or in the Kauṣītaki sixteen—which are all defective, and the king then explains the Ātman to him by the principle of deep sleep, prefacing his instruction by the observation that it is a reverse of the rule for a Brahman to betake himself to a Kṣatriya for instruction. Another legend in the Chāndogya⁶ shows the Brahmans being instructed in the nature of ether, as the ultimate basis of all things, by the king Pravāhaṇa Jaivali. It is added that Atidhanvan once gave the same knowledge to Udaraçāṇḍilya, and the former name might be that of a prince. Less important is the fact⁷ that the Brahman Nārada is represented in the Chāndogya as being the recipient of information from Sanatkumāra, later the god of war, who tells the former that all his Vedic lore is a mere name. The great text regarding the doctrine of transmigration⁸ is set out by Pravāhaṇa Jaivali to Āruṇi with the remark that the Brahmans have never before had this information, which so far had remained the monopoly of the Kṣatriyas. In a third version of this account, given in the Kauṣītaki Upaniṣad,⁹ the king is Citra Gāṅgyāyani.