Ancient Indian Education (Brahmanical and Buddhist) c11.s4.28

c11.s4.28

This list leaves out the names of several old *Śākhās* such as the Aitareyins, Śaiśiras, Kaushītakins, Paiṅgins. The Śaiśira Śākhā may itself be a subdivision of the Śākala Śākhā, as the Purāṇas mention Śaiśira as one of the five pupils of Śākala like Mudgala, Gokula, Vātsya, Śālīya and Śiśira with the variants of the names in different Purāṇas, each of whom propagated different *Śākhās* of the Rigveda. The largest number of *Śākhās*, said to have been a thousand, is ascribed to the *Sāmaveda* of which the greater part is lost. The *Charaṇa-vyūha* mentions seven *Śākhās* of whom two are now known, viz. the *Kauthumas*, still existing in Gujarat, and the *Rāṇāyanīyas* at one time settled mainly in the Maratha country and now surviving in Eastern Hyderabad, while the Kauthumas themselves had five branches of which that called *Naigeya* is known. The number of *Śākhās* of the *Yajurveda* is stated at eighty six. There are twelve *Charaṇas* comprehended under the common name of *Charakas*. Of these, the *Kaṭhas* together with the *Kapisthala-Kaṭhas* were located in the time of the Greeks in the Pānjab, and later in Kashmir also, where the Kaṭhas are even now to be found, but the Kapisthalas have disappeared. Another branch called the *Maitrāyaṇīyas* is itself subdivided into seven *Charaṇas*. They were originally called *Kālāpas* and appear at one time to have occupied the region around the lower course of the Narmadā for a distance of some two hundred miles from the sea, extending to the south of its mouth more than a hundred miles, as far as Nāsik, and northwards beyond the modern city of Baroda. A few remnants of this School are still to be found in Gujarat, chiefly at Ahmedabad, and further west at Morvi. In the centuries before the Christian era, these two Schools seem to have been very widely diffused throughout India. Patañjali, the grammarian, for instance, refers to the Kaṭhas and Kālāpas as the universally known Schools of the *Yajurveda* whose doctrines were proclaimed in every village. The *Rāmāyaṇa* also tells us that these two schools were highly honoured in Ayodhyā (Oudh). Two new Schools afterwards rose to prominence and supplanted the old ones. These were the Schools of the *Taittirīyas* and the *Vājasaneyins*. The Taittirīyas had two branches, one of which, the *Khāṇḍikīya*, had itself five subdivisions, viz. the *Kāleyas*, the *Śāṭyāyanins*, *Hiraṇyakeśins*, *Bhāradvājins*, and *Āpastambins*. The *Taittirīyas* have been found only to the south of the Narmadā where they can be traced as far back as the fourth century A.D. The *Āpastambas* still survive in the region of the Godāvarī and the *Hiraṇyakeśins* still farther north. The *Vājasaneyins* comprising fifteen subordinate Śākhās spread themselves along the Ganges valley towards the south-east. At the present day they are to be found in North-East and Central India. The number of *Atharvaveda* Śākhās is given as nine including the Paippalādas, Śaunakas, and the like. [See Macdonell, *Sans. Lit.*, pp. 176–7.]