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M. A. Mehendale
Jambu-jyoti
referred to by the word anantam 'one that breathes'. The last quarter of the stanza in that lost version, accordingly, could have read anadyamāno yad anantam atti 'himself not being eaten, he (Vata) eats the one that breathes (Prana).' Our Ch. Up. stanza was based on this presumably lost version of the Jaim. Up. Br. and not on the one which we now possess. The word anantam of this version understandably, was changed to anannam. The change was not the result of a phonetic change (nt > nn), but, in all likelihood, was the result of a mistake committed by a copyist somewhere in the manuscript tradition. The change of nt to nn is quite conceivable in the Devanagari writing.
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Annotations :
1. Philologica Indica (Göttingen, 1940), pp. 361-390 (Zu den Upanisads. I. Die Samvargavidyā).
2. This, according to the Brähmaṇa, was Prāna.
3. This, according to Abhipratārin, was Våta.
4. Vata is said to eat up Präṇa, because the individual prana enters Väta after the death of a person. Cf. Lüders., Phil. Ind., p. 383.
5. Which, in the Ch. Up., is put in the mouth of Saunaka Käpeya and not of Abhipratärin Käksaseni.
6. For the explanation of anannam, see Lüders, pp. 388-389.
7. "Schwerer ist es, für die Änderung vom adantam zur anannam einen Grund zu finden"., Phil. Ind., pp. 385-386.
8. Lüders refers to this possibility when he says ".. da ein grosser Teil der vedischen Literetur verloren gegangen ist...." Phil. Ind., p. 383.
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