Zend Avesta Part 01

SR No.: 007671
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: James Darmesteter
Publisher: Oxford
Publication Year: 1895
Total Pages: 2695
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 49 MB

Page 1461

INTRODUCTION.
xxix
ber of the epithets given to Vishnu in XCVIII is precisely equal to the number of chapters into which the laws promulgated by him are divided (II-XCVII); though the number ninety-six is received only by including the introductory and final invocations (XCVIII, 6, 101) among the epithets of Vishnu. It seems quite possible, that some chapters were inserted mainly in order to bring up the whole figure to the round number of a hundred chapters, and it is for this reason chiefly that the majority of the following additions, which show no Vishnuitic tendencies, may also be attributed to the Vishnuitic editor.
1. Most or all of the Slokas added at the end of Chapters XX (22-53) and XLIII (32-45) cannot be genuine; the former on account of their great extent and partial recurrence in the Bhagavad-gîtâ?, Mahâbhârata, and other works of general note, and because they refer to the self-immolation of widows and to Kala, whom the commentator is probably right in identifying with Vishnu; the latter on account of their rather extravagant character and decidedly Purânic style, though the Gâruda-purâna, in its very long description of the hells, offers no strict parallel to the details given here. The verses in which the Brâhmanas and cows are celebrated (XIX, 22, 23; XXIII, 57–61) are also rather extravagant; however, some of them are Trishtubhs, and the verses in XIX are closely connected with the preceding Satras. The two final Slokas in LXXXVI (19, 20) may also be suspected as to their genuineness, because they are wanting in the corresponding chapter of the Kathaka Grihya-sútra ; and a number of other verses in divers places, because they have no parallel in the Smriti literature, or because they have been traced in comparatively modern works, such as the Bhagavad-gîtâ, the Pañkatantra, &c. 2. The week of the later Romans and Greeks, and of modern Europe (LXXVIII, 1-7), the self-immolation of widows (XXV, 14; cf. XX, 39), and the Buddhists and Pâsupatas (LXIII, 36) are not mentioned in any ancient Sanskrit work. Besides, the passages in question may be easily removed, especially the Satras referring to the seven days of the week, which
Besides the passages quoted in the notes, 50-53 nearly=Bhag-gîtâ II, 22-25.
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