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210
ANUGîtâ.
A similar inference seems to be derivable from a comparison of the specific doctrines as to the duties of Brahmanas which are enunciated in the Gità and the Anugita. In the latter work, the famous six duties are expressly mentioned. We have already argued in our Introduction to the Gîtâ, that a comparison of the teaching of that work upon this point with the teaching of Apastamba and Manu shows the former to have been older than the latter. The six duties mentioned in the Anugità are those also mentioned by Manu and Åpastamba. It follows, therefore, that the Gitâ is prior to the Anugità also. Whether the Anugita is prior or subsequent to Manu and Åpastamba, is a question which will have to be discussed in the sequel.
The net result of the whole of this comparison appears to me to clearly show the Anugitá to be a work of considerably more recent date than the Bhagavadgitâ. What interval of time lay between the two, is a most interesting, but also a most difficult, question. The differences we have noted appear to me to indicate a pretty wide interval. If I am right in regarding the Gità as a work of what may be called, for practical purposes, the age of the older Upanishads, I am inclined to think that the interval between the Gità and the Anugitâ must have been one of larger extent than even three or four centuries. For as we have already pointed out, the description of the various Itihasas' mentioned in the Anugità as 'puratana'-ancicnt-points to at least three or four centuries having elapsed between the close of the l'panishad period and the composition of the Anugitá. It is obvious, however, that this result is not one with which we can rest satisfied. Even if it were more precise and accurate, it would only fix the age of the Anugita with reference to the age of another work itself of unknown and unascertained date. We must therefore endeavour to compare the Anugitá with some other work, the date of which is better known. For this purpose, it seems to be not of any great use to refer to the Sankhya and Yoga-sútras, although it is not improbable that some materials might be forthcoming for a useful comparison between them and the Anugitá. Neither the Sankhya nor the Yoga-sútras can
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| SR No. | 007671 |
| Book Title | Zend Avesta Part 01 |
| 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 |