Dhammapada

SR No.: 007674
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Max Muller
Publisher: Oxford
Publication Year: 1881
Total Pages: 2540
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 45 MB

Page 814

XXX
SATAPATHA-BRÂHMANA.
recension of the Brahmana of the Vagasaneyins which consisted of only forty adhyâyas; but even in that case the latter would in all probability correspond to the first nine books of the Madhyandina text. As regards the Kanva recension, we are unfortunately not yet able, owing to the want of some of its kandas, to determine its exact extent ; and have to rely on a list added by a scribe on the front page of one of the kândas in the Oxford MS. , according to which that text consists of 104 adhyâyas. Still further evidence regarding the mutual relations of the several portions of our Brâhmana is contained in a passage of the Mahabharata (XII, 11739), where Yagñavalkya relates that, at the inspiration of the Sun, he composed (kakre) the Satapatha, including the Rahasya (mystery), the Samgraha (epitome), and the Parisishta (supplement). Now the tenth book is really called Agni-rahasya; while the eleventh contains a kind of summary of the preceding ritual; and kandas 12-14 treat of various other subjects. This relation between the first nine and the remaining five books is also fully borne out by internal evidence, as well as by a comparison with the Vâgasaneyi-samhitâ. The latter consists of forty adhyâyas, the first eighteen of which contain the formulas of the ordinary sacrifices--the Haviryagñas and Soma-sacrifice and correspond to the first nine books of the Satapatha-bråhmana. The succeeding adhyayas have been clearly shown by Professor Webers to be later additions. As a rule only those formulas which are contained in the first eighteen adhyâyas are found in the Taittirîya-samhita; while those of the later adhyâyas are given in the Taittirîya-brâhmana.
At the end of the Satapatha the White Yagus is said to have been promulgated (a-khya) by Yågñavalkya Vagasaneya. Now the name of this teacher is indeed more frequently met with in the Brâhmana than that of any other;
The accuracy of this list cannot be relied upon, as several mistakes occur in the number of kandikâs there given. It is, however, unlikely that the scribe should have committed any mistake regarding the number of adhyâyas. . Literally together with the rahasya (sai ahasyam),' &c.
History of Indian Literature, p. 107 seq.
ature, p. 16. (saiahasyam)'s of adhyâyas.
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