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 828

xliv
SATAPATHA-BRAHMANA.
legends as well as other portions which seemed to me of special interest, from which Sanskrit scholars will be able to form an opinion regarding the exact nature of the variations between the two versions. In my notes to the present translation of the first two kândas, I have considered it desirable occasionally to notice some of the variae lectiones of the Kanva school; it should, however, be understood that these readings have been given solely on the authority of the Oxford MS., for the loan of which I am deeply indebted to the liberality of the Curators of the Bodleian Library. With the aid of the Paris MS., the use of which has also just been kindly granted to me, I hope soon to be able to verify these extracts. For most of the kândas, from the fourth onwards, our materials have been lately enriched by a copy which Mr. Whitley Stokes has had made for Professor Weber from a Benares MS.
The various readings of the Kanva recension of the Vågasaneyi-samhitâ have been given in Professor Weber's edition, at the end of each kända. They may be said to consist either of mere verbal variations or of additional mantras. In regard to these readings the Brahmana of the same school exhibits a feature which may have an important bearing on the textual criticism of the Samhita. While the Brâhmana generally shows the same verbal variations in the sacrificial texts as the Samhita, it, as a rule, takes no notice whatever of the additional mantras, but agrees in this respect pretty closely with the Mâdhyandina text. Indeed, so far as I am able to judge, the two relations seem to coincide almost entirely, as far as the subject-matter is concerned; the differences, considerable as they sometimes are, being rather of a grammatical and stylistic nature. Occasional omissions, which I have hitherto noticed?, may perhaps turn out to be due to the carelessness of scribes. As regards the additional mantras referred to, they may have found their way into the Samhitâ at the time when the Satras
1 Viz, kândas 4-7, 9, 10, 12, 14-17.
? For instance, the brâhmanas Madhy. I, 4, 3; II, 3, 2 and 3; IV, 5, 10; 6,8 are wanting in the Oxford MS.; see p. 338, note 3.- In the fourth (fifth Kânva) kânda, the Kanvas, on the other hand, have two brâhmanas (V, 7, 5; 8, 2, the latter of which treats of the adâbhya graba, Vâg. S. VIII, 47-50) which are not found in the Mâdhyandina text.
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