Satapatha Bramhana Part 02

SR No.: 007678
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Julius Eggeling
Publisher: Oxford
Publication Year: 1885
Total Pages: 2521
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 44 MB

Page 1763

INTRODUCTION.
155
which the fifth Åranyaka is assigned to Saunaka, are found in Sâyana's commentary on the Aranyaka itself; see, for instance, p. 97, line 19, P. 116, line 3
Thus it seems that the authorship of both the fourth and the fifth Åranyaka was ascribed to teachers belonging to the Satra period of Vedic literature, viz. to Saunaka and to Å svalâyana respectively. And so we find the case stated by both Professor Weber, in his 'Vorlesungen über indische Literaturgeschichte',' and Dr. Rågendralala Mitra, in the Introduction to his edition of the Aitareya Åranyaka
But we must ask ourselves : Are the two books of the Aranyaka collection, ascribed to those two authors, really two different books? It is a surprising fact that Shadgurusishya, while speaking of Åsvalâyana's authorship of the fourth book, and while at the same time intending, as he evidently does, to give a complete list of Saunaka's compositions, does not mention the fifth Aranyaka among the works of that author. In order to account for this omission the conjecture seems to suggest itself that Shadgurusishya, when speaking of the fourth Aranyaka as belonging to Åsvalâyana, means the same work which Sayana sets down as the fifth, and which he ascribes to Saunaka. At first sight this conjecture may seem perhaps rather hazardous or unnatural; however I believe that, if we compare the two texts themselves which are concerned, we shall find it very probable and even evident. What do those two Åranyaka books contain? The fourth is very short : it does not fill more than one page in the printed edition. Its contents consist exclusively of the text of the Mahânâmni or Sakvari verses, which seem to belong to a not less remote
and edition, p. 53: Obwohl wir für das vierte Buch des letztern (i.e. of the Aitareya Aranyaka) sogar die directe Nachricht haben, dass es dem Asvalayana, dem Schüler eines Saunaka angehört, so wie auch ferner für das fünfte Buch desselben dieser Saunaka selbst als Urheber gegolten zu haben scheint, nach dem was Colebrooke Misc. Ess. I, 47 n. darüber berichtet.
P.11: If this assumption be admitted, the proper conclusion to be arrived at would also be that the whole of the fifth Book belongs to Saunaka, and the whole of the fourth Book to Åsvalâyana. P. 12: The writings of both Asvaldyana and Saunaka which occur in the Aranyaka, etc.
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