Satapatha Bramhana Part 03

SR No.: 007679
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Julius Eggeling
Publisher: Oxford
Publication Year: 1894
Total Pages: 2382
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 45 MB

Page 519

HYMNS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA.
The main proof of the high regard for the Atharvan and its unchallenged position in the canon, are the quasicosmogonic passages in which the four Vedas figure in the primordial transactions of the creation of the world, and its affinity with the personified creator. Thus, at V, 108, 10=3770 Brahman is said to have first sung the four Vedas; Brahman himself is called K’aturveda, III, 203, 15 =13560, as similarly Vishnu at XIX, 238, 9 (Bhav.)= 12884; at III, 189, 14=12963 ; VI, 67, 6=3019 Vishnu himself declares that the four Vedas (atharvana the fourth) have sprung from him. According to XIX, 14, 15 (Bhav.) = 11516, Brahman created first the tristich called Gâyatrî, the mother of the Vedas, and afterwards the four Vedas; according to XIX, 53, 41 (Bhav.)=13210 he carries upon each of his four heads one of the Vedas, or, according to II, 11, 32=449, the four Vedas dwell bodily in his palace. At XII, 347, 27=13476 malicious demons steal the four Vedas from Brahman, and Vishnu restores them. Accordingly the Brahman priest and the kings, both of whom owe it to themselves to be vedavid, are more specifically described as knowing and reciting the four Vedas, at I, 70, 37=2880 ff.; VII, 9, 29=289; XIX, 142, 1 (Vish.)=7993, where a Brahmana is designated as katurvedah, just as the divinity Brahman, above. Other instances of the mention of the four Vedas, with or without other literary compositions, are I, 1, 21; I, 1, 264; II, 11, 32=450 ; III, 43, 41 = 1661 (åkhyânapañkamair vedaih); III, 58, 9=2247 (katuro vedân sarvân akhyanapañkamân); III, 64, 17=2417 (katvâro vedåh såågopâågåh); III, 189, 14=12963; V, 44, 28 =1711 ; VII, 59, 15=2238; VII, 149, 22=6470; XII, 236, I=8613; XII, 335, 28=12723; XII, 339, 8=12872; XII, 341, 8=13136 (rigvede ... yagurvede tathais vastharvasåmasu, purâne sopanishade); XII, 342,97=13256 ff.; XII, 347, 28=13476; XIII, 17, 91 = 1205 ff. (where the Atharvan appears first, atharvasîrshah såmasya riksahasrâmitekshanah, yaguhpâdabhugo guhyah); XIII, 111, 46 = 5443 ; XIII, 168, 31=7736; XIX, 109, 5 (Vish.)=9491 (katvaro sakhila vedäh sarahasyah savistarâh); XIX, 14, 15 (Bhav.) =11665. Cf. Holtzmann, 1. c., p. 6.
Digized by Google
Digitized by