Grihya Sutras

SR No.: 007685
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Hermann Oldenberg
Publisher: Oxford
Publication Year: 1886
Total Pages: 2642
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 49 MB

Page 548

10
GRIHYA-SÛTRA OF GOBHILA.
The four other cases are :
rikamn sâma yagâmahe, Gobh. III, 2, 48. tak kakshur devahitam, III, 8, 5. sam anya yanti, III, 9, 7.
pragâpataye, IV, 7, 36. of these Mantras the first is contained in the Sama-veda (1, 369) just as the nine first-mentioned ones; the second is quoted by Gobhila in extenso; the third is to be found in the Aranyaka division of the Sama-veda I (vol. ii, p. 292, ed. Bibl. Ind.); in the fourth finally the text is corrupt ; it is intended for the verse out of the Mantra-Brâhmana Praga pate na tvad etâny anyah. Thus the four apparent exceptions all vanish, and we have in the Mantras which are absent in the Mantra-Brahmana a new proof that this text belongs to the literature of the Sama-veda .
Thus, according to my view, we may describe the origin of the Mantra-Brahmana as follows. The Sama-veda contained in its Samhità a much smaller number of Mantras applicable to the Grihya rites than either the Rig-veda or the Yagur-veda ; the peculiar character of the Saman texts, intended for musical recitations at the most important sacrificial offerings, was quite remote from the character of formulas suitable for the celebration of a wedding, for the birth of a child, for the consecration of fields and flocks. Hence it is that, to a much greater extent than Asvalâyana or Paraskara, Gobhila mentions Mantras for which a reference to the Samhita was not sufficient; and this led to the compiling of a separate Samhita of such Grihya-mantras, which presupposes the Grihya-sätra, just as the latter presupposes this Samhita. The almost perfect agreement of the Mantra-Brahmana with Gobhila furnishes a valuable
1 One will not object that the Mantras in question which are absent in the Mantra Brahmana are all to be found in the Rig-veda as well as in the Sâmaveda. Since almost all the verses of the Sama-veda are taken from the Rig-veda there is nothing astonishing about this. Before one could conclude from this that the Mantra-Brahmana belongs to the Rig-veda he would have to answer the question, How is it that the verses in question are always verses of the Rig-veda which are repeated in the Sama-veda? Why are there not among them verses which are not to be found in the Sama-veda ?
Digilized by Google