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INTRODUCTION.
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which the fifth Aranyaka is assigned to Saunaka, are found in Sâyana's commentary on the Âranyaka 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 Aranyaka was ascribed to teachers belonging to the Sûtra period of Vedic literature, viz. to Saunaka and to Åsvalâyana respectively. And so we find the case stated by both Professor Weber, in his 'Vorlesungen über indische Literaturgeschichte',' and Dr. Râgendralâla Mitra, in the Introduction to his edition of the Aitareya Âranyaka 2.
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 Âranyaka 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 Sâyana 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 Aranyaka 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 Mahânâmnî or Sakvarî verses, which seem to belong to a not less remote
1 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 Âsvalâyana, 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 Âsvalâyana. P. 12: The writings of both Asvalâyana and Saunaka which occur in the Aranyaka, etc.
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