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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY ..
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[OCTOBER, 1928
mentioned above-and it may be presumed, must have earned a reputation for scholarship also. He had been to Kuru-Pañcâla, too, and had come out of that country, evidently with his reputation unimpaired. But at Kasi, an eastern district, and at the hands of a Kşatriya, he meets with a crushing defeat.
In the Upanişads, we find references to most of the provinces falling within the zone of territory which had Kuru-Pañcála on the north-west, Matsya and Vidarbha on the southsouth-west and Videha-Magadha on the east. This was undoubtedly the area within which Brahma-vidyd was born. But Macconell's theory that Kuru-Pañoala was the home of the Upanişads, is not supported by anything in the body of that literature. Pravahana Jaivali, the king of the Pañoalas, is not the most important patron of Brahma-vidyd; and he is more than matched by Ajátasatru of Kasi: But this Ajatasatru himself has to exclaim that people run to the court of Janaka, and not anywhere else, for Brahma-vidya (Br. ii. 1. Kaus. iv. 1.)
If Kuru-Pañcala or even Kasi had been the more important seat of Brahma-vidyd, we should certainly have found more frequent references to these places, their kings and peoples. But Ajatasatru's sad complaint makes it plain that the peoples of these places were pain. fully aware of the superior prestige of the court of Videha in this matter. And the fact that a master mind like Yajnavalkya did not find a field for his activity in Kuru-Pañcala, which according to some was his birth-place, is significant and shows that the kings and peoples of that country were not inclined to favour the spread of this cult.
In the Upanişads, the court of Videha, as & seat of Brahma-vidya, far outshines all other places in Aryavarta ; and Janaka is by far the most prominent among all the Ksatriyas, mentioned in the Upanişads as patrons of Brahma-vidya. And the teacher who towers head and shoulders above all others in the Upanişads, is not Uddalaka Aruņi, but his real or supposed disciple, Yajñavalkya. In the court of Janaka, Aruņi failed to prove his superiority to Yajñavalkya-and one might even say, he had a defeat at the hands of the latter; and in the court of Pravahana Jaivali, he had to confess his ignorance of certain important questions and accepted the discipleship of the Kşatriya. In the Chandogya (vi), Aruni no doubt gives a learned discourse to his son Svetaketu ; and, according to the Chandogya, it is no doubt to him that we are indebted for the famous formula 'Tattvamasi.' He was undoubtedly a very great teacher; and we find references to him in the Mahabharata and also in other places ; but as a teacher of Brahma-vidya, he ranks much lower than Yajña valkya. He had defcats and discomfitures here and there ; but Yajnavalkya is triumphant throughout --triumphane even over Aruņi himself. Yajñavalkya may have been Aruni's pupil or may not havo boen; it is not impossible even for a pupil to eclipse his master. But whether Aruni's pupil or not, Yajdavalkya is by far the most important teacher in the Upanigads.
Now, if Yajña valkya is the most important teacher and if Janaka is the most renowned patron of Brahma-vidya, where could Brahma-vidyd have its home except in the eastern districts of Videha-Magadha ? Yajñavalkya's own nationality is not so material ; he may have been a Kuru-Pañcâla or may have been a Videha Brahmin ; but what is material, is : Where could he find the necessary field for his activity in Brahma-vidyd ? Not in the land of Pancala, but it is in Videla that he gives his discourses under the distinguished patronage of its king. Of course, at the court of a king like Janaka, learned men came from all quarters and certainly also from Kuru-Pañcála ; and floating ideas on Brahma-vidynt existed in Kuru-Pañcala, Matsya, Vidarbha and Kasi; in these places also existed men who knew this subject and knew it well; but the cult does not appear to have found any continued and systematic support outside Videha. In the strict sense of the term, therefore, Videha or the enstern territory was the home of the Upanişads.
There is another point to be considered in this connection. The Upanişads imply a certain amount of breach with the strictly orthodox Brahmanical culture, shall we add, of the north-west. In Pali literature and in the history of Buddhism, we find this gulf widening under the powerful influence of the Kşatriyas of the east. It seems that this was just the
