________________
154
ÂSVALAYANA-GRIHYA-SÚTRA.
determined that Åsvalůyana's Satra should be adopted by the students of that Vedic Sâkhå. Thus, says Shadgurusishya, there were twelve works of Saunaka by which a correct knowledge of the Rig-veda was preserved, and three works of Åsvalayana. Saunaka's dasa granthâs were, the five Anukramanîs, the two Vidhanas, the Bârhaddaivata, the Prâtisâkhya, and a Smarta work?. Åsvalâyana, on the other hand, composed the Srauta-sútra in twelve Adhyâyas, the Grihya in four Adhyâyas, and the fourth Åranyaka : this is Åsvalâyana's great Satra composition ?
Here we have an interesting and important statement by which the authorship of a part of the Aitareyâranyaka, which would thus be separated from the rest of that text, is ascribed, not to Mahidâsa Aitareya, but to an author of what may be called the historical period of Vedic antiquity, to Åsvalâyana.
But what is the fourth Åranyaka to which this passage refers? Is it the text which is now set down, for instance, in Dr. Râgendralâla Mitra's edition, as the fourth Åranyaka of the Aitareyinas?
Before we give an answer to this question, attention must be called to other passages referring, as it could seem, to another part, namely, the fifth part of the Åranyaka.
Sayana, in his great commentary on the Rig-veda, very frequently quotes the pañkamaranyaka as belonging to Saunaka. Thus in vol. I, p. 112, ed. Max Müller, he says: pañkamâranyaka aushnihatrikâsîtir iti khande Saunakena satritam surûpakritnum útaya iti triny endra sânasim rayim iti dve iti. There is indeed in the fifth Åranyaka a chapter beginning with the words aushnihî trikâsîtih, in which the words quoted by Sayana occur 3. Similar quotations, in
the case is similar to that where a pupil gocs on his rounds for alms and announces (nivedayati) to his teacher what he has received. Prof. Max Müller translates these words differently; according to him they mean that Åsvalâyana made a Sútra and taught it.'
Comp. Prof. Bühler's article in the Journal As. Soc. of Bengal, 1866, Pp. 149 seqq.
- Dvadasâdhyâyakam sâtram katushkam grihyam eva ka katurthâranyakam keti by  svalayanasůtrakam.
. See p. 448 of Dr. Râgendralala Mitra's edition in the Bibliotheca Indica.
Digitized by Google
