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20 BHAGAVADGITâ.
--- --- - Another point to note in this connexion is the reference to the Sama-veda as the best of the Vedas (sce p. 88). That is a fact which seems to be capable of yielding some chronological information. For the estimation in which that Veda has been held appears to have varied at different times. Thus, in the Aitareya-brâhmana', the glory of the Såman is declared to be higher than that of the Rik. In the Khândogya-upanishad ? the Såman is said to be the essence of the Rik, which Sankara interprets by saying that the Såman is more weighty. In the Prasna-upanishad', too, the implication of the passage V, 5 (in which the Saman is stated as the guide to the Brahmaloka, while the Yagus is said to guide to the lunar world, and the Rik to the human world) is to the same effect. And we may also mention as on the same side the Nrisimha Tapini-upanishad and the Vedic passage cited in the commentary of Sankara on the closing sentence of the first khanda of that Upanishad. On the other side, we have the statemeat in Manu that the sound of the Sama-veda is unholy; and the conscquent direction that where the sound of it is heard, the Rik and Yagus should not be recited'. We have also the passages from some of the Puranas noted by Dr. Muir in his excellent work, Original Sanskrit Texts, which point in the same direction. And we have further the direction in the Apastamba Dharma-sútra, that the Saman hymns should not be recited where the other Vedas are being recited!, as well as the grouping of the sound of the Såman with various classes of objectionable and unholy noises, such as those of dogs and asses. It is pretty evident that the view of Àpastamba is based on the same theory as that of Manu. Now in looking at the two classes of authoritics thus marshalled, it is plain that the Gitâ ranges itself with those which are unquestionably the more ancient. - - - - -- ---- --- - --- ----- -
- 'Haug's edition, p. 68. Bibl. Ind. ed., p. 12.
• Bibl. Ind. ed., p. 211 seq. • Bibl. Ind. ed., p. 11.
· Chapter IV, stanzas 123, 124. • Vol. üi (and al., p. 11 sq. Cl. Guldstucker's Remains, 1, 4, 28, 266; II, 67.
pastamba buhler's ed., 1, 3,17,18 pr. 38, 39 in this series ; ac further on this point Mr. Burnell's Devatadhyâya-brahmann, Introd., pp. viii, ix, und aotes
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