'the knowledge of ^udras and women is a supplement of the Atharva-veda,' proves that he knew the division of Hindu learning which is taught in Madhusudana Sarasvati's Prasthanabheda I For Madhusudana allots to each Veda an Upa-veda or supplementary Veda, and asserts that the Upa-veda of the Atharva-veda is the Artha^-astra. The agreement of Apastamba with the modern writers on this point, furnishes, I think, an additional argument that he belongs to the later Vedic schoolmen.
In addition to this information regarding the relative position of the Apastambiya school in ancient Sanskrit literature, we possess some further statements as to the part of India to which it belongs, and these, as it happens, are of great importance for fixing approximately the period in which the school arose. According to the Brahmanical tradition, which is supported by a hint contained in the Dharma-sutra and by information derivable from inscrip- tions and the actual state of things in modern India, the Apastambiyas belong to Southern India, and their founder probably was a native of or resided in the Andhra country. The existence of this tradition, which to the present day prevails among the learned Brahmans of Western India and Benares, may be substantiated by a passage from the above-mentioned commentary of the TTara/mvyuha^, which,
' Weber, Ind. Stud. I, 1-24.
2 A'arawavyuhabhashya, fol. 15", 1. 4 seqq. :—
^^wmt^m^ ^T^^T^ [^^] Tarw inn
rft^T ^f^ «Tn (sic) '5ITtlW*siiTT?rp5T^ I
Introduction. Xxxi
though written in barbarous Sanskrit, and of quite modern origin, possesses great interest, because its description of the geographical distribution of the Vedas and Vedic schools is not mentioned elsewhere. The verses from a work entitled Maharwava, which are quoted there, state that the earth, i. e. India, is divided into two equal halves by the river Narmada (Nerbudda), and that the school of Apastamba prevails in the southern half (ver, 2). It is further alleged (ver. 6) that the Ya^ur-veda of Tittiri and the Apastambiya school are established in the Andhra country and other parts of the south and south-east up to the mouth of the Godavari (godasagara-avadhi). According to the Mahar;zava the latter river marks, therefore, the northern frontier of the territory occupied by the Apa- stambiyas, which comprises the Mar4//^a and Kawara dis- tricts of the Bombay Presidency, the greater part of the Nizam's dominions, and the Madras Presidency, with the exception of the northern Sirkars and the western coast. This allegation agrees, on the whole, with the actual facts which have fallen under my observation. A great number of the Dei-astha-brahmawas in the Nasik, Puwa, Ahmad- nagar, Satara, Sholapur, and Kolhapur districts, and of the Kawara or Kar«a/aka-brahmawas in the Belgam, Dharva<^, Kala<^/ghi, and Karva^ collectorates, as well as a smaller
W^^"^ [f^] '^J^m "^ ^m ^fT^ fiWrTT II Mil
^!TPinf^^f^TT%^Tftc[THTnT: ^T^fil (sic) I
^iff»^ tfiT^f ^TTJ^cTl^ TlfiTf^rlT II ^ 11
^i^TfjH%TnTTHTf^:5rf ^^TWrTUi^ (sic) I
f^T^iRi^[f^]^iraT "q^tW^ (sic) #ftT^ 115 II
^mrn ^qr [tt] tr^^f Wrq# irfHf^T 11 1 n
'^WW^fef T'^ ^pftjT^ {1) Tl^XJM^ (sic) I ^lI^TftTT [^Ti] ^;ot 'q JTTiqf^Tft TirfTfiriTT IIQII
qtil^^ [%q] ^^ U'SST^ gi^['^T?F]^^%fH moil
XXXU APASTAMBA.
number among the /^ittapavanas of the Konka;/a are Apa- stambiyas. Of the Nizam's dominions and the Madras Presidency I possess no local knowledge. But I can say that I have met many followers of Apastamba among the Telingana-brahma;/as settled in Bombay, and that the fre- quent occurrence of MSS. containing the Sutras of the Apastambiya school in the Madras Presidency proves that the A'ara/^a there must count many adherents. On the other hand, I have never met with any Apastambiyas among the ancient indigenous subdivisions of the Brahmanical com- munity dwelling north of the Mara^'/za country and north of the Narmada. A few Brahma;^as of this school, no doubt, are scattered over Gujarat and Central India, and others are found in the great places of pilgrimage in Hin- dustan proper. The former mostly have immigrated during the last century, following the Maraf/i^ chieftains who con- quered large portions of those countries, or have been imported in the present century by the Mara///a rulers of Gwalior, Indor, and Baroda. The settlers in Benares, Mathura, and other sacred cities also, have chiefly come in modern times, and not unfrequently live on the bounty of the Mara//^a princes. But all of them consider themselves and are considered by the Brahma;ms, who are indigenous in those districts and towns, as aliens, with whom inter- marriage and commensality are not permitted. The indi- genous sections of the Brahmawas of Gujarat, such as the Nagaras, Khe^^avals, Bhargavas, Kapilas, and Motalas, belong, if they are adherents of the Ya^ur-veda, to the Madhyandina or Ka«va schools of the White Ya^ur-veda. The same is the case with the Brahma;/as of Ra^putana, Hindustan, and the Pan^ab. In Central India, too, the White Ya^r-veda prevails ; but, besides the two schools mentioned above, there are still some colonies of Maitraya- myas or Manavas ^. It seems, also, that the restriction of the Apastambiya school to the south of India, or rather to those subdivisions of the Brahmanical community which
^ See Bhau Da^i, Journ. Bombay Br. Roy. As. Soc. X, 40. The Maitraya/ityas in Gujarat, of whom the A'ara«avyilha speaks, have died out.
INTRODUCTION. XXXlll
for a long time have been settled in the south and are generally considered as natives of the south, is not of recent date. For it is a significant fact that the numerous ancient landgrants which have been found all over India indicate exactly the same state of things. I am not aware that on any grant issued by a king of a northern dynasty to Brahma;/as who are natives of the northern half of India, an Apastambiya is mentioned as donee. But among the southern landgrants there are several on which the name of the school appears. Thus in a j-asana of king Harihara of Vidyanagara, dated Saka. sa;;/vat 131 7 or 1395-96 A. D., one of the recipients of the royal bounty is 'the learned Ananta Dikshita, son of Ramabha^/a, chief of the Apastambya (read Apastambiya) i-akha, a scion of the Vasish///a gotra ^' Again, on an ancient set of plates written in the characters which usually are called cave- characters, and issued by the Pallava king Siwhavarman II, we find among the donees five Apastambhiya ^ Brahma;/as, who, together with a Haira;/yakesa; a Va^asaneya, and a Sama-vedi, received the village of Mangadur, in Vengo- rash/ra". This inscription is, to judge from the characters, thirteen to fourteen hundred years old, and on this account a very important witness for the early existence of the Apastambiyas in Southern India.
Under the circumstances just mentioned, a casual remark made by Apastamba, in describing the 5raddhas or funeral oblations, acquires considerable importance. He says (Dh. II, 7, 17, 17) that the custom of pouring water in the hands of Brahmawas invited to a 5raddha prevails among the northerners, and he indicates thereby that he himself does not belong to the north of India. If this statement is taken together with the above-stated facts, which tend
1 Colebrooke, Essays, II, p. 264, ver. 24 (Madras ed.)
^ Apastambhiya for Apastambiya may be a mistake. But it ought to be noted that Devapala's commentary on the Ka/Aaka Gnhyasutra has Apa- stambha for Apastamba.
3 Ind. Ant. V, 135. Mr. Fleet informs me that an unpublished grant of the Eastern Chalukya king Vinayaditya II (ninth century a. d.) mentions a number of Apastambiyas as donees.
XXXIV APASTAMBA.
to show that the Apastambiyas were and are restricted to the south of India, the most probable construction which can be put on it is that Apastamba declares himself to be a southerner. There is yet another indication to the same effect contained in the Dharma-sutra. It has been pointed out above that the recension of the Taittiriya Ara;^yaka which Apastamba recognises is that called the Andhra text or the version current in the Andhra country, by which term the districts in the south-east of India between the Godavari and the Krz'sh^^a have to be understood-^. Now it seems exceedingly improbable that aVedic teacher would accept as authoritative any other version of a sacred work except that which was current in his native country. It would therefore follow, from the adoption of an Andhra text by Apastamba, that he was born in that country, or, at least, had resided there so long as to have become natu- ralised in it. With respect to this conclusion it must also be kept in mind that the above-quoted passage from the Mahar;/ava particularly specifies the Andhra country (andhradi) as the seat of the Apastambiyas. It may be that this is due to an accident. But it seems to me more probable that the author of the Maharwava wished to mark
the Andhra territory as the chief and perhaps as the ori- ginal residence of the Apastambiyas.
This discovery has, also, a most important bearing on the question of the antiquity of the school of Apastamba. It fully confirms the result of the preceding enquiry, viz. that the Apastambiyas are one of the later Kara.7ia.s. For the south of India and the nations inhabiting it, such as Kalingas, Dravi</as, Andhras, A'olas, and Pa«^yas, do not play any important part in the ancient Brahmanical traditions and in the ancient history of India, the centre of both of which lies in the north-west or at least north of the Vindhya range. Hitherto it has not been shown that the south and the southern nations are mentioned in any of the Vedic Sawhitas. In the Brahma;/as and in the Stitras they do occur, though they are named rarely and in a not
^ See Cunningham, Geography, p. 527 seqq. ; Burnell, South Ind. Pal., p. 14, note 2,
Introduction. Xxxv
complimentary manner. Thus the Aitareya-brahma/^a gives the names of certain degraded, barbarous tribes, and among them that of the Andhras^, in whose country, as has been shown, the Apastambiyas probably originated. Again, Baudhayana, in his Dharma-sutra I, i, quotes some verses in which it is said that he who visits the Kalingas must purify himself by the performance of certain sacrifices in order to become fit for again associating with Aryans. The same author, also, mentions distinctive forbidden practices (ay^ara) prevailing in the south (loc. cit.) Further, Pacini's grammatical Sutras and Katyayana's Varttikas thereon contain rules regarding several words which pre- suppose an acquaintance with the south and the kingdoms which flourished there. Thus Pa;/ini, IV, 2, 98, teaches the formation of dakshiwatya in the sense of ' belonging to or living in the south or the Dekhan,' and a Varttika of Katyayana on Pacini, IV, 1, 175, states the words Ko]a. and Fa/tdya. are used as names of the princes ruling over the A^ola and Fandya. countries, which, as is known from history, were situated in the extreme south of India. The other southern nations and a fuller description of the south occur first in the Mahabharata ^. While an acquaintance with the south can thus be proved only by a few books belonging to the later stages of Vedic literature, several of the southern kingdoms are named already in the oldest historical documents. A^-oka in his edicts^, which date from the second half of the third century B. C, calls the i^^olas, TandysiS, and the Ketalaputra his pratyantas (pa/^anta) or neighbours. The same monarch informs us also that he conquered the province of Kalinga and an- nexed it to his kingdom ^ The early civilisation of the same province is also attested by the Kha;?<^giri inscrip- tion of Maharaja Aira or Khara-^, which, if it is not
* Aitareya-brahma«a VII, i8.
- Lassen, Ind. Alterthumskunde, I, 6S4, 2nd ed.
^ Edict III, Cunningham, Corp. Inscr. Ind., vol. i, plate V; Lassen, Ind. Alterthumskunde, II, 252, 2nd ed.
* Edict XIII; Lassen, loc. cit., II, 256.
5 Cunningham, Corp. luscr. Ind., vol. i, plate XVII.
XXXvi APASTAMBA.
