The Brahma;/a of the Va^asaneyins bears the name of .Satapatha, that is, the Brahma;/a ' of a hundred paths,' because it consists of a hundred lectures (adhyayas). Both the Vaj^asaneyi-sa;;/hita and the 5atapatha-brahma;/a have come down to us in two different recensions, those of the Madhyandina and the Ka«va schools. Of the latter recen- sion of the Brahma;/a, however, three books out of seventeen are wanting in the European libraries and have, as far as I know, not yet been discovered in India. The Madhyandina text both of the Sa7;/hita and the Brahma;/a has been edited by Professor Weber ; the former with the various readings of the Ka;/va recension. To the same scholar we owe a German translation of the first adhyaya of the first kanda.^ ; and he has, moreover, subjected the entire accessible litera- ture of the White Ya^ur-veda — with the exception of the Kd«va text of the Brihmawa — to a careful examination, and has extracted from it all that seems calculated to throw light on its history, so that in this respect little re- mains to those who come after him but to state the results of his enquiries. Professor Max Mi'iller, in his History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature,has also fully discussed the ques- tions regarding the date and authorship of these texts, and has done much to clear up what was obscure in their rela- tions to the older Ya^us texts and to Vedic literature gene- rally. Many points, however, still remain doubtful ; and, above all, opinions are as divided as ever regarding the approximate date of the teacher with whose name tradition connects the origin of the modern school of the Adhvaryus.
The schools of the Va^asancyins are stated to have been either fifteen or seventeen ; and their names are given, though with considerable variations, in different works. No distinct traces, however, have as yet been discovered of any recensions besides the two already referred to. As regards the names of these two, — the Madhyandina and Ka«va, — the latter is the name of one of the chief families of i?/shis
(hence Black Ya^us), and was picked up by Ya^/Javalkya's condisciples, who had assumed the form of partridges. This story seems first to occur in thePurawas; sec Wilson's translation of the Vishwu Pura«a (ed. Hall), III, p. 54. Pa/iini (IV, 3, 102) and Pata;7^ali only know of the Taittiriya texts as 'promulgated by Tittiri.' * Zeitsch. derD.M.G.,IV,p. 289seq.; reprinted in Indische Streifen I,p.3iseq.
Introduction. Xxix
of the i?zk-sa;«hita ; and certain orthoepic peculiarities of the Ya^us texts of the Kawvas would seem to favour the assumption of a connection of this school with the redac- tion of the Rik. The name of the Madhyandinas, literally * meridional,' on the other hand, does not occur in the older literature. Nor can we draw any definite conclusions, as to the probable date of their recension, from Lassen's identification of this name with the MayStaSii'oi, mentioned by Megasthenes (as quoted by Arrian) as a people on the banks of a tributary of the Ganges ; or from Professor Weber's conjecture that the Madhyandina school may have taken its origin among that people.
The Madhyandina text of the 5atapatha is divided into fourteen books (ka;/</a). For several reasons, however, some of these books have to be assigned to a later period than the others. In the first place, the twelfth ka;/(/a is called madhyama, ' the middle one ;' a fact which in itself would suggest the idea that, at the time when this nomen- clature was adopted, the last five books (or perhaps books 11-13) were regarded as a separate portion of the work^ Besides, Pata/7^ali, in a karika or memorial couplet to Fan. IV, 2, 60, mentions the words shash^ipatha ('consisting of sixty paths') and j-atapatha, with the view of forming derivative nouns from them, in the sense of one who studies such works. Now, as the first nine books of the 5atapatha, in the Madhyandina text, consist of sixty adhyayas, it was suggested by Professor Weber that it was probably this very portion of the work to which Pata/7^ali applied the term ' shash/ipatha,' and that consequently the first nine books were at that time considered as, in some sense, a distinct work and were studied as such. This conjecture has been generally accepted. There is indeed a possibility that Pata^T^ali may have been acquainted with some other
' The Kanva text is divided into seventeen books. Ka//<fas 12-15 correspond to Madhyandina 10-13 ; and khida if^ which treats of the Pravargya ceremony, corresponds to the first three adhyayas of the last kinda of the Madhyandinas. Thus in the Ka/na recension the fourteenth k&nda, called ' madhyama,' is the middle one of kaWas 12-16 ; the seventeenth kbida. or Br,hadara«yaka. being apparently considered as a supplement. Perhaps this division is more original than that of the Madhyandinas.
XXX S-ATAPATHA-BRAHMAiVA.
At the end of the ^atapatha the White Ya^us is said to
have been promulgated (d-khya) by Ya^^7avalkya Va^asa-
neya. Now the name of this teacher is indeed more fre-
quently met with in the Brahmawa than that of any other ;
> The accuracy of this list cannot be relied upon, as several mistakes occur in the number of ka«(/ikas there given. It is, however, unlikely that the scribe should have committed any mistake regarding the number of adhyayas.
' Literally 'together with the rahasya (saiahasyam),' &c.
8 Hiatory of Indian Literature, p. 107 seq.
INTRODUCTION. XXXl
especially in some of the later books where his professional connection with Canaka, king of Videha, and his skill in theological disputations are favourite topics. As regards the earlier portion of the work, however, it is a remarkable fact that, while in the first five books Ya^y7avalkya's opinion is frequently recorded as authoritative \ he is not once men- tioned in the four succeeding ksi?idas (6-9). The teacher whose opinion is most frequently referred to in these books, is vSaw(/ilya. This disagreement in respect of doc- trinal authorities, coupled with unmistakable differences'-^, stylistic as well as geographical and mythological, can scarcely be accounted for otherwise than by the assumption of a difference of authorship or original redaction. Now the subject with which these four ka;/^as are chiefly con- cerned, is the agni/^ayana, or construction of the sacred fire-altar. For reasons urged by Professor Weber, it would appear not improbable that this part of the ceremonial was specially cultivated in the north-western districts ; and since the geographical allusions in these four ka/z^as chiefly point to that part of India, while those of the other books refer almost exclusively to the regions along the Ganges and Jumna, we may infer from this that the fire-ritual, adopted by the Va^asaneyins at the time of the first redac- tion of their texts — that is, of the first nine k^ndas, as far as the Brahmawa is concerned — had been settled in the north-west of India.
Here, however, we meet with another difificulty. The tenth book, or Agnirahasya, deals with the same subject as the preceding four kawr/as ; and here also Sa/^dilya. figures as the chief authority, while no mention is made of Ya^yla- valkya. Moreover, at the end of that k§.ndsi, a list of teachers is given in which the transmission of the sacri- ficial science (either in its entirety, or only as regards the fire-ritual) is traced from a teacher Tura Kivasheya — who is said to have received it from the god Pra^apati — downwards, through two intermediate teachers, to SXndl-
1 See, however, ^-at. Br. II, 5, i, 2-3, where Ya^'/Tavalkya's opinion is referred to as being contrary to the Rig-veda.
2 See Weber, Ind. Stud. XIII, p. 266 seq.
XXxii JATAPATHA-BRAHMAiVA.
* The author of this passage would seem to imply, though he does not
exactly express it, that this was ihe first fire-altar built in the proper way.
INTRODUCTION. XXXlll
transmission of the science of the Adhvaryus is traced — as far as human agency is concerned — from Ka^yapa Naidhruvi, through nine teachers, to Ya^navalkya, and thence, through four other teachers, to Sa;//^ivi- put ra^. The only name which this Hst has in common with the former one, previous to Saw^ivi-putra, is that of Ku^ri. According to the former hst, he was the teacher of Sandilya., who, in his turn, taught Vatsya^. But since in the same book (X. 5, 5, i) he is referred to as Va^ajravasa, and in the hst at the end of the 6"atapatha he is set down as the pupil of Va^a- jravas, the same teacher is evidently referred to in both lists ; and if we can at all rely on the authenticity of these va;/was, we should have to infer from this coincidence, that there was already some connection between the two schools prior to both Ya^^7avalkya and wSa;;^ilya.
The two lines of teachers meet once more in the name of Sa w^ivi-putra. In the later list the succession of teachers
' I here give, side by side, the lists, in inverted order, from Samg-ivi-putra upwards. For the complete lists, see Max Miiller, History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature, p. 438 seq.
End of Book XIV. End of Book X.
58. Aditya. (52) Brahman Svayambhu.
57. Ambi«i.
56. Vai. (51) Prag-apati.
55. Kasyapa Naidhruvi.
54. 5ilpa Kasyapa. ^^^^ Tura Kavasheya.
53. Harita Kasyapa.
^2. Asita Vaishagawa.
51. Gihvavat Badhyoga. (49) Ya^HavaiasRa^'astambayana.
50. Va^asravas.
49. Kusri. (48) Kusri.
48. Upavesi. (47) Sa.ndilya.,
47. Aru«a. ^ (46) Vatsya.
46. Uddalaka (Aruneya). ^^^^ Vamakakshaya«a.
45. Ya,.r.avalkya(Vag-asaneya). ^^^^.^^^._
44. Asun. ^^\ ^,
X A (4:5) Kautsa.
43. Asuraya«a. ^^''■'
42. Prasnt-putra (Asurivasin). (42) Manrfavya.
41. Kanvakeyi-putra. (4O Ma/^ifukayani.
40. Sawz^ivi-putra. (40) Sa??j^i vi-putra. Follow 39 names formed by the addition (Same as elsewhere.)
of 'putra' to the mother's name.
^ In the Bnhad-ara«yaka (KaMva) VI, 5, 4 the order is Kusri, Vutsya, i'a/zuilya.
XXXIV i-ATAPATHA-BRAHMAiVA.
is then continued by forty-nine more names — all of them formed by the addition of 'putra' (son) to the mother's name — which, it appears, we are to supply in the former list. According to Professor Max Muller\ ' Sa;;/^ivi-putra seems to have united two lines of teachers.' That this must have been the case, cannot be doubted, provided, of course, that the va.msa.s are trustworthy^. Nay, I should even be inclined to assign to the time of Saw^ivi-putra the final adjustment of the ritual and its dogmatic exposition such as we find them in the Shash/ipatha (and the first eighteen adhyayas of the Va^asaneyi - sa;;zhita), and consequently the first redaction of that part of the wSatapatha. Not that all the matter contained in the latter part of the work must necessarily be more modern. There can^ on the contrary, be little doubt that much of it is quite as old as anything in the earlier books ; and of the Madhuka«</a, which forms part of the Brzhad-arawyaka in the last book, we know at any rate, from a reference to the Madhu-brahma;/a in the fourth ka.nda., that some such tract existed at that time. But such matter as, for some reason or other, was not included in the systematic exposition of the ceremonial, would naturally be in a less settled condition and more liable to modifications and additions.
According to the two lists, Saw^ivi-putra is removed from Saudilya by six intermediate teachers, the three older ^ of whom are referred to in ka.nda.s 6-9 ; and from Yag-iia.-
* History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature, p. 437.
^ Professor Weber, Ind. Stud. II, 201 note, expresses his conviction that ' the vawsas are, on the whole, quite authentic ; though they do not of course belong to the text, but are later additions ; judging from the great number of names, some vawsas must have been added at a very late time.' It seems to me, however, that if the vaw.sas are at all authentic — and I see no reason for doubt as far as the two lists above referred to are concerned — we have rather to assume that the lists were kept from early times and gradually added to. On the other hand, little can be made of the two vamsas at tlie end of the Madhu and Ya^yTavalkiya ka«rfas. They look rather like attempts — and very unsuc- cessful ones — at throwing several independent lists into one.
3 Viz.,Vatsya IX, 5, i, 62; Vamakakshaya«a VII, i, 2, 11; Mahitthi VI, 2, 2, 10; VIII, 6, I, 16 seq. ; IX, 5, i, 57. Not mentioned are Kautsa, Ma«- r?avya, and Ma«(/ukayani. A Ma«rfavya occurs in the twelfth book of the -Mahabharata, as a contemporary of Ganaka and Yao-«avalkya.