The geographical and ethnical allusions contained in the 5atapatha-brahma;/a have been carefully collected by Professor Weber ^. With the exception of those in ka;/^as 6-1 o, as I have already remarked, they point almost exclusively to the regions along the Ganges and Jumna. In the legend about Videgha Mathava^ and his Purohita Gotama Rahugawa, tradition seems to have preserved a reminiscence of the eastward spread of Brahmanical civilisation. Among the peoples that occupied those regions, a prominent position is assigned in the 5atapatha to the closely-allied Kuru-Pa»Mlas. The Kurus occupied the districts between the Jumna and Ganges— the so- called Madhyadeja or middle country— and the Pa?7- mas bordered on them towards the south-east. According to Sat. Br. XIII, 5, 4, 7, the Pa^Ualas were in olden times called Krivi ; and a tribe of this name is evidently referred to in Rig-veda VIII, 20, 24 ; (22, 12)5, in connection with the rivers Sindhu and Asikni. The Kurus, on the other hand, arc not directly referred to in the Rik ; but a king Kuru^rava;/a, ♦glory of the Kurus,' and a patron with the epithet Kaurayawa are mentioned in the hymns. In Aitar. Br. VIII, 14, the Uttara (northern) Kurus, together with the Uttara-Madras, are said to dwell beyond the Himalaya.
» See Brih Ar. 3, <;, where he is defeated by Ya^Jlavalkya in disputation. ^ Taitt. S.VI, i,9;2 ; 4, B, i- ' 1"^. Stud. I 187 seq.
♦ See the present volume, p. .04, with note. It would have been safer to gl^e the name as Videgha Malhava, instead of Mdthava the \ idegha
5 See Ludwig, Rig-veda III, p. 205 ; Zimmer, Altindisches Leben, p. 103.
xlli ^ATAPATHA-BRAHMAiVA.
East of the Madhyade^a, we meet with another con- federacy of kindred peoples, of hardly less importance than the Kuru-Pa/?Hlas, at the time of the redaction of the Brahma;/a, viz. the Kosala-Videhas. In the legend above referred to they are said to be the descendants of Videgha Mathava, and to be separated from each other by the river Sadanira (either the modern Ga.uda.ki or Karatoya). The country of the Videhas, the eastern branch of this , allied people, corresponding to the modern Tirhut or Puraniya, formed in those days the extreme east of the land of the Aryas. In the later books of the vSatapatha, king Canaka of Videha appears as one of the principal promoters of the Brahmanical religion, and especially as the patron of Ya^yTavalkya. In XI, 6, 2, i, G^anaka is repre-
' The passage III, 2, 3, 15, where the Kuru-Pa/i^alas are apparently placed in the north — in direct contradiction to XI, 4, i, i, where they are placed in opposition to the Northerners (udi^yaA) — seems to go against this supposition. Professor Weber, Ind. Stud. 1, 191, tries to get over this difficulty by translating Kurupa/llalatra by ' as among the Kuru-Pa«/talas,' instead of 'among the Kuru- Paiiialas;' so that the meaning of the passage would be that 'the same language is spoken in the northern region, as among the Kuru-Pa/T^alas.' Unfor- tunately, however, the Kanva text of the passage is not favourable to this interpretation. It runs as follows (K. IV, 2, 3, 10) : — udi/Wm patliyaya svastya vag vai pathya svastis tasmad atrottaiahai vag vadatityahuA kurupa/l^aleshu kurumahavisheshv ity etam hi taya disam pra^anann esha hi tasya dik pra^(7ata.
* He is styled ra^anyabandhu in A'Aandogyop. V, 3, f .
INTRODUCTION. xliil
As regards the two recensions of the 5atapatha-brah- mawa, this is hardly the place to enter into any detailed discussion of their mutual relations. Nor is my acquaint- ance with the Ka//va text as yet sufficiently extensive to do justice to this important question. I intend, however, to publish before long a number of extracts from several kandaiS of this recension, — including the text of all the
' They occupied the country about the modem Benares (Kasi).
^ Dhr/tarash/ra Vai/titravirya, whose sons and nephews form the chief parties of this great feud, is mentioned in the Kanaka lo, 6. From this passage— which, unfortunately, is not in a very good condition in the Berlin MS. — it would appear that animosities had then existed between the Kurus and Pa»A'alas. -It is doubtful, however, whether this part of the Ka/Aaka is older than the bulk of the 5atapatha. See Weber, Ind. Stud. Ill, 469 seq.
3 See Weber, Ind. Stud. I, 1 76.
xliv S'ATAPATHA-BRAHMAT/A.
legends as well as other portions which seemed to me of special interest, — from which Sanskrit scholars will be able to form an opinion regarding the exact nature of the varia- tions between the two versions. In my notes to the present translation of the first two ka;/rt^as, I have considered it desirable occasionally to notice some of the variae lectiones of the Ka;/va school ; it should, however, be understood that these readings have been given solely on the authority of the Oxford MS., for the loan of which I am deeply in- debted to the liberality of the Curators of the Bodleian Library. With the aid of the Paris MS., the use of which has also just been kindly granted to me, I hope soon to be able to verify these extracts. For most of the ka;/^as, from the fourth ^ onwards, our materials have been lately enriched by a copy which Mr. Whitley Stokes has had made for Professor Weber from a Benares MS.
The various readings of the Ka;^va recension of the Va^asaneyi-sa;«hita have been given in Professor Weber's edition, at the end of each kanda.. They may be said to consist either of mere verbal variations or of additional mantras. In regard to these readings the Brahma;/a of the same school exhibits a feature which may have an important bearing on the textual criticism of the Sawhita. While the Brahmawa generally shows the same verbal variations in the sacrificial texts as the Sawhita, it, as a rule, takes no notice whatever of the additional mantras, but agrees in this respect pretty closely with the Madh)'andina text. Indeed, so far as I am able to judge, the two relations seem to coincide almost entirely, as far as the subject-matter is concerned ; the differences, considerable as they sometimes are, being rather of a grammatical and stylistic nature. Occasional omissions, which I have hitherto noticed^, may perhaps turn out to be due to the carelessness of scribes. As regards the additional mantras referred to, they may have found their way into the Sa;«hita at the time when the Sutras
^ Viz. kawrfas 4-7, 9, 10, 12, 14-17.
* J'or instance, the brahma//as Madhy. I, 4, 3 ; II, 3, 2 and 3 ; IV, 5, 10 ; 6, 8 are wanting in the Oxford M.S. ; see p. 338, note 3. — In the fourth (fifth Ka/jva) ka'/rfa, the Kd'/vas, on the otlier h.and, have two brahma«as (V, 7, 5 ; 8, 2, the latter of which treats of the adabhya graha, Va^. S. VIII, 47-50) which are not found in the Madhyandina text.
INTRODUCTION. xlv
were composed ; though, it is true, they do not as a rule appear in the Katiya-sutra, and no other sutra of the White Ya^s, as far as I know, has hitherto come to hght\ On the other hand, as there are also not a few mantras in the Madhyan- dina Sawhita^, which are not noticed in the Brahma;/a of that school, this question must be left for future investigation.
1 have already referred to the connection which seems to have existed between the Ka«va school of the White Ya^us and the redactors of the Rik-samhita. One of the chief points of contact between our existing recension of the Rik and the Kawva text of the Ya^ur-veda is the use of the letters / and //i instead of d and d/i used by the Madhyandinas. Besides, the riks of the Ka//va text gene- rally approach more nearly to the readings of the Rig-vcda than those of the other school. Another, even more inter- esting, feature which the Kawva recension has in common with the Rik, is the constant^ employment of the ordinary genitive and ablative of feminine bases, where the other Sawhitas and Brahmawas generally use the dative ; thus the Ka?/vas read ' tasya/^' instead of ' tasyai' (M. I, i, 4, 16) ; 'gayatrya/^' instead of ' gayatryai ' (I, 7, i, 1); ' pr/thivya/^ ' instead of 'pr/thivyai' (I, 2, 5, 18) ; ' kumbhya bhastraya//' instead of 'kumbhyai bhastrayai' (I, r, 3, 7); 'stir;/aya vede/^' instead of 'stin/ayai vede//' (IV, 2, 5, 3); 'dheno/^' instead of ' dhenvai ' (III, i, 2, 2 1 ), &c. Thus the Ka//va text is in this respect more in accordance with the Rik-sa^uhita. than even the Aitareya-brahma//a^. Again, the Ka;/vas seem to form the dative of feminine i-bases in accordance with the usual and older practice of the Rzk ; at least I find everywhere 'ahutaye' and 'guptaye'(asalso in the Atharvan) instead of 'ahutyai' and 'guptyai' as the Madhyandinas (and Taittiriyas) read^. Of minor points of grammatical
* Professor Weber thinks that the sutra of Vai^avapa, of which mention is occasionally made in the commentaries on the Kaliya-sutra, may belong to the White Ya^us. See History of Indian Literature, p. 142. Professor Biihler, Sacred Laws, I, p. xxvi, remarks that ' Ka«va is considered the author of the still existing Kalpa-sutras of the Kawva school ;' but I have found no notice of these sutras anywhere.
" That is, in those adhyayas to which the Brahmawa forms a running commentary.
2 I have not met with any exception in the kawrfas hitherto examined.
* See Aufrecht, Ait. Br. p. 428. ^ See also the form ' dhcuo/j ' mentioned above.
xlvi 5ATAPATHA-BRAHMAiVA.
As regards the present translation of the first two ka//^/as,
' Another curious feature of the Kajiva. text is the frequent insertion of an •ity uvaia'in the middle of speeches, much like the colloquial 'says he.' As an instance I may adduce K. IV, 2, 3. 3 (M. Ill, 2, 3, 5) : — Sa hovaWham cva vo ya^/Jam amumuham iti hova^-a yad eva mayi tanvana iti mam ya^^/lad aiitara- gata tenaiva vo yao^/lam amumuham iti te mahyan; nu bhagam kalpayatety atha vo yagnoA praroiishyata iti tatheti hoius, &c. The Ka«vas also insert much more frequently an 'iti' in the middle of speeches.
INTRODUCTION. xl
Vi 1
I need hardly say that I am fully aware of its shortcomings. My chief endeavour has been to translate as literally as seemed at all compatible with the English idiom. If, in consequence of this, many passages should be found to read somewhat awkwardly, I hope at least that the wish to follow the original as closely as possible, has not rendered them unintelligible. Those who have given any attention to the Brahma;/as and the sacrificial system of the Hindus, know- how difficult the task is, and how easy it is to commit mis- takes regarding the intricate minutiae of the ceremonial. The Brahma/i-as presuppose a full knowledge of the course of sacrificial performance, and notice only such points as aftbrd an opportunity for dogmatic and symbolic explanations, or seem to call for some authoritative decision to guard them against what were considered as heretical practices. In order to enable the reader to follow the course of the performance with something like completeness, I have supplied in my notes the chief details from Katyayana's Kalpa-sfitras. That not a few of these details did not belong to the sacrificial ceremonial of the vSatapatha, but were the result of later development, or of an adaptation of sacrificial practices of other schools, can scarcely be doubted. Dr. Hillebrandt^ is of opinion that sacrificial manuals, somewhat similar to the later Prayogas, must have existed as early as the time of the composition of the Brahmawas. In the absence of any direct evidence, speculation on this point can scarcely lead to any definite results. I may say, however, that it seems to me quite sufficient to assume that the performance of sacrifices was taught as a practical art, and that the theoretic instruction, supplied by the Brahma^as, was conveyed orally in connection with such practical performances. That the latter was the case, is sufficiently evident from the constant occurrence in the Brahma//as of demonstrative pronouns and particles of a 'deictic' force ^.
I have occasionally referred to corresponding passages
of the Taittiriyas : an exhaustive comparison of the two
branches of the Ya^ur-veda, however interesting this might
be, lay outside the scope of my notes. A general view of
' Das Altindische Neu- und Vollmondsopfer p. xv. ' See, for instance, 5'at. Br. I, 3, i, 7 ; 8, 1, 14.
xlviii ^ATAPATHA-BRAHMAJVA.