Shatapatha Brahmana
Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. The Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa ("Brāhmaṇa of one hundred parts") is a prose text describing Vedic rituals, history and mythology associated with the Śukla Yajurveda.[1]
The text describes in great detail the preparation of altars, ceremonial objects, ritual recitations, and the Soma libation, along with the symbolic attributes of every aspect of the rituals.
Age
Linguistically, the Shatapatha Brahmana belongs to the later part of the Brāhmaṇa period of Vedic Sanskrit (i.e. roughly the 8th to 6th centuries BC, Iron Age India).[2]
Jan N. Bremmer dates it to around 700 BC.[3] According to Julius Eggeling (who translated the Vājasaneyi mādhyandina recension to English), the final version of the text was committed in 300 BC, although some of its portions are "far older, transmitted orally from unknown antiquity".[4]
Contents
It survives in two recensions - Vājasaneyi mādhyandina śākhā and Kāṇva śākhā, with the former having the eponymous 100 adhyāyas (chapters), 7,624 kāṇḍikās (parts) in 14 kāṇḍas (books), and the latter 104 adhyāyas, 6,806 kāṇḍikās in 17 kāṇḍas. The name given to the Vājasaneyi mādhyandina śākhā is due to its origin being ascribed to Yājñavalkya Vājasaneya whose opinions are considered authoritative and quoted prolifically in the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa, apart from those of Śāṇḍilya.
The 14 books of the Madhyandina recension can be divided into two major parts. The first 9 books have close textual commentaries, often line by line, of the first 18 books of the corresponding samhita of the Yajurveda. The following 5 books cover supplementary and ritualistically newer material, besides including the celebrated Bṛhad-Āraṇyaka Upaniṣad as most of the 14th and last book.
Among the points of interest in the text are its mythological sections, including the myths of creation and the Deluge of Manu.[5][6] The creation myth has several similarities to other creation myths, including the use of primordial water (similar to the Bible), the explanation of light and darkness, the separation of good and evil, and the explanation of time.
Translations
The Shatapatha Brahmana of Madhyandina School was translated into English by Julius Eggeling, in the late 19th century, in 5 volumes published as part of the Sacred Books of the East series.
The English translation of Kanva School was done by W.E. Caland in 3 parts.
See also
Notes
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Keith, Aitareya Āraṇyaka, p. 38 (Introduction): "by common consent, the Satapatha is one of the youngest of the great Brāhmaṇas"; footnotes: "Cf. Macdonell, Sanskrit Literature, pp. 203, 217. The Jaiminiya may be younger, cf. its use of ādi, Whitney, P.A.O.S, May 1883, p.xii."
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ The Satapatha Brahmana. Sacred Books of the East, Vols. 12, 26, 24, 37, 47, translated by Julius Eggeling [published between 1882 and 1900]
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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References
- Weber, The Catapatha-Brahmana, Berlin, 1949.
- Max Müller, The Satapatha-Brahmana, Madhyandina School,Vol. 12.Part1, Book 1 and 2, Clarendon Press, 1882; reprint by Motilal Banarsidass, 1972.
- Moriz Winternitz, A History of Indian Literature (Vol.I), Second edition 1972.
- W. P. Lehmann and H. Ratanajoti, Typological syntactical Characteristics of the Śatapathabrāhmaṇa, JIES 3:147-160.
