Shatapatha Brahmana

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Shatapatha Brahmana (शतपथ ब्राह्मण śatapatha brāhmaṇa, "Brahmana of one-hundred paths", abbreviated ŚB) is one of the prose texts describing the Vedic ritual, associated with the White Yajurveda. It survives in two recensions, Madhyandina (ŚBM, of the vājasaneyi madhyandina shakha) and Kanva (ŚBK, of the kāṇva shakha), with the former having the eponymous 100 brahmanas in 14 books, and the latter 104 brahmanas in 17 books.

The ŚB is notable as one of the oldest prose (non-metrical) Sanskrit texts altogether. Linguistically, it belongs to the Brahmana period of Vedic Sanskrit, dated to the first half of the 1st millennium BCE (roughly 800 BCE).

Among the points of interest are the mythological sections embedded in it, including myths of creation and the Deluge of Manu. 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.

Some Hindu scholars have dated it to around 1800 BCE, based on the reference in it of migration from the Sarasvati river area to east India, because the river is said to have dried up around 1900 BCE. Archaeoastronomers have dated it to around 2000 BCE based on a reference to the Pleiades (Krttikas) "rising in the east" at autumnal equinox (ŚBM 2.1.2.1). Such dating interpretations are controversial. (see Hindu astronomy)

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 Brhadaranyaka Upanishad as most of the 14th and last book.

The Shatapatha Brahmana was translated into English by Prof. Julius Eggeling, in the late 19th century, in 5 volumes published as part of the Sacred Books of the East series.