Shatapatha Brahmana

The Shatapatha Brahmana (IAST: 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 BCE, Iron Age India).[2]

Michael Witzel dates this text to the 7th-6th centuries BCE.[3] Jan N. Bremmer dates it to around 700 BCE.[4] According to Julius Eggeling (who translated the Vājasaneyi mādhyandina recension to English), the final version of the text was committed in 300 BCE, although some of its portions are "far older, transmitted orally from unknown antiquity".[5]

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.[6][7] 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

  1. ↑ Jones, Constance (2007). Encyclopedia of Hinduism. New York: Infobase Publishing. p. 404. ISBN 0816073368.
  2. ↑ 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."
  3. ↑ "Early Indian history: Linguistic and textual parametres." in The Indo-Aryans of Ancient South Asia, edited by G. Erdosy (1995), p. 136
  4. ↑ Jan N. Bremmer (2007). The Strange World of Human Sacrifice. Peeters Publishers. pp. 158–. ISBN 978-90-429-1843-6. Retrieved 15 December 2012.
  5. ↑ The Satapatha Brahmana. Sacred Books of the East, Vols. 12, 26, 24, 37, 47, translated by Julius Eggeling [published between 1882 and 1900]
  6. ↑ Klaus K. Klostermaier (2007). A Survey of Hinduism. SUNY Press. p. 97. ISBN 0-7914-7082-2.
  7. ↑ Sunil Sehgal (1999). Encyclopaedia of Hinduism: T-Z, Volume 5. Sarup & Sons. p. 401. ISBN 81-7625-064-3.

References

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