Contents of the Brāhmaṇas of the Yajurveda

[Full title: A brief description of the contents of the Brāhmaṇa literature of the four Veda: (3): Brāhmaṇas of the Yajurveda]

i) The Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa

The Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa of the Black Yajurveda is nothing but a continuation of the Taittirīya Saṃhitā for the Brāhmaṇas were already included in the saṃhitās of the Black Yajurveda. A special feature of this Brāhmaṇa is that it is accented. It contains of three Kāṇḍas, each of which is further divided in to Prapāṭhakas consisting of various Anuvākas. An Anuvāka is again subdivided in to units of ten clauses. The first two books are called Aṣṭaka comprising of eight chapters. The third book consists of twelve chapters and the last three books are called kathakaṃ belonging to the kathās. The main contents of this Brāhmaṇa are as follows:

Agnyādhana, Gavāmayaṇa, Vājapeya, Rājasūya, Agnihotra, kaukili Sautrāmanī, Sava, Optional sacrifices, Naksatresti, Mantras relating to Darśapaurnamāsa, Puruṣamedha, Horse Sacrifice, Varieties of AgnicayanaSavitra, Naciketa, Caturhotra, and Vaisvasrja.

ii) The Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa– The Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa is the only Brāhmaṇa attached to the Śukla Yajurveda or Vājasaneyī Saṃhitā. Mahidhara, the commentator of the Śukla Yajurveda interprets the term ‘Śukla’ in the sense of ‘Subra’ or ‘white’ since, according to him the sage Yājñavalkya himself visualized this saṃhitā by the grace of the Sun. This is the most famous, extensive, doubtless and very significant of all the Brāhmaṇas. It is called Śatapatha, because it consists of one hundred Adhyāyas. The name Śatapatha first found in a Vārtika to the Paninian rule ‘Kratūkthādisūtrāntāṭṭhak’^[1] where both Śatapatha (components of hundred chapters) and Ṣaṣṭipatha (components of sixty chapters) are mentioned. According to Weber and Eggeling and other ideologists, this Brāhmaṇa originally consisted of sixty chapter or adhyāyas. Later on, the remaining chapters are included into it to make this Brāhmaṇa of hundred paths. By the denomination of the term ‘Ṣaṣṭipatha’ we understood that it is actually the first nine kāṇḍas of the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa of the Mādhyandina recension. These nine kāṇḍas comprises of sixty chapters or adhyāyas in all. In the primary stage, this Brāhmaṇa was read by the savants in that shape (i.e. in nine kāṇḍas comprises of sixty chapters). These sixty chapters are regarded as a separate book where in we find a clear description of the ancient Indian sacrificial systems. It will not be unwise if we admit this portion as ‘Ṣaṣṭipatha’

The Vājasaneyī Saṃhitā is divided in to two recensions namely kānva and Mādhyandina. The famous Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa is available in these two recensions. The Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa of the Mādhyandina recension are available in hundred (100) Adhyāyas which are distributed among fourteen (14) books called Kāṇḍas. Each book or Kāṇḍa is divided in to various adhyāyas, which are subdivided in to several Prapāṭhakas. The Prapāṭhakas are again sub divided into many Kāṇḍikās. Thus, in all total there are fourteen (14) Kāṇḍas, Sixty eight (68) Prapāṭhakas, four hundred thirty eight (438) Brāhmaṇas and seven thousand six hundred twenty four (7624) Kāṇḍikās in the Mādhyandina recension of the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa.

The kānva recension of this Brāhmaṇa contains seventeen (17) Kāṇḍas, one hundred four (104) Adhyāyas, four hundred thirty-five (435) Brāhmaṇas and six thousand eight hundred six (6806) Kāṇḍikās.

The first nine books (Kāṇḍa) of the Mādhyandina recension are exactly a continuous commentary to the first eighteen chapters of the Vājasaneyī Saṃhitā. They are believed to be older than the last five. In kāṇḍa I to V, the Sage Yājñavalkya is often mentioned as the great authority, where as in kāṇḍas VI-IX, which deals with the lying of the fire alter (Agnicayana), Yājñavalkya is not at all mentioned. But this portion is ascribed to sage Sāṇḍilya. That Sāṇḍilya is also considered to be introducer of the Agni Rahasya i.e. the ‘firealter-mystery’ which constitutes the contents of the Book X. But from this we cannot say that the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa is totally free from the influence of the Yājñavalkya. Actually these two teachers, Yājñavalkya and Sāṇḍilya were equally received great importance in those days. Therefore the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa cannot be declared as the product of a single author. The Kāṇḍas from XI to XIV contain supplements of the previous Kāṇḍas. The subject matter of the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa are as follows:

The first kāṇḍa of the famous Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa starts with the description of famous sacrifice named as Darśapurnamāseṣṭi or new and full moon sacrifice. In this kāṇḍa, we get the description about the vow of abstinence, preparation of offerings, arrangements of the altar, kindling of the fire, Agharau or two libations of ghee, special preparatory rites of New-Moon sacrifice, major offerings viz. cake to Agni, law-voiced offering (upāmsuyāga) to Agni-Soma, cake to Indra, Agni and many other rites were describe in this Kāṇḍa.

In the second Kāṇḍa there is the description of establishment of sacred fires or Agnyādhana. The second kāṇḍa also deals with numerous sacrifices such as the daily performance of Agnihotra or Morning and Evening Milk offering or worship of fire and various ceremony related to it, such as PiṇḍaPitṛyajña, the Dakṣāyana sacrifice, an iṣṭi type of sacrifice named as Navānna and the illustrious Cāturmāsya including of numerous rites and performances viz. Vaiśvadeva, Varuṇapraghāsa, Sākamedha and Sunāsirīya.

The third and fourth Kāṇḍa deals with the detail description of the wellknown Soma sacrifice. In the concluding part of this kāṇḍa there are descriptions of some additional form of Soma sacrifice such as Sodāsin, Dvādasāha, Gavāmayana and so on.

The fifth Kāṇḍa starts with the discussion of different kinds of Soma sacrifice like Rājasūya and Vājapeya. At the end of this kāṇḍa we find the description of Śautrāmaṇī.

The fifth kāṇḍa completes with the discussion of some sacrifices having political end in view viz. Aśvamedha (Horse sacrifice), Puruṣamedha (human sacrifice), Sarvamedha (sacrifice for universal rule). As a supplement these sacrifices are also discussed in the thirteenth kāṇḍa of this Brāhmaṇa.

In the sixth kāṇḍa, the detail description of Agnicayana or building of the fire altar begins. The Agnicayana ritual also continues in the seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth kāṇḍa also.

The eleventh kāṇḍa deals with the New and Full moon sacrifice i.e. Darśapaurnamāsa Sacrifice as already discussed in the first kāṇḍa. Along with this some seasonal sacrifices, Soma sacrifices, Agnihotra, animal sacrifice are also discussed again.

The twelfth kāṇḍa deals with satra or sessional sacrifice, known as Gavāmayana and also mention the additional expiatory rites for Agnihotra, Soma sacrifices and the Sautrāmanī. In this kāṇḍa we also get the myth of Pururavā and Urvaśi and also the cosmogonic legend of the golden egg and Prajāpati.

In the thirteenth kāṇḍa, we get the detail description of four important sacrifices viz. Aśvamedha, Puruṣamedha, Sarvamedha and Pitṛmedha. The eighth Adhyāya of this kāṇḍa deals with the funeral ceremonies of the Vedic age, the formation of burial mounds of different size according to different sexes and castes of the dead, reflects the social custom of that age.

The last kāṇḍa i.e. the fourteenth book deals with the Pravargya ceremony. Pravargya is an important rite. It is optionally performed on the Upasad days of Soma sacrifice. The ceremony is about the preparation of a hot draught of milk and ghee which the sacrificer has to take after oblations that have been made to the various deities. This kāṇḍa is generally called Āraṇyaka as in its last six adhyāyas it contains the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣat. The importance of this Upaniṣat can never be over estimated as it is the finest product of the Vedic Philosophy. It deals with the debates between Yājñavalkya and Gārgi, the most learned female scholar in ancient India at the court of the King Janaka, the philosophical discussion between Yājñavalkya and his wife. All these are recorded in the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣat.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Pāninian rule-IV/2/60