Page:Sacred Books of the East - Volume 2.djvu/29

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xxvi
ÂPASTAMBA.

examination of the quotations from and references to Vedic and other books contained in Âpastamba's Sûtras, and especially in the Dharma-sûtra. We find that all the four Vedas are quoted or referred to. The three old ones, the Rik, Yagus, and Sâman, are mentioned both separately and collectively by the name trayî vidyâ, i.e. threefold sacred science, and the fourth is called not Atharvâṅgirasah, as is done in most ancient Sûtras, but Atharva-veda[1]. The quotations from the Rik and Sâman are not very numerous. But a passage from the ninth Mandala of the former, which is referred to Dh. I, 1, 2, 2, is of some extent, and shows that the recension which Âpastamba knew, did not differ from that which still exists. As Âpastamba was an adherent of the Black Yagur-veda, he quotes it, especially in the Srauta-sûtra, very frequently, and he adduces not only texts from the Mantra-samhitâ, but also from the Taittirîya-brâhmana and Âranyaka. The most important quotations from the latter work occur Dh. II, 2, 3, 16–II, 2, 4, 9, where all the Mantras to be recited during the performance of the Bali-offerings are enumerated. Their order agrees exactly with that in which they stand in the sixty-seventh Anuvâka of the tenth Prapâthaka of the recension of the Âranyaka which is current among the Ândhra Brâhmanas[2]. This last point is of considerable importance, both for the history of the text of that book and, as we shall see further on, for the history of the Âpastambîya school.

The White Yagur-veda, too, is quoted frequently in the Srauta-sûtra and once in the section on Dharma by the title Vâgasaneyaka, while twice its Brâhmana, the Vâgasaneyi-brâhmana, is cited. The longer one of the two passages, taken from the latter work, Dh. I, 4, 12, 3, does, however, not fully agree with the published text of the Mâdhyandina recension. Its wording possesses just sufficient resemblance to allow us to identify the passage which Âpastamba meant, but differs from the Satapatha-


  1. Âp. Dh. II, 11, 29, 12.
  2. The Taittirîya Âranyaka exists in three recensions, the Karnâta, Drâvida, and the Ândhra, the first of which has been commented on by Sâyana.