TRACING VEDIC DIALECTS - People.fas.harvard.edu

collection; the Upaniṣad-like secrets of the Agnicayana are explained. It is
difficult to decide whether the word was taken along eastwards, with the
Śāṇḍilya text, to the terrritory of the Vāj. school in Kosala and Bihar, or
whether it was introduced into the context of the Agnicayana discussion only
in the East, and at a relatively late date. JBa may hint a more Western
/Central origin, but this part of JB is late; cf, that it has 138 % as opposed
even to JUB with 18%.
We can recognise, at any rate, a strong occurrence in ŚB 10 and JBa, where
importance was attached to the concept within the framework of esoteric
discussion. From there it spread to the later ŚB (both BAUM and BAUK), to
the the latest books of the (by now Eastern!) Aitareyins (AA). Already in the
Up.s like texts of the SV and in the Up.s of the Vāj. the occurrence recedes:
ChU 0%, JUB 18%, BAUM 22 %, BAUK 48%. Not second death, but final
emancipation is discussed in these texts.
It is important to note that the Central schools are hardly affected. The
Taitt. school employs the concept, as far as true Taitt. texts are concerned,
only once in its late TB book 3.9, and otherwise in the aṣṭau kāṭhakāni, an
addition from the lost KaṭhB. Even a late Anubrāhmṇa, VādhB, has only one
occurrence, and a Sūtra of the same period, BŚS, has only 2 cases. Similarly,
the Central Kauṣītakis have only 2 instances in their Br. and Ar. taken
together. Finally, a Western school, the Kaṭhas, exhibit this word in the
decidedly late part3 of their Brāhmaṇa (i.e the parts which correspond to the
fragments preserved in TB 3.9-12 and TA 1-2, and the Svādhy.Br.= TA 2).
The origin of the word (and of the concept) punarmṛtyu is, therefore, in all
probability, to be found with the late Śāṇḍilya tradition of ŚB, e.g., not in the
extreme East of Northern India, but in a more Western region and, perhaps if
old, with their Southern neighbours, as can seen in JBa. 264 It is typical for the
esoteric discussions about the meaning of the Agnicayana (both Śāṇḍilya and
Kaṭha) and the Agnihotra. It is to be noted that both rituals were of
immediate concern for non-Brahmins as well; many Kṣatriyas take part in
the discussions about the Agnihotra, a standard topic of the brahmodyas and
other types of public debates. 265 The Agnicayana was, due to its cost and the
elaborate rituals involved, of interest especially to the royal families and the
well-to-do gentry.
references to Śāṭyāyani (10.4.5.2, the presumed author of Śāṭy.Br. > JB) and to Śāṇḍilya
(10.6.3, etc.) and Celaka Śāṇḍilyāyana (10.4.5.3).
264 Unless further research shows that ŚB 10, although a Śāṇḍilya book, was composed in
the East by members of the Śāṇḍilya school.
265 On this topic, cf. Fs. W. Rau, The case of the shattered head.
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