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The Brāhmaṇas (Devanagari: ब्राह्मणं) are part of the Hindu śruti literature. They are commentaries on the four Vedas, detailing the proper performance of rituals.
Each Vedic shakha (school) had its own Brahmana, and it is not known how many of these texts existed during the Mahajanapadas period. About twenty in number have survived into modern times.
The Brahmanas were also seminal in developing later Indian thought and scholarship, including Hindu philosophy, predecessors of Vedanta, law, astronomy, geometry, linguistics (Panini), the concept of Karma, or the stages in life such as brahmacarya, grihastha and eventually, sannyasi. Some Brahmanas contain sections that are Aranyakas or Upanishads in their own right.
List
Each Brahmana is associated with one of the four Vedas, and within the tradition of that Veda with a particular shakha or school:
- Rigveda
- Shakala shakha: Aitareya Brahmana (AB)
- Bashkala shakhacitation needed: Kaushitaki Brahmana or Śāṅkhāyana Brahmana (KB, ŚānkhB)
- Samaveda
- Kauthuma: Tandyamaha or Pañcaviṃśa Brahmana (PB), Śādviṃśa Brahmana (ṢadvB)
- Samavidhana Brahmana
- Arseya Brahmana
- Devatadhyaya or Daivata Brahmana
- Mantra or Chandogya Brahmana (MB)
- Samhitopanisad Brahmana
- Vamsa Brahmana
- Jaiminiya Brahmana (JB)
- Jaiminiya Arseya Brahmana
- Jaiminiya Upanishad Brahmana (JUB)
- Yajurveda
- Krishna: the Brahmana sections are integrated into the Samhitas:
- Maitrayani Samhita (MS) and an Aranyaka (= accented Maitr. Up.)
- (Caraka)Katha Samhita (KS); the Katha school has an additional fragmentary Brahmana (KathB) and Aranyaka (KathA)
- Kapisthalakatha Samhita (KpS), and a few fragments of its Brahmana
- Taittiriya Samhita (TS). The Taittiriya school has an additional Taittiriya Brahmana (TB) and Aranyaka (TA) as well as the late Vedic Vadhula Anvakhyana (Br.)
- Shukla
- Vajasaneyi Madhyandina: Shatapatha Brahmana, Madhyadina recension (SBM)
- Kanva: Shatapatha Brahmana, Kanva recension (SBK)
- Krishna: the Brahmana sections are integrated into the Samhitas:
- Atharvaveda
- Paippalada: Gopatha Brahmana
References
- Arthur Berriedale Keith, Rigveda Brahmanas (1920); reprint: Motilal Banarsidass (1998) ISBN-13: 978-8120813595.
- A. C. Banerjea, Studies in the Brāhmaṇas, Motilal Banarsidass (1963)
- E. R. Sreekrishna Sarma, Kauṣītaki-Brāhmaṇa, Wiesbaden (1968, comm. 1976).
- Dumont,P.E. [translations of sections of TB 3 ]. PAPS 92 (1948), 95 (1951), 98 (1954), 101 (1957), 103 (1959), 104 (1960), 105 (1961), 106 (1962), 107 (1963), 108 (1964), 109 (1965), 113 (1969).
- Caland, W. Über das Vadhulasutra; Eine zweite / dritte / vierte Mitteilung über das Vadhulasutra. [= Vadhula Sutra and Brahmana fragments (Anvakhyana)]. Acta Orientalia 1, 3-11; AO II, 142-167; AO IV, 1-41, 161-213; AO VI, 97-241.1922. 1924. 1926. 1928. [= Kleine Schriften, ed. M. WItzel. Stuttgart 1990, pp. 268-541]
- Caland. W. Pancavimsa-Brahmana. The Brahmana of twenty five chapters. (Bibliotheca Indica 255.) Calcutta 1931. Repr. Delhi 1982.
- Bollée, W. B. Sadvinsa-Brahmana. Introd., transl., extracts from the commentaries and notes. Utrecht 1956.
- Bodewitz, H. W. Jaiminiya Brahmana I, 1-65. Translation and commentary with a study of the Agnihotra and Pranagnihotra. Leiden 1973.
- Bodewitz, H. W. The Jyotistoma Ritual. Jaiminiya Brahmana I,66-364. Introduction, translation and commentary. Leiden 1990.
- Gaastra, D. Das Gopatha Brahmana, Leiden 1919
- Bloomfield, M. The Atharvaveda and the Gopatha-Brahmana (Grundriss der Indo-Arischen Philologie und Altertumskunde II.1.b) Strassburg 1899
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