Kapishthala Brahmana and Kapishthala Aranyaka

[Vishal Agarwal]

Namaste Respected Scholars,

While reading the preface to Swami Maheshananda Giri's commentary on the Shvatashvatara Upanishad, published by the Dakshinamurty Matha (Mishra Pokhara, Varanasi) in 1975, I came across the following statements by Swamiji (Translation and paraphrase) -

"Despite numerous efforts, I was not able to procure the Samhita, Brahmana or the Aranyaka of the Shvetashvatara Sakha of Krishna Yajurveda. Therefore, I have contextualized the mantras of the Shvetashvatara Upanishad primarily with the help of Kapishthala Kathaka Brahmana and Kapishthala Kathaka Brahmana. However, as these texts were available to me only in manuscript form, I was not able to study them repeatedly and therefore had to consult the Taittiriya Brahmana and Taittiriya Aranyaka as well."

When I went through his entire commentary of Swamiji, I could not trace a single quotation from the Kapishthala Brahmana/Aranyaka, and for that matter, quotations from Taittiriya Brahmana were nil, and from Taittiriya Aranyaka were 5 or so (he does not quote Shruti passages very frequently in his learned commentary).

The above reference to Kapishthala Brahmana and Aranyaka are very intriguing to say the least, and I am sure that Swamiji had seen these manuscripts although he does not say where (in the Dakshinamurti grantha-bhandara?).

At the Anand Ashrama in Pune, there are two manuscripts titled 'Kapishtala Samhita', but from the length of the folios (as evident in the online catalog of digitized manuscripts published by IGNCA), it would appear that each of these two manuscripts would not cover more than 1-2 Ashtakas. Hopefully, I will be able to visit IGNCA soon to see the films of these manuscripts myself.

Pandit Bhagavadatta, writing in 1920s, had mentioned, "I met a Pandit XYZ (cannot recall the name - Vishal) at Nashik who had come across some Brahmins from Mulatapi (Multai in Betul district- Vishal) who knew their Katha Samhita very well." Likewise, in the estuary of Tapi river in Gujarat, there is a community of Kapishthala Brahmins. A community of these Kapishthala Brahmins is also said to be resident (and here, it could just mean the gotra Kapishthala, which is found all over N India as far as Kashmir) in Ujjain, which is not far from Betul. Durga, the commentator of Nirukta, was himself a Kapishthala Vashishtha gotriya Brahmin and wrote his work at Jambusar, which is on coastal Gujarat.

So my question to the revered scholars of this list is - have you come across any concrete references to the presence of a living tradition of Kapishthala Katha Yajurveda, and the presence of complete manuscripts of this Shakha? I am hopeful that this is the case, because in our own times, we have come across Shakhas that we had thought to have been lost - like Shankhayana Rigvedis in Banswara in rural Rajasthan who can still recite portions of their Samhita and maintain their manuscripts. And of course, the discovery of the Paippaladis in Orissa in the last century is well known too.

With regards,

Vishal

[Ganesh K]

Namaste,

THe Katharanyaka published by Adarsha Sanskrit shodha samstha(2009) lists only katharanyaka as available (and it lise the kapishtala katha as varient of kathakas).

However this book doesnt have not so similar passages with shvetashvatara. TITUS site has kathaka brahmana and aranyaka (remnant portions) however it is accessible only for TITUS members.

regards,

Ganesh K.

[Vishal Agarwal]

These works are not what I was looking for. The Katha Aranyaka, as you mention, incomplete in all of its printed editions. A complete edition of the same was in preparation by the late B B Chaubey, and I presume that he did leave an editable/printable copy of this work before he passed away.

As for the Katha Brahmana, the printed portions in Kathaka Samkalana and in a Harvard PhD thesis are all for the Kashmirian version. The Kathaka portion of the Taittiriya Shakha are perhaps closer to the Kapishthala Katha version that I was referring to.

A solitary manuscript of the Kapishthala Katha Grhyasutra exists in Varanasi, and a transcript of the same with the Ramlal Kapoor Trust (Bahalgarh, Sonepat)..

Thank you.

With regards,

Vishal

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "भारतीयविद्वत्परिषत्" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to bvparishat+...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to bvpar...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

[rniyengar]

In this connection I wonder whether the village "Kapisthalam" and the neighbouring settlements in Tanjavur district, Tamil Nadu may provide some information. This is of course a speculation; but Kanchipuram, Kumbhakonam and the nearby villages on the banks of Kaveri have a hoary tradition of Vedaadhyayana, particularly the KYV. The name Kapisthalam perhaps honours or remembers the original Kapisthala (modern Kaithal) near the Kurukshetra to which place the Kapisthala-katha tradition owes its affiliation.

Thanks

RN Iyengar

[sunil bhattacharjya]

Namaste,

Can the area near Hampi in Karnataka be also called the ancient Kapi-sthala, as that was the place of the kapis like Hanuman and Sugrive and their people, in the times of Ramayana.

Regards,

Sunil KB

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to bvparishat+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.