The mantra and the brahmana together form the veda (mantrabrahmanayor veda namadheyam). Rgveda, Samaveda and Atharvaveda have separate samhitas and brahmana texts. The Yajurveda has two main divisions : the Black or Krsna Yajurveda and the White or Sukla Yajurveda. The White Yajurveda has Vajasaneyi Samhita and the Satapatha Brahmana however in case of Black Yajurveda there is no clear distinction in its samhita and brahmana texts. Thus in the four Black Yajurveda texts viz. Taittiriya - Samhita, Maitrayani - Samhita, Kathaka - Samhita and the Kapisthala - Samhita, we find that these texts contain some mantras portion and some brahmana portion. The Taittiriya tradition is seen primarily in South India.
It is beyond question that the mantras of the Taittiriya must have been developed in that school from a common stock, which also afforded the origin of the other samhitas and especially of the Kathakas, the Kapisthala and the Maitrayani samhitas. All these texts show a generic similarity. The mere fact of the careful separation of mantra and brahmana.
Shown in the text of the White Yajurveda proves that they were thus arranged deliberately as an improvement on the confusion of the Taittiriya and other texts. It is true that this confusion may be overrated but the fact remains that in many cases even in the Taittiriya are found adjacent in the same section, a feature more common in the style of division of the Kathaka and the Maitrayani texts.
The grammar of the mantra portion of the samhita presents few points of importance. It essentially represents a stage intermediate between that of the Rgveda and the Brahmanas texts, but approximating much more to the former than the later.
A new edition of the text of the Taittiriya Samhita is being brought out along with a commentary by Sayana for the benefit of the scholars and students of the Veda. |
