THE SAMA VIDHANABRAHMANA (BEING THE THIRD BRAHMANA) OF THE SAMA VEDA. EDITED, TOGETHER WITH THE COMMENTARY OF SAYAṆA, AN ENGLISH BY A. C. BURNELL. VOLUME I. TEXT AND COMMENTARY, WITH INTRODUCTION. LONDON: TRÜBNER & CO., 57 AND 59, LUDGATE HILL. INTRODUCTION. 3 I. Or the history of the Sâmavidhânabrâhmaṇa there is not much to be told. Professor Max Müller first proved (in 1848) that there are eight Brâhmaņas of the Sâmaveda,' a fact which Professor Weber seemed much inclined to doubt;2 and the question may be said to have been only finally settled by the History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature, since which the authenticity of these Brahmaṇas has always been recognized. Colebrooke, in his valuable account of the Vedas, written at the end of the last century, makes no mention of the Sâmavidhâna and other smaller Brahmanas of the Sâma-veda. He had a MS., but it was copied long after the date of his articles. Passing from the European Sanskritists of the last century to the Brâhmans, we find that in the latter half of the 14th century A.D., Sâyaṇâcârya knew of eight Brahmanas of the Sâmaveda, and wrote Commentaries on them. He names them in his Commentaries on the Praudha, Shaḍvimça, 1 In a letter to Professor Benfey, v. Sâmaveda, pref. p. xiv., and again, with full detail, in his preface to his edition of the Rigveda with Sâyana's Commentary (p. xxvii.), in which he quotes Sâyana's Commentary on the Sâmavidhâna. 2 The article on the Sâmaveda in "Indische Studien," vol. i., and "Akademische Vorlesungen über Indische Literaturgeschichte,” p. 72. 3 Second edition, pp. 348-9. b |