NEW SERIES VOL. XVIII THE SANKHAYANA ARANYAKA WITH AN APPENDIX ON THE MAHAVRATA BY ARTHUR BERRIEDALE KEITH, M.A., B.C.L. Of the Inner Temple, Barrister-at-Law, and of the Colonial Office PREFACE. THOUGH MSS. of the Sankhayana Aranyaka have for many years been available in Europe, that text as a whole has been unfortunate in remaining unedited, probably owing to the fact that most of it is not of special importance or originality, and that the part of greatest value and interest, the Kauṣītaki Upanisad, was published as long ago as 1861 by the late Professor Cowell in the Bibliotheca Indica. It forms, however, in many respects a close parallel to, and commentary on, the Aitareya Āraṇyaka, and I have thought it desirable to complete my edition and translation of that work by a literal rendering of the Sankhayana Āraṇyaka. I am aware that in several places my version is unsatisfactory, and I should have preferred if I could have found it possible to obtain further manuscript material for the constitution of the text of Adhyāyas vii-xv. But I am inclined to think that it is important in Sanskrit studies to observe some proportion between the effort expended and the value of the result, and I trust that this translation will afford students of the Veda a means of seeing, with the least expenditure of time and trouble, exactly what the Sankhāyana Āraṇyaka contains. A full comparison with the Aitareya Āraṇyaka will be found in my edition of the latter work, in the Indexes to which I have included the lexicographical and other matter of the Śānkhāyana so fully as to render an Index to this translation needless. I have added, as of more general interest, an Appendix on the Mahavrata rite. This paper was prepared for the recent |