Essay name: Purana Bulletin
Author:
Affiliation: University of Kerala / Faculty of Oriental Studies
The "Purana Bulletin" is an academic journal published in India. The journal focuses on the study of Puranas, which are a genre of ancient Indian literature encompassing mythological stories, traditions, and philosophical teachings. They represent Hindu scriptures in Sanskrit and cover a wide range of subjects.
Purana, Volume 6, Part 1 (1964)
56 (of 135)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
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104
啶啶班ぞ啶｀ぎ啷� - [pur膩峁嘺m - ] 笔鲍搁膧狈础
[Vol. VI., No. 1
(ii) The Vatsya-Sakha: Nothing remains of this S膩kh膩. A
variant form of this name is Matsya (Vayu P.) which is a corrupt
form of Vatsya. Reference has been made to it by Patanjali.1
He is also mentioned in the Mah膩bh膩rata. He was present in
the sacrifice of Janamejaya and went to see Bhisma lying on
the arrows.3
(iii) The Saliya-Sakha: This is the third sub-recension of
the Sakalas.. The name occurs in the K盲sik盲-v峁泃ti (4.2.114).
The variations of this name are Khaliya, Khal膩yana and Khaliyan.
The verse quoted in the commentary of RK-Pr盲ti艣膩khya reads it as
艢膩r墨ra. Nothing is available of this S膩kh膩.
(iv) The G膩lava-艢膩kh膩: The name of G膩lava, as the founder
of a 艢膩kh膩 occurs seldom in Vedic literature. The variations of
this name are Gokhula, Golaka and Gomukha. But the real
name seems to be G盲lava. The reasons for accepting the name
G膩lava are these: In the beginning of the Saisira-艢ik峁Ｄ� the name
is given as G膩lava. In the Brhad-devat膩, G膩lava is referred to
along with 艢膩kapu峁噄 and Saunaka." In the A艣valayana, Kau-
sitaki and the Sambhavya Sutras he is referred to among the
Acaryas of the 峁歡veda. G膩lava was the resident of Pa帽c膩la
country and author of Krama-p膩峁環a.
(v) The Saisiriya-S膩kha; The only existing Samhita of the
Rgveda belongs to the school of the Saisiriyas. Saisiri or 艢i艣ira
is mentioned in the Pur膩峁嘺s as one of the five pupils of Sakalya.
In the Pura峁嘺s the name has some variations e. g. So艣areya.
Panini mentions to the Sau艣ari in the Ganapatha.
The Pur膩峁嘺s are not fully acquainted with Saisiri. They
only know that he was a pupil of S盲kalya. From the references
of Saunaka it is obvious that he was fully aware of the Saisiriya
S膩kh膩. He refers the number of Anuv膩kas in the Saisir墨ya-
1. Patanjali on p盲nini, IV. 3. 126.
2. Adiparva, 53.9.
3. Santiparva, 47.5.
4. Saisira-Siksa : 啶啶︵啶椸げ啷� 啶椸ぞ啶侧さ啷� 啶椸ぞ啶班啶椸啶 啶多ぞ啶曕げ啷嵿く啶� 啶多啶多た啶班た啶膏啶むぅ啶�.
[mudgalo g膩lavo g膩rgya岣� 艣膩kalya岣� 艣ai艣iristath膩.
] 5. Brhad-devata, VIII. 38.
6. 啶膏啶た啶む啶班た 啶多啶多ぐ啶� 啶多啶班ぞ啶膏啶班た... [saumitri 艣au艣ari 艣r膩suri... ] Pagini-Gapapatha.
Jan., 1964] SAKHAS OF RGVEDA IN THE PUR膧峁咥S
105 Samhita. Further the Anuv膩k膩nu krama峁噄 mentions the number
of the hymns in the Saisiriya-Sakh膩 as 1017.
The Baskala-Sakh膩
According to the Caranavyuha of Saunaka the Sakh膩
of the Ba峁alas is another major 艢膩kh膩 of the Rgveda.
The Devi-Puranaza holds that the Rgved has only three
S膩kh膩s, viz. 艢akala, Ba峁ala and Mandaka. It seems that
Ba峁ala was the name of a R峁 who founded this S膩kh膩. Accord-
ing to the Bh膩gavata and the Visnu Pur膩峁嘺s, Ba峁ala was the
son of Anuhr膩da and Surmaya and disciple of Paila. He learnt
the Rgveda and taught it to Bodhya and others. He also rearra
nged the Samhita into four parts with the help of his four
disciples, Bodhya, Agnim膩岣峢aka, Yajnavalkya and Par膩艣ara. He
arranged three more Samhitas and entrusted them to G盲rgya.
K盲l膩yani and Kathajapa, all his pupils. The Bhagavata, further
mentions a R峁, Ba峁ali, who was the son of Ba峁ala, the author
of the V盲lakhilya Samhita, who imparted it to B膩l膩yani and
others. The other Pur膩nas regard him as an Angirasa and
Mantra-k峁泃. Here, too, he is mentioned as a pupil of Paila.
Four Sub-divisions of the Baskalas: According to the
Pur膩峁嘺s Ba峁ala taught his Samhita to his four pupils. Great
variation is seen in the names of these four pupils. None the less,
these names could be fixed thus: Baudhya, (2) Agnim膩峁環ara,
(3) Par膩艣ara and (4) Jatukarnya. According to the Pur膩峁嘺s
Baudhya (or Bodhya) was a pupil of Ba峁ala." In the Pur膩峁嘺s
he is designated as a Siddha. He was incharge of a RK-
Samhita. According to Panini Baudhya was the son of Bodha
who belonged to Angirasa family." The Mah膩bh膩rata, too, is
aware of Bodhya R峁 who preached to king Yay膩ti. His preachings
were called as Bodhya-G墨t膩.8
1. Verse 9.
2. Verse 36.
2 a. Devi-Pur膩峁嘺 (as quoted in gveda
Poona ed. Vol. IV, P. 904).
3. Bhag. P., XII. 6. 54-5.
Bhag., VI. 15. 14, XII. 6. 55;
4. Bh盲g., XII. 6. 59.
5.
Bhag., XII.6. 12, Vis峁噓, III. 4. 18.
6.
Brahmanda, II. 34. 37.
8.
antiparvan, Chapter 178.
7. Panini, IV. 1. 107.
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