Brahmana

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The Brāhmaṇas (Devanagari: ब्राह्मणं) are part of the Hindu śruti.

They are composed in Vedic Sanskrit, and the period of their composition is sometimes referred to as the Brahmanic period or age (approximately between 900 BCE and 500 BCE). They are essentially commentaries of the Vedas, explaining Vedic ritual. The earliest Brahmanas may have been written several centuries earlier, contemporary to the Krishna Yajurveda commentary prose, but they have only survived in fragments.

The Brahmanas are originally instructions for the proper performance of ritual and sacrifice, but they are also the nucleus of later Hindu philosophy, introducing concepts of Karma and Samsara, the four stages in the life of a Brahmin, viz., brahmacarya, grihastha, vanaprastha, sannyasi, and mystical notions presaging Vedanta philosophy. Some Brahmanas contain sections that came to be considered an Aranyaka or Upanishad in their own right.

[edit] List

Each Brahmana is associated with one of the four Vedas, and within the tradition of that Veda with a particular shakha or school:

• Rigveda
  • Shakala shakha: Aitareya Brahmana (AB)
  • Bashkala shakha: Kaushitaki Brahmana (KS)
  • Tandya Brahmana
• Samaveda
  • Kauthuma: PB, SadvB
  • Jayminiya: Jayminiya Brahmana (JB)
  • Tandyamaha or Pancavimsa Brahmana
  • Sadvimsa Brahmana
  • Samavidhana Brahmana
  • Arseya Brahmana
  • Devatadhyaya or Daivata Brahmana
  • Mantra or Chandogya Brahmana
  • Samhitopanisad Brahmana
  • Vamsa Brahmana
  • Jayminiya Arseya Brahmana
  • Jayminiya Upanisad Brahmana
• Yajurveda
  • Kathaka Brahmana
  • Krishna: the Brahmanas are integrated into the samhitas:
    • Maitrayani (MS)
    • Carakakatha (CS)
    • Kapisthalakatha (KS)
    • Taittiriya (TS). The Taittiriya school has an additional Taittiriya Brahmana (TB)
  • Shukla
    • Vajasaneyi Madhyandina: Shatapatha Brahmana, Madhyadina recension (ShB)
    • Kanva: Shatapatha Brahmana, Kanva recension (ShBK)
• Atharvaveda
  • Paippalada: Gopatha Brahmana

[edit] References

• Arthur Berriedale Keith, Rigveda Brahmanas (1920); reprint: Motilal Banarsidass (1998) ISBN-13: 978-8120813595.
• A. C. Banerjea, Studies in the Brāhmaṇas, Motilal Banarsidass (1963)
• E. R. Sreekrishna Sarma, Kauṣītaki-Brāhmaṇa, Wiesbaden (1968, 1976).de:Brahmanas

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