On Maitrayani Yajurveda traditions

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Discussing the history of the Manava Maitrayani school, Kashikar states (see

reference at the end) that :

 

Pg. 105: As the epigraphical records indicate, grants were made to the

Maitrayaniya Pandits by Royal families in different regions like Sambalpur

(Orissa), Saurashtra, Surparaka etc. One cannot say whether these grants were

made to the Pandits by special invitations or whether there were colonies of

the Maitrayaniyas in those regions. The manuscripts which were procured for

preparing the editions of the Matrayani Samhita and the Manava Srauta and

Grhya Sutras belonged to the region known as Baglan. This means that in

historical times Maitrayaniyas lived only in this region. In Patanjali's

time, the Kalapakas or Maitrayaniyas lived in Punjab in large numbers. There

is no trace of this recension now in that region. Nor do we come across any

Maitrayaniya settlement in the region known from epigraphical records. From

the fact that the royal family of the Baguls brought with them the

Maitrayaniya families from Kanauj to Baglan, it becomes evident that the

Maitrayaniyas were originaklly included among the five Gauda sects.

 

Pg. 106: A verse from the Sahyadrikhanda of the Skandapurana supports this

fact. After being settled in Baglan they were enumerated among the five

Dravida sects. Ultimately the Maitrayaniyas were confined only to this

region. The districts of Gujarat and northern Maharashtra preserved the

Maitrayaniya tradition. The credit of preserving on the surface of the earth

the tradition and religious practices of the Maitrayaniyas thus goes to the

rulers who colonized the Vaidiks in Baglan and patronized them and also to

the Vaidiks who came down and maintained the tradition….

 

The generations of Maitrayaniyas living in Baglan were divided into two

branches by rason of the different spoken languages namely, Gujarati and

Marathi. Naturally their Maitrayaniya traditions developed along rather

different lines.Already during their migration to Baglan which might have

taken a long time, the Maitrayaniyas might have suffered from heavy odds

resulting in the damage to their religious traditions. During migration and

also in Baglan their tradition of domestic rites might have been already

preserved. On the other hand, the tradition of sacrificial rituals was

declining from the Sutra period itself, hence there is no wonder that the

Srautrasutra text had begum to suffer from an insecure tradition. Since the

ritual tradition was on a decline, the preservation of Srautrasutra text in a

written form must also have suffered. It seems the tradition in northern

Maharashtra suffered more than in Gujarat. All the manuscripts, which exist,

are copied in fractions. Such a practice might have been responsible for the

loose and defective sequence of the Sutra text.

The damage done to the Matrayaniya recension as a whole is quite obvious. The

Maitrayani Samhita itselr suffered from insecure tradition. There must have

been a Pada text for the Samhita which is now totally lost. A mantra-Samhita

serially collecting only the mantra-portions out of the mixed Mantra-Brahmana

portions was formulated probably for avoiding the strain on memory of the

Vedic students. One is at a loss to know the age of that compilation. In

recent times, even a Padapatha was the newly devised for priestly purpose.

While the Padapatha in the Gujarat tradition was based in the mantra-portions

only, that in the Maharashtra tradition was based on the Samhita-text as it

is irrespective of whether it was mantra or brahmana.

 

Pg. 107 In selecting only the mantra portions for the Padapatha, the Gujarat

tradition followed the Sukla Yajurveda tradition in which the mantras form an

independent collection. The Maharashtra tradition followed the Krsna

Yajurveda Taittiriya tradition in which the Samhita consisting of both the

mantras and the brahmana is provided with a Padapatha. Both the Padapathas

are defective; the Gujarat Padapatha may be said to be less defective.

 

Note:

Baglan= Gujarat + Northern Maharashtra

Kashikar has also suggested that the earlier view that Apastamba was indebted

to Manava is flawed and a closer examination of the texts rather suggests the

reverse.

 

Reference:

C. G. Kashikar; Manava Srautasutra (pg. 98-107) in "Dharmadhikari, T. N.; R.

S. Shastri; N. P. Jain; Vedic Texts: A Revision- Prof. C. G. Kashikar

Felicitation Volume; Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Pvt. Ltd.; Delhi; 1990"