INTEGRAL STUDY OF THE LITERATURES OF THE VADHULA SCHOOL

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(1) The study of the literatures of Vadhula school of the Yajurveda in Vedic India had so far been done with only the second rank materials, i.e. the Devanagari manuscripts found in some of the major libraries of India. The major work was done in early 1920's by Prof. W.Caland and all of the later studies are solely based upon the excerpts published by Caland. Hoever, the imperfect situation of the basic sources, i.e. the fundamental manuscripts, had long continued until 1990's, when Yasuke Ikari, the head investigator of present project, found new important manuscripts m South India.(2) General contents of the literatures of the Vadhula School of the Yajurveda of Veda produced in ancient India have first come to light through the examination of new manuscripts collected in South India by Ikari.. Among all of those first hand sources, the most important category of texts which go back to between sixth century B.C.and third cnetury B.C.have been identified, that is, the Brahmana, the Sr … More autasutra and the Grhyasutra belonging to this Vadhula school. After preliminary survey, transcription work of these texts have been completed and the fundamental work for further investigation has already been set. To meet the demand of international scholars who have been interested in the new finding of the texts of Vedic literature, some of the basic data of the materials have been distributed world-wide and they have been much acclaimed by scholars of various fields, for instance, by the comparative linguists of Indo-Iranian languages and researchers of Vedic literature.(3) Among the new materials which have not been known to the scholarly world, the focus of the research project has been set on the text of the Vadhula Anvakhyana (=Vadhula Brahmana). This text shows many interesting characteristics with regard to both linguitic features (syntax, morphology, vocabulary) and the ideas of Vedic history of religion. The text has a unique and important place in the Vedic literature, especially in the late development of late Vedic literature and Indian history of thought in general.(4) As a final report of the project, I have compiled a new critical text of the Vadhula Anvakhyana based upon the newly obtained manuscripts, whose complete text has been first presented to the scholarly circle. In the report, we have also presented an English translation with detailed notes of the first chapter of the text, the section of the Agnyadheya (The Establishment of the Fire-altars for the Srauta Ritual). Less