Sacred Laws of Aryas

SR No.: 007687
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Gorge Buhler
Publisher: Oxford
Publication Year: 1897
Total Pages: 1979
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 36 MB

Page 42

xli
'Some in their new birth become similar to Rishis by their knowledge of the Veda (srutarshi) through a residue of merit acquired in former existences.' In order to give an illustration of the latter case, the author adds in Sutra 6, 'Like Svetaketu.' The natural, and in my opinion, the only admissible interpretation of these words is, that Âpastamba considers Svetaketu to be one of the Avaras, who by virtue of a residue of merit became a Srutarshi. This is also the view of the commentator Haradatta, who, in elucidation of Sutra 6, quotes the following passage from the Khandogya Upanishad (VI, 1, 1-2):
INTRODUCTION.
'1. Verily, there lived Svetaketu, a descendant of Aruna. His father spake unto him, "O Svetaketu, dwell as a student (with a teacher); for, verily, dear child, no one in our family must neglect the study of the Veda and become, as it were, a Brahmana in name only."
'Verily, he (Svetaketu) was initiated at the age of twelve years, and when twenty-four years old he had learned all the Vedas; he thought highly of himself and was vain of his learning and arrogant."
There can be no doubt that this is the person and the story referred to in the Dharma-sûtra. For the fact which the Upanishad mentions, that Svetaketu learned all the Vedas in twelve years, while the Smritis declare fortyeight years to be necessary for the accomplishment of that task, makes Âpastamba's illustration intelligible and appropriate. A good deal more is told in the Khandogya Upanishad about this Svetaketu, who is said to have been the son of Uddâlaka and the grandson of Aruna (âruneya). The same person is also frequently mentioned in the Satapatha-brâhmana. In one passage of the latter work, which has been translated by Professor Max Müller1, it is alleged that he was a contemporary of Yâgñavalkya, the promulgator of the White Yagur-veda, and of the learned king Ganaka of Videha, who asked him about the meaning of the Agnihotra sacrifice. Now, as has been shown above, Apastamba knew and quotes the White Yagur-veda and
1 Hist. Anc. Sansk. Lit., p. 421 seq.
Google
Digitized by