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23. Should it be said that (the stories told in the Upanishads) are for the purpose of the Pāriplava; not so, since (certain stories) are specified.

We meet in the Vedānta-texts with certain stories such as ‘Pratardana the son of Divodāsa came to the beloved abode of Indra,’ &c., and similar ones. The question here arises whether the stories are merely meant to be recited at the Aśvamedha sacrifice or to convey knowledge of a special kind.–The Pūrvapakshin maintains that as the text’ they tell the stories’ declares the special connexion of those stories with the so-called pāriplava performance,

they cannot be assumed to be mainly concerned with knowledge.–This view the Sūtra negatives, on the ground that not all stories of that kind are specially connected with the pāriplava. The texts rather single out special stories only as suitable for that performance; on the general injunction quoted above there follows an injunction defining which stories are to be told, ‘King Manu, the son of Vivasvat,’ &c. The stories told in the Vedānta-texts do not therefore form parts of the pāriplava performance, but are connected with injunctions of meditations.