taittirIya-atharva-interaction

Source: TW

Note on possible taittiriya and atharvan interaction:

Taittiriya brāhmaņa 2nd aşțakā contains the so called upahoma mantras. The sūtrakāras give viniyogas for some but not all. The commentator simply mentions to take laingika viniyoga (i.e. as indicated in the mantra).

The 4th anuvāka of 4th adhyāya contains a set of mantras which is a cure for kilāsa taken to be śvetakuşțha or vitiligo. The mantra alludes to the herbs rajani, rāmā, kŕşņā and asikni. Evidently, a paste is made and applied on the discolored skin to restore normal skin color.

This is the realm of bhaişajya of atharvans. As unexpected, we see the same mantras embedded in Atharvaveda vulgate 1.23 and 1.24. 1.23 AVS corresponds to 1.16 of paippalāda śākhā. We can tentatively form a timeline of interactions by comparing the readings.

  1. TB 2.4.4 1-2 has total 5 anuştups the first 4 tallying with 1.23 AVS/1.16 AVP. The last mantra tallies with 3rd mantra of AVS 1.24.
  2. There are differences in the readings between AV-S vs AV-P and AV vs TB.
  3. The 2nd pada of the 2nd mantra has the most differences.

Ā tvā svo viśatām varņaH parā śuklāni pātaya- AV-S Ā tvā svo aśnutām varņaH parā śvetāni pātaya- AV-S| Ā naH svo aśnutām varņaH parā śvetāni pātaya- TB| 2nd pāda of 4 mantra is dūşyā kŕtasya in both AV and TB has kŕtyayā kŕtasya.

It appears TB didn’t borrow the mantras from either AV-P or AV-S. The AV-S redactor placed both sūktas one after the other and kaushika sūtra rubricates both in the cure. So this state in the form of 2 sūktas with 8 mantras can be taken as the latest in the evolution.

The 2nd sūkta of AV-S occurs in 1.26 if AV-P. So paippalāda didn’t place both next to each other. Also paippalāda has an extra mantra- yat tanūjam yad agnijam… However both contain the mantra “sarūpā nāma te mātā”. The readings in atharvan are identical. TB has single variant

Sarūpā .asyoşadhe instead of sarūpakŕt tvamoşadhe. So my conjecture is that both sūktas are used for vitiglio but probably used different herbs.

Darila the commentator of kaushika actually names bhringarāja, indravaruni, haridra and nili - 4 herbs which are mentioned as rāmā Kŕşnā etc in the first sūkta. The second sūkta talks about a single herb made by āsuri from the gall of the eagle and not 4 different herbs (assuming darila is correct in taking first sukta has 4 herbs). So IMO, timeline is common ancestor - TB - AV-P - AV-S.

It is entirely possible the common ancestor is a lost Atharvan śākhā. It would be interesting to speculate where, how and when taittiriyakas were interacting with atharvans.