Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa

The Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa (Sanskrit तैत्तिरीयब्राह्मण, meaning 'Brāhmaṇa of the school of Tittri', abbreviated to 'TB') is a commentary on the Krishna Yajurveda.

Considered by academics to be an appendix or extension of the Taittirīya Samhita, the first two books (ashṭakas) largely consist of hymns and Mantras to the Vedic-era Devas, as well as Mythology, astronomy, and astrology (i.e. the Nakshatras); the third book contains commentaries and instructions on Vedic sacrificial rites such as the Purushamedha, Kaukili-Sutramani, Ashvamedha, and Agnicayana.

According to the Monier-Williams Sanskrit Dictionary, the sage Tittiri (or Taittiri) was a pupil of Yaska (estimated 300-400 BCE).

[6] Tittiri is also stated in the Mahabharata to have attended 'the Yaga [Vedic ritual sacrifice] conducted by Uparicaravasu' (Dvapara Yuga, before 3000 BCE).

'[7] The Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) states that the Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa 'belongs to Krishna Yajurveda and [is] divided into three khandas [or ashṭakas, i.e. books]...

Harness states that the ''stars of the Zodiacal belt had a particular importance as reflecting and projecting heavenly influences that the Planets travelling through them energised...

In the TS [Taittirīya Samhita] (7, 1, 5) this cosmogonic boar, which raised the earth from the primeval waters, is described as a form of Prajāpati.

Devas only seek shelter in them and only depend on them.Vamana is primarily associated with the Puranic legend of taking back the three worlds from the Asura-king Bali in three steps.

K. Ishwaran seems to incorrectly state that 'there seems to be no unequivocal reference to the cyclical notion of time in the Sruti [literature]... the word yuga does not mean an age or the theory of four yugas (Kane 1946:886-8), and the words Krta, Treta, Dvapara and Kali mean throws of dice (1946:886-8).

[25] In addition, 3.4.16 (Anuvāka 16, enumerated in the section on the third ashṭaka) is listed as (emphasis added) 'To the presiding divinities of dice and of the Satya Yuga, etc., dice-players, those who frequent gambling halls, and the like...'.

[12] Other relevant extracts include The Rishi questioned the priest "What is the aim or goal in performing the sattra Yajna?

[28] According to M. Rajendralala, as 'a manual of rituals the first kanda [or prapāṭhaka] of the Taittirīya Brahmana opens with Agnihotra or the establishment of the household fire.

Every householder and his wife had to devote their careful attention to the maintenance of this fire and to offering to it oblations of butter and the booking thereon of frumenty [a dish of hulled wheat boiled in milk].

[29] R. Woodard adds that 'the Vedic Sautramani belongs chiefly to Indra, taking its name from his epithet Satraman, 'good protector'.

The Vedic rite is, however, rather complex; while Indra is the principal recipient, deities of the realm of fertility and fecundity [reproduction] figure prominently'.

The bird doing the task of bringing the Amrita went back to Heaven.Kurma is most commonly associated in the Itihāsa (epics) and Puranas with the legend of the churning of the Ocean of Milk, referred to as the Samudra manthan.

The ocean is churned with a mountain on the back of the Tortoise avatar to acquire the nectar of immortality called Amrita for the gods, led by Indra.

From the Mahabharata: The gods then went to the king of tortoises ['Kurma-raja'] and said to him, 'O Tortoise-king, thou wilt have to hold the mountain on thy back!'

[33] In the Bhagavata Purana (Canto 8, Chapter 6), Krishna carries the Mandara mountain on the back of Garuda to the Ocean of Milk.

[19] Notably, 2.8.2.23 states that a mountain represents ignorance, and 2.4.6.21 states: The wise (amūra) Devas who win all the worlds (kshetra) do the act of churning (manthan) the Vaishvānara to release the power of immortality (amṛta).That Vishnu affirms on high by his mightiness, he is like a terrible lion that ranges in difficult places, yes, his abode is on the mountain-tops.

Narasimha is primarily associated with the Puranic legend of destroying the Asura-king Hiranyakashipu to protect the king's devotee son, Prahlada.

As effectively as a bath washes off the sins done by me in handling the residues of the butter used in Yajna.Rajendralala states that the 'first subject treated of in the third kanda [ashṭaka, 'book'] are the Constellations, some of which are auspicious and others the contrary.

[14] W. E. Hale and B. Smith cite issues 92–108 of the academic journal Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, to enumerate the structure and content of the third ashṭaka.

Knipe states that there 'is no inscriptional or other record that a purusua-medha [meaning 'human-sacrifice'] was ever performed, leading some scholars to suggest it was simply invented to round out sacrificial possibilities...

The significance of the entire enterprise is compromised when [the] SB [Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa] 13.6.2[44] presents a deus ex machina, an ethereal voice that intervenes to halt the proceedings: a sacrificer always eats the victim, man would therefore eat man, not an acceptable act, ergo, no performance'.

Accordingly, as soon as fire had been carried round them, he set them free, and offered oblations to the same divinities, and thereby gratified those divinities, and, thus gratified, they, gratified him with all objects of desire.However, R. Mitra is less convinced, stating that neither 'Aspastambha [founder of a Shakha (school) of Yajurveda] nor Sayana [commentator on the Vedic texts] has a word to say about the human victims being Symbolical... it must be added, however, that Apastambha is very brief and obscure in his remarks, and it would be hazardous to draw a positive conclusion from the insufficient data supplied by him, particularly as the Satapatha Brāhmaṇa is positive on the subject of the human victims being let off after consecration; though the fact of the Brahmana being much later than the Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa, may justify the assumption that the practice of the Kanva [and Madhyandina] school[s] can be no guide to the followers of the Taittiriyaka'.

[47] Rick F. Talbott states that the 'total ceremony of the Ashvamedha [meaning 'Horse-Sacrifice'] lasted over a year with the actual rites surrounding the sacrifice of the chosen horse taking only three days.

The Horse Sacrifice also required [four] types of priests... Only the victorious king could perform the Ashvamedha [itself]... like all of the new or full moon ceremonies this rite had a special significance for the events that followed'.

[49] The 14th-century Sanskrit scholar Sayana composed numerous commentaries on Vedic literature, including the Samhitas, Brahmanas, Aranyakas, and Upanishads.

Modak states that one of those commentaries by Sayana, a member of the Taittirīya Shakha, was on the Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa, and explains that 'king Bukka [1356–1377 CE] requested his preceptor and minister Madhavacharya to write a commentary on the Vedas, so that even common people would be able to understand the meaning of the Vedic Mantras.