Miscellany – A Note on a passage in the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa
By S. N. Pradhan
Summary
This brief note revisits a passage in the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa in which Caraka Vaiśampāyana challenges Yājñavalkya and Janaka. The author argues that Eggeling’s English translation has misled readers by rendering a past‑tense form as if it were present, thereby suggesting contemporaneity between Janamejaya and Janaka. By examining the grammar of the verb lū and its use in Vedic prose, the note shows that the phrase should be understood as a reference to events long past, not a narrative of current happenings. The author supports this reading with examples from other Brāhmaṇas and emphasises the need for careful philological attention to Vedic verb forms.
Conclusion
By correcting a mistranslation, the note eliminates one of the supposed synchronisms used to support speculative chronologies of early India. It reminds scholars that reliable historical inference depends on precise linguistic analysis rather than conjectural readings of difficult passages.