काण्व शतपथम्: Kanva Satapatha Brahman (A Critical Edition)

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In the Brahmanic literature, the Satapatha belonging to the Sukla Yajus is conspicuous for its comprehensive and exhaustive treatment of the Vedic sacrificial life and philosophy. It has given us a mighty thought : I am the whole and full Being - अहं ब्रह्मास्मि. It is avast storehouse of knowledge of multiple importance and significance. The Satapatha has two recensions : the Kanva and the Madhyandina. The latter has different editions. The Kanva text of the Satapatha being presented here is full, comprising seventeen Kandas.

It is constituted having consulted and collated with six selected full manuscripts out of twenty lying in different collections, at different places prominence has been given to Belgaum script of Shree Chidambar family. The traditionists, scholars and general readers would welcome this keenly awaited text for furthering their purpose and interest.

It is the sheer divine grace accompanied with incessant efforts for over two decades that the full text of the Kanva ‘Satapatha is now out as an edited piece. While studying Ananta Bhatta’s commentary on the Kanva Samhita of the ‘Sukla Yajus, I came to know that the Kanva text of the ‘Satapatha belonging to the ‘Sukla Yajus is not available in print, its oral tradition long back came to extinction and the manuscripts very limited in number are gathering dust in various collections. I was moved within to find such a pathetic state of the great text like ‘Satapatha, similar in size and significance with the Rgveda.

When I thought of editing the ‘Satapatha I did not imagine the difficulties and hurdles lying ahead. Later, I encountered them and at times felt my hands are too feeble to cope with this enormous work. The Trinity - The lord ‘Sri Yajnyavalkya, ‘Sri Chidambar Maharaj of Gurlhosur and His Holiners the Late ‘Sri. Chandrashekharendra Saraswati of Kanchi, showered grace and all the odds are now things of the past. It is this trinity and also the blessings of Sri Datta Maharaj Kaviswar of Pune that enabled me to complete the work. I am only instrumental.

In the edition, at a number of places, I had to opt for two readings; one in the body of the text and another in the bracket. In the text a note is added at more than hundred places. The variants are noted extensively and comprehensively. Still, I do not and cannot claim perfection. I appeal to the readers to pardon for possible human-errors.

I am very thankful to the Maharshi Sandipani Rashtriya Veda- Vidya Pratishthan, Ujjain, for publishing this great sacred vedic work.