z:\ ambedkar\vol 04\vol4 04.indd MK SJ YS 23 9 2013/YS 8 11 2013 147
APPENDIX I 147
May I be propagated from these waters. Along with this triple Vedic science he entered the waters. Thence sprang an egg. He gave it an impulse; and said, “Let there be, let there be, let there be again. Thence was first created sacred knowledge, the triple Vedic science. Wherefore men, say, ‘Sacred knowledge is the first-born thing in this universe. Moreover, it was sacred knowledge which was created from that Male in front, wherefore it was created as his mouth. Hence they say of a man learned in the Veda,’ ‘He is like Agni; for sacred knowledge is Agni’s Mouth’.”
“As from a fire made of moist wood various modifications of smoke proceed, so is the breathing of this great being. The Rig-Veda, the Yajurveda, the Sama-veda, the Atharvan-girases, the Itihasas, Puranas, science, the Upanishads, verses (slokas), aphorims, comments of different kinds—all these are his breathings.”
But when the Brahmans sought to establish their dogma of infallibility they made a distinction and divided the Vedic writings in two classes
(1) Shruti and (2) Non-Shruti. In the first division they placed only two of them (1) Sanhitas and (2) the Brahmanas and invested them with infallibility. The rest they declared as non-Shruti therefore of no authority. When this distinction, was first made it is not possible to say. One can well understand why the last two categories were excluded from the Shruti part division of the Vedic literature. They were too elementary and too undeveloped and in all probability included in the Brahmanas.
One can well understand why the Aranyakas are not specifically mentioned as a part of the Shruti. They are part of the Shruti and must be for the simple reason that they are a part of the Brahmanas. The position of the Upanishads is not clear. But if they are not included in the Shruti one can well understand why they were excluded. But the case of the Sutras stands on a different footing. They are definitely excluded from the category of Shruti and for reasons, which it is not possible to comprehend. If there were good reasons for including the Brahmanas in the category of Shruti the same reasons could not fail to justify the inclusion of the Sutras. As Prof. Max Muller observes:
“We can understand how a nation might be led to ascribe a superhuman origin to their ancient national poetry, particularly if that poetry consisted chiefly of prayers and hymns addressed to their gods. But it is different with the prose compositions of the Brahamanas. The reason why the Brahmanas, which are evidently so much more modern than the Mantras, were allowed to participate in