428 ON THE ve'das, 



and from the Brahman'a, of which it is an extract^ 

 Caushitaci Brahman' a Vpanishad. From an abridg- 

 ment of it (for I have not seen the work at large), 

 it appears to contain two dialogues ; one, in which 

 Indra instructs Pratardana in theology; and 

 another, in which Aja'tas'atru, king of Ca's'i, 

 communicates divine knowledge to a priest named 

 Ba'la'ci. a similar conversation between these 

 two persons is found likewise in the Vrihad'ara- 

 n'ya of the Yajurveda ; as will be subsequently no- 

 ticed. Respecting the bther contents of the Brah- 

 maria, from which these dialogues are taken, I 

 have not yet obtained any, satis factoiy informal 

 tion. 



The abridgment above-mentioned occurs in a 

 metrical paraphrase of twelve principal UpanisJiads, 

 in twenty chapters, by Vidya'ran'ya, the pre- 

 ceptor of Ma'diiava Acharija. He expressly states 

 CaiisJutact as the name of a S'acha of the Rigveda, 



The original of the CausJiilaci was among the 

 portions of the Veda^ which Sir Robert Cham- 

 bers collected at Benares ; according to a list, 

 which he sent to me, some time before his de- 

 parture from India. A fragment of an Upanishad, 

 procured at the same place by Sir William Jones, 

 and given by him to Mr. Blaquiere, is marked 

 in his hand writing, " The beginning of the Cau- 

 shitaci'' In it, the dialogists are Chitra, sur- 

 iiamed Ganga yani, and Swe'tacetv, with his 

 father Udda'laca, sonofARUNAt 



I shall resume the consideration of this portion 

 of the Rigvida, whenever I have the good for- 

 tune to obtain the complete text and commen- 

 tary, either of the Brdhman'a, or of the Upanishad^ 

 which bears this title. 



