474- ON THE ve'das, 



tliirty-seven appertain to various S'achas, mostly 

 to that of the Paippuladis : but some of them, as 

 will be shown, are borrowed from other VMas. 



The Mun'daca, divided into six sections un- 

 equally distributed in two parts, is the first Upa~ 

 9?ishad of the A'tliarvana ; and is also one of the 

 most important, for the doctrines which it con- 

 tains. It has been fully illustrated by Sancaka, 

 whose gloss is assisted by the annotations of 

 Axandajnya'na. The opening of this Upanishady 

 comprising the whole of the first section, is here 

 subjoined. 



* Brahma' was first of the gods, framer of the 

 universe, guardian of the world. He taught the 

 knowledge of God, which is the foundation of all 

 science, to his eldest son At'harva. That holy 

 science, which Brah^ia' revealed to At'harvan *, 

 was communicated by him to Angir, who trans- 

 mitted it to Satyavaha, the descendant of Bha- 

 radwa'ja : and this son of Bharadwa'ja im- 

 parted the traditional -science to Angiras. 



' S'aunaca, or the son ofSuNACA, a mighty 

 householder, addressing Axgiras with due re- 

 spect, asked " What is it, O venerable sage, 

 tluough which, when known, this xmiverse is un- 

 derstood r" 



' To him the holy personage thus replied : "Two 

 sorts of science must be distinguished; as they, 

 who know God, declare: the supreme science, 



* Sancar 4 remarks, that At'harva, or At'harvan, may 

 have l)een the first creature, in one of the many modes of crea- 

 tion, which have beeji pracliscd bv Braiima', 



