Page:A History of Indian Philosophy Vol 1.djvu/50

 34 The Earlier Upaniads [CH. self has produced. In the story of Balaki Gargya and Ajatasatru (Bfh. II. I) referred to by him, B3Jaki Gargya is a boastful man who wants to teach the Kattriya Ajatasatru the true Brahman, but fails and then wants it to be taught by him. To this Ajatasatru replies (following Garbe's own translation) "it is contrary to the natural order that a Brahman receive instructioru from a warrior and expect the latter to declare the Brahman to him I." Does this not imply that in the natural order of things a Brahmin always taught the knowledge of Brahman to the Kattriyas, and that it was unusual to find a Brahmin asking a Kattriya aboutthe true knowledge of Brahman ? At the beginning of the conversation, Ajatasatru had promised to pay Balaki one thousand coins ifhe could tell him about Brahman, since all people used to run to J anaka to speak about Brahman 2. The second story of Svetaketu and Pravahal)a J aibali seems to be fairly con- clusive with regard to the fact that the transmigration doctrines, the way of the gods (devayiilla) and the way of the fathers (pitryiilla) had originated among the Kattriyas, but it is without any relevancy with regard to the origin of the superior knowledge of Brahman as the true self. The third story of .A.rUl)i and Asvapati Kaikeya (Cha. V. I I) is hardly more convincing, for here five Brahmins wishing to know what the Brahman and the self were, went to U ddalaka .A.rul).i; but as he did not know sufficiently about it he accompanied them to the Kattriya king Asvapati Kaikeya who was studying the subject. But Asvapati ends the conversation by giving them certain instructions about the fire doctrine (vais'i/iinara agni) and the import of its sacrifices. He does not say anything about the true self as Brahman. We ought also to consider that there are only the few exceptional cases where Kattriya kings were in- structing the Brahmins. But in all other cases the Brahmins were discussing and instructing the atman knowledge. I am thus led to think that Garbe owing to his bitterness of feeling against the Brahmins as expressed in the earlier part of the essay had been too hasty in his judgment. The opinion of Garbe seems to have been shared to some extent by Winternitz also, and the references given by him to the U paniad passages are also the same as we I Garbe's article, .. Hindu Monism," p. 74.
 * I Br h . II., compare also Brh. IV. 3, how Yajiiavalkya speaks to Janaka about the

brahmavitf.vii.