Shatapatha Brahmana

The Shatapatha Brahmana (Sanskrit: शतपथब्राह्मणम्, lit. 'Brāhmaṇa of one hundred paths', IAST: Śatapatha Brāhmaṇam, abbreviated to 'SB')^[1] is a commentary on the Śukla Yajurveda. It is attributed to the Vedic sage Yajnavalkya. Described as the most complete, systematic, and important of the Brahmanas^[2] (commentaries on the Vedas), it contains detailed explanations of Vedic sacrificial rituals, symbolism, and mythology.

Particularly in its description of sacrificial rituals (including construction of complex fire-altars), the Shatapatha Brahmana (SB) provides scientific knowledge of geometry (e.g. calculations of pi and the root of the Pythagorean theorem) and observational astronomy (e.g. planetary distances and the assertion that the Earth is circular^[a]) from the Vedic period.

The Shatapatha Brahmana is also considered significant in the development of Vaishnavism as the origin of several Puranic legends and avatars of Vishnu. Notably, all of them (Matsya, Kurma, Varaha, Narasimha, and Vamana) are listed as the first five avatars in the Dashavatara (the ten principal avatars of Vishnu).

There are two versions (recensions) available of this text. They are the Madhyandina recension and the Kanva recension. This article focuses exclusively on the Madhyandina version of the Shatapatha Brahmana.

^ "Sanskrit Dictionary for Spoken Sanskrit: 'Shatapatha'". spokensanskrit.org. Retrieved 2019-12-31.
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[1] "Sanskrit Dictionary for Spoken Sanskrit: 'Shatapatha'". spokensanskrit.org. Retrieved 2019-12-31.

[:7-2] Cite error: The named reference :7 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

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