Eggeling’s Translation of the Satapatha Brahmana

Heinrich Julius Eggeling, professor of Sanskrit at the University of Edinburgh from 1875 to 1914, spent a significant part of his life translating the Satapatha Brahmana. His translations, published in five volumes between 1882 and 1897, are still in print. Till this day, most scholars refer to Eggeling's translations in their discussions of the Satapatha Brahmana. Each of the four Vedas has four subdivisions: the Samhitas (mantras and benedictions); the Aranyakas (explanation of the rituals, ceremonies, and sacrifices); the Brahmanas (commentaries on rituals, ceremonies, and sacrifices); the Upanishads (discussion of meditation, philosophy, and spirituality). The Satapatha Brahmana, the largest and most systematic Brahmana, is attached to the Yajurveda. Between the seventh and fourth centuries BC, the ideas from the Satapatha Brahmana played a role in the rise of the movement of Vaishnavism.