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THE EXPLANATORY MANUALS, OR BRAHMANAS
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is considered to be final. These two Brahmanas, however, seem to be only two recensions of the same work, used by the Aitareyins and the Kaushitakins respectively, and they agree with each other in many respects, except that the last ten chapters of the Aitareya are not found in the Kaushitaki and probably belong to a later age.

The Sama-Veda has the Tandya, or Panchavinsa, Brahmana, the Shadvinsa Brahmana, the Mantra Brahmana, and the better known Chhandogya.

The Black Yajur-Veda, or Taittiriya Samhita, has its Taittiriya Brahmana, and the White Yajur-Veda, or Vajasaneyi Samhita, has its voluminous Satapatha Brahmana. We have already stated that the Satapatha Brahmana is attributed to Yajnavalkya, though it is more likely the text-book of the school he founded, as he is often quoted in the work. Nor does the work belong entirely to one school or to one age. On the contrary, both in the case of the White Yajur-Veda Samhita and in the case of its Brahmana, there is reason to think that the work belongs to different periods. The first eighteen chapters of the Samhita are the oldest part of the work, and the first nine books of the Brahmana, which comment on these eighteen chapters, are the oldest part of the Brahmana. The remaining five books are later than the first nine.

The Atharva-Veda has its Gopatha Brahmana, a comparatively recent production, the contents of which are a medley, derived to a large extent from other sources.