CARAKA

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The earliest references to Yajurveda specialists calledCaraka(-adhvaryu/-åcårya) are not unequivocal: While they might be understood as mentioning a (not necessarily homogeneous) group of roaming Yajurveda adepts and doctors of Vedic ritual (see 1.1.), the quotations from their texts and of their opinions on the ritual (3.), as preserved in the ŚB, are diametrically opposed
to those of the White Yajurveda.


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On Magical thought in the Veda

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The Yajurveda-Sahitås and the various Bråhmaas, which constitute the bulk of Vedic literature, have been studied by Indologists for about 130 years. These texts generally have been regarded with incomprehension, bewilderment or derision. Max Müller spoke of them as ‘the twaddling of idiots’ and L. v. Schroeder, who himself edited two of the major Yajurveda texts, compared them with the written compositions of insane persons.


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