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उद्दालकआरुणि (uddAlakaAruNi)

 
Vedic Reference
English
Uddālaka Āruṇi. — Uddālaka, son of Aruṇa, is one of the
most prominent teachers of the Vedic period. He was a Brāh-
maṇa of the Kurupañcālas, according to the Śatapatha Brāh-
maṇa.^1 This statement is confirmed by the fact that he was
teacher of Proti Kausurubindi of Kauśāmbī, ^2 and that his son
Svetaketu is found disputing among the Pañcālas.^3 He was a
pupil of Aruṇa, his father, ^4 as well as of Patañcala Kāpya, ^5 of
Madra, while he was the teacher of the famous Yājñavalkya^6
Vājasaneya and of Kauṣītaki, ^7 although the former is represented
elsewhere^8 as having silenced him. He overcame in argument
Prācīnayogya Śauceya, ^9 and apparently also Bhadrasena Ājāta-
śatrava, ^10 though the text here seems to read the name as
Āraṇi. He was a Gautama, ^11 and is often alluded to as such.
As an authority on questions of ritual and philosophy, he is
repeatedly referred to by his patronymic name Āruṇi in the
Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa, ^12 the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad, ^13 the
Chāndogya Upaniṣad, ^14 and occasionally in the Aitareya, ^15 the
Kauṣītaki, ^16 and the Ṣaḍviṃśa^17 Brāhmaṇas, as well as the
Kauṣītaki Upaniṣad.^18 In the Maitrāyaṇī Saṃhitā he is not
mentioned, according to Geldner, ^19 but only his father Aruṇa
his name does not occur, according to Weber, ^20 in the Pañca-
viṃśa Brāhmaṇa, but in the Kāṭhaka Saṃhitā^21 he is, as
Āruṇi, known as a contemporary of Divodāsa Bhaimaseni, and
in the Jaiminīya Upaniṣad Brāhmaṇa^22 he is mentioned as
serving Vāsiṣṭha Caikitāneya. In the Taittirīya tradition he
seldom appears. There is an allusion in the Taittirīya Saṃhitā^23
to Kusurubinda Auddālaki, and according to the Taittirīya
Brāhmaṇa, ^24 Naciketas was a son of Vājaśravasa Gautama, who
is made out to be Uddālaka by Sāyaṇa.^25 But the episode of
Naciketas, being somewhat unreal, cannot be regarded as of
historical value in proving relationship. Aruṇa is known to the
Taittirīya Saṃhitā. A real son of Uddālaka was the famous
Śvetaketu, who is expressly reported by Āpastamba^26 to have
been in his time an Avara or later authority, a statement of
importance for the date of Āruṇi.
1) xi. 4, 1, 2. Cf. Gopatha Brāhmaṇa, i. 3, 6.
2) xii. 2, 2, 13.
3) Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad, vi. 1, 1
Chāndogya Upaniṣad, v. 3, 1.
4) Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad, vi. 4, 33
(in both recensions).
5) Ibid., iii. 7, 1.
6) Ibid., vi. 3, 15
4, 33.
7) Śāṅkhāyana Āraṇyaka, xv.
8) Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad, iii. 7, 31.
9) Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa, xi. 5, 3, 1 et seq.
10) v. 5, 5, 14. Eggeling, Sacred Books
of the East, 41, 141, has Āraṇi. There
is a chronological difficulty in taking
Āruṇi as meant, since Ājātaśatrava
must presumably have been a descen-
dant of Ajātaśatru, a contemporary of
Janaka (see Kauṣītaki Upaniṣad, iv. 1),
who again was a patron of Yājñavalkya,
a pupil of Āruṇi. But this difficulty is
not fatal.
11) Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa, xi. 5, 3, 2
Kauṣītaki Upaniṣad, i. 1.
12) i. 1, 2, 11
ii. 2, 1, 34
iii. 3, 4, 19
iv. 4, 8, 9
xi. 2, 6, 12.
13) iii. 5, 1.
14) iii. 11, 4
v. 11, 2
17, 1
vi.
8, 1.
15) viii. 7.
16) xxvi. 4.
17) i. 6.
18) i. 1 et seq.
19) Vedische Studien, 3, 146.
20) Indian Literature, 69. But cf. xxiii.
1, 5.
21) vii. 8. Cf. viii. 6.
22) i. 42, 1.
23) vii. 2, 2, 1 (a late passage).
24) iii. 11, 8, 1 et seq.
25) On Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa, loc. cit.
Cf. Kāṭhaka Upaniṣad, i. 11.
26) See Bühler, Sacred Books of the
East, 2, xxxviii
Keith, Aitareya Āraṇ-
yaka, 39.
Cf. Weber, Indische Studien, 1, 170,
n.
2, 201, 202
Oldenberg, Buddha,
396, n.
Eggeling, Sacred Books of the
East, 12, xl., xli.