Categorization in the Brāhmaṇas
Categorization in the Brāhmaṇas

Summary/Abstract: Categorization is not only a matter of scientific or philosophical thinking. It is a part of our everyday mental activity. Human beings (and not only) constantly categorize data from their experience and could not survive if they did not. In this paper I would like to show some aspects of categorization of knowledge about the world as they are attested in the Śatapathabrāhmaṇa 6.1.3.9-17. I would like to point out that the research on categorization of knowledge preserved in the Brāhmaṇas is a fascinating task which needs separate complex research. Here I shall only outline how a contemporary theory of categorization may be useful in solving some problems concerning the understanding and interpretation of ritualistic explanations given by the authors of the Brāhmaṇas. It is the way the ancient Indian thinkers categorized the world which made Max Müller write (in despair, I hope): ‘these works deserve to be studied as the physician studies the twaddle of idiots and the ravings of madmen.

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