Shatapatha

Shatapatha refers to a major body of Vedic literature associated with the White Yajurveda, most often identified with the Shatapatha Brahmana and its later philosophical appendix, the Shatapatha Upanishad. The term Shatapatha means “hundred paths” or “hundred ways,” reflecting its role as a comprehensive prose commentary on ritual procedure and its symbolic meaning.

The Shatapatha Brahmana consists of ritual instruction (karma-kanda) detailing the proper performance of yajnas, including the construction and arrangement of sacred altars, the offerings, and the recitation of mantras. It also weaves mythological narratives and cosmological myth to explain the origins of the ritual, the gods, and the structure of the universe, linking liturgical practice to metaphysical concepts.

The text is traditionally divided into several books and exists in multiple recensions. In some scholarly traditions, the Shatapatha Upanishad is treated as the concluding portion or a companion tract within the same corpus, presenting more explicitly philosophical ideas. It explores topics such as the nature of Brahman and Atman, the relationship between ritual action and ultimate reality, and notions of creation and consciousness through dialogue, emblem, and metaphor.

Dating the Shatapatha remains the subject of scholarly discussion, but it is generally placed in the late Vedic period, roughly between the 9th and 6th centuries BCE. The work has had a lasting influence on later Hindu ritual theory and early Vedantic thought, informing both ritual practice and philosophical reflection within the broader Vedic tradition.