BRĀHMAṆAS AND ĀRAṆYAKAS. The Brāhmaṇas are the oldest Indian Sanskrit prose texts, usually dated from the first half or the middle of the last millennium BCE. Their chronology, like that of most classical Indian texts, is uncertain and hinges on equally uncertain external factors such as the dates for the Ṛgveda, for the grammarian Pāṇini, and for the Buddha; moreover, the time span between their first formulation and their final redaction may have been considerable. The word brāhmaṇa means a statement on brahman, that is, on the cosmic importance or meaning of the Vedic sacrificial ritual, whether of each individual act (karman) and formula (mantra), or of the combination of such acts and formulas that constitute a particular...