Saturday, March 1, 2014

REPORT ON THE 6th INTERNATIONAL VEDIC WORKSHOP

The 6th International Vedic Workshop was held at Kozhikode (Calicut), in Kerala, India, from January 7-10, 2014. Exactly 117 persons had registered and 57 scholarly papers were delivered during these days of proceedings, see http://www.ivw2014.org/images/IVW-Program-Format.pdf. Speakers came from India, Europe, Japan and America, with about equal numbers for each of these four areas. One of the two Harvard graduate students who participated was sponsored by Harvard’s South Asia Institute, for which we are grateful.


                 Dr. Parvathy, only female Ṛgveda reciter in Kerala 

As I have experienced myself, and as I have also heard from many participants, all of us were extremely pleased by the smooth organization of the conference and of the cultural performances connected with it. The meetings were held in a cooperative and extremely friendly atmosphere that did not allow any extraneous intrusions of matters that were not linked to the four Vedas. As a result, the Workshop was held in the same scholarly manner as at any of the previous locations over the years (Harvard University 1989, Kyoto University 1999, Leiden University 2002, University of Texas Austin 2007, Centre for Eurasiatic and Afroasiatic Studies, Bucharest 2011).

This scholarly atmosphere was no doubt achieved through the strict, double blind selection procedure for proposed papers, headed by Prof. Shrikant Bahulkar (Pune): neither the scholar who had proposed a paper nor its three anonymous reviewers knew about each other. Which sometimes led to the amusing situation that a certain reviewer would admonish the author of a proposed paper to include some recently published details – published by the very author of the paper… Thus, papers that were not philologically, culturally or linguistically supported were excluded by the judgment of the reviewers, and we could enjoy a proper, scholarly conference. During the workshop meetings papers were delivered smoothly, without any untoward interruption of any sort; a cooperative, civil atmosphere prevailed; in the same way, questions and answer were to the point.

It also needs to be stressed that Hindutva forces did not appear that all, though there had been a little agitation since last summer, and a few internet notes appeared during and after the conference.  -- However nothing untoward materialized during the workshop. One “reformed” Hindutva writer, Dr. K. Elst (Belgium), attended the workshop. So, when I saw him, on the day before the start of the conference, giving a long TV interview in an annex of the hotel, I assumed that some surprise might be in store. However he confined himself to put 2 questions to 2 speakers, somewhat insistently and even a bit aggressively. They were easily brushed aside by the speakers, one of them Indian, the other one American. Immediately after the end of the conference he published a blog describing the workshop, while adding some comments from his point of view, again discussing the so-called Aryan invasion, which was never brought up during the 4 days of deliberations as by now it is a purely political and not a scholarly topic.

My only regret is that we had so many vetted papers for these four days that some had to be presented in a parallel session. That made me miss a number of presentations I would have liked to listen to. Perhaps next time around we should limit the number of speakers and simply post, but not read out, some of the papers. Nevertheless, the papers are to be published, hopefully already in 2014, so that we will be able to read them, beyond the published summaries.

It is of course impossible to give an account of all papers delivered, see: http://www.ivw2014.org/images/IVW-Program-Format.pdf. We focused on the Vedic texts themselves, their rituals, their scholarly interpretation, and their traditional performance, especially that of Kerala.

In one word: the workshop was extremely well prepared and organized by the local committee, headed by its chief coordinator Dr. Vinod Bhattathiripad (www.namboothiri.com). Other members were: Dr. P. Bhaskaran Nayar, Lincoln University, UK, Prof. M. G. S. Narayanan, Former Chairman, Indian Council of Historical Research, Prof. C. M. Neelakantan, Former Professor (Veda), Sree Sankaracharya  University of Sanskrit, Kerala, India, Prof. C. Rajendran, Professor (Sanskrit), University of Calicut, Kerala, India.


           
                            Dr. Vinod Bhattathiripad

The workshop had been vigorously prepared for many months. The committee paid close attention to all the minute details, from the selection of the venue in a comfortable hotel, to the location of the several Veda performances, to the many technical details such as computer projection, and the ready assistance extended by the organizers and their very helpful staff. Indeed, the location was congenial and the conference facilities were excellent. In depth discussions were facilitated by a handing around a microphone. Coffee, tea and lunch were served just next to the conference rooms, providing us with an additional occasion for discussion and conversation.

As mentioned, we hope to speedily publish the presentations in the conference volume that is scheduled to appear within a year. This has unfortunately not been the norm for previous conferences. The Harvard volume, for a host of reasons, appeared with great delay, the Kyoto one was not published, the Leiden one was published fairly quickly, the Austin one is still in press, and the Bucharest one is now nearing completion. (It is to be published in Harvard Oriental Series, Opera Minora in two volumes).
         There also are plans to put all previous papers, as far as copyright laws allow, on a website designated for the International Vedic Workshops, to be maintained in Kerala. This is another laudable initiative of the coordinator of the 2014 workshop, for which we cannot thank him enough.

****

Cultural Performances

Participants were also very happy about the cultural features presented on each of the four days: a grand Kūṭiyāṭṭam performance, a varied program of classical and popular forms of theater and dance at the Craft village, a Karnatic flute recital by Shri Kudamaaloor Janardhanan, and finally an Akṣara Śloka demonstration (of Sanskrit and Manipravaala ślokas) concatenating the Śloka of one text, recited by one participant, to another Śloka recited by a different person.

Veda demonstrations

The proceedings of the Workshop included, as mentioned, a visit to the Sargālaya Craft Village on the second day. Almost all prominent Veda branches (śākhā) of Kerala were brought together. We could view and listen to the recitation and performance of Ṛgveda, Sāmaveda and Yajurveda texts: that of the Śākala Ṛgveda (Kauṣītaki style), that of the Taittirīya Yajurveda (Baudhāyana), and that of the Jaiminīya Sāmaveda, sung by Nambudiris of central Kerala (Paññal) and  that of an additional sub-school, the Tamil Jaiminīya Sāmaveda, as preserved at Kodunthirappilly, in the Palakkad area on the border with Tamil Nadu. 

The reciters of these Vedas demonstrated specimens of their individual traditions, their teaching methods, and of some of the ‘games’ that are used to ensure correct transmission.  For example, for the Ṛgveda: the Muṭippacca and Paccaratha, and the vāram (Kallu vetchu vaaram). The latter recitation was performed by Dr. Naaras Ravindran Nambuthiri, Dr. Mannur Jatavedan and Kothamangalam Vasudevan Nambuthiri. Dr. Parvathy, a Veda student of Dr. Ravindran, opened the Workshop with her recitation. She is the only female Ṛgveda reciter in Kerala.

The Yajurveda in its Taittirīya recension was presented by the prominent Baudhāyanas, while the rare Vādhūla śākhā  was missing. However, to my delight, I could inquire about them with the Baudhāyana Yajurveda teacher of Iriñjalakuḍa, and could actually hear and record the differences in reciting, during rituals, of the Taittirīya texts according to the Baudhāyana and Vādhūla schools; (the Saṃhitā is said to be recited in the same way). The Vādhūla recitation indeed differs somewhat from the common Baudhāyana style. It is actively preserved and taught only in two Manas in the Iriñjalakuḍa area (see the forthc. volume of the Bucharest conference). Our colleagues who work on the rare Vādhūla traditions definitely need to follow up on this particular, so far neglected aspect.

Another intriguing point that we noticed was the dominance of the Kauṣītakis, who even recited the Ṛgveda portions in an Atirātra Agnicayana performed in Āśvalāyana style in 2012, at Kaimukku. The ritual procedure was based on written Āśvalāyana handbooks (Pākazhiya) of Kāpra Mana.

However, in spite of the strong Vedic traditions in Kerala, unfortunately some transmissions of recitation have died out over the past few decades. (The Atharvaveda has been absent in South India for at least 500 years but has recently been reintroduced in some south Indian locations, based on its Gujarat-Maharastra-Benares tradition).

The recitation by Erkkara Raman Nambudiri of the Kauṣ. Brāhmaṇa, fortunately recorded by E.R. Sreekrishna Sarma, is continued today by his disciple Naras Ravindran Nambudiri, but that of the Āraṇyaka and Upaniṣad has died out. We still have to find out more details about the traditions of the Āśvalāyanas of Kerala.
It is also known that around 1960 the Jaiminīya Brāhmaṇa was still recited by a Nambudiri Sāmavedin, but when the late professor K.L. Janert of Cologne finally succeeded to get a tape recorder through customs, the old man had just lost his voice and died a year later. It is a great pity that we do not have his recitation, as recitation always is better than manuscripts, and this large and important Vedic text still exists only in a rather provisional edition.

Similarly, some of the texts of the Ṛgveda and Yajurveda are no longer learned by heart and recited. Thus, we definitely see a certain amount of shrinking of the ancient Veda tradition of Kerala, though this is now counterbalanced, to some extent, by tape and video recordings.

Thus, luckily the Nambudiri Jaiminīya  Sāmaveda has been recorded on tape by some of last prominent reciters, such as Itti Ravi (see above). The Śaṅkara University in Kailady, central Kerala, has released it in a complete collection of 95 discs; for the history of this recording, see

There also exists a rare CD collection of the complete Ṛgveda in Nambudiri style that no longer seems to be available for sale. Luckily, I managed, through the help of a friend, to get hold of a set (and can make it available). CD disks of the Kerala Yajurveda, with 24 extracts, also exist.


CULTURAL TOUR


The workshop was followed by a “cultural tour” (http://www.ivw2014.org/Cultural_tour.html), efficiently and expertly lead by Dr. C.M. Neelakantan, a Nambudiri Ṛgvedin and Veda professor emeritus of the Śaṅkara University at Kailady, Kerala. The tour brought us to various Brahmin villages in central Kerala, where the traditional way of Veda teaching and the performance of certain Vedic Śrauta rituals has been continued until today. I must underline that we were extremely well treated at all locations, with our Brahmin hosts coming forward without any hesitation to show us their houses, traditions and demonstrating their Veda learning. All provided us with tasty lunches, served in the traditional style on banana leaves, and tea as the case may be. We are very grateful for their unparalleled hospitality and their willingness to recite and sing their texts for us.


                   Prof. C.M. Neelankantan, at a Workshop meeting


On the first day of the tour we paid a visit to Olappamanna Mana near Palakkad (Palghat). http://olappamannamana.com/. We could view and walk around, at length, through this traditional Nambudiri estate and its surrounding spice gardens. A mana is a traditional complex, with several courtyards and a number of outlying houses. In Kerala tradition only the eldest son of a Brahmin married a Nambudiri woman, inherited the estate and lived in the compound, while the younger brothers either became ascetics, or more commonly entered into a marriage-like relationship (sambandham) with women from outside their own caste. They usually were interested in and furthered various traditional arts of Kerala.

At this mana, we were treated to a (very) loud, one hour performance of a local ensemble, Thaayambaka, consisting of several drum players. That impressive onslaught of half a dozen drums, talking to each other, produced some lasting ear trouble for some members. The drummers must have permanently damaged ears… However, I escaped by politely putting up my arm, hand to cheek, holding one ear, but finally could not resist putting an earphone into the other. I escaped without ringing ears.

In the afternoon we witnessed an elaborate Kālī pūjā in Tantric style, called Kalam Ezhuti Paatu. A colorful “sand” painting of the deity gradually emerged as it was drawn on the ground by using many types of colors, in a style resembling Tibetan and Navajo sand paintings. After the end of the ritual the image was quickly erased, just as in Tibetan ritual.

(2) The next day we proceeded to the village Kodunthirappilly, near Palakkad, where Tamil Brahmins have settled long ago and still preserve their unique style of Jaiminīya Sāmaveda singing. They demonstrated several examples, with some older members of the group singing by rote while most others referred to their handwritten copybooks.
         In one house we were shown pictures of their ancestors: in one of the frames there was a small photo of Sāmaveda specialist Wayne Howard (Winona, MI) who had visited the village decades ago.


                      Jaiminīya Sāmaveda singers at Kodunthirappilly




 From this village near the borders of Tamil Nadu we retraced our steps and visited several Nambudiri settlements in central Kerala. The next place was the Jaiminīya Sāmaveda village of Paññal, near Cheruthuruthi, where the 2011 Atirātra ritual had been held that some of us, presently or previously at Harvard, could visit. Unfortunately a member of the family had died a few days earlier and so there was no Sāmaveda performance.

(3) Thrissur Brahmasva Madhom and Kaimukku Mana.

The next days we visited the famous  Brahmasva Madhom at Thrissur, took an extended tour of this old institution and could witness Ṛgveda, Yajurveda teaching and recitation. The Madhom is one of the three traditional centers of Ṛgveda teaching. Nowadays the Yajurveda is also taught there. At present there are some 2-3 dozen students for each Veda.



                        Brahmasva Madhom and Veda students

In the afternoon we visited the Kaimukku mana, where we could see the remnants of an Atirātra Agnicayana that had been performed in the time of our young local guide’s great-grandfather. The ritual ground, in a field a little distant from the mana, is now completely overgrown. A tree emerges from the body of the Agnicayana altar, but its tail could be made out clearly. So does Vedic archaeology develop. (For an attested case see the nearly two thousand year old yūpa pole found in the Yamunā near Mathura: it has been preserved as it was replicated in stone).  The same was true for the 1956 one at Paññal, where several trees have grown from the body of the altar, now situated in a newly sprung up forest.



                            Remnants of the 1956 Agnicayana at Paññal


 However, the fire altar of the 2011 ritual at Paññal has been completely taken down, and the offering ground has reverted to a rice field; only a well belonging to the ritual ground is preserved. By contrast, at Kaimukku, the altar of the 2012 Agnicayana has been laboriously reconstructed in the courtyard of the mana, painted in crimson red. Kaimukku Raman Akkithiripad has performed this Atirātra in March 2012 with the recitation and singing of the Āśvalāyana  Ṛgveda,  Jaiminīya Sāmaveda and Baudhāyana Yajurveda (while using the Pākazhiya Caṭṭaṅṅu of Kāpra Mana, though the hautra was taught by Ravindran of Naras Mana, a Kauṣītaki), In the evening, at sunset, we could also witness a performance of the Agnihotra. For many participants this was the first time they could witness this hoary fire ritual Agnihotra, and they eagerly filmed the proceedings.


                     Kaimukku Mana and Agnicayana reconstructed 

Naras and Kavapra Mana

(4) The next day we moved on to Naras mana (near Edappal, Malappuram district), where we could view various aspects of Ṛgveda chanting, lead by Dr. Nāras Ravindran Nambudiri. Apart from demonstrations of Ṛgveda recitation and teaching, a vāram was demonstrated as well. 

                Preparing for vāram recitation of Ṛgveda at Naras Mana


The Harvard team had visited his estate in 2011, and we were very glad to be back with two of our Graduate students, Finnian Gerety and Caley Smith. (For our 2011 visit see: 
http://southasiainstitute.harvard.edu/2012/08/harvards-wales-professor-of-sanskrit-michael-witzel-and-students-attend-3000-year-old-atiratra-agnicayana-ritual-in-kerala/).


                        Dr. Naras Ravindran and Prof. T.P. Mahadevan

 Finally we moved to Kaa(va)pra Mana and visited Kaavapra Sankara Narayanan Akkathiripad, who had performed an Atirātra in 2012, employing Kauṣītaki Ṛgvedins, Baudhāyana Yajurvedins and the Jaiminīya Sāmavedins.

In sum, we had a very good experience. All the organizers in Kerala deserve our warm, deep gratitude. Many of us look forward to another visit to Kerala and its friendly Nambudiri Brahmins… 

                     Some workshop members at Naras Mana


Now we eagerly await the next Workshop, probably to be held in Europe in a few years.


Saturday, March 2, 2013

Kumbh Mela -- its sources


M. Witzel (3/2/13)

Kumbh Melā : another way to heaven. 

In the current excitement about the Kumbh Melā, it has been entirely overlooked how this pilgrimage actually originated. I do not mean the usual tales, of second or third elaboration, that are found in the Itihāsa (Epic) and Purāṇa literature,[1] but the first source that we actually have, the Veda.

To understand the matter it is useful to recapitulate a few salient facts of the Melā: the bath at the confluence of two sacred rivers, the Yamunā and Gaṅgā, at Allahabad (the ancient Prayāga).  The confluence is believed to be a Triveṇī, where the three ‘strands’ (veṇī) of these two rivers and of the invisible, underground Sarasvatī join. At this confluence stood a sacred tree,[2] from which some would jump into the rivers: upon this suicide they would gain immediate access to heaven. The land between the two rivers Gaṅgā and Yamunā was called Antarvedi “the inner vedi”.[3]

All these terms recall Vedic beliefs and rituals:

The vedi is the area on the sacrificial ground between the three sacred fires representing heaven, earth and moon. The name Prayāga is derived from yaj or pra-yaj  “to offer” a solemn Vedic (śrauta) ritual.

The Vedic connections do not end here. The river Sarasvatī is the most-praised river in our oldest text, the Ṛgveda.[4] Together with its parallel sister stream, the Dṛṣadvatī (now Chautang),[5] the Sarasvatī (now Sarsutī, Ghagghar-Hakra) forms the western and eastern boundary of Kurukṣetra. This is the  famous area where even the gods sacrifice: the land is indeed called a deva-yajana,[6] as the Yajurveda texts tell us. (Late Vedic kings make a pilgrimage all the way from Bihar to this area to reach heaven).[7]

The Sāmaveda and Yajurveda Brāhmaṇas tell us that the Sarasvatī disappears  (vi-naś) in the sands of the Tharr desert,[8] at a place called upamajjana “diving under” or vinaśana. Later on, Epic and Purāṇic texts say that the river did so out of shame, and that it now flows underground, eastwards up to Prayāga.

The Sāmaveda Brāhmaṇa texts[9] describe in detail  a gradual ‘pilgrimage’ (yāt-sattra) along the Sarasvatī,[10]  upstream from its disappearance in the desert until one reaches her source at  Plakṣa Prāsravaṇa in the lower Himalayas. This is “the Plakṣa  tree of  “streaming forth” (pra-sravaṇa).”[11] Once the sacrificers participating in the sattra ritual reach that tree, they reach heaven.[12]

This place is called by other texts the “center of the earth” or the “center of heaven”: it is located one span northwest of the tree.[13] Indeed, the center is frequently characterized as having the giant world tree, with its roots  in the netherworld and its upper branches in heaven.[14]


Even if one should die during the sattra pilgrimage one still reaches heaven.[15] However, upon reaching the Plakṣa tree one may also gain a thousand cows, and if one should not succeed, one may descend into the nearby Yamunā,[16] at a place called Tri-plakṣa and simply “disappear,” in other words, commit suicide in the Yamunā river. [17]

One Brāhmaṇa text says that one can also carry out the same upstream pilgrimage along the Yamunā until on reaches its ‘top’ (vartman).[18]

Finally, upon studying more closely the ancient Vedic  traditions about the Sarasvatī (“she who has many ponds”) and the Dṛṣadvatī  (“she who has many stones”), one notices that both rivers are the mundane reflection of two “rivers” in the nighttime sky. This reflects the common mythological theme “as above, so below”. These two rivers are the two branches of the Milky Way, the ‘heavenly Gaṅgā’ or svarnadī as she is later called.[19] The area between them, the “gate,” is a reflection of Kurukṣetra.[20]

Importantly, though we may not be aware of it, the Milky Way actually moves, unlike a given single star or the Sun, counter-clockwise around the celestial North Pole (now, the Pole Star).[21] Upon following the Sarasvatī upstream or by “entering” a branch of the Milky Way when it touches the earth,[22] one moves “upstream” to the world tree and the top of the sky (nāka), the place where the gods reside.[23]


In sum, all major elements of the Kumbh Melā are present here, with Kurukṣetra transferred eastward to the Pañcāla area that became central to later Hindu religion: to Prayāga, thus, just a bit upstream from Benares.

Nowadays, the Milky Way no longer descends at Plakṣa Prāsravaṇa but at the source of the Ganges, first falling on Śiva’s head, and then continuing on earth, just like the Milky Way did at the source of the mundane Sarasvatī. The area between the two sacred rivers, Gaṅgā and Yamunā, that substitute for Dṛṣadvatī and Sarasvātī, is called an offering ground (prayāga), just as Kurukṣetra was that of the gods (deva-yajana).

It is at the confluence of the two rivers from where one starts one’s journey to heaven. In Vedic times it was done near the confluence of the Sarasvatī and Dṛṣādvatī.[24] Now this is done at the Yamunā-Gaṅgā Triveṇī, by a bath or by jumping from the tree at Prayāga. 

As so often in later Hinduism, the tedious and periculous[25]  journey along the sacred river (earlier, the Vedic Yamunā) is substituted by a mere bath at its Allahabad tīrtha. This is marked by the Plakṣa (or now a Banyan)[26] tree, which originally stood at the source of the Sarasvātī river but now marks its underground confluence, representing another shortcut: one no longer has to track the Yamunā (or Gaṅgā) upstream to their respective sources.  The link with the Vedic Sarasvatī tree however is preserved: it marks the place where the “underground” Sarasvatī of later times joins the confluence of the Gaṅgā and Yamunā.

Both the Sarasvatī and the Gaṅgā descend  down from the sky, the Sarasvatī from the Milky Way at Plakṣa Prāsravaṇa in the lower Himalayas and the heavenly Gaṅgā (svarnadī) from the skies to Śiva’s head, and then down, via the Himalayas, to Gangotrī and Hardwar.[27]

In Vedic and modern times one starts the pilgrimage at or near the confluence of the two branches of the heavenly Gaṅgā: they once were  represented by the mundane Sarasvatī and the Dṛṣadvatī, and they are now represented by  the Gaṅgā, Yamunā and the mythical, underground Sarasvatī.

By taking a bath at the confluence of the latter Triveṇī and by following the Vedic Sarasvatī,
people associate themselves  with a river that will move them upstream, and finally let them enter the river’s reflection in the nighttime sky, the Milky Way. It will transport them counterclockwise, upward to the region of the Pole Star, as to reach the realm of the gods.

Which is, of course, why millions of Hindu pilgrims – and Harvard academics[28]-- still make the journey.

The present writer, however, unlike his ‘pilgrimage’ to the Vedic Agnicayana ritual in Kerala in 2011, has preferred to stay put and instead pore over various Vedic texts so as to unravel the secrets of the Kumbh Melā.

***

The take-away is:  The traditions underlying the Kumbh Melā furnish one more example that the close study of the Vedic texts can explain later Epic and Purāṇic myths and rituals, as the present writer has shown a few decades ago.[29]



[1] See W. Kirfel. Die Kosmographie der Inder. Bonn 1920. [Reprint, Darmstadt 1967]: 109, 175; for another interpretation of the Ganga and Yamunā, see F.B.J. Kuiper, Ancient Indian Cosmogony, Bombay 1983: 32.
[2]  The akṣaya vaṭa “the indestructible Banyan” tree at Patalpuri temple.
[3] Witzel, Sur le chemin du ciel. Bulletin des études indiennnes 2 (1984): 213-279, n. 50. http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/CheminDuCiel.pdf.
[4]  See Macdonell-Keith’s Vedic Index II 434 sqq.; notably Ṛgveda  6.61;   2.41.16
[5] Dṛsadvatī means “she who has many stones.” The Milky Way is called aśmanvatī  “having many stones” in Atharvaveda 19.2.26-27, cf. Mayrhofer, Kurzgefasstes etymologisches Wörterbuch, II p. 61.
[6] Witzel, Sur le chemin, n. 50; Jaiminīya Brāhmaṇa (JB) 2.299: “In these sattras … they go towards the east, across the whole of the Kurukṣetra. This territory is the sacrificial ground of the gods.  They cross the sacrificial ground of the gods.”
[7] Pañcaviṃśa Brāhmaṇa (PB) 25.10.17:  “It is by this means that the King Namī Sāpya of Videha went directly to the shining world.”
[8] JB 2.297 (ed./transl. W. Caland §156).
[9] Pañcaviṃśa and Jaiminīya Brāhmaṇa.
[10] Described in detail in PB 25.10 and JB II 297 sqq. (Caland,  §156 sqq.) One proceeds, by daily throwing the śamyā  knife upstream and continuing the ritual where it falls. -- Cf. PB 25.13 for another Yātsattra, along the Dṛṣādvatī.
[11] PB 25.10.16:  “At forty-four (days) on horseback from the disappearance of the Sarasvatī stands the Plakṣa Prāsravaṇa. At the same distance from here is the world of heaven. The go to the world of heaven by a journey commensurate with the Sarasvatī.” (Caland).
[12] JB 2.297 sq: “They go as far as the Prakṣa Prāsravaṇa. Prakṣa Prāsravaṇa is the place where speech ends. In the place where speech ends, there is the shining world (the Milky Way). They go so well that they arrive at the shining world.”
[13] The center of the world, see Jaiminīya Upaniṣad Brāhmaṇa 4.6.12; or the center of heaven (divo madhyam), in the unedited Vādhūla Pitṛmedha Sūtra see Witzel, Eine fünfte Mitteilung über das Vādhūla-Sūtra. Studien zur Indologie und Iranistik (StII), Vol. 1, 1975, pp. 75-108.
[14] Note the image of the stūpa with its central pole (see B. Kölver:  Re-building a stūpa: architectural drawings of the Svayaṃbhūnāth. Bonn 1992). In some old representations the central pole of the stūpa still has branches at the top, similar to the Icelandic Yggdrasil. The motif is widespread in Eurasia.
[15]  JB 2. 298: “These sattras have these accomplishments: (udṛc; utthāna Taitt.S.): -- if they succeed completely, that is one; -- if one of them dies, that is one; -- if 100 cows become 1000, that is one. --- [And, after someone had died during the sattra]: “Do not lament!  This (man), for whom you are here lamenting, he has taken, once past the āhavanīya (fire, in the east), the path of the shining world.”
[16] JB 2.299 “They take their final bath in the Yamunā.  Now, the Yamunā is the shining world. They go therefore towards the shining world."
[17] In the Dṛṣadvatī-Sattra  (PB 25.13):  “they descend to Triplakṣa at the Yamunā for the final bath.  That is where he becomes invisible to men." (Or one takes the bath at the unknown location Kārapacava, on the Yamunā, in the Sarasvatī-Sattra). -- This region exhibits other astounding properties:  in the śaiśava river branch, Cyavana was rejuvenated (JB 3, 121 sqq).
[18] JB 3.150: A certain (named) person gained heaven (svarga-loka) by ‘mounting’ (ārohaya) the Yamunā, against the current (pratīpa) and finding for himself a way (me vartmāni, svavartmāni) that he used as a path (niyāna) to the top of heaven. The parallel text, PB 13.9.19, does not speak of this. However, this is a first indication of the shift of the old Vedic tradition eastwards to the “middle country” (Madhyadeśa, U.P.)  
[19] --  "The consecration (dīkṣā) is performed at the place where the Sarasvatī disappears (in the desert sands). They follow the current (of the Sarasvatī). The counter-current is, so to speak, the shining world (i.e. the movement of the Milky Way, in the morning, from December to June; see fig.3a in: http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/CheminDuCiel.pdf).  It is thus that one attains the shining world. They go towards the northeast. The shining world is partially (iva) to the northeast (i.e. moves towards the northeast -- from December to June).  They go, rising towards the shining world.  They go as far as the Prakṣa Prāsravaṇa.  Prakṣa Prāsravaṇa is the place where speech ends. In the place where speech ends, there is the shining world. They go so well that they arrive at the shining world.”
[20] JB 2.297: “The shining world is, so to speak (iva), in the northeast.” JUB 4.15.4 svargasya lokasya dvāra. This doorway is located there, at the spot where the bifurcation of the Milky Way (in the Aquila constellation) becomes visible on winter mornings, around the time of winter solstice. In June and in July, at summer solstice, the "doorway" of the Milky Way disappears in the west.
[21]As the Milky Way is lightly curved and ‘bent’ above the North Pole, or rather, at the beginning of the Vedic period, curved around the three polar stars surrounding the pole  (see fig. 1 in: http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/CheminDuCiel.pdf): at that time there was no Pole Star yet, due to precession.
[22] There is a similar myth in the early Daoist literature of China, Jun Ping: he stepped a float in the Milky Way, moved around with it, until he reached home again after one year. 
[23] Actually one can do so also by mounting the ‘back’ of heaven at the eastern end of the world, where heaven touches the ocean surrounding the earth with a minuscule gap as broad as the wing of an insect  (Bṛhad Āraṇyaka Upaniṣad 3.3.2), and then moving towards the top. Cf. the vartman of the Yamunā.
[24] A little below, that is where the Sarasvaṭī disappeared in the desert:  JB II 297 (§ 156) sqq. "The consecration (dīkṣā) is performed at the place where the Sarasvatī disappears (in the desert sands).”
[25] See above on the Yātsattra.
[26] Both are ficus trees: the Plakṣa is the Ficus infectiora, (D. Brandis, Indian trees, London 1906, 602, 718); the Vaṭa is the Banyan (Ficus bengalensis, also called Ficus indica (Brandis 600, 603). 
[29]  Witzel,  Macrocosm, Mesocosm, and Microcosm. The persistent nature of 'Hindu'
beliefs and symbolical forms. In S. Mittal (ed.) IJHS Symposium on Robert Levy's MESOCOSM,  International Journal of Hindu Studies, 1.3 Dec. 1998, 501-53. http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/w97ijhs-MesocosmLevy.pdf