Devalok
Legend · 2 tellings · Pan-India

Nabhanedishtha and the claim on what is left

Who is in it

  • Nabhanedishtha the student left out of the inheritance
  • Rudra the claimant (named only in the Taittiriya)

The story, beat by beat

  1. A student son of Manu is left out of the division of property.
  2. His father sends him to help the Angirases with their sacrifice.
  3. They leave him their wealth as they go to heaven.
  4. A man in black from the north says what is left on the ground is his.
  5. Manu rules that it is the stranger's.
  6. The boy says so truthfully and is given it.

truth inheritance remainder

How it is told, place by place

Base telling · Primary text (translation)

Aitareya Brahmana 5.14

Pan-India All traditions

Cut out by his brothers, Nabhanedishtha earns a thousand from the Angirases by reciting two hymns. A man in black from the north claims whatever is left on the place of sacrifice. Manu confirms the claim; the boy reports it honestly, and the stranger gives him the wealth for speaking the truth.

Rigveda Brahmanas: the Aitareya and Kausitaki Brahmanas, tr. A. B. Keith (1920) § aitareya.5.14

Primary text (translation)

Taittiriya Samhita 3.1.9

Pan-India All traditions

Manu himself leaves the student out. The Angirases give him their cattle, and Rudra claims them as the remainder of the sacrifice. Rudra offers to leave the cattle alone for a share; the boy pours out the leftover Soma for him.

What is different here:

Claimant named as Rudra; a bargain, not a test of truth; no appeal to the father.

The Veda of the Black Yajus School (Taittiriya Sanhita), tr. A. B. Keith (1914) § 3.1.9

Sources: Rigveda Brahmanas: the Aitareya and Kausitaki Brahmanas, tr. A. B. Keith (1920); The Veda of the Black Yajus School (Taittiriya Sanhita), tr. A. B. Keith (1914)

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