devarÄta-sutaḥ so 'pi
charditvÄ yajuá¹£Äá¹ gaṇam
tato gato 'tha munayo
dadṛśus tÄn yajur-gaṇÄn
yajÅ«á¹á¹£i tittirÄ bhÅ«tvÄ
tal-lolupatayÄdaduḥ
taittirÄ«yÄ iti yajuḥ-
Å›ÄkhÄ Äsan su-peÅ›alÄḥ
devarÄta-sutaḥ - the son of DevarÄta (YÄjñavalkya); saḥ - he; api - indeed; charditvÄ - vomiting; yajuá¹£Äm - of the Yajur Veda; gaṇam - the collected mantras; tataḥ - from there; gataḥ - having gone; atha - then; munayaḥ - the sages; dadṛśuḥ - saw; tÄn - those; yajuḥ-gaṇÄn - yajur-mantras; yajÅ«á¹si - these yajurs; tittirÄḥ - partridges; bhÅ«tvÄ - becoming; tat - for those mantras; lolupatayÄ - with greedy desire; Ädaduḥ - picked them up; taittirÄ«yÄḥ - known as TaittirÄ«ya; iti - thus; yajuḥ-Å›ÄkhÄḥ - branches of the Yajur Veda; Äsan - came into being; su-peÅ›alÄḥ - most beautiful.
YÄjñavalkya, the son of DevarÄta, then vomited the mantras of the Yajur Veda and went away from there. The assembled disciples, looking greedily upon these yajur hymns, assumed the form of partridges and picked them all up. These divisions of the Yajur Veda therefore became known as the most beautiful TaittirÄ«ya-saá¹hitÄ, the hymns collected by partridges [tittirÄḥ].
According to ÅšrÄ«la ÅšrÄ«dhara SvÄmÄ«, it is improper for a brÄhmaṇa to collect what has been vomited, and so the powerful brÄhmaṇa disciples of VaiÅ›ampÄyana assumed the form of tittiras, partridges, and collected the valuable mantras.
