TRACING VEDIC DIALECTS - People.fas.harvard.edu
TRACING VEDIC DIALECTS - People.fas.harvard.edu
TRACING VEDIC DIALECTS - People.fas.harvard.edu
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Vedic held sway over the Pañcālas for a long time, until it had to give<br />
way to and subsequently was overshadowed by the one that had<br />
developed among the Pañcālas themselves (most notable is the gen. fem.<br />
in -ai). This dialect gained prominence in the late Saṃhitā and in the<br />
early Brāhmaṇa period and strongly influenced the areas East and South<br />
to it. The "Eastern dialect", perhaps best called Prācya in accordance<br />
with Pāṇini and other early sources, emerged into prominence only<br />
during the late Brāhmaṇa period. Interestingly, even the present version<br />
of JB (i.e. the one superseding the originally Central Śāṭy.B) still<br />
criticises (albeit indirectly) a king's son for speaking "like the<br />
Easterners". Subsequently, some of the characteristics of the Prācya<br />
dialect seem to have been strongly preferred, so strongly in fact that they<br />
penetrated further and further westwards until they reached the Panjab<br />
(but not Pāṇini's homeland) during the late Vedic period. Typical is the<br />
diffusion of the narrative perfect which begon in this area. Other<br />
peculiarities, like the use of certain groups of particles, too, quickly<br />
spread westwards. Finally, the East is very important as the late Vedic<br />
centre of redactional activity (Śākalya for the RV, "Yājñavalkya" for the<br />
White YV, etc.) 317<br />
In addition to these major dialect areas, there are others about which<br />
we do not know anything or only have some stray facts. These are those<br />
of the<br />
-Bāhīkas (Madra,Mahāvṛṣa) in the Panjab:<br />
- note the local names of Rudra (Bhava/Śarva), ŚB 1.7.3.8,<br />
cf.6.1.311-15 318<br />
- they speak uttarhi ŚB 3.2.3.15 (only Kuru),<br />
317 It must be stressed again that all Vedic texts share at least one feature: thn (svar,<br />
śreṣṭha) and the late introduction of the Abhinihita Sandhi -o/e a- > ' a-, a state of affairs<br />
described by Pāṇini at 6.1.109 sqq., who, however, also notes the divergent older<br />
pronunciations of Śākalya, at 8.3.17 sqq.(see above §6.7). Where did this movement of<br />
modernisation start? Was it perhaps only under the influence of the Late Vedic Eastern<br />
kings, like Janaka? Cf. the gramm. modernisations in ŚBK, VSK, PB! -- Also, why do the<br />
Buddhists still have to talk about chandas pronunciation? Probably because the Western<br />
Vedic trend to use three levels of tones (versus the two of ŚB, bhāṣika acc.) was incouraged<br />
by orthoprax Eastern kings, for reasons of status. Note that even VS, which probably was<br />
extracted from ŚB, has introduced the Western system, and as Śabara's Bhāṣya shows, at<br />
an early time! (In the Middle ages VS was still closer in accentuation to MS, see the old<br />
Nepalese MSS of 1421 and earlier, described in VIJ 12,p.472 sqq.). Holy texts thus were<br />
characterised by musical accents, with great variations in pitch, something the local Pkt. of<br />
Buddha's time did no longer have. Therefore, Kāṭyāyana, Vārtt. and Patāñjali have to<br />
specify: ādy-udātta, see 1.3.9:266.18, etc.; cf. P. Thieme, Pan. p. 19.<br />
318 Cf. below, §10.3, at the end of the table.<br />
119