TRACING VEDIC DIALECTS - People.fas.harvard.edu

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