TRACING VEDIC DIALECTS - People.fas.harvard.edu

on an old Western SV Br. which used the impf. but probably received its
redaction in the East (note the extra-ordinary high number of perfects in
ChU, a late Kauth. text).
* The use of the infinitive in -toḥ shows some minor variations between
the various Vedas; it is strong in the YV (with the exeption of MS and the
Śāṇdilya books of ŚB), ranging from 140 to 240 %, and in the RV texts:
AB 289%, 323 KB 160%. The SV is a little weaker: PB 194%, JB only
92%, JUB 113%. This involves both diachronic and areal features: If PB
has received its redaction in the East then its percentage agrees with that
of the other Eastern texts (ŚBM).
(b) areal features:
* The diffusion of khalu is limited to part of the YV texts (MS,TS,
Mādhy.) but includes PB (§7.1), and thus is an areal feature restricted to
parts of the Kuru and Pañcāla territory (including the JB) and to the
extreme East . As this is more of a matter of style, the competition
between various schools and their trend to set themselves off against each
other may have played a role: note that there is a pattern of intermittent
use viz. non-use in adjacent areas: MS-(KS)-TS-(ŚBK)-ŚBM. The case of
PB is open to discussion. While PB is otherwise closely linked to the
(Kap.-)Kaṭhas, the use of khalu in this text may be due to Eastern
influence, at the time of redaction of PB.
* sam.yat (§7.4 ) is another matter of style, but here the explanation is
different. This old Western innovation that took place only in part of the
Kuru area (KS,KpS) was transmitted to the Central area (TS) only. TS
often copied KS during its formative period. The JUB use of sam.yat,
high in percentage but limited in number, may be just a matter of
chance, especially when the sprinkling of cases in other W., Central and
E. texts is taken into account.
* Another areal feature is the diffusion of ḷ- (§ 6.3). This is clearly limited
to the West (KS,KpS,PS,AB and Śāk.RV) and part of the
Central/Southern area (KB,JB). The Kāṇvas participate, as they so often
do, in this Western feature. On the other hand, if one looks at the
323 If the collection of the inf.-toṃ + īśvara-, made by Oertel, KZ 65, 1938, p. 55 sqq., is
taken as representative (see above § 5.4), AB 1-5 has 7 cases, AB 6-8 has 9; the length of the
two parts of the text is : 157 : 78 pp., 2/3 to 1/3, and thus the number of cases in ABn is
about 2 times higher than expected.
123