TRACING VEDIC DIALECTS - People.fas.harvard.edu

(Yugandhara in the Matsya area, ĀpMp)
500 B.C. Persians have conquered
Gandhāra, Panjab and Sindh
Late Vedic immigration of
Vṛjji, Malla, Śākya, etc.
into Bihar (E.Kosala, Videha);
no longer mentioned in the
Ved. texts, attested in Pāli texts
as Vajji, etc.
500- B.C. NBP: Northern Black Polished Ware spreads over N.India
150+ B.C. New waves of immigration: Abhīra (Pat.), Śaka, etc.
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§10.6 Conclusion and prospects
What remains to be done is to collect many more features of the various
Vedic dialects from the texts, 356 - preferably with the help of the
computer. Many more larger or smaller facets and aspects of the dialects,
the overlay of various features, either agreeing with or transgressing the
dialect boundaries stipulated above, will have to be collected, so that
some of the isolated features treated in this article (like u/o in puruvasu-)
are put into perspective. Only then will it become clear whether all the
tendencies and trends mentioned above are borne out, or whether they
were sometimes established on a too limited collection of material.
In particular, the position of the transitional dialects, like that of Kosala
and of the South (Jaim.) should be investigated in much more detail, and
at the same time be separated from such late intrusions as are visible in
VSK, ŚBK, and PB.
An intriguing investigation could be made into the probability of a late
Vedic "Eastern Koine" which would then have included the Videha-
Kosala area but would have influenced, more or less heavily, the Central
and Southern texts like VādhB, BŚS, JB, JUB, and ChU.
356 I propose to do so, periodically, in various journals.
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