TRACING VEDIC DIALECTS - People.fas.harvard.edu

Therefore, the occurrence of -ai forms in VSM, which at first glance seems
to be early, may in fact only be due to the redaction of the text. This can show
the way to an understanding of the few occurrences in the Padapāṭha and
AVŚ as well; the Śaunaka version of the Atharvaveda has a more Eastern
homeland than the Paippalāda text. 93 ŚS may very well have been influenced
by the Taitt. forms predominant in Central N. India (Pañcāla country). 94
The cases in Śākalya's Padapāṭha of the Ṛgveda and in AB may find a
similar explanation. The older portions of AB (1-5) were composed in the
West, in an area close to that of the Kaṭha, "where the rivers flow westwards
most copiously." This portion contains a reference to the Śākala ritual at
3.43. The younger portion of AB, however, indicates a very close connection
with the East and even with the SE non-Indo-Aryan tribes, like the Puṇḍra,
etc. Śākalya must belong to the late Br. period, i.e., to the time of the
composition of AB 6-8, as his mention in ŚB 11 and 14 indicates. Śākalya, a
member of the group of Aitareyin ritualists (called Śākala at AB 3.43), and
King Janaka's Hotṛ, Aśvala, who has given his name to the Śrautasūtra of
this school, the ĀsvŚS, were prominent Ṛgvedins of this school in the East. 95
It can be seen that the sudden appearance and predominance of the Aitareya
Ṛgvedins in the East replaces an older Eastern RV. That this Eastern text
was a reality is evident from the statement of ŚB 11.5.1.10 about the
Purūravas hymn having only 15 stanzas, as opposed to the extant Śākala
version with 18.
The residence of Śākalya in the East, at King Janaka's court in Videha,
makes it possible that the Central/Eastern forms of the Taitt./Vāj. have
influenced Śākalya's grammar just as they apparently have intruded into AB
6-8 and, at the time of redaction, even two times into AB 1-5. 96
Apparently, the RV was redacted, and the Padapāṭha was composed, by
Śākalya (and his school, the Aitareyins) during the late Br. period in Eastern
India. We must return to this interesting person later on. 97
93 See Fel. Vol. Eggermont.
94 Or by the few divergent Kāṇva forms if they indeed are as early as the redaction of ŚS.
95 Cf. the Saggala of the Greeks, see author, Fel. Vol. Eggermont; Śākala ritual at AB 3.43;
for Pāli Assalāyana, cf. Mylius, Fs. Ruben.
96 See ann. 222.
97 In this connection, note that Pāṇini knows of the Eastern grammarians and of Śākalya,
but also about the Vṛji, later on a confederation of Videha tribes otherwise first known in
the Pāli sources (as Vajji/Vṛjji). The Vṛji (sic 4.2.131) of Pāṇ.'s time, however, still seem to
reside in the Panjab, as they are mentioned together with the Madra, see below, ann. 320.
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