TRACING VEDIC DIALECTS - People.fas.harvard.edu

have changed this dialect. 99 We know that even a Kosala prince should not
speak like the Easterners (see above §1); in the case of Bodhāyana, this would
mean that a Brahmin from Kosala should also emulate the speech of the
Kuru-Pañcāla Brahmins, in this case, that of the Pañcāla Taittirīyas. 100
While the origin and the spread of the gen.in -ai 101 is a good example of the
influence of a centrally located innovative area, the following case, that of the
spread of the narrative perfect, is a late phenomenon that began in the East
and subsequently moved westwards very haltingly, so that it did not reach
Pāṇini at all, but still affected, in late Vedic, the Western Kaṭha and Maitr.
texts. 102
§5.2. The spread of the narrative perfect: 103
Since Whitney's investigation 104 into the use of the imperfect and perfect in
the Saṃhitās and Brāhmaṇas, we know that the older texts, i.e., the
Yajurveda Saṃhitās and some of the Brāhmaṇas, use the imperfect to tell
stories, legends, etc., a feature corresponding to Pāṇinis's rules (3.2.110 sqq.).
However, the younger Brāhmaṇas, especially the ŚB, tell such stories in the
perfect tense. 105
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99 Note: precisely as he had to codify both the Taitt. and the Vāj. material, or at least had to
compare and reconcile them.
100 Or rather, his disciples and redactors used this dialect. BŚS often quotes Baudhāyana;
this means, of course, that the text was redacted by his pupils viz. his school of ritual.
101 Earlier scholars were not convinced that -ai could be used for purposes of dating the
texts, see, Caland, tr. PB, p. XIX, ann.1 "no criterion of posterity or priority" [of PB vs.
JB]; cf. AO 5, p.51; similarly on the use of the imperfect vs. perfect, PB tr. p. XX; cf. Renou,
above ann. 12.
102 Note: This is important for Pāṇini's date! He cannot be of the late KaṭhB period; cf.
ann. 358.
103 See Delbrück, impf. + vai, perf. + ha, see also Oldenberg, Prosa; Keith, AA transl. p.60,
172.
104 Whitney, PAOS May 1891 (JAOS 15), and: On the narrative use of imperfect and
perfect in the Brāhmaṇas, TAPA 23, pp. 5-34; Keith, introd. to transl. of TS, RV Br., AA.
105 The older texts (MS, KS, KpS, TS, TB, TA, AB 1-5; ŚB 6-10, KaṭhB) have preserved the
use of the imperfect, while the younger texts make use of the perfect (ChU, BAU, ŚB 1-5,
11-14; AB 6-8; Vādh.B., as well as a few very late portions in such texts as the KaṭhB = TB
3.10.11). Cf. Keith, transl. of TS, p. CLIII sq., transl. of Ṛgveda-Br., p. 85 sqq.; Oldenberg,
Zur Geschichte der altindischen Prosa. Mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der prosaischpoetischen
Erzahlung. Abh. d. Kgl. Gesellsch. d. Wiss. zu Gött., Phil.-Hist.Kl.Bd.XV Nro.6,
Berlin 1917, p.25 ssq.
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