TRACING VEDIC DIALECTS - People.fas.harvard.edu

* the better speech of the Northerners: KB 7.6 4
* the higher tones of the Kurus, Pañcālas: ŚBM 3.2.3.15; or
Kurus, Mahāvṛṣas: ŚBK 4.2.3.15 uttarāhi/°hai) 5
* the son of a king of Kosala speaks "like the Easterners":
JB 1.338 = ed.Caland §115
* nyagrodha bowls = "nyubja" in Kurukṣetra: AB 7.30
* the names of Agni/Rudra in the East viz. West: Śarva with
the Easterners, Bhava with the Bāhīkas: ŚB 1.7.3.8, cf.
6.1.3.11-15
* The Pañcala use kuśa instead of darbha, also in the names of their
kings (Keśin) 6
Such clearly mentioned l o c a l peculiarities must, of course, be
distinguished from social levels of language:
* the gods, Gandharvas, Asuras, and men speak differently, ŚB 10.6.4.1
* so do the gods on one hand (rātrīm) and the author of the passage in
question (rātrim), MS 1.5.12:81.3-4
* the dīkṣita has his own language 7
* so have the Vrātyas (cf. H. Falk, Bruderschaft)
* note the difference in the language of women: they speak candratara, 8
probably "more clearly", with higher pitch; at RV 10.145.2, a woman uses the
younger (and more popular) kuru instead of kṛṇu. 9
4
See Weber, Lit.Gesch.p.49, Ind. St. II,309; cf.Thieme, Pāṇ. and the Veda 80; cf. TS 5.3.4.4
with tr. Keith, cf. below ann. 20.
5
About this, author, forthc.
6
Most of these passages have been noticed by W. Rau, Staat und Gesellschaft im alten
Indien, Wiesbaden 1957, p.18. Cf. AV 12.1.45, 'everywhere on Earth there are men of
different speech and customs'; and yatra-āryā vāg vadati KA 8.9 "where the Aryan speech
is spoken" (cf. the similar expression in O.Pers. DB IV 89: āriya- " Aryan language"), cf.
AA 3.2.5; -- the Pañcāla use kuśa instead of darbha, apparently to denote their kings, in
succession to Keśin Dārbhya, who, according to BŚS, was called Śīrṣaṇya Kuśa after
performing the Apaciti sacrifice, see JB 2.100 §133, BŚS 18.38, PB 19.8. Yet, apparently,
this usage is also found in everyday language, see ŚBK 1.2.3.9 kuśā but darbha in the
parallel version ŚBM 2.2.3.11. This passage underlines what will be said below, §4.1., about
the homeland of ŚBK as neigbouring the Pāñcāla area. Passages like TS 7.5.9.2: "all forms
of speech they speak" (at a Sattra), have to be understood, with H.Falk, (Bruderschaft und
Würfelspiel, Freiburg 1986), differently, in terms of the ritual in question. For later texts,
see Patañjali, I p.9, line 25, on dātra, hammati, śavati, and the various words for cow, (cf.
also Pkt. goṇā, gopatalikā).
7
Cf. the names of Keśin Dālbhya; also the various designations of the horse: haya, vājin,
arvan, aśva ŚB 10.6.4.1 etc.; cf. W. Rau., Staat, p. 18.
8
See KS 30.1:181.15, - but only at night!
5