TRACING VEDIC DIALECTS - People.fas.harvard.edu
TRACING VEDIC DIALECTS - People.fas.harvard.edu
TRACING VEDIC DIALECTS - People.fas.harvard.edu
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It is interesting to note that the late Aitareyins (AB 6-8) have retained their<br />
school particularity of style, the idiom sam.yat, and have not followed the<br />
Eastern style of using spṛdh. On the other hand, however, they have<br />
conformed with later linguistic development, namely the characteristic use of<br />
the narrative perfect, and have changed the tense of the sentence accordingly.<br />
In order to underline the identity of their school, retention of such special<br />
features as the use of sam.yat was necessary, but the change to perfect was<br />
probably involuntary and automatic. In the present context, it is important to<br />
note that standard phrases were used time and again to begin telling newly<br />
reformulated myths or newly invented stories about the gods; these stories,<br />
though following the old pattern, were constantly changed to suit the<br />
discussion intended, or to fit the demonstration of a particular point of ritual.<br />
The remainder of the texts agree with this scheme in a way parallel to the<br />
general use of tenses, described in the last section. In the following table, the<br />
typical phrases are given: 143<br />
__________________________________________________________________<br />
Western texts Central E. Centre Eastern<br />
__________________________________________________________________<br />
SAṂ.YAT/SPṚDH SAṂ.YAT SPṚDH<br />
early KS sayattā āsan TS sayattā āsan<br />
Saṃh. MS aspardhanta<br />
early ABo saṃyattā āsan TB sayattā āsan<br />
Brāhm. (in TBk!)<br />
TĀ sayattā āsan<br />
later<br />
ŚBKo asphardanta<br />
KB saṃ° āsuḥ ŚBMw asphardanta<br />
Br. & ŚBMo pasphṛdire<br />
Up.s JB mixed ŚBMn pasphṛdire<br />
early<br />
Sūtras<br />
VādhB "<br />
BŚS "<br />
ŚŚS pasphṛdire ŚBu paspṛdhire<br />
ChU -<br />
KaṭhB mixed<br />
PB saṃyattā āsan/<br />
asphardanta<br />
ABn saṃyetire<br />
143 For the distribution of sam.yat and spṛdh, see S.Lévy, Doctrine du sacrifice, p. 44, ann.<br />
1, with partial references.<br />
53