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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This result is interesting insofar as it tends to underline, on one hand, what<br />
we already know; the family books of the RV (RV 2-8) are the oldest parts of<br />
the text and usually show the same or similar particularities, while the large<br />
books 1 and 10 are later additions. Book 9 is a special case because of its<br />
character as 'song book' accompanying the Soma sacrifices.<br />
In addition to these well-known characteristics, it is important to note that<br />
books 3 and 8 take a special position. They seem to be later and are, in any<br />
case, less archaic than the rest, frequently even innovative. In my opinion,<br />
these books of the Viśvāmitra (RV 3) and the Kāṇvas (RV 8) are<br />
contemporary with the immigration into Kurukṣetra of the Bharatas under<br />
the Sudās family. Note especially RV 3. 53 (but cf. the Bhāradvāja<br />
composition 6.47!) More investigations into this matter are necessary,<br />
especially concerning the relative age of various hymns within the collections<br />
of their respective families as surviving in the various RV books. 155<br />
§6 TYPICAL ŚĀKHĀ DIFFERENCES<br />
§6.0. The preceding sections have indicated, I hope, that some peculiarities of<br />
dialect development can be traced throughout the Vedic period, right down<br />
from the RV, which itself is, of course, a collection of hymns by various<br />
authors and clans and reflects the traditions of many tribes across several<br />
centuries. The above materials also tend to indicate that there were centres of<br />
innovation, i.e. the areas occupied by the Taitirīyas (TS) and Vājasaneyins<br />
(ŚB).<br />
I will now turn to phonetic peculiarities of some major texts which have so<br />
far largely been disregarded. They have, it is true, been noticed for more<br />
than a hundred years and figure as such in the standard accounts of the<br />
language. However, they have not been placed in their proper context and<br />
perspective, as they were regarded to be phenomena limited to the text<br />
transmisson of a particular Vedic school, or even to a particular text.<br />
It is here, unfortunately, that the unsatisfactory state of Vedic text editions<br />
comes fully to bear. Although the editions, mostly made in the second half of<br />
155 This agrees with the opinion of S. Insler who noticed the special innovative role of the<br />
Kāṇvas in RV (personal comm.).<br />
59