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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The origin of the cluster ch is known from such forms as gachati: 158 Ṛgvedic<br />
metre indicates that -ch- was measured long, and was therefore pronounced<br />
as a cluster, probably something like [śś / śc] 159 . Interestingly, this is almost<br />
the same spelling that the close relative of the Maitrāyaṇīya, that is the Kaṭha<br />
school, employs in its MSS: śch. Schroeder (introd. to KS) misunderstood<br />
the evidence; he thought it to be a writing mistake as in the original<br />
Kashmirian MSS of KS, written in Śāradā script; both -śch- and -cch- look<br />
quite similar. However, the writing -śch- is consistent in Kashmirian texts.<br />
It is found also outside KS, in KaṭhB, KaṭhĀ, etc., and notably so in the<br />
Kashmirian MS of the Paippalāda Saṃhitā; it regularly occurs even in MSS<br />
of classical Skt. texts that stem from Kashmir. The written evidence 160<br />
reflects a much older stage of pronunciation, that of medieval Veda<br />
recitation. 161 The pronunciation of -(c)ch- as [śch] is not the present day<br />
pronunciation of this cluster, nor was it the medieval Kashmirian one; c is<br />
pronounced as [ts] and śch as [ts h ]. 162<br />
The outcome of a survey of the distribution of this feature, therefore, is that<br />
the older texts and schools ( RV, PS, MS, KS) show the remnants of an older<br />
pronunciation of the cluster, which was later written and pronounced -cch-.<br />
In all of these schools, the particular pronunciation was fixed early enough to<br />
persist even in the face of the overwhelming pressure of classical Skt.,<br />
Pāṇinean grammar, and the habits of other, neighbouring Veda schools. I<br />
conclude, therefore, that the Ṛgvedic, Mantra time, and apparently the<br />
Western Saṃhitā prose, pronunciation of the cluster was [śch] or something<br />
akin to it, like [śc, śś]. It is noteworthy that the survival of this feature is a<br />
regional one.<br />
The Śākalya Śākhā of the Ṛgveda shows a close connection with the Aitareya<br />
school, the older homeland of which was the Eastern Panjab (see §4.1). The<br />
Kaṭha school occupied roughly the same territory as the Aitareyins; PS is<br />
equally a Western text, when compared to the Śaunaka version of the<br />
Atharvaveda, and the Maitrāyaṇīyas settled in the same area, though<br />
apparently somewhat to the South of Kurukṣetra.<br />
This limits the occurrence of this phenomenon to the West of the area of<br />
Middle Vedic texts and schools. In fact, it is a Kuru peculiarity, since all the<br />
158 *gm-sk’e-ti, probably via > gae-ścæ-ti.<br />
159 This cannot be the same pronunciation as in háriścandra- < hariś candraḥ, RV 9.66.26.<br />
160 Cf. also Wack. I,153 sqq. Nachtr. ad 158,28, ad 154,13.<br />
161 Cf. O.v. Hinüber, Überblick. on c/śc, §192-3; yc, yj in Mg.<br />
162 Note also that the medieval Nepalese MSS hardly exhibit the writing ch, but always write<br />
cch as a ligature, even in cases where a word begins in ch- (and is not preceded by vowel).<br />
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