TRACING VEDIC DIALECTS - People.fas.harvard.edu

The distribution of kś also indicates that a peculiarity can originate in a
relatively small area (as with the lost Caraka-Sāṃhitā or with the
Maitrāyaṇīyas). It can influence other areas as well (Kaṭha school), but does
not equally spread throughout the whole Brahmin community; kś is limited to
YV of the Kurus. Apparently, contact between the various schools of
different Vedas was not very extensive at this early period. The reason for
the limited diffusion of this phenomenon must have been the discussion of
ritualistic details within o n e Veda. Schools like the Aitareyins and the
Kauṣītakis faced similar issues, or among the Yajurvedins, the Maitr. and
Kaṭhas, as opposed to those of the Atharvaveda or Sāmavedin schools. 167
While this may look like the spread of a particular style of speech, the origin
of these peculiarities is still local, and the spread is centrifugal. The "force" of
the change, and therefore the area of diffusion, differs from case to case, as is
well known in dialect studies. In the present case, the innovation could not
spread beyond the Kuru area, nor did it affect texts of the next, i.e., the
Brāhmaṇa, level. That means that we must recognise this peculiratity as an
isolated feature of the early Saṃhitā prose speech of the Kurus. 168
§6.3 "Ṛgvedic" -ḷ-
The preceding sections have dealt with old, regional features of the Kuru
area which developed in the time of Saṃhitā prose or even earlier. On the
other hand, the so-called Rgvedic -ḷ- is generally regarded as a late feature;
this can be exemplified briefly, as is usually done, by referring to the two
forms īḷe and īḍya- in Śākalya's Padapāṭha text: -ḷ- occurs only in
intervocalic position, thus not in cases where the Middle/Late Vedic
pronunciation of the group -ḍiy- had already become -ḍy- (cf.below: § 6.5
súvar > svàr, śreṣṭha- < *śraiiṣṭha-, etc.). It is only at this late stage that the
change ḍ > ḷ took place. The distribution of this feature is not limited to the
167 Similar developments can be noticed in the use of RV mantras as well. Again, the
various śākhās of a Veda tend to band together against the texts of other Vedas. See e.g.,
PS 7.4 = MS 2.10.4, KS 18.5, TS 4.6.4, cf. RV 10.103, SV 2.1219, or PS 9.5 ~ ŚS 19.6, RV
10.90, etc. (with parallels). This is important for an understanding of the early activities of
the Kuru Brahmins. They composed and varied hymns in the Kurukṣetra area, and this
was further diversified once the schools of the more distant lands emerged.
168 Note also the words restricted to MS and KS, i.e., cases where even the other old YV
Saṃhitā, TS, does not participate, as it is the product of the Pañcāla area; see the list of
Schroeder, ZDMG 33, p. 189 sqq. This must be reinvestigated, yet it still contains many
such words, like veśatvá and others, which outside of MS/Kps/KS are only recorded by
Pāṇini.
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