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 distribution of kś also indicates that a peculiarity can originate in a<br />
relatively small area (as with the lost Caraka-Sāṃhitā or with the<br />
Maitrāyaṇīyas). It can influence other areas as well (Kaṭha school), but does<br />
not equally spread throughout the whole Brahmin community; kś is limited to<br />
YV of the Kurus. Apparently, contact between the various schools of<br />
different Vedas was not very extensive at this early period. The reason for<br />
the limited diffusion of this phenomenon must have been the discussion of<br />
ritualistic details within o n e Veda. Schools like the Aitareyins and the<br />
Kauṣītakis faced similar issues, or among the Yajurvedins, the Maitr. and<br />
Kaṭhas, as opposed to those of the Atharvaveda or Sāmavedin schools. 167<br />
While this may look like the spread of a particular style of speech, the origin<br />
of these peculiarities is still local, and the spread is centrifugal. The "force" of<br />
the change, and therefore the area of diffusion, differs from case to case, as is<br />
well known in dialect studies. In the present case, the innovation could not<br />
spread beyond the Kuru area, nor did it affect texts of the next, i.e., the<br />
Brāhmaṇa, level. That means that we must recognise this peculiratity as an<br />
isolated feature of the early Saṃhitā prose speech of the Kurus. 168<br />
§6.3 "Ṛgvedic" -ḷ-<br />
The preceding sections have dealt with old, regional features of the Kuru<br />
area which developed in the time of Saṃhitā prose or even earlier. On the<br />
other hand, the so-called Rgvedic -ḷ- is generally regarded as a late feature;<br />
this can be exemplified briefly, as is usually done, by referring to the two<br />
forms īḷe and īḍya- in Śākalya's Padapāṭha text: -ḷ- occurs only in<br />
intervocalic position, thus not in cases where the Middle/Late Vedic<br />
pronunciation of the group -ḍiy- had already become -ḍy- (cf.below: § 6.5<br />
súvar > svàr, śreṣṭha- < *śraiiṣṭha-, etc.). It is only at this late stage that the<br />
change ḍ > ḷ took place. The distribution of this feature is not limited to the<br />
167 Similar developments can be noticed in the use of RV mantras as well. Again, the<br />
various śākhās of a Veda tend to band together against the texts of other Vedas. See e.g.,<br />
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<br />
10.90, etc. (with parallels). This is important for an understanding of the early activities of<br />
the Kuru Brahmins. They composed and varied hymns in the Kurukṣetra area, and this<br />
was further diversified once the schools of the more distant lands emerged.<br />
168 Note also the words restricted to MS and KS, i.e., cases where even the other old YV<br />
Saṃhitā, TS, does not participate, as it is the product of the Pañcāla area; see the list of<br />
Schroeder, ZDMG 33, p. 189 sqq. This must be reinvestigated, yet it still contains many<br />
such words, like veśatvá and others, which outside of MS/Kps/KS are only recorded by<br />
Pāṇini.<br />
63