TRACING VEDIC DIALECTS - People.fas.harvard.edu

N. India., and also its Sūtra, the Kauśika Sūtra, have a few of these cases.
KauśS 42.17 ajmaḥ > aymaḥ, 64.17 anajmi > anaymi, 180 . Both texts,
interestingly, can be traced back to a Gujarat tradition of the Middle Ages. -
Occasionally, -ym- , is also found in the Or. version of PS (18.76.4:
maymani). 181 Finally, another addition can be made from Nepal, where I
once saw this trait in an Agnihotra Paddhati belonging to the Vājasaneyi
school. 182
How does this all add up? The few cases in MS, MŚS, PS, ŚS and KauśS can
all be traced back to medieval Gujarat. PB and the other Kauthuma texts are
also prominently found in Gujarat. It is unlikely, however, that the
substitution of -jm- by -ym- in PB I had much of an an impact on the other
schools (Śaun., Paipp., Maitr.). Even if one evokes the Moḍha Brahmins of
Gujarat who were cāturvedins (and of whom I have indeed seen SV, MS, and
AV MSS), this cannot readily explain the diffusion of the feature to all the
texts mentioned above.
The medieval homeland of the Kapiṣṭhalas is still unknown, but may have
been Gujarat. The school has not thus far been traced anywhere in India; I
suspect that its medieval home lies in Gujarat/Maharashtra (or
Orissa/Andhra), as the only extensive MS of this text shows a peculiarity
common to these areas, i.e., pronouncing and therefore also writing the sound
-ṛ- as [ru]. The MS is written in Devanāgarī; Gujarat or Maharashtra thus
would be the preferred choice. 183 Then there is a similarity in Sandhi between
MS and KpS, i.e., -as/-e before accented vowel > - ā in MS, occasionally only
in KpS. This indicates a Maitr. influence on KpS transmission, either in
recitation or, more probably, in writing. This again supports a Gujarat
homeland for the medieval KpS. Modern evidence tends to confirm this. 184
If, at a certain time, KpS/KpB was one of the major Yajurveda traditions in
180
Cf. also y/j change in: 120.1 samajyāyan > samayyāyam, 133.6 yajñe > jajñe; see
Bloomfield, p. LXI.
181
The reason is that PS originally stems from Gujarat, at a time of 800/1000 AD, cf.
author, ZDMG, VI. Suppl.band, 1985, p. 265 sqq.
182
See StII 8/9 p.209, but note Brāhmaṇo Gurjaradeśād āgataḥ in a colophon of another
MS from Nepal, 13th cent., see author, in: Formen kulturellen Wandels... = Nepalica 2., ed.
B.Kölver, St. Augustin 1986, p. 1987, ann.2.
183
The only other manuscript of KpS , from the former Ft. William at Calcutta, is also
written in Nāgarī, as is the manuscript, which I unfortunately was not allowed to film at the
Benares Skt.Univ. during three visits in 1972/73, of a so-called Kāpiṣṭhala Gṛhyasūtra.
184
See the letter no. 14 by Kanhaiyālāl Bhāīśaṅkar Dave of Pātāṇ (N. Gujarat), in Dr.
Yaśavant Khuśāl Deśpāṇḍe, Vedaśākhā Vāṅmay āṇi Carak Brāhmaṇyācāṃ Itihās, Nāgpur
1961, app.2, p.26. Someone should investigate the Kap. and other (Yajur-) Vedic traditions
of Gujarat (Dave mentions: Kaṭha, Kapiṣthala, Maitr., Caraka).
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