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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* 1st: there are regional differences in Vedic (as will be described in detail<br />
in the main part of this paper). 11 Unfortunately, this has not been followed up<br />
so far.<br />
* 2nd: these regional differences are not static throughout the Vedic<br />
period, but many of them show developments both in time and space: certain<br />
local peculiarities -- often innovations! -- spread to the next level of texts.<br />
They do not always do so in an Eastern direction, as one might think, with a<br />
view to the history of settlement of N. India, but also in other directions.<br />
When a larger number of such quickly spreading innovations are compared,<br />
a few centres of innovation emerge. It will be interesting to see where they<br />
are situated and what could have been the reasons for the diffusion of<br />
innovations. 12<br />
* 3rd: when one studies these variations and their spread in space and time,<br />
the surprising result is a correspondence of the geographical area of some<br />
Vedic schools (śākhās) with that of certain Vedic tribes and with some<br />
archeologically attested cultures. This, ultimately, allows to date the texts for<br />
the first time (see below, § 10.5).<br />
If some of the features mentioned above are local peculiarities, i.e., dialect<br />
characteristics, then the question arises: is there a relationship with the<br />
various early Middle Indian dialects and with the other Prākṛts? The recent<br />
book of O.v. Hinüber on early Middle Indian provides, as far as features<br />
common to Vedic and Middle Indian have been identified until now, an ample<br />
discussion of the relationship between Vedic and the Prākṛts. 13 The point has<br />
been discussed earlier by M.B.Emeneau. He concentrates, however, on the<br />
11 P.Thieme is, as far as I can see, the first who has noticed that such regional differences<br />
are clearly mirrored in Pāṇini's knowledge of Vedic texts, and that Pāṇ. is very close to<br />
(N)W texts, KS and PS, see Pāṇ. and the Veda, p.75; cf. now Cardona, Pāṇ., p. 238 sq.; cf.<br />
also K.Hoffmann, Aufs. p.470, about dialect differences in the caste language of the<br />
Brahmins.<br />
12 If true, this alone should be sufficient to disperse the doubts of Caland, Renou regarding<br />
the use of linguistic criteria, found in various Vedic texts, for determining the relative dates<br />
of these texts, as summed up by Minard, Trois Enigmes II, §717-727. For the spread of the<br />
Vedic tribes and their culture to the East, see Rau, Staat, p.12 (where the data are not used<br />
for this purpose, cf. author, Fel. Vol. Eggermont); for the movement towards the South, see<br />
MS 4.7.9:104.14 "people move southwards, conquering," ŚB 2.3.2.2 on Naḍa Naiṣadha who<br />
daily carries Yama (death) southwards, cf. also ŚB 5.3.3.3 : one gets food in the South;<br />
Brāhmaṇic splendour is found in the North, cf. above (ann. 6) on the best speech, KB 7.6.<br />
Cf. finally, JB 2.352 "one brahmin follows the other": tasmād brāhmaṇo<br />
brahmaṇsyānucaro bhavati.<br />
13 O.v. Hinüber, Das altere Mittelindisch im Überblick. SB Akad. Wien 1986, § 7-11.<br />
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