TRACING VEDIC DIALECTS - People.fas.harvard.edu

were several occasions 225 where it was obvious that the Pañcaviṃsa-Br.
deviated from the other Vedic texts. First of all, it is an extremely
abbreviated text, if compared to JB; such a degree of shortening is not
otherwise found; see, for example, the degree of abbreviation and shortened
retelling of older myths when found in TS, as compared to the older KS. On
the other hand, PB tends to be extremely "archaic" in the use of the tenses.
This is probably intentional, as at the same time, such late developments as
the forms dugdhe, tanūm, yuvām, śirasā, etc., are found.
It seems that the Kauthuma school, which has no really old Brāhmaṇa texts,
except for ChU (still late Vedic, though with some colloquial traits),
reworked, at a late stage, and some older and unfortunately lost or
untraceable Sāmaveda Brāhmaṇa, 226 in close cooperation with the
Kapiṣṭhala-Kaṭhas, perhaps in Gujarat, as one of the Śrautasūtras of this
school, the Lāṭyāyana ŚS, seems to indicate and where the Kap. seem to have
moved in the late/pots-Vedic period 227 ; the home of the author of LŚS
apparently was in Lāṭī, an area of S. Gujarat. 228 Note, in this context, that
LŚS/DŚS must indicate the localities on the Sarasvatī by specifying them in
detail, with the help of an inserted clause. 229 The author(s) of these texts
apparently lived far away from Kurukṣetra. 230
Again, such forms as mentioned above serve as warning signs. One could,
without suspicion, lump a text like PB together with older Brāhmaṇas like
TB, etc., as it seems to conform to their shibboleth-- the use of the impf. as
narrative tense-- if it were not for the late verbal, pronominal, and nominal
forms quoted above.
"Eastern RV"?
224
Cf. above §6.5 on svar.
225
See for example, gen.fem -ai,§ 5.1, etc.; see also § 10.2
226
Note that even their Kṣudra Sūtra contains many Br.-like passages.
- The final redaction may have taken place in the East, cf. the Videha king Namin Sāpya at
PB 25.10.17, and the tradition about a bhāṣika accented PB text, see below ann.
230,317,334.
227
See § 6.4 on the homeland of KpS
228
See Weber and Parpola, Transl. LŚS/DŚS p. 29. Is the split between Kauthumas (LŚS)
and Rāṇāyaṇiyas (DŚS) due to the movement of one subschool to Gujarat (together with
the Maitr., and perhaps the Kap.), while the other went eastwards to Videha (cf.the Videha
king Namin Sāpya in PB 25.10.17)? The Drāhy. (see Parpola.LŚS tr. p, 40), later on are
found in S. India (together with the Taitt.) cf. ann. 230,334. Both schools differ in the use of
-ym- (Kauth.) viz. -jm- (Drāh.).
229
See K. Hoffmann, Ortsnamenparenthese, Aufs. p.123 sq., cf. Parpola, Transl. p. 30,
ann.1.
230
Cf., however, the supposed movement of the Kauthumas to the East, see ann. 223, note
the alledged bhāṣika accents of PB (Śabara); cf. Parpola, transl. LŚS, p. 30, cf. ann. 228.
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