TRACING VEDIC DIALECTS - People.fas.harvard.edu

[túbhya hinvāná- u -avasiṣṭa g apá- u -adhukṣan ... náraḥ ]
Unfortunately, nothing is left of this pronunciation, except the invaluable
notes by Pāṇin), some cases from SV, AŚS, ŚSS, KauśS, MU brought to light
by Oldenberg, Prolegomena, p. 457 sq., 453, and the more important
testimony of MS, KpS and of PS which has (almost) gone unnoticed thus far:
-as vowel- > -ay vowel-. KpS occasionally still changes -e > -ay , -o > -av, -
ai > -āy before vowel: varuṇadhā-y-iti (Ms. eti) KpS 6.8; ruca-y-eṣā 7.5; tay-enam
7.8; vibhāvasa-v-iti 30.3. 242 PS also has a few cases like this, e.g., tay-eka
PSOr 6.15.8.
It is remarkable that the Kapiṣṭhalas and, perhaps, the Paippalādins do not
agree upon the rules of Pāṇinean grammar, even after millenia of their
influence. Furthermore, there is another area of vowel Sandhi in which both
the Maitr.and Kap. differ from Pāṇini:
MS: unacc. -e/as + acc. vowel > ā acc.v. 243
The Kap. agree, though only a few forms are found sporadically:
KpS: (unnacc.) -e/as + (acc.)vowel > ā (acc.) v. 244
Unless the occurrence of this rule in KpS is due to Maitr. influence on KpS
in medieval Gujarat, it must go back to the Vedic period, when both schools
lived in close proximity, in S. Kurukṣetra viz. S. Panjab. A decision is
difficult to reach at this point, as KpS has been edited on the basis of a single
manuscript of unknown provenience. A thorough search in Gujarat would
perhaps turn up more MSS and help to solve the problem. In either case,this
school peculiarity may provide a hint that Pāṇini's general Abhinihita rule (-e
, -o) originated in the Northern part of Kurukṣetra (KS,AB) and not in the
Southern part (MS, MU). This would be very important for a study of the
history of Vedic texts; clearly, more research is needed.
To sum up: The older Sandhi forms still taught by Pāṇini were (occasionally)
preserved by some of the rarer texts, notably those of which a Prātiśākhya
has not been composed (or has not been transmitted during the post-Vedic
period). The "classical" Abhinihita Sandhi taught by Pāṇini at 6.1.109 sqq.
and actually used in his grammar has been introduced into almost all of the
242 See Raghu Vira, ed. intr., repr. p. VI.
243 Schroeder, ed. MS I, p. xxviii; cf.also Lubotsky, IIJ 25.
244 Schroeder, ed. MS I, p. xxxix; Raghu Vira, ed. repr. p. VI.
85