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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It has been mentioned earlier that the traditional phrases which are found in<br />
the introduction to a myth or aetiological tale beginning with, "The gods and<br />
the Asuras were in contest," usually show up in the texts in two varieties, one<br />
using the word spṛdh and the other the compound verb sam.yat.<br />
In the oldest texts, MS and KS, the use of spṛdh is found almost exclusively;<br />
starting with KS, sam.yat makes its appearance and is especially popular with<br />
the Central groups of the Taitt. and the Jaim., but not in the East. (The<br />
distribution, again, is similar to that of vāva and many other grammatical<br />
features mentioned in the preceding paragraphs). When the rates of<br />
occurrence are compared and calculated against each other (sam.yat : spṛdh),<br />
this picture emerges:<br />
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />
early: KS 16/4 TS 15/4<br />
Saṃh. MS 5/20<br />
early AB 6/3<br />
Brāhm. ABo 4/2 TB 14/2<br />
later<br />
Br.<br />
KB 1/1 ŚBKo 1/25<br />
ŚBMo 0/16<br />
JB 8/36 ŚBMw 0/ 5<br />
JUB 3/2 ŚBMn 1/ 6<br />
Up.s & ŚBMu 0/ 2<br />
early ŚBMa 0/ 0<br />
Sūtras BŚSb 2/1<br />
ABn 2/1<br />
PB 0/7<br />
ṢB 1/3<br />
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br />
When the relative percentage of sam.yat : spṛdh is calculated for each text<br />
(regardless of relative size), we arrive at the following:<br />
92