An Introduction to Nirukta and Related Literature

8/12/2019 An Introduction to Nirukta and Related Literature

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Introduction to the Niruktaand the Literature : ;i'-.i

related to it

WITH A TREATISE ON

The Elements of the Indian Accent

BY

RUDOLPH ROTH

Translated by the Rev. D. MACKICHAN, M.A., D.D.,LL.D., Principal, Wilson College,Bombay, some

time Vice-Chancellor of the University ofBombay.

Published by the University of Bombay1919


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E


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To THE

MEMORY OF THE LATE

PROFESSOR HARI MAHADEVA BHADKAMKAR

PROFESSOR OF SANSKRIT AT

WILSON COLLEGE

834866


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PREFATORY NOTE.

T?OR many years Yaska's Nirukta has been regularlyprescribed by the University of Bombay as a text-ookfor its examination in Sanskrit for the degree of M.A.In order to render Roth's valuable Introduction to this

work accessible to advanced students of Sanskrit in WilsonCollege I prepared long ago a translation of this Intro-uction

which in manuscript form did service to a successionof College students some of whom have since become wellknown as Sanskrit scholars.

In the hope that it may benefit a wider circle thismanuscript translation has after careful revision been handedto the University for publication.

I take this opportunity to acknowledge the valuableassistance rendered by Professor Mackenzie of WilsonCollege who carried out the greater part of the proof-eading

during my absence from Bombay.

D. MACKICHAN.MAHA'BALESHWAR,

June 1919.

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INTRODUCTION TO THE NIRUKTA.Learned tradition in India ascribe hcj two

united in thispublication*o Yaska, whose' name occupiesashigh a placein the historyf the interpretationf the sacredwritingsf the Hindus as Panini's does in the historyofGrammar. So far as the sources are known to me, thistradition cannot, it is true, be traced very far back, but inview of the unanimityof the testimonies,we have as littleground to callthis tradition in question,s that concerningthe author of the celebrated grammaticalaphorisms. Bothteachers,Yaska and Panini,appear on the stage separatedby so great an interval from the strictlyearned periodofIndian literature,hich beginswith the decline and expulsionof Buddhism, that they are recognizedunconditionallyythese later arrangers and compilersof the learningof abygone age, as authoritative.

With regardto Panini,e are not entirelyithout informa-ion; even the fable-makingf the I2th century remembers

him ; but in the case of Yaska we are limited almost to hisbare name. In the Kandanukrama to the Taittinyaamhita(v.3 E. Ind. H. 965) he is called Paingi,descendant ofPinga,and occupiesa place in the line of those to whomthe handingdown and the editingof that Vedic collectionare traced. Vaisampayana is said to have delivered it toYaska and he to Tittiri,fter whom itis named, TittiritoUkha, and Ukha to Atreya. Now a Pinga is mentioned inthe genealogicalable at the close of the Srauta Sutras ofAsvalayana (XII. 12) in connection with the familyofAngirasas,to which accordinglyYaska would belongasPanini to the familyof Kasyapa throughhis ancestor Devala.On the other hand,in the same passage (c.10),there standsin the Bhrgu family,Yaska, as the descendant of whomYaska was designatedby this name. Nothing more can begatheredfrom the occurrence of the name in the unintelligiblgenealogiesf the Brhad Aranyaka 11,6,IV, 6.

If we adhere to the view that Yaska was a descendant ofPinga,he is thus connected with a familywhich has a placeamongst the learned Brahmanical lines. One from amongstthe members_ofthis family,adhuka by name, is mentionedin the Brh. Arany.,VI, 3, 8, 9 amongst the teachers of a

* This refers to the two treatises,Naighantukandam and Daivatakandam,towhich this is an introduction. Tr.

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certain sacrificialeremony. The Paingya and Mahapaingya.(Asvklgrhyi's.utn-;in',; cf. Zur Litteratur and Geschichtedes Veda} p. 27),are writingswhich undoubtedly taughtVedic liturgy,s may be inferred from a remark of theCommentators on Panini,IV, 3, 105, 'tffTT: and a refer-nceto the Paingya in the AitareyaBrahmana (VII, u),accordingto which a definite fast was prescribedby thePaingya for the day before the full moon, and by theKausltaka for the day of the full moon itself. The passagein the AitareyaBrahmana is,it is true, a laterinterpolationSayana's Commentary passes over that entire sub-section,and it is not the practiceof the Brahmana to refer to otherwritings still,his should not prevent us from holdingthatsuch a work existed. This will no doubt one day be broughtto lightwith many other works of the same class whenMSS in India are systematicallycollected,no longerexclusivelyn the regicnof the Ganges, but throughout awider area, especiallyamongst the Marathas. The bookwas well known as late as the year 700 of our era, as is clearfrom a quotation in Sankara's commentary on theSariraka Sutras III, 3, 24, (p. 290 of the eJition ofLallulalasarma Kavi,

i,etc.)The authorshipf no other works beyondthe Naighantuka

and Nirukta has been attributed to Yaska. Colebrooke(Misc.,Essays,II,p. 64) has, it is true, found a reference tohim in Pingala'sSutras on Metre, and one might infer,seeingthat no remarks occur in the Nirukta on the subjectof metre, if we do not reckon as such the derivations of thenames of the metres in the seventh book, that Yaska hadcomposed a work on Prosody which has been lost to us.

This quotationis without doubt, no other than that whichoccurs in the small outlines of Prosody called Chandas(vide 5, E. Ind. H. 1378. ^^nft ftftrfFT: ^

NyankusarinI (the name of ametre of the Brhatl type) when the second Pada (consistsof 12 syllables),raustuki givesit the name Skandhogrivl,Yaska the name Urobrhatl. This name occurs nowhere inthe Naighantuka or Nirukta. We should then have toassume, for the sake of a singleeference,the existence of a


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work by Yaska, which, with the exceptionof this triflingfragment,has disappearedleavingno trace behind,for thereis no allusion to it in any other passage. This, in myopinion,in the case of a name so highlyplacedas that ofthis ancient exegete, and in a world of writingso interlacedby references of every kind as Indian literature is,would bean assumption so startlinghat I must take the libertyfhazardingthe conjecturethat we have here an ancient erroreither of the MSS or of the author of the Chandas and thePingala Sutras. The error possiblyarose in this way, thatthe universallynown name of Yaska had crept into theplaceof an older and less familiar name. Now we have

theevidence of an older and more respectableauthoritythanthe Chandas, viz.,the first Pratisakhya,that an earlierteacher named Vaiyaska taught or wrote on the subjectofProsody. It is stated in the section of the Pratisakhya,which treats of metre :

sftnftprat According to Vaiyaska,there is in the Sarhhita of the RigVeda, no other Ekapada (sc.rc.y i.e.,o strophe consistingof only one member) except that which stands at thebeginningof the hymns of Vimada, (X. 2, 4, i, cf. 9, i.)andthis is the ten syllabledViraj. Other teachers on thecontrary assume the existence of several such singleines,In support of the conjecture,hat in the passage of theChandas above referred to, Vaiyaska should have beenquoted,instead of Yaska, there is in addition the circum-tance

that the Pratisakhyaitselfknows these three namesfor the metre in question.XVI, 7.).

Now this book is,from all indications,older than Yaska,and thus could not know the name Urobrhati, if Yaskahad been reallythe first to introduce it.

* We should read probablyantye,


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We have accordingly,n the present state of our knowledgeof Indian literature,o adequate justificationor ransackingthe mass of writingsthat have come down to us for a workon Prosody by our author, or indeed to assume that it everexisted.

Moreover, of the two remainingbooks which stand unques-ionedin Indian literaryistorys evidences of Yaska's learn-ng,

his authorshipf one, Nighantu, as it is generallycalled,or more correctly,the Nighantu in the plural,(M^u-i^:the joined-together, strung-togetherwords)1,must be deniedand the only wonder is that this was not sooner recognised.This might be inferred from the \\hole arrangement of hiscommentary, the Nirukta, in which everythingpointsto hishaving had before him a collection of words handed downby tradition. Besides this might be quoted the evidence ofthe Commentator on the Nirukta who, for example, at thevery beginningof the Nirukta says that the collection ofNighantavas which Yaska there calls Samamnaya, Enumer-tion,

had been preparedby the ancient sacred teachers, byRsis,for the better understandingof the Vedic hymns. Butwe have Yaska's own quitedefinite assertion in Nirukta I,20,where he says with reference to the originf the Vedic books,that the wise men of antiquity,ho themselves had no need ofinstruction in order to rightconduct,have handed down byteaching(by oral instruction)he hymns to later generationswhich stood in need of such teaching. Now, these latergenerationswhose power of comprehending was continuouslydiminishing,ave, for the easier understandingof what washanded down, imparted it in teaching,and thus in additionto the Veda and helps to the Veda, the Vedangas, havecomposed also this book (the Nighantavas)in which areenumerated the roots for an action,the nouns for expressingan idea (Ngh. I,II, III),likewise words which have severalsignificationsIV),and finallyhe names of the Gods (V).

* Compare the significationf the root Ef^r V^U J in Westergaard,and the derivedsense of the secondaryform Naighantuka when it stands in Nir. I,20, II,24, V, 12, XI, 4,in opposition to Pradhana. It signifiesccordingly,n the language of liturgy,only asecondary attached invocation of an object,properlya naming or casual mention of it asopposed to the real principalinvocation,which constitutes the purpose of a hymn. Thelist in question,is called in the MSS Nighantu, Nighanta, Nighantuka, Naighantuka,Nirghanta. I name it,in accordance with the*distribution 'alreadyound in Nir. i.'20,into Naighantakani (Ngh. I III),Naigamani (IV), Daivatam (V), a parte potiori,Naighantuka and Nir I VI Naigama, a nomenclature which is found also in the MSS.


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Thus Yaska in this passage ascribes the composition ofthe small collection of Vedic words and names, which formsthe basis of his explanation,uite indefinitelyo an oldtradition ; a tradition,t is true, that does not come to usfrom that primevalage, in which faith and doctrine lived andflourished without artificialaids,but stillfrom the generationsimmediately succeeding it, which strove by means ofprescribed rule and written definition to preserve thepossessionwhich they had inherited. Further, he placestheNaighantuka in a line with the Vedas and Vedangas. Bythe compositionf the Vedas, which Yaska here assignstothe second periodof Indian history,annot be intended theproduction of the materials of which they are composed.For to Yaska accordingto this passage, as in India at alltimes, the hymns (jnantrd)which have been handed downby the Esis to their descendants, stood as the nucleus orkernel of the whole. These could therefore be onlyarrangedand put into literaryorm by later authors. We find here areminiscence of the phenomenon of a relativelyate reductionto fixed form of the intellectual works of antiquityby meansof writing, phenomenon the significancef which for thehistoryof Indian literature has not yet been sufficientlyeptin mind, and is perhaps more importantin this case than inthe case of any other literature,ince in India,.the mass ofsuch traditional matter must, according to all indications,have been

veryconsiderable.

Whether the composition of the Vedangas, literally members of the Veda , the portionssupplementaryto thecollection of the sacred scriptures,s to be understood in thesame sense, cannot be deduced from the words of Yaska.But as it is improbable that he traces back the authorshipofthe Naighantuka, a mere collection of words attached to thehymns, to the authors of the hymns, the Rsis themselves,and ascribes to later writers only the arrangement of them,what he has said regardingthe Vedangas is to be understoodof real authorship.

But which books does Yaska designateby the name ofVedangas ? The naming of them in a book which like theNirukta belongs without disputeto the oldest portionsf thisliterature is of such importancethat a more minute examina-ion

of this pointcannot be without advantage.


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If we are willingo believe the Indian literaryhistorians,all the Vedangas have come down to us. They are thefollowingsix : The Nirukta,the eightbooks of Grammaticalaphorismsby Panini,the Siksa,the Chandas,the Jyotisa,ndthe Kalpa.

The commentator Durga also interpretshe passagebefore us as referringo these books.

1. So far as the Nirukta is concerned, there is no need offurther adjustment; that its author should represent the bookwhich he was just on the point of writings having beencomposed by his ancestors, would be outside the limit ofwhat is permissibleven in India. In that case, the placeofthe Nirukta, the Commentary , among the Vedangaswhich Yaska recognises,would be vacant or would be filledby some other work unknown to us or finallyoccupied onlyby the Naighantuka.

2. A comparison of Grammar as we find itin Yaska'swork with the condition of that science in PaninVs Aphorisms,must be reserved for a later section ; but it cannot remainhidden even from a superficialiew that Yaska, in comparisonwith Panini, belongs to a much less advanced stage ofgrammaticalculture. It is thus, for this reason alone, notprobablethat the latter is the older. But it is even moreimprobablethat Panini' s work in any case could have beenregardedin more ancient times as a Vedanga, a help to theVeda. It could have attained to that positiononly after ithad obtained a wide circulation on account of its generalscientific value, after it had become the standard guide inthis department of knowledge, and as everything excellentamongst the Indians passes for sacred, had begun to beregarded as inspired.

Only by reason of this sacredness could it have beenassigneda placeamongst the Vedangas, for Panini's ruleshave neither an exclusive,or even a principaleference to theVedic writings the Vedic usage appears in them rather asthe exception,he profanespeech as the rule. Accordingly,Panini's eightbooks could not, at any rate by Yaska, havebeen reckoned as belongingto that class of writings.

3. Siksa signifies,ccording to the generalolder useof the word, the doctrine of the correct recitation of the


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7sacred hymns and utterances. This was the first doctrine ,as the word indicates,the germinant seed of Brahmanicallearning. The relative chapters of the works onVedic

grammar (e.g. PratisakyaI, 28) were then laterso named and finallya separate treatise received thisdesignation.he Indians regardas the Vedanga strictlyocalled a small book containingonly 60 Slokas,which isascribed to Panini,and which accordingto Indian customsingsthe manifold praisesf this grammarian,and not only,as is usuallythe case, in the introductorynd concludingverses, but also in tlie midst of the whole context(e.g.,loka 40 E. Ind. H. 1981).

But even ifthis passage, another in which the Vedangasare representeds the members of the Veda, the Chandasas the feet,the Kalpa as the hands, etc.,and also a numberof similar stumbling blocks, could be got rid of by theassumptionthat they are interpolations,tillit would befound,on an exact consideration of the small portionof thebooklet that would then remain,that it is nothing else thana tolerablyursory and worthless compilationrom olderbooks,the rules of which have here been given in metricalform. Some coupletsre manifestlyorrowed from one ofthe Pratisakhyas.And the whole representations someagre and unsatisfactory,hat it is impossibleo acceptthe view that it can ever have served as an outlineof this science which was so importantfor Brahmanicallearning.

This writings probablyat least more than 500 years old,since Durga, the Commentator on the Nirukta,who is olderthan Sayana, is acquaintedwith it,and regardsit as aVedanga. It appears however to have begun, as he knewit,with that verse which is the sixth in the present arrange-ent

of the text.4. Chandas is the name givento a brief outline of Metre

in 1 8 small sections. It is,as I conjecture,ither an extractfrom the Sutras of Pingala,o whom also the Chandas hasbeen ascribed,r these are an expansionof the Chandas.But no one will regard as ancient a book in which allthemeasures of the latest poetry, even the most artificialandunnatural,are treated of.


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5. Regardingthe actual contents of the Jyotisa, onlyafew coupletswith reference to the division of the year,accordingto the course of the constellationsand the feasts,it is impossibleo form a judgment without a more exactknowledgeof Indian astronomy. These verses are knownto a wider circlethrough the calculation which Colebrooke(Misc. Ess. I. 108) has based on the data with respect tothe equinoctialointsontained in them. These data agreewith the positionf those pointsin the I4th century beforeour era. In this connection we must not, however,forgetthat the correctness of this calculation depends on theidentificationof unknown names in these verses, with betterknown and still current designationsof the stars andconstellations,nd in the second placeon the exact locationof them in the heaven of the fixed stars. For the one asfor the other,complete certaintyannot be claimed, andI cannot for the present share the unbounded confidencewhich has been placedeven in the most recent times in thiscalculation.Quite distinct moreover from this question,s the other,

with reference to the time of compositionf the Jyotisa,which must look in the same direction for its solution.

6. No singleook is wont to be named as the Kalpa j1the liturgicalritingsgenerallyould belong to this class,and this furnishes a proof for one of the two conclusionswhich I deduce from the precedingexposition.

In the firstplace,in my opinion,he older Indian literature,under which,for want of a more exact designationincludethe writingsf Yaska and Panini,who in any case are notseparatedby any considerable interval of time,knew nothingof the Vedangas now so called,nd in the second placeitunderstood by Vedangas in general not what the laterperiodunderstands. The entire distribution and arrange-entof the Vedangas,their system, rests on the followingdeduction expoundedfor exampleby Durga in his Introductionto the Nirukta,which starts from ritual. A hymn recitedat a sacrifice,hat is not correctlyrecited and intoned,isnot onlyinefficacious,ut injuriouso the sacrificer. There

* Sayana,for example,says in the introduction to his Commentary on the Rigveda, By Kalpa is understood the Sutras of Asvalayana,Apastamba,Baudhayana, etc.etc. (E. I.H. 2133, p. isb).


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is,therefore,eed of specialguidance in regard to this : thisis the

It is equallyfatal ifone does not know the prosody of thehymns, hence the Chandas which givesthe doctrine of thissubject. One must know how correctlyo apply the hymns,thus correctlyttered and scanned in accordance with theseinstructions,ach to its respectivesacrifice,heir Viniyogamust be accuratelyknown ; which is taught by the Kalpa.The sacrifices and ceremonies, however, must take place atthe times appointed by the sacred tradition,(sniti) theJyotisais therefore necessary. Further, not only for theunderstanding,ut also for the correct applicationf certainsacrificialformulae there was need of a knowledge,e.g. of theinflections of the noun (for an example see Asvalayana'sSrauta S. I,6) and the like,such as grammar teaches andtherefore Vyakaraua (Grammar) appears amongst theVedangas. Finally,he Nirukta comes last,the interpreta-ion

; according to Durga who in this is either moreenlightenedhan the majority of his contemporariesor isonlygiving prominentplaceto the book which he iseditingthe highestof the Vedangas, because it teaches us tounderstand the meaning of the hymns, the meaning beingthe0essential thing(pradhana)and the word sound the unessen-ial

(guna),which latter the majorityof the other Vedangastreat of.

This is the system which lies at the foundation of thesub-division of the Vedic sciences. A series of helpsto theVeda arrangedaccordingto this system was wanted ; eachindividual branch of knowledge must be representedby aseparate work ; thus a later age took hold of and collectedtogetherthese books which we were hitherto accustomed to

The verse referringo this,quoted in later writingsad nauseam, which also occurs inSiksa 52 is as follows :

A hymn that is wrongly pronounced in utterance or intonation is applied in vain anddoes not say what it ought to say. His own word becomes to the sacrificer a thunderboltwhich destroys him if he, for example, falselyintones indrasatru. Indrasatru withthe accent on the firstsyllableis a possessivecompound and means 'He who hasIndra as his overpowerer

' (according to Indian interpretation,. g., Nir. Il,16);As paroxytone itwould mean ' the overpowerer of Indra ' and thus the evil demonwould be praisedas the conqueror of the god Indra.

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designate by the common name of the Vedangas. Inhonour of itsborrowed name this whole collection was pushedback into a highantiquitythe existence of the Vedangaswas indeed attested by the earliestworks in the literatureand onlywritingshich had been consecrated by a greatantiquityould bear such a name. And thus here also thedesire to sub-divide,o arrange in series and to derive onework from another,which runs throughthe whole of Indianliterature,ot the better of historical truth. So much atleast is established,iz.,hat these books could not be thoseto which Yaska refersin the passage in questionunder thetitleof the Vedangas. By what other writingshall we beable to fillthe gap ? It is indeed not possibleto give asatisfactorynswer to thisquestionfrom the notices containedin the Nirukta which is so sparingin its words,but what maybe conjectureday here find a placeas a contribution tofuture investigations.t is to be hoped that, with theenthusiasm that is manifestingtselfeverywherefor researchin the field of the ancient literature of India, we shall soonbecome perfectlyertain regardingmany thingswhich nowwe can scarcelydiscern in their outlines ; for it would be adisgraceo the criticism and insightof this century thatreads and willread the rock-inscriptionsf the Persian Kingsand the books of Zoroaster,if it should not succeed in read-ng

with certaintyhe intellectualhistoryof that peopleinthis huge mass of literature.First and foremost we have no justificationor taking the

conceptionf the Vedangas as we find itin Yaska exactlyin the sense in which it has been taken by a later age.This conceptionis in its very nature a varyingone ; foranother periodother generallycceptedHelps to the Vedascould have been in existence. The contents of theVedangas must, of course, at all periodshave been essen-ially

that which is requiredby the above reason-ng; but it is not necessary that in particularndividualwritingshese should therefore have been subdivided exactly

in this manner ; we do not requireo assume that Yaskawas acquainted with a separate book on Vedic metre,another on the doctrine of syllables,third on Ritual,etc.,etc., all which he included under the title of Vedangas.On the contrary it would quitesuffice to be able to point


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12

further Pan. IV. 3, 107, VII. 4, 38,the Vartikas to IV, 3,120and many other placesin the Commentary).

With respect to the Haridr amka , up tillnow we havestillmore scanty sources of information. I have been ableto find no book of this name in the Collection of the EastIndia Company and the solitarynotice regardingit whichI have come across is that which occurs in the passageof the Commentary on the Grhya Sutras by Paraskara in thepassage referred to,in which the Haridraveyasre mentionedas one of the seven subdivisions of the MaitrayanlyaSakha]and with this agrees the statement of Durga on this Niruktapassage : Haridravo riama Mattrayanlyanam sakha-bheda. The Sakha, of the Maitrayanlyaitselfis,however,reckoned among the 12 which belong to the TaittiriyaCollection. In the Commentary on Panini IV, 3,104Haridru is named as one of the four pupilsof Kalapl.

So far as the firstof these two writingsis concerned, theKathaka, there can scarcelybe any doubt that it belongsto the class of writingswhich are called Kalpa-bookswithreference to the sacred rite.

The contents of the Berlin MS alreadymentioned,whichset forth the sacrificial acts in their order,establish this.I should be inclined to accept this with reference to theHaridramka mentioned in the same line with it on theground of the manner of the reference alone.

The onlyother familyof writingshich could be thoughtof in this connection,the Brahmanas, and besides theseperhapssome of the more ancient Upanisads,are regularlyreferred to in the Nirukta without any name-designationwith the words iti brahmanam so says a Brahmana oritivijnayate so it runs . Here no name was needed, forthe Brahmanas were parts of the revelation ; the Kalpabooks, however, have human authors although theyparticipateo a certain degree in the authorityof thesacred writings in a word, they are Vedanga, not Veda ;and there is nothingto hinder us from recognisingin thetwo writingsreferred to such works as Yaska might havebeen able to reckon among the Vedangas.

In order that this relation of the Kalpa to the Brahma-nas, and more particularlyhe nature of the latter,regardinghich information has nowhere yet been furnished,


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should be more preciselydefined, and to avoid thenecessityof revertingto the matter at scattered pointsinthe discussion I interpolatet this pointa full and conse-utive

treatment of that subject.The Brahmanas.

.The distinction between the subject-matterof the

Brahmanas and that of the Kalpa-books might appear, ifone judged only from isolated passages, to be very smalland uncertain, although it cannot be denied that, at thefirst glance,the two families of writingsstand well apart inrespect of positionand estimation in the whole body ofreligiousooks. The distinction is nevertheless in realitya very essential one. Also while both deal with worshipin the most extended sense of the term, this worshipis thesubject of expositionin the Brahmanas in an entirelydifferent sense from that in which it is treated of in a Kalpa-book. The latter aims at exhibitinghe entire course of thesacred acts which are valid in the department of divineworship concerned. It is exactlylaid down, e. g.y whichamong the priestspresent during the performance of arite has to take part at each turn in the religiousunction.This point is most essential for the Indian sacrificialobservances. The number of names under which we seethe priestsappearingis so great that one cannot rid oneselfof the idea that the same person may have received differentdesignations corresponding to the particularindividualfunction in the course of the ceremony. It is furtherprescribedwhich hymns and invocations are to be employedand how they are to be uttered. The strophes themselvesare however as a rule indicated only by their initial wordsand presuppose the existence of other collections in whichthey must have been arranged according to the order oftheir use in the religiouservice ; and it will not cost muchtrouble,if such are sought for,reallyo find collections ofthis kind. Finallythe time, the place,the forms of theliturgicalses, all exercises that must precede or followthem, are indicated. The books of the Kalpa are, in a word,complete rituals which have no other purpose than to laydown the whole course of the religiousact with all theexactness that is requiredfor what is done in the presenceof the gods and in their honour.


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The purpose of a Brahmana is tolerablyar removedfrom this. As the name alreadyindicates,ts subjectisthe brahma, that which is sacred in the act, not the actitself. In the ceremony the sacred thing,the thoughtofthe divine,lies concealed ; it has been invested with asensible form which must remain an enigma to the man towhom that thoughtis strange. Only he can interprethemeaning of the symbol who knows the divinity,tsmanifestation and its relation to mankind. It is thefunction of the BYahm tna to givethis interpretation,t aimsat unfoldingthe kernel of theologicalisdom which themanner of worshipinherited from their ancestors conceals.Hence the mysterious,brief,often obscure styleof thediscourse which we find in these books. They are probablythe most ancient prose which has been preservedfor us inIndian literature.

An example of these symbolicalinterpretationsay begivenhere from the beginningof the AitareyaBrahmana In the introduction to certain sacrifices clarified butteron eleven platesis offered to Agni and Visnu. To thempreferentially,xplainshe Brahmana, because they envelopthe whole world of the gods,Agni as the lowest (thefireof the hearth and altar),isnu as the uppermost (the sunin the heightof the midday heaven); thus an offeringsmade in them to all the gods. Eleven platesre brought,althoughthere are onlytwo of the gods ; Agni has to claimeightof them, for the form of verse sacred to Agni, thegayatrl, is of eightsyllablesthree belongto Visnu, for inthree strides (throughthe three stages of rising,ttainingthe meridian and setting)isnu passes across the heavens.

Such interpretationsay justas often be the inventionsof a religiousphilosophyhich delightsn daringparallelsand bold exegesis,which here meets us in its oldest form,as real reminiscences of the originsof the liturgyn which,in the case of a people like that of India, we would havef^odround to expect subtle and suggestivereferences,hese books will always remain our most valuable sourcesfor a knowledge of the beginningsof reflection on thedivine,sources from which at the same time we derive themost varied instruction regardingthe ideas on which notonlythe whole system of worship,but also the social and


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hierarchical organizationof India,is reared. In illustrationof this,I will pointonly to the explanationshich can beobtained from the 7th and 8th book of the AitareyaBrahmana regarding the positionof the castes and theroyal and priestlyignity. The Brahmanas are and fromthis their significancewill be most clearly seen Me?dogmaticof the Brahmans not a scientificallyrrangedsystem of doctrinal propositions,ut a collection of dogmasas they arise out of religiouspractice. They are notwritten in order to be a complete expositionnd establish-ent

of the faith,but they have become indisapensableo it,because they were intended to be a generalexplanationandfoundation of the usages of the worship.

There can be no mistakingthe fact that the Brahmanasrest on a previouslyexistingabundantly subdivided andhighly developed service of the gods. The further thepracticef sacred usages has advanced, the less clear willtheir significanceecome to the consciousness ' of thosewho practisethem ; with the central part of the actionwhich, in its originalform, was perfectlyclear and wellunderstood, a series of subordinate acts will graduallybeassociated which, the more they assume an individualseparate form, will stand in a looser relation to the funda-ental

thought ; the form as it becomes more independentloses its symbolicalcharacter. Indian worshiphad reachedsuch a stage when religiouseflection took possessionof it inthe Brahmanas.

Here, as in all other religiousorms of antiquity,t holdsgood that it is not dogma and reflection upon dogma whichproduces worship, but that worship, although itself theproductof the undivided power of the spiritaid hold of byan idea of the divine and made subservient to it,in its turnbecomes the mother of a more developedand more exactlydefined theology. This is the relation of the theologyofthe Brahmanas to practicalorship. The Brahmana doesnot appealto the utterances of the sacred hymns as itsfirst and immediate source, it rests rather on the act ofworship and on the earlier interpretationf the act. TheAitareya Brahmana, for example, from which 1 extract thedetails,not only appeals to authorities to whom writtencompositions have nowhere been ascribed - - a Esi,


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i6

Srauta, VII i ; Saujata,son of Aralha,VII 22 ; Rarna,son of Mrgu, VII 34; Maitreya,on of Kusaru, VIII 38,and others or to similar sacrificial proceedings(cf.thepassage givenby Colebrooke, Miscellaneous Essays,I,38 ff)but also the entire form of its representationases itselfupon a tradition derived from earlier usage. Its phraseforexpressing this, a phrase which recurs regularlyat thecommencement of each propositionnd which has sunkalmost to the level of a mere connectingformula,is tadd' hus, further it is said , or atho khalv ahus they say,namely, further'';and frequentlyiversityf opinionisindicated by the words so do or say the one class,othersotherwise . I have nowhere come across the citation ofa more ancient writing.

When allthis is taken togetherit would seem to followwith tolerable certaintyhat the Brahmanas belong to astage of religiousevelopment in India in which theBrahmanic faith stands in fullblossom. The conceptionsof the gods and the sacred customs which we se? in thehymns of the Rigveda, passing out of a simple andundefined form into fixed and manifold forms,have spreadthemselves over the entire life of the people and havebecome, in the hands of the priests,n all-overshadowingpower. Every indication pointsindeed to the fact that thisdevelopment,althoughitwas diffused over a great and stillintellectuallyightypeople,ad thus far moved along onepath and that probablythe union of Brahmanical familiesand schools linked togetherby a common callingandinterest,maintained perhaps also with power and shrewd-ess

by individual leaders,had broughtabout this unanimity;but the more extensive the realm of this form of faith and themore numerous itsfollowers,he more urgent must also thedangerhave appearedthat this faith might be disturbed orfall to pieces. Our labours in this regionhave not yet gonebeyondthe mere outlines ; we are not yet fortunate enoughto be able to examine and criticisethe individual parts ofthe picturehat scarcelyhews itselffrom out of the mist ; itwould, however, be againstallanalogyif behind the hithertoassured diversities in subordinate liturgicaloints andgrammaticalnterpretationf the sacred writings,ppositionsbetween schools or provinceswhich were of deep signi-icance

for the religiousife,id not disclose themselves.


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'7However this may be, the Brahmanical theologyresentsitself in the above class of writings,o far as we canjudge, with an assured unanimity which must have

exercised a lastinginfluence upon succeedingtimes. Inthese Scripturesf course nothingin itselfnew may havebeen taught. What had been perhaps longago elaboratedin the Schools,of the long existence of which there canbe scarcelyany doubt (cf.with reference to this ( ZurLitteratur und Geschichte des Veda ),appears here for thefirst time in written form. But thus for the first time itreceived a sure foundation. The Cultus now explainedby means of the theoretical propositionsf the faith wasno longern accidental thing,hangeableat will,ut everysinglepart of it was a copy of eternal truths,and dogmaitself was delivered from the fluctuations of individualopinionby this settled form of religioussages, the kernel ofwhich the initiatedfound in this dogmaticsystem.

This highsignificanceor the religiousistoryf Indiamust, I think,be attributed to the Brahmanas. Thewritingsf the Kalpa belong to another and later stage.It seems indeed to involve a contradiction in thought thatbooks relatingo the external form of ritualshould be laterthan the religious-philosophicalnterpretationf theseforms. But we must not overlook the fact that literature,especiallyhe most ancient, follows not the order ofscientificthinking,ut the pathof practicalecessity,ndthis is what meets us here. A theology,hatever mightbe its scientificvalue,which should include at the sametime the foundations of the priestlytate, was necessary, assoon as this worshiphad developedon the one hand into anumber of usages restingn ancient practicend oral tradition,and on the other had attained to a domination over tribesand peoples. Its purpose was to furnish the priestskilledin these practicesith the key to the understandingfthem and their mutual relations. A completeritual,n theother hand,like the Kalpa writingsrose when the sacredfunction had become alreadydead, stiff and overladen,when ithad become unintelligiblend was practisederelyas a skilled performance. It is the result of a condition ofexternalization in worshipwhich could have been producedonly in later centuries and as the consequence of that

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dogmatic settlement brought about by the Brahmanas andthe body of literature allied to them.

In the case of particularritingsf ithe Kalpa it can beexactlyshown how they rest upon the Brahmanas. As aninstance of this we may take, for example, the relation ofthe liturgicalutras of Asvalayana,which appear to haveenjoyed an extraordinarycirculation in India, to theAitareyaBrahmana. For most, of the chapters of thelatter a correspondingection in those Sutras can bepointedout. Compare, e. g., Aitar. Brahm. II,2 ff.,I,20,I, 17 with Asvalayana Srauta S. II, i ff,V, i, IV, 5 ff ;indeed the Sutras borrow from it,ord for word,instructionsand long passages (e.g.,sval. Sr. IX, 3 is takenfrom Ait. Brahm. VII, 18, and Asval. XII, 9 from Ait.Brahm. VII, i) althoughtheyby no means pretendto bea mere commentary or supplement to that Brahmana, butin many a passage quote the view of the Aitareyinassonlyone among others.1It would certainlye a i opportune service,n 1 one of nosmall value,if any scholar would take the trouble troublewhich would not in every respect reward him of examiningin one of the three European libraries which are richest inthe liturgicalorks of Indian literature,that of Berlin,London or Oxford,the order and connection of the variouspracticalorks reckoned as belongingto the Veda, anddetermininghether we are to consider that we have onlyone series of liturgicalcts or several runningparalleloeach other, what positions to be assignedn this systemespeciallyo the VajasaneyaSamhita and what is the signi-icance

of the fact that individual liturgicalooks are as-ociatedwith the Rik Samhita, others with the Vajasaneya

Samhita and others againwith the Taittiriyaamhita and soon. As thingsnow stand, one looks in vain amongst Indianinterpretersor a clear insightnto this connection or evena satisfactoryutward arrangement of the works. There isevery reason to expect that as the result of such anexamina-

1 We should make a mistake if we were alwaysto refer to a School such derivativename forms as Aitareyina,derived from the Aitareya Brahmana, Atharvanikas from theAtharva Samhita, etc.,which Panini interprets as those who read or understand thebook . They are, in most cases, only a designationf the book itself. We might havesaid with reference to the recension of Homer by Aristarchus after the Alexandrianperiodof 'ApKrrop^etotr of rrcpi 'A.pi rrap^ovAfyovo-if Aristarchus similarlyeverhad foundea a school.


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Then the yupa is con pared to lightning.It must beeight-corneredike the lightningwith its eightforks. Andas the latter is hurled by God againstthe man who offendshim, so the yupa stands to destroy the enemy and it is anunwelcome sightto the enemy when he to whom they wishevil prepares himself for a sacrifice by erectinghe yupa.

The stake can be made of three kinds of wood, of thatof the Mimosa (Mimosa catechu),of that of the Bilva tree(Aeglemarmelos) or of Palasa wood (Buteafrondosa).

With this is connected a symbolism,which is often metwith in connection with the more importanttrees and shrubs,viz.,that he who strives for heaven should take the Mimosawood, he who desires earthlyblessingsand prosperitythesecond kind of wood, and he who seeks the fame of sanctitythe Palas'a.

Then follows the interpretationf the ceremony per-ormedat the stake ; the Brahmana beginswithout any

introduction : We anoint the sacrificial stake, begin thymantra thus says he (viz.,he hotar). Then the adhvaryubegins:

Those who long for God anoint thee in the sacrifice,O princeof the forest,with the divine sweetness ;Whether thou standest upright,give us treasures,Or whether thou liest on this mother-ground

[Rik.Ill,1.8, i.]Erect thyself,rinceof the forest,over the surface of

the earthMeasured accordingto correct measures ; give food to

the bringerof the offeringIbidem 3).On this follows the second verse of the same hymn

with similar contents, then R. I,8, i, 13 14. Standerected for our protection,lc. ; finallystill two morestrophesout of the previoushymn (5,4) and everywhere asa rule after each half line (pada)the Brahmana interspersespartlyremarks that are reallyexplanatory(e.g.,by thedivine sweetness is to be understood clarified butter,a/a),partlysymbolicalreferences,and gives,at the close,the explanationthat the first and last of the above sevenstrophesare to be repeatedeach three times so that theremay be in all 1 1 of them. Eleven-syllableds theTristup a metre in which most of the above verses are


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21

composed the Tristup is Indra's thunderbolt,1) thus hewho knows this completeswith these verses as tndra's in-trumen

the holy work , (ya eva veda, a refrain whichrecurs at the end of every principalxposition.)

After a short explanationf the steps by which theerection and consecration of the sacrificialstake,and thereinthe preparatory ceremony of the animal sacrifice,re com-leted,

the Brahmana comes to the consideration of thesignificancef the animal sacrifice itself.

' The man who prepares that offerings on the pointofofferingimself to all the divinities. Agni is equal to all thegods ; Soma is equivalento allthe gods ; the sacrificerwhooffers the animal dedicated to Agni and Soma, ransomshimself therebyfrom all the gods. And further it means :let him not eat of the animal dedicated to Agni and Soma ;he who eats of this animal, eats of man for with itthesacrificerransoms himself. The Brahmana, however, runscounter to this precept by itsappealto a myth and so far ithas deviated from the manifestlyoldest form of the propi-iatoryofferingwhich in its idea is Gv TLa y untastedsacrifice) and, in accordance with the interpretationuotedabove, was this in a much nobler sense than the Greekofferingsor the dead which were not touched because theybelongedto an unearthlyregion.

The introduction to the real central pointof the sacri-icialrite is givenin a prayer, a so-called Aprisuktam,hymn

of invocation,n which the fire under various aspects, thestraw of the sacrifice,he gates of the enclosure of theplace of sacrifice and other personificationsf acts andinstruments of offeringin allgenerallyen, and at the closeone or more gods,are invoked in traditional order. 2)

All the conditions for an auspiciouscompletionof thesacrifice (thisis the thought of these hymns), ore to beunited in the sacred act that follows. A remarkabereminiscence -of ancient times and circumstances isawakened here by the fact that in the individual case that

(1) The Tristupis speciallyacred to Indra as the Gayatrito Agni, the JagatitoAditya,etc.,Cf. e g.tNir. VII. 10.

(2) The Apri hymns are discussed at Nir. VIII 4 ff. In the Rigveda there are tensuch hymns ; another is found in the Atharva V, 27. We meet the same word also inthe liturgyf the Zend-Nation e. g., in the Yasna, Burnouf, p. 482 and in the Yasht ofthe Feruer,JournalAs. X 240 (Ko frinaf).


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hymn of invocation is always to be selected by the priestwhich is ascribed by tradition to a Rsi of the familyof theofferer (tabhir yatharsyaprlnlyat}therebyis secured,saysthe Brahmana, that the offerer does not fallout of touch withhis relations.

The things which in these hymns are given as theconditions of the act of sacrifice are interpretedy theBrahmana, in itssymbolizinganner and in harmony withthe thoughtthat the animal offerings a ransom paid forthe life of the man, with reference to the conditions ofhuman lifeand existence,breath,voice,food, possessionsin herds, etc. Then follow the mantras to be used at thekindlingand carryingof the fire (IV,2, 5, i 3, etc.),ndfinallyhe kernel of the whole sacrificialtransaction,heformula,primitiven respect of its entire languageand modeof representation,ccording to which the slayingof theanimal must be carried out.

The completeext of this formula as it occurs also inother places,. g., A val-Sr. Ill,3, and in the followingworkingout of the Brahmana isindicated by specialype runsthus :

ITTtf^rTT

\'' Divine slayersbegin,also ye human slayers. Thus

he callsto the slayersamong the Gods as well as amongmen. Bring to the gatesofthe placeofsacrificehe offeringCf.Panini IV, 4, 114. VII i, 42, 44, VII 3,95 where the quotationsre in partto be

amended accordingto the above.


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23with an invocation to the two Lords ofthe offering Theanimal is the offering,he sacrificer is the Lord of theoffering,y his offeringt benefits the sacrificer. It is,however, also added that the divinityo which the animal ispresented should be called the Lord of the offeringif it is intended for a particulardivinitye says : ( tothe Lord of the offering,iffor two, it runs : ' to the twoLords of the offering'ifthere are three : ' to the Lords of theoffering' This is the correct procedure^2).arry the firein front ofit As the animal was brought forward it sawdeath before it ; since ithad however, no desire to go to theGods, the Gods said to it : Come, we shall bring thee toheaven It said : Yes, if one of you goes before me. TheGods agreedand Agni went before itand the animal followedAgni. Therefore every animal sacrificed is called agneya(dedicatedto Agni) since it followed Agni and thereforefire(Agni)is carried in front of it.

Spread the sacred grass. The animal subsists onvegetables(oshadhy-atniaat pasu : ) and so the animal isput in possessionof all that belongs to it sarvatmanakaroti) Let its Mother, its father take farewell of it,itsbrother whom the same mother has borne,its friend that hasgone with itin the same herd. When it has thus been setfree from its relatives they layhold of it. Turn its feettoward the North, let its eyes turn to the sun, let its breathgo into the wind, itslifento the air, to the quarters of theheavens its ear, to the earth its body. Into these worlds theanimal issent. Remove its hide in one pieceout ofone openingabove the navel]ress out the juiced Keep offthe heat. Itgiveslifeto the animal. Make its breast fin appearance^like an eagle,its arms (theupper part of its forelegs)iketwohatchets,its forearms (thelower part of itsforelegs)liketwo forks, its two shoulders like two tortoises,its loinsundivided, itsthighsliketwo shields,ike two oleander-leavesitsknees (thelower part of itshind legs.)Its six and twentyribs texr out in irder. Let each member remain ////-

(1) The above passage is *ranslated accordingly,nd without doubt by the twolords of the offeringare to be understood Agni and Soma. If the first explanation isadhered to, the formula would have to be understood thus with an invocation at thesame time to the two lords of the offering. These two would probablybe the sacrificerand his wife.

(2) According to Asv.grhyaI, 12 this was done by insertingrass which absorbedthe moisture and was afterwards pressed(inorder to yieldup the moisture).


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injured (1) thus the body of the animal is atoned for initsmembers. For the entrails diga pitin the ground. Thecontents of the entrails consist of vegetables the earth isthe placeof vegetables,hus he bringsthese for ever totheir place.

Sprinklewiththe blood the evil spirits.By the husksof the fruit seeds (whichtheyscattered over them) the Godskeptthe evil spiritsack from the offeringf butter,withblood theykeptthem back from the great sacrifice. Whennow itis said: sprinklehe evil spiritsith the blood, thatis understood to mean that they should be fed with theportionof the offeringhat belongs peculiarlyo them.Further,it is said : At the time of the sacrifice,e shouldpraisethe evilspirits.ho are these evil spirits They(itis objected)have nothing to do with the sacrifice. Tothis itis replied,e should continuallyraisethem ; sincehe who deprivesof his proper portionhim who is entitledthereto will be injuredby that one, ifnot in his own personat least in his children or children's children. However,when he praiseshe evil spiritse must do it in a muttering(repressed)voice (upasu]; mutteringis the concealedvoice,the evilspiritsre likewise hidden. But if he shouldpraisehe evilspiritsith a loud sound, then can be turned(bythese spirits;nto a demon's howl the voice of him whospeakswith a demon's voice. Now the man who is over-eening,

who speakswith impetuosityloud),peakswith ademon's voice. On the other hand he who knows this willneither himself be proud nor will a proud person be born inhis family. Do not shudder at the sightof itsentrails,as ifyju saw an owl nor let any one among your children andchildren 's children shudder, ye slayers So saying hedeliversthe animal into the hands of the divine and humanslayers.Adhrigu(2}lay,slayauspiciously, slay,Adhrigu.This let him repeat three times and three times the words Othou sinless one \Adhriguis the slayermongst the Gods,thesinless,he subduer among them/ so he delivers it to theslayersnd subduers. Ye slayers,hatever good you bringabout may itfallto us, whatever evilletitturn elsewhere ; thushe speaks.Agni was the highpriestf the Gods. He conse-rated

the animal with the utterance of a mantra^ therefore(i) Cf. Rik. I,22, 6, ]8. The whole hymn agrees with the above passage exceptthat the animal offered is a horse.

(2) Thus accordingo the Brnhmana.


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25he also (thehuman priest)edicates the same with a mantra.He shews therein the slayersand the subduers of the victimwhat theyhave to cut off at the beginningand what after-ards,

what is in excess and what is deficient. With a Hail the sacrificer is set free longlivingnd to longlife.He who knows this liveslong.

When we againtake up the questionbove leftoff withregardto the Vedanga Literature,hich Yaska had beforehim, there meets us, besides the reference previouslyis-ussedto two works which we reckoned as belongingo the

Kalpa-books,he Kathaka and the Haridravika,he mentionof the grammatical text-books of the Schools. (Nir.1,17).That these words cannot well be understood otherwise thanof the books which, in part,have come down to us underthe titleof Prati^akhyas, have endeavoured to prove in Zur Litteratur und Geschichte des Veda pp. 56 ff. Towhat I have said there regardingthese writings,am nowable to add a good deal that is more exact since I have beenfavoured with several relevant MSS from the RoyalLibraryin Berlin by the authorities of that Librarywith apraiseworthyiberalityor which I may b3 permittedhere toexpress my thanks.

First of all, must now define the idea of a Prati L-khya more exactly,iz.,s a text book of Vedic ElementaryGram mar based alwayson onlyone Vedic book in the firstin-tance,

and that one of the books which are called Saiiihita.A Vedic Saiiihita furnishes the material for itsrespectivepratisakhyain this way that the latter does not aim atcompletenessand at generalrules with respect to the forms

of the Vedic language,ut limits itselfentirelyo the materialcontained in one singlebook, chooses itsexamplesfor itsrules out of italone and lays down no rule which cannot beprovedfrom it. A pratisakhyais,in a word, always onlythe elementarygrammar oj a particularook.

Now inasmuch as the individual Saihhitas are desig-atedRiksaihhita,Vajasaneya-sariihita,c., as branches

(sakha)of the one great stem, the one Veda, these parti-ulargrammars are called pratisakhyas.The definitionof

Madhusudana quoted in another place,p. 54 (pratisakyabhinnarupa),s thus perfectlyccurate. By this statement itis not intended to deny,however,that these particularram-

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mars were not, at the same time,the text books of differentschools. They are pratisakhyan respect of their limitedmaterial and parsada as Yaska calls them in respect oftheir immediate repute in a particularircleof the learned.The one does not exclude the other. Rather eachschool had, accordingo a peculiarimitationand inflexibilitin the scientificeffortsof India,set before itselffor treatmentonlyone definitebranch of the revelation laid down in theVeda, i.e.,only one particularook ; and as this compara-ively

later periodtreated individual Vedic books in separateschools,so, accordingto all indications,he arrangement andcollectionof each of these books in the precedingcenturiesproceeded likewise from separate learned bodies whichgatheredthemselves around one head.

Grammar underwent the same natural course of deve-opmentwhich we find elsewhere. It did not start from the

basis of the livingspeech,but its originas due to thediscoveryf a difference between certain forms of speech incurrent language and those of the written works and itlimited itselfin the firstinstance chieflyo the settingorthof these deviations. Then again, it did not include thewhole mass of available literature,ut always onlythoseparticularooks that were of specialimportancein theparticularirclesconcerned.

Thus the way was opened up for a generalgrammarwhich treats of the written and spoken languagetogether.We find itfirstin Panini and from this time onwards theseparticularrammars disappeargraduallyrom generaluse.

The distribution of the particularratisakhyasithreference to the Vedic Sarhhitas is as follows :

I. The firstPratisakhya accordingto the arrange-entalreadypreviouslydoptedby me the most extensiveof these books is connected with the Samhita of theRigveda(1).t frequentlyquotes the hymns accordingto their authors and, in this connection,there occurs thecase, at least once, to my knowledge of a passage

(i) I alwaysset down the MSS known to me in order to facilitate the searchfor means of studyto others who may occupy themselves with these books. MSS ofthe text of the Sutras are : (a) No. 1355, East India House, (b)No. 595 of theChambers Collection in the Royal Library,Berlin.,(c)No. 691 of the same Collection.Text and Commentary are contained in the MSS : (a) No. 203 in the Royal Library,Paris, (b) No. 28, East India House, (c) No. 394 Chambers ; an old MS from thetniddle of the third Patala onwards.


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II. The second Pratisakhyais the grammar of theVajasaneyaSaiiihita/11 It quotes accordinglyany sectionsby their liturgicalames, e.g.} the Sautramani 3,125 ; 4, 68 ;A^vamedha 5, 36 gives rules for the yajus, i. e., theunmetrical sections of that Saiiihita,.g., 4, 78. If this bookis similarlyscribed to the Madhyandina School, it doesnot think it beneath itselfto take note, on several occasions,of the divergentiews of its rival Kanva.

III. With reference to the third book,although I havenot yet had an opportunityf verifyingtsquotationsn the re-pective

text, I can no longerdoubt that itbelongs to theTaittiriyaaihhita as I have alreadyconjecturedn ZurLitt. Gesch/'p.63. The names of the passages occasionallymentioned in this Pratisakhyaof the book on which it isfounded such as Graha, Ukhya, etc., as well as the frequentquotationf the Taittirlyakand Ahvaraka which latter arereckoned among the twelve Sakha of the Black Yajus,pointin this direction.(2)

IV. Finally,have discovered a fourthbook which,inspitef its differingitleI have no hesitation in placinginline with the preceding.

It consists of the four sections of the grammaticalrules ofSaunaka, ChaturadhyayikamSaunakiyam(No. 143 Cham-ers,

77 Leaves Samvat, 1714)of which each isagainsub-ividedinto four sub-sections,padas. The Commentary onthis isvery insignificantnd meagre. The Vedic Saiiihita,he

laws of the pronunciationf which are treated of in this writingis that of the Atharva ; it is easy to prove this from thequotations.Besides,the firsttitleof the book runs thus :Athangirasas;nd Angirasasis one of the designationsfthe hymns of the Atharveda which elsewhere is called inIndianwritingsrahmaveda or atharva'ngirasas.

I have met in the book a reference to an older gram-arian,the grammarian named Anyatareya in the first

Pratisakhya.The grammaticalterminologys exactlythesame as we have in the Prati Lkhyas,nd the rules areconcerned with the same departmentof grammar.

(1) A MS of the text is No. 35 Chambers. Text and commentary (a)No. 454 ofthe same collection. Samvat 1650 a good copy; (b) No. 598 East India House,very careless. To the grammariansis here to be added Dalbhya (videthe Gana Garga).

(2) Other MSS of this book than the incompletecopies named in Zur Litt. Geach. page 54 are not known to me.


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There have thus been alreadydiscovered the specialgrammars relatingto four of the Vedic Samhitfis andonly that of the Samaveda is wanting It can indeedscarcelybe doubted that it also has found an editor whosework, now that attention has once been turned to this side ofVedic exegesis,will perhaps soon come to light. However,the Samaveda seems generallynot to have been diligentlystudied,probably by reason of the want of independence inits contents, whence also the scarcityof copiesof Sayana'sCommentary on it, which up to now has been brought toEurope only in one copy or at most in two.

If the result of our investigationf these books whichwe class togetherunder their common, but necessarilylater-arisen name of Pratisakhyais this that they are workswhich handle the Vedic elementaryrules,based each uponone of the Samhitas and, in harmony with the peculiar-character of that kind of learned research in India,proceed-ng

always from particularschools, then Yaska's wordsin Nir. I, 17 cannot be more suitablyreferred to anyother class of writings.To this must be added that preciselythe subjectof which this passage in the Nirukta treats, viz.,the relation of the Samhita text, which connects the wordsaccording to the generallaws of pronunciationto the padatext, which givesthem separately,constitutes the principalsubject of the Pratisakyas,and finallyhat their view ofthat relation is just the same that the Nirukta ascribes tothe parsada the grammatical text-books of all the schools.I regard it therefore as completely established,unlessentirelysimilar or still older books can be proved to exist,that Yaska knew these writings.And if he knew them, itis very probablethat he reckoned them to the Vedarigas.

They claim this place,not onlyby virtue of their closerelation to the Veda in their subject matter, but also invirtue of the names of their authors,which we know at leastin the case of three of them. To the two names Katyayanaand Saunaka, which occupy an important place in thehistoryof the most ancient Indian learning,and in thelegends,a great mass of works supplementaryo the Vedaand to Vedic theology are traced. We shall,of course,never be able to determine which works Yaska reallynamedVedanga} but the progress of our labours may be expected


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more and more to identifyhe works which he could thus nameand ever more clearlyto shew that the books whichhave come down to us as Vedangas were not Yaska'sVedangas.

He reckons among the Vedangas only the Collectionof the Nighantavas or, if this is not to be found expresslystated in his words (Nir.I. 20),he at least placesthem inclose connection with the Vedangas. And it follows fromwhat has been brought forward in the precedingdiscussionthat this Nighantavacollection is older than the Nirukta.

A learned edition of the Naighantukahas come downto us from the i5th or i6th Century of our era. It has forits author Devaraja who, as the introductorytrophesstate,lived in the neighbourhoodof Yajna-rangesapurind wasa son of Yajnesvararyand grandson of Devarajayajvan,and according to the remark at the close of the MSbelongedto the familyof Atri.

In the introduction to his book, Devaraja gives thefollowingexplanationegardingthe condition of the MSSof the Naighantuka,and the manner in which it was thenunderstood and the reasons which led him to compose hiscommentary. Yaska, he says, has in the Nirukta explainedindividually,nd in their entirety,nlythe words of whicha list is given in the fourth and fifth section of theNaighantuka (in the Naigama and Daivata) and giventhe relative proof passages ; on the other hand, we findexpositionsnd quotationsor only some amongst the 1341words of the three first sections. After Yaska Skanda-svamin, he says, took up the work of explanationndexplainedt length,. g., words like those of Ngh. I,4, andthe compounds in 3, 13, and 3, 29 which have been discussedby Yaska only in a generalway. But many other words forwhich neither explanationsor proofswere available hadto be understood simplyfrom their form. This was all themore precariousthat the study of the Vedas and learnedtradition in the latest period(inthe Kaliyuga) was muchinterruptednd obscured and the onlyhelpthat remainedwas simplythe collection of words, the Naighantuka. Butnow, entire words were wanting in this collection throughthe corruptionf the MSS, others were interpolated,thers


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31againwere altered in form and thus part of the Naighantuka,the firstthree sections,ustbecause it wanted a consistentexpositionand collection of examples,abounded in errors.In order to restore the correct readingand to make theunderstandingf the scriptureasier for the less learned,he, Devaraja,ow retrieves what Yaska and Skandasvaminleft unexplained.Further, he gives his explanationsbyno means merely on his own authority(svamanlsikaya)he has as helps,in the firstplace,Yaska's own explanationsof 350 words of the Naighantuka,which are found scatteredhere and there in the Nirukta ; 200 words have been ex-lained

by Skandasvamin ; and finallyany of the remainngwords have been explainedon occasion by many others.The readingsfollowed by these are to be retained. Further-ore,

he says in consequence of the study of theNaighantuka carried on uninterruptedlyn his family-(samamnaya ' dhyayanasya mchedat),by diligentse of thenumerous writings of Madhava and by comparisonof numerous MSS collected from all quarters, hehas been able to amend and explain other portionsfthe text.

Devaraja'sork is thus confined to the strictlyexicalpart of the Naighantuka. But he is far from havingsucceeded everywherein the task which he attempted:a great number of words have had to remain withoutauthentication : his standing formula for these is nigamo'nvesanlyas, A proofpassage is stillo be sought. Muchthat could have been established from the Sarhhita of theRik has escaped him ; he shews a great want of indepen-entjudgment; he employs, however, a tolerablycom-rehensive

Vedic literature,.g., the AitareyaBrahmana,the Aranyaka of similar name, the Chandogya Upanisad,the Apastamba Sakha,c.

It has not been possibleor me to make a transcriptfthe singlecopy of this book, which,so far as my knowledgegoes, is to be found in Europe (East India House, 1134).It certainlyeserved to be made use of in an exhaustivelexical work on the Vedas, because in it frequentlyheexplanationsf words givenby earlierexegetes whose workswe have not yet become acquaintedwith,e. g. Haradatta,Ksirasvamin, and above all these, Skandasvamin, the


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older interpreterf some portionsof the Naighantuka andthose of others,are set down.

With regardto the originnd purpose of the Naighantuka,I have alreadyexpressedthe view that it,especiallyn thesecond part, was a collection of difficult and archaicexpressionsto be made the basis of such instruction in theinterpretationf the Veda as was wont to be given in theschools of the Brahmans. At that time,there was no need ofcontinuous commentaries ; learningas also probablynotyet so specialized a list of the expressionsfor the ideasoccurringmost frequentlyn the Vedas, of the chief passagesrequiringexplanation,both in respect of language andsubject-matter, simple catalogue of the gods and theobjectsof worship as we have it in the Naighantuka sufficedas a guide to oral instruction. In a subsequent periodthese elements were expounded formallynd in writingthe Nirukta belongsto this periodand in a still later periodarise the exhaustive continuous commentaries.

An exactly similar state of things presents itselfinGreece. There Homer was (withthe exceptionof Hesiod,who, however, never attained equallyhigh authority)theonly source of higherknowledge and was pre-eminentlyhebook of the schools ; the science of grammar and almostevery other science began to be developedin connectionwith Homer's works. In India,the Veda takes the place ofHomer ; it comprised for the Brahmanical peopletheirwhole store of mental culture,as as a sacred book all themore a natural subjectof investigationo the learned manwho was at the same time a priest,nd became the firstproblem of grammar, a science which, in India, was farmore generallydiffused than in Greece and reached atan earlydate a far higher stage of development. At thesame time, not only the language, but the subject-matterof the Veda stood much farther from the Indian of thecenturies immediatelybefore Buddha (700 and 600 B.C.)in which we have to placethe full bloom of the priesthood,than his Homer did to the Greek of the time of Perikles.Among the Greeks there arose at this periodand perhapseven earlier those collections of peculiarHomeric words ofwhich the meaning had become unfamiliar,the -yXwcrcratin India for the Veda, the Nighantavaswere collected, word


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the meaningof which I hold to be identical with yXuwai (i).The beginningsere identical in both cases. In the shortinterval from Perikles to the end of the Alexandrian periodGreece did,however,more for the explanationof Homerthan India accomplishedin the longcourse of the centuriesdown to Sayana and Mahldhara in the i6th Century forthe understandingf the Vedas. Of course the task of Indiawas by far the more difficult. Besides Indian learninglacked the possibilityf a free development. Orthodoxyhad to deny historynd find the conditions of the presentat every periodin the monuments of the past, because thepresent could and would have no other foundation thanthe half-understood traditions of antiquitywhich weresurrounded by a sacred halo. The priesthooduppliedthenecessary authentic explanations,ithout which, of course,there could never have been found in those books the thingswhich with its assistance were so easilyiscovered.

The mind thus wronged accustomed itselfto its yokeand went its way alongthe prescribedath ; the historicalsense 'was irretrievablyost and contented itself with thepermittedharmless enjoyment of the exercise of solvinggrammatical questions.As a consolation the credit canbe givento the Indian that,in the field of grammar, he hasfar surpassedthe Greek.

The Naighantukastands for us practicallyt the sum-itof a historyof exegesis.It is indeed not impossiblethat in India several such collections existed,that perhapsonly the one before us attained to generalrecognition,ndthat then other earlierones disappeared. Similar collectionsespeciallyighthave been made for the other Vedic books ;since the Naighantukalimitsitself,hieflyn itssecond part,with very rare exceptions,o the Samhita of the Rigveda.It was, however, most natural that this was the one thatattained to authoritynd survived because from the stand-oint

of the Indian the Rigveda alone demanded a reallyphilologicalxposition.

I cannot conclude these introductoryords without anexpressionof the thanks which I owe for manifold kind

(i) Galen in the prefaceo the Lex. Hippocrat. ocra TOLVVV TUV ovopinatv ev pfvroif jraAat xpovois rjv(rvvrjdrjvvt $ OVKCTI e'oriTO p(v roiavra yXaxrcras1

R52-S


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assistance, in this field of study almost indispensable, to myfriends especially in London and Berlin.

Iam

under especial obligations to my honouredteacher, Heinrich von Ewald, to whom it is due in more thanone respect that I have been able to begin and so far com-lete

this work. May he give my efforts in the domain ofIndian antiquities the credit of being inspired by the samespirit of historical philology by means of which he hasachieved such wide conquests on behalf of science.

My friend, Dr. Theodor Benfey in Gottingen has notonly undertaken the troublesome task of passing the workthrough the press, a task which could not have been placedin better hands, but has also assisted me in various waysfrom his knowledge of the Vedas. I thank him for this andtrust that by mutual assistance we may still for a length oftime be permitted to advance this branch of knowledge thatis shaping itself anew.Tubingen; RUDOLPH ROTH.July 1847.


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36expoundersreproducemore brieflyy the term anudattatara(I,2, 40) while he ascribes to the real intermediate toneekasruti,he qualityf being indistinguishabley the ear(I,2,39).Instead of thus includingnder the term Anudattatwo distinctaccents which in some other way ought to bemore exactly defined,it will be expedientto retain theterms used in some of the Pratisakhyaswhich, as theyare more thorough in the elementarytreatment of theaccents generally,distinguishbetween anudatta, thelowered tone, and the prachaya-svara or prachita-svara.The name of the latter can be interpreteds meaningfull,i.e.,nmodified tone, or as the tone which comes in aheap} since it can include a greater number of successivesyllablesn a sentence, can indeed run throughentire formsof prayer, while the other accents depend upon a necessarychane of tone.

II. The essential nature of the three accents whichrepresent the regulargradationof tone, the Anudatta,Prachaya, and Udatta is in itselfintelligible.ess intel-igible

to us, and even for allthe grammarians not perfectlyclear,is the nature of the Svarita. It is uniformlydes-ribed

as a combination of the Udatta and Anuddtta inwhich case, of course we are to understand by the latter notthe accent so called in the narrower sense of the term, butgenerallythe tone which does not go beyond the neutralline. (I.Prat. 3, 2. II Prat, i, in c.). With regardto its tone-constituents,he first and second Pratisakhyastate that the firsthalf of its duration whether the syllableon which it rests contains one, two, or three moras* soundshigherthan the high tone, the remainder,however, althoughit is regarded as anudatta is said to have a tone-valuesimilar to that of the Udatta (udattasruti).he latter halfof the Svarita loses this tone-value if an Udatta or Svaritafollows it in the sentence (I. Prat. 3, 3, 19); it sinks orbreaks (prakampate}.The second Pratisakyasays thatonlythe last portionf itsinks (uttaro desa : pranihanyate)and the Saunaklyalimits this breakingto the duration ofthe last quarter of the last mora. (3,3.) From this it isalready plainthat the Svarita is inferiorin intensityf toneto the Udatta which alwaysretains its fullvalue.

a beat in music.


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37If the Svarita is then, accordingto the foregoing,ot

an originalone, but a result of the coming togetherof twoaccents, the questions to the conditions under which thisphcenomenon occurs now arises. If it occurred quiteuni-ersallyfrom the confluence of an accented with a follow-ng

unaccented vowel to which the descriptionivenof itsnature would point there would be,accordingto the laws ofSandhi in Sanskrit either in the case of an individual word orin the union of two words, these three possibleases :

(a) That the two vowels should coalesce,as takesplacein the case of homogeneous vowels, a beforei coalescingnto e, before u into o, that is krasis ;

(b)That the finalvowel of the firstmember of a wordor of a word should be changed into a semi-vowel beforethe initialvowel of the second,as i before the vowela and w,and u before the vowels a and i,liquidization.

(c)That the precedingvowel should swallow upthe followingowel as takes placewhen e or o precedesshort a, elision or more correctlyyndicshe.

If the Svarita of Sanskrit were in placein the first ofthese three cases, it would be scarcelydistinguishableromthe Greek circumflex if we only leave out of account thetransgressionf the universal law of which Greek is guilty,in combiningin perverse order the grave with a followingacute into the circumflex ('forao ?,earwTo?).ere the longvowel has attracted the circumflex,that is,quantityhastriumphedover accent, as also happens in every case inwhich a penultimateyllables accented and long,and thelast short ( r pa).n Sanskrit, on the other hand,the tone generally,nd thus the Svarita also,is entirelyn-epende

of the quantityof the individual syllables it isof the stress laid upon the whole word. In this it is soessentiallyistinguishedrom the Greek circumflex as regardsthe circumstances of itsoriginhat in the first of the abovecases, it occurs only in a singleand very limited class ofexceptionalxamples, while in the second and third it isregularlyound.

In this connection,it is further worth mentioningthat,accordingto a remark of the first Prati^akhya, gram-arianMancjukeya is of opinionthat, in all cases of the


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38krasis of an accented syllableith a succeedingunaccentedsyllable,he Svarita,accordingto the view of the Com-entator,

at least in theory,hould be regardedas the regularaccent1. According to the examples givenby Weber(Vajas. SpecimenII,p. 9.)this mode of accentuation exists,however, not merelyin theory,but is found actuallyarriedout in the MSS of the Satapatharahmana. The secondcase is of course inconceivable in the case of Greek whichknows no semi-vowels,the third is regarded as a case ofkrasis , but never produces so littlealso is Greek grammarclearlysettled as to itstreatment the circumflex. Thereis thus,however, althoughwithout doubt both these accentshave the same origin,complete difference in their applica-ion

in the usage of the languagesof the two peoplesn whichthat which isoriginalnd that which is derived appear appor-ioned

to both sides.III. The Indian Soarita is thus found in the following

cases:

i. (Under a) When two short i's,the final accented,the initialunaccented,coalesce,the long resultingvowelreceives the Svarita,, e.g., ^ ^^^r^^(abhi-indhatam, ab hind hat am}.2It is called praslista(alsopraslistaand prakslista}

that which rests on the swallowed-up combination ofvowels'' (praslista. sandhi :) I Pr. 3, 7, 10 II Pr.I,117, 4, 133. Mand. 7, 4 gaun. 3,3. But if one of thetwo i's is long the generallaw to be given below for thekrasis is observed,e. g., *fft ^, **$H maht iyammahiyam 3.

2. (Under b) When an accented i or u before an un-ccentedheterogeneousvowel passes into the semi-vowel

I Prat 3. 8. Uvata

3 For the notation of the accents see below.a As an exception to this rule the participlecJTT^jcTrom f

is quotedII Prat. 4, 135. The third Pratiskhyasays nothing of the * vowels and givesthe rules for the u vowels only,without making any further distinction as to their lengtha, 8. Cf. the quitevague rule in Pan. VII I,2, 6.


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y or i',the syllableormed by this union (sandhyam ak-saram) receives the svarita : (a) In the body of a word, e.g., rfN tanve from tqnu

with the dative suffix e. From the same point of vieware to be regardedalso those words which do not receivethe Svarita onlyon inflection,ut have italreadyon accountof their etymologicalormation, e.g., ^F^, dhanyam fordhqni-am.This is the onlycasein which the Svarita appearsin the word and itis,therefore,called,in contrast to thatwhich arises through combinations of words the jatya,theoriginalenericSvarita, II Pr. i, 112. Mand, 7, 5 gaun.3, 3, or nitya, the abiding,he necessary, III Pr. 2, 8.

(/3)In the case of the coming togetherof two words inSandhi, e.g.,3 5^5 fo*^(nu indra : nvindra).his unionof two vowels,throughthe liquidizationf the firstis calledthe Jiving sandhi (ksipra sandhi .-)probablyfromthe slidingof the voice over the semi-vowel to the initialvowel of the followingord. The Svarita which rests uponthe combination received from this sandhi the nameksaipra,Pr. 3, 7, 10. II Pr. I,1 16,III Pr. 2, 8. Mand. 7,6.Saun. 3, 3.

3. (Under c) When, after an accented e or o an un-ccentedshort a -as also Indian grammar says iselided,the Svarita stands upon the e or o, e. g., % ^r^Jj rT^c(teavantu, tevantu)1.

It is called,like the Sandhi to which it owes its origin,abhinihita,

1 The apostrophe mark, which we find employed in the MSS of later books and inpresent editions did not serve originallys a mark of elision. Any kind of signseparat-ngthe words would have been here quite out of place and would have been opposedto the sentiment of the livinglanguage. The Greek threatre laughed at the grammaticalactor who said e/e KvpaTtw yap avdis au ya\r)v opa instead of yaXrj j/opo . The markof apostrophenow current serves in the Vedic MSS rather another and double purpose.In the firstplace it stands in the Sarhhita MSS between two words which occur togetherin a hiatus (vivratti)in the second place,in the Pada MSS, to separate the members ofthe compound words (asthe mark of avagraha). In both cases it indicates the intervalduring which the voice has to be arrested at the placewhen itoccurs, the interval ofone beat and isoriginallyothingelse than the numeral signfor one.


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IV. The occurrence of this Svarita is,s can be easilyseen, extremely limited. Only rarelycould the conditionsof the three-fold union of vowels occur, from which it resultsas a secondary accent ; and it would be a thingin itselfinconceivable that any singlelanguageshould possess as aregularsystem of marking change of accent one of whichitmakes so rare a use as Sanskrit does of the above des-ribed

Svarita. Thus the Svarita occurs also in cases out-idethese and indeed apparentlyas servingan entirely

different end. In every polysyllabicord, which is not anoxytone, so runs the rule,the syllableollowinghe hightonehas the Svarita. The same rule appliesn the sentence tothe unaccented initialsyllablef a word followingn oxytone,i.e., a simply unaccented syllablean never, in any case,follow an acute syllable;ince it is the law of cadence aswe see from this,that the tone raised to the heightof theUdatta should not fall with a sudden descent to the naturallevel of the voice,but be lowered 'through the mediation ofan intermediate tone.

This is the part playedby the Svarita when it occursimmediatelyafter the Udatta,in which case I would call itthe enclitic Svarita, as contrasted with the independentSvarita above explained.The tone-value of both is,however,essentiallyhe same. Both are weakened acute accentsand it has occurred to the grammarians, to whom we areindebted for the Pratisakhyas,ustas littleas to Panini,to mark by a distinctive designationthese two kinds ofSvarita, which are so distinct in their origin.Only the firstPratisakhyagivesfor the various grades of the independentSvarita the comprehensiven mejatya with which the otherPratisakyasdesignateonly a sub-division (see a above)without,however, anywherenaming the enclitic; gap whichthe Commentator fillsup with the name prakrta. On theother hand, these grammarians have, with a quiteuselesssubtlety,iscovered even subordinate classes of the encliticSvarita,which may ba givenhere for the sake of complete-ess.

Three, and accordingto circumstances,four modifica-ionsof it,re distinguished:

i. The tairovyanjana,which is separated from itsUdatta syllabletandingin the same word by one or moreconsonants.


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41

2. The tairovirama occurringunder the same condi-ions,onlythat the Udatta falls on the last syllablef the

precedingword l.3. The padavrtta,the Svarita on the initialsyllablefthe second word after a hiatus 2.4. Accordingto some, the tathabhavya,i.e.,heSvarita

which stands, under certain definite limitations,etween twoaccented syllables,hich will be treated of more fullyim-ediate

cf. II Prat, i, 118-121. Ill Pr. 2,8. Mand.Siksa 7,7-10. Saun. 3, 3.

A reminiscence of a difference in the originof the Svaritas.is found further in this that the one class are more sharply(tlksnci),he other more softly(mrdu) accented, and infact all the independentSvaritas are alwayssharper thanthe enclitic Svaritas. The order which the secondPratisakhva assigns to the individual kinds is this :i. Abhinihita,2. Ksaipra and j~atyaf3. Praslista,4. Tairovyanjana,. Tairovirama, 6. Padavrtta,7. Tatha-bhavya. The third Pratisakhyarranges them on the otherhand 2, i, 3, 5, 4, 6. Verses in Saunaklya and Uvata'sglossgivethe order 1,3,2,4,6 (5and 7 are not mentioned).

If now this encliticSvarita like the Anudatta is shut upby the law of melody into the domain of the dominant in theword, mz. the hightone ; the latter so that it must precedethe hightone, the former, so that itmust follow the hightone,when two accent spheresintersect and there is room for onlyone of the two dependenttones, either for that which succeedsthe first or that which precedes the second, in this case therearises the questionhich of the two is to prevail.In otherwords, when between two acute syllablesn unaccentedsyllableccurs, has it the enclitic Svarita or the loweredtone ?

The more natural answer would be that,as in the wholetheory of vowels the component which follows is thestoriger,the grave accent precedinga followingcute accentshould set aside the Svarita of the firstacute syllable.Andso the Pratisakhyaseach,with one accord,the firstof the

* Third Pratishakhyaalls itpratihata.2 The tairovyanjana is curiouslyenough assignedon this account to the word

pra uga III Pr. 2,8.R 52 6


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Pratishakhyaswith the express observation that this law isuniversally,cknowledged(3, 12. niyuktatu ' datta-svarito -*day am}.

According to Panini, on the other hand (VIII,4,67) thegrammarians Gargya, Kasyapa and Galava would haveset the Svarita in this placeand it might seem all the moreremarkable that the Pratisakhyasmake no mention of thisdiversityf view that the first of them is acquainted withGargya, the second with both Gargya and Kasyapa. Itappears, however, that we have here in Panini an inexactrule which has been made entirelyncorrect throughits beingmisunderstood by his interpreters.

The second Pratisakhyagives most complete explanationon this point. In the passage in which the names of thedifferent kinds oiSvaritas are treated of,it has the aphorism:(i , 1 2 1) : 33[T3ZF3t T^T^rn^T-^T^T: which may be moreclearlyreproducedthus: the unaccented final syllableofan $yagrahaltvf\\\ \\s preceded or followed by an accent-d

syllable,as the Svarita which is called tathabhavya .Now, in a later section, the rule is laid down with respectto the mutual inf

Documents

An Introduction to Nirukta and Related Literature