Pramāṇa · Search · About · API

A History of Indian Literature v1.c8.s12: The Exegetic Vedāṅgas

A History of Indian Literature v1.c8.s12

Language
English

The Exegetic Vedāṅgas

v1.c8.s12.1

Those Sūtra texts which deal with *Śikṣā* or "phonetics" are at least as old as the Kalpasūtras. While the Kalpasūtras are supplementary works to the Brāhmaṇa portion of the Veda, the sūtras of the Vedāṅga Śikṣā are very closely related to the Saṃhitās of the Vedas.

v1.c8.s12.2

"*Śikṣā*" actually means "instruction," then in particular "instruction in reciting," *i.e.* in the correct pronunciation, accentuation, etc., of the Saṃhitā texts. The earliest mention of this Vedāṅga is to be found in the Taittirīya-Upaniṣad (I, 2), where the teaching of the letters, the accents, the quantity (of syllables) the stress, the melody and the combination of words in continuous recitation, are enumerated as the six chapters of the Śikṣā. Like the doctrine of the ritual, the Śikṣā also arose out of a religious need. For in order to perform a sacrificial act correctly it was not only necessary to know the ritual, but also to be able to pronounce the sacred texts accurately and recite them without errors, just as they were handed down in the Saṃhitās. This presupposes that, at the time when the text-books of the Śikṣā originated, the Vedic Saṃhitās were already established as sacred texts, that they had already obtained a definite form by the agency of editors trained in phonetics. It can actually be proved that, for instance, the Ṛgveda-Saṃhitā does not give the hymns in the form in which they were composed by the ancient singers. Though the editors did not alter the words themselves, yet in the matter of pronunciation, the initial and final sound of the words, the avoidance of the hiatus, and so on, they were led by their phonetic theories into deviating from the original manner of recitation. Thus, for instance, we read in our Saṃhitā *tvam hyagne*, but can prove (on the ground of metre), that the old singers said *tuam hi agne*. The Vedic Saṃhitās themselves are then already the works of phoneticians. But beside the *Saṃhitā Pāṭhas*, *i.e.* the Saṃhitā-texts, as they had to be recited according to the teaching of the Śikṣā, there are also the so-called *Pada Pāṭhas* or "word-texts," in which the individual words appear separate from the phonetic connection in which they are presented in the Saṃhitā-text. One example will suffice to make the difference between Saṃhitā-Pāṭha and Pada-Pāṭha clear. A verse in our Ṛgveda-Saṃhitā runs :

v1.c8.s12.3

agnī́ḥ pū́rvebhirṛ́ṣibhirī́ḍyo nū́tanairutá | sá devā́m̐ éhá vakṣati

v1.c8.s12.4

In the Pada-Pāṭha this verse runs :

v1.c8.s12.5

agníḥ | pū́rvebhiḥ—ṛ́ṣi-bhiḥ | ī́ḍyaḥ | nū́tanaiḥ | utá | sá | devā́n ā́ | ihá | vakṣati. ||

v1.c8.s12.6

These Pada-Pāṭhas are, of course, the work of theologians trained in phonetics, in fact of grammarians, for they present the text of the verses in a complete grammatical analysis. Yet they must be fairly old. The Pada-Pāṭha of the Ṛgveda is ascribed to Śākalya, a teacher who is already mentioned in the Aitareya-Āraṇyaka.[^1)

v1.c8.s12.7

Saṃhitā-Pāṭhas and Pada-Pāṭhas, then, are the oldest productions of the Śikṣā schools. The oldest text-books of this Vedāṅga which have come down to us are, however, the Prātiśākhyas, which contain the rules by the aid of which one can form the Saṃhitā-Pāṭha from the Pada-Pāṭha. Hence they contain instruction upon the pronunciation, the accentuation, the euphonic alterations of the sounds in the composition of words and in the initial and final sound of words in the sentence, upon the lengthening of vowels, in short upon the whole manner of the recitation of

v1.c8.s12.8

[^1): On the Padapāṭha of Śākalya s. B. *Liebich*, Zur Einführung in die indische einheimische Sprachwissenschaft II, Heidelberg 1919, pp. 20 ff. On the Padapāṭha of the Taittirīya-Saṃhitā s. A. *Weber*, Ind. Stud. 13, 1-128, and A. B. *Keith*, HOS. Vol. 18, pp xxx ff.

v1.c8.s12.9

the Saṃhitā. Every Śākhā or recension of a Saṃhitā had a text-book of this nature, hence the name Prātiśākhyas, *i.e.* "text-books, each intended for a Śākhā." First of all we have a Ṛgveda-Prātiśākhya,¹ which is ascribed to *Śaunaka*, who is supposed to have been a teacher of *Āśvalāyana*. This work is in verse, and is probably a later revision of an earlier Sūtra-text: it is even called "Sūtra" in manuscripts and quotations. The Taittirīya-Prātiśākhya-sūtra,² belongs to the Taittirīya-Saṃhitā; a Vājasaneyi-Prātiśākhya-Sūtra,³ ascribed to *Kātyāyana*, belongs to the *Vājasaneyi-Saṃhitā*, and the Atharvaveda-Saṃhitā has an Atharvaveda-Prātiśākhya-sūtra,⁴ which is supposed to be of the school of the Śaunakas. There is also a Sāmaprātiśākhya,⁵ and the Puṣpasūtra⁶ is a kind of Prātiśākhya to the Uttaragāna of the Sāmaveda. A further work dealing with the manner of singing the Sāmans at the sacrifice, is the Pañcavidha-sūtra.⁷

v1.c8.s12.10

¹ Edited, with a translation into German, by Max *Müller*, Leipzig 1856-69. On the metrics of the Ṛgveda-Prātiśākhya, s. H. *Oldenberg*, NGGW. 1919, pp. 170 ff.

v1.c8.s12.11

² Text, Translation and Notes by W. D. *Whitney*, New Haven 1871 (JAOS., Vol. 9). On the relation of the Taittirīya-Prātiśākhya to the Taitt.-Saṃhitā, s. *Keith*, HOS., Vol. 18, pp. xxxi ff. It is certainly older than Pāṇini.

v1.c8.s12.12

³ Edited by P. Y. *Pathaka*, Benares 1883-88; text with German translation by A. *Weber*, Ind. Stud. 4, 65-160, 177-331. The *Pratijñāsūtra* (edited and explained by Weber in ABA. 1871, pp. 69 ff.) is an appendix to this Prātiśākhya.

v1.c8.s12.13

⁴ Critically edited by Vishva Bandhu Vidyarthi Śāstrī, Part 1, Punjab University 1923. This is different from the Śaunakīyā Caturādhyāyikā, which has been edited and translated as an "Atharvaveda-Prātiśākhya" by W. D. *Whitney*, New Haven 1862 (JAOS., Vol. 7).

v1.c8.s12.14

⁵ Ed. by *Satyavrata Sāmaśramī* in "*Uṣā*," Calcutta 1890.

v1.c8.s12.15

⁶ Ed. and translated into German by R. *Simon*, ABayA. 1909, pp. 481-780. On the mutual relation between Puṣpasūtra, Ārṣeyakalpa and Uttaragāna, s. *Simon*, l.c. 499 ff.; ZDMG. 63, 1909, 730 ff. and *Caland*, ZDMG. 64, 1910, 347 f.

v1.c8.s12.16

⁷ Ed. and translated into German by R. *Simon*, Breslau 1913 (Indische Forschungen, Nr. 5).

v1.c8.s12.17

These works are of twofold importance: firstly, for the history of grammatical study in India, which, as far as we know, commences with these Prātiśākhyas. Though they are not actually grammatical works themselves, they treat of subjects pertaining to grammar, and the quotations from so many grammarians prove that the study of grammar was already flourishing at their time. Secondly, they are still more important because they are pledges of the fact that the texts of the Saṃhitās as we have them to-day, have remained unaltered through all the centuries since the time of the Prātiśākhyas. Thus the rules of the Ṛgveda-Prātiśākhya take for granted that, at the period of the latter, the Ṛgveda-Saṃhitā was not only firmly established in its division into ten Maṇḍalas, but that even the order of the hymns in each Maṇḍala was the same as it is now. Indeed, the minute rules of Śaunaka leave no doubt that, at the period of the latter, the text of the Ṛgveda-Saṃhitā read, word for word and syllable for syllable, almost exactly as we find it at the present day in our printed editions.

v1.c8.s12.18

These Prātiśākhyas are the earliest representatives of the Vedāṅga Śikṣā. Beside them we find more modern works, short treatises on phonetics, which claim the title of Śikṣās and give famous names, such as Bhāradvāja, Vyāsa, Vāsiṣṭha, Yājñavalkya and so on, as their authors. They follow the Prātiśākhyas in much the same way as, at later periods, versified law-books followed up the ancient Vedic Dharmasūtras, also mentioning as their authors names famous in antiquity. Some of these Śikṣās are comparatively old and are more directly associated with some Prātiśākhya or other, *e.g.* the Vyāsa-Śikṣā¹ with the Taittirīya-Prātiśākhya, while others are of much later origin and of no importance either for grammar or for the history of the Vedic texts.²

v1.c8.s12.19

¹ Cf. *H. Lüders*, Die Vyâsa-Çikshâ besonders in ihrem Verhältnis zum Taittirîya-Prâtiçâkhya, Kiel 1895.

v1.c8.s12.20

² On the Śikṣās s. *F. Kielhorn*, Ind. Ant. 5, 1876, 141 ff., 193 ff. On the Pāṇinīya-Śikṣā s. *A. Weber*, Ind. Stud. 4, 435 ff. and *B. Liebich*, Zur Einführung in die indische einheimische Sprachwissenschaft II, p. 20, who says that though late in form, it is old in contents. The Nâradîya-Śikṣā is edited in *Satyavrata Sāmaśramī's* “Uṣā,” I, 4, Calcutta 1890; the Bhāradvāja-Śikṣā (cum versione latina, excerptis ex commentario etc.) by *E. Sieg*, Berlin 1892. A collection of Śikṣās (Śikṣāsaṃgraha) has been published in BenSS. 1893.

v1.c8.s12.21

*Śaunaka* and *Kātyāyana*, who are mentioned as authors of Prātiśākhyas, are also considered to be the authors of works very closely connected with the Vedāṅga literature because they deal also with the texts of the Vedic Saṃhitās, though they are not called Vedāṅgas. These works are the Anukramaṇīs, *i.e.* "catalogues," "lists," "indexes," which give the contents of the Vedic Saṃhitās with regard to different items.¹ Thus Śaunaka composed an Anukramaṇī or a catalogue of the Ṛṣis of the Ṛgveda hymns, also a catalogue of the metres, one of the deities and a further one of the hymns. Kātyāyana is the author of a **Sarvānukramaṇī**² *i.e.* a "catalogue of all things" for the Ṛgveda. This work gives, in the form of sūtras, the first words of every hymn, then the number of verses, the name and family of the ṛṣi to whom the hymn is ascribed, of the deities to whom the single verses are addressed, and the metre or metres in which the hymn is composed. The two metrical works **Bṛhaddevatā** and **Ṛgvidhāna** are again ascribed to Śaunaka. They are not, however, the work of Śaunaka himself, but that of his school. The Bṛhaddevatā³ is an enlarged catalogue of the gods worshipped in the separate hymns of the Ṛgveda; for it contains also myths and legends referring to these deities, and is therefore at the same time an important work from the point of view of Indian narrative literature. The Bṛhaddevatā is obviously one of the earliest Indian narrative works, for its metres, the triṣṭubh as well as the śloka, occupy a middle position in point of time between Vedic and epic metre; and furthermore, those legends which are common to the Bṛhaddevatā and the Mahābhārata, appear in a later form in the epic.¹ The Ṛgvidhāna,² also in the form of a catalogue following the division of our Ṛgveda-Saṃhitā, states the magic power which can be obtained by the recitation of each hymn or even of single verses. It is somewhat similar to the above-mentioned Sāmavidhāna-Brāhmaṇa.

v1.c8.s12.22

¹ The **Atharvavedīyapañcapaṭalikā** (ed. by *Bhagwaddatta*, Lahore 1920) is an Anukramaṇī of the Atharvaveda-saṃhitā. The so-called **Ārṣeya-brāhmaṇa** of the Sāmaveda (ed. by *A. C. Burnell*, Mangalore 1876, and with commentary by *Satyavrata Sāmaśrami* in "*Uṣā,*" II, 1, Calcutta 1892) is also an Anukramaṇī.

v1.c8.s12.23

² Edited by *A. A. Macdonell*, Oxford (Anecdota Oxoniensia) 1886. On a Kashmirian recension of the Sarvānukramaṇī s. *Scheftelowitz*, ZII. 1, 1922, 89 ff.

v1.c8.s12.24

³ Ed. by *Rajendralala Mitra* in Bibl. Ind. 1892; critically edited and translated into English by *A. A. Macdonell*, HOS., Vols. 5 and 6, 1904.

v1.c8.s12.25

¹ See *A. Kuhn*, Ind. Stud. I, 101 ff.; *Keith*, JRAS. 1906, pp. 1 ff.: 1912, pp. 769 ff. *Winternitz*, WZKM. 20, 1906, pp. 1 ff.; *Liebich*, Zur Einführung in die ind. einh. Sprachwiss. II. 30 ff.

v1.c8.s12.26

² Ṛgvidhânam edidit cum praefatione *Rudolf Meyer*, Berolini 1878.

v1.c8.s12.27

Of importance are the Anukramaṇīs and the works related to them, on account of their affording additional proof that even in very early times the texts of the Vedic Saṃhitās were in almost exactly the same form, with the same divisions, the same number of verses, and so on, as we have them at present.

v1.c8.s12.28

The same is true also of the Nirukta of *Yāska*,³ which has already been mentioned on another occasion. This work, too, the only one of the Vedāṅga Nirukta which we possess, presupposes the Ṛgveda-Saṃhitā in essentially the same condition in which we know it to-day. Tradition erroneously ascribes also the Nighaṇṭus or "lists of words" to Yāska. In reality, however, the work of Yāska is only a commentary to these lists of words, of which Yāska himself says, that they were composed by the descendants of the ancient sages, for the easier understanding of the transmitted texts. The Nighaṇṭus are five lists of words, which are divided into three sections. The first section (Naighaṇṭukakāṇḍa) consists of three lists, in which Vedic words are collected under certain main ideas. For instance, there are quoted 21 names for 'earth," 15 for "gold," 16 for "air," 101 for "water," 122 verbs for "to go," 26 adjectives and adverbs for "quick," 12 for "much," and so on. The second section (Naigamakāṇḍa or Aikapadika) contains a list of ambiguous and particularly difficult words of the Veda, while the third section (Daivatakāṇḍa) gives a classification of the deities according to the three regions, earth, sky, and heaven.[^1) Veda-exegesis probably began with the compilation of such glossaries; the composition of commentaries to these glossaries after the style of our Nirukta, with explanations of difficult Veda verses interwoven, was a further step in the development, and, at a still later period, detailed and continuous commentaries to the Vedic texts were written. Certain it is that Yāska had many predecessors, and that his work, though certainly very old and the oldest existing Veda-exegetic work, can nevertheless only be regarded as the last, perhaps also the most perfect, production of the literature of the Vedāṅga Nirukta.

v1.c8.s12.29

³ See above p. 69. The Nirukta was first edited by *R. Roth*, Göttingen 1852: with commentaries and useful indexes by *Satyavrata-Sāmaśrami* in Bibl. Ind., 1882-91; with commentary of Durgācārya, Vol. 1, Adhy. 1-6, edited by *V. K. Rajavade*, ĀnSS. No. 88, 1921. On L. Sarup's edition s. above. in the Bṛhaddevatā, V, 23. But the quotation is not found in the Nidānasūtra, printed in the “Uṣā,” Calcutta, 1896.

v1.c8.s12.30

Of the Vedāṅgas of metrics and astronomy, too, it is only the latest offshoots of an earlier scientific literature that remain. For the Sāmaveda there is the Nidānasūtra, containing not only metrical but other investigations into the various component parts of the Sāmaveda (Uktha, Stoma, Gāna). It is also important from the grammatical point of view, and some of the ancient teachers ascribe it to Patañjali.[^2) The

v1.c8.s12.31

[^1): On these Nighaṇṭus as the beginnings of Indian lexicography see Th. Zachariae, Die indischen Wörterbücher ("Grundriss," I, 3 B), Strassburg 1897, pp. 2 f. *S. K. Belvalkar* (Proc. SOC., pp. 11ff.) has shown that it is possible, with the help of the Nighaṇṭus, esp. the Aikapadika list, to distinguish literary strata in the Ṛgveda. Belvalkar dates Yāska's Nirukta from the 7th century B. C. This is likely enough, though not certain. But we have no idea how much earlier the Nighaṇṭus may be. [^2): *Cf.* Weber HIL., pp. 81f., E. Sieg, Die Sagenstoffe des Ṛgveda, Stuttgart 1902, pp. 29, 35, 65; and *Caland*, Ārṣeyakalpa, pp. xvii ff. A Nidāna of the Sāmaveda is quoted text-book of *Piṅgala* on metrics, though regarded by the Indians as a Vedāṅga of the Ṛgveda and Yajurveda, there being two recensions of it, is nevertheless the work of a later period; for it deals also with metres which only belong to later Sanskrit poetry.¹ The Jyotiṣa-Vedāṅga is a small text-book of astronomy in verse; in the Yajurveda recension it contains 43 verses, in that of the Ṛgveda 36. Its main contents are the positions of the moon and the sun at the solstices, as well as the new and full moon in the circle of the 27 Nakṣatras or stars of the zodiac, or rules are drawn up for their calculation.² The very circumstance that it is not written in verse, refers this little work which, moreover, has not yet been sufficiently explained, to a later period.

v1.c8.s12.32

¹ The Sūtra of Piṅgala was edited and explained by *A. Weber* in Vol. 8 of Ind. Stud. Cf. also *A. Weber*, HIL., p. 60.

v1.c8.s12.33

² Cf. *A. Weber*, Über den Vedakalender namens Jyotisham (ABA 1862) and *G. Thibaut*, Astronomie (in the “Grundriss,” III, 9), pp. 17, 20 and 28. Ātharvaṇa Jyotiṣam edited by Bhagavad Datta, Lahore, 1924 (Punjab Sanskrit Series, No. 6).

v1.c8.s12.34

The old Vedāṅga texts on grammar are entirely lost. This science, too, certainly originated in connection with the Veda-exegesis, and proceeded from the Veda schools. For already in the Āraṇyakas we find isolated grammatical technical terms. But the oldest and most important text-book of grammar that has come down to us, that of *Pāṇini*, metes out to the Vedic language only casual treatment; it no longer stands in close relation to any Veda school, and altogether belongs to a period at which the science of grammar was already pursued in special schools, independent of theology. For in India also, as we shall see in the section on scientific literature, science has detached itself more and more from theology, within which it was originally included almost completely.

Cites (29)