[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Reference works](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference) › [A Vedic Concordance](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.bloomfield-1906) › c4.s2 # A Vedic Concordance c4.s2: Primary Uses of the Concordance A Vedic Concordance c4.s2 - **Language:** English ### Primary Uses of the Concordance ### [c4.s2.1](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.bloomfield-1906.c4.s2.1) 1. It is a comprehensive index of all mantras.—Thanks to the editors of a considerable number of Vedic texts, we have, for each of the various Saṃhitās, and for some Brāhmaṇas, Sūtras, etc., an index of first lines of each stanza. These indexes are of course scattered over divers volumes; and they do not take cognizance of lines other than the first. Moreover, these indexes do not as a rule register such prose-formulas as the texts may happen to contain: they simply register the \*pratikas\* of the metrical stanzas. The advantage of having, as in the present work, one comprehensive index, which shall include every line of every stanza, as well as every prose formula, in one single alphabetic arrangement and in one single volume, will, I am certain, be prized by every student of the Veda. ### [c4.s2.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.bloomfield-1906.c4.s2.2) 2. It registers the variants of mantras not wholly identical.—Mantras which occur only a single time, or appear in a wholly identical form in two or more texts, require no comment after they have been properly arranged in an alphabetical index. Again, mantras which are not wholly identical, but are alike in their beginnings, will also fall into the same or nearly the same place in a direct alphabetic arrangement. It is obvious that the places of occurrence of a given mantra of this kind may be advantageously grouped together, with a statement of the various readings of the different texts. The method used for this purpose is explained below, at page xiv. Once more, if the forms of the mantra in question differ at the beginning, then—obviously again—they will occupy places in the alphabetic arrangement more or less widely apart, and it will be necessary to connect them by some system of cross-references. This also is explained below, at page xv. To sum up, the Concordance affords, primarily, an easy and ready means of ascertaining the following things: First, where a given mantra occurs, if it occur but once; second, whether it occurs elsewhere, either with or without variants, and in what places; and third, if it occur with variants, what those variants are. --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.bloomfield-1906.c4.s2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.bloomfield-1906.c4.s2) · Pramāṇa