Ancient Indian Education (Brahmanical and Buddhist) c9.s1.20

c9.s1.20

This shows that *Deva-bhāshā* or Vedic speech was already separated from the spoken tongue in the time of the *Brāhmaṇas*. There are some passages of the Rigveda which throw light on these linguistic problems. I, 164, 45 refers to four varieties of speech (*Vāk*), of which three were known to Brāhmaṇas, who were Manīshīs, i.e. who had achieved mastery of their minds but not to the ordinary people who knew only the fourth class of speech. Now what are those four varieties of speech? According to the Yājñikas, these were the languages of (*a*) Mantra, (*b*) Kalpa, (*c*) Brāhmaṇas, and (*d*) that popularly spoken. According to the Nairuktas, the three languages were those of Ṛik, Yajuḥ, and Sāma Veda, and the fourth was the vernacular language of the times. Thus, in this view, the language of the three Vedas was not accessible to the common people.