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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[May, 1876.
Professor Haug has been present at the recita- Haug that the Sikshas (i.e. all the Sikshas which tion of one or two Vedas, and he has in con- are known to exist) are older than the Prátisa. sequence been able to correct several erroneous khyas, it would suffice to state that one of the views conceived by other scholars in Europe most important Sikshas, and one the value of and America, and I have myself had opportuni- which appears to have been considered sufficient. ties of becoming acquainted with the recitation ly great to ensure for its author the title of Sikof the Rigveda. But this is not sufficient. shákâra kar'dEoxhv, -I mean the Vyása-sikshaWhat we want is an accurate, minute, and in- follows the Taittiriya-pratisá lehya so closely as telligible description of the manner in which the to be in many respects little less than & meseveral Vedas are recited in the different parts trical version of the latter, and that Saunaka of India, and this can only be given by native and the rest,' the authors of the Prátisakhyas, scholars. The subject is not one of very great are actually quoted in the Yajňavallya, or, as it importance, and the task by no means an easy is also called, Katyayana-śiksha. one, but only when it has been accomplished I might also point to passages of the Sarvacan we hope to be able to explain all the detailst sammata and other Sikshas in which the Prátiśáof the Sikshas as they ought to be explained, if khyas are likewise cited, and in which their it should be considered worth while to explain authority over that of the Sikshás is extolled, as them at all.
in the following lines :Professor Haug, in the essay mentioned above,
शिक्षा च प्रातिशाख्यं च विरुध्येते परस्परम् । has arrived at the conclusion that the Sikshas are decidedly older than the Prátisálhyas, and
शिक्षैव दुर्बलेल्याहुः सिंहस्यैव मृगी यथा ॥ that the doctrines contained in the former were But it appears to me that such distinct reincorporated and further developed in the latter. ferences to the Prátisákhyas are by no means Dr. Burnell (On the Aindra School of Sanskrit required to prove the comparatively recent date Grammarians, p. 47) has adopted the same view, 1 of all the Sikshas that have up to the present and, if I understand him rightly, has ascribed been discovered. A perusal of the more imthe Sikshas, or at any rate their doctrines, to a portant treatises of this branch of Sanskrit school of grammarians which is said to have literature, and a comparison of their form and preceded that of Panini. My own investiga- contents, have ended, so far at least as I am tions, and the perusal of a larger number of concerned, in the conviction that, notwithstandtreatises than were accessible to Prof. Haug ing the high-sounding and ancient names which or Dr. Burnell, have led to the conclusion that most of them bear, they are modern compilathe views expressed by both scholars require tions, as a rule executed with very little skill. to be considerably modified before they can be
| Had Professor Haug confined himself to state accepted.
that the contents of the Sikshás may in the To disprove the view taken by Professor main be as old as those of the Prátisakhyas, I and that finally their manner of pronouncing the final letter contain a verse in which the reciter is warned against seven of this particular Greek word xalpey or Xaipe is prescribed different wrong positions of the hands or fingers - by the Sikshd to be the right way of pronouncing the
चलु वा स्फुटी दण्डी स्वस्तिको मुष्टिरेव च । ranga sound of the Vedas. Years ago, when conversing with a native friend of mine
एते वै इस्तदोषाः स्युः पशुच्छेदस्तु सप्तमः॥ who was to have been a reciter of the Rigveda, I asked for To know the exact meaning of each of the terms conhis explanation of the above verse, and what I learnt from tained in this verse is of course a matter of very small him was that the ranga ought to be pronounced like the final importance; but conjecture in a case like this would, in my sound of the word as when shouted by dairy-women in opinion, be worse than useless. the street. Had I had any doubt as to the correctness of this The Vyasa-fiksht actually refers to the Pratisd. explanation it would have been removed by the following
khyas in the following lines :passage from the commentary on the Sarvasammata-fiksha
मध्यमां वृत्तिमालम्ब्य चैवं कालाः सुनिश्चिताः। which I subsequently received from Maisur:
प्रातिशाख्यादिषु ह्यत्र वृत्तिः साप्यवलम्बिता ॥ सौराष्ट्रदेश उत्पना खी तकविक्रयणाथ यथा तका इति कांस्य- The verme from the Yajhavalkya-likshaalluded to in THE TOT TO SET 41 :1 aciera the above in my MSS. reads thus - fai dari T AFT I See Rigveda viii. 77, 3.
लुप्ते नकारे यत्स्वार रजन्ति शौनकादय।। 1 I could quote many iristances to show that I do not एवं रई विजानीयात्र त्वा भीरिव विन्दति ।। exaggerate, but one must suffice here. Several sikshds
Soe Rigveda, X. 148, 1.
