Orthoepic Diaskeuasis Of Rgveda And Date Of Panini

Author(s): Johannes Bronkhorst
Publisher: Johannes Bronkhorst

Page 1

JOHANNES BRONKHORST
THE ORTHOEPIC DIASKEUASIS OF THE RGVEDA AND THE DATE OF PANINI*
P. RPr
ABBREVIATIONS
Paninian sutra
Rgveda-Prätisakhya. The sūtra numbers both according to Mangal Deva Shastri's and Max Müller's editions are given.
Rgveda
RV
1.1. The Rgveda is known to us in a form which is fixed down to the minutest details. It obtained this form as the result of a process which, in as far as it concerns details of sandhi etc., is known by the name 'orthoepic diaskeuasis'.
The main hypothesis to be defended in this article is that the orthoepic diaskeuasis of the Rgveda was not yet completed in the time of the RgvedaPrātisakhya, and ended when but one version of the Rgveda remained, i.e., probably with the disappearance of the Başkala Samhita. (I do not take here into consideration the Kashmir Rgveda; see Bronkhorst, forthcoming.) The hypothesis contrasts with the currently held belief that the Śākhās of the Ṛgveda, as well as the Rgveda-Prätisakhya, presuppose, and therefore postdate, the final redaction of the Rgveda (Renou, 1947: 21, 35; cf. 1960: 1-2, 10).
A decision procedure, on the basis of which we can choose between these two opinions, is provided by the following. We have some idea of the original form of the hymns of the Ṛgveda, since the present Rgveda often deviates from the metre in a way that can easily be restored by undoing the sandhi or other minor changes. If the Ṛgveda-Prātisakhya stands somewhere in the process which began with the original form of the Rgvedic hymns, we may expect that at least some of the authorities who preceded the Prātisakhya but took part in the same process, came out in defence of a form of those hymns which, at least in some cases, deviates from their present, and is closer to their original one. If, on the other hand, the Prätisakhya belongs to a period which came after the orthoepic diaskeuasis, we may not expect such opinions on the part of those who took part in the development in which the Prätisakhya participates.
The Rgveda-Prätisakhya mentions the following authorities: Anyatareya1 (3.22(208)), Gärgya (1.15(16); 6.36(412); 11.17 (629); 11.26(638); 13.31(739)), Pancala (2.33(137); 2.81(185)), Pracya (2.33(137); 2.81(185)); Mākṣavya (Intr. v. 2); Mándükeya (Intr. v. 2; 3.14(200)), Yáska (17.42(993)), Vedamitra
Indo-Iranian Journal 23 (1981) 83-95. 0019-7246/81/0232-0083 $01.30. Copyright © 1981 by D. Reidel Publishing Co., Dordrecht, Holland, and Boston, U.S.A.