Abstract

[Kamal Adhikary]

Dear Colleagues:

	I would like to share with you the abstract of the talk by Prof. 
Deshpande at the Asian 
Studies, at UT Austin.  The abstract is also posted on ASNIC, and 
the URL is: http://asnic.utexas.edu/asnic/subject/madhavdeshpande.html

Title: "Changing Grammars of Changing Texts: 
                  Understanding the Transmission of the Vedas

              Madhav M. Deshpande, Professor of Sanskrit, Univ. of Michigan

                                   ---Abstract

The traditional Indian conception of the Vedas treats these texts as 
eternal texts and even the possibility of change is rejected. Modern 
scholarship also does not speak with unanimity on the
subject of change during transmission. On the one hand, Oldenberg and 
Bhandarkar say that the text of the Rigveda is not quite the same as it 
was originally. On the other hand, there are scholars today who assert 
that the Rigveda t hat we have today can be treated as a 
tape-recording of what was first composed and recited some 3000 years 
ago. In my presentation, I plan to analyze the
process of transmission of the Vedic exts. This process needs to be 
understood as consisting of many different phases, each being susceptible 
to various factors leading to different degrees of
textual alteration. Such alteration was possible not only before the  
Vedic Samhitas were codified by ancient scholars like Shakalya and 
Shaunaka. Changes of various kinds were possible even after the
formation of the Samhitas.

An impressive record of transmissional changes is available to us, 
especially, in regard to the tradition of the Shaunakiiya Atharvaveda. 
have the formation of the various AV Samhitas, e.g. Shaunakiiya and
Paippalaada. The last two KaaNDas of the currently available Shaunakiiya 
Samhita were most certainly added at a relatively later date and are 
unknown to the two AV Praatishaakhyas: Shaunakiiya Caturaadhyaayikaa and 
Atharva-Praatishaakhya. Besides manuscripts, living and recorded 
reciters, and the commentary of a so-called SaayaNa, we have 
access to a number of interestingly different linguistic descriptions of 
the Shaunakiiya AV. The Sh.AV as known to the Caturaadhyaayikaa is 
already a slight departure from the AV as known to Shaunaka. Then we have
an ancient Shikzaa cited in the Caturaadhyaayiibhaazya (CAB) and the CAB 
itself. There seem to be interesting differences between these texts. 
Then comes the text of the AV as known the Atharva-Praatishaakhya, which 
is significantly different from the AV as known to the Caturaadhyaayikaa 
tradition. The AV as known from the commentary of  SaayaNa is 
againsomething quite different. Finally, the manuscripts and the reciters make 
us aware of a regionally diverse tradition, which often underwent 
unconscious changes as well as self-conscious processes
of ShuddhiikaraNa ("purification") from time to time.



Thanks.
kamal
_______________
Kamal R. Adhikary, Ph.D.
Internet Coordinator, Asian Studies
UT, Austin, Texas 78712
Tel:512-475-6034
Email:kamal at asnic.utexas.edu