Vedic accent marks and anusvaras

[Arlo Griffiths]

Here are a few references for a start:

[on various aspects of accents etc. in ;Saaradaa]
von Schroeder, Leopold
1892. Die Kaa.thaka-Handschrift des Dayaaraam Jotsii in ;Sriinagar und ihre
Accente. In: ZDMG 46, 427--431.
1896. Zwei neuerworbene Handschriften der k. k. Hofbibliothek in Wien mit
Fragmeneten des Kaa.thaka. Sitzungsberichte der philosophisch-historischen
Classe der kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften (Wien). 133:11
1898. Die Tübinger Ka.tha-Handschriften und ihre Beziehung zum
Taittiriiya-Aara.nyaka. Sitzungsberichte der philosophisch-historischen
Classe der kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften (Wien). 137:4.

[on other systems]
Witzel, Michael
1974. On Some Unknown Systems of Marking the Vedic Accent. In:
Vishveshvaranand Indological Journal [Vishva Bandhu Commemoration Volume]
12, 472--502.
1983. Anunaasika in Medieval Veda tradition. In: IIJ 25, 180.

The only regional tradition that I can say anything about is Orissa.
    White YV: According to Caland, 1926--1939. The ;Satapatha-Braahma.na in
the Kaa.nviiya Recension. Lahore. [reprint: Delhi 1983.], p. 23, the one
Oriya ms. of the ;SBK used by him was unaccented (the new edition by
Swaninathan does not seem to use Orissa mss. at all). If my impression is
not incorrect, B.R. Sharma has not himself seen any mss. from Orissa for his
edition of the Kaa.nva-Sa.mhitaa: 1988--99. Kaa.nva Sa.mhitaa with the
Padapaa.tha and the Commentaries of Saaya.naacaarya and Aanandabodha. 4
vols. Pune: VSM. See pp. IIIf., VII--IX, XIV--XVI of vol. I. I have no idea
whether accented mss. of the WYV exits in Orissa. I believe no information
on this is provided in the available catalogs of the Orissa State Museum and
the Parija library of Utkal Univ.
    SV: (numerically) accented sa.mhitaa mss. exist (samples available on
photographs in my possession).
    RV: no information available to me.
    AV: no mss. of the Paippalaada Sa.mhitaa are accented, though the
;Saaradaa ms. from Kashmir does show a very few accented portions (according
to the Ka.tha system).

As to anunaasikas in Oriya script: 'regular' anunaasikas (roughly V shaped
element with dot in it) with dot have been seen by me in the one
Pa;ncavi.m;sa Braahma.na ms. that is in possession of the Orissa State
Museum (photographed by me). The Paippalaada Sa.mhitaa mss. do not use this
sign, but occasionally have -:n. (i.e. velar nasal plus viraama) for
anunaasika (see Witzel 1983 --- the information there given that the same
writing habit is found in the Kashmir ;Saaradaa ms. of PS is to my knowledge
incorrect).

Arlo Griffiths






> From: Stefan Baums <baums at U.WASHINGTON.EDU>
> Reply-To: Indology <INDOLOGY at liverpool.ac.uk>
> Date: Tue, 17 Jun 2003 14:32:25 -0700
> To: INDOLOGY at liverpool.ac.uk
> Subject: Vedic accent marks and anusvaras
> 
> Dear Vedicists,
> 
> is there a recent source of comprehensive information on Vedic
> accent marking systems (i.e., apart from the familiar Rgvedic
> one), and on the apparently wide array of different anusvara signs
> that seem to be used in Yajurveda texts?  With the former at
> least, appendix III of Macdonell's Vedic Grammar for Students
> helps, and so does Altindische Grammatik I pp. 281ff. and
> references, but surely something must have been published since.
> 
> I am also trying to get an overview of the manuscript tradition of
> accented Vedic texts, particularly whether any of them are
> preserved in what can be considered non-modern (= not modern
> Indian "national") scripts, apart from Sarada.
> 
> Finally, I would like to refer to Annex G of Indian Standard
> 13194:1991 (= ISCII-91), "Extended character set for Vedic."
> Annex G has been omitted from the version that was available on
> the Internet for a while, and the authoritative printed standard
> (issued by the Bureau of Indian Standards) seems to be unavailable
> here.  Is it possible that some Indology member has a copy?
> 
> Many thanks in advance,
> Stefan Baums
> 
> --
> Stefan Baums
> Asian Languages and Literature
> University of Washington