Vedic Sanskrit

{{Short description|Historic form of Sanskrit}} {{Distinguish|text=the Vedda language}} {{Infobox language | name = Vedic Sanskrit | nativename = | states = South Asia | region = Northwestern Indian subcontinent | ethnicity = | era = {{circa|1500}} – 600 BCE | familycolor = Indo-European | fam2 = Indo-Iranian | fam3 = Indo-Aryan | ancestor = Proto-Indo-European | ancestor2 = Proto-Indo-Iranian | ancestor3 = Proto-Indo-Aryan | iso3 = vsn | isoexception = dialect | notice = IPA | glotto = vedi1234 | glottorefname = Vedic Sanskrit }}

'''Vedic Sanskrit''', also simply referred as the '''Vedic language''', is the earliest attested form of the Sanskrit and Prakrit languages: members of the Indo-Aryan subgroup of the Indo-European language family. It is attested in the Vedas and related literature{{Sfn|Burrow|2001|p=43}} compiled over the period of the mid-2nd to mid-1st millennium BCE.<ref name="Mair2006p160">{{cite book|first=Michael |last=Witzel|author-link=Michael Witzel|chapter=Early Loanwords in Western Central Asia: Indicators of Substrate Populations, Migrations, and Trade Relations|editor-first=Victor H. |editor-last=Mair|title=Contact And Exchange in the Ancient World|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8-OilJCX1moC&pg=PA160|year=2006|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|isbn=978-0-8248-2884-4|page=160}}</ref> It is orally preserved, predating the local advent of writing by several centuries.{{Sfn|Macdonell|1916|p=2}}{{Sfn|Reich|2019|p=122}}

Extensive ancient literature in the Vedic Sanskrit language has survived into the modern era, and this has been a major source of information for reconstructing Proto-Indo-European and Proto-Indo-Iranian history.<ref name="Baldi1983p51">{{cite book|first=Philip |last=Baldi|author-link=Philip Baldi|title=An Introduction to the Indo-European Languages|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lq-mkL23oh8C&pg=PA51 |year=1983|publisher=Southern Illinois University Press|isbn=978-0-8093-1091-3|pages=51–52}}</ref><ref name=beckwith366>{{cite book|first=Christopher I. |last=Beckwith|title=Empires of the Silk Road: A History of Central Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the Present|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5jG1eHe3y4EC |year=2009|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-0-691-13589-2|pages=363–368}}</ref>

==History==

===Prehistoric derivation=== {{further|Substratum in Vedic Sanskrit}}

The separation of Proto-Indo-Iranian language into Proto-Iranian and Proto-Indo-Aryan is estimated, on linguistic grounds, to have occurred around or before 1800 BCE.<ref name="Baldi1983p51"/><ref>{{Cite book| last =Mallory | first =J.P. | author-link =J.P. Mallory | year =1989 | title =In Search of the Indo-Europeans: Language, Archaeology, and Myth | place =London | publisher =Thames & Hudson | page=38f}}</ref> The date of composition of the oldest hymns of the Rigveda is vague at best, generally estimated to roughly 1500 BCE.<ref>{{cite book|author1=J. P. Mallory|author2=Douglas Q. Adams|title=Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tzU3RIV2BWIC|year=1997|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-884964-98-5|page=306}}</ref> Both Asko Parpola (1988) and J. P. Mallory (1998) place the locus of the division of Indo-Aryan from Iranian in the Bronze Age culture of the Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex (BMAC). Parpola (1999) elaborates the model and has "Proto-Rigvedic" Indo-Aryans intrude the BMAC around 1700 BCE. He assumes early Indo-Aryan presence in the Late Harappan horizon from about 1900 BCE, and "Proto-Rigvedic" (Proto-Dardic) intrusion to Punjab as corresponding to the Gandhara grave culture from about 1700 BCE. According to this model, Rigvedic within the larger Indo-Aryan group is the direct ancestor of the Dardic languages.<ref>Parpola, Asko (1999), "The formation of the Aryan branch of Indo-European", in Blench, Roger & Spriggs, Matthew, Archaeology and Language, vol. III: Artefacts, languages and texts, London and New York: Routledge.</ref>

The early Vedic Sanskrit language was far less homogeneous compared to the language described by Pāṇini, that is, Classical Sanskrit. The language in the early Upanishads of Hinduism and the late Vedic literature approaches Classical Sanskrit.<ref name="Gombrich2006p24">{{cite book|author=Richard Gombrich|title=Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benares to Modern Colombo|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jZyJAgAAQBAJ |year=2006|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-90352-8|pages=24–25}}</ref> The formalization of the late form of Vedic Sanskrit language into the Classical Sanskrit form is credited to Pāṇini's ''Aṣṭādhyāyī'', along with Patanjali's ''Mahabhasya'' and Katyayana's commentary that preceded Patanjali's work.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Gérard Huet|author2=Amba Kulkarni|author3=Peter Scharf|title=Sanskrit Computational Linguistics: First and Second International Symposia Rocquencourt, France, October 29–31, 2007 Providence, RI, USA, May 15–17, 2008, Revised Selected Papers|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t2f1hneiV08C |year=2009|publisher=Springer |isbn=978-3-642-00154-3|pages=v–vi}}</ref><ref>Louis Renou & Jean Filliozat. ''L'Inde Classique, manuel des etudes indiennes'', vol.II pp.86–90, École française d'Extrême-Orient, 1953, reprinted 2000. {{ISBN|2-85539-903-3}}.</ref> The earliest epigraphic records of the indigenous rulers of India are written in the Prakrit language. Originally the epigraphic language of the whole of India was mainly Prakrit and Sanskrit is first noticed in the inscriptions of North India from about the second half of the 1st century BCE. Sanskrit gradually ousted Prakrit from the field of Indian epigraphy in all parts of the country.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://archive.org/details/indianepigraphy0000sirc/page/38/mode/2up?q=Sanskrit | title=Indian epigraphy | date=1965 | publisher=Delhi, Motilal Banarsidass }}</ref>

===Chronology=== Five chronologically distinct strata can be identified within the Vedic language:{{sfn|Michael Witzel|1989|pp=115–127 (see pp. 26–30 in the archived-url)}}<ref name=witz24>{{cite book|author=Klaus G. Witz|title=The Supreme Wisdom of the Upaniṣads: An Introduction|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2jnPlEqwe_UC&pg=PA24|year=1998|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=978-81-208-1573-5|page=24 with note 73}}</ref><ref>Burrow, pp. 43.</ref>

# Ṛg-vedic # Mantra # Saṃhitā prose # Brāhmaṇa prose # Sūtras

The first three are commonly grouped together, as the Saṃhitās{{efn-ua|'compiled', 'put together'<ref>MWW, p. 1123.</ref>}} comprising the four Vedas:{{efn-ua|from ''vid-'', 'to know', cognate with Eng. 'wit'<ref>MWW, p.963.</ref>}} ṛg, atharvan, yajus, sāman, which together constitute the oldest texts in Sanskrit and the canonical foundation both of the Vedic religion, and the later religion known as Hinduism.<ref name=jb12>J&B, pp. 1–2.</ref>

====Ṛg-vedic==== Many words in the Vedic Sanskrit of the ''Ṛg·veda'' have cognates or direct correspondences with the ancient Avestan language, but these do not appear in post-Rigvedic Indian texts. The text of the  ''Ṛg·veda'' must have been essentially complete by around the 12th century BCE. The pre-1200 BCE layers mark a gradual change in Vedic Sanskrit, but there is disappearance of these archaic correspondences and linguistics in the post-Rigvedic period.{{sfn|Michael Witzel|1989|pp=115–127 (see pp. 26–30 in the archived-url)}}<ref name=witz24/>

====Mantra language==== This period includes both the mantra and prose language of the ''Atharvaveda'' (Paippalada and Shaunakiya), the ''Ṛg·veda'' Khilani, the ''Samaveda'' Saṃhitā, and the mantras of the Yajurveda. These texts are largely derived from the Ṛg·veda, but have undergone certain changes, both by linguistic change and by reinterpretation. For example, the more ancient injunctive verb system is no longer in use.{{sfn|Michael Witzel|1989|pp=115–127 (see pp. 26–30 in the archived-url)}}<ref name=witz24/>

====Saṃhitā==== An important linguistic change is the disappearance of the injunctive, subjunctive, optative, imperative (the aorist). New innovations in Vedic Sanskrit appear such as the development of periphrastic aorist forms. This must have occurred before the time of Pāṇini because Panini makes a list of those from the northwestern region of India who knew these older rules of Vedic Sanskrit.{{sfn|Michael Witzel|1989|pp=115–127 (see pp. 26–30 in the archived-url)}}<ref name=witz24/>

====Brāhmaṇa prose==== In this layer of Vedic literature, the archaic Vedic Sanskrit verb system has been abandoned, and a prototype of pre-Panini Vedic Sanskrit structure emerges. The ''Yajñagāthās'' texts provide a probable link between Vedic Sanskrit, Classical Sanskrit and languages of the Epics. Complex meters such as ''Anuṣṭubh'' and rules of Sanskrit prosody had been or were being innovated by this time, but parts of the Brāhmaṇa layers show the language is still close to Vedic Sanskrit.{{sfn|Michael Witzel|1989|pp=121–127 (see pp. 29–31 in the archived-url)}}<ref name=witz24/>

====Sūtra language==== This is the last stratum of Vedic literature, comprising the bulk of the Śrautasūtras and Gṛhyasūtras and some ''Upaniṣad''s such as the ''Kaṭha Upaniṣad'' and ''Maitrāyaṇiya Upaniṣad''.<ref name=witz24/> These texts elucidate the state of the language which formed the basis of Pāṇini's codification into Classical Sanskrit.<ref>Burrow, pp44.</ref>

==Phonology== Vedic differs from Classical Sanskrit to an extent comparable to the difference between Homeric Greek and Classical Greek.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Chadwick |first1=H. Munro |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ds2oBKF_FrUC&pg=PA460 |title=The Growth of Literature |last2=Chadwick |first2=Nora K. |date=2010-10-31 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-108-01615-5 |pages=460 |language=en}}</ref>

The following differences between Vedic and Classical Sanskrit may be observed in the phonology:

* Vedic had a voiced retroflex lateral approximant {{IPA|[ɭ]}}{{efn-lr|{{lang|sa|ळ}}}} as well as its breathy-voiced counterpart {{IPA|[ɭʱ]}},{{efn-lr|{{lang|sa|ळ्ह}}}} which are not found in classical Sanskrit; these were allophones of the corresponding plosives ''ḍ'' ({{IPA|/ɖ/}}) and ''ḍh'' ({{IPA|/ɖʱ/}}).{{Sfn|Macdonell|1916|p=16-17}} * The vowels ''e'' and ''o'' were realized in Vedic as diphthongs ''ai'' and ''au'', but they became monophthongs in later Sanskrit, such as ''{{IAST|daivá-}}'' > ''{{IAST|devá-}}''and ''{{IAST|áika-}}''>''{{IAST|ekā-}}''. However, the diphthongal quality still resurfaces in sandhi.{{Sfn|Macdonell|1916|p=4-5}} * The vowels ''ai'' and ''au'' were realized in Vedic as long diphthongs ''āi'' and ''āu, respectively'', but they became correspondingly short in Classical Sanskrit: ''{{IAST|dyā́us}}'' > ''{{IAST|dyáus}}''.{{Sfn|Macdonell|1916|p=4-5}} * The Prātiśākhyas claim that the "dental" consonants were articulated from the teeth ridge (''dantamūlīya'', alveolar), but they became dentals later, whereas most other authorities including Pāṇini designate them as dentals.<ref name=Deshpande138>Deshpande, p. 138.</ref> * The Prātiśākhyas are inconsistent about {{IPAblink|r}} but generally claim that it was also a ''dantamūlīya''. According to Pāṇini it is a retroflex consonant.<ref>Whitney, §52.</ref><ref name=Deshpande138/> * The ''pluti'' (trimoraic) vowels were on the verge of becoming phonemicized during middle Vedic, but disappeared again. * Vedic often allowed two like vowels in certain cases to come together in hiatus without merger during sandhi, which has been reconstructed as the influence of an old laryngeal still present in the Proto-Indo-Iranian stage of the language: PIE {{lang|ine-x-proto|*h₂we'''h₁'''·nt-}} → ''va·ata-''.{{efn-ua|''vā́ta-'', wind}}{{Sfn|Clackson|2007|p=58-59}}

===Accent=== {{main|Vedic accent}} Early Vedic had a tonal system inherited from the Proto-Indo-European accent,<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Jamison |first1=S. |last2=Beguš |first2=G. |last3=Beguš |first3=G. |date=2016 |title=The Phonetics of the Independent Svarita in Vedic |journal=Proceedings of the 26th Annual UCLA Indo-European Conference |pages=1–12|s2cid=17589517 }}</ref> which only distinguishes tone height. However, the contraction of two syllables, the first of which carries an ''udātta'' (high pitch) and the second a so-called "dependent ''svarita''" (high falling pitch), gave rise to a small number of words with the "independent ''svarita''" on a short vowel in a late pronunciation of Vedic. The origin of the independent ''svarita'' can be inferred from metrically restored versions of the ''Rig Veda''.

This tonal system persisted for some time after the Vedic period. Early Sanskrit grammarian Pāṇini marked the position of the accent,{{efn|Today, the pitch accent can be heard only in the traditional Vedic chantings.}} giving accent rules for both the spoken language of his time as well as the differences of Vedic accent. However, no extant post-Vedic text with accents are found.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Chakrabarti |first=Samiran Chandra |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lVjkAAAAMAAJ |title=Some Aspects of Vedic Studies |date=1996 |publisher=School of Vedic Studies, Rabindra Bharati University |isbn=978-81-86938-04-1 |pages=16 |language=en}}</ref>

=== Pluti === {| class="floatright" |+ Pluta |- | {{IAST|ā3}} ({{Script|Deva|आ३}}) |- | {{IAST|ī3}} ({{Script|Deva|ई३}}) |- | {{IAST|ū3}} ({{Script|Deva|ऊ३}}) |- | ai3 (ए३) |- |āi4 (ऐ४) |- |ā3i (आ३इ) |- | au3 (ओ३) |- |āu4 (औ४) |- |ā3u (आ३उ) |- | {{grey|{{IAST|ṝ3}} ({{Script|Deva|ॠ३}})}} |- | {{grey|{{IAST|ḹ3}} ({{Script|Deva|ॡ३}})}} |} {{Redirect|Pluti|other uses of "pluta"|Pluta (disambiguation){{!}}Pluta}}

'''''Pluti''''', or ''prolation'', is the term for the phenomenon of protracted or overlong vowels in Sanskrit; the overlong or ''prolated'' vowels are themselves called '''''pluta'''''.{{sfnp|Kobayashi|2006|p=13}} Pluta vowels are usually noted with a numeral "3" ({{Script|Deva|३}}) indicating a length of three morae ({{Transliteration|sa|trimātra}}).{{sfnp|Whitney|1950|pp=27–28}}{{sfnp|Scharf|Hymann|2011|p=154}}

A diphthong is prolated by prolongation of its first vowel.{{sfnp|Whitney|1950|pp=27–28}} Pāṇinian grammarians recognise the phonetic occurrence of diphthongs measuring more than three morae in duration, but classify them all as prolated (i.e. trimoraic) to preserve a strict tripartite division of vocalic length between {{Transliteration|sa|hrasva}} (short, 1 mora), {{Transliteration|sa|dīrgha}} (long, 2 morae) and {{Transliteration|sa|pluta}} (prolated, 3+ morae).{{sfnp|Whitney|1950|pp=27–28}}{{sfnp|Scharf|Hymann|2011|p=72}}

[[File:O3m AryaSamaj Red.svg|thumb|upright=0.9|The syllable ''Aum'' ({{Script|Deva|ओ३म्}}) rendered with ''pluta'']] Pluta vowels are recorded a total of 3 times in the Rigveda and 15 times in the Atharvaveda, typically in cases of questioning and particularly where two options are being compared.{{sfnp|Kobayashi|2006|p=13}}{{sfnp|Whitney|1950|pp=27–28}} For example:{{sfnp|Whitney|1950|pp=27–28}} * {{IAST|adháḥ svid āsî3d upári svid āsī3t}} : "Was it above? Was it below?" : Rigveda 10.129.5d

* {{IAST|idáṃ bhûyā3 idâ3miti}} : "Is this larger? Or this?" : Atharvaveda 9.6.18

The {{Transliteration|sa|pluti}} attained the peak of their popularity in the Brahmana period of late Vedic Sanskrit (roughly 8th century BC), with some 40 instances in the Shatapatha Brahmana alone.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Strunk |first1=Klaus |title=Typische Merkmale von Fragesätzen und die altindische "Pluti" |publisher=Verlag der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften in Kommission bei der C.H. Beck'schen Verlagsbuchhandlung |date=1983 |location=München |isbn=3769615271}}</ref>

==Grammar== {{main|Vedic Sanskrit grammar}}

==Literature== {{main|Sanskrit literature#Vedic literature}}

==See also== *Classical Sanskrit *Sanskrit epigraphy *Vedic Sanskrit grammar *Vedic metre *Vedic period *''A Vedic Word Concordance'' *Avestan, a closely related language *Rudrakshajabala Upanishad

== Notes == {{notelist}}

== Glossary == {{notelist-ua|30em}}

== Brahmic notes == {{collapse top|title=Brahmic transliteration}} {{notelist-lr|20em}} {{collapse bottom}}

==References== {{reflist|20em}}

== Bibliography == * {{cite book |last1=Burrow |first1=T. |title=The Sanskrit language |date=2001 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |location=Delhi |isbn=9788120817678 |edition=1st Indian}} * {{cite book |last1=Clackson |first1=James |title=Indo-European Linguistics |date=2007 |publisher=Cambridge |isbn=978-0-521-65313-8}} * {{cite journal |last1=Kobayashi |first1=Masato |title={{IAST|Pāṇini}}'s Phonological Rules and Vedic: {{IAST|Aṣṭādhyāyī}} 8.2* |journal=Journal of Indological Studies |volume=18 |year=2006 |url=http://gengo.l.u-tokyo.ac.jp/masatok/Kobayashi_Ast8_2.pdf}} * {{cite book|last=Macdonell|first=Arthur Anthony|author-link=Arthur Anthony Macdonell|title=A Vedic Grammar for Students|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YKI3TQvbsDcC|year=1916|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=978-81-208-1052-5}} * {{citation|author=Michael Witzel|author-link=Michael Witzel |url=https://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/dialects.pdf |title=Tracing the Vedic dialects, in Dialectes dans les litteratures Indo-Aryennes |editor=Colette Caillat |editor-link=Colette Caillat |location=Paris |publisher=de Boccard |year=1989 |language=fr}} * {{cite book |last1=Reich |first1=David |title=Who we are and how we got here: ancient DNA and the new science of the human past |date=2019 |location=New York |publisher=First Vintage Books |isbn=978-1-101-87346-5}} * {{cite book |last1=Scharf |first1=Peter M. |last2=Hymann |first2=Malcolm D. |title=Linguistic Issues in Encoding Sanskrit |date=2011 |location=Providence |publisher=The Sanskrit Library |isbn=9788120835399 |edition=1st |url=https://sanskritlibrary.org/Sanskrit/pub/lies_sl.pdf}} * {{cite book |last1=Whitney |first1=William Dwight |title=Sanskrit Grammar: Including both the Classical Language, and the older Dialects, of Veda and Brahmana |date=1950 |publisher=Harvard University Press |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Sanskrit_Grammar_(Whitney)}}

== Further reading == * {{cite book |last1=Brereton |first1=Joel |last2=Jamison |first2=Stephanie |title=The Rigveda, A Guide |date=2020 |publisher=Oxford |isbn=9780190633363}} * {{cite book|last1=Delbrück|first1=Berthold|author-link1=Berthold Delbrück|last2=Windisch|first2=Ernst Wilhelm Oskar|title=Syntaktische Forschungen: III. Die Altindische Wortfolge aus dem Çatapathabrâhmaṇa, Dargestellt von B. Delbrück|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DoaWr78cxKQC|year=1878|publisher=Adegi Graphics LLC |isbn=978-0-543-94034-6|language=de}} * {{cite book |last1=Deshpande |first1=Madhav M. |title=Sanskrit and Prakrit |year=1993 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=81-208-1136-4 |edition=1st}} * {{cite book |last=Lindner |first=Bruno |title=Altindische Nominalbildung: Nach den Saṃhitâs |url=https://archive.org/details/altindischenomi00lindgoog |page=[https://archive.org/details/altindischenomi00lindgoog/page/n8 1] |year=1878 |publisher=Costenoble |language=de}} * {{cite book|last=Macdonell|first=Arthur Anthony|author-link=Arthur Anthony Macdonell|title=Vedic Grammar|year=1910 |url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924023050325}} * {{cite book |last=Renou |first=Louis |title=Grammaire de la langue védique |series=Les Langues du Monde |year=1952 |location=Lyon |publisher=IAC |url=https://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.2174 |language=fr}}

==External links== * [https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U1CD0.pdf Unicode signs for Vedic Sanskrit] *[https://titus.uni-frankfurt.de/indexe.htm?/texte/texte2.htm#ved index of Vedic texts] (TITUS) * [https://lrc.la.utexas.edu/eieol/vedol Ancient Sanskrit Online] by Karen Thomson and Jonathan Slocum, free online lessons at the [https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/lrc Linguistics Research Center] at the University of Texas at Austin *[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jNMmTOaykA Introduction to Vedic chanting]. Swami Tadatmananda (Arsha Bodha Center) * [https://spw.uni-goettingen.de/projects/aig/lng-ved.html A video introduction to Early Vedic at glottothèque – Ancient Indo-European Grammar online], an online collection of introductory videos to Ancient Indo-European languages produced by the University of Göttingen

===Phonology=== * [https://www.evertype.com/standards/iso10646/pdf/vedic/Vedic_accents_doc.pdf Vedic Accents] * [https://www.kortlandt.nl/publications/art188e.pdf Frederik Kortlandt "Accent and ablaut in the Vedic verbs"] * [http://www.unc.edu/~melfraz/ling/frazier-UCLA-handout.pdf Melissa Frazier "Accent in Proto-Indo-European Athematic Nouns and Its Development in Vedic" (obsolete link)] [https://web.archive.org/web/20070101225942/https://www.unc.edu/~melfraz/ling/frazier-UCLA-handout.pdf Internet Archive copy] * [https://www.ancient-buddhist-texts.net/Textual-Studies/Prosody-Articles/Macdonell-Vedic.pdf Arthur Anthony Macdonell "A Vedic Grammar for Students: Appendix II: Vedic Metre"]

===Other=== * {{cite web |title=Keyswap – IAST Diacritics Windows Software |url=https://www.yesvedanta.com/keyswap/ |website=YesVedanta|date=9 August 2018 }} — Keyboard Software for typing in the International Alphabet for Sanskrit * {{cite web |title=Online Sanskrit Dictionary |url=https://www.sanskritdictionary.com/}} — sources results from Monier Williams etc. * {{cite web |title=The Sanskrit Grammarian |url=https://sanskrit.inria.fr/DICO/grammar.html}} — dynamic online declension and conjugation tool

Category:Vedic period Category:Sanskrit Category:Vyakarana Category:Indo-Aryan languages Category:Linguistic history of India Category:2nd-millennium BC establishments