Volume 1 - Sanskrit Web

clviii General Introduction, Part II. : in part by Whitney
the sense-hymns of the ksudra-kdndas (? or -kanda ?). To the end of the
eleventh kdtida, the sense-hymn is the norm.' etc. atha ksudra-katidd-
' rthasukta-rnantrdndm rsi-ddivata-chanddhsy iicyante. tato ydvad ekddaqakdndd-ntani
arthasukta-prakriis tdvad vihdya parydydn virdd vd (viii.
prabhrtln iti etc. What pertinence the word ksudra may have as applied
to books viii.-xi. I cannot divine ;
but it can hardly be an accident that
the very same word is used in the phrase of homage to parts of the AV.
at xix. 22. 6 and 23. 21, ksudr^bhyah svdhd, and that this phrase is followed
in h. 22 and in the comm's text of h. 23, by the words parydyikebhyah
svdJid, that is, by an allusion to the parydyas, just as in the text of the
Anukr. Apart from vss. 16-18 of xix. 23, vss. 1-20 refer most clearly to
the first grand division ; and vss. 23-28 refer just as clearly to the third.
The allusion to the second ought therefore certainly to come in between
vs. 20 and vs. 23, that is it ought to be found in vss. 21 and 22. We have
just given reason for supposing that vs. 21 contains the expected allusion.
The meaning of ekdnrMhyah of vs. 22 is as obscure as is the pertinence
of ksudr^bhyah ; probably ekdnrc^bhyah is a corrupt reading. If I am
right as to vs. 21, the mystery of vs. 18 becomes only deeper.J
lo)
Third grand division (books xiii.-xviii.) :
subject. — The remaining six
books characterized by unity of
books constitute each a whole by itself and
appear to have been on that account kept undivided by the arrangers
and placed in a body together at the end of the collection. The books
in which the unity of subject is most clearly apparent are xiv. (the wedding
verses), xviii. (the funeral verses), and xv. (extollation of the Vratya).
|_The unity of books xiii. and xvii., although less striking, is yet sufficiently
evident, the one consisting of hymns to the Sun as The Ruddy One or
Rohita, and the other beiftg a prayer to the Sun as identified with
Indra
and with Vishnu. In book xvi., the unity of subject is not apparent,^
although it seems to consist in large measure (see p. 792) of " Prayers ^
against the terror by night."J Book xvi. is not so long that we might
not have thought it possible that it should be included as 2. parydya-sukta
in one of the books of the second division ; and book xvii., too, is so
brief that it
might well enough have been a hymn in a book.
LHindu tradition assigns at least four of the books of this division each
to a single seer; the whole matter is more fully set forth at p. 1038.
However much or little value we may attach to these ascriptions of
1 |_In one of the old drafts of a part of his introductory matter, Whitney says : Until we
understand the character of the ceremonies in connection with which book xvi. was used, it
may not be easy to discover a particular concinnity in it. With reference to that remark, I
have said, at p. 792 : The study of the ritual applications of the book distinctly fails, in my
opinion, to reveal any pervading concinnity of purpose or of use. J
^ LPerhaps, using a Pali term, we may designate book xvi. as a Paritta.J