Catalogue of a collection of Sanskrit manuscripts / by A.C. Burnell. Part I. Vedic manuscripts.

  • Burnell, A. C. (Arthur Coke), 1840-1882.
Date:
1869
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Catalogue of a collection of Sanskrit manuscripts / by A.C. Burnell. Part I. Vedic manuscripts. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    the modern (or tantric) rites, and lost all knowledge of the older system. The number of dialects in use in South India and the multitude of sects have raised up so much fanaticism among Brahmans that followers of the same Veda from dif¬ ferent provinces will seldom associate together, and perhaps this is the cause of the differences one meets with in the ritual. The Brahmans of Malabar read the Yedas in a way that is unintelligible to those of the Coromandel Coast, and use for the ‘ Soma’ a plant of the asclepias tribe with large spotted flowers (? putika); the last use a plant of the same kind hut with small white flowers. Similar differences could be shown in every detail.* The Yedic ritual is almost obsolete, and there can be no doubt that in a few years it will be entirely forgotten. The few who study Sanskrit in India at the present day devote their attention exclusively to the modern and sectarian literature. The Brahmans of South India do not consider paper to be pure, and therefore generally use the leaves of the talipat and palmyra palms instead. With one or two exceptions all the palm leaf (or ‘olai’) MSS. in my collection were pur¬ chased, but most of the MSS. on paper were copied for me, as will be indicated. It is seldom that the date when the MS. was copied is entered in palm-leaf MSS., but from the character of the handwriting one may safely infer it. Yery few MSS. are above 200 years old. As regards extracts, the original spelling has been closely followed. In S. India, Panini viii. 3, 36, is invariably adhered to, and Yisarga assimilated to a following sibilant. Conjectural emendations and additions from other MSS. are marked thus ( ). Those interested in Sanskrit literature must thank Prof. Goldstiicker and Mr. Triibner for whatever interesting in¬ formation this list may afford them. Without the encourage¬ ment and assistance that has been given me by these gentle¬ men the work could never have been undertaken.—A. B. Sidmouth, August 3, 1869. * There are no trustworthy statistics of the South of India, but the Brahman population cannot he more than 20 per cent, of the whole. On the Coromandel Coast, of 100 Brahmans, about 75 are followers of the Black Yajur Veda, 20 of the Sama Veda, and 5 of the Rig Veda. In Malabar, of the same number, 80 will be followers of the Rig Veda, 19 of the Black Yajur Veda, and 1 of the Sama Veda. The Rig Veda is followed by a large number of Telugu Brahmans, but the Sama Veda seems almost unknown to them.