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lxiv in general that the mss. present no true variants, albeit Whitney does not rehearse every stupid blunder of every ignorant scribe. There is of course no clear line to be drawn between such blunders and true variants; and in this matter we must to a certain degree trust the discrimination of the learned editors.

The term "manuscripts" often used loosely for "authorities," that is, manuscripts and oral reciters.—S. P. Pandit, in establishing his text, relied not only upon the testimony of written books, but also upon that of living reciters of the Veda. Accordingly, it should once for all here be premised that Whitney in the sequel has often used the word "manuscripts" (or "mss.") when he meant to include both mss. and reciters and should have used the less specific word "authorities." I have often, but not always, changed "mss." to "authorities," when precise conformity to the facts required it.

The difficulty of verifying statements as to the weight of authority for a given reading may be illustrated by the following case. At iii. 10. 12 c, Whitney's first draft says, "The ṣ of vy àṣahanta is demanded by Prāt. ii. 92, but SPP. gives in his text vy àsahanta, with the comm., but against the decided majority of his mss., and the minority of ours (H.O., and perhaps others: record incomplete)." The second draft reads, "SPP. gives in his text vy às-, against the decided majority of all the mss." Scrutinizing the authorities, written and oral, for the saṁhitā (since for this variant pada-mss. do not count), I find that Whitney records H.O., and that SPP. records Bh.K.A.Sm.V., as giving ṣ, in all, seven authorities; and that Whitney records P.M.W.E.I.K., and that SPP. records K.D.R., as giving s, in all, nine authorities. Whitney's record is silent as to R.T.; and SPP's report of K. is wrong either one way or else the other. The perplexities of the situation are palpable. I hedged by altering in the proof the words of the second draft so as to read "against a majority of the mss. reported by him."

'''The reports include mss. collated, some before publication of the text, and some thereafter.'''—To the prior group belong Bp.B.P.M.W.E.I.H.; to the latter, collated some twenty years after publication, belong O.R.T.K. Op.D.Kp. Whitney's description of the mss. is given in Part II. of the Introduction (p. cxi), and to it are prefixed (pp. cx-cxi) convenient tabular