Page:Atharva-Veda samhita.djvu/82

lxxiv is he from discerning matters of this sort, that his terminology is quite lacking in words adequate for their expression.

If the author of the Major Anukr. showed some real insight into Vedic meters, his statements might, as can easily be seen, often be of value in affecting our critical judgment of a reading of the saṁhitā or in determining our choice as between alternative readings. The contrary, rather, is wont to be the case. Thus at iv. 15. 4, his definition, virāṭpurastādbṛhatī, implies the division (given also by the pada-mss.) 10 + 8: 8 + 8, thus leaving the accentless parjanya stranded at the beginning of a pāda! An excellent illustration of the way in which he might help us, if we could trust him, is offered by iv. 32. 3 b, which reads tápasā yujā́ ví jahi çátrūn. Here Ppp. makes an unexceptionable triṣṭubh by reading jahīha, and the author of the Anukr. says the verse is triṣṭubh. His silence respecting the metrical deficiency in the Vulgate text would be an additional weighty argument for judging the Ppp. reading to be the true Atharvan one, if only we could trust him—as we cannot. Cf. end of W's note to iv. 36. 4.

Such as it is, his treatment of the meters is neither even nor equably careful. Thus he notes the irregularity of vii. 112. 1, while in treating the repetition of the very same verse at xiv. 2. 45 (see note), he passes over the bhuriktvam in silence. Throughout most of the present work, Whitney has devoted considerable space to critical comment upon the treatment of the meters by the Anukr. Considering the fact, however, that the principles which underlie the procedure of the Hindu are so radically different from those of his Occidental critic, no one will be likely to find fault if the criticisms of the latter prove to be not entirely exhaustive.

His statements as to the seers of the hymns.—The ascriptions of quasiauthorship, made by the author of the Major Anukr. and given in the Excerpts, are set forth in tabular form at p. 1040 and are critically discussed at p. 1038, which see.

The work of Garbe and Bloomfield and Caland.—As elsewhere mentioned (p. xxv), the Vāitana has been published in text and translation by Garbe, and the text of the Kāuçika (in 1890) by Bloomfield. Since 1890, a good deal of further critical work upon the Kāuçika has been done by