Evils of Written Vedas? (apology for cross-posting)

Madhav Deshpande mmdesh at UMICH.EDU
Fri Feb 18 20:46:30 UTC 2000


The following verse occurs as verse 32 of the Rk-version of the
Paa.niniiya-Zik.saa (in Manomohan Ghosh edition, U of Calcutta, 1938, p.
42):
        giitii ziighrii zira.hkampii tathaa likhita-paa.thaka.h /
        anarthajJ~o 'lpaka.n.thaz ca .sa.d ete paa.thakaadhamaa.h //

A variant of this verse with yathaa likhita-paa.thaka.h occurs in the
YajJ~avalkya-zik.saa (verse 82, p. 137, ed. by Amaranaatha Zaastrii, 2019
Vikram, Varanasi).  The Naaradiiya-zik.saa (2.19, p. 71, ed. by Usha
Bhise, Bhandarkar O. R. Institute, 1986) reads:

        pustakapratyayaadhiita.m naadhiita.m gurusannidhau /
        raajate na sabhaamadhye jaaragarbhaa iva striya.h //

        Both of these passages assume that written Vedic texts are
available, and yet using them carries a certain degree of disapproval by
the community of reciters.
                                        Madhav Deshpande





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