A Vedic Word Concordance
Encyclopedia
A Vedic Word Concordance (Sanskrit
: ) is a multi-volume concordance
of the corpus of Vedic Sanskrit
texts. It has been under preparation from 1930 and was published in 1935-1965 under the guidance of (d. 1973), with an introduction in Sanskrit and English. It aims to be "a universal vocabulary register" of "Vedic works, with complete textual reference and critical commentary
bearing on phonology
, accent
, etymo-morphology, grammar, metre
, text-criticism, and Ur-Aryan philology".
texts, including Samhitas
, Brahmanas, Aranyakas and Upanishads (even very late ones). The Vedanga section does not cover all the published Shrauta or Grihya texts, however, while the Upanishad section also includes the Bhagavad Gita
.
The concordance extends to about 11,000 pages, published in 16 parts:
A revised and enlarged edition was published 1973-1976.
Vishva Bandhu Shastri continued the work of Swamis Vishveshvaranand and Nityanand who had published word indices to the four Vedic Samhitas in 1908-1910, leading the Vishveshvaranand Institute from 1924 until his death in 1973.
After the partition of India
, the institute moved to its present premises at Sadhu Ashram, Hoshiarpur
, Punjab
(Republic of India). Most of the c. 6000 Sanskrit manuscripts, formerly located at the Dayanand College of Lahore, were clandestinely brought to Hoshiarpur at the time. Since 1965, the institute has been incorporated in the Panjab University, Chandigarh
as the Vishveshvaranand Institute of Sanskrit and Indological Studies (VISIS).
Based on the Vedic Word Concordance, the institute currently compiles a Dictionary of Vedic Interpretation, of which the first volume, running up to the lemma Agni, has been completed.
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
: ) is a multi-volume concordance
Concordance (publishing)
A concordance is an alphabetical list of the principal words used in a book or body of work, with their immediate contexts. Because of the time and difficulty and expense involved in creating a concordance in the pre-computer era, only works of special importance, such as the Vedas, Bible, Qur'an...
of the corpus of Vedic Sanskrit
Vedic Sanskrit
Vedic Sanskrit is an old Indo-Aryan language. It is an archaic form of Sanskrit, an early descendant of Proto-Indo-Iranian. It is closely related to Avestan, the oldest preserved Iranian language...
texts. It has been under preparation from 1930 and was published in 1935-1965 under the guidance of (d. 1973), with an introduction in Sanskrit and English. It aims to be "a universal vocabulary register" of "Vedic works, with complete textual reference and critical commentary
Commentary (philology)
In philology, a commentary is a line-by-line or even word-by-word explication usually attached to an edition of a text in the same or an accompanying volume. It may draw on methodologies of close reading and literary criticism, but its primary purpose is to elucidate the language of the text and...
bearing on phonology
Phonology
Phonology is, broadly speaking, the subdiscipline of linguistics concerned with the sounds of language. That is, it is the systematic use of sound to encode meaning in any spoken human language, or the field of linguistics studying this use...
, accent
Vedic accent
The tone accent of Vedic Sanskrit, or Vedic accent for brevity, is traditionally divided by Sanskrit grammarians into three qualities, udātta "raised" , anudātta "not raised" and svarita "sounded" .-The accents:Udātta marks the place of the inherited PIE accent...
, etymo-morphology, grammar, metre
Vedic meter
The verses of the Vedas have a variety of different meters. They are divided by number of padas in a verse, and by the number of syllables in a pada. Chandas , the study of Vedic meter, is one of the six Vedanga disciplines, or "organs of the vedas".*: 3 padas of 8 syllables-Principles:The main...
, text-criticism, and Ur-Aryan philology".
Contents
The work covers 123,000 word-bases and 5,000,000 word forms found in about 400 Vedic and VedangaVedanga
The Vedanga are six auxiliary disciplines traditionally associated with the study and understanding of the Vedas.#Shiksha : phonetics, phonology and morphophonology #Kalpa : ritual#Vyakarana : grammar...
texts, including Samhitas
Vedas
The Vedas are a large body of texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the oldest layer of Sanskrit literature and the oldest scriptures of Hinduism....
, Brahmanas, Aranyakas and Upanishads (even very late ones). The Vedanga section does not cover all the published Shrauta or Grihya texts, however, while the Upanishad section also includes the Bhagavad Gita
Bhagavad Gita
The ' , also more simply known as Gita, is a 700-verse Hindu scripture that is part of the ancient Sanskrit epic, the Mahabharata, but is frequently treated as a freestanding text, and in particular, as an Upanishad in its own right, one of the several books that constitute general Vedic tradition...
.
The concordance extends to about 11,000 pages, published in 16 parts:
- Section: Samhitas (6 parts), 1942-63.
- Section II: Brahmanas and Aranyakas (2 parts), 1935,36
- Section III: Upanishads (2 parts), 1945
- Section IV: Vedangas (4 parts), 1958-61
- Index (2 parts), 1964-65.
A revised and enlarged edition was published 1973-1976.
History of development
AcharyaAcharya
In Indian religions and society, an acharya is a guide or instructor in religious matters; founder, or leader of a sect; or a highly learned man or a title affixed to the names of learned men...
Vishva Bandhu Shastri continued the work of Swamis Vishveshvaranand and Nityanand who had published word indices to the four Vedic Samhitas in 1908-1910, leading the Vishveshvaranand Institute from 1924 until his death in 1973.
After the partition of India
Partition of India
The Partition of India was the partition of British India on the basis of religious demographics that led to the creation of the sovereign states of the Dominion of Pakistan and the Union of India on 14 and 15...
, the institute moved to its present premises at Sadhu Ashram, Hoshiarpur
Hoshiarpur
Hoshiarpur is a city and a municipal council in Hoshiarpur district in the Indian state of Punjab. It was founded, according to tradition, during the early part of the fourth century. In 1809 it was occupied by the forces of Maharaja Karanvir Singh and was united into the greater state of Punjab....
, Punjab
Punjab (India)
Punjab ) is a state in the northwest of the Republic of India, forming part of the larger Punjab region. The state is bordered by the Indian states of Himachal Pradesh to the east, Haryana to the south and southeast and Rajasthan to the southwest as well as the Pakistani province of Punjab to the...
(Republic of India). Most of the c. 6000 Sanskrit manuscripts, formerly located at the Dayanand College of Lahore, were clandestinely brought to Hoshiarpur at the time. Since 1965, the institute has been incorporated in the Panjab University, Chandigarh
Panjab University, Chandigarh
Panjab University is one of the oldest universities in India. The university campus is residential, spread over an area of in sectors 14 and 25 of the city of Chandigarh...
as the Vishveshvaranand Institute of Sanskrit and Indological Studies (VISIS).
Based on the Vedic Word Concordance, the institute currently compiles a Dictionary of Vedic Interpretation, of which the first volume, running up to the lemma Agni, has been completed.
Editions
- Vishva Bandhu, Bhim Dev, S. Bhaskaran Nair (eds.), : A Vedic Word-Concordance, Vishveshvaranand Vedic Research Institute, Hoshiarpur, 1963-1965.
External links
- Enlarged Electronic Version of Bloomfield's A Vedic Concordance, 2005. (Plain text version (6.4 MB))
- Sadhu Ashram (hoshiarpur.nic.in)