Vedic Śakhas:

Past, Present, Future.

Proceedings of the Fifth International Vedic Workshop,Bucharest ,

edited by

Jan E.M. Houben, Julieta Rotaru and Michael Witzel

Table of contents

On the Current Situation of Vedic Śakhas (Materials on Vedic Śakhas, )– Michael Witzel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ??

Indication of Divergent Ritual Opinions in the Maitrayan. ı Samhita– Kyoko Amano . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ??

Cantillation et tonalité - Les deux paradigmes de tonalité dans le Taittirıya-Aran. yakaet la Taittirıya-Upanis.ad– Michel Angot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ??

Attempts towards Preservation and Revival of the Śaunakıya Atharvaveda– Shrikant S. Bahulkar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ??

Négation et complémentarité dans le Veda, à la lumière de Pan. ini (et de Platon)– Radu Bercea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ??

Atiratra– Joel P. Brereton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ??

Vedic schools in northwestern India– Johannes Bronkhorst . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ??

Some Salient features of the Aśvs– B.B. Chaubey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .??

Morphosyntactic change in Vedic: Reassessing the evolution of the Subjunctive– Eystein Dahl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ??

Vedicizing a post-vedic text: the case of Gan. eśa Atharvaśırs.a Upanis.ad– Madhav M. Deshpande . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ??

Some observations regarding the concept of Time in Vedic ritual as reflected in theseveral Vedic schools– Maitreyee Deshpande . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ??

Les Écoles védiques et la pratique de l’exégèse: le cas de Skandasvamin– Silvia D’Intino . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ??

Ks.etrasya Pati and Mandhatar– Eijiro Doyama . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ??

Formation of a Śrautasutra: the influence of preceding texts on the Baudhayana-Śrau-tasutra

– Makoto Fushimi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ??

The power of the printed Veda: on early Indian editions of the R. gveda– Cezary Galewicz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ??

Survivals & Revivals: the transmission of Jaiminıya Samaveda in modern south India– Finnian M.M. Gerety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ??

A survey of new evidence as to the formation of the Yajurveda and Brahman. a texts– With special reference to recent Vedic studies in Japan –– Toshifumi Goto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ??

From Fuzzy-Edged “Family-Veda” to the canonical Śakhas of the Catur-Veda: struc-tures and tangible traces– Jan E.M. Houben . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ??

Aspects of continuity of the Vedic tradition– Joanna Jurewicz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ??

Formation and Chronology of Some of the Taittirıya Gr.hyasutras– Ambarish V. Khare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ??

Intrastanzaic Repetition in the Rigveda (Verba and Res): a Final Integration– Jared S. Klein . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ??

Avaks.ayan. a: Contribution of Yajñavalkya or Śukla Yajurveda to Indian Culture– Madhavi Kolhatkar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ??

Scribes of the Śukla Yajurvedic Manuscripts– Nirmala R. Kulkarni . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .??

Trends of Standardization and Institutionalization in the Transmission of the Vedas:Examples from Contemporary Maharashtra– Borayin Larios . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Baudhayanıya Contributions to Smarta Hinduism– Timothy Lubin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ??

The Development of the New- and Full-Moon Sacrifice and the Yajurveda Schools:mantras, their brahman. as, and the offerings– Naoko Nishimura . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ??

The Periphrastic perfect in the Vedic language and Pan. ini’s Grammar– Jun’ichi Ozono . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ??

References to ritual authorities and Vedic schools in the Jaiminıya-Śrautasutra andits commentary, collected and evaluated

– Asko Parpola . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ??

On Br.haspati’s name– Georges-Jean Pinault . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ??

Roots and Branches: the Veda as an Inverted Tree?– Alexis Pinchard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ??

Le Samavidhanabrahman. a: le prayaścitta décrypté– Anne Marie Quillet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ??

Donees and their Śakhas in Epigraphical Sources: Orissa– Saraju Rath . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ??

The Priests of the Avudaiyar Temple in Tamil Nadu: Promoters of the Agniveśya-gr.hyasutra– S.A.S. Sarma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ??

Two on a Swing: a New Perspective on the R. gveda– Hartmut Scharfe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ??

Karmasamuccaya: a Paippaladin Corpus of Domestic Rituals– Shilpa Sumant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ??

Apastamba and Other Schools of Vedic Ritual– Ganesh Thite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .??

The language of suktas and tr.cas shared by the R. k, Paippalada and ŚaunakıyaSamhitas– Elizabeth Tucker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ??

Tolerance and Intolerance in Kumarila’s Views on the Vedic śakha– Kiyotaka Yoshimizu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ??

Trends of Standardization and Institutionalization in theTransmission of the Vedas:

Examples from Contemporary Maharashtra

Borayin Larios

For at least the past three millennia, the Vedic texts and rituals have beenthe monopoly of the privileged class of Brahmins. According to tradition, allBrahmin males should spend roughly a decade of their youth memorizingprecisely the extensive oral collections of hymns and ritual formulas collec-tively known as Veda. Today, there are still Brahmins who dedicate theirlives to this endeavor. In this paper, I present a “snapshot” of significantelements in the transmission of the Vedic corpus as observed in Vedic schools(vedapat.haśalas) in contemporary Maharashtra. While no serious scholarquestions the fact that Vedic education currently deviates from the ideal pre-sented to us in the authoritative texts or from what we know of pre-modernIndia, there are often overlooked differences in the transmission of the Vedastoday. In this paper, I will highlight the current patronage systems underwhich the traditional schools of Maharashtra operate, as well as to showthe role that the institutionalization of the Vedic schools has played in the

Although in actual practice Brahmins have not always learned the entire Veda according tothe school they belong to by birth (svaśakha) and have taken up different occupations for theirsubsistence. Nowadays, only a very small fraction of the Brahmin community knows more thanjust a few mantras of the Veda by heart.

I mean in particular the Dharmaśastra literature as well as passages of the Pratiśakhyasincluding later śiks.a texts. These works do not always present a cohesive picture and often havecontradicting views on the ideal transmission of the Veda by the Brahmin male.

The contributions of Prof. Bahulkar, Prof. Deshpande, Finn Moore and many more inthis volume are a testimony of these changes.

By Vedic schools I mean the traditional vedapat.haśalas whose main focus is to train studentsto recite one of the four Vedas from memory according to one a particular Vedic branch (śakha).This is different from the new so-called “Vedic schools” such as the DAVs (Dayananda Anglo-Vedicschools) or any of the newer inventions whose main focus in curriculum is not primarily to trainpriests specifically to recite the Veda, but to train them to perform rituals without necessarilyknowing the texts by heart, or to provide students with a “holistic/integral education” thatincludes a combination of traditional and non-traditional subjects.

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standardizing their curricula in recent years. The material that I presenthere comes from my study of traditional Vedic schools in Maharashtra thatI visited during my fieldwork for my doctoral dissertation in and .

Traditionally, the mastery over the Veda implies an oral command andreproduction of sound in such a way that a skilled guru and face-to-faceeducation are essential requisites of the training process. The Vedic knowledgeis therefore not about a merely textual knowledge, but necessarily an embodiedone.

The Indian Government’s Official Policy on EducationUnderstanding the modern development of Vedic schools and their currentpatronage systems requires some observations on the Indian government’sofficial policy on education. Under Article -A of the Indian Constitutionthere exists a provision of “free and compulsory education to all children upto the age of fourteen years.” The Right to Education Act (or RTE), whichimplements revised rules to both public and private schools, was signed onthe August , , and came into force on April , . It was intendedto be valid for all schools and for all children of India. The current PrimeMinister Manmohan Singh said on the day the act was implemented: “Weare committed to ensuring that all children, irrespective of gender and socialcategory, have access to education. An education that enables them to acquirethe skills, knowledge, values and attitudes necessary to become responsibleand active citizens of India.”. The act lays down the norms relating tostudent-teacher ratios, management, buildings and infrastructure, schoolworking days and working hours, and teacher qualifications. However thesenorms do not take into account traditional calendars or traditional subjectsand methods that are vital to schools such as the Vedic pat.haśalas. For thesereasons, religious and minority groups, as well as supporters of their schools,criticized the act. In addition to the abovementioned points, controversy wasalso raised by the fact that the act stipulates a compulsory reservation of% for disadvantaged children in private schools. The implementation ofthe act created some anger and confusion with regards to its application

A common title among the learned reciters of the Veda in Maharashtra is vedamurti or‘embodiment/form of the Veda’.

http://www.education.nic.in/natpol.asp#pol accessed on June , .http://www.pib.nic.in/newsite/erelease.aspx?relid= accessed on February ,

.According to the RTE: a “ ‘child belonging to disadvantaged group’ means a child belonging

to the Scheduled Caste, the Scheduled Tribe, the socially and educationally backward classor such other group having disadvantage owing to social, cultural, economical, geographical,linguistic, gender or such other factor, as may be specified by the appropriate Government, bynotification;” The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, . Published inThe Gazette of India Extraordinary. New Delhi, August , p..

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across the country, particularly among the minority groups and NGOs whoperceived themselves to be threatened by the new law.

After negotiations with representatives of the Muslim minorities (such asfrom the Madrasa Board and the All India Muslim Personal Law Board) andpressure from a delegation from Congress leaders, madrasas were the first tobe granted an exception from the act, and the Human Resource DevelopmentMinistry (HRD) issued a guideline in this regard stating that such institutionsare protected under Article and of the Constitution, which guaranteethe rights of minorities to establish and administer educational institutions.Subsequently representatives of the Vedic schools also made a petition tothe HRD Minister, Kapil Sibal to be exempted from the RTE. Religiousinstitutions such as the Kanchi Math, the Ahobila Math, the AndayanAshram, and the Arya Samaj supported the representatives of the petitionwith their signatures. A few days later, the exception for Vedic schools wasgranted and the official guideline was amended under Section () of theRTE:

Applicability of RTE to Minority Institutions – Institutions, including Madrasaand Vedic Pathshalas especially serving religious and linguistic minorities areprotected under Article and of the Constitution. The RTE Act does notcome in the way of continuance of such institutions, or the rights of childrenin such institutions and schools of minority organizations covered within themeaning of section (n) of the Act, will be governed by the provisions of theRTE Act, .

Since the time of Indian Independence in , the Indian governmenthas been concerned with rescuing the cultural heritage of the country fromextinction and to this end, among other activities, it created the SanskritCommission in “to consider the question of the present state of SanskritEducation in all its aspects” The commission, although not focused onthe oral transmission of the Veda, produced through its report a sketchof traditional schools of Sanskrit learning, including Vedic pat.haśalas. Thepicture portrayed by the report was one of a dilapidated tradition on theverge of extinction:

It is highly regrettable that, on the whole, there are, about many of theseinstitutions, no signs of a living or growing organism but only symptoms of adecaying constitution. This unfortunate state of affairs has not escaped theattention of educationists, persons interested in Sanskrit, and the Govern-ments.

After portraying the situation of traditional and modern learning ofSanskrit and their allied subjects, the commission recommended a series

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Keep-madrasas-out-of-RTE--Digvijaya-tells-PM// accessed on March , .

http://pib.nic.in/newsite/erelease.aspx?relid= accessed on February , .http://www.education.nic.in/cdyears/u//Z/Z.htm accessed on June ,

.Ibid.

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of steps to be implemented by the Indian government to safeguard andrevitalize Sanskrit learning. Among other specific points for the Sanskritlanguage, in addition the commission recommended that

[...] special attention should be paid to the preservation of the Oral Traditionof the different Vedas and their recensions as current in different parts ofIndia, this Oral Tradition being useful even from the point of view of linguisticand literary research; that provision should be made available in temples andreligious institutions for the recitation of the Vedas, and that, where suchprovision already exists, it should be continued; that the surplus of templefunds which might be available, should be utilized for the maintenance ofschools for the teaching of the Kantha-patha [oral] of the Vedas; that, in thoseparts of India where the Oral Tradition of the Veda has died out, authoritiesof educational and religious Institutions should take steps to revive it; that theResearch Institutes working in the field of the Veda should, wherever possible,utilize the services of the Pandits who have preserved the Oral Tradition of theVedas; [and] should be helped by the Governments to rehabilitate themselves[...]

Even after the recommendations of the report and the Governmentof India’s investment of considerable resources to create supervisory agencies,inaugurate new centers of Sanskrit learning, revive old centers, finance publi-cations, cultural events, and radio (and more recently, television) broadcastsfor nation-wide consumption (all centered around the promotion of thelanguage), only minimal improvements on traditional Sanskrit educationhave taken place. Moreover, the traditional learning of Vedic recitationwas practically ignored by these programs, which aimed at promoting theSanskrit language in general and not specifically that of the Vedas.

Unesco’s declaration in that Vedic recitation is an “intangibleheritage of humanity” brought it to the spotlight of public attention. India’sDepartment of Culture, and the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, aidedby Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts (Ignca) in New Delhi, tookthe initiative to submit Vedic chanting to the Unesco as a candidate forglobal recognition. The Ministry of Culture claimed that it implementedIgnca’s five year action plan to safeguard, protect, promote and disseminatethe Vedic oral tradition, encouraging various scholars and practitioners torevitalize their own branches (śakha). Nonetheless, according to NanajiKale and B. Pataskar involved in the creation of the plan, the aid did not

kan. t.hapat.ha literally means “throat recitation/learning” Monier-Williams .http://www.education.nic.in/cdyears/u//Z/ZC.htm accessed on June ,

.Report of the Working Group on Art and Culture for XI Five-Year Plan and Proposals for

XI Five-Year Plan (-) & Annual Plan (-) Ministry of Culture, Government of India.New Dehli, .

Personal communication, November .

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reach all the recipients mentioned in the document including Kale’s schoolswho are among the custodians or rare branches of the Veda.

Even after Unesco’s declaration and the efforts of the Indian governmentthrough the Department of Culture’s plan, many schools across the countryremained without financial aid or any other official recognition. As will bediscussed below, important changes in the traditional transmission of knowl-edge have notably appeared following India’s independence. These changeswere brought about not only through the government’s direct interventionand regulation, but also through the lack of these.

It is not just that the existence of these schools completely dependenton financial resources. In my opinion, economic and political factors havea stronger influence on the Vedic traditions than scholars have previouslyconsidered. In this paper I will focus mainly on the economical factor,although they are of course interconnected. Whether a school can operate ornot depends on whether its’ sponsors can provide a subsistence minimumfor its members; this includes food, clothing, a roof, books and materials forstudents and teachers as well as salaries for employees. Allow me to pointout here (as Prof. Tithe aptly remarked during the plenary discussion ofthis paper) that it is mainly Brahmin boys from low-income families whoare sent to these schools in the hope of securing free education for them andthereby freeing the parents from the burden of having another mouth tofeed. The pressure of securing a job as a priest as soon as they can performthe basic house rituals is generally significant, particularly among the mostdisadvantaged Brahmin families. Indeed, richer Brahmin families usuallyseek an English education for their offspring to be able to secure a well-paidjob in the government or in the booming IT industry. They hope for theirchildren to become engineers, doctors or IT specialists and if possible tosend their children abroad.

Moreover, sponsors, with their necessary funds, dictate to some extentthe size, population, infrastructure, and facilities of the school. In addition,sponsors have the power to influence its curriculum, religious affiliation,social and religious events, and the ways in which its members presentthemselves in society. The sponsors of these schools and the teachers have tocome to terms with the way the school is managed and with the needs and

Nanda , - is one of the scholars who has convincingly shown the government’sdirect and indirect support of religious institutions, including schools and trusts for the trainingof priests, she has not distinguished between traditional vedapat.haśalas and schools such as theDAVs which have different aims and curriculums. In fact, as I argue in my doctoral dissertation,these new schools have a detrimental impact on the traditional ones, precisely because theyalter the traditional model of knowledge transmission accommodating it to suit the needs of themodern society, while still claiming to be representatives of the traditional gurukula system.

See for example Fuller and Narasimhan for an example from Tamil Nadu.

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expectations of each side. Compromise on both sides is the unspoken rule.It is not uncommon to see these traditional schools emerge and disappear

in the course of only a couple of years. In fact, most of the schools I visitedduring my fieldwork are only to years old, although a very smallnumber of others were founded a century ago, when the British promotionof secular education was weakening traditions of instruction previouslypreserved largely within Brahmin families. Of course this does not meanthat the formal transmission of Vedic knowledge is new in Maharashtra, butrather that the sponsoring system has undergone tremendous change, havingmoved away from family lines of transmission and to an institutional form.Already in the medieval period, and probably even before with the raise ofBuddhist kingdoms, there was a marked decline in royal patronage of thelarge-scale fire-offering rites that, at least in part, motivated Brahmins totrain in other areas of knowledge, including arts, trade and even agriculture.It is clear from a number of sources that rulers in medieval South Indiaoften offered land grants to entice Brahmins to move into their kingdoms,indicating that Brahmins were increasingly taking up agriculture, whichaccording to the brahmanical ideal had been the role of the vaiśya class, tosupport themselves. In Maharashtra, at the turn of the eighteenth century,Chitpavan Brahmin Peshwas managed to take over the Maratha Confederacyfor themselves. “For a rare moment in India’s history, Brahmins enjoyed thepowers of kings.” (Washbrook , ) However, more than any othersocio-economic factor the introduction of English education led the majorityof Brahmins to gradually turn away from their traditional education andways of life, and adopt a more “Western” lifestyle. In South India and otherplaces where there were still rich agraharas the traditions held out for alonger time, but nowadays most Brahmins (safe for a few) have taken upsecular occupations.

Considering the above, I will revisit the official policy of the Governmentof India in the following section. Nowadays, official governmental support fortraditional Vedic schools comes through the Maharshi Sandipani RashtriyaVeda Vidya Pratishtan (Msrvvp), a branch of the Ministry of Human Re-source Development in the Department of Education, which was established

For more on the changes in brahmanical education see the example of Pune given by Tucker and Deshpande .

Pressler .Nath , .“In many ways, the ability of Tamil Brahmins—at least in the rich valleys—to resist change

so late into the nineteenth century reflected their occupation of some of the most agriculturallyproductive lands in India, and also their possession of major religious endowments given inprevious ages.” Washbrook , .

For details on this transition from the sacred to the secular occupations, see Fuller andNarasimhan and Washbrook .

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in January as an autonomous organization as following up on the report of the Sanskrit Commission. The headquarters of this organizationare now located in Ujjain where they moved in . The organization’sofficial objectives as stated in their activities annual report of - areas follows:

(i) To preserve, conserve and develop the oral tradition of Vedic studies,for which the Pratishthan will undertake various activities such as, supporttraditional Vedic institutions and scholars, provide fellowships/scholarship,undertake production of audio/video tapes, etc.

(ii) To foster the tradition of intonation and recitation through the humanagency;

(iii) To encourage and ensure involvement of dedicated students in higherresearch in the field.

(iv) To provide for research facilities to students with the background ofVedic knowledge and to equip them with sufficient scientific and analyticaloutlook, so that modern scientific thought contained in the Vedas, particularlydisciplines of mathematics, astronomy, meteorology, chemistry, hydraulics, etc.could be linked with modern science and technology and a rapport establishedbetween them and modern scholars;

(v) To establish, take over, manage or supervise Vedic pathashalas/researchcentres all over the country. Maintain or run them for any of the objects ofthe society.

(vi) To revive and administer such of the endowments and trusts as are defunct,or not properly run;

(vii) To give special attention to Shakhas which are extinct and for whichhuman repositories can be identified, and to prepare a detailed list of panditsrelated to these Shakhas;

(viii) To ascertain the present status of oral traditions relating to the Vedas,particularly intonation and recitation peculiar to various regions, institutionsand mathas in the country.

The objectives and activities of the Msrvvp have expanded in the pasttwo or three years. Noteworthy is point (iv), which illustrates the trendobserved by Meera Nanda of mixing pseudo-science with religion in favor ofa nationalist agenda (Nanda ). However, despite all of these objectivesand work for over years, the Msrvvp has still not reached many vaidikasof Maharashtra. Although many vaidikas are aware of the Msrvvp, a good

Hindus consider Ujjain one of the seven sacred cities (sapta-purı) and is also the place whereLord Kr.s.n. a and Balarama got their education from the sage Sam. dıpani.

As downloaded from http://msrvvp.nic.in/AnnualReport.pdf on January , .The aims of the Msrvvp have been articulated in different ways through the official channels

of the organization, mainly through their website and annual reports. As of March thewebsite (http://msrvvp.nic.in/about.htm) still shows a shorter list of objectives than theannual report quoted above.

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number of them are not looking to directly collaborate with it. In fact,this institution had given official financial support to only two out of thetwenty-five schools that I visited during my fieldwork in . The greatmajority of schools get financial support from sources other than the Indiangovernment. Moreover, according to the interviews and questionnaires filledby my informants in the schools I visited, even within those schools that doget financial support from official channels, the provided funding is far fromsufficient to cover all of the school’s expenses.

One of the reasons my sources gave me for this is that the aid-program fortraditional Vedic schools is run according to a curricular supervision-schemeby the Msrvvp. The curriculum of the Msrvvp focuses mainly on thememorization of the sam. hita-text of any of the available śakhas and itconsists of a program lasting six years. After four years the student obtainsthe title of vedabhus.an. a and after six he is called vedavibhus.an. a. Thiscurricular supervision by the Msrvvp does not suit the taste of many of theteachers and principals of the Vedic schools I visited, and they prefer to keeptheir pedagogic and organizational freedom rather than to become financiallydependent on and vulnerable to scrutiny from a governmental organization.In addition, they generally place little trust in the government, particularlywhen it comes to money. Some are afraid that if financial aid is made availableto them, it will not be provided with the needed regularity. Therefore someschools look for financial support from nongovernmental sources, includingsome of the institutions regarded as “prestigious” or “trustworthy” such as theorganizations of the Śankaracaryas, local Brahmin organizations (sabhas),private sponsors, other Hindu leaders, or a local temple trust. A minorityof small (family) schools, with only one guru and a handful of students

According to the report - of the Msrvvp, the organization currently supportsfour schools in Maharashtra: . Ved Bhavan of M. Ghaisas (Pune), . Veda Vedang SanskritCollege, Kailas Math (Nasik) . Sachchidanand Veda Swadhayay Pratishthan (Takli) . Shri SantGyaneshwar Veda Vidya Pratishthan (Aurangabad). In addition it grants aid to several teachersand students in Maharashtra on an individual basis under the “Preservation of Oral Tradition ofVedic Recitation” scheme. I visited the first two schools during my fieldwork in and .

Both titles meaning “he, whose ornament is the Veda” or “that by which the Veda is adorned”,the second implying a higher rank. Both titles come from the verbal root bhus. which accordingto Monier Monier-Williams means “to strive after, use efforts for, be intent upon” as wellas to “adorn, embellish, attire” and with the intensifying prefix vi , it acquires the meaning “tobe brilliant, appear”. It implies that the person has orally mastered the Veda and is a brilliantreciter. Despite the few Sanskrit classes in their curriculum, the students who have obtainedthese titles are not expected to know the meaning of the texts they recite, but to reproduce thesound in the accurate way (and neither are they in the schools not sponsored by the Msrvvp.)

Traditionally the place for the traditional transmission of knowledge was called gurukula or“house of a guru”. Although the word kula originally meant more than just the physical place: aherd, troop, flock family, community, tribe etc. The composite later came to be understood asthe place where instruction takes place, e.g. in the term gurukulavasin or “resident of the house

Trends of Standardization and Institutionalization

prefer to bear the main expenses by themselves (through the money obtainedby providing priestly services and through private donations) and therebymaintain their financial independence from any official ties.

Despite all the efforts from the Indian government and the significantsums of money set aside for financial aid, sponsorship of Vedic schoolshas largely remained non-governmental. I do not know the exact figures ofrevenues from private donations and other income sources, but according tothe interviews conducted with teachers and management of these schools thefederal aid (if they receive such help at all) is but a fraction of the incomeneeded to support these schools. The result is that most of the sponsorshipfor these Vedic schools does not come from the Indian government butfrom private donations. In addition to regular donations, monetary prizes,awards and recognitions are regularly distributed to learned Brahmins bydiverse religious and educational organizations all over the country, whichalso contribute to the support of traditional Vedic schools.

New patrons of the VedaThe Śankaracaryas and their organizations, mainly those of Kanchi andSringeri mat.has, have in the last decades directed much of their efforts andresources to propagate, protect and restore the Vedic tradition (including therecitation of Vedic texts.) These include, among other activities, organizingVedic meetings (sammelana), giving regular scholarships and pensions, andgranting awards and recognitions in public ceremonies to learned Brahminsfrom around India. The Śankaracaryas, who have a large following in SouthIndia and beyond and particularly among the orthodox Brahmin communities(including those of Maharashtra), possess important financial resources thatare put at the disposal of Vedic schools.

The current Śankaracarya of Sringeri has made it a tradition to celebratehis birthday by holding examinations for Brahmins across India and awardingthe most outstanding vaidikas with diplomas and prizes of cash and goldrings or other awards for keeping the oral tradition of Vedic recitation alive.The Veda Poshaka Sabha was established by the th Śankaracarya of Sringeri(–) specifically to conduct these examinations. According to theirofficial website:of the guru” which was used for a student. Monier-Williams .

According to the annual report, for the period - the Msrvvp granted ,, Rsto four Vedic schools of Maharashtra and ,, Rs to teacher-student(s) units under thescheme of “Preservation of Oral Tradition of Vedic Recitation”. Source: http://msrvvp.nic.in/GrantReleased.pdf accessed on January ,

“Over the last couple of centuries, the activities of the Peetham towards the sustenanceand propagation of Sanatana Dharma have intensified. The Jagadgurus of the Peetham begantouring extensively establishing branches of Sri Sharada Peetham, Sringeri in holy towns andimportant locations, and setting up traditional learning schools or Pathashalas” http://www.sringeri.net/activities accessed on February , .

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The Peetham’s Veda Poshaka Sabha established decades ago by Jagadguru SriAbhinava Vidyatirtha Mahaswamiji conducts exams in higher Vedic studies.A number of students appear for the examinations conducted during theShankara Jayanti Celebrations. Every year about highly qualified studentsin Krama and Ghana are certified by the Sabha and honoured in the presenceof the Sringeri Jagadgurus.

Many of the schools in Maharashtra I visited have received monetary aid orat least public recognition from the Śankaracaryas of Sringeri and/or Kanchiin this way. Vedamurtis from several schools proudly showed me their awards,or they have on the walls of their schools and homes pictures of themselvesreceiving the awards. This official support from the Śankaracaryas givesthe vedapat.haśalas and their gurus some kind of legitimation and prestigevis-à-vis the local community from whom the main support and sponsorshipof these schools comes from, and at the same time, potentially attractsdonors from the whole country and even among the Hindu diaspora acrossthe globe.

A noteworthy development is that sponsorship in the last few decades hascome from other patrons who are either charismatic religious guides with theirinstitutions or organizations founded on their inspiration. These often-called“neo-Hindu” movements have important resources to sponsor Vedic traditions.It is interesting to note that many of these organizations are closely linked tospiritual/religious lineages that are or have been openly critical of brahman-ical orthodoxy such as (in Maharahstra) the dattatreya-sampradaya or thevarkarı panth . Some examples of these institutions are the Maharshi VedaVyas Pratishthan founded by Shri Kishor Vyas (known also as Govind DevGiri since ), who claims affiliation to the Varkarı tradition of Maharash-tra, particularly to Jñaneśvar Maharaj at Alandi . This institution sponsorsa total of Vedic schools in India, five of which operate in Maharashtra.Shri Ramakrishna Saraswati, considered by his followers an incarnation ofDattatreya, inaugurated in Ahmednagar one of the largest Vedic schools

http://www.sringeri.net/activities/propogation-of-sanatana-dharma accessed onJune , .

Noteworthy, is also the support that has come from the successors of Śankara, who’s philosophy(advaita vedanta) was critical of the ritual aspect of tradition to obtain the ultimate knowledge.This has clearly been shown by Fredrick Smith .

http://dharmashree.org/VedicSchools.html accessed on February , .He also proclaims himself as a disciple of Jayendra Saraswati, the current Śankaracarya of

Kanchi. Also, Kishor Vyas received the Sri Chandrasekarendra Saraswati National EminenceAward in . How important his influence on the varkarıs of Alandi or the region is a questionthat needs to be studied elsewhere, but as has been pointed to me by Jon Keune there is astrong non-brahman stream in the contemporary varkarı tradition, especially coalesced aroundthe commemoration of Tukaram in Dehu.

Trends of Standardization and Institutionalization

in the state teaches all four Vedas. Shree Gajanan Maharaj of Shivapuri,who is considered a reincarnation of Akkalkot Swami and therefore alsobelonging to the dattatreya-sampradaya, could be considered as one of themain revivalists of the śrauta traditions in the area. The śaktipata masterGulavani Maharaj (-), the spiritual father of Nanaji Kale and sonsis the inspiration for the revival of hundreds of the most complex VedicSoma rituals (somayagas) and the protection of endangered śakhas of Vedicrecitation through the Yogiraj Veda Vijnan Ashram and its branches. Thelate Guru Gangeshwaranand is another example of a man who is considereda great saint by his followers and continues to inspire them in support ofthe Vedic tradition.

These charismatic leaders and the institutions they fostered (and thereare many more in Maharashtra, to say nothing of other states) have uniqueideological, philosophical and spiritual traits, all of which need closer consid-eration. Unfortunately, the scope of this paper does not permit me to dealwith each of them in detail. My aim here is simply to point out that theVedic oral tradition of Maharashtra is nowadays ubiquitously embedded indiverse neo-Hindu frameworks, without which the sponsorship of traditionalVedic schools might be unimaginable.

In their attempt to preserve the Vedic traditions, however, these patrons(including the Indian government) have also triggered changes in the daily lifeand in the curriculum of the schools they sponsor. These changes include theintroduction of English and/or computer classes for the students, increasingthe student-teacher ratio, and innovations in the infrastructure and socialenvironment of the schools, such as providing beds and other facilities forstudents and teachers that were absent or even specifically condemned intraditional institutions and authoritative Sanskrit texts.

http://www.dattadevasthan.org/VedantVidyapeetham.asp accessed on February , Śaktipata (the descent of power) is a yogic/tantric initiation (dıks.a) in which the kun. d. alinı

energy of a disciple is ‘awakened’ by the guru. For more on this process see e.g. Wallis .Nanaji Kale and his family have been instrumental in the revival of the oral tradition of the

Vedas and the śrauta rituals in Maharashtra.I have dealt with this figure at greater length in another article in connection with the Veda

Mandir of Nashik. (Larios ).Traditionally, the brahmacarin is supposed to live in the teacher’s home and participate in the

house chores. These rules have changed with big schools, where, in many cases the teachers livenearby the school and spend considerable less time with the students. Larger amounts of studentshave also altered the student-teacher ratio and the dynamics of oral instruction. Additional rulessuch as sleeping on the floor and not on a bed have been clearly been laid down in the ancientsources, particularly in the Dharmaśastras and Gr.hyasutras. See e.g. Glaser and Scharfe. In one of the schools I have found in Nasik, students slept in bunk-beds rather than on thefloor and had meals served on tables with chairs, rather than on the floor.

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Institutionalization of Vedic recitationIn addition to the organizations attached to a specific charismatic leader,there are other important organizations in Maharashtra that have been vitalfor the support of the oral traditions of the Veda in Maharashtra. One ofthem is the Vedashastrottejaka Sabha (Vss) has been quite active in theregion for nearly years. Through the influence of western Education andthe emergence of a new Sanskrit scholarship during the th century, tradi-tional Brahmins feared their education might not survive unless some specialefforts were made. Therefore, in , an ideologically heterogeneous groupof Brahmin enthusiasts founded the Vss to protect against the extinction ofthe traditional Sanskrit education. The group had famous personalities fromboth sides: the reformists MG Ranade and MM Kunte on one hand, and theorthodox Brahmins, such as Ram Dikshit Apte, Narayan Shastri Godbole,and Janardan Bhataji Abhyankar on the other. (Deshpande , )

Among the most important activities of the Sabha continue to be theannual examinations conducted for the Vedic schools of the State andeven beyond. Every year hundreds of students from the Vedic schools inMaharashtra go through examinations in Veda recitation of the śakha theyhave studied in one of the examination centers established by the Vss.These exams have become quite popular in Maharashtra, and most the Vedicschools send their students to these exams at some point in their career.In these examinations the students are tested by experts brought from allover India on their ability to properly recite a particular portion of theVeda from memory and without the aid of a printed text. Upon successfuldemonstration of his recitation skills, in a ceremony organized at the end ofthe examinations the student is awarded a diploma that corresponds tothe amount of text and style recited.

Scholars such as Tucker , Deshpande ; and , and Rao havediscussed other educational institutions and personalities in Pune during the educational reformof the th century. In addition, the role of the Vaidika Samshodana Mandala in the preservationof the oral tradition of the Vedas should also be studied in the future. In this paper I have left itout for space reasons.

In , students gave exams in Nashik, Sawantawadi, Satara, Beed and Pune inexamination centers organized by the Vedashastrottejaka Sabha.

There are two modalities in which the exams can be given: partial or complete. The partialexams (bhagaśa parıks. a) are meant to segment the curriculum into a yearly syllabus for whichstudents get a certification for their “partial” qualifications; the complete exams (sampurn. aparıks. a) is a sort of final examination in which all the material of all the bhagaśa exams fora given śakha are covered in a single session. For the third standard examinations (advancedexams) there are no partial exams and the student has to be able to recite the whole materialgiven in that standard, whether it is advanced recitation of permutations (vikr. tis) or additionaltexts of that vedic branch. A student who has completed the first standard (Marathi iyatta)obtains the honorary title abhijña, for a student having completed the second standard kovidaand someone who has finished all three standards cud. aman. i.

Trends of Standardization and Institutionalization

These exams have inspired other organizations, such as the MaharshiVeda Vyas Pratishthan to come up with their own evaluative system byorganizing their own examinations while still following a similar division ofthe curriculum. There are several examination sessions offered by differentinstitutions across the country, and students may take more than one examfor the same section of the Veda.

These formal examination procedures and their awards and diplomashave become increasingly institutionalized in Maharashtra over last centuryor so. One must also remember that the demand of the general public, fora “better education” of priests has also encouraged the production of morecredential and validations such as the ones distributed by the Vss. Thestudies of Fuller () and of Hüsken () illustrate the effects of thepressure from the clientele as well as from the government.

As we know from Scharfe’s study, there were no formal examinationprocedures in dharmaśastric times (or previous to the colonial rule) nordiplomas and degrees. “There was no final examination. Classes were small,and teacher and student were in daily contact and communication, affordingthe teacher a good appreciation of his students’ progress (or the lack of it).”(Scharfe , )

This new standardization is not without consequence for the tradition.These exams slowly managed to segment Vedic learning into a syllabus thatis now generally followed by the schools of Maharashtra to accommodate anannual exam system. Teachers have begun to teach the students specificallyin preparation to these exams. This means that it becomes more difficult forthem to teach in a different order than the one given by the exam organizers,and it also hinders them to be attentive of their students’ particular learningcapacities and development. Fixing the curriculum of any śakha to learningthe sam. hita portion in a period of six years (as the Msrvvp has done) andgiving the impression that higher studies are not essential for a Brahmin’seducation, reflects not only a lack of knowledge of the Vedic corpus, butalso risks of flattening the Vedic education.

The exams as part of the birthday celebration of the Śankaracarya of Sringeri mentionedabove are one example of this.

The spirit seems to be, the more diplomas and public recognition the better. This seems tobe true particularly for advanced students reciting the permutations (vikr. tis) of the Vedas, whocan sometimes be encountered in exams in Pune (Vss), Sringeri (Śankaracarya’s mat.ha) and oneof the centers of the Msrvvp, for example in Ujjain.

Such as the study of the recitation of permutations (vikr. tis) or the ten-books (daśagrantha),which are part of the traditional curriculum in certain Vedic branches.

The Sam. hitas vary considerably in length, form and recitation style (accentuation, pitch,hand-gestures or the lack of them etc.) and therefore need different skills and time to masterthem.

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ConclusionIn this paper I have argued that the economical aspect plays an importantrole in the oral transmission of the Vedas. I have shown how in the changingsocial environment of modern India and new economic possibilities onlyvery orthodox or economically disadvantaged Brahmin families have keptthe traditional role as custodians of the Vedas. In addition, I have pointedtowards new dynamics in the patronage system and the impact new sponsorshave on traditional Vedic schools. In particular, I have showed that the Indiangovernment (through the Msrvvp) has participated in the standardizationand institutionalization of curricula by creating aid programs that bindschools to a certain syllabus over a particular time-span. Other sponsors andinstitutions such as the Vss in the name of protecting the tradition havecreated evaluation methods and learning environments based on westernmodels that transform it. By giving a new form to the traditional trainingand by introducing non-traditional subjects to the curriculum, one couldexpect a slow but steady decline in the richness of the Vedic tradition.

References

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Trends of Standardization and Institutionalization

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