Anukramanis

The Anukramanis (Sanskrit: अनुक्रमणी, Anukramaṇī) (also Anukramaṇikā) are the systematic indices of Vedic hymns recording poetic meter, content, and traditions of authorship.

Anukramanis of the Rigveda

Six Anukramanis of the Rigveda are ascribed to Shaunaka: Anuvakanukramani, Arshanukramani, Chandonukramani, Devatanukramani, Padanukramani and Suktanukramani. Except the Anuvakakramani, other Anukramanis survive only in quotations found in the writings of Shadgurashishya.

The most important Anukramani of the Rigveda is Katyayana's Sarvanukramani (ca. 2nd century BCE), recording the first word, the number of verses, name and family of poets (rshis), names of deities and metres for each of the 1,028 hymns of the Rigveda. The Vedarthadipika, written by Shadgurushishya (12th century) is a significant commentary of this work.

Mayrhofer (2003) discusses the personal names contained in the Rigveda Anukramani, counting 543 items. Academic opinion regarding the age and authenticity of the tradition of these names is not unanimous. Mayrhofer suggests that Hermann Oldenberg (1888) was essentially correct in assuming that

"the editors of the lists of authors [...] [possessed] a correct notion of the families associated with these Mandalas [the Rigvedic "family books" 2–7], possibly rooted in tradition. Beyond this, they do not betray as much as the slightest sign of any genuine tradition on the hymn authors." (p. 229)

• the fact that the different Anukramanis are different indeed because they index different types of data. Thus, the Brhaddevata is an index of the devatas of the RV hymns and verses, Anuvakanukramani is an index of the “anuvakas”, while the Arshanukramani (which really forms the basis of my study) is an index of the Rishis of the verses. Katyayana merely compiled the contents of these various Anukramanis (attributed to Shaunaka traditionally) into one comprehensive Anukramani – the Sarvanukramani. The cold hard fact is that, for all practical purposes (beyond a few minor cosmetic variations: “paulomi” or “paulumi”, “laba” or “lava”, “suvedas shairishi” or “sarvedhas shaileshu”, etc., mostly in Mandala 10) (see SCHEFTELOWITZ 1922) there is no difference at all in the Rishi ascriptions in the three “competing versions” cited by Witzel, which he claims “differ substantially among themselves”: Witzel, with typical recklessness, expects to bulldoze a blatant lie (of such proportions, and on such a fundamental matter) through purely on the strength of violent rhetoric and innuendo! There is a very logical reason behind the total failure, of everyone concerned, to “mention which version of the anukramaNIs he is following”: There is essentially only one anukramani of Rishis, and this is known to every single publisher and printer of the text of the RV – almost every single published text of the RV prints the Rishi, deity and meter at the head of each hymn! (Talageri 2001)

• V.3.a.ii) Witzel’s date, “the middle of the first millennium CE!” for the “normal, received version” of Katyayana’s Sarvanukramani is untenable: the generally accepted dates for this text range from the eighth (e.g. UPADHYAYA 1968:365) to the third centuries BCE (and this, it must be remembered, is in the context of the generally accepted dates for the Rigveda itself as the twelfth to the tenth centuries BCE!). And of course Witzel conceals the fact that his authority MACDONELL (1886:viii) himself places the author of the Katyayana Sarvanukramani to the 4th century BC! ...Witzel’s desperation in trying to bring down the dates of the Anukramanis is clear from the fact that he even refers to the latest date (“beginning of the third century BCE”) ever assigned to the Apastamba Dharmasutra (which quotes the Anuvakanukramani at 1.3.11.6). He relies on OLIVELLE (1999:xxxiv) for this date. However, when one examines the original reference, it is seen that Olivelle has merely made a conjecture – a conjecture which is confounded by the fact that the Ganapatha of Panini (5th - 6th centuries BCE), accepted as genuine by notable grammarians like George Cordona, mentioned Apastamba and others. (Talageri 2001)

Anukramanis of the other Vedas

The Arsheya Brahmana is the earliest Anukramani of the Samaveda, belonging to its Kauthuma shakha. The Jaiminiya Arsheya Brahmana is a later Anukramani of the Samaveda belonging to its Jaiminiya shakha.

There are three Anukramanis of the Yajurveda belonging to the Atreyi shakha of the Taittiriyasamhita, Charayaniya shakha (known as Mantrarshadhyaya) and Madhyandina shakha of the Vajasaneyisamhita ascribed to Katyayana.

The Brihatsarvanukramani and the Atharvavediyapancpatalika are the Anukramanis of the Atharvaveda. The Brihatsarvanukramani is a complete index of the Atharvavedasamhita in 10 patalas.

References

click on the link below for vedas and vedic concordances

http://fourvedas.webs.com/vedic-concordances-index ^[archive]

• Manfred Mayrhofer, Die Personennamen in der Ṛgveda-Saṁhitā. Sicheres und Zweifelhaftes, Munich (2003).
• Hermann Oldenberg, Ueber die Liedverfasser des Rigveda. ZDMG 42 (1888) 199-247.

• PROFERES, Theodore. 2003. Remarks on the Transition from Rgvedic Composition to Srauta Compilation. Pages 1-21, in The Indo-Iranian Journal, vol. 46