Shakha
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Map of early Iron Age Vedic India after Witzel (1989). Location hypotheses for Vedic shakhas are shown in green. |
Shakha (
IAST '), literally "branch" or "limb", is the Sanskrit term for a recension or version of Vedic texts according to a particular school. The scholars of a given shakha are properly called a ', but the term shakha is used also to refer to the members of a school.
Shaunaka in his lists the shakhas for each Veda:
*5 for the
Rigveda,
', ', Ashvalayana, Shankhayana, Mandukayana,
*42 or 44 for the
Yajurveda, out of a reputed total of 68,
*12 for the
Samaveda (but a thousand are said to have once existed),
*9 for the
Atharvaveda.
Only a small number of recensions have survived. The Rigveda is known in the Shakala-shakha only (with surviving Bashkala fragments), the Yajurveda is known in five (partially in six) shakhas (Vajasaneyi Madhandina, Kanva;
Taittiriya, Maitrayani, Caraka-Katha, Kapisthala-Katha), the Samaveda in one or two (Jaiminiya and Kauthuma), the Atharvaveda in two (Shaunakiya and Paippalada).
Concerning the text of the Vedas themselves (the Mantras), the differences between the shakhas are minor, except for the case of the Atharvaveda. The Paippalada tradition was discontinued, and its text is known only from manuscript collected since the 19th century. Both the Shaunakiya and the Paippalada traditions contain textual corruption, and the original text of the Atharvaveda may only be approximated from comparison between the two. The Bashkala recension of the Rigveda has the
Khilani which are not present in the Shakala text.
Associated with the Vedas are commentaries, the oldest being the
Brahmanas. These texts are independent for each shakha, so that it appears that the formation of the shakhas in
Vedic India corresponds to the beginning of the Brahmana period of
Vedic Sanskrit (roughly
10th century BC).
*Rigveda: The
Shakala has the
Aitareya-Brahmana, The Bashkala has the
Kausitaki-Brahmana.
*Yajurveda: The Yajurvedin shakhas are divided in "White" and "Black" schools. The White recensions have separate Brahmanas, while the Black ones have their Brahmanas interspersed between the Mantras.
**White Yajurveda:
' (VSM), ' (VSK):
Shatapatha Brahmana (ShBM, ShBK)
**Black Yajurveda:
' (TS) with an additional Brahmana, Taitiriya Brahmana (TB), ' (MS),
' (KS), ' (KapS).
*Samaveda: The Kauthuma shakha has the PB, SadvB, the
Jaiminiya shakha has the
Jaiminiya Brahmana.
*Atharvaveda: No Brahmana is known for the Shaunaka shakha; the Paippalada is possibly associated with the
Gopatha Brahmana.
Similar to the Brahmanas, the shakhas have independent
Aranyakas,
Shrautasutras,
Grhyasutras and
Upanishads.
*
Michael Witzel,
Tracing the Vedic dialects in
Dialectes dans les litteratures Indo-Aryennes ed. Caillat, Paris, 1989, 97–265.
