Vedic Śākhās:

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 Śākhās (Materials on Vedic Śākhās, )

– Michael Witzel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ??

Indication of Divergent Ritual Opinions in the Maitrāyan.ı̄ Saṁhitā

– Kyoko Amano . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ??

Cantillation et tonalité - Les deux paradigmes de tonalité dans le Taittirı̄ya-Āran.yaka

et la Taittirı̄ya-Upanis.ad
– Michel Angot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ??

Attempts towards Preservation and Revival of the Śaunakı̄ya Atharvaveda

– Shrikant S. Bahulkar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ??

Négation et complémentarité dans le Veda, à la lumière de Pān.ini (et de Platon)

– Radu Bercea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ??

Atirātra
– Joel P. Brereton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ??

Vedic schools in northwestern India

– Johannes Bronkhorst . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ??

Some Salient features of the Āśvs

– 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 Atharvaśı̄rs.a Upanis.ad

– Madhav M. Deshpande . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ??

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

Les Écoles védiques et la pratique de l’exégèse: le cas de Skandasvāmin

– Silvia D’Intino . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ??

Ks.etrasya Pati and Mandhātar

– Eijirō Dōyama . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ??

Formation of a Śrautasūtra: the influence of preceding texts on the Baudhāyana-Śrau-

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

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

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

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

From Fuzzy-Edged “Family-Veda” to the canonical Śākhas 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 Taittirı̄ya Gr.hyasūtras

– Ambarish V. Khare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ??

Intrastanzaic Repetition in the Rigveda (Verba and Res): a Final Integration

– Jared S. Klein . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ??

Avaks.ayan.a: Contribution of Yājñavalkya 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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

Baudhāyanı̄ya Contributions to Smārta Hinduism

– Timothy Lubin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ??

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

The Periphrastic perfect in the Vedic language and Pān.ini’s Grammar

– Jun’ichi Ozono . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ??

References to ritual authorities and Vedic schools in the Jaiminı̄ya-Śrautasūtra and

its 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 Sāmavidhānabrāhman.a: le prāyaścitta décrypté

– Anne Marie Quillet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ??

Donees and their Śākhās in Epigraphical Sources: Orissa

– Saraju Rath . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ??

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

Two on a Swing: a New Perspective on the R . gveda

– Hartmut Scharfe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ??

Karmasamuccaya: a Paippalādin Corpus of Domestic Rituals

– Shilpa Sumant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ??

Āpastamba and Other Schools of Vedic Ritual

– Ganesh Thite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ??

The language of sūktas and tr.cas shared by the R . k, Paippalāda and Śaunakı̄ya
Saṁhitās
– Elizabeth Tucker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ??

Tolerance and Intolerance in Kumārila’s Views on the Vedic śākhā

– Kiyotaka Yoshimizu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ??



 Trends of Standardization and Institutionalization in the
Transmission of the Vedas:
Examples from Contemporary Maharashtra

Borayin Larios

For at least the past three millennia, the Vedic texts and rituals have been
the monopoly of the privileged class of Brahmins. According to tradition, all
Brahmin males should spend roughly a decade of their youth memorizing
precisely the extensive oral collections of hymns and ritual formulas collec-
tively known as Veda. Today, there are still Brahmins who dedicate their
lives to this endeavor. In this paper, I present a “snapshot” of significant
elements in the transmission of the Vedic corpus as observed in Vedic schools
(v edapāt.haśālās) in contemporary Maharashtra. While no serious scholar
questions 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-modern
India, there are often overlooked differences in the transmission of the Vedas
today . In this paper, I will highlight the current patronage systems under
which the traditional schools of Maharashtra operate, as well as to show
the 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 to
the school they belong to by birth (svaśākhā) and have taken up different occupations for their
subsistence. Nowadays, only a very small fraction of the Brahmin community knows more than
just a few mantras of the Veda by heart.

I mean in particular the Dharmaśastra literature as well as passages of the Prātiśākhyas
including later śiks.a texts. These works do not always present a cohesive picture and often have
contradicting views on the ideal transmission of the Veda by the Brahmin male.

The contributions of Prof. Bahulkar, Prof. Deshpande, Finn Moore and many more in
this volume are a testimony of these changes.

By Vedic schools I mean the traditional vedapāt.haśālās whose main focus is to train students
to recite one of the four Vedas from memory according to one a particular Vedic branch (śākhā).
This is different from the new so-called “Vedic schools” such as the DAVs (Dayananda Anglo-Vedic
schools) or any of the newer inventions whose main focus in curriculum is not primarily to train
priests specifically to recite the Veda, but to train them to perform rituals without necessarily
knowing the texts by heart, or to provide students with a “holistic/integral education” that
includes a combination of traditional and non-traditional subjects.
Borayin Larios

standardizing their curricula in recent years. The material that I present

here comes from my study of traditional Vedic schools in Maharashtra that
I visited during my fieldwork for my doctoral dissertation in  and .
Traditionally, the mastery over the Veda implies an oral command and
reproduction of sound in such a way that a skilled guru and face-to-face
education are essential requisites of the training process. The Vedic knowledge
is therefore not about a merely textual knowledge, but necessarily an embodied
one.

The Indian Government’s Official Policy on Education

Understanding the modern development of Vedic schools and their current
patronage systems requires some observations on the Indian government’s
official policy on education. Under Article -A of the Indian Constitution
there exists a provision of “free and compulsory education to all children up
to the age of fourteen years.” The Right to Education Act (or RTE), which
implements revised rules to both public and private schools, was signed on
the August , , and came into force on April , . It was intended
to be valid for all schools and for all children of India. The current Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh said on the day the act was implemented: “We
are committed to ensuring that all children, irrespective of gender and social
category, have access to education. An education that enables them to acquire
the skills, knowledge, values and attitudes necessary to become responsible
and active citizens of India.” . The act lays down the norms relating to
student-teacher ratios, management, buildings and infrastructure, school
working days and working hours, and teacher qualifications. However these
norms do not take into account traditional calendars or traditional subjects
and methods that are vital to schools such as the Vedic pāt.haśālās. For these
reasons, religious and minority groups, as well as supporters of their schools,
criticized the act. In addition to the abovementioned points, controversy was
also raised by the fact that the act stipulates a compulsory reservation of
% for disadvantaged children in private schools. The implementation of
the act created some anger and confusion with regards to its application

A common title among the learned reciters of the Veda in Maharashtra is vedamūrti 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 class
or 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, by
notification;” The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, . Published in
The Gazette of India Extraordinary. New Delhi, August ,  p..


 Trends of Standardization and Institutionalization

across the country, particularly among the minority groups and NGOs who
perceived themselves to be threatened by the new law.
After negotiations with representatives of the Muslim minorities (such as
from the Madrasa Board and the All India Muslim Personal Law Board) and
pressure from a delegation from Congress leaders , madrasas were the first to
be granted an exception from the act, and the Human Resource Development
Ministry (HRD) issued a guideline in this regard stating that such institutions
are protected under Article  and  of the Constitution, which guarantee
the rights of minorities to establish and administer educational institutions.
Subsequently representatives of the Vedic schools also made a petition to
the HRD Minister, Kapil Sibal to be exempted from the RTE. Religious
institutions such as the Kanchi Math, the Ahobila Math, the Andayan
Ashram, and the Arya Samaj supported the representatives of the petition
with their signatures. A few days later, the exception for Vedic schools was
granted and the official guideline was amended under Section () of the
RTE:
Applicability of RTE to Minority Institutions – Institutions, including Madrasa
and Vedic Pathshalas especially serving religious and linguistic minorities are
protected under Article  and  of the Constitution. The RTE Act does not
come in the way of continuance of such institutions, or the rights of children
in such institutions and schools of minority organizations covered within the
meaning of section (n) of the Act, will be governed by the provisions of the
RTE Act, .
Since the time of Indian Independence in , the Indian government
has been concerned with rescuing the cultural heritage of the country from
extinction and to this end, among other activities, it created the Sanskrit
Commission in  “to consider the question of the present state of Sanskrit
Education in all its aspects” The commission, although not focused on
the oral transmission of the Veda, produced through its report a sketch
of traditional schools of Sanskrit learning, including Vedic pāt.haśālās. The
picture portrayed by the report was one of a dilapidated tradition on the
verge of extinction:
It is highly regrettable that, on the whole, there are, about many of these
institutions, no signs of a living or growing organism but only symptoms of a
decaying constitution. This unfortunate state of affairs has not escaped the
attention of educationists, persons interested in Sanskrit, and the Govern-
ments.
After portraying the situation of traditional and modern learning of
Sanskrit 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/cdyears/u//Z/Z.htm accessed on June ,
.

Ibid.


Borayin Larios

of steps to be implemented by the Indian government to safeguard and

revitalize Sanskrit learning. Among other specific points for the Sanskrit
language, in addition the commission recommended that
[...] special attention should be paid to the preservation of the Oral Tradition
of the different Vedas and their recensions as current in different parts of
India, this Oral Tradition being useful even from the point of view of linguistic
and literary research; that provision should be made available in temples and
religious institutions for the recitation of the Vedas, and that, where such
provision already exists, it should be continued; that the surplus of temple
funds which might be available, should be utilized for the maintenance of
schools for the teaching of the Kantha-patha [oral ] of the Vedas; that, in those
parts of India where the Oral Tradition of the Veda has died out, authorities
of educational and religious Institutions should take steps to revive it; that the
Research Institutes working in the field of the Veda should, wherever possible,
utilize the services of the Pandits who have preserved the Oral Tradition of the
Vedas; [and] should be helped by the Governments to rehabilitate themselves
[...]

Even after the recommendations of the  report and the Government
of 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) broadcasts
for nation-wide consumption (all centered around the promotion of the
language), only minimal improvements on traditional Sanskrit education
have taken place. Moreover, the traditional learning of Vedic recitation
was practically ignored by these programs, which aimed at promoting the
Sanskrit language in general and not specifically that of the Vedas.
Unesco’s declaration in  that Vedic recitation is an “intangible
heritage of humanity” brought it to the spotlight of public attention. India’s
Department of Culture, and the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, aided
by Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts (Ignca) in New Delhi, took
the initiative to submit Vedic chanting to the Unesco as a candidate for
global recognition. The Ministry of Culture claimed that it implemented
Ignca’s five year action plan to safeguard, protect, promote and disseminate
the Vedic oral tradition, encouraging various scholars and practitioners to
revitalize their own branches (śākhā). Nonetheless, according to Nanaji
Kale and B. Pataskar involved in the creation of the plan, the aid did not

kān..thapāt.ha literally means “throat recitation/learning” Monier-Williams .

http://www.education.nic.in/cdyears/u//Z/ZC.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 .


 Trends of Standardization and Institutionalization

reach all the recipients mentioned in the document including Kale’s schools
who are among the custodians or rare branches of the Veda.
Even after Unesco’s declaration and the efforts of the Indian government
through the Department of Culture’s plan, many schools across the country
remained without financial aid or any other official recognition. As will be
discussed below, important changes in the traditional transmission of knowl-
edge have notably appeared following India’s independence. These changes
were brought about not only through the government’s direct intervention
and regulation, but also through the lack of these.
It is not just that the existence of these schools completely dependent
on financial resources. In my opinion, economic and political factors have
a stronger influence on the Vedic traditions than scholars have previously
considered. In this paper I will focus mainly on the economical factor,
although they are of course interconnected. Whether a school can operate or
not depends on whether its’ sponsors can provide a subsistence minimum
for its members; this includes food, clothing, a roof, books and materials for
students and teachers as well as salaries for employees. Allow me to point
out here (as Prof. Tithe aptly remarked during the plenary discussion of
this paper) that it is mainly Brahmin boys from low-income families who
are sent to these schools in the hope of securing free education for them and
thereby freeing the parents from the burden of having another mouth to
feed. The pressure of securing a job as a priest as soon as they can perform
the basic house rituals is generally significant, particularly among the most
disadvantaged Brahmin families. Indeed, richer Brahmin families usually
seek an English education for their offspring to be able to secure a well-paid
job in the government or in the booming IT industry. They hope for their
children to become engineers, doctors or IT specialists and if possible to
send their children abroad.
Moreover, sponsors, with their necessary funds, dictate to some extent
the 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 present
themselves in society. The sponsors of these schools and the teachers have to
come 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’s
direct and indirect support of religious institutions, including schools and trusts for the training
of priests, she has not distinguished between traditional vedapāt.haśālās and schools such as the
DAVs 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 they
alter the traditional model of knowledge transmission accommodating it to suit the needs of the
modern society, while still claiming to be representatives of the traditional gurukula system.

See for example Fuller and Narasimhan  for an example from Tamil Nadu.


Borayin Larios

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 visited
during my fieldwork are only  to  years old, although a very small
number of others were founded a century ago, when the British promotion
of secular education was weakening traditions of instruction previously
preserved largely within Brahmin families. Of course this does not mean
that the formal transmission of Vedic knowledge is new in Maharashtra, but
rather that the sponsoring system has undergone tremendous change, having
moved away from family lines of transmission and to an institutional form.
Already in the medieval period, and probably even before with the raise of
Buddhist kingdoms, there was a marked decline in royal patronage of the
large-scale fire-offering rites that, at least in part, motivated Brahmins to
train in other areas of knowledge, including arts, trade and even agriculture.
It is clear from a number of sources that rulers in medieval South India
often offered land grants to entice Brahmins to move into their kingdoms,
indicating that Brahmins were increasingly taking up agriculture, which
according to the brahmanical ideal had been the role of the vaiśya class, to
support themselves. In Maharashtra, at the turn of the eighteenth century,
Chitpavan Brahmin Peshwas managed to take over the Maratha Confederacy
for themselves. “For a rare moment in India’s history, Brahmins enjoyed the
powers of kings.” (Washbrook , ) However, more than any other
socio-economic factor the introduction of English education led the majority
of Brahmins to gradually turn away from their traditional education and
ways of life, and adopt a more “Western” lifestyle. In South India and other
places where there were still rich agrahāras the traditions held out for a
longer time, but nowadays most Brahmins (safe for a few) have taken up
secular occupations.
Considering the above, I will revisit the official policy of the Government
of India in the following section. Nowadays, official governmental support for
traditional Vedic schools comes through the Maharshi Sandipani Rashtriya
Veda 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 agriculturally
productive lands in India, and also their possession of major religious endowments given in
previous ages.” Washbrook , .

For details on this transition from the sacred to the secular occupations, see Fuller and
Narasimhan  and Washbrook .


 Trends of Standardization and Institutionalization

in January  as an autonomous organization as following up on the 

report of the Sanskrit Commission. The headquarters of this organization
are now located in Ujjain where they moved in . The organization’s
official objectives as stated in their activities annual report of - are
as follows:
(i) To preserve, conserve and develop the oral tradition of Vedic studies,
for which the Pratishthan will undertake various activities such as, support
traditional 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 human
agency;
(iii) To encourage and ensure involvement of dedicated students in higher
research in the field.
(iv) To provide for research facilities to students with the background of
Vedic knowledge and to equip them with sufficient scientific and analytical
outlook, so that modern scientific thought contained in the Vedas, particularly
disciplines of mathematics, astronomy, meteorology, chemistry, hydraulics, etc.
could be linked with modern science and technology and a rapport established
between them and modern scholars;
(v) To establish, take over, manage or supervise Vedic pathashalas/research
centres all over the country. Maintain or run them for any of the objects of
the 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 which
human repositories can be identified, and to prepare a detailed list of pandits
related to these Shakhas;
(viii) To ascertain the present status of oral traditions relating to the Vedas,
particularly intonation and recitation peculiar to various regions, institutions
and mathas in the country.

The objectives and activities of the Msrvvp have expanded in the past
two or three years . Noteworthy is point (iv), which illustrates the trend
observed by Meera Nanda of mixing pseudo-science with religion in favor of
a nationalist agenda (Nanda ). However, despite all of these objectives
and work for over  years, the Msrvvp has still not reached many vaidikas
of Maharashtra. Although many vaidikas are aware of the Msrvvp, a good

Hindus consider Ujjain one of the seven sacred cities (sapta-purı̄) and is also the place where
Lord Kr.s.n.a and Balarāma got their education from the sage Sām . dı̄pani.

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  the
website (http://msrvvp.nic.in/about.htm) still shows a shorter list of objectives than the
annual report quoted above.


Borayin Larios

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 the
twenty-five schools that I visited during my fieldwork in  . The great
majority of schools get financial support from sources other than the Indian
government. Moreover, according to the interviews and questionnaires filled
by my informants in the schools I visited, even within those schools that do
get financial support from official channels, the provided funding is far from
sufficient to cover all of the school’s expenses.
One of the reasons my sources gave me for this is that the aid-program for
traditional Vedic schools is run according to a curricular supervision-scheme
by the Msrvvp. The curriculum of the Msrvvp focuses mainly on the
memorization of the sam . hitā-text of any of the available śākhās and it
consists of a program lasting six years. After four years the student obtains
the title of vedabhūs.an.a and after six he is called vedavibhūs.an.a. This
curricular supervision by the Msrvvp does not suit the taste of many of the
teachers and principals of the Vedic schools I visited, and they prefer to keep
their pedagogic and organizational freedom rather than to become financially
dependent on and vulnerable to scrutiny from a governmental organization.
In addition, they generally place little trust in the government, particularly
when it comes to money. Some are afraid that if financial aid is made available
to them, it will not be provided with the needed regularity. Therefore some
schools look for financial support from nongovernmental sources, including
some of the institutions regarded as “prestigious” or “trustworthy” such as the
organizations of the Śaṅkarācāryas, local Brahmin organizations (sabhās),
private sponsors, other Hindu leaders, or a local temple trust. A minority
of small (family) schools , with only one guru and a handful of students

According to the report - of the Msrvvp, the organization currently supports
four schools in Maharashtra: . Ved Bhavan of M. Ghaisas (Pune), . Veda Vedang Sanskrit
College, Kailas Math (Nasik) . Sachchidanand Veda Swadhayay Pratishthan (Takli) . Shri Sant
Gyaneshwar Veda Vidya Pratishthan (Aurangabad). In addition it grants aid to several teachers
and students in Maharashtra on an individual basis under the “Preservation of Oral Tradition of
Vedic 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 bhūs. which according
to Monier Monier-Williams  means “to strive after, use efforts for, be intent upon” as well
as to “adorn, embellish, attire” and with the intensifying prefix vi, it acquires the meaning “to
be brilliant, appear”. It implies that the person has orally mastered the Veda and is a brilliant
reciter. Despite the few Sanskrit classes in their curriculum, the students who have obtained
these titles are not expected to know the meaning of the texts they recite, but to reproduce the
sound 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: a
herd, troop, flock family, community, tribe etc. The composite later came to be understood as
the place where instruction takes place, e.g. in the term gurukulavāsin or “resident of the house


 Trends of Standardization and Institutionalization

prefer to bear the main expenses by themselves (through the money obtained
by providing priestly services and through private donations) and thereby
maintain their financial independence from any official ties.
Despite all the efforts from the Indian government and the significant
sums of money set aside for financial aid , sponsorship of Vedic schools
has largely remained non-governmental. I do not know the exact figures of
revenues from private donations and other income sources, but according to
the interviews conducted with teachers and management of these schools the
federal aid (if they receive such help at all) is but a fraction of the income
needed to support these schools. The result is that most of the sponsorship
for these Vedic schools does not come from the Indian government but
from private donations. In addition to regular donations, monetary prizes,
awards and recognitions are regularly distributed to learned Brahmins by
diverse religious and educational organizations all over the country, which
also contribute to the support of traditional Vedic schools.

New patrons of the Veda

The Śaṅkarācāryas and their organizations, mainly those of Kanchi and
Sringeri māt.has, have in the last decades directed much of their efforts and
resources to propagate, protect and restore the Vedic tradition (including the
recitation of Vedic texts.) These include, among other activities, organizing
Vedic meetings (sammelana), giving regular scholarships and pensions, and
granting awards and recognitions in public ceremonies to learned Brahmins
from around India. The Śaṅkarācāryas, who have a large following in South
India and beyond and particularly among the orthodox Brahmin communities
(including those of Maharashtra), possess important financial resources that
are put at the disposal of Vedic schools.
The current Śaṅkarācārya of Sringeri has made it a tradition to celebrate
his birthday by holding examinations for Brahmins across India and awarding
the most outstanding vaidikas with diplomas and prizes of cash and gold
rings or other awards for keeping the oral tradition of Vedic recitation alive.
The Veda Poshaka Sabha was established by the th Śaṅkarācārya of Sringeri
(–) specifically to conduct these examinations. According to their
official website:
of the guru” which was used for a student. Monier-Williams .

According to the annual report, for the period - the Msrvvp granted ,, Rs
to four Vedic schools of Maharashtra and ,, Rs to teacher-student(s) units under the
scheme 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 sustenance
and propagation of Sanatana Dharma have intensified. The Jagadgurus of the Peetham began
touring extensively establishing branches of Sri Sharada Peetham, Sringeri in holy towns and
important locations, and setting up traditional learning schools or Pathashalas” http://www.
sringeri.net/activities accessed on February , .


Borayin Larios

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

Many of the schools in Maharashtra I visited have received monetary aid or

at least public recognition from the Śaṅkarācāryas of Sringeri and/or Kanchi
in this way. Vedamūrtis from several schools proudly showed me their awards,
or they have on the walls of their schools and homes pictures of themselves
receiving the awards. This official support from the Śaṅkarācāryas gives
the vedapāt.haśālās and their gurus some kind of legitimation and prestige
vis-à-vis the local community from whom the main support and sponsorship
of these schools comes from, and at the same time, potentially attracts
donors from the whole country and even among the Hindu diaspora across
the globe.
A noteworthy development is that sponsorship in the last few decades has
come from other patrons who are either charismatic religious guides with their
institutions 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 to
spiritual/religious lineages that are or have been openly critical of brahman-
ical orthodoxy such as (in Maharahstra) the dattātreya-sampradāya or the
vārkarı̄ panth  . Some examples of these institutions are the Maharshi Veda
Vyas Pratishthan founded by Shri Kishor Vyas (known also as Govind Dev
Giri since ), who claims affiliation to the Vārkarı̄ tradition of Maharash-
tra, particularly to Jñaneśvar Mahārāj at Alandi  . This institution sponsors
a total of  Vedic schools in India, five of which operate in Maharashtra.
Shri Ramakrishna Saraswati, considered by his followers an incarnation of
Dattātreya, inaugurated in Ahmednagar one of the largest Vedic schools

http://www.sringeri.net/activities/propogation-of-sanatana-dharma accessed on
June , .

Noteworthy, is also the support that has come from the successors of Śaṅkara, who’s philosophy
(advaita vedānta) 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 Śaṅkarācārya of
Kanchi. Also, Kishor Vyas received the Sri Chandrasekarendra Saraswati National Eminence
Award in . How important his influence on the vārkarı̄s of Alandi or the region is a question
that needs to be studied elsewhere, but as has been pointed to me by Jon Keune there is a
strong non-brahman stream in the contemporary vārkarı̄ tradition, especially coalesced around
the commemoration of Tukarām 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 also
belonging to the dattātreya-sampradāya, could be considered as one of the
main revivalists of the śrauta traditions in the area. The śaktipāta  master
Gulavani Maharaj (-), the spiritual father of Nanaji Kale and sons
is the inspiration for the revival of hundreds of the most complex Vedic
Soma rituals (somayāgas) and the protection of endangered śākhās of Vedic
recitation through the Yogiraj Veda Vijnan Ashram and its branches. The
late Guru Gangeshwaranand is another example of a man who is considered
a great saint by his followers and continues to inspire them in support of
the Vedic tradition.
These charismatic leaders and the institutions they fostered (and there
are many more in Maharashtra, to say nothing of other states) have unique
ideological, philosophical and spiritual traits, all of which need closer consid-
eration. Unfortunately, the scope of this paper does not permit me to deal
with each of them in detail. My aim here is simply to point out that the
Vedic oral tradition of Maharashtra is nowadays ubiquitously embedded in
diverse neo-Hindu frameworks, without which the sponsorship of traditional
Vedic 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 life
and in the curriculum of the schools they sponsor. These changes include the
introduction of English and/or computer classes for the students, increasing
the student-teacher ratio, and innovations in the infrastructure and social
environment of the schools, such as providing beds and other facilities for
students and teachers that were absent or even specifically condemned in
traditional institutions and authoritative Sanskrit texts.


http://www.dattadevasthan.org/VedantVidyapeetham.asp accessed on February , 

Śaktipāta (the descent of power) is a yogic/tantric initiation (dı̄ks.a) in which the kun.d.alinı̄
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 brahmacārin 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 live
nearby the school and spend considerable less time with the students. Larger amounts of students
have also altered the student-teacher ratio and the dynamics of oral instruction. Additional rules
such as sleeping on the floor and not on a bed have been clearly been laid down in the ancient
sources, particularly in the Dharmaśāstras and Gr.hyasūtras. See e.g. Glaser  and Scharfe
. In one of the schools I have found in Nasik, students slept in bunk-beds rather than on the
floor and had meals served on tables with chairs, rather than on the floor.


Borayin Larios

Institutionalization of Vedic recitation

In addition to the organizations attached to a specific charismatic leader,
there are other important organizations in Maharashtra that have been vital
for the support of the oral traditions of the Veda in Maharashtra. One of
them is the Vedashastrottejaka Sabha (Vss) has been quite active in the
region for nearly  years. Through the influence of western Education and
the emergence of a new Sanskrit scholarship during the th century, tradi-
tional Brahmins feared their education might not survive unless some special
efforts were made. Therefore, in , an ideologically heterogeneous group
of Brahmin enthusiasts founded the Vss to protect against the extinction of
the traditional Sanskrit education. The group had famous personalities from
both sides: the reformists MG Ranade and MM Kunte on one hand, and the
orthodox 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 the
annual examinations conducted for the Vedic schools of the State and
even beyond. Every year hundreds of students from the Vedic schools in
Maharashtra go through examinations in Veda recitation of the śākhā they
have studied in one of the examination centers established by the Vss .
These exams have become quite popular in Maharashtra, and most the Vedic
schools send their students to these exams at some point in their career.
In these examinations the students are tested by experts brought from all
over India on their ability to properly recite a particular portion of the
Veda from memory and without the aid of a printed text. Upon successful
demonstration of his recitation skills, in a ceremony organized at the end of
the examinations the student is awarded a diploma that corresponds to
the amount of text and style recited.

Scholars such as Tucker , Deshpande ;  and , and Rao  have
discussed other educational institutions and personalities in Pune during the educational reform
of the th century. In addition, the role of the Vaidika Samshodana Mandala in the preservation
of the oral tradition of the Vedas should also be studied in the future. In this paper I have left it
out for space reasons.

In ,  students gave exams in Nashik, Sawantawadi, Satara, Beed and Pune in
examination centers organized by the Vedashastrottejaka Sabha.

There are two modalities in which the exams can be given: partial or complete. The partial
exams (bhāgaśa parı̄ks.ā) are meant to segment the curriculum into a yearly syllabus for which
students get a certification for their “partial” qualifications; the complete exams (sampūrn.a
parı̄ks.ā) is a sort of final examination in which all the material of all the bhāgaśa exams for
a given śākhā are covered in a single session. For the third standard examinations (advanced
exams) there are no partial exams and the student has to be able to recite the whole material
given in that standard, whether it is advanced recitation of permutations (vikr.tis) or additional
texts of that vedic branch. A student who has completed the first standard (Marathi iyattā)
obtains the honorary title abhijña, for a student having completed the second standard kovida
and someone who has finished all three standards cūd.āman.i.


 Trends of Standardization and Institutionalization

These exams have inspired other organizations, such as the Maharshi

Veda Vyas Pratishthan to come up with their own evaluative system by
organizing their own examinations while still following a similar division of
the curriculum. There are several examination sessions offered by different
institutions across the country , and students may take more than one exam
for the same section of the Veda.
These formal examination procedures and their awards and diplomas
have become increasingly institutionalized in Maharashtra over last century
or so. One must also remember that the demand of the general public, for
a “better education” of priests has also encouraged the production of more
credential and validations such as the ones distributed by the Vss. The
studies of Fuller () and of Hüsken () illustrate the effects of the
pressure from the clientele as well as from the government.
As we know from Scharfe’s study, there were no formal examination
procedures in dharmaśāstric times (or previous to the colonial rule) nor
diplomas and degrees. “There was no final examination. Classes were small,
and teacher and student were in daily contact and communication, affording
the 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 that
is now generally followed by the schools of Maharashtra to accommodate an
annual exam system. Teachers have begun to teach the students specifically
in preparation to these exams. This means that it becomes more difficult for
them 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 learning
capacities and development. Fixing the curriculum of any śākhā to learning
the sam. hitā portion in a period of six years (as the Msrvvp has done) and
giving the impression that higher studies are not essential for a Brahmin’s
education, reflects not only a lack of knowledge of the Vedic corpus , but
also risks of flattening the Vedic education.

The exams as part of the birthday celebration of the Śaṅkarācārya of Sringeri mentioned
above are one example of this.

The spirit seems to be, the more diplomas and public recognition the better. This seems to
be true particularly for advanced students reciting the permutations (vikr.tis) of the Vedas, who
can sometimes be encountered in exams in Pune (Vss), Sringeri (Śaṅkarācārya’s mat.ha) and one
of the centers of the Msrvvp, for example in Ujjain.

Such as the study of the recitation of permutations (vikr.tis) or the ten-books (daśagrāntha),
which are part of the traditional curriculum in certain Vedic branches.

The Sam . hitās 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 master
them.


Borayin Larios

Conclusion
In this paper I have argued that the economical aspect plays an important
role in the oral transmission of the Vedas. I have shown how in the changing
social environment of modern India and new economic possibilities only
very orthodox or economically disadvantaged Brahmin families have kept
the traditional role as custodians of the Vedas. In addition, I have pointed
towards new dynamics in the patronage system and the impact new sponsors
have on traditional Vedic schools. In particular, I have showed that the Indian
government (through the Msrvvp) has participated in the standardization
and institutionalization of curricula by creating aid programs that bind
schools to a certain syllabus over a particular time-span. Other sponsors and
institutions such as the Vss in the name of protecting the tradition have
created evaluation methods and learning environments based on western
models that transform it. By giving a new form to the traditional training
and by introducing non-traditional subjects to the curriculum, one could
expect a slow but steady decline in the richness of the Vedic tradition.


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