The Rṣi index of the Vedic Anukramaṇī system and the Pravara lists: Toward a Pre-history of the Brahmans -- TP Mahadevan (2012)

The Rṣi index of the Vedic Anukramaṇī system and the Pravara lists: Toward a
Pre-history of the Brahmans

Thennilapuram P. Mahadevan Department of English Howard University
thennilapuram.mahadevan@gmail.com

Abstract: I have shown (2007, 2008) that a plausible history of Brahman migration to
peninsular India from their Vedic homes in the Kuru Pñcla area can be constructed
from epigraphy and other literature, using the three Vedic markers common to all
Brahmans, their śikh, the style of the traditional male tuft; the Stra affiliation, a
specific Veda caraa followed by a Brahman, and the Gotra lineage, a specific family line
stemming from a i-singer of the gveda. My present attempt is to arrive at a prequel
to the above, a prehistory of the Brahmans, by conceiving them strictly and neutrally
as the corporate agency of the Vedic oral tradition(s) before its transformation into the
historical Brahman caste grouping.

Read on...http://www.ejvs.laurasianacademy.com/anukramani.pdf