VL2: Visualization of Linguistic Layers
in Vedic Literature
ヴェーダ文献における言語層の可視化

Hiroaki Natsukawa （Osaka Seikei University）
夏川浩明（大阪成蹊大学）
Kyoko Amano （Kyoto University）
天野恭子（京都大学）

International Workshop
Exploring the Potential of Utilizing Data from Sanskrit Literature
19-20 March 2024, Kyoto University

When you read literature, what mental images
come to mind?
We consider structure, segmentation, connection etc…
Or we feel change in mood, tempo, intensity etc …

Merits of Visualization- Make it easy to share ideas and images- Helpful for organizing, assembling and arranging one’s ownthoughts- Uncovering uncertain facts that even one may not be sure
- Develop thoughts and facilitate discussion

4Perspectives of the study of the Maitrāyaṇī Saṁhitā (MS):Two main focusesInternal construction(layer structure,connection between thechapters) of the MS, andhistory (process) of its
composition
MS

Relationship among MS,
KS and TS, andthe change of therelationship of the texts

KSTSMSThe visualization of layered structures is both
fundamental and ultimately ideal.
Amano（2014-2015）„Zur Klärung der Sprachschichten
in der Maitrāyaṇī Saṁhitā“Case study for only four chapters ofthe MS
I 4 Sacrificer’s duty
I 5 Daily worship of fires
I 6 Establishment of fires
I 7 Re-establishment of fires
6Visualization of Layers: making blank map andmarking appearances- Quantify the number ofsentences or words and draw
a map (one line corresponds
to one chapter)- Mark the places showing
certain appearances.

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Research of contents: lineage of mythology

Myths in which the gods
and the Asuras play theleading role
Myths in which Prajāpati
(the Creator God) plays
the leading role8

Research of linguistic phenomena and style of descriptionDifferent expressions of ritual prescription• Present indicative 〇dadāti "he gives"• Optative ░dadyāt "he should give“• Gerundive ×
deyam "should be given“9Research of linguistic phenomena and style of description
present indicative in ritual prescription〇 present indicative- describes establishedprocedures;- frequent use in I 4 andI 5 can indicate
advanced stages ofarrangement of ritual.
10Visualization of Similarity (similarity to the KS)

Amano (2019) in Living Tradition of Vedas
MS II 1-4 kāmyā-iṣṭi (vegetariansacrifice according to wish)MS II 5 kāmya-paśu (animalsacrifice according to wish)
II 1-2 are different from II 3-4.
II 5 is quite new (imitating II 1-4).

II 1-2
describe a lot ofritual praxis
II 3-4includeexplanations
about mantras
II 5less ritual praxis,
less mantra
explanation
Effective for stratifying the descriptions

Amano (2019) Lingua Posnaniensis logical ha :: narrative ha
Extended the object to all prose chapters of the MS, KS and TS.
It became possible to compare all chapters of the MS, KS and TS.
MSlogicalKS::

narrativeTSha :: ha vai in logical function

Amano (2019) Lingua Posnaniensis

haMS::
KSha vaiTSAmano (2019) Lingua Posnaniensis::

ha sma … āha“He used to say”
MSpredecessors’ speech

ha … uvāca“He said”

KSTS

Effective for comparing the MS, KS and TS.
But too much time-consuming and manpower-demanding!

2VL

Visualization of Linguistic Layers in Vedic Literature
Creating distribution maps automatically using XML/TEI data.
Simple idea: making blank map and marking appearances
Simple yet highly adaptable!
to any issue: contents, vocabulary, grammaticalform, syntactic construction, description style etc…
to any text corpus constructed as XLM/TEI data(regardless of quantity, genre, language)

Case study:- prose chapters of the Maitrayani Samhita I – II (data for III –IV is
not complete)prose parts were selected (mantra parts inserted in prose parts
were excluded):
1.4.5-15 Sacrificer
1.5.5-15 Daily worship1.6.3-13 Establishment of fires
1.7.2-5 Re-establishment of fires
1.8.1-9 Daily offering
1.9.3-8 Caturhotar (Sattra)
1.10.5-20 Seasonal sacrifices
1.11.5-9 Chariot race

2.1.1-12 Sacrifice2.2.1-13
according to wish
2.3.1-3 + 2.3.5-7 + 2.3.9
2.4.1-6 + 2.4.8
2.5.1-11 Animal sacrificeaccording to wish

Case study 1: Myth narrated in imperfect tense- Chapters have preference of mythological explanation or philosophical/
cosmological explanation, this possibly reflects the lineage and thechronology (the development stage of ritual philosophy). Amano (2014-15)
and (2020).
Mythological explanation:“Three offerings are offered, because the gods offered three offerings.”
Cosmological explanation:“Three offering are offered, because these worlds are three (heaven,atmosphere, earth).”Purpose of examination of imperfect: to recognize chapters preferring
mythological explanation and chapters not preferring mythologicalexplanation.

Case Study 2: sentence describing the result of ritual action,with eva + aorist and with vai + etad + aorist
Sentences describing the result / effect / benefit of ritual actionseva (indecl.) + present indicativeeva (indecl.) + aorist
vai (indecl.) + etad (pronoun n.sg.acc. „in this way“) + present indicativevai (indecl.) + etad (pronoun n.sg.acc. „in this way“) + aorist
tad (pron.n.sg.acc. „therefore“; in the 1st position) + presenttad (n.sg.acc.; in the 2nd position) + present
tena/tayā (inst. of tad „with that“; in the 1st position) + present
tena/tayā (inst. of tad; in the 2nd position)ha + present
ha vai + present
etc…
These are almost equivalent.
Choice from these types can indicate linguistic feature of the chapter.

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Case Study 2: sentence describing the result of ritual action,with eva + aorist and with vai + etad + aoristSentences describing the result / effect / benefit of ritual actionseva (indecl.) + present indicativeeva (indecl.) + aorist
vai (indecl.) + etad (pronoun n.sg.acc. „in this way“) + present indicativevai (indecl.) + etad (pronoun n.sg.acc. „in this way“) + aorist
tad (pron.n.sg.acc. „therefore“; in the 1st position) + presenttad (n.sg.acc.; in the 2nd position) + present
tena/tayā (inst. of tad „with that“; in the 1st position) + present
tena/tayā (inst. of tad; in the 2nd position)ha + present
ha vai + presentetc…
These are almost equivalent.
Choice from these types can indicate linguistic feature of the chapter.

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Case Study 2: sentence describing the result of ritual action,with eva + aorist and with vai + etad + aorist
eva + aorist(1.6.6:95.15) rucam evainam ajīgamat (3. sg. aor ind. gam “go”)
He has made him go to shine.
vā etad + aorist(1.4.5:52.12) devatā vā etat pūrvedyur agrahīt (3. sg. aor. ind. grah „grasp“)
He has grasped the deities the previous day in this way.

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VL2 :Visualization of Linguistic Layers
in Vedic Literature
Database of Maitrāyanī Saṃhitā (MS)
Chapter and section

Visual representation of VL2
1.1
1.2
1.3
2.1
0150
10050
The number of sentences

Chapter and section of MS

VL2 of MS: the distribution of a certain word

The number of sentencesVL2 :Visualization of Linguistic Layers
in Vedic Literature
Database of Maitrāyanī Saṃhitā (MS)①The number of words and sentencesfrom each subsection of the MS②Creation of a dictionary for thewords themselves, based on LemmaID③A list of words and theirconjugations (Tense, Singular/ Plural,etc.)④A list of Sentence-Word
Oliver Hellwig: Digital Corpus of Sanskrit (DCS). 2010-2022.

https://github.com/OliverHellwig/sanskrit/tree/master/dcs/data/conllu/fil
es/Maitr%C4%81ya%E1%B9%87%C4%ABsa%E1%B9%83hit%C4%81

①The number of words and sentences fromeach subsection of the MS

VL2 of MS

章番号Chapter and section of MS

The number of sentences

Chapter and section of MS

VL2 template using the number of sentences
per chapter and section

1.1.1
1.1.12
1.2.101.3.3
1.3.14
1.3.25
1.3.36
1.4.8
1.5.4
1.6.1
1.6.12
1.8.5
1.9.6
1.10.91.10.202.1.1
2.1.122.2.11
2.3.9
2.5.3
2.6.3
2.7.1
2.7.12
2.8.3
2.8.142.10.1
2.11.62.13.52.13.16
3.7.4
3.11.9
4.4.1
050

100

The numbersentence数of sentencesVL2 :Visualization of Linguistic Layers in
Vedic Literature

Search Oliver's Digital Corpus of
Sanskrit (DCS) database andextract data on whether thefollowing three conditions appear
in the sentences or words• Tense=Impf• eva(PART)&Tense=Past• (vai (PART) or vāva (PART)) & etad & Tense=Past

VL2 of MS (Tense=Impf)

Chapter and section of MS

VL2 of MS: the distribution of Tense = Impf

1>5
The number of sentencesVL2 of MS (Comparison between eva(PART) and vai(PART))
VL2 of MS: vai(PART)&Tense=Past

Chapter and section of MS

Chapter and section of MS

VL2 of MS: eva(PART)&Tense=Past

The number of sentences

The number of sentences

Enhance XML/TEI data to detect even finer distinctions
Present indicating result of ritual should be differenciated from present in otherfunctions (prescription, general)(2.5.1:46.12) soma evāsmai reto dadhāti (3. sg. pre. ind. dhā "put")
Some puts semen for him. (result of ritual act)
BUT
(1.4.7:55.11) sa vai mānuṣam evābhy upāvartate (3. sg. pre. ind. abhi + upa-vart "turn to")He turns only to the human's (thread). (general statement)(1.5.11:80.10) prāṇān vā etad īṭṭe (pre. ind.)
He calls the breaths in this way. (result of ritual act)
BUT
(2.5.1:48.7) prāṇam vā etat paśavaḥ pratidhāvanti yad varṣeṣu vātaṃ pratijighrati
Animals go againt the breath in this way that they catch the scent of wind in the29rain.

Enhance XML/TEI data to detect even finer distinctions
How can we detect “eva + present meaning result of ritual” and “vai + etad + present
meaning result of ritual”?
Differenciate functions/usages of present indicative (Amano 2009, 10-13):• prescription
naktam agniṃ gṛhṇāti "He (the sacrificer) takes fire at night."• general statement asurā vā naktaṃ prerate "The Asuras have action at night."• result of a ritual act jyotiṣaiva tamas tarati "He overcomes the darkness (the Asuras,night) with the light (fire).”Type of sentence is important!
Sanskrit vidhi "prescription" and arthavāda "explanation of the purpose /meaning"30

Enhance XML/TEI data to detect even finer distinctions
We can add information to <w /> word or <s /> sentence:<w lemma="gṛh" type="VERB" tense="PRE"function="prescription">gṛhṇāti<w/>or<s type="prescription”>naktam agniṃ gṛhṇāti


Can we utilize {FN}
information in Fushimi’s text?

(2.5.8:58.6) indrāyābhimātighna ṣabham ālabheta bhrāt
vyavān(2.5.8:58.6) abhimā(OP.2.5.8:58.7)tir vai pāpmā bhrātvyas |(2.5.8:58.7) indriyeṇaivābhimātiṃ pāpmānaṃ bhrātvyam apahate
31{ FN vaPattern (P) optative, (I) vai, (R) eva}

Distribution map can be utilized as finger print of linguistic
layer.
AI can recognize images and make similarity judgments?

Similar?

VL2 of MS
MS内でのimpfの分布

1.4.5
1.4.8
1.4.11Further progress of VL2

1.4.141.5.6
1.5.9
1.5.12
1.6.3
1.6.6
1.6.9

章節番号

 What kind of findings can be summarized?
→Are there aspects that can be abstracted?

Chapter and section of MS

1.6.12 The potential for integration with otherinformation such as mantra co-occurrences VL2’s representation of documents, notlimited to Vedic literature

1.7.3
1.8.1
1.8.4
1.8.7
1.9.3
1.9.6
1.10.51.10.81.10.111.10.14
1.10.17
1.10.20
1.11.7
2.1.1
2.1.4
2.1.7
2.1.10
2.2.1
2.2.4
2.2.7
2.2.102.2.13

1

2.3.3
2.3.7
2.4.2
2.4.5
2.5.1
2.5.4
2.5.7
2.5.1001020304050sentence数を用いたMSの白地図

607080The number of sentences

90>5

Future: Integrating multiple visualization systems into one

internalconstruction withina text (layers)internalconstruction withina text (connectionand development)change ofrelationshipbetween the texts

Enhance XML/TEI data to detect even finer distinctions(2.5.1:46.12) soma evāsmai reto dadhāti (3. sg. pre. ind. dhā "put")
Some puts semen for him. (result of ritual act)
BUT(1.4.7:55.11) sa vai mānuṣam evābhy upāvartate (3. sg. pre. ind. abhi + upa-vart "turn to")He turns only to the human's (thread). (general statement)

Differenciate eva in the sentence for result of a ritual act from eva in other function
eva in the sentence <s type="result_of_ritual_act">→ useful to make Universal
Dependencies;<w type=“PART” function=“advmod”>eva</w>
see Biagetti / Hellwig / Scarlata/ Ackermann / Widmer (2021):
advmod: adverbial modifier "Evaluating Syntactic
Annotation of Ancienteva in other type of sentence, to emphasize the foregoing word
Languages. Lessons from theVedic Treebank"<w type=“PART” function=“advmod:emph">eva</w>
36

Enhance XML/TEI data to detect even finer distinctions
devatā vā etat agrahīt. <s type="result_of_ritual_act">“He has grasped the deities in this way.”<w lemma="etad" type="PRON" case=“Acc” case_function="advmod“
reference_function="anaphoric" reference="previous_s">
BUTprāṇam vā etat paśavaḥ pratidhāvanti yad varṣeṣu vātaṃ pratijighrati.
<s type="general_statement">“Animals go againt the breath in this way that they catch the scent of wind in the rain.“<w lemma="etad" type="PRON" case_function="advmod"
reference_function="cataphoric" reference="yad">Distinguish three functions of etad:

anaphoric, cataphoric, recognitional37

Different structureof prescription andmythII 1-2
prescription –myth –
prescription
II 3-4 and II 5
myth –
prescription

Amano (2019) Lingua Posnaniensis

ha sma + present“He used to do”
MSKS

::

narrative use of haha + perfect“He did”

TSAmano (2019) Lingua Posnaniensis

predecessors
MSKS

ritual episodes in the past::

gods
TS

Effective for comparing the MS, KS and TS.
But too much time-consuming and manpower-demanding!

What was happening in Vedic period society?
The movement of people, political changes, shifts
in lifestyle, and the development of religious
thought.
These movements can be extracted within a text
as well as among several texts.