Shri Rudram 2.7

[S. V. Subrahmanian]

Shri Anandji wrote:

Generally speaking, there can be no "pAThAntara" (alternative reading)
in shruti. There should be exactly one reading. The taittirIya
saMhitA says exactly "AtatAvine", but the vAjasaneyi saMhitA of the
shukla yajurvedins has "AtatAyine" instead. I do not know what the
two other extant Krishna yajurveda saMhitAs belonging to the maitrAyaNIya
and kAThaka shAkhAs say.

Question:

I have been wanting to ask this question for long.  I was just waiting for a
suitable occassion.  If any of you have the time, please answer.

Is there a way of cross-checking whether the Sruti that we know as of today
is correct (I don't mean the interpretations or its validity, but the exact
words, word count etc).  Is there a check sum facility (or something like
that eg., based on the akSara, mAtra, meter etc), embedded either in the
Sruti itself or externally through tradition to check the accuracy of the
words in the Sruti and thereby ascertain whether something that we hear or
see in print is accurate?

There are different pAThas ie., samhita, pada, krama, jatA, ghana.  Are
these mere aids of memorization or can they help to check if the words that
we have today are correct.

Once again, by correct, I only mean whether they are still the same as they
were cognized by the Rishis (and not their validity).

Regards.
S. V. Subrahmanian.
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