[Advaita-l] Rudra Prashna question

[Vidyasankar Sundaresan via Advaita-l]

Dear Ajit,
 
>It is certainly marvelous that the transmission tradition has preserved the vedas as well as it has.
>But, at the same time, it is difficult to accept that they have been preserved perfectly. The same
>mantra is often found in multiple traditions with some variation (be it in the text, swara or
>pronunciation). Minimal though it may be, it is reasonable to conclude that change has occurred.
 
Yes, that is possible, and is acknowledged by some of the traditional commentators as well. Some
usages have indeed been annotated as possibly bad renderings (pramAda pATha). Nevertheless,
given the extent of the veda-s, such instances are still very small in number, relatively speaking.
 
Especially in cases where there is an obvious word form that is close in sound and is also correct
grammatically, but where the supposedly incorrect form has been handed down, one has to really
hesitate to judge. 
 
Best regards,
Vidyasankar