Among the twenty-one Sakha-Samhitas of the Rgveda, as mentioned by Patanjali, only seven Samhitas were known by name and among these too, only one Sakala-Samhita was available in printed form so far. Now with the publication of the present edition of the Asvalayana-Samhita a complete picture of a new Sakha-Samhita will come to force for the first time. In comparison to the Sakala-Samhita, the Asvalayana-Samhita has 212 additional mantras among which some occur in the common suktas and others form 16 additional complete suktas. Among these additional suktas special mention may be made of Kapinjala-sukta (II. 44), Laksmi-Sukta (V. 88-89), Pavamana-Sukta (IX. 68), Hiranya-sukta (X. 130), Medha-sukta (X. 155) and Manasa-sukta (X. 171). The book in two volumes presents the full text of the Asvalayana Samhita of the Rgveda with padapatha, marked with proper accent marks. The additional mantras of the Asvalayana Samhita followed by their translation in English and Hindi are also provided at the end of the Samhita text. In a detailed introduction of the text the learned editor has examined theexistence of Sakha-Samhitas of the Rgveda as mentioned by the Puranas, Patanjali, Mahidasa and other authorities, scrutinizing textual evidence in support of them. The focus is, however, on the Asvalayana-Samhita, with a background on Acarya Asvalayana and exploring the antiquity, treatment of accent and padapatha of the text by referring to various sources.
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