Questions about the Oral Tradition of the Maitrayaniya Shakha of Krshna Yajurveda

[Jaskaran Mangat]

नमो विद्वद्भ्यः

In the history of Vedic dialectal transmission from antiquity to the present day, one thing that remains little explored is the murky situation of the Maitrayani Shakha's oral tradition. In a study titled On the Current Situation of Vedic Śākhās, Witzel states that they still existed around Nagpur and Nashik in the early-mid 20^th century, dwindling down to only a few Samhita-cognisant Brahmins such as Pt. Vasant Kulkarni by the 1970s, with an Apastambin revival by ~2011 wherefrom the traditional "Maitrayaniya style has been lost forever" (in the words of C. N. Kale). However, in N. Kulkarni's short paper Vanishing Habitats: Tracing Locations of the Maitrāyaṇī Śākhā through Inscriptions and Manuscript Colophons (reference date unavailable but judging from the bibliography it seems to have been made in the last decade), she states that there are still two Pandits of Nashik that can recite the Maitrayani Samhita, being Pt. Tryambanana Joshi and Pt. Bhotmule. Can anyone confirm/deny Witzel and Kulkarni's statements and elaborate on how faithful the remaining line of transmission is?

There are recordings of current Maitrayaniya chanting, which I assume are all from the resuscitated tradition mostly outside Maharashtra and surrounded by the Taittiriya (a few examples: a chanting practice session with old printed editions, the whole Samhita Patha and Aranyaka, three Veda Sammelanas 1 2 3) and although the chanting style seems similar to that of the Taittiriyins, I noticed a few peculiarities such as the omission of final schwa in some words ending with त such as स्यात in the first mantra of the Samhita, and a unique kampa-like vowel lengthening (although without the high-intensity tremolo effect) of Independent Svaritas that arise before Udattas such as a pluta वे in the formula देवस्य त्वा सवितुः प्रसवेश्विनोर्बाहुभ्यां पूष्णो हस्ताभ्याम्. The Svarita in general seems to be pronounced with a slightly higher pitch than that of the Taittiriyins and most certainly higher than the Udatta. Are these innovations/recent influences or genuine relicts of the line of transmission? Are there any other distinguishing features of Maitrayaniya recitation that still exist, and are there any differences between the chanting style of followers of the वाराह गृह्यसूत्र (if there are any of them left?) and those of the मानव गृह्यसूत्र? The situation with this Shakha has been long neglected and any responses are much appreciated.