Who is the author of vedas?

[Guest guest]

This posting is to supplement the information on how the vedas in spite of

its massive content, (Rg veda has 153,826 words) were preserved from

generation to generation though it was all done only by oral transmission.

All this has been preserved (till today) for more than five millenia

(at least three millenia acc. to western calculations) without ever

putting them into writing. This must be considered a great lingusitic

achievement of which India can be legitimately proud. The literature,

which consists of diverse poetical and prose compositions were simply

learnt by rote, the training being given by the teacher saying each word

or combinations of words once, with the proper incantations and specific

accents, and the students saying it twice. They then learnt to recite it

in continuous form along with the incantations. The continuous recitation

of a vedic text is called samhita pAtha. The accuracy of the text is

preserved by resorting to an artifice of nine different techniques or

modes of recital.

The first is the pada pATha, which simply recites each word of the text

separately. The euphonic changes that occurs from the samhita pATha to the

pada pATha is itself very technical (Sanskrit grammar would be crucial

here) but makes sense. In addition, there are eight other techniques of

recitation, the sole purpose of each is to preserve the original samhita

text without the loss or addtion of a single syllable or accent. The

accents called svaras are a significant part of the recital of the vedas,

whatever be the mode. The eight modes are called: krama, jaTa, ghana,

mAlA, ratha, SikhA, daNDa and rekhA. In each mode the order of recital of

the words is specified as a particular permutation of their original

sequence. We give below a sentence from the Yajur veda, obviously without

the svaras, in its original samhita pATha form, also its pada text and

then the order of the words in the ghana recital. A pundit who has learnt

the ghana recital of one complete veda (he takes thirteen years of whole

time work to reach that stage) is called a ghana-pAThi.

First we give the rule for the ghana mechanics of recitation: If the

original order of words in a sentence (which has five words) is:

1/2/3/4/5;

The ghana recital has the order:

12/21/123/321/123/

23/32/234/432/234/

34/43/345/543/345/

45/54/45/

5 iti 5.

 

Example: samhita sentence:

eshAm purushANAm-eshAm paSUnAM mA bher-mA ro-mo eshAM kincanAmamat //

Meaning:

Oh God! Do not frighten these our men and animals, may none of these

perish or lack health.

pada text:

eshAM/purushANAM/eshAM/paSUnAM/mA/bheH/mA/arah/mo-iti-mo/eshAM/

kim/chana/Amamat/Amamad-ity-Amamat/

 

Note: The ninth break here and the last break are the results of a

technicality which you may ignore, unless you want to specialise in this

art.

 

Now for the ghana recital(without the svaras; with the svaras it would be

a delight to hear). The recital is a non-stop recital, except for a

half-pause at the place shown by / . There is no break anywhere else. The

hyphens shown are for requirements of those who can decipher the grammar ;

they will not be reflected in the recital.

 

eshAM-purushANAM-purushANAm-eshAm-eshAM purushANAm-eshAm-eshAm

purushANAm-eshAm-eshAm purushANAm-eshAM /

purushANAm-eshAm-eshAM purushANAM purushANAm-eshAM paSUnAM paSunAm-eshAm

purushANAm purushANAm-eshAM paSUnAM /

eshAM paSUnAM paSUnAm-eshAm-eshAM paSUnAm-mA mA paSUnAm-eshAm-eshAM

paSUnAm-mA /

paSUnAm-mA mA paSUnAM paSUnAm-mA bher-bher-mA paSUnAM paSUnAm-mA bheH /

mA bher-bher-mAmA bher-mAmA bher-mAmA bher-mA /

bher-mAmA bher-bher-mAro aro mA bher-bhermA araH /

mA ro aro mAmA ro momo aro mA mA ro mo /

aro mo mo aro aro mo eshAm-eshAm mo aro aro mo eshAM /

mo eshAm-eshAm mo mo eshAm kim kim-eshAm-mo mo eshAm kim / mo iti mo/

eshAm kimkim-eshAmeshAM kim-cana cana kim-esham-eshaM kim-cana /

kim cana cana kim kim canAmamad-Amamat cana kim kim canAmamat /

canAmamad-Amamac-cana canAmamat /

Amamad-ityAmamat /

 

The significant point to note here is that in Sanskrit the order of words

does not matter; the meaning will not change. If you do it with an English

sentence like:

Rama vanquished Ravana

It will go like this:

Rama vanquished vanquished Rama Rama vanquished Ravana ‘Ravana vanquished

Rama’ Rama vanquished Ravana … and so on.

You can see the absurdity now. In Sanskrit this absurdity would not arise.

A ghana recitation is supposed to be equivalent to a recitation of the

veda 13 times and to that extent is multifold fruitful! The 13 is because

except for two beginning and two ending words in a sentence the others

are repeated 13 tiumes. (You can check it with the word paSUnAM above).

Well, advaitins, that should be enough for this posting.

PraNAms to all advaitins.

Profvk

 

 

 

 

===

Prof. V. Krishnamurthy

You are invited to visit my latest book entitled GEMS FROM THE OCEAN OF HINDU

THOUGHT VISION AND PRACTICE at

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Rhodes/2952/gohitvip/contents.html

___________

 

Free instant messaging and more at http://messenger.