[Y-Indology] varibility of pronounciation in Vedic chanting?

[Guest guest]

> .... ..... .... there are some inexplicable changes such

> as the final 't's being changed to 'l's in Kerala Nambudiri

> recitation. 'pracodayaat' becomes 'pracodayaal'.

 

This defect is most probably due to the pure consonant (called 'cillu')

"t" and "l" having the same symbol in malayALam script.

 

In his "malayALam bhASA praveza" (through marAThii medium) prAcArya R B

Joshi remarks (p.27):

*************************

variila ardhAkSarAMpaikii "l" he akSara "t" yA akSarAsArakhe disata asale

tarii te "la" yAce ardhAkSara Ahe va "ta" ce navhe he cAMgale lakSAMta

ThevAve. ---- i.e. out of the above ardhAkSaras, the akSara "l"

although looks like "t", even then it is the ardhAkSara of "la" and not of

"ta". This point should be well kept in mind.

*************************

But if Joshi's remark is to be kept in mind, the following passage of

the Sanskrit commentary on "liilA-tilakam" (a malayALam grammar and poetics

in Skt sUtras of about 1398 AD), sUtra 1 [ bhASA-saMskRta-yogo

maNi-pravALam], will look in the Roman transliteration thus:

 

*************************

yal saMskRta-kAvyasya prayojanaM kathyate nimittaM ca anyApi tadeva

maNi-pravALa-kAvyasya mantavyaM. "bhASA-saMskRta-yogo maNi-pravALam".

saMskRtamapi bhAseti bhASA-yoga ityukte tad-dvittvaM na siddhyel.

*************************

 

Definitely it makes sense, if the first word "yal" is read as "yat" and

the last word "siddhyel" as "siddhyet".

 

Kind Regards.

 

Narayan Prasad

 

 

-

"deshpandem" <mmdesh

<INDOLOGY>

Friday, October 24, 2003 2:14 AM

[Y-Indology] Re: varibility of pronounciation in Vedic chanting?

 

 

> Basically, Sanskrit is regionally pronounced by using the phonetic

> resources of the mother-tongues of the reciters. Thus, hardly any

> recitation reflects the three-way distinction of s, z, and .s. The

> bengali recitation merges v and b, the Behari recitation has s for all

> sibilants etc. Beyond this, there are some inexplicable changes such

> as the final 't's being changed to 'l's in Kerala Nambudiri

> recitation. 'pracodayaat' becomes 'pracodayaal'. Further the

> rendering of the accents significantly differs regionally. The Kerala

> recitation contains what seems like vibrating or repeating patterns:

> deva.m being recited as deva.m.m.m, etc. The high and low notes in

> Maharashtrian recitation differ by a much smaller gap than what one

> sees in Tamil recitation of the Rigveda. Most of these regionally

> standardized modes of recitation are post-Praatizaakhya developments

> and hence are not officially recorded in the form of explicit

> descriptions. However, they are recognized by the reciters. Best

> wishes,

>

> Madhav Deshpande

[Guest guest]

With regard to the Kerala recitation of Veda having

the l sound in lieu of the t sound mentioned by

Professor Deshpande, it can be seen that this also is

not confined to Veda. As documented by Kunjunni Raja,

the Malayali pronunciation in the following examples

would illustrate this

Vatsalya-valsalya

tatparya-talparya

tatkala-talkala

I think the pronunciation of Vasat as vasaL is also a

typical Kerala variation.

While it is possible that the mother tongue pull may

be a reason for regional variation, the vedic chanting

influencing regional languages must also be not ruled

out.The malayalam dialect of central Kerala Namboodiri

Brahmins seems to show traces of some vedic accent

C.Rajendran

 

=====

Dr.C.Rajendran

Professor of Sanskrit

University of Calicut

Calicut University P.O

Kerala 673 635 Phone: 0494-2401144

Residential address:28/1097,Rajadhani Kumaran Nair Road,

Chevayur, Calicut Kerala 673 017 Phone: 0495-2354 624

 

 

 

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