Bhagvad Gita X:39

Since we referred to Vibhooti Yoga yesterday, in which the Lord manifests his divine form, today's BG verse is from that chapter. Now that we have covered a fair amount of sandhi, we'll adopt a 3 step process. First the verse as it appears, then out of sandhi, and then into prose, so that we can make better sense of it and translate it.

The verse:
यच्चापि सर्वभूतानां बीजं तदहं अर्जुन

न तदस्ति विना यत्स्यान्मया भूतं  चाराचारं 

And, O Arjuna! I only am the seed of those creatures. There is nothing that could exist without me, creatures, whether moving or not moving. 

The vigraha:

यत् च अपि सर्व भूतानाम् बीजम् अहम् अर्जुन

न तत् अस्ति विना स्यात्  मया भूतम् चर अचरम्

The prose:

च अर्जुन यत् सर्वभूतानाम् बीजम् तत् अपि अहम् 

तत् चर+अचरम् भूतम् न अस्ति यत् मया विना स्यात्

च= and (This 'and' is because this verse is a continuation of the previous verse)

अर्जुन = Arjuna (vocative)

यत् = which [Hindi जो] (neut., nom., sing.)

सर्वभूतानाम् = of all beings (masc., gen., plural)

बीजम् = seed, source (neut., nom., sing.)

तत् = that (neut., nom., sing.)

अपि = also, even 

अहम् = I

तत् = those, that 

चर+अचरम् that move and do not move

भूतम् creatures

न not

अस्ति is (agreeing with तत् but in fact it is referring to creatures, so should be are. Sometimes for the sake of meter, poets do take such liberties. We see a lot of it in Kaavya)

यत् which

मया विना without me

स्यात् could exist (3rd sing. optative from the root अस्. Not yet covered in the course)

In Hindi this verse would be: 

और हे अर्जुन

जो सब भूतों का बीज है, (उनकी उत्पत्ति का कारण) वह में ही हूँ

चर और अचर कोई भी भूत नहीं जो मेरे बिना हो सके 

Are Yogic Siddhis Real?

In an essay I wrote in April 2011, as part of my M.A at SOAS, I argued that they are. This blog-post is a summary of the main arguments presented in that essay.

Generations of Indian children have delighted in stories of Hanumān – how he jumped high into the sky to eat the sun; how he leapt over the ocean to reach Laṇkā; how he became the size of an atom and searched Rāvaṇa’s palace undetected; how he made his tail so long that it burned Laṇkā down; and how can we ever forget the way he carried a mountain back with the Sanjīvani herb, saving Lakṣman’s life. We have no problems with any of this, perhaps because he is super-human. Part animal. Part God.  

Claims that such powers can be possessed by an ordinary human being are almost always met with great derision and disbelief. “Absolute poppy-cock!” is the reaction 9 times out of 10. “What utter rubbish!” It doesn’t help that there are countless fake ‘god-men’ cheating people, that the media delights in exposing them and rightly so. The movies do their bit - often depicting  ‘yogi-babas’ and ‘swamis’ as con-men, greedy frauds and power hungry villains. Remember Khoka in Trimurti? Bhairo Nath in Nagina? And of course the caricature prize has to go to Mola Ram in “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.”

Yogic powers are defined in chapter III of Patañjali’s yoga-sutras – the Vibhūti Pāda. Very simply put, if the yogic ashṭāṇga path is rigorously followed, arduously practised  certain powers (siddhis) accrue to the practitioner – which he/she is strongly encouraged to ignore, and not be de-railed by.  They are a by-product of yogic sādhana (diligent practice). These include being able to fly, make yourself tiny, very large, very heavy, invisible, understanding the speech of animals and birds; entering the body (dead or alive) of another person; being able to see the future and the past, and so on (I recommend I.K Taimini’s commentary on the Yoga Sutras for details. It is excellent.)  

Patañjali

In his introduction to Rāja Yoga, Swami Vivekānanda sends a strong message. “Anything that is secret and mysterious ... should at once be rejected.” I propose that there is nothing mysterious or mystifying about yogic siddhis. In the process of yoga, the mind is detached from the external world and turned inwards upon itself. Like the energy of the sun being concentrated through a magnifying glass the mind becomes super-concentrated and capable of activity beyond the ken of us ordinary folk.  Why is that so hard for some to accept?

The body too is trained in yoga – achieving perfect fitness so that when the yogi meditates, his mind is not distracted by itches, twitches, aches and pains. We have no problem in applauding Usain Bolt ‘because he trains’, we are not surprised at Michael Phelps ‘because he trains’ . The world high jump record is 2.45 meters (that’s over 8 feet!!) held by Javier Sotomayor. Long jump – 8.95 meters (almost 30 feet) jumped by Michael Powell. Not a single raised eyebrow? Because they train. Well yogis train too. And  that is the point we conveniently miss.

More important is the philosophical system that underpins yoga. Sāṃkhya ontology posits two principles – the material principle (prakṛti) and the spiritual principle (puruṣa). The entire physical universe from gross objects that we can perceive, to those that are so subtle that we cannot see them - is make of prakṛti. EVERYTHING other than the spirit (puruṣa) is made of prakṛti. The path from our eye, including the eye, to the sun, including the sun and everything in between is an unbroken continuum of the same material. The yogi gains mastery over this continuum with his practices.  In the same manner that he masters the mind, he gains mastery over the fields of the elements and the organs. This enables him to control natural phenomena. He is able to exercise extraordinary powers – which are called siddhis.

Another complication is the meaning assigned to concepts when they are translated. It has an impact on how they are perceived by a speech community other than the one to which they are native. For instance, siddhi is translated into English as ‘power’ whereas it covers a range of English words – like accomplishment, perfection, ability, skill and efficacy, to name a few.  I believe siddhis are considered ‘unreal’ or fake by English speakers (including some Indians) because of the words that are used to define them in English. For instance, ‘super-natural’ – is not understood as extra-ordinary, but rather as related to hauntings, demons and ghosts. There is even an American TV serial called ‘Super-natural’ which deals with such things.

The English word ‘magical’ which is often used to describe siddhis, is never applied in Indic languages to  the same. Magic translates into Sanskrit as Māyā, Indrajāl, Vāmācāra, abhicāra and riddhi. NONE of which are associated with yogic siddhis in our culture. There is a family of Sanskrit words associated with siddhi arising from √sidh – meaning to accomplish, to succeed, fulfil, to attain one’s end.  Looking at these, we get a very different sense than ‘magic’.  Sādhanā means diligent practice leading straight to a goal; efficient; effective.  Chapter II of the yoga-sutras which deals with the path yoga enjoins is called Sādhanā pāda.  Sādhya means that which is to be achieved or attained, accomplished; and a sādhaka is what an aspirant on the path of yoga is called. Siddhi too comes from this root. It is an accomplishment. Not magic. For that matter, vibhūti which we instantly think of as magical ash, means splendour, greatness, might and magnificence. Let's not forget that the BG chapter in which Kṛṣṇa reveals his divine form (Ch 10) is called Vibhūti Yoga.

 

I haven’t presented any ‘scientific proof’ because it is so passé. A bit like Rishi Kapoor in Karz with that funny helmet on and hundreds of wires stuck to a computer! Many experiments were conducted in the 1970s in America which proved that yogis had siddhis. Fritz Staal and David Gordon White have documented these in great detail in their books. If you wish to explore further, another book which provides fascinating insight and is more easily available is Swami Rama’s “Living with the Himalayan Masters.” 

As always, I’d like to close with a quote from Swami Vivekananda: “It is wrong to believe blindly. You must exercise your own reason and judgement. You must practice and see whether these things happen or not.  Just as you would take up any other science, exactly in the same manner you should take up this science (Yoga) for study.”

Sanskrit Grammar: Sandhi

So far we have looked at combinations of what are called śuddha (शुद्ध) vowels - अ, आ, इ, इ, उ, ऊ.  Those combinations have resulted in what are called saṃyukta (संयुक्त) vowels: e (ए) and o (ओ). There are two more saṃyukta (संयुक्त) vowels that we need to cover - ai (ऐ) and au (औ ) 

If an a (अ ) or (आ) meet an e (ए), we get an ai (ऐ), and if they meet an o (ओ) we get an  au (औ ):

मम + एषः = ममैषः

तथा + एव = तथैव 

Similarly देव + ऐश्वरम् = देवैश्वरम्

महा + ऐरावतः = महैरावतः

जल + ओघः = जलौघः

अत्र + ओष्ठौ = अत्रौष्ठौ
महा + औषधम् = महौषधम्

महा + ओदनम् = महौदनम्

विद्या + औत्सुक्यम् = विद्यौत्सुक्यम्

Important: when you read a verse or sentence, if you see an ऐ or and औ, in the middle of a long 'word' and it seems like sandhi ask yourself what the combinations might be.

If a word ends in इ or ई and it is followed by ANY other vowel, the इ/ ई   becomes a य् and combines with the vowel of the next word. In the word iti, we know that ति= त्+ इ.  The इ becomes a य् and takes the vowel at the beginning of the next word:

य् +अ = य

य् +उ  = यु

य् + ऊ = यू

य् + ए = ये

य् + ऐ = यै

Meanwhile the preceding consonant in the first word cannot be lost - it becomes a halant consonant e.g. in  इति, all that will remain is  इत् because the  इ has been removed from it: ति - इ = त्. Some examples:

इति + आदि = इत्यादि 

इति + उवाच = इत्युवाच

महति + एषणा = महत्येषणा

देवी + ऐक्यम् = देव्यैक्यम्

सरस्वती + औत्सुक्यम् = सरस्वत्यौत्सुक्यम्

In the same manner, if an उ or ऊ are followed by ANY other vowel it comes a व्

मधु + अस्ति = मध्वस्ति

गुरु + आदेश = गुर्वादेश

रिपु + ईशः = रिप्वीषः

भानु _ ओः = भान्वोः

वधू  + आज्ञा = वध्वाग्या

If  अ or आ are followed by a ऋ both are replaced by an अर्:

अत्र + ऋतुः = अत्रर्तुः

यदा + ऋषभः = यदर्षभः

The governing principle is sandhi is like a chemical equation - elements that you start with can change, but NO element can be lost. By breaking the word down to its constituent elements, we see:

अत्र = अ + त् + र् + (अ + ऋ= अर्) + तुः 

The final 'a' of atra is meeting the  ऋ of ऋतुः and becoming an  अर्. What is left of the second word is तुः  so it becomes अ + त् + र् + अर् + तुः = अत्र + अर् +  तुः = अत्रर्तुः

Similarly, in यदा + ऋषभः = यदर्षभः  I'm only going to fully disect the sandhi portion. Of course you could break it down completely (य् + अ etc) but that is not relevant to the sandhi.

य + द् + आ + ऋ + ष + भः 

आ + ऋ = अर्

= य+द् + अर् + ष + भः

= यदर्षभः

Finally on  ऋ , If a ऋ is followed by any vowel, it becomes र्

धातृ + अंशः = धात्रंशः

Process: धात् + ऋ ---> र्

धा + त् + र् = धात्र  

And the left over is न्शः

Likewise

पितृ + ओष्ठः = पित्रोष्ठः

Two very important vowel sandhis are left. What happens when ए, ऐ, ओ or औ are followed by a vowel? 

When ए is followed by अ, the ए  remains, but the अ gets elided and an avagraha remains:
रमे अथ becomes रमे ऽथ

Likewise, when ओ is followed by अ, the ओ  remains, but the अ gets elided and an avagraha remains:

गुरो अस्ति becomes गुरो ऽस्ति 

But if ए is followed by ANY other vowel other than an अ, it is transformed into an अ while the following vowel remains unchanged:

गजे उपविश  becomes गज उपविश

While in the case of or ओ it becomes an अव् and combines with the following vowel:
विष्णो इदानीम् becomes विष्णविदानीम्
In the case of ऐ followed by ANY vowel, it becomes an आ and the following vowel remains unchanged:
तस्मै अदात् becomes तस्मा अदात् 
In the case of औ it becomes आव् and combines with the next vowel:

भक्तौ इच्छति becomes भक्ताविच्छति

(You must have noticed already that the ओ becomes an अव् and the औ becomes आव्)

Here ends part 2 of Sandhi. In the next Twitter session on October 13th we will do consonant sandhi.

Kaṃsa’s Destruction: Sandhi Practice

So far all our stories did not display sandhi. Now that we are learning sandhi, I thought it might be useful to do some stories both in and out of sandhi till we complete this section. Simply by observing the difference in the sentences, you will begin to get a feel. Once we finish sandhi, I will post the rules for ready reference. Since the focus is sandhi, I will not be specifying gender, number, case, tense as I normally do. I trust you are fairly familiar with these by now. If you are new to the blog, please see earlier posts in Aug/Sept. In any case, if you have any doubts/queries/observations,  please leave a comment or write to me. 

Kaṃsa was on his seat

कंसः पीठे आसीत्

कंसः  पीठ आसीत् 

The visarga, as in कंसः is not dropped before the 'p' प् of the next word

The locative marker ए of  पीठम् is dropped before आ of the next word

He saw the death of Cāṇūra

सः चाणूरम् मृतम् अपश्यत्

सश्चाणूरं मृतमपस्यत्

The visarga of सः becomes a श् before the च्

The 'm' at the end of Cāṇūra has become an anusvāra* before the म् of the next word.

"Shortly, I will kill Krishna" Kaṃsa said

अचिरेण कृष्णम् व्यापादयिष्यामि इति कंसः अवदत्

अचिरेण कृष्णं व्यापादयिष्यामीति कंसो ऽवदत् 

The 'm' of कृष्णम् becomes an anusvāra before the 'v' of the next word. 

The इ at the end of व्यापादयिष्यामि joins the इ of 'iti' to become an ई 

The visarga of  कंसः becomes and 'o' and the अ of अवदत् is dropped and marked by an avagraha**

Krishna jumped towards/at Kaṃsa 

कृष्णः कंसम् प्रति प्लवनम् अकरोत्

कृष्णः कंसं प्रति प्लवनमकरोत्

The visarga of कृष्णः is retained before the 'k' of the next word

The 'm' at the end of  कंसम् becomes an anusvāra before the following consonant

The 'm' of प्लवनम् joins with the अ of अकरोत् to make a full 'ma' म

lit. Kaṃsa's hair are grabbed by  Krishna

कंसस्य केशाः कृष्णेन गृहीताः सन्ति

No sandhi changes take place in this sentence. Note that  both before the 'k' and the 's', the visarga is retained. 

Krishna threw Kaṃsa from his seat to the ground

कृष्णः कंसम् पीठात् भूमिम् प्रति अक्षिपत्

कृष्णः कंसं पीठाद्भुमिं प्रत्यक्षिपत् 

Anusvāra end of कंसम्

The 't' of पीठात् becomes a 'd' द् before the 'bh' of भूमिम्, and combines with it 

The 'i' of प्रति becomes a 'y' and combines with the 'a' of अक्षिपत् We did this only last Saturday, as you might recall. (Ref. Twitter session 5th October, soon to be posted on the blog)

lit. Kaṃsa became dead. (Kaṃsa died.)

कंसः मृतः अभवत्

कंसो मृतो ऽभवत्

Visarga of कंसः becomes 'o' before the 'm' of मृतः

Visarga of मृतः becomes 'o' and the 'a' of  अभवत् is replaced by an avagraha.

O my! O my! The people cried

अहो अहो इति जनाः अक्रोशन्

अहो अहो इति जना अक्रोशन्

Aho! Aho! is an exclamation of joyful (or painful) surprise. Please note that this expression is NOT subject to sandhi. For advanced students who are following this course to revise, the the rule for this in Panini's Astadhyayi is A.1.1.15.

The only sandhi change is the the visarga of  जनाः  is dropped before the 'a' of अक्रोशन्

Flowers fell from the sky

पुष्पाणि गगनात् अपतन्

पुष्पाणि गगनादपतन्

The 't' of गगनात् becomes a  'd' द् and combines with the following अ of अभवत् to make a full 'da' द 

Everywhere there was joy 

सर्वत्र आनन्दः आसीत्

सर्वत्रानन्द आसीत्  

The a of 'tra' combines with the 'aa' of आनन्दः 

The visarga of आनन्दः is dropped before the 'aa' of  आसीत् Please note that you can't do double sandhi. Once the visarga of आनन्दः has been dropped, you can't then join the da to the aa and make आनन्दासीत् !!

* anusvāra is the dot on top of the word which indicates a nasalisation

** avagraha is the 's' shaped mark which shows an elision - i.e. something has been removed that was here before. 

I would like to thank Dr. Alastair Gornall and the members of my Classical Sanskrit Course at SOAS for their help in clearing any doubts I have on grammar.

  

Formation of the word Brahman ( ब्रह्मन्)

One of our participants asked the etymology of ब्रह्मन् (Brahman). Firstly its meaning has changed over the centuries. Its earliest meaning (Rigvedic, masc. noun) is 'sacred word', 'hymn', what we now call mantra. In later Vedic literature it comes to mean (in the neuter) 'the ultimate reality', the substratum of the universe. Later, in the masculine again it comes to mean the priest/priestly class.

It arises from the Sanskrit root √bṛh (बृह्) meaning to make big or strong, to grow, to increase, to expand, to further (and also to speak). Complex internal sandhi changes the root to 'brah'
Then it could have become brahman in two ways:
a) the suffix  'mant' is added to it, but in that case it would be brahmaan. (mant has the sense of possessing the quality of the stem that precedes it. Like Shaktimaan)
or 
b) the suffix 'man' or 'an' have been added to it, making it a noun. This is a standard method of nominalisation in Sanskrit.

In both cases it is most likely that a commonly used form emerged which superseded its original grammatical form and etymological meaning by a process called Analogy*. 

This analysis is speculative based on what little Sanskrit I know. I might be wrong - so It would be great some feedback if someone knows better! 

* (Analogy (from Greek ἀναλογία, analogia, "proportion") is a cognitive process of transferring information or meaning from a particular subject (the analogue or source) to another particular subject (the target), and a linguistic expression corresponding to such a process.)

Bhagvad Gita 18:73

A feel good verse today, which Arjuna delivers after receiving the sermon, and seeing the divine form of the Lord. It's nice when someone helps you with debilitating doubts. I like the certainty and positive resolve of this verse. Some easy to grasp grammar too. 

नष्टो मोहः स्मृतिर्लब्धा त्वत्प्रसादान्मयाच्युत

स्थितो ऽस्मि गतसन्देहः करिष्ये वचनम् तव

Destroyed is my delusion, my mindfulness is regained through your grace, O Krishna. I am firm, my doubts are gone. I will perform your word.

नष्टः destroyed (masc., nom., passive past participle from √naś; masculine ending is because it is agreeing with मोहः  which is masc.)
मोहः  delusion (masc., nom., sing)
स्मृतिः memory, traditional wisdom, mindfulness (fem., nom., sing)
लब्धा obtained, regained (fem., nom., sing., passive past participle from √labh. It ends in 'aa' because स्मृतिः is fem. Remember यष्टिः + मधुरा in the last verse of मधुराष्टकम्) 
त्वत्प्रसादात् - by your grace, as a result of your grace (tvat is how 'your' appears in a compound, and प्रसादात् is masc., ablative singular of प्रसाद which is favour, grace)
मया - by me (masc., instrumental., singular.) Notice that the 't' of प्रसादात् has become a 'n' before the 'm' of मया
अच्युत  Epithet of Krishna. It means 'he who does not fall', Unchanging One (vocative case, as Krishna is being addressed. Notice no visarga)

स्तिथः  standing firm (masc., nom., singular from the root √ sthā)

अस्मि I am (notice the अ disappears in sandhi, and the visarga of  स्तिथः has become an ओ)

गतसन्देहः gone doubt, dispelled ambiguity

करिष्ये - [I] will do (1st person, sing. from √kṛ ĀP ending)

तव - your (genitive, singular)

वचनम् - (neutral., accusative., sing.)

The state of Vedic rescensions

Introduction: Traditional Vedic recitation is dwindling, and in danger of  becoming extinct. Priestly families are affiliated to a particular branch of a particular Veda, and it takes 16-20 year to learn/memorise the whole saṃhita to which a student ‘belongs’.  There are no takers among the younger generation, as it is a very difficult task and not at all lucrative. Indira Gandhi Centre for the Arts scouts and sources rare manuscripts of these rescensions and publishes them, as well as recording the chanting, which will die with the handful of surviving exponents, the way things are at present.   

Dr. G.C Tripathi, scholar par excellence and erstwhile Head of the Indira Gandhi Centre for the Arts delivered this lecture at the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies some years ago. It formed part of the audio support of an online course run by the centre in 2008.  He goes on to talk about ways of chanting along with audio examples. For this post I have only taken the portion relevant to rescensions. Some information may have changed since then. Also, I was working off a fairly poor recording, so there might be some mistakes – which are entirely my fault. If you notice any, please write in and I’ll make the corrections. You can find more such information here: http://www.ignca.nic.in/tripathi.htm

 

Abbr: 

AV - Atharva Veda

KYV - Kṛṣṇa Yajur Veda

RV - Ṛg Veda

SV - Sāma Veda

SYV - Śukla Yajur Veda

While most of us are familiar with the four Vedas, Ṛk, Sāma, Yajus and Atharva, many of us dont know that each of these has rescensions, or versions which form the central text of Vedic branches or śākhās.  The rescensions have slight variation of language, vocabulary and verse content/order. Rescensions of the ‘Ur’ texts result from ritual and phonetic variations in different regions.  While a lot of scholarly work has and is being done, we don’t know for sure how and why the śākhās arose. Patañjali, (date: circa 2^nd cen. B.C.E) commenting on Pāṇini says there are 21 branches of Ṛg veda, 101 of Yajus, 9 of  Atharva Veda 1000s of branches of the Sāma.    

Today there are 3 RV śākhās  left – Śākalya, Āśvalāyana and Kauśitaki of which the  Śākalya is considered to be ‘the’ Ṛg veda – because it has been commented upon by Sāyaṇa and Venkat Madhava etc. The name indicates that it originated in the west of Punjab (around modern Sialkot, Pakistan) among the Madra tribe whose fort (kota) was called Śākal-kota.

The Āśvalāyana was written by the Āśvakas, who lived in the East of Punjab, in the region known as Kuru-Pāñcāla  extending from Kurukśetra to Western UP. This was the main saṃhita of this region. [Dr. Tripathi quotes a verse to establish it provenance – the confluence of the Ganga and Yamuna is mentioned in it. The same verse is in the Śākalya, but only in the khila section. (sitāsite sarite yatra sangate…)] The Āśvalāyana recitation technique is extinct in India. Manuscripts are rare, and found mostly in the Alwar-Jaipur region.

Kauśitaki is the smallest of all Ṛk rescensions. It’s arrangement is different and it omits many verses that are in the other two. Found mostly in Gujarat, and southern Rajasthan, it has a living oral tradition – but is in danger of dying out.  There are only 2 aged pandits in Baanswada, and the younger lot not really interested. Even the 2 pandits only know those portions by heart that are used in domestic or Vedic ritual frequently. 

The Yajurveda has two distinct versions – the white or Śukla  which contains only metrical formulae/versified mantras and the black or Kṛṣṇa which has verses as well as explanations in prose on the application of the verses in ritual. The saṃhita of the white YV is called Vājasaneya, and has two branches Mādhyandina and the Kāṇva. The former originated most probably in the Kuru-Pāñcāla region and is most widely used in ritual in north India – in Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, UP, Bihar, Bengal and Madhya Pradesh

The Kāṇvas belonged to the eastern part of UP, settled in Kannauj/Gorakhpur/Shavasti region from where the migrated East and took the saṃhita with them – to Orissa and to South India (Tamil Nadu) upo the invitation of regional Kings.  Currently of this tradition, there is a 96 year old pundit in Ambattur near Madras – he has 6 disciples. The Kāṇvas  have their own version of Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa  – slightly different from the Mādhyandina version which was translated by Julius Eggeling. (see http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/sbr/index.htm)

The main text of KYV is Taittirīya, used almost exclusively in Andhra Pradesh, and very widely in Maharashtra and Karnataka & Tamil Nadu. Although Maharashtra uses SYV as well, but in Andhra Pradesh, it is exclusively Taittirīya (KYV).  The Kaṭha, Kāṭhaka rescension of the KYV has  no reciters at present but manuscripts are available. It was very popular at one time, because Pātañjali in his Mahabhashya says that everywhere in all the villages, you can hear Kaṭha. The last known reciters were 100 years ago in Tamil Nadu. The Upaniṣad of this school is is very well known – the Kaṭhopaniṣad (for the Nachiketas-Yama  story).

The fate of Maitreyani (KYV) is not much better.  It originated most certainly in Gujarat. The saṃhita displays a lot of originality and also has a different euphonic system. The reciters are found exclusively today in and around the city of Nasik, Maharashtra. Reciters don’t know the whole text by heart – only those portions that are used in Vedic or domestic sacrifices.

Of the Kapiśṭhala rescension – only one manuscript exists in the library of the Sanskrit University, Varanasi  – that to in fragmentary condition.  There is no longer a living tradition of this rescension. It originated in the town of Kaithal in modern Haryana. Kaithal being the modern rendition of kapi-sthala (land of monkeys)

Of all of these rescensions, then, only 3 traditions of Yajurveda are alive. Mādhyandina, and Kāṇva of the white YV and Taittirīya of the black.

Of the Sāma veda there are 3 saṃhitas, with marked variations in melody. The ways of chanting are of 4 kinds – suitable for a village (graamge), some only in a forest (araynagaan); some are embellished with additional sounds which have no meaning called uha and some are improvised depending on the time and occasion – these are called uhiya.

The 3 saṃhitas available with notations on how to sing are – Kauthuma in North and East (Mithila and Benaras), Rāṇayanīya in Coastal Karnataka (Mangalore) and Jaiminīya in Kerala. The saṃhitas hardly differ from each other – most of the verses being taken from the RV – but the order of the verses differs. All of them have independent texts containing expanded musical compositions. Most of these are unpublished.

The Jaiminīya branch has a very melodious method of chanting – very pleasing to the ear. It was clearly very strong in Kerala at one time – because even the reciting/chanting of the RV is highly influenced by it – and also their way of reciting/chanting classical Sanskrit shlokas. Only 3 very old pundits are left in Kerala who can recite the traditional way – in Panjal, Thrissur, in Northern Kerala. No young students are coming up to continue this tradition.

Pundits following the Rāṇayanīya tradition live around the coastal town of Gokarna, Karnataka. There are 5 villages referred to as Pancagrāma. Most of the pundits function as priests. They have not spread beyond Karnataka, and have some good exponents of their tradition. This tradition is not so endangered.

Of the AtharvaVeda there are two rescensions . Śaunaka, and Paippalāda. The Paippalāda was once known as Kashmirian AV, but from 1955, several manuscripts have been found in Orissa – and a critical edition is now being worked on which is not yet published.  Deepak Bhattacharya of Shanti Niketan (Asiatic Society of Bengal) has published 14 kāṇdas, his father Durga Mohan Bhattacharya did the 1^st.  Now kāṇdas 16-20 are left which are very voluminous and make up about 45%-50% of the Paippalāda AV. One scholar (Groningen University, Netherlands) has done a critical edition of the 16^th  kāṇda as a PhD thesis, but it is not yet published.

The Atharvavedins of the Śaunaka chant the AV in exactly the same way as the RV is chanted. The marking of accents is almost exactly the same as RV. So a lot of Ṛgvedins have shifted over to AV for the sake of livelihood – especially later in life.

As far as Paippalāda is concerned, all the accents have been lost. The saṃhita text bears no accent marks at all and hardly anyone in Orissa who would know the saṃhita by heart. Fortunately a large portion of the verses of the Paippalāda are used in domestic ritual – so the pundits have to learn them by heart – although the recite/chant them in the manner of Classical Sanskrit.

Here ends the section of Dr. Tripathi's lecture related to Vedic rescensions.