Brahma: in chanting

[Vishal Agarwal]

The pronounciation of Brahma as Bramha is a classical case of how a
'mispronounciation' attains legitmacy because of tradition. Refer the
relevant chapters of following popular work to get a good overview of the
effect of local pronounciations on the recitations of the different extant
recensions of the Vedas, the role of the Laksana granthas in according
legitmacy to divergences from the 'correct' pronounciations and the
correspondence between the rules recorded in the various Prasakhyas, siksas
and other laksana texts and their respective areas of provenance:
Hindu Dharma; (Paramacharya) Chandrasekharendra Saraswati; Bharatiya Vidya
Bhawan; 1995

Dr. Witzel has also written several articles to highlight the effect of
local pronounciations on the text tradition of AVP (O), AVP (Z), Kathaka YV
and so on. See his webpage for detailed references. Numerous other articles
exist.

The recent posts on the pronounciation of Anusvara in the Taittiriya Samhita
are also connected to your enquiry. Note that while I pronounce it as 'gum'
(since that is the way I learnt it), most North Indian Pundits also
pronounce it as 'dhvam' while reciting mantras from SYV during grhyakarmani
(and this is the way I started till I changed it to 'gum').

Vishal
----Original Message Follows----
From: Krishna Kalale <kkalale1 at SAN.RR.COM>
Subject: Brahma: in chanting
Date: Mon, 28 Feb 2000 09:00:13 -0800

For example why is Brahma written in sanskrit like brah-ma  rather than
bram-ha.  it is usually pronounced as bram-ha even in vedic chants.
______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com