Differences between oral and written Taittiriya Samhita

[Claude Setzer]

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Vidyasankar Sundaresan 
  To: INDOLOGY at LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK 
  Sent: Tuesday, November 21, 2000 3:01 PM
  Subject: Re: Differences between oral and written Taittiriya Samhita
  >3) Do the differences between Weber's edition and the oral version I 
  >have 
  >represent two different oral traditions or styles (or even minor 
  >variations)of chanting the taittiriya samhita. 
  No. The word is never pronounced as "namas", except when required by sandhi rules. 


Sorry, but i would beg to differ with this opinion, and I have recordings by various excellent pandits to back it up. Of course, the visarga can have three or more different pronunciations. In the "middle" of a sequence, it seems to be most proper to pronounce it without the "echo" but rather as what might be described as a strongly pronounced short "a" final. This would be like the normal short "a" sound in "Veda," but distinctly shorter and stronger. If the visarga comes at the end of a "sequence," then the second pronunciation would be a rather strong echo of the last sound. Third would be the "as" sound. The fourth would be an echo, but very soft, more like a distinct outflow of breath.

I have recorded the same pandit do at least the first three of these in the recitation of the same type of material recited at the same time in the same context. Very specifically doing both the "as" sound and "ah" echo sound at the end of a sequence, where the printed text may print them both the same. Also another pandit in exactly the same tradition doing the same thing will do some of these differently. I did not have the chance to ask why or how or when, etc. But I got the strong impression that these are NOT considered to be different text NOR are they considered to be different "styles," but perhaps just options that specific groups get in the habit of doing. From one of them I got the distinct impression that he might do it differently if he were not trying to make it clearly understood by the (non-pandit)listener.

It also certainly seems that the "end" of a sequence sometimes comes in a place that I would not expect it, resulting in unexpected pronunciations.