On the origin of the aaryaa meter (Re: Choice of meter for writing a treatise: s'loka vs. aaryaa

[Andrew Ollett]

re: the use of āryās in "scientific" literature, warder pointed out (in a
footnote at the beginning of the gaṇacchandas section, if i'm remembering
correctly) that the āryā is extremely flexible and so can accomodate a lot
of technical terms.  the other abstract practical benefit is that it's
longer than the śloka.  that, of course, doesn't explain *why* certain
treatises were written in āryās.  alsdorf has written on the āryās in
buddhist and jain literature (the āryā stanzas of the uttarajjhāyā,
wiesbaden 1966; die āryā-strophen des pali canons, wiesbaden 1968;
itthīparinnā in IIJ 2 (1958): 249-270; and his appendix to the PTS's 2nd
edition of the thera- and therīgāthās, 1966).  it does seem from norman's
article that he thinks the āryā was especially popular in certain times and
places (mahārāṣṭra in first few centuries ce).  i'm not sure what this means
for the sāṃkhyakārikā or the bṛhatsamhitā.  if it was already "popular"
(from erotic prakrit lyric or other genres) it might have seemed as viable
as the śloka for long technical treatises to certain people.  according to
alsdorf, some ślokas even got corrupted into āryās in the course of
transmission---the opposite of what happens in, e.g., pali.  re: george
hart's recent response, "influence" is very hard to pin down.  it does seem
clear that the āryā is the final product of a long period of experimental
composition in structurally similar verse-forms (cf. randle in the p.k.
commemoration volume, pune 1960) in indo-aryan languages.  but dravidian may
have "influenced" āryā-type verses indirectly, by influencing the phonology
(especially prosodic phonology) of the indo-aryan languages in which the
earliest mātrā-meters were composed.  the other line of argumentation, not
necessarily incompatible with this, is associated with jacobi in ZDMG 1884
590-619: the mātrā-meters developed out of certain vedic meters by
resolution, anaclasis, etc.

andrew ollett
(mphil student/oxford)

On Sat, Jul 11, 2009 at 12:06 PM, Jean-Luc Chevillard <
jean-luc.chevillard at univ-paris-diderot.fr> wrote:

> I have received two reactions to that message of mine (dated 2009 may 31)
> [see below].
>
> In one of the 2 messages, I was asked whether I had received an answer
> and I answered  back that it had probably not been realistic on my part
> to expect that someone might explain
> the "why-did-it-happen?" side of my question  :-)
>
> Usually,
> the more reasonable task to set to oneself
> is simply to collect the data
> [the "what-happened?" side]
> and to do some statistics.
>
> However, the second message contained some very useful information.
>
> I am glad to discover, thanks to Whitney Cox, from SOAS,
> that K.R. Norman has discussed the origin and the popularity of the āryā
> meter
> in a paper "The Origins of the āryā metre",
> which is included as item 79 in his Collected Papers IV,
> London: Pali Text Society, 1993, pp. 20-35 .
>
> That paper was originally published in /Buddhist Philosophy and Culture:
> Essays in Honour of N.A.Jayawikrema/.
> Columbo 1987, pp. 203-214.).
>
> Interestingly, K.R. Norman discusses some of the theses which George Hart
> has put forward in his 1975 book,
> /The Poems of Ancient Tamil: their milieu and their Sanskrit counterpart/,
> University of California Press.
>
> I understand, by reading Norman's article,
> and from Whitney's suggestions for further reading,
> that I won't be able to progress in my global understanding of the question
> (i.e. "Meters in India and their popularity")
> until I try to read A. K. Warder's 1967 book /Pali Metre/
> and a number of other books and articles.
>
> I hope this information will be useful to some.
>
> -- Jean-Luc Chevillard (Paris)
>
>
> Jean-Luc Chevillard a écrit :
>
>> Dear list members,
>>
>> being engaged in a study of the popularity of various meters in the Tamil
>> speaking world,
>> I would welcome informations on the reasons (or the background)
>> for the choice of meter while writing a treatise in Sanskrit.
>>
>> Are there for instance
>> articles/books examining, explaining or suggesting reasons why the
>> Vākyapadīya was composed in śloka-s
>> whereas the Sāṃkhyakārikā was composed in āryā?
>> (I hope I am not mistaken)
>>
>> Is this simply a consequence of the date of their compositions?
>>
>> Thanks for any pointers
>>
>> -- Jean-Luc Chevillard (Paris)
>>
>>