[INDOLOGY] Metrically restored Rgveda and traditional recitation

[Madhav Deshpande]

Hello Tim,

     I myself was surprised by the statement from the Aitareya Brāhmaṇa
that I have cited.  How to bridge that statement and the treatment in the
Prātiśākhyas that you refer to is an important question.  One possibility
is that the analytical tradition of the Prātiśākhyas became consciously
aware of the metrical deviations and tried to account for them, while the
tradition represented by the AB did not much care for this issue.  This is
perhaps analogous to the earliest oral traditions of the Veda did produce
variant branch Samhitās with different readings, but with the later
development of the rigorous methods of recitation like the various
permutational Vikṛtipāṭhas, further splitting of the Saṃhitās was
arrested.  With metrical deviations, there is a similar possibility.  That
is just my guess.  Best,

Madhav

On Tue, Jan 13, 2015 at 6:26 AM, Lubin, Tim <LubinT at wlu.edu> wrote:

>  But, Madhav, isn't it the case that the Prātiśākhyas (e.g., Ṛkpr. 8.22
> and 17.14) recognize that in Vedic hymns y and v must often be pronounced i
> and u?  Isn't indeed the Taittirīya convention of writing, e.g., suvar an
> explicit acknowledgement that it is dissyllabic, despite the convention
> elsewhere (where, nevertheless, a dissyllabic pronunciation might tacitly
> be acknowledged -- albeit this is a special case, a fixed form in TS.
>
>  Tim
>
>  Timothy Lubin
>  Professor of Religion and Adjunct Professor of Law
> Washington and Lee University
> Lexington, Virginia 24450
>
>   http://home.wlu.edu/~lubint
>  http://wlu.academia.edu/TimothyLubin
>  https://twitter.com/TimothyLubin
>  ḷ
>
>   From: Madhav Deshpande <mmdesh at umich.edu>
> Date: Monday, January 12, 2015 6:43 PM
> To: Dipak Bhattacharya <dipak.d2004 at gmail.com>
> Cc: Indology <indology at list.indology.info>
> Subject: Re: [INDOLOGY] Metrically restored Rgveda and traditional
> recitation
>
>   It is not clear how much the tradition was bothered by metrical
> inconsistencies.  There is an interesting passage in the Aitareya Brāhmana
> that says: na vā ekenākṣareṇa chandāṃsi viyanti na dvābhyām.  Even by a
> deviation of up to  two syllables, the tradition did not consider the meter
> to be violated.  The text titled Vedavicāra (19th century) that I am
> editing and translating cites this passages and extends it further: ekena
> dvābhyām ity upalakṣaṇam, tasmād akṣaranyūnādhikabhāvena chandāṃsi nānyathā
> bhavanti.  Thus, it seems to be that "metrically restored RV" is a purely
> modern creation.  If the Brāhmaṇa texts were not bothered by deviations of
> meters up to two syllables, can we be so certain that the authors of the
> Vedic hymns were so bothered.  There is a possibility that "metrically
> restoring texts" could be something like a modern hyper-correction.  Modern
> reciters of the Vedas that I am familiar with do not seem to worry about
> reciting a metrically correct text.  While they seem to show interest in
> reciting the various Pāṭhas and their permutations, I am not at all certain
> that they are scanning the recited text for metrical deviations.
>
>  Madhav Deshpande
>
> On Mon, Jan 12, 2015 at 8:46 PM, Dipak Bhattacharya <dipak.d2004 at gmail.com
> > wrote:
>
>>  It is the metrically restored text which the Ṛk-Prātiśākhya enjoins for
>> recitation. I have heard the disyllabic recitation from at least two Vedic
>> reciters and was myself advised to do so with the few verses that I had to
>> learn to utter as a child. But I have not examined each and every case of
>> recitation.  I hope Professor Deshpande has the same experience
>>
>> Best
>>
>> DB
>>
>>  On Mon, Jan 12, 2015 at 8:12 PM, Harry Spier <
>> hspier.muktabodha at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>>  Dear list members,
>>>
>>>  Do any members know if when the Rg Veda is recited by Vaidikas if that
>>> recitation agrees with the metrically restored Rg Veda or if they recite it
>>> like the written text with the metrical anomalies.
>>>
>>>  Thanks,
>>> Harry Spier
>>>
>>>  _______________________________________________
>>> INDOLOGY mailing list
>>> INDOLOGY at list.indology.info
>>> http://listinfo.indology.info
>>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> INDOLOGY mailing list
>> INDOLOGY at list.indology.info
>> http://listinfo.indology.info
>>
>
>
>
>  --
> Madhav M. Deshpande
> Professor of Sanskrit and Linguistics
> Department of Asian Languages and Cultures
> 202 South Thayer Street, Suite 6111
> The University of Michigan
> Ann Arbor, MI 48104-1608, USA
>



-- 
Madhav M. Deshpande
Professor of Sanskrit and Linguistics
Department of Asian Languages and Cultures
202 South Thayer Street, Suite 6111
The University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI 48104-1608, USA


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://list.indology.info/pipermail/indology/attachments/20150113/5567b584/attachment.htm>