[INDOLOGY] Metrical inconsistencies and tradition

[Harry Spier]

On Mon, Mar 30, 2020 at 8:45 AM Dominik Haas via INDOLOGY <
indology at list.indology.info> wrote:

>
> Perhaps a short note on the modified “Gāyatrīs” in the Maitrāyaṇī-Saṃhitā:
> the creators of these verses simply inserted a certain deity without too
> much regard for metre. The non-adjusted accentuation perhaps also shows
> that the “Gāyatrīs” in this text are more pieced together than composed
> anew (*pracodáyāt* is still accented, even though it's now the verb of a
> main clause – or is there another explanation?).
>
Thank you for this Dominik.

The author in the following link, for the reasons you've mentioned and
because the gayatris are  mostly to later deities, argues that this section
of the  Maitrāyaṇī-Saṃhitā:   is interpolated:
https://books.google.ca/books?id=X0JUwf2BXVAC&pg=PA57&lpg=PA57&dq=maitrayani+samhita+x.9.1&source=bl&ots=zfBpMv9w-q&sig=ACfU3U2LME_WHFLc9K4mr4lvOD8UVoCkEg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiIuojYs8LoAhUImuAKHYHQDPEQ6AEwAHoECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q=maitrayani%20samhita%20x.9.1&f=false

You also asked:
 I wonder whether and where they are actually called Gāyatrīs?

If you do a search of the Muktabodha searchable e-text  digital library
for <gAyatrI> you'll see that throughout the tantric literature these types
of mantras are called   gāyatrī or gāyatrīmatra or  the deity name
compounded with  gāyatrī  such as: nṛsiṃhagāyatrī  etc. If I recall
correctly they are called  gāyatrī much more often than  gāyatrīmantra.

Harry Spier


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