[INDOLOGY] metrical melodies

[Madhav Deshpande]

What I know from my personal experience is that the same meter is recited
with slightly different melodies in different regions, and occasionally the
same meter is recited differently in the same region depending upon the
context. A good example of this is the meter Śārdūlavikrīdita. It is
recited in the region of Maharashtra at least in two different styles in
different contexts. There is one style of recitation of verses in this
meter that are part of the so called Maṅgalāṣṭaka verses recited during
weddings, and a different style in other contexts. One can get a sense of
this variation from recordings available on resources like the YouTube. It
is not clear to me how one would go about finding traces of such variation
in pre-modern periods.

Madhav M. Deshpande
Professor Emeritus, Sanskrit and Linguistics
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
Senior Fellow, Oxford Center for Hindu Studies
Adjunct Professor, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore, India

[Residence: Campbell, California, USA]


On Mon, Mar 4, 2024 at 9:01 AM Reich, James David via INDOLOGY <
indology at list.indology.info> wrote:

> Dear colleagues,
>
> I'm wondering if anyone is aware of any resources related to the history
> of the simple melodies that are attached to various Sanskrit and Prakrit
> meters. Is anything known about this? Do we know how old the melodies are,
> or when or how they originated, or how they have changed over the
> centuries? Secondary material would be particularly helpful, but if there
> is any primary material that would be helpful as well. Or simply if anyone
> knows anything about this or has any thoughts on it, I would be very
> curious.
>
> Thanks very much,
> James Reich
>
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